Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPod Zune Out
- Thread starter rdowns
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
"The only problem with Microsoft is that they just have no taste, they have absolutely no taste, and what that means is (I don't mean that in a small way, I mean that in a big way) in the sense that they don't think of original ideas and they don't bring much culture into their product. You say now why is that important? Proportionally spaced fonts come from type setting, beautiful books, that's were one gets the idea, if it weren't for the Mac they would never have that in their products. I guess I am saddened, not by Microsoft's success- I have no problem with their success- they're earned their success (for the most part.) I have a problem with the fact that they just make really third rate products"
The problem is you would never "own" your music. It's always rented, and you can't really be sure what the future will bring
For the people that have actually used a Zune... How is the casing on it? Since it is supposedly a rubber/silicone case doesn't it get covered with lint? That's why I hate silicone cases for the iPod, you put it in your pocket then pull it out and it is covered with lint and feels dirty in your hands. And the only way to clean it is to wash it off with water. Probably can't do that with the Zune.
Eh, this is a textbook example of somebody that doesn't understand the conversation. Realize that what works for this guy may not work for everybody. But it does work for him. Thus, he is correct to say subscriptions are the best model. Also, I am correct to say purchases are the best model. If this was an argument, he owned himself the moment he said subscriptions were the only model that made sense.
-Folks
Subscription vs. A La Carte has and will always be argues ad nauseum - it's a preference. There is no right or wrong answer.
I prefer a la carte, but also wish the iTunes Store had the subscription option - and maybe a bridging function that lest you buy permanently a song you acquired through subscription or something.
Like matte vs. glossy, it'd be nice to have the choice.
Can we get back to frying MS for it's uniquely arrogant 'me too', 'johnny-come-lately' "We're still going to crush Apple despite having a dog of a product"?
Subscription vs. A La Carte has and will always be argues ad nauseum - it's a preference. There is no right or wrong answer.
I prefer a la carte, but also wish the iTunes Store had the subscription option - and maybe a bridging function that lest you buy permanently a song you acquired through subscription or something.
Like matte vs. glossy, it'd be nice to have the choice.
Can we get back to frying MS for it's uniquely arrogant 'me too', 'johnny-come-lately' "We're still going to crush Apple despite having a dog of a product"?
Quality thing
It's nice to hear such MS bashing. It's funny.
I work at a small music school where we use computers to help teach music theory to K-12 kids. They come for private lessons on their guitars and pianos and oboes, and get a half hour of music theory as well (they love it
) All the computers but one are PC's (that's just where all the software is, and it was all set up long before I started working there). The lonely apple product is an ancient Apple //e. The machine is older than I am, and all of the software is almost as old as I am too. The kids think it's microwave sometimes and don't know why the only color on the screen is green, but the simple fact is that the machine is still working, and so are (most of) the giant floppy disks with the apps. It's very amusiing, but the programs do their job so there's no reason to upgrade (other than having to shell out money for new computers when it's a privately run after-school music school).
It's kind of neat using such an ancient work of art.
It's nice to hear such MS bashing. It's funny.
I work at a small music school where we use computers to help teach music theory to K-12 kids. They come for private lessons on their guitars and pianos and oboes, and get a half hour of music theory as well (they love it
) All the computers but one are PC's (that's just where all the software is, and it was all set up long before I started working there). The lonely apple product is an ancient Apple //e. The machine is older than I am, and all of the software is almost as old as I am too. The kids think it's microwave sometimes and don't know why the only color on the screen is green, but the simple fact is that the machine is still working, and so are (most of) the giant floppy disks with the apps. It's very amusiing, but the programs do their job so there's no reason to upgrade (other than having to shell out money for new computers when it's a privately run after-school music school). It's kind of neat using such an ancient work of art.
"Windows Vista is not supported at this time"
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/54291.html Vista is not currently supported!
http://www.zune.net/en-us/support/howto/start/operatingsystems.htm
(at the bottom)
'Windows Vista
Windows Vista is not supported at this time. Check back soon for updates.'
Crazy....
(sorry if a repost...)
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/54291.html Vista is not currently supported!
http://www.zune.net/en-us/support/howto/start/operatingsystems.htm
(at the bottom)
'Windows Vista
Windows Vista is not supported at this time. Check back soon for updates.'
Crazy....
(sorry if a repost...)
http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/6002/zune-sales.html
Microsoft could be leaving the party very zune if sales don't pick up, now that would be a shame lol
*sorry if this link has already been posted*
Microsoft could be leaving the party very zune if sales don't pick up, now that would be a shame lol
*sorry if this link has already been posted*
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/Q4.06/E8C77ADC-3031-4227-9800-E6F2449D60F6.html
also make good reading. Enjoy
also make good reading. Enjoy
Yes, but...
