Microsoft Launches Zune HD

[seedster2]

typical fanboy bashing ensues...

I have an ipod touch already, but I can still give the Zune HD credit. It trumps the touch on numerous levels. If Apps aren't your primary concern, Zune seems like the better choice. It's not a crime to enjoy a product not made by apple. It's a corporation, not a family/cult.

Members here blindly attack MS products without even having used them, pick and choose excerpts from biased articles while ignoring others, state subjective points as fact and contrive spurious statistics,e tc. You would swear SJ has some of you on the payroll. Different strokes for different folks

Best part is when apple adopts some of the same advancements, the same opponents will suddenly transform to proponents and claim innovation...It's quite entertaining. It's no wonder the device is windows only. Why bother with some of you wackadoos

 

[CQd44]

I want one.

Anyone wanna buy me one? :]

 

[$ahil]

got one tuesday

it is pretty awesome i love it. Although it is missing some things I wish it had that iPod Touch has such as a dedicated e-Mail app which checks all your e-mails at once. but other then that if you like HD radio and music the OLED screen is very sharp to look at.

both iPod touch and Zune HD are great players

 

[ob81]

I have an ipod touch already, but I can still give the Zune HD credit. It trumps the touch on numerous levels. If Apps aren't your primary concern, Zune seems like the better choice. It's not a crime to enjoy a product not made by apple. It's a corporation, not a family/cult.

Members here blindly attack MS products without even having used them, pick and choose excerpts from biased articles while ignoring others, state subjective points as fact and contrive spurious statistics,e tc. You would swear SJ has some of you on the payroll. Different strokes for different folks

Best part is when apple adopts some of the same advancements, the same opponents will suddenly transform to proponents and claim innovation...It's quite entertaining. It's no wonder the device is windows only. Why bother with some of you wackadoos

Yeah that innovation thing has always been weird to me. Earlier though, most apple users were closed to anything else. When Apple did it, it was their first exposure to it. Great job by Apple if you ask me.

I think the Zune looks pretty decent. That is about all I can say since I haven't actually used one. Some people have this power to know about a product without trying it.

 

[inkswamp]

To ME, how it is viewable in the sun isn't going to sway my purchase.

It barely matters to me too. I wouldn't base my buying decisions on that. I don't even think that would make the top 10 list of my concerns in a media player.

The main reason I'm asking for someone to produce such a shot is more out of technophile curiosity than looking to declare a winner. I've heard so much hype about OLED in the last year or so (and not just in regard to the Zune.) There's something of a mythbuster-ish interest to me in hearing about its downsides.

 

[Macminiintel]

According to Cnet

Regardless of how you're trying to navigate, the on-screen keyboard seems to require more finger accuracy than the fault-tolerant keyboard on the iPhone (probably because of the smaller screen). The back button is hard to hit--I kept selecting the favorites menu by mistake. Sites are also considerably slower to load than on iTouch, and the resolution doesn't seem to be nearly as good as the iPhone or iPod Touch, with a noticeable flicker on pages with white backgrounds.

Source:http://news.cnet.com/8301-13526_3-10354240-27.html

 

[DMann]

Another recent commentary for the Zune HD based upon the CNet review.

For anyone who feels that the Zune HD has been slighted around here, be sure to check out all of the Reader's Comments below.

 

[BongoBanger]

Another recent commentary for the Zune HD based upon the CNet review.

For anyone who feels that the Zune HD has been slighted around here, be sure to check out all of the Reader's Comments below.

Mac Daily News?

Oh dear.

Why does it matter to you if the Zune HD is a nice piece of kit and gets favourable reviews? Pogue - who is a strong advocate of Apple - gives it a glowing review whilst pointing out the obvious problems with the ecosystem and why the iPod Touch will, of course, outsell it by a considerable margin.

It seems your agenda is "if it's Microsoft it must be bad" which is sad really because this market actually needs a competitor as witnessed by the, frankly, disappointing updates to the Touch. If there's no competition then where's the incentive to improve.

For example, the iPhone - which is an awesome device - gave the smartphone industry the massive kick in the pants it needed other wise we'd probably all still be using yet another version of a slider phone. That's what competition brings.

So why the desperate need to rain on the parade of a device which has generally had very strong praise from all sides of the divide? Is it because it has the word 'Microsoft' on it and that alone?

