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Microsoft Launches Zune HD

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Angelchild said:
OLED screen are NOT better than LCD from the battery perspective and are bad with blacks if you are at open air.

Read this ---> From oled to tegra: five myths of the zune hd.

Oled, tegra, ecc..all things that are only marketing 'cause without "booming words" ms can not compete neither with its 1,1%.

Uh...and no real innovation.

In just one word: microsoft.
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Re the 5 myths appleinsider article. Very interesting read, thanks for posting!
 
Come on boys let them enjoy their new toy. Let them think it's better than ours. We know better but let's not spoil their big day today. Time alone will continue to tell the truth. Heck they may pick up 2.1% of the marketshare this time. Have fun with your Zune media player. Now back to my iphone 3gs
 
herbalizer said:
Someone tell me the "Marketplace" link on the home screen fits inside the screen? I thought that was just a problem with the non shipping version?

Do they take any pride in their work? That is unacceptable. No one noticed that and fixed it? What a bunch of hacks....
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They did that on purpose. That one doesn't make sense to me.

HLdan said:
I certainly don't mean to insult you in any way but what planet are you on??? Yeah, and rumor has it that Google Chrome is in the works for the Mac, well it's been how long now? Still now official release, we're talking about a simple browser here. Still, at least Google doesn't have anything really against Macs so that will happen soon enough....BUT...if you think for one minute that Microsoft is going to make the Zune marketplace or even allow the ZuneHD to run on Macs then you are on a different planet. ;). It ain't gonna happen buddy. Yes, MS is in a worse position and it would be to their advantage to take care of the Mac customers but they want to keep people on Windows and it's a very shameless attempt the way they do things to stick it to Apple's customers.
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You sound like the people who said that they would never make iTunes for Windows. It'll happen at some point.

And when you are proven entirely wrong...well, I'll laugh.
 
This is a big step for Microsoft. The Zune HD is a great device and it has everything going for it. I'm am however very disappointed that Microsoft still hasn't come out with a Mac version of the Zune software. If they did I would get this thing in a heartbeat!

Shame on all these fanboy comments. Competition is a GOOD thing guys. It will only lead to better products for both companies.
 
michial said:
Come on boys let them enjoy their new toy. Let them think it's better than ours. We know better but let's not spoil their big day today. Time alone will continue to tell the truth. Heck they may pick up 2.1% of the marketshare this time. Have fun with your Zune media player. Now back to my iphone 3gs
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Spoken like a true fa--Cul--evangelist... right.
 
Macjames said:
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Re the 5 myths appleinsider article. Very interesting read, thanks for posting!
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I also read that, it seems a little biased! Lets all wait for a real uninfluenced Review. If this turns out to be a good machine -> so be it! Competition on, can only be a good thing.

If it turns out to suck, we´ll enjoy quietly.

In the End the Market decides about FAIL n WIN. Not us Technerds.
 
To all those blindly posting the AI link and proclaiming it holy:

What are you going to say when/if an Apple device comes out using the Tegra processor and OLED screen?

"YESH YESH IT'Z THE BESTZ! WHOOO APPLE!"

Get over yourselves. Competition is good.
 
herbalizer said:
Someone tell me the "Marketplace" link on the home screen fits inside the screen? I thought that was just a problem with the non shipping version?

Do they take any pride in their work? That is unacceptable. No one noticed that and fixed it? What a bunch of hacks....
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I haven't seen the actual product, but it's definitely weird to see the "e" cut off like that in virtually every publicity photo. Perhaps a slightly different font? Maybe tighter kerning on the menu?

NT1440 said:
Its not a bug, its a style choice.
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Oh. Never mind. Interesting.. um.. style choice you have there, Haus of Ballmer.

Anyway, the next few months may prove interesting, as Apple reacts (or not) to this new competitor. I'm not a fan of subscription services, so at a personal level I'll pass, but time will tell if the Zune HD is indeed Crackalackin'.

(sorry, I can't help using that word whenever Zune is mentioned.)
 
I think it look quite nice. MS must make it different from an iPhone/iPod Touch aesthetically while maintaiming the same basic feature set hardwarewise and Ithink they've managed that quite well.

