iPod iPod Owners Willing To Switch To Microsoft Zune!?

[lmalave]

And you think MS's DRM will be any better?

One thing that the MS world has that the Apple world doesn't have is a subscription service. Something like RhapsodyToGo was a brilliant idea, except that the DRM was too buggy. Since Microsoft controls both the hardware and the software in the Zune, though, that should make their subscription service run more smoothly.

I wish iTunes would get a subscription service already. I think the "but I want to own my music!" argument is so stupid. I mean, I *want* to own 100x as much music as I can actually afford, and subscription services let me download as much music as I have hard drive space for!!! (even more with Rhapsody, since you could flag songs as "streaming only", which means you only store a URL to the stream).

I mean think of it this way: would you prefer to own a bare-bones 17" iMac, or rent a maxed-out 24 " iMac indefinitely for $20/month? *That's* the kind of value that subscription services are offering. More music than you could ever afford, for the price of one decent restaurant meal a month.

 

[ClassicFitness]

One thing that the MS world has that the Apple world doesn't have is a subscription service. Something like RhapsodyToGo was a brilliant idea, except that the DRM was too buggy. Since Microsoft controls both the hardware and the software in the Zune, though, that should make their subscription service run more smoothly.

I wish iTunes would get a subscription service already. I think the "but I want to own my music!" argument is so stupid. I mean, I *want* to own 100x as much music as I can actually afford, and subscription services let me download as much music as I have hard drive space for!!! (even more with Rhapsody, since you could flag songs as "streaming only", which means you only store a URL to the stream).

I mean think of it this way: would you prefer to own a bare-bones 17" iMac, or rent a maxed-out 24 " iMac indefinitely for $20/month? *That's* the kind of value that subscription services are offering. More music than you could ever afford, for the price of one decent restaurant meal a month.

And when you stop giving your monthly payment to M$, what will happen? They will take back all your songs and you'll be left with nothing.

This "but I want to own my music!" like you mention earlier, is not that bad after all. And yes I prefer own my 17" imac then rent a 24'' who won't be mine.

 

[milo]

I'm probably going to switch. I'm tired of iTunes, I'm tired of Apple's DRM, I'm tired of AAC, I'm tired of paying a jillion dollars for a silicone case because it's for an iPod, I'm tired of paying $10+ for movies in such low quality I wouldn't burn them to a DVD if I could because it's too difficult to rip my own, and I'm tired of needing a mac with handbrake just to get videos because videora fries my computer.

I don't see how the Zune is going to solve most of those problems. Drm, a mandated software app, proprietary file format. And movies for zune won't be available to buy *at all*. At least not for a while, and it would be silly to buy a video player before knowing what will be available. As for making your own, has MS given specifics about what video formats are supported and what apps will convert to them?

I'm pretty skeptical about this poll, depending on how you phrase the questions you can get people to agree to just about anything.

 

[redbandit]

Touch strip vs. Scroll Wheel.

You can't make GUI with out UI.

 

[stainlessliquid]

Then why did you since you said you don't need/want pictures and movies in their current required state of quality aren't up to your personal standards?



Well if you only want to listen to music and not buy anything from iTunes then there's nothing preventing you from staying with the iPod and moving on to something else. But if you want to use the iTunes Store your only legal purchase is that of an iPod.

This is a quite simple decision you know? There's no reason to make it into a big deal.

I bought the 3G years ago, back then it was the best mp3 player around, so it was up to my standards for UI and looks. The current gen iPods are very far from reaching my standards for a UI. Im not going to pay 250 bucks for a color screen and a click wheel since thats really all that has changed since the 2G. I think the black iPods are the best looking so far, but like I said earlier I dont think the Zune is bad looking enough to buy an iPod over it. iTunes was also another factor for getting the iPod, I HATE with a PASSION the Real Jukebox and anything else from Real, I also hated all those other stupid programs for music management that mp3 players used, iTunes was by far the best. By looking at the Zune software it looks like real competition for iTunes, if not better, so I'm not so worried about losing iTunes.

Ive only bought like 3 songs from iTunes too, usually iTunes doesnt have the music I want anyways. I hate DRM so I wont be buying music from Zune Market either. What I would love to do with iTunes is buy/find music from other countries, I would deal with DRM for that.

The decision is simple for me, I want a revamped "OS" for my mp3 player. Apple thinks their UI is good enough to last 5+ years (this reminds me of something.... oh ya, Windows XP). The Zune offers a truly modern and majorly supperior GUI (the black one doesnt look too bad to boot either). If Apple doesnt break out of this laziness slump theyve been in and offer something different with their next iPod then Im getting a Zune. I probably wont get a Zune for awhile just so I dont kick myself if Apple does come out with something better, but Im not waiting much longer than after new years.