Whatever. It doesn't really matter I suppose. Everyone has an opinion after all.

 

[DMann]

Mac Daily News?

Oh dear.

Why does it matter to you if the Zune HD is a nice piece of kit and gets favourable reviews? Pogue - who is a strong advocate of Apple - gives it a glowing review whilst pointing out the obvious problems with the ecosystem and why the iPod Touch will, of course, outsell it by a considerable margin.

It seems your agenda is "if it's Microsoft it must be bad" which is sad really because this market actually needs a competitor as witnessed by the, frankly, disappointing updates to the Touch. If there's no competition then where's the incentive to improve.

For example, the iPhone - which is an awesome device - gave the smartphone industry the massive kick in the pants it needed other wise we'd probably all still be using yet another version of a slider phone. That's what competition brings.

So why the desperate need to rain on the parade of a device which has generally had very strong praise from all sides of the divide? Is it because it has the word 'Microsoft' on it and that alone?

Whatever. It doesn't really matter I suppose. Everyone has an opinion after all.

My, aren't we overreactive? I simply posted MDN to illuminate the fact that the readers' comments there were far more scathing than those posted here. Do you also have a problem with CNet? Seems you'll soon be running out of acceptable sources altogether.

 

[MorphingDragon]

Europe/Oceana release???

 

[xIGmanIx]

It barely matters to me too. I wouldn't base my buying decisions on that. I don't even think that would make the top 10 list of my concerns in a media player.

The main reason I'm asking for someone to produce such a shot is more out of technophile curiosity than looking to declare a winner. I've heard so much hype about OLED in the last year or so (and not just in regard to the Zune.) There's something of a mythbuster-ish interest to me in hearing about its downsides.

i can understand that, however most folks on this forum only believe that innovation comes from the folks at mapple They should change their slogan to Apple, an Iphone company

 

[surferfromuk]

Mac Daily News?

Oh dear.

Why does it matter to you if the Zune HD is a nice piece of kit and gets favourable reviews? Pogue - who is a strong advocate of Apple - gives it a glowing review whilst pointing out the obvious problems with the ecosystem and why the iPod Touch will, of course, outsell it by a considerable margin.

It seems your agenda is "if it's Microsoft it must be bad" which is sad really because this market actually needs a competitor as witnessed by the, frankly, disappointing updates to the Touch. If there's no competition then where's the incentive to improve.

For example, the iPhone - which is an awesome device - gave the smartphone industry the massive kick in the pants it needed other wise we'd probably all still be using yet another version of a slider phone. That's what competition brings.

So why the desperate need to rain on the parade of a device which has generally had very strong praise from all sides of the divide? Is it because it has the word 'Microsoft' on it and that alone?

Whatever. It doesn't really matter I suppose. Everyone has an opinion after all.

Here is where I must step in again.

Microsoft ARE bad. They have too much money and too much market share and no real competition. Ideally they won't use all their money to try to destroy Apple (like they did to so many others by stealing a market they never created and will do to Nokia and Yahoo on top of Novell and the open source community through their crafty deal making.)

Before your shotgun response of carefully researched rebuttals - please read the site below carefully - especially the convictions for astroturfing. You should know exactly who your championing here (since we've established your not getting paid for it though I'm certain many in this thread are )

http://boycottnovell.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

If Microsoft were a fair and decent company and won by innovation, hard work and fair play I'd celebrate everything they did - I'd even give the Zune HD a pat on the back - but we all know that just isn't so - this thread alone proves MS Standard operating procedure is back in play - and we all know that as soon as they get total control nothing different ever flourishes again.

50% of the reason I buy Apple is to avoid a stagnant monoculture.

 

[BongoBanger]

My, aren't we overreactive? I simply posted MDN to illuminate the fact that the readers' comments there were far more scathing than those posted here. Do you also have a problem with CNet? Seems you'll soon be running out of acceptable sources altogether.

I have no problem with CNET at all. You could, of course, have linked directly to CNET rather than MDN because, as you know, CNET has a number of opinions and reviews on the Zune HD, some positive some not. MDN does not.

It's called 'being objective'.

Now, a few other things since we're talking about objectivity...

