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Microsoft Announces 2nd Generation Zune Music Player

phytonix said:
I did not like Zune.

But when iPod classic was released, I knew Apple would be ashamed. And now it's the time. Don't think Apple has got iPhone and iTouch and it's okay. It's not okay. iPod classic is the biggest disappointment.

Also for the flash based Zune. The screen is smaller and yet has the same resolution? Didn't Apple say it used the most dense screen?.
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a 160GB iPod is a disappointment? It's a product that knows what it is, nothing more. I have a classic and it acts like every other iPod I've ever owned (every gen since they were released). It stores ALL of my music (finally) and a TON of my TV shows. I would HARDLY call that a disappointment for those of us who have one.

As far as Apple saying it used "the most dense screen." They said it was the sharpest screen "they ever shipped". Take your FUD elsewhere.
 
what happened with the nice brown one?

hehe i liked the brown one.... it reminded me to something every human produces when they eat something.... :eek::rolleyes:
maybe this time the selling will go better with the "nicer" colors...
 
So where are the specs for these?

Screen resolution?

Aspect ratio? Is it 4:3 or widescreen?
 
At least things are getting better. This is what MS should have released the first time, not that embarrassment they put out last year. I don't see anything terribly compelling about these, aside from having coupled a device with enough storage to run video with a larger screen to watch it on (I still don't understand the Classic/Touch dichotomy), but at least it's a viable player now.

Their marketplace is likely to become more competitive as the labels try to prevent Apple from gaining too much power. Apple's going to have a tough few years. I think Universal was the first in a series of plays to undermine Apples rising dominance of their distribution. Given the choice, they'd much rather play with MS who values their partners above their customers, because they know the customers will come anyway.

And I just can't help but comment on the fecal fetish at Microsoft. It's like someone said, "Well, we're making a baby Zune so we need a baby poop color to match...".

Any indication of whether the red Zune is a Product(RED) Zune? If it's not, I think they should get clobbered for it.
 
phytonix said:
I did not like Zune.

But when iPod classic was released, I knew Apple would be ashamed. And now it's the time. Don't think Apple has got iPhone and iTouch and it's okay. It's not okay. iPod classic is the biggest disappointment.

And iTouch is also a very limited device. You can't even input calendar. However because iTouch has wireless and is running Mac OS X, it is possible for Apple to add wireless sync function to it without problem.

But the memory...

Also for the flash based Zune. The screen is smaller and yet has the same resolution? Didn't Apple say it used the most dense screen? Zune seems denser.
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The classic is nothing really special externally, since it's pretty much the same 6 year old design, but the specs are phenomenal, and with the recent firmware update, it's a really solid offer. 160GB and 40 hours of battery life are nothing to scoff at. Feature by feature comparisons aside, this is a pretty big real-world attribute, at least for me.

As for the touch, I'm still racking my brain as to why calendar input is THIS important. After using the thing, I've decided that its storage (which is actually the best flash capacity available on the market for a good price today) is the only reason I'd not get one. When the capacity gets higher, it will come closer to fully phasing out the classic altogether.

I think people should at least appreciate the fact that there are some unavoidable trade-offs with these devices. If the touch came with a hard drive, it would look more enticing, but would have terrible battery life and less durability. Without the classic, Apple would essentially abandon power users that have extremely large libraries, since they can't just go to a device that is well below their mobile load.
 
Well, not too bad on M$'s effort. Apple has locked up the next three years of what M$ could do with their patent-whoring. Now, that being said, I have been worshiping at the Church of Jobs since I played PoP off of floppies on my Quadra 6-10, so I am a huge Apple whore. I've been all Apple all the time, even during the dark days when the stock was $20. Now, it's $158 and I'm loving it. Here's how Apple could absolutely own the world:

*Put ALL, literally ALL they can into the Wireless bid with the FCC
*Win bid
*Switch to a total cloud model
*Tell AT&T to go to hell
*Use the spectrum they won to make a lovely VoIP model for use with their iPhones
*Add wireless store to every single product.
*Tell Record Labels that unless they want to go DRM-Free, Apple will have to negotiate with artists directly and/or alternate labels
*Be able to (example) be able to download a song on my iPhone, bounce it to iPod touch or download a TV show on Apple TV and see it anywhere over-the-air television can be found now...as in all over (at least the US).
*$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$--------> The Bank

Hypothetically:
*Skip trouble in Europe, rent/buy/launch a Satellite service to extend cloud all over the world.


Apple is now in the clear.