The big problem is that it's an Touch competitor released a few years after it's main rival and without any killer features to make it clearly more interesting than its counterpart. Apple has a similar lead in userbase in this field as MS has in operating systems and just like there but with the roles reversed, the gap will never be closed. At least not until MS releases something truly groundbraking which, given their track record, is unlikely to happen
 
Warbrain said:
You sound like the people who said that they would never make iTunes for Windows. It'll happen at some point.

And when you are proven entirely wrong...well, I'll laugh.
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Companies do things when theres a market for them. The reason why the Zune is so limited at this point (US/windows only) is because the demand is not currently enough to make it worth it financially.
 
Teh Don Ditty said:
How is it another step behind Apple? The Zune's internals are way ahead of Apple at this stage.
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Not exactly, the Tegra chip they use in the Zune HD is better than the iPod Touch 3rd gen/iPhone 3GS when it comes to graphics capabilities, but in terms of processing it is slower. It also may have bottleneck with memory speeds, so really only time will tell which offers the best real world performance.

The main point of this post is to say that I wouldn't go with a Zune HD just for the supposed performance increase. The main differentiator between the Zune HD and iPod Touch are the software's focus. iPhone OS focuses more on the apps while Zune focuses more on the media.

Then there is also the look of the device, it looks pretty solid and has a flat back which is nice if you are using it on a flat surface, such as a table. I also like the brushed aluminum which I kind of wished the iPod Touch would have switched to (Because right now it scratches so easily). But the Zune HD will be good for iPod users as it will give Apple some actual competition in the touchscreen PMP field.
 
I am sure it is a good product. However I don't a strong completive advantage over the iPod Touch. $10 bucks less isn't a huge price difference not enough to make it an impulse buy over the iPod. Sure a nicer screen however most people don't really watch movies on the iPod Touch nor will they on the Zune. It isn't about the quality of the display that is hindering it. It is that it difficult to hold the device in your hand and look at a 3-4 inch screen for 2 hours.

As for apps you need Developers! Developers! Developers! Most of the iPod touch developers are actually iPhone Developers thus you get more serious development for the platform. As you can have a iPhone for Business Reasons while an iPod Touch is just for fun. Even the game developers realize that if you have a business reason for apps you will also want games for your down time.

For the Zune HD to succeed it will need to be priced around $100 area and/or Have superior features not just incremental ones over the iPod touch.
 
Consultant said:
Yeah read AI and other sites.

The author of that article has his own site, which also explains other MS fails:
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/



You know why? Because the faux "HD" marketing term and U.S. only (non HD) technology will get shut down outside of U.S.

Read the myths article to see the full explanation.
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Ah...explains a lot. Have to say after reading the article i am not so keen anymore.
 
NT1440 said:
Companies do things when theres a market for them. The reason why the Zune is so limited at this point (US/windows only) is because the demand is not currently enough to make it worth it financially.
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I think you missed the point. There's no reason for them to not tap into the additional 8% that is the Apple market.

NT1440 said:
actually, no, squirting is dead.
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That's a shame. Why'd they have to cut it's balls off?
 
jellomizer said:
I am sure it is a good product. However I don't a strong completive advantage over the iPod Touch. $10 bucks less isn't a huge price difference not enough to make it an impulse buy over the iPod.
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10 bucks less for double the capacity? That's great if you ask me.
 
To those of you saying that your ipod touch already as "the equivalent" of HD radio...can you please tell me how that is?

Unless you're in a hot spot, you can't stream audio from the internet. I am considering one of these if they make it mac friendly. That's the only thing keeping me from replacing my aging 3.5G ipod with one. How exactly do you listen to internet radio with an ipod touch when you're driving?

oh you meant iphone? well I don't want to double my monthly phone payments, thanks. believe it or not, lots of people use their phone for making phone calls, and try to avoid monthly service fees as much as possible...

I would put it in my car and use the HD radio of the zune HD instead of replacing the radio in my car with an HD one, which at present would cost at least as much as a zune HD (which is insane, by the way). It would be very nice to be able to listen to my local NPR talk channel on something other than AM...

Add to that the 720p output and it's pretty tempting...it must work with itunes, or at least quasi-work with itunes, though, for me to buy one...
 
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