Yet you erroneously and haphazardly deemed Daniel Eran Dilger responsible for the writing in question

Daniel Eran Dilger is Prince McLean. It's a nom de plume he uses.

If anyone "has lost all perspective and credibility and is little more than an embarrassment," that would be you. The great extent of derisive and pejorative finger pointing emanating from you, is quite hypocritical, to say the very least.

Really? Let's see what I said...

I take the point about OLED screens but would point out that the examples given refer to first generation low nit screens (the N85 series 1 is a 170 nit screen - the series 2 replaced it with a superior 300 nit model).

Dilger's argument is spurious until we know the specifications of the Samsung AMS326FA05 display the Zune HD uses. I'm guessing it's a second generation screen but let's wait and see.

So here I acknowledge that low nit OLED screens do have issues with direct sunlight whilst raising the point that the second generation OLED screen with higher nit vaules are far less impacted.

You would agree that's a reasonable thing to say, right? Although it seems Dilger does not.

See the thing is I didn't even point out the most ludicrous comparison that Dilger made in the article - the comparison of a Tegra running Quake 3 to the Pandora - not the iPhone 3GS - in which he seems to forget to mention the Tegra demo is running at WVGA resolution (800 x 480) and has AA and AF on whereas the Pandora is running at about a quarter of the resolution with AA and AF off.

Here's a link to what happens when Pandora actually tries to run Quake at the same resolution with AA and AF on:

http://openpandora.wordpress.com/2009/03/06/quake-2-is-warming-up-to-the-pandora/

The key point is:

800×480 with sound 689 frames, 21.6 seconds: 31.9 fps

And this is for Quake 2 not the more graphically intensive Quake 3 which the Tegra is running.

You do see the problem, don't you?

Which is why Dilger has no credibility left.

Nuff said.

Here is where I must step in again.

Microsoft ARE bad. They have too much money and too much market share and no real competition.

As do Apple in the PMP sector which is why we should welcome competition.

I know the evils of Microsoft. That doesn't excuse the evils of others nor is it an automatic indicator that everything they do is wrong.

 

[macintoshtoffy]

Zune HD doesn't look too bad; its a shame that Microsoft refuses to support the Mac or sell it in New Zealand.

Once again iPod Touch wins again because Microsoft is too bloody lazy to do the bare basic of winning me over as a customer.

 

[MorphingDragon]

Zune HD doesn't look too bad; its a shame that Microsoft refuses to support the Mac or sell it in New Zealand.

Once again iPod Touch wins again because Microsoft is too bloody lazy to do the bare basic of winning me over as a customer.

I might have to make that import number 2.

 

[MH01]

I played with one last night as we were putting them up on display... It's a POS. I hated it! The screen is jumpy, it doesn't actually have HD onboard, you have to output to an HDTV. Once again Microsoft Over promises, and under delivers. I wish they would do the world a favor and just make par for the course office software and gaming systems. Leave the rest of the tech market to organizations that know quality and design.

Interestingly enough, I gave a customer who had told me he wasn't on the iPod band wagon, and was waiting for the Zune HD, the opportunity to play with the device last night... He handed it back to me and said, "It's not what I expected. It's way smaller, and feels cheap. Let me see the iPod Touch". Needless to say, he walked out with an iPod Touch 16GB in hand.

You do not get the concept of HD video do you? So you are disappointed that the zune does not show HD720 video on its little screen??? Learn to read mate and it will all become clear, it might even make you a better salesman.

 

[KnightWRX]

Members here blindly attack MS products without even having used them, pick and choose excerpts from biased articles while ignoring others, state subjective points as fact and contrive spurious statistics,e tc. You would swear SJ has some of you on the payroll. Different strokes for different folks

Members here blindly praise MS products without even having used them, pick and choose excerpts from biased articles while ignoring others, state subjective points as fact and contrive spurious statistics,e tc. You would swear BG has some of you on the payroll. Different strokes for different folks.

Works both ways buddy.

 

[MacMonster1985]

Well I see a lot of Apple fanboys here have an Xbox 360. I am constantly amused by their hate of MS and their hypocrisy when buying a Xbox 360 as well as other MS products like keyboard and Mice.

 

[clevin]

Again, the iPod Touch is wider because it has a higher resolution screen. Didn't we already cover this ? Same ppi with more pixels, better resolution.