Or, even if Apple crashes and disappears... Zune will still be ugly as hell. M$ tries soooooo hard and fails with nearly everything. Mmmmmm Apples.
 
I love the new Zune. Not the looks, I think it very extremely ugly. Not so much the interface. I love the Zune because maybe it will take over a good chunk of Apples market share. This would be the best thing for us, the consumer. The more pressure MS puts on Apple, the better Apple has to be to stay the top dog.

I have been very disappointed with Apple as of late. I love the itunes store but they continue to loose major labels. I hate that NBC is no longer on there. The whole iphone fiasco has been a joke. Apple released a cutting edge product that could be so great, but they are so concerned with making money the wont let nobody else put any apps on it. Then they make me pay full price for a phone then tell me I have to sign a 2 year contact to use it. I'd be fine with that if they gave me a discount on the phone.

It just seems to me Apple has forgot something in the last couple years. They forgot the apple fans. I love Apple, always have. A huge fanboy. But it seems Apple just doesn't care anymore. I just hope MS will wake up Apple and make them remember why they have such a loyal fan base.
 
nacengineer said:
I grant to you that an iPhone is buggy but it IS a gen 1 product and its a phone! It has useful everyday functionality that hands down other products in its class don't currently have... at least not yet. I think the Zune is missing the target here by copying instead of differentiating.
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excuse can be find for anything! did you read the post I replied to? He argues M$'s windows is the reason for all the crashes of apps, and he accuses most apps on windows crash, and what do you say to that?

1st gen is an excuse. fine with me, how about billions of people are using windows, countless hackers are trying to break in windows as an excuse for some crashes on windows? not to mention what he said is just outright lies.

He argues iTunes' crashes on windows is not iTunes' fault, rather, its windows fault, let me know what do you say to that.
To extrapolate an iPhones bugs to Tiger on the desktop/laptop is just plain wrong. Just like it would be wrong to compare Windows mobile to Windows on a desktop/latop. Plus your generalizations are just plain wrong. Some background... I have used windows for over 15 years and OS X for about 4. I prefer OS X because it is designed better and I'm an engineer but I will defend M$ too in certain areas. I'm not just talking out of my a$$ but instead speaking from experience.
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I didn't extrapolate anything. simply saying apple's product isn't as solid as he regarded. anything wrong with that? which one of my examples of apple's product being not-so-solid are extrapolation?
First kernel Panics! Are you F'in kidding me? Those are rarer than diamonds. I've had 3 in the 3 years I've owned my two macs. (And have never had one on any of my linux machines.) And I've never had one that wasn't a direct result of me doing something incredibly stupid (like accidentally unplugging an external drive that I had forgot I had booted from.) Safari does crash on the iPhone but it doesn't on the desktop. That's an uneducated statement.
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I would like you to read his original statement, if he can discuss about windows on a topic about ZUNE, whats wrong with my statement?
you have 3 kernel panic in 3 years with your mac? fine, I have none. so? I have none blue screen with my windows too, that means anything to you?
And to generalize that all other companies can make good products on Windows and Apple can't? Are you seriously saying you have 10,000 software products on your windows machine? I have Safari Beta on Windows and iTunes on Windows and both products are great. Maybe not as great as Jobs would have you believe but I feel they're on par with the other windows programs. In fact Safari Beta even adds a lot of functionality that IE lacks (CSS 3, color profiles) which is really nice IMHO.
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well, if the original discussion is why iTunes are such a crap on windows, what do you want me to say? do you actually read the post I replied to?

they are on par with other windows programs? which one, lists please
Reality check here, first removing the big platform agnostic products (Office, Adobe, etc) from the equation, the other software I have on my mac is infinitely more useful than the other software I have on my PC.
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wow, Im glad office and adobe are useless to you, how about DVDshrink, total commander, irfanview, winamp, foobar, picassa, filezilla, foxreader, ....maybe infinitely useless to you, but infinitely useful to me.

goto www.download.com Im sure you can find something might be infinitely useful, on windows.

also how about all games, im sure you don't play, but Im sorry they are important to many people too.
Oh and BTW even M$ has trouble making great software on a PC... i.e. Vista, Office '07. Software is just hard to make... period.
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ha, whats wrong with vista and office 07?
Mac developers have it a lot easier because of XCode and they use this to an advantage. PC developers have a lot more work cut out for them and I feel their pain. To rip Apple developers is blatantly wrong and tells me you've never used other Apple products... Skitch, Acorn, Picturesque, Coda, CSS Edit, VisualHub, etc... low cost alternatives to the big software... the other mac software is awesome and awesomely useful too.
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yeah, I guess my intention was to say apple's developing team are crappy that they can't write good app on windows. any problem?
Seeing as how you repeatedly use lol in your posting should I extrapolate you probably don't have to worry software (other than games) after your current class assignment is done?

