Microsoft considers a Zune Pass price drop
By Ross Miller 
posted May 27th 2010 7:27PM
posted May 27th 2010 7:27PM
posted May 27th 2010 7:27PM
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Zune Pass is the best deal honestly in the US. If they want to bring the price down. By all means
@AlienSix
It's gonna be very nice to have along side with Windows Phone 7
@AlienSix
+1 I love the Zune Pass, great way to discover new music. If they give it to me for $5 less, even better.
This. As long as they keep the actual service the same, this may be the thing that pushes me to buy a WinPho7 phone. I love what I've seen of android, but windows phone keeps looking more and more appealing.
@AlienSix
Um ... if we all say that the Zune Pass is the best deal around, wouldn't that make Microsoft say ... "Hey, maybe we don't need to lower the price after all."?
If they brought this down to $10/month plus ten songs, I'd get it immediately.
@AlienSix This could be a pre-emptive move against Spotify (Premium) or any potential Apple streaming model. The cheaper music streaming gets the better.
@AlienSix Napster is better. £5/month ($7.30) but you only get 5 mp3s/month instead of 10.
@AlienSix
It really is the best deal. I listen to a lot of music (Over 200gb on my home machine) but I never have been able to carry it with me because no one makes an mp3 player that big. With the Zune Pass and wifi tethering on my phone, my Zune HD gets all the music I could want, anywhere. It's amazing.
@AlienSix I was always skeptical of subscription music plans; even when I decided to get a Zune HD after my last iPod, I thought I would probably only subscribe to ZunePass temporarily and then give it up. I guess I objected to the idea of "renting" my music and not owning it. But I haven't looked back since. I love ZunePass and I love my Zune HD.
All that said, a cheaper plan would great!
@AlienSix
I have no problem with the $15/mo for my 4k+ songs.
A price drop would just make it that much better.
@MrArmageddon I almost can't imagine where MS gets the profit out of this thing, really it's such a great deal already that I've been using it for 2 years straight.
@AlienSix
I didn't even know this service existed! I may have to give it a try...
@AlienSix
Zune Pass is a great deal as it is.
What happens to people who have purchased Zune Pass subscription cards, are they just screwed?
@AlienSix
Best news today for me!
I loved it during the free trial for my zune hd. Now, I have to actually find songs elsewhere... which is a pain.
Please make this happen!
@CaramelZappa Can you tell me how you set up the wifi tethering with your phone? I have an HTC Touch Pro through Sprint. I have a program to turn my phone into a router, but it's an Adhoc network which the Zune HD doesn't support.
Thanks in advance for your help. I have long been searching for a solution to this!
@boardryder4
Can't help you with your HTC. I have the Palm Pixi Plus and it comes with a wifi hotspot app that lets me open either an open or a WPA/WPA2 network. Both of which work with my Zune. For some reason it won't work with my DS though. The DS will connect to it and the immediately disconnect.
@d0mth0ma5 I bet they are doing this because of that news about Apple inching with them on Stocks. Hopefully, they'll improve the Zune 64. http://bit.ly/zunehd-64-series
@AlienSix I wish they'd make it available outside the US.
Can Microsoft really afford this right now.
Who am I kidding Microsoft wasted money on building the Zune in the first place, because it doesn't compare with the Apple's iPod in sales worldwide.
@frod27 maybe cuz U cant buy Zunes outside US
@frod27
"Who am I kidding Microsoft wasted money on building the Zune in the first place"
People buy and do have Zunes, so its not a waste
@nk You may have a point there.
@frod27
The Zune is a waste? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! NOT!
@frod27 yea I think I do, cuz personaly Im still waiting for zune to come to my country and if it doesnt (and iPod gets a nice OLED) I'll get an iPod.
@AlienSix I take it that you have a Zune. Well it better be the Zune HD and nothing less. Because the rest are nothing compared to the iPod. But don't get me wrong I adore Microsoft more than Apple. I'm a Windows 7 user, and used to be a Windows Vista and XP user too.
@n8equalsd Well come down I'm just saying there are better media players out there than the Zune
@nk Since when can't you buy it outside of the states?
@frod27
As far as media capabilities the Zune is far better than the iPod. The software is far superior as well.
@Crahzee Since Microsoft started rolling out Zunes in the conveyor lines.
@Crahzee
As far as I know the Zune was never released outside of the US, likely due to not having their music store setup for international purchases.
