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Microsoft Announces 2nd Generation Zune Music Player

I still wish iPod Classic had wi-fi and an online music store. There is no reason they couldn't get that simple iTunes music store to work on it. It isn't like it is impossible.

I think the iPod Classic will be phased out as flash drives get larger and cheaper.
 
yg17 said:
So before everyone goes off on an "OMG ZUNE SUX LOLZ!!!!" tirade, have you actually used a Zune before? Or are you just saying that stuff because Microsoft makes them?


I've never used a Zune, so I'll reserve judgement until I've at least touched one. And you should too, because you don't like it when Windows fanboys go "OMG MAC SUX0RS!!!!" when they've never used one
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I have used one.

The interface DOES 'SUX0RS!!!!'
 
mrkramer said:
I still prefer the iPod touch to these, but I would definitally consider one over a different iPod if they had OS X support. I think that these are the best competition to the iPods currently out there.
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I hate how people say that MS is the best competion for iPods in this market. They are the only competition that really markets their player, due in part they got some good amount of money to spend on marketing.

Lets see we have Creative Zen 16gig of flash, plus, SDHC support, so in theory 32gigs of flash, and very good sound from what I hear. Comes with voice recording, nice video support, drm-free AAC support and is priced competitively.

Cowon i7, UMS, and has many features, like voice recording(nice if you want to record lectures), line in, full range of video and audio suport and comes in 16gig. Cowon D2 similar feature expect it comes with a 2.5in touch screen, and in 8gig with SDHC support. Not to mention something like 50hours of battery out of it. And Cowon has fantastic audio quality.

Archos 605 wifi, comes in 4gig of flash with SDHC support, 30gig, 80gig or 160gig. 4in wide touch screen, records audo, and video(granted with a dock that cost extra), a wide array of codec support for video including h.264. Opera browser, and wireless syncing.

I can go on...

If the new Zune 80 is on par in terms of sound and video quality I may over look the fact that it does not come with divx, and ogg support and the fact that is has no UMS support either. Not to mention if this has a better screen than the Cowon X7(if that ever comes out), the next Creative HD player(if they make one) or if I can't wait any longer for a 16gig+ Samsung P2. Then again LimbMTP or whatever should be able to work to with the Zune. ATM
 
donlphi said:
I still wish iPod Classic had wi-fi and an online music store. There is no reason they couldn't get that simple iTunes music store to work on it. It isn't like it is impossible.

I think the iPod Classic will be phased out as flash drives get larger and cheaper.
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A fair assumption.
 
An earlier poster made a good point. Are we just saying the Zune sucks because it's Microsoft's product? Have we even used one? Since that point was valid I will give my opinions on why the Zune truly sucks even though I have never used one.

The business model for the Zune sucks. Why?

Wireless sharing. Share a purchased song with a friend (If you can find one with a Zune) and that friend can only play it 3 times before an annoying message pops up begging you to buy it. Stupid!

Zune Marketplace. You have to buy point style tokens that equal a certain amount to buy songs. Example, you want to buy a song for .79 cents, you use your Zune points to buy it, you will always have useless Zune points left over because Zune points round off to the nearest dollar. You can't just buy enough points to cover the .79 cent song. Dumb!

The Zune competing with the iPod for market share is in a much worse place than Mac OS X competing with Windows for market share so Microsoft ditching Mac support out of spite is again Stupid!

Advertising features that are unavailable. Microsoft wants to offer marketplace purchases through the Zune much like the iPod's new iTunes Wifi Store. Well the new Zunes don't do it yet but Microsoft is advertising it being a feature, again Dumb!

The iPod is the standard for car manufacturers, 3rd party companies making desktop speaker designs to accommodate iPods and there is so much more support for iPods. If anyone buys a Zune I feel sorry for your mistake.
 
I don't get it. Microsoft has intelligent people inside it. They see what Apple does. They work with technology. Why don't they make good products? It's as if they want to be laughed at.
 
So what's new about this version 2 Zune? Now Universal gets $2 for everyone sold. :)

I've used a Zune also and it's the SUXOR!

And I wonder if this new Zune will actually have support for uncompressed audio formats like the iPod?

MS's comment about how Apple doesn't know software like them on the Wired site is a joke. Unless they're referring to the fact that their goods in general are quite mediocre and usually a lackluster when compared to Apple's offerings.

<]=)
 
queshy said:
Lol, no point in putting in OS X support anyway.

