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Microsoft Announces 2nd Generation Zune Music Player

iMac: Introduced October 26, 1998

I seem to remember after Apple started pumping those suckers out the iWhatever trend started to happen more and more. So I guess what I'm try to get at is that iRiver may have derived their name from that...

Any ideas here?
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I seriously doubt iRiver is named afer the iMac. I was working in Apple in Cork when we first started manufacturing the iMac, expectations were very low amongst the management. It wasn't referred to in the most flattering terms.
Even the Mac community was polarized.

It would be some time before the success became apparent, so why would a company name itself after it. Decided on a company name and implementing it isn't something that can be done over night.
 
benfilan said:
i wouldnt buy one, but it looks good. i'm kinda sick of all these iPod derivitives tho..... big screen, roundish click wheel...blah blah....:rolleyes:
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Good point. Out in the real world, whenever consumers are standing in a shop and wondering what to buy for their daughter's birthday, they'll be saying to themselves "oh, it looks like an iPod, it costs the same as an iPod... but it's not an iPod. I'll buy the iPod."

People think Microsoft can compete in this space because they dominate in another. That's just not they way the world works.

If they'd really wanted to compete – last year – with such an extraordinarily entrenched market leader, Microsoft should have done something radically different from the iPod.

Like, I dunno, a touch screen music player.
 
flopticalcube said:
Yeah, that sux. But WiFi syncing and a DRM-free store (or rather a store with some DRM-free songs). Apple will have to up the ante on the next gen.
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Oh, and God yawned. iTunes already has some DRM-free songs. And you're right: WiFi syncing! You just haven't lived until you've sync'ed 6GB of swapped out music and video via WiFi to a mobile device and it's appropriate mobile-powered processor. Or, rather, you have lived a long, long, long time. Good luck with that. Just gotta squirt those wild tunes all over the two other people in a 1,000 mile radius who own Zunes.? Sync up WiFi style before heading out to work in the morning. But how you gonna pay for those fly tracks? You just lost your job *again* because you were three hours late *again* waiting for your Zune to sync.

Love the new slogan, though: Zune 2. This time, an even bigger flop.
 
So the Zune supports AAC, H.264 and the mp4 container format, but Windows Media Player 11 support none of those. I don't get it.
 
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 agree completely. This seems like a competent update to the Zune, and just from its improved looks it seems that it could gain market share. It's no more the ugliest MP3 player on the market.


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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Definitely - but they're seeing the light. They're seeing how to embrace what others are, and that's going to be good for all of us. The more stores selling DRM free MP3s the better. And they've probably done it so iPod users are tempted to use their store for purchasing music ;)

ajhill said:
Windows Vista is an abortion! Retailers are flocking back to XP!
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Surely you don't mean abortion. Vista wasn't terminated before birth. Retailers are selling more XP boxes, because it's known, it's stable now, and Vista is different. People don't like change. However, XP won't be sold after January 08.. So Vista sales will pick up.

Loge said:
Still no plans to sell outside the US, or did I miss that?
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Apparently not. I'd quite like to see how they sell over here, or at least see one of these new ones so I can pass judgment on it.

elgruga said:
LOL! Oh yeah, I cant WAIT to get a zune-touch-zphone running vista!
That will be a REAL pleasure.....!

All the OTHER phones run linux and symbian and M$ and they are all CRAP - or do you like to spend an hour sending an email from your phone and then finding that it sent the attached photo in 12 pieces (motorola RAzr for example) I kid you not.
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You obviously haven't used the latest Windows Mobile smartphones. They're good. I'm not sure whether to take the plunge and go for an iPhone when they arrive here in the UK, because my current WM5 phone is great. Never had an issue with it. - And everyone I know who's got one (even Apple nerds) love their WM5/6 phones.
 
These are actually quite attractive and certainly better than the first gen. They're slowly catching up.

I haven't found the recent iPods as far ahead design-wise as my old 3G was at the time it came out. The touch/iPhone is nice, but somehow looks a bit cheap to me - if somebody handed me one and told me it was a Samsung or LG device I'd probably believe them (until I turned it on...)
 
Say what you want, but I would rather have a 80GB Zune than an iPod classic. Apple really needs a hard drive based player with a larger screen. They blew it this holiday season.
 
Does the Zune flash player do video>

Have not seen that feature mentioned. If not the new Nano will crush it.

I think the AAC and H264 support will help make these the new video standard for TV shows and the like.

Holy ShXt! No more brown Zune. (I just had to say it) :D
 
Kipling said:
If they'd really wanted to compete – last year – with such an extraordinarily entrenched market leader, Microsoft should have done something radically different from the iPod.

Like, I dunno, a touch screen music player.
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Good point. All these efforts of MS to enter the filed that absolutely foreign to them just seem ridiculous. I think the problem is that Ballmer contradict himself. He stated many times that the field of hardware is a mess, competition is very strong and margins are low, and MS doesn't interested in it. On the other hand they entered in this weird project with Zune. Anyway - if they want to pull significant marketshare from iPods they should to make product with same performance and pretty lower price. BMO, Zune 80 GB could have a chance with 190$ price tag, big screen is a nice feature. Nano could be priced no more than 100$ for 4GB and 120$ for 8GB. Otherwise no one will buy it, except MS fanboys and Apple haters
 
sanford said:
You just haven't lived until you've sync'ed 6GB of swapped out music and video via WiFi to a mobile device and it's appropriate mobile-powered processor.
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Do you routinely do that? What I (and most other, I would assume) do is that I make one initial sync that moved the library over to the iPod, and after that I just make incremental syncs (few songs at a time). WiFi or even Bluetooth would be more than enough for that.