Notice however that the iPod Touch is indeed thinner. The iPod Touch could also be thinner and have the same width as the Zune HD if Apple had sacrificed screen resolution to do so.

I prefer Apple's decision in this regard. More pixels = more resolution = more stuff on screen at one time = better.

I found it amazing you kept making a judgment without really trying both. and Since when more pocket friendly size itself worth nothing anymore?

and you are making a statement assuming ppl looking at the screen for games or webs all day long, how exactly "ZUNE HD is a PMP" doesn't register to you? You can prefer iPT for the games or other stuff that need wide screen, just like others can prefer ZUNE HD for its nice pocket size. whats wrong with that?

Your statement falls into that suspicious of remarks, "whatever apple's products do are good, whatever apple's products don't do are useless and not important". I can't believe this kind of biased attitude is actually so widely spread, even in your statement?

when accusing other people, aren't you doing the same? not to mention I, personally, didn't make a judgment on the resolution, and I wont until I got my hand on it.

My, aren't we overreactive? I simply posted MDN to illuminate the fact that the readers' comments there were far more scathing than those posted here. .

people who read MDN and RD are not just any "readers", they are zealots.

Now, back to topic, here are two video of browser speed side by side (ZUNE HD and iPT), its not mine, my tests are still to come.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHjN5bLrxiE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKgGmLZiajA

its only two websites, looks like iPhone is significantly faster in one, of course, do withhold your conclusion until more tests are out. Its unwise to make conclusion with two brief tests.

EDIT: ignore the first video, the guy is testing the crunchgear with iPhone has the cache already, its stupid and obviously not fair.

EDIT two, the original poster mentioned he tested CNN and Yahoo as well, and ZUNE HD is faster by "1 second". http://www.zunescene.mobi/forums/index.php?topic=48506.new#new

 

[kurosov]

Yeah that innovation thing has always been weird to me. Earlier though, most apple users were closed to anything else. When Apple did it, it was their first exposure to it. Great job by Apple if you ask me.

I think the Zune looks pretty decent. That is about all I can say since I haven't actually used one. Some people have this power to know about a product without trying it.

Well i can base my decision without having to use the product for four reasons.

1. recently got a 3gs and i am not looking to buy a pmp.

2. I use a mac so the zune is as good as a brick to me.

3. i live in the UK so even if i was to import one then one of the 'awesome' features just wont work.

4. I think it is ugly. Simple reason but one that is important to me.

Now, if they bothered to release it in the UK, with or without DAB support (i don't listen to the radio when i have last.fm in my pocket) then i would certainly try one out at a store to see how well it runs but if im not in the market for anything new then i wouldn't buy one.

That is one problem the zune HD faces. They will have to try and gain sales from people who have never bought a touch/iphone because those who have will not easily throw away access to apps they have purchased and would sooner upgrade to a newer touch if anything.

Im guessing most people who havn't bought a touch already made that decision because they do not want a device with its feature list and as such would not be interested in a zune.

Well I see a lot of Apple fanboys here have an Xbox 360. I am constantly amused by their hate of MS and their hypocrisy when buying a Xbox 360 as well as other MS products like keyboard and Mice.

Maybe because instead of being apple fanboys they are just people who think this product sucks?

 

[KnightWRX]

I found it amazing you kept making a judgment without really trying both. and Since when more pocket friendly size itself worth nothing anymore?

and you are making a statement assuming ppl looking at the screen for games or webs all day long, how exactly "ZUNE HD is a PMP" doesn't register to you? You can prefer iPT for the games or other stuff that need wide screen, just like others can prefer ZUNE HD for its nice pocket size. whats wrong with that?

Your statement falls into that suspicious of remarks, "whatever apple's products do are good, whatever apple's products don't do are useless and not important". I can't believe this kind of biased attitude is actually so widely spread, even in your statement?

when accusing other people, aren't you doing the same? not to mention I, personally, didn't make a judgment on the resolution, and I wont until I got my hand on it.

If all I needed from such a device was a PMP, i'd buy a 100$ refurb Nano. The big seller for the iPod Touch and devices like the Zune HD is wi-fi Internet on the go and the apps.