@frod27
The Zune HD is so much better than the iPod. The reason the sales are lower is because the Zune is only sold in the US & it wasn't/isn't marketed (at all) as strongly as the ipod was/is.
@frod27
When the Zune was in Canada, despite the lack of Zune marketplace (hence why they pulled off (I guess they were unable to make a deal with the music industry).
I love my Zune. As an old iPod user, I am very happy with my Zune. Yes it's a brick, yes there is no Zune marketplace. But the software is greatly superior than iTunes in term of quality, navigation, and responsiveness, and the device provides a noticeable better sound quality, thanks to it's better sound chip compared to the iPod, wireless sync with the computer, better headphones (yes you can replace them, but take in consideration that the Zune was actually cheaper than the iPod). And like the iPod it has great controls.
I love my Zune 120, and if I had to choose between an iPod Classic, iPod Nano, and Zune (ignoring disk size), I would still purchase the Zune.
Oh the Zune works great outside in the hard cold Canadian winter, whereas the iPod can't (controls don't work, and it creates humidity when you go outside for a while and inside due to condensation, causing the iPod to break much faster. No issue with the Zune. My guess, from what I saw when I opened my old iPod Nano, is that the circuit board uses low quality soldering where it rusts, and that some circuit are made on a super thin plastic sheet whereas it's all circuit boards on the Zune (other than the HDD, it explains the thickness)
Now I can't comment on the Zune HD, but knowing that Tegra has a lot of features built-in one chip, and newer wireless chips are smaller, I can imagine causing no problem.
@frod27
I just want to remind everybody here that ALL ideas have to start somewhere. And those ideas usually start off very small in comparison to the ultimate potential it has. There IS a building process that needs to happen.
I mean... you take a look at Apple 20-30 odd years ago, they had nothing! No real mainstream presence on any front. Just because you don't have a significant existence in an area YOU believe in doesn't mean you should immediately stop pursuing it. If Apple had of done that (or any other company that is well known for producing a certain line of product), goodness knows where the world would be at now. But they kept going... they kept building!
The point I'm trying to get across is, Microsoft may not have any where near as much popularity in the portable/freedom business as Apple does with it's iPhone/iPod lines... but give it time (as with anything). You'll start to see the fruition of their hard work, with more and more people gradually taking interest in not just what Apple has to offer, but what Microsoft has with it's Zune platform.
Why? Because they're both being real to themselves.
@frod27
Just to let you know, the reviews say that Zune sounds slightly better than an iPod, which again brings iPods to the bottom of the table in terms of sound quality. I have a 32GB iPod Touch and 2 generations of Shuffle. I can attest to this fact that iPods are abysmal in Sound Quality. I use my iPod Touch for 20 alarms in the morning (the best alarm clock i ever had) while I use my Sony Walkman as an mp3 player. Shuffles are being used as pen drives!
@frod27
nickleback sold 30 million albums worldwide. does that make them a better band?
@n8equalsd I could not agree more I had never used an iPod prior to the 6 month stint I had with an iPhone. I fired up the music player on the iPhone and immediately said WTF is this shit when I saw the interface and functionality? My circa 2004 Creative Zen had a better UI and it was f'n monochrome.
As long as they don't drop the features and flexibility along with that price (2 devices, 3 computers all on 1 account, plus the keep 10 songs a month). Cheaper is not necessarily better.
@smakus What if they were to remove the 10 song deal and make it $5/month?
@TSSaloic
They should make tiered pricing:
$5 for unlimited streaming and give the ability to create playlist online and stream them in the browser and phone.
$10 for unlimited download and streaming (maybe 5 free songs).
$15 adds the 10 free songs.
I'd like to see free music videos.
@WixosTrix Honestly it's such a great deal that even just $10 a month unlimited streaming/10 songs a month would be enough for me as long as the 2 devices, 3 computers stay the same. Hell I'm happy the way it is, you don't even have to change it MS.
International Availability and a consistent $10 per month subscription...
Then you can count me in...
That's an odd quote...
@DefusedHero It sounds like they a-quoted a-Mario: "it'sa very definitely a-challenging a-business."
@DefusedHero When did Mario quit Nintendo and decide to work for Microsoft?
like
considers buying one
"it's a very definitely a challenging business." - makes sense
*strokes HD in suggestive manner*
I like the sound of this
@KeegdnaB I can choose between two mental images: an evil mastermind, or a... well, a Zune stroker.
you pay less here and more there