 

[esabourin]

I own a 80GB White Video
My Sister owns a 1g 4GB Black Nano
My Mom owns a 30GB Black Video
My neighbours have iPods
My Best Friend has an iPod
Half of my class has an iPod
67 000 000 peopls have an iPod (according to wikipedia)
Zunes are gunna suck,,and once people realize that it does, nobody will buy them,

 

[Stridder44]

Some of you consider MP3 players that have FM tuners in them. Isn't that the reason that you got an MP3 play in the first place, was to get away from crappy radio??

Wifi? It would be cool if they didn't limit it.

Subscribtion Based Services? You like renting your music instead of owning it?

And finally, accessories. Good luck finding any accessories for non-iPods (even one's that have been out for a while).

 

[Stridder44]

I mean think of it this way: would you prefer to own a bare-bones 17" iMac, or rent a maxed-out 24 " iMac indefinitely for $20/month? *That's* the kind of value that subscription services are offering. More music than you could ever afford, for the price of one decent restaurant meal a month.

That isn't even relevant. Computers go out of date over time. Music doesn't work like that. Try again.

Also, as soon as you stop paying the subscription fee you can have fun deleting all the dead files, which used to be songs, off your HD. Then again, not all of us pay for music...

Making monthly payments is better than owning something outright? You might have bad financial management skills.

 

[SkyBell]

But will M$ make the Zune compatible with OS X?

 

[SMM]

Anyone who knows statistics would have to laugh at the stupidity of that story. The only thing I did not hear was "..but wait, that's not all. Order now and..."

 

[IlluminatedSage]

BS Explained: Are 58% of iPod owners really thinking of a Zune switch?

Recently ABI Research conducted a survey where it touted that some 58% of iPod users would consider a switch to a Zune within the next 12 months. The tagline has been passed around online.

At face value it raises an interesting question. Are iPod users as loyal as the Apple faithful? The younger, hipper adoptees of the iPod are fickle. They could ditch the device just as quickly as they took it up and made it the 'it' digital device of the last several years.

However, looking carefully at the study's methodology, worries about the iPod's marketshare diminishing drastically are set aside in favor of questions about the study itself. Dig this: the number was reached by showing participants a picture of the Zune media player and then "other competitive media players" and being asked if they would pick the Zune.

The specific mention of an iPod is not in the language. Tell you what, show me a picture of a Zune next to a turd and I'll be 100% likely to indicate a Zune preference, but it doesn't mean I'm going to buy one. We'd like to see a little more detail about the survey in question before panicking just yet.

Although Apple-faithful can always get riled up by negative information, more ripping apart of the horrible methodology of this survey can be found in the comments at Mac Daily News, the iPod Observer, and Ars Technica's forum which provides a run down of the dodginess of the survey. This is not a reason to worry about iPod sales just yet.

Tobias Buckell is an author, freelancer, and professional blogger who owns stock in Apple.

http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2006/11/08/are-58-of-ipod-owners-really-thinking-of-a-zune-switch/
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Interesting article. in the press release on the study and the associated Zune PR, they make the most of the flawed study results. Microsoft. eck!

They want to lose money on Xbox and now try to kill Apple's Golden Halo.

 

[Kolind]

It's 58% of iPod users who considers buying a new mp3-player within the next 12 months - not 58% of all iPod owners.

 

[IlluminatedSage]

i can't explain the obvious lunacy here. but if apple wants to keep their market share. they better come with the ipod cell phones and a real video ipod.

 

[Meatball]

That's complete tosh! No more needs to be said really

 

[Maccus Aurelius]

I have a question. Does anyone know if the Zune will even be compatible with OS X? The software interface is a big deal to me, and iTunes is the best i've ever used. Sonicstage was tolerable, but rather cruddy in comparison. Whatever Microcrap comes up with will probably be a parody of sorts to iTunes, but if it doesnt even work with a mac on OS X, why would it even matter? People are obviously going to buy zunes, but I find the likelihood of people going from iPod to Zune rather slim, even people considering buying a new player anytime soon. And if the Zune doesnt work on a mac, obviously the vast majority of them are out of the question. who wants to dual boot for a music player?

and to respond to "Brown is the new white" i read in an article about the Zune. I see crack is more popular than ever.

 

[WildCowboy]

This survey was previously discussed here.

 

[Kolind]

I just thought the Zune would work with Windows Media Player like iPod/iTunes - but now that I think about it, I don't actually know for sure

 

[balamw]

I just thought the Zune would work with Windows Media Player like iPod/iTunes - but now that I think about it, I don't actually know for sure

It has its own app and does not use WMP according to all the reports I've seen.

B