And seriously, both are crap. 480x320 is 3 years ago in terms of technology. Devices on the horizon are now pushing 800x480 in the same format as an iPhone.

So no, I'm not biased towards what Apple makes. I'm biased towards screen real-estate. If I'm supposed to use these devices for some kind of mobile computing on top of media playing, I want all the screen real-estate I can get.

I don't need to use the devices to know that more pixels = better. And I doubt the Zune HD is so much more pocket friendly than the iPod Touch or vice-versa. They are both pretty much on par, it's not a mm here or there that's going to change that. Again, I was just pointing out to you, my biased pro-Zune HD friend, that the iPod Touch is not fat compared to the Zune HD like you claimed it was.

Who is more balanced between you and me ? You who keep drilling that the Zune HD is a great devices, better than Apple's ? Or me who keeps telling you both have advantages over the other and that in the end, your personnal needs dictate what you will get ?

The only anti-Zune comments I have made here have been in reply to false claims like "The Zune HD has better resolution than the iPod Touch" or "the Zune HD is much thinner, so it's better"!

 

[MacMonster1985]

Its about the industry, entirely related. If your looking for an echo chamber go somewhere else.

Because macrumor posted about Windows 7 released which is industry related as well. What about all the hardware releases from different PC manufacturers which compete with Apple? Oh wait... for some strage reason macrumors decided to post only about the Zune HD.

 

[clevin]

If all I needed from such a device was a PMP, i'd buy a 100$ refurb Nano. The big seller for the iPod Touch and devices like the Zune HD is wi-fi Internet on the go and the apps.

And seriously, both are crap. 480x320 is 3 years ago in terms of technology. Devices on the horizon are now pushing 800x480 in the same format as an iPhone.

So no, I'm not biased towards what Apple makes. I'm biased towards screen real-estate. If I'm supposed to use these devices for some kind of mobile computing on top of media playing, I want all the screen real-estate I can get.

I don't need to use the devices to know that more pixels = better. And I doubt the Zune HD is so much more pocket friendly than the iPod Touch or vice-versa. They are both pretty much on par, it's not a mm here or there that's going to change that. Again, I was just pointing out to you, my biased pro-Zune HD friend, that the iPod Touch is not fat compared to the Zune HD like you claimed it was.

Who is more balanced between you and me ? You who keep drilling that the Zune HD is a great devices, better than Apple's ? Or me who keeps telling you both have advantages over the other and that in the end, your personnal needs dictate what you will get ?

The only anti-Zune comments I have made here have been in reply to false claims like "The Zune HD has better resolution than the iPod Touch" or "the Zune HD is much thinner, so it's better"!

every review I see, even those are hostile to ZUNE HD, praises its pocket size, you just need to feel it in real life. In the already small size gadget category, a little can be a lot more than you think.

and You are telling both have advantages and in the end people's personal preference would dedicate which is better for them? Sorry, I dont buy that, maybe you intended to say that, but I got no feeling of you saying that in recent posts. Otherwise, there would be no disagreement and no argument at all.

edit. no, Im going to take above statement back, whatever you said previously, the sentence you uttered here is absolutely fair and correct, I have no disagreement on this.

To talk about balance, sorry Im human and so are you, I need to respond to more people than you, and I dont fault myself for sometime mixing up the response. Obviously, I dont fault you for reading my post feeling like Im responding to you alone sometimes, which is probably not the case.

Fair, I'm, balanced? why asking me? there are overwhelming hostile attitude towards ZUNE HD here (which is fine and expected), and Im not making anything up. facts are there, just that people choose not to see, while I put it up front. facts has no bias.

 

[celtikmind]

1. recently got a 3gs and i am not looking to buy a pmp.

How does this promote or demote the Zune as a product exactly? Wouldn't this make you rather opposed to any newer pmp surfacing than one you recently bought? i.e. recent buyer's partiality syndrome.

Just sayin'...

 

[kurosov]

How does this promote or demote the Zune as a product exactly? Wouldn't this make you rather opposed to any newer pmp surfacing than one you recently bought? i.e. recent buyer's partiality syndrome.

Just sayin'...

I did state they where reasons why I, as in just me, talking about myself, would not buy a zune.

And the fact that i used the term 'pmp' and not zune does indicate that i meant them all. The zune fits into the category of "all".