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Zune 2 on Tuesday?
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Nah, Bakelite - like the old rotary dial phones. They'd be an inch and a half thick and weigh half a kilo or more.
Phono out, you'll need a pre-amp to hook it up to your stereo and it puts the pops and scratches into the mp3 files you put on it.
Knowing MS they'd put an accelerometer into it to compete with Apple but it will make the player skip if it's thrown off kilter.
Says it's not available and even then, why would you pay $349 for a 30GB player the size of the Zune when you can get an 80GB iPod for the same price.
Microsoft really is the biggest monopoly I've ever seen, is there any market they won't leave alone/rip off apple?
there are bigger monopolies, and it is questionable if MS still is one anyway.
At anyrate I am glad MS is competing... or at least *trying* to. I hope they do a little better this time, real competition for Apple can only mean good things for us, whether it is cheaper iPod or iPods with more features. I think after seeing the iPod Touch get features removed we can all agree that a little pressure on Apple might be a godsend.
I wonder how many zune points admission will cost? --))))
A very stupid purchasing system. They need to switch song purchases to real money and trash the zune points! Not that that will help much--))))
The new buzz word that will replace squirt is leak.
You will now have the ability to leak your music in any zune bathroom of your choice for only 15 zune points per leak!
Microsoft is releasing things on Tuesday now? They are going over board with coping Apple here...
I also can't believe they are releasing another Zune already. They don't even have them in Canada yet!
The Stig
I also can't believe they are releasing another Zune already. They don't even have them in Canada yet!
The Stig
I wasn't aware there was a Zune "scene", much less enough of one to warrant an entire website being erected in its honour as a gigantic brown monolith.
Completely agree. The value of "Points" could change at any time for all we know, so if you buy a decent amount in advance, they may be worth less than they were when brought them when it comes time to spend them.
Maybe all the new Zunes will be "internationalised" (i.e. non US).
Has anyone seen a Zune in the wild? I never have....
Now think about how many iPods you've seen in the wild.
I knew a girl with a Zune. She asked for an iPod for Christmas and her dad bought her a Zune. He said he'd heard it was "all the rage" or something. That sounds about right... She still doesn't seem to have figured out how to get videos on it.
Now that's just sad.
My dad has this story that when he was about twelve, he wanted to learn how to play the trumpet. So he asked his parents for a trumpet for christmas, and they got him a cheap toy trumpet; the kind designed for like a four or five year old, that won't produce anything like a trumpet sound.
Your Zune story reminds me of that story. Give that girl a hug.
Funny thing about this "Killer" terminology. MS Silverlight is being touted as a "Flash-Killer" but I just don't see it. I tinkered with it, but it just wasn't there.
It's as if MS' new business model is to let other companies innovate, then come along with a half-baked variation and call it the "xxx-killer" and then hope past successes will make people believe them. But the market, the whole software and doo-dad market, has been slipping away from them for so long, that they haven't figured out that they can't just call something an "iPod killer" or a "Flash Killer" and it becomes so. It has to actually BE an "iPod killer"
Anyhoo, I briefly considered a Zune when they first came out, but then I found out that they are not compatible with either Macs or Canada, so since I'm doubly excluded from their target market, I simply don't care whether its good or bad, since they don't care to sell to me.
That actually sounds kinda cool
you're right, wood is the new plastic.
no, seriously, products made in wood have a special feeling to them, and are not that bad at all
No Zunes here in Canada yet. First time I saw one was when I made a road trip to the States recently, and browsed an American Wal-Mart. The price had just been dropped like $50, and all of the Zune accessories were on the clearance rack.
The OP claims Microsoft has a 10% share in the HDD-based mp3 player market. Can it really be that high? Are they maybe referring only to the American market? For the Zune to have captured 10% of the worldwide market when it's only available in the US would be very impressive indeed. (Or is Microsoft playing sneaky again, using "10% of the market for 30 gig hard drive players in the USA that are available in brown"?)
As for copying Apple and releasing on Tuesdays, that seems sensible from a marketing point of view, not simply copying Apple because "well, Apple does it, and they're cool, so if we do it too..." If they're trying to steal some of the Apple thunder, releasing their products on the same cycle makes sense.
As for why the MS hate, they have a proven history of saying, "No! Wait! Don't buy our competitor's products! We've got something even better, that's cheaper, and just a few days away... just wait, you'll see!" and then releasing a late, underwhelming product -- but not before the damage is done to the rival company. It's fun to watch them flailing after decades of causing harm to other companies in the same fashion. Schadenfreude, just deserts, whatever you want to call it.
The OP claims Microsoft has a 10% share in the HDD-based mp3 player market. Can it really be that high? Are they maybe referring only to the American market? For the Zune to have captured 10% of the worldwide market when it's only available in the US would be very impressive indeed. (Or is Microsoft playing sneaky again, using "10% of the market for 30 gig hard drive players in the USA that are available in brown"?)
As for copying Apple and releasing on Tuesdays, that seems sensible from a marketing point of view, not simply copying Apple because "well, Apple does it, and they're cool, so if we do it too..." If they're trying to steal some of the Apple thunder, releasing their products on the same cycle makes sense.