Nobody with a mac would buy one!!
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I might, my ipod 5.0gen's harddrive is not doing so well, and im in the market for a new mp3 player. I im un-impressed with the new ipod "classic" and 16MB with the touch is not enough for me anymore. If the zune2 comes out soon (and I see reports that the firmware is not buggy :rolleyes:) I just might get it, built in tuner plus larger screen for the same price as the ipod 80gb. For me the zune2 looks more attractive then the new ipod classic. Im sure the zune will work fine via parallels anyways.
 
although not a music player.

i think a leopard release date would be the perfect thing to keep this zune stuff not so hyped.

although, its a zune. it wont get much hype anyway.:cool:
 
The only reason someone would get a Zune, from what I can derive, is because iTunes on Windows is absolute crap. All my friends who are power users on Windows absolutely hate iTunes. But they love their iPods. I don't know why because iTunes works great in Mac OS X. But they hate it. They complain about crashes, memory leacks, how when you try to quit it it stalls, etc. I wouldn't be concerned if it was just one but it's four different friends. So if there was a MP3 player out there that works even remotely as well as the iPod, they might just dump the iBandwagon and go with a Zune.

It's sad really. What makes Apple so great is that they make the software and the hardware. Something Microsoft has begun emulating.
 
Jade Cambell said:
I don't get it. Microsoft has intelligent people inside it. They see what Apple does. They work with technology. Why don't they make good products? It's as if they want to be laughed at.
Click to expand...

This is what my friends told me the other year about MS. He's done copy-writing for them: MS does in fact have loads of really smart people, but do to in house politics, good ideas generally get shot down by others that are fending their "look at me" space, or something along that line -- there's even signs up that try to detour this sort of thing in the meeting rooms. They also focus-group ideas to death, so even the best ideas that makes it through the onslaught of jealous nay sayers end up as a mediocre execution.

<]=)
 
arn said:
I find it very interesting that Microsoft went with MP3's for their DRM-free format rather than windows media.

Seems out of character for them.

arn
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That's probably because WMW-format have such a negative/copy protected image. It's better to sell MP3 format than try to convince people that these wmv's really aren't copy protected.

Well, anyway... I actually like the new Zune designs. A lot. Especially that harddrive-based Zune looks sleeker and more modern than iPod Classic. If it was available in 160GB format here in Europe, I'd probably buy it.
 
nato64 said:
The only reason someone would get a Zune, from what I can derive, is because iTunes on Windows is absolute crap. All my friends who are power users on Windows absolutely hate iTunes. But they love their iPods. I don't know why because iTunes works great in Mac OS X. But they hate it. They complain about crashes, memory leacks, how when you try to quit it it stalls, etc. I wouldn't be concerned if it was just one but it's four different friends. So if there was a MP3 player out there that works even remotely as well as the iPod, they might just dump the iBandwagon and go with a Zune.

It's sad really. What makes Apple so great is that they make the software and the hardware. Something Microsoft has begun emulating.
Click to expand...

My friend's rip on iTunes, but from personal experience it runs good on my XP PC "these days" and the same goes for all of the comps down at my friends agency. It does runs better on my Macs, mainly it's much faster, even on a slower CPU. But the only reason my long-time PC friends didn't like it, was because it loads background tasks like the iTunes helper. I've been a PC user longer than Mac user by over a decade -- 22 years now and I can understand where they're coming from, because 3rd party background tasks were generally the reason our PCs would crash during a game. iTunes like any application under XP, or now Vista I guess, will only run as well as the OS has been maintained. PCs need to be maintained and if one neglects this they can get pretty unruly. But at least they're not as bad as they were in the pre-Win2K-SP2 days. Nothing was more exciting than watching a friend reformat their comp for a LAN party, or even worse, when it was my system that decided to take a dump out of the blue.

Blah.

<]=)
 
From Microsoft's site:
Zune: Now in pink, red, and Halo 3 editions.

..HALO 3 EDITION? That green (sorta brown thing) is a Halo edition? This, for a device that has.. NOTHING to do with gaming?

..okay, Microsoft, it's okay *pats back*
 
I actually liked the brown Zune, I give props to Microsoft for hanging in there and trying still. They really need to get rid of the sharing limitations though, it's a tough battle to win against the record corps though.
 
Notice on the new Zune website that podcasts are called, well..."podcasts"?

Which is, in itself, an admission of defeat.
 
I wonder if Apple is going to pre-emptively offer a large price cut on their iPods like for the iPhone? Personally, I'm no a big fan of the iPod Nano or iPod Classic since their design seems to be kind of stagnating. I'm just waiting for the price of the iPod Touch to come done. A 32GB iPod Touch with WiFi N would be nice so I can run a pure 5GHz network.
 
Microsoft is not afraid of looking stupid. They should avoid looking like copy cats. Even if the Zune was appealing, I wouldn't carry around a device with that name! How much marketing money did they waste to come up with such a stupid name? Was it supposed to sound "young?"
 
And you thought the new Nano had looks issues...

Gee, these are especially ugly. No new features? Just catching up to the previous generation of iPod, not even equal to the new iPods?

And where did they get those colors? Well at least they got rid of the brown one. Having a Brown gadget that squirts (Microsoft's word, not mine!) is enough to turn off any buyer.

Welcome to the New Social! Same as the Old Social!

We won't get fooled again. Oh, no!
 
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