Zune breaks 2 million sold, stealing market from Creative not Apple

Microsoft is still toiling away at the Zune, but there isn't a whole terrible much to show for it so far in regards to market impact. They just broke the 2 million mark, almost a year after they hit 1 million in May 2007. That means growth has hardly accelerated since the second-gen players hit the scene. Zune's overall market share has grown from three to four percent, but that's most likely a steal from Creative (which sunk from four to two percent) than a steal from Apple or second-place SanDisk (with a billionty and 11 percent, respectively). But don't worry, we're sure that 2.5 update is going to change everything.

[Fusion @ May 10th 2008 2:45PM]

KOOL, cant wait for it to come to uk

[Ben @ May 10th 2008 3:26PM]

I imported mine into the UK from ebay and I can't say I have any regrets.

[Chris @ May 10th 2008 7:02PM]

I imported one to the UK. Everything works great (even the radio after I found the Europe option in the menu).

[John B @ May 10th 2008 7:42PM]

Yeah, but does Microsoft *still* give money to Universal music for every Zune sold out of the arrogant assumption that all Zunes will be used for pirated music? All of my music is either from my own purchased CDs or purchased from Amazon. So, I despise that Microsoft is giving Universal Music money on my "behalf".

[Ruben @ May 10th 2008 10:50PM]

I keep hearing comments about the iPod selling 10 million within a single quarter, but do people even think when they make that comment to trump the 2 million Zunes sold.

Is that 10+ million in every market the iPod sells in, which is every market? The Zune only has one to sell in.

And does that data include every iPod that exists, including older generation models, dirt cheap Shuffles, and refurbished units, which seem to exist in massive amounts everywhere for extremely low prices?

I would imagine the Zune is no different, since a large number of sales were due to the 30G being sold for 100+ bucks.

I would love to have someone clear up this information for those iPod sales. Because if thats the case, then thats not all that impressive for the iPod.

[mymaclife @ May 11th 2008 3:28AM]

@ Fusion

Should be as popular as Gordon Brown, and a little less cool!

[bob @ May 11th 2008 7:11AM]

and you can all have fun soon not being able to watch your own video content because unless its from microsoft its tagged illegal!

[Rudie @ May 12th 2008 10:38AM]

I had a 30 gig Creative Vision M.
A good player.
But i was maxed on space.

So i wanted an 80.

I looked at ipod and zune.

I chose the Zune because it has the radio.
I heard the ipod also had crappy audio sound.
From alot of people.

The Creative had awesome playback sound, plus a EQ.

I was slightly pissed there was no EQ on the 80 gig zune.
But i have gotten used to the standard setting.
It is clear and crisp sound for sure.
If it sounded like crap i would have gotten rid of it.

Maybe they can add a EQ thru a software update?

All in all though i would buy another zune, over an apple simply for the lack of a radio in the apple.

[happy_penguin @ May 10th 2008 2:47PM]

That's partially because people with iPods are already committed to iPod/iTunes and that's fine with me because I like my iPod. But I can't say I hate the Zune. I wouldn't really know unless I tried one out. They have come a long way since the ugly ass brown model so I would probably like Zune.

[CraigJ @ May 10th 2008 4:24PM]

Brown was the only thing cool and different about the me-too Zune, and they killed that.

The problem with the Zune isn't the device, it is the ecosystem (software, accessories, etc) or lack thereof.

[lexxdiamons @ May 10th 2008 5:56PM]

I have had owned a 2nd, 3rd and 5.5 generation Ipod. About a year ago I lost my 5.5. Instead of dropping another 300+ dollars on a new Ipod, I decided to give a 99 dollar refurbished Zune a try form woot.com. My honest opinion was that I liked the Zune device very much. I found the controls on the device easy to use, and I just liked the make and fee of it much better then that of the Ipod. I also liked having the larger screen. With that being said, the Zune software is atrocious. It is slow and boated. It takes forever to open, and even longer for it to load album art. It brings my dual core Pentium with 1 gig of ram running Vista to a crawl. I realize that I do not have a cutting edge system by any means, but it is still a newer computer. On top of all that, I find the Zune software to be confusing and not very intuitive. I made a legitimate effort with Zune, the device was great but the software was just horrible.