You just lost your job *again* because you were three hours late *again* waiting for your Zune to sync.
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If you really want to sync lots of stuff fast, you could always use the cable....

Is it just me or are you desperately trying to find things to dislike in the new Zune?
 
nagromme said:
Wireless sync might or might not need user intervention to trigger it... but it won't do much for your battery. You're still going to have to plug in to charge.
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I guess you charge, then you sync, then you charge again :D
 
The new halo 3 edition allows you to squirt at your enemies ;)
Microsoft will create a very competitive product in some time. I can cleary see that they are on their way improving. The good thing is that they are rolling up the market from behind. Far behind. That is way they are keeping up. Maybe one day Mircosoft will learn that having a Good sync software is more worth than any hardware feature.
I for example love to see my calendar and contacts on my iPod. Something microsoft is lacking..
 
Yuppi said:
The new halo 3 edition allows you to squirt at your enemies ;)
Microsoft will create a very competitive product in some time. I can cleary see that they are on their way improving. The good thing is that they are rolling up the market from behind. Far behind. That is way they are keeping up. Maybe one day Mircosoft will learn that having a Good sync software is more worth than any hardware feature.
I for example love to see my calendar and contacts on my iPod. Something microsoft is lacking..
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Exactly. I have Sansa, it's a great player, but syncing it to Windows Media Player is a real mess. Every time I create a new playlist, I should restart the program. Sometimes I can't delete the song via WMP, and I should to make it manually, directly from Sansa' flashcard
 
bigandy said:
You obviously haven't used the latest Windows Mobile smartphones. They're good. I'm not sure whether to take the plunge and go for an iPhone when they arrive here in the UK, because my current WM5 phone is great. Never had an issue with it. - And everyone I know who's got one (even Apple nerds) love their WM5/6 phones.
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I cant agree with this. At my office, I do not know anybody who loves their WM phone. The hardware is fine. The OS UI is horrid.
 
Evangelion said:
Do you routinely do that? What I (and most other, I would assume) do is that I make one initial sync that moved the library over to the iPod, and after that I just make incremental syncs (few songs at a time). WiFi or even Bluetooth would be more than enough for that.



If you really want to sync lots of stuff fast, you could always use the cable....

Is it just me or are you desperately trying to find things to dislike in the new Zune?
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This isn't "Microsoft sucks". I loved my 360 until it died due to blast-furnance defect and Microsoft wouldn't fix it under their extended warranty. So, okay, Microsoft does suck. But I still love some 360 games, even if the hardware is trash. But now that they might have a cooler-running model hitting store shelves; I might drop another $400 on a 360 if I think it will last. Maybe today even if it quits raining and the near store has the right lot numbers. If they make a worthwhile product, even a flawed worthwhile product, I'll buy it, Microsoft logo on it or not.

This is "Zune sucks." Because Zune sucks. It's not iPod-ism or Apple-ism. It's that the Zune sucks. I don't have to try and find things to dislike in the new Zune. I keep tripping over them. There is a reason Apple won't implement WiFi sync'ing on iPods yet. It would take a software engineer maybe two seconds and a doughnut to couple the sync layer with WiFi as connection type on network media layer.

A few songs at a time... Say, a couple albums? 25 songs? Call it 128kbps at an average 5MB per song, sums up to 125MB. This is not raw theoretical 802.11g throughput standing a foot from the router (are they g? You'd think they're g, we'll say they're g not b-only). This is not even practical maximum 802.11g throughput. This not even a file-copying procedure at the practical maximum -- which, by the way, try: 125MB takes a bit. This is sync'ing between an embedded-processor device with a proprietary file system and a computer. It's messy. It will take forever and rain the battery.
 
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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Yes i have used a Zune before and have been entirely and utterly disappointed. It really does suck.
 
I wonder if people will be attempting to hack the new Zune and put 3rd party applications on it. And if they do, will they complain if Microsoft attempts to prevent that from happening?
 
sanford said:
A few songs at a time... Say, a couple albums?
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Do you buy that much music between syncs? I plug my iPod to my Mac just about every day, at most I move over 1-2 podcasts and maybe 1-2 songs. And when I plug in the iPod, I usually use the computer for several minutes, and in that case even Bluetooth would be fast enough to sync that content over.

25 songs? Call it 128kbps at an average 5MB per song, sums up to 125MB. This is not raw theoretical 802.11g throughput standing a foot from the router (are they g? You'd think they're g, we'll say they're g not b-only). This is not even practical maximum 802.11g throughput. This not even a file-copying procedure at the practical maximum -- which, by the way, try: 125MB takes a bit.
Click to expand...

Using WiFi, 125MB would take about 25 seconds. How would that work? Well, I could start the computer, and start the sync. I would then start to head out the door, and by the time I close my front-door, the sync would be finished. With a cable, I would have to wait by the computer until the sync is finished.

And, at least Zune offers this feature, whereas iPod does not. Don't like wireless syncing? Then don't use it, and use the cable. That way there would be no real difference between the Zune and the iPod. As far as syncing goes, the Zune offers all the features iPod does, while offering something extra that iPod does not offer. Doesn't that mean that as far as syncing goes, Zune beats the iPod?

This is sync'ing between an embedded-processor device with a proprietary file system and a computer.
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And it would be radically different if you used a cable? Why?
 
Even if the Zune had many more features than the iPod, it wouldn't have that 'je ne sais quoi'.

People don't just buy an iPod for it's features, or lack of features. People buy them because 'iPod' is synonymous with MP3 player. It's a brand thing.

Apple iPod and Microsoft Zune. Even if you'd never seen the product, you'd bet the Zune wasn't the cool one.
 
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