As for why the MS hate, they have a proven history of saying, "No! Wait! Don't buy our competitor's products! We've got something even better, that's cheaper, and just a few days away... just wait, you'll see!" and then releasing a late, underwhelming product -- but not before the damage is done to the rival company. It's fun to watch them flailing after decades of causing harm to other companies in the same fashion. Schadenfreude, just deserts, whatever you want to call it.
i love my iphone and 3rd gen nano, but i think it'd be great if the zune could challenge the ipod. we'd all benefit in the long run.
short of some amazing breakthroughs, it certainly doesn't look likely. the zune was hardly supported beyond its initial release, and it's pretty telling that MS never launched it worldwide.
MS needs to innovate here rather than just play catch up with apple and creative. personally, i think MS's best shot at improving the zune would be to somehow link it with the xbox 360, but i doubt it'll happen.
short of some amazing breakthroughs, it certainly doesn't look likely. the zune was hardly supported beyond its initial release, and it's pretty telling that MS never launched it worldwide.
MS needs to innovate here rather than just play catch up with apple and creative. personally, i think MS's best shot at improving the zune would be to somehow link it with the xbox 360, but i doubt it'll happen.
Nice Apple related article!
Anyway, Microsoft should get the first one right before releasing a new one Ever heard of countries outside of the US? lol
Anyway, Microsoft should get the first one right before releasing a new one
Ever heard of countries outside of the US? lol
Seriously though, the device is not bad, even if it doesn't appeal to everyone aesthetically. Hopefully Microsoft steps up the game a bit, since, as already mentioned, it will stimulate further improvements on the iPod line, which is great for everyone. Apple is no slouch, but even they need someone nipping at their heels to keep them moving. If everyone slacks off, so do they.
I believe that the reason the Zune is only sold in the US is because it hasn't passed certification yet for sale overseas.
I believe that the reason the Zune is only sold in the US is because it hasn't passed certification yet for sale overseas.
They make the plastic look even cheaper than usual and the texture of the main plastic looks like old contact paper, for those of you who know what that is.
The small control doesn't help much either but at least, the display is nice enough.
Sorta sneaky... HDD based iPods themselves have a much smaller market than NAND iPods. So yeah, I don't know if 10% is true, but they can claim a bigger share of the music player market if they ignore the Nanos and the Shuffles. I know I see a lot more NAND iPods than HDD ipods on a regular basis.
I've seen some seriously beautiful iPod mods with wood. This one is one of the most extreme, and the best. I'd love to see more in this direction, personally.
microsoft's worst enemy is anything open source.
Did you ever hear of the SCO vs. Linux lawsuit? - (SCO got it's a$$ handed to it in the end BTW)
Guess who heavily financed SCO to fight Linux's open source options.
Gimme a sleek, full touch screen(preferably multi touch), 50+ GB HDD based Zune, with wifi, bluetooth, Windows mobile 6, OPEN to all third party developers and I m ready to ditch Apple.
Apple has done the worst things possible lately and I no longer find myself favoring Apple over its competitors. First Giving you the iPhone with no other option but ATT in US. Europeans wait for four months. Asians Wait till 2008. India??? sometime in 2009? or 2010? Then dropping iPhone prices pissing off all the Apple loyalists. And once it is finally unlocked, they Brick your iPhone with the latest update.
I could understand to a degree that they had to relock the unlocked iPhone, Or even stop 3rd party apps but bricking it completely and not supporting hacked iPhones et al is something unacceptable. Not giving an option to even downgrade to 1.0.2 is again absolutely rubbish. Apple has got some of the best software engineers in the industry. The new update could have simply resetted the unlocked/hacked iPhones to latest firmware and still usable with your 2 year ATT contract. But no, Apple decides to completely kill the unlocked iPhones.
Say whatever you want. Yes Apple did warn of the consequences in advance and the iPhone still works as it is supposed to if you dont hack/unlock it. Still this "bricking the iPhone" thing has almost made me start disliking Apple products. My Macbook has suddenly started to look like just another notebook. I was willing to pay 50% extra for something with an Apple logo even if there are similar or even slightly better options available for lesser price(Cuz I knew it`ll be worth it). But no more. Apple is EVIL. Steve Jobs aint Lord Stevee anymore. Apple is one big greedy bad bad bad evil company.
/End rant. Sorry couldnt stop myself. BTW my iPhone is coming this weekend in India with 1.0.1 firmware. Hope I`ll be able to unlock it. But I m seriously considering selling the unlocked iPhone and boycotting Apple products as much as possible. Not for that it`ll matter to Apple but if there are more and more people starting to dislike Apple they`ll someday get the message and try to avoid such stupid mistakes in future. I m now realising why I like my Apple Macbook. It`s not really coz it`s the best notebook. It`s coz the competition(Windows/linux) is really bad. Gimme another OS as good as OSX and my next computer wont be a Mac. Ok that might be a never happen
. Anyways I advised 100`s of people I know to get a MAC. But no more. Apple is no longer the best option. The almost seem like the worst one./OK. Seriously END RANT