[happy_penguin @ May 10th 2008 6:07PM]

"Zune software is atrocious. It is slow and boated. It takes forever to open, and even longer for it to load album art."

A lot of people say the same thing about iTunes. Personally, the only trouble I ever had with iTunes was early ver. 7 on my PC, like so many other people did. What I do love about iTunes is just the way it handles everything so easily for me. It did take me a while to get used to the interface as I had been using MusicMatch and loved that, but now I can't imagine being without my iTunes. Still, the screenshots I've seen of Zune look pretty sharp.

[bluestriker @ May 10th 2008 6:13PM]

Really? For me, it's the other way around. iTunes is slow as hell and Zune runs much faster, while at the same time probably looking nicer.

[John @ May 10th 2008 7:43PM]

Vista? One gig of ram? I think in order for it to only be going at a crawl, it would have to be speeding up.

[Zeus.:God @ May 12th 2008 9:00AM]

There is your problem Lexx, not only are you running a really slow processor (it's a single core with hyper threads- if you have the hyper threading edition, not a dual core), and 1GB of RAM- both of which isn't going to run Vista itself very well- what makes you think anything else would run quickly? I'm sure if you tried to load up iTunes on that setup, it would run just as poorly.

[o rly @ May 10th 2008 2:55PM]

...awaiting certain fanboys to include their "inaccurate, only 3 Zunes were ever sold" comment.

[MeatyPi @ May 10th 2008 2:57PM]

it wasn't 3, they actually made it to 112 sold.

http://zunesalesarealie.com

[Paul @ May 10th 2008 3:29PM]

They can't have only sold 3, I've seen at least 4 in the wild! Of course, I see at least that many iphones everyday (from different people), so take that for what you will.
All snark aside, MS really should release a Mac client, so more people (like me) who don't us Windows but aren't married to the ipod might give it a try.

[Cal @ May 10th 2008 3:49PM]

People with an iPhone want to be seen using it though, if you've got a Zune it's more for functionality than fashion...

[caleb @ May 10th 2008 4:02PM]

@Cal: Yeah; I wouldn't want anyone to know I used a Zune either.

Haha. I kid. If it works for you great. I found the interface to be fairly frustrating though. I also don't care for the iPod interface on the iPhone though. The interface for the rest of the functions on the iPhone is great though.

[CraigJ @ May 10th 2008 4:27PM]

Cal, so when I keep my iPhone in my front pocket and use my bluetooth I want to be seen? Or, maybe when I am browsing the web and I need to touch the screen I am doing that because I want to be seen, not because I'm looking at a Web page or my mail or something?

Thanks for clearing that up. Really.

[andrew @ May 10th 2008 5:08PM]

craig just got real mad about something that is not worth getting mad about

[CraigJ @ May 10th 2008 6:48PM]

Not mad at all. Just pointing out that Cal is a trolling flamebaiter.

[Josh @ May 10th 2008 8:22PM]

feel baited much?

[Cal @ May 11th 2008 11:39AM]

Actually I wasn't trolling or flamebaiting, my comment was based on my personal experiences. People I know with an iPhone often whip them out for no apparent reason to do something completely pointless, such as randomly checking wikipedia to see what happened on this day in the past (most recent occurrence of this). Also don't try to act like bluetooth or web browsing are anything special, people have been doing this kind of stuff on their phones (presuming they have a vaguely decent one) for years, yet they suddenly feel the urge to do so more once they get an iPhone...

I also find that most, emphasis on MOST, people who buy an apple product, such as the iPhone or iPod do so without even looking at the competition, but rather just seeing the marketing, the apple logo and the 'i' and instantly presuming that that is the best option. However I have to give credit the apple here for their very clever use of marketing. So that explains why I believe most people buy iProducts based on fashion or sheep-mentality, as for why the Zune is more about functionality, just go look at any Zune 2 vs this gen iPod.

[Nick Darveniza @ May 11th 2008 9:40PM]

If you've got it, flaunt it!!!
I'm proud to be one of the few Australians to own a Zune (I've got a Zune80), my friend being another one of a few - and my mum about to be another.
Everyone at school is like "WTF is 'dat?" and automatically says "My iPod is better" and then I show them the features and mention that the price is the same and they just walk away... just walk away...

[LJKelley @ May 10th 2008 3:01PM]

Yes, the ever sarcastic Engadget. 2 Million sold is 2 Million sold and I know where two of those are. And unlike Sandisk or Creative, Zune does not have 30 different models.