:apple:
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indeed. Im going to high school at age of 29. congrats for your research skill.
LagunaSol said:
As far as Google Maps go, it's entirely logical that Apple withhold some features from the iPod touch to keep it from cannibalizing iPhone sales (from which Apple not only makes money on the hardware, but on the calling plans as well).
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indeed, isn't that an obvious contrast to what M$ did for their users?
 
TheBonk said:
hehe, another thing the iPod has an advantage over the Zune on. iPods work on both Macs and PCs. :D
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Yeah but neither work on Linux, or any os for that matter, whch all UMS mp3 do. advantage there goes to UMS devices.

Stella said:
Increased competition is welcome, even if it is microsoft. It raises the bar and will encourage Apple to do what they do best - innoviating. The iPod Touch was nice ( although, flawed in many ways ).
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Well they are the only one actually marketing their products(other than Apple that is). How many times have you seen or even heard of Toshiba, or Samsung showing ads for their nice mp3 players. Never tv and rarely in print. It gets people into store, to check to see what the ad is about and from there they can look at what is offered.
 
PuppyLuv said:
I'd rather buy something unique than something nearly every teen in America has. I'm not saying anythings wrong with the iPod, I like it, bit its too mainstream for me..
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You need to look at Cowon devices my fellow mac user. There products are more feature filled and better in many ways than the ipod can be. Plus its battery life on some of their devices put others to shame.
 
suneohair said:
Wrong. Price point is not a necessary condition for comparison. Features are. If a lot of the match up, there is no reason you can't compare. And you bet your behind people will be comparing them and the Zune will be winning in many cases.
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i dont think you get it.... the zune is competing with the classic, not touch
 
Or you could get something like this:

Click.jpg

8 GB, plays all formats, FM tuner, 25 H battery life. Wide touch screen devices are not per se an Apple invention.....
 
I think this is a solid update for the Zune lineup. I know I would be down for wireless syncing on my iPod. I don't care for wireless purchasing as much as I do wireless syncing (just my personal opinion).

Not that anyone cares but I may pick up one of the flash based models and give it a try. I never did buy a Nano and I don't like the new fat ones.


EDIT: Just noticed no OS X support, boo! That might be a deal breaker for me.
 
gkarris said:
Interesting how MS is keeping the 30Gig Zune for $199. All that $199 gets you from Apple is a tiny screen and 8Gigs...
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And yet, the tiny screen and 8 gigs will vastly outsell the bigger screen and 30 gigs at the same price point. And it happened before when apple had nanos and "classics" at the same price point.

Some people are more interested in smaller size than bigger screen or bigger capacity.


I disagree that the zune is only competing with the classic and not the touch. It competes with both in different ways, some it comes out ahead, some behind. It's definitely a nice sweet spot for people who want bigger screen AND more capacity, although that market may be more interested in 160 gigs instead of 80. And I honestly think that market isn't that big and probably shrinking all the time, most of us have figured out how to use smart playlists.
 
Analog Kid said:
Any indication of whether the red Zune is a Product(RED) Zune? If it's not, I think they should get clobbered for it.
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Why? What says that anything red has to be Product(RED)?

Their pink one isn't for breast cancer awareness or the Susan Komen foundation either, should they be clobbered for that too?
 
>>Honestly, if a brown Zune squirts...

Well its been said that the brown Zune™ has the Hershey® squirts...:eek:
======
Microsoft wants Zune to be No. 2
Overhaul offers features Apple's iPod lacks

Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Last updated 8:48 a.m. PT

By TODD BISHOP
P-I REPORTER

Microsoft Corp. is pressing forward in its attempt to challenge Apple's iPod -- overhauling its Zune music player, adding new features and filling out its lineup with a smaller model.

The changes include capabilities that the iPod doesn't have, such as wireless PC synchronization. But analysts say the Zune revamp, by itself, won't be enough to move Microsoft out of Apple's shadow in digital music.

"It's a great player -- for 2006," said Matt Rosoff, analyst at research firm Directions on Microsoft. He said the improvements put the company "where they probably should have been last year, when they launched."

However, Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division, said he believes the changes could make the company No. 2 in the overall market for portable music players and move it toward a stronger position long term.

"It sends a very clear signal in the marketplace that we're serious about it," Bach said in an interview. He said people will ultimately see that "this is going to be an Apple-Microsoft thing."
 
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