Now about the marketshare is it cumalative or current sales this quarter/year etc?

[Das @ May 10th 2008 3:01PM]

The 2.5 update is nice.
Why so sour Miller?

[007 @ May 10th 2008 3:27PM]

Nice? Its not nice at all. Zune sales are slowing, even after the new ones were released. This is terrible news for Microsoft and their plans of putting a dent in iPod sales.

Not to mention there isn't much more growth left in the overall PMP market. iPods have reached saturation and Apple so is creating a new mobile wifi platform with the Touch and iPhone to compensate.

[Das @ May 10th 2008 3:36PM]

I was merely commenting on how a software update which adds some nice new features didn't really merit the scathing tone of the article.

I'm not really sure why you're talking to me about sales figures, I didn't say anything about them.

[Andrew Danks @ May 10th 2008 5:43PM]

Why is your username 007?

[007 @ May 10th 2008 9:23PM]

Because I'm James Bond . . . Obviously.

[Abuzar @ May 11th 2008 1:07AM]

You should have said

I'm Bond... James Bond.

See now because you didn't say that you lost ALL credibility.

[MeatyPi @ May 10th 2008 3:05PM]

using the word "billionty" even while joking, makes the poster lose all credibility.

[CharlieX @ May 10th 2008 3:21PM]

...coming from someone with a pie as an avatar.

[Esat Dedezade @ May 10th 2008 3:35PM]

I like pie.

Apple, pecan, poontang....

*sigh* was never the same since you left Dwayne. Come back and then I'll start watching again.

[DP @ May 10th 2008 4:05PM]

Well done, Esat, well done.

[metal @ May 10th 2008 4:10PM]

I dont know why you've never heard of it. Its a perfectly cromulent word.

[Steffen Jobbs @ May 10th 2008 5:41PM]

The pie for your avatar looks absolutely yummy. Did you bake it yourself while updating your Zune?

[Ace b @ May 11th 2008 2:54AM]

Dude,pie is awesome.

Dutch apple pie is my fav.

Come to think of it,pie just might be better than Chuck Norris.

Praise Pie

[rv @ May 11th 2008 1:10PM]

Dude, dutch apple pie sucks. ITS DUTCH, and we are AMERICAN. AMERICAN AS APPLE PIE??? Hello? Only regular apple pie should be sold.

Seriously, though, dutch apple pie does suck. The crust is too sweet, regular is a lot better.

[Ace b @ May 13th 2008 1:56AM]

@rv

Well,maybe I like to have a near diabetic experience everytime I eat pie.

But if it's the american pie that is stuffed full of different kinds of apples,then I couldn't pass up a slice of that

And don't forget the caramel sauce on top...mmhmm.

[Andrew @ May 10th 2008 3:07PM]

I think marketshare stated in the article is cumulative. But agree with other posts, the iPod has had a longer life than the Zune so whoever has one will stick to the iPod - not much point of switching if both the iPod/Zune offer the same thing (give or take and completely personal preference).

[Cal @ May 10th 2008 3:09PM]

I'm sticking with my Creative Zen Vision: M until I see something significantly better or feel the need to upgrade, none of which have happened yet, but it's good to see the Zune doing pretty well

[mingistech @ May 10th 2008 3:19PM]

I've never seen anyone with a zune (seriously) ...

[jhoeforth @ May 10th 2008 3:26PM]

Then you need to get out more. Seriously.

[Eddy Alvarez @ May 10th 2008 3:29PM]

i have. keep an eye out. people with the zunes are usually ones with their hair well cut, close toed shoes, shirts/ties, and jobs involving science/engineering/medicine.

[sn1per @ May 10th 2008 3:55PM]

You mean people who are over 25, and who DON'T mooch off their parents?

[caleb @ May 10th 2008 4:05PM]

@Eddy Alvarez: Are you sure about that? It's certainly not who they're marketing to.

[Sam Zebian @ May 10th 2008 4:06PM]

Hey I've got 2 Zunes, and I see people with them almost everyday. I see about 2 new people every week in my school with one, and each week there will be another 2 people that get them (on average). I can already see their market share growing (at least in my school).. Hopefully it will be more like this in the rest of the world when the Zune goes global