Also, 7000 songs for 50 years @ 15.99/year = $9594 (if the price doesn't go up) vs. 7000 songs @ .99 = $6930, and you can also keep them for 50 years. Subscription services are a good deal for the companies, not so good for consumers.
Also, 7000 songs for 50 years @ 15.99/year = $9594 (if the price doesn't go up) vs. 7000 songs @ .99 = $6930, and you can also keep them for 50 years. Subscription services are a good deal for the companies, not so good for consumers.
Good grief, I've already covered this what, like, TWICE!!! With a subscription model you can download those 7000 songs within the first month after spending just $15. With the purchase model, it would take you years and years to purchase $7000 worth of songs.
Furthermore, you people arguing that subscription services cost more by extrapolating for 50 year are INSANE. How can you argue, with a straight face, that 50 years is a good time horizon to evaluate music consumption decisions? You have no idea what will be going on in your life in 50 years. You have no idea what the world will even be like in 50 years, and certainly not the state of music listening. Think about what's happened over the past 50 years: the industry has gone from vinyl records, to cassettes, to 8-Tracks (briefly), to CDs, to digital downloads. Can you *REALLY* be reasonably sure that a $7000 investment in AAC-formatted, Fairplay DRM'ed songs at a particular bitrate is a sound investment now and forever?
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that for the vast majority of consumers, the subscription model is vastly preferable. If Apple did a 180 and offered an iTunes subscription service for $15, I think you'd have to be a moron to keep buying songs at $0.99 cents off of iTunes. IMO the only people that shouldn't go for a subscription are people that really like to own the *physical* product, be it CDs or vinyl.
Yes, but the problem I have with it is that I don't think most people are evaluating this choice rationally. I think most people are just blindly accepting that Apple's current pricing strategy is somehow more "right", just because it's what Apple is doing.
It's ALL marketing folks. It's no different than Apple saying that it would never integrate a video player into the iPod, or that it would never use Intel chips (actually, I don't know if Steve ever said that, but he never deviated from presenting the PPC as superior to Intel when that was what Macs were using).
Let me make this bold prediction: it may not happen next year or even the year after that, but I predict that sometime within the next 5 years or so, Apple WILL make available the subscription model, and it will quickly become the primary way that people consume music.
You make a good argument. I'll have to think about it some before I agree entirely on it or not, but I would also ammend that the people who don't buy too much should also go for .99 over a subscription. I buy a single song every month or two. A subscription model for me would have been tons more expensive than single purchases. Most people I know are that way too, since iTMS has opened up they've bought 200 or less songs, yet would have spent a lot more if it had been subscription.
Amazon - Zune reviews
Average rating for the black Zune on Amazon is 3.5/5 (from 58 reviews)
Interestingly the brown Zune has 4.5/5 (Maybe Microsoft trying to big up another pile of sh*t with some false reviews - one review said "The brown Zune looks great " - either they are colour blind or have weird tastes)
Comparatively all ipods are 4-4.5/5 and Black, Brown and White Zune sales have plummeted to 15th, 60th and 160th respectively ... It really died quickly.
Average rating for the black Zune on Amazon is 3.5/5 (from 58 reviews)
Interestingly the brown Zune has 4.5/5 (Maybe Microsoft trying to big up another pile of sh*t with some false reviews - one review said "The brown Zune looks great " - either they are colour blind or have weird tastes)
Comparatively all ipods are 4-4.5/5 and Black, Brown and White Zune sales have plummeted to 15th, 60th and 160th respectively ... It really died quickly.
Let me expound on this a little bit more.
The purchasing model is good for *ARTISTS*, because the royalties that are calculated from a purchase are clear.
In most cases, the subscription model is the best for *CONSUMERS*.
I think Apple has sided with the artists here instead of the consumers. Which is a valid stand. I believe Jobs' reasoning, which he has touched on in interviews, is that you *have* to defend the artists because without artists there is no music to begin with. So argue this point if you will, but please *don't* argue that a subscription is somehow financially disadvantageous for the consumer. We're talking $15 bucks a month for unlimited music dowloads, folks!!!! I've bought martinis here in NYC that cost more than that! $15/month is really a pittance compared to the value that you are getting from the service.
I agree most people don't buy that many songs from ITunes (average is 22 songs purchased from iTunes for every iPod sold). But the thing is, people are obviously getting their music from other means. In your example, you said only one iTunes song every one or 2 months. So that's, like, 1 CD's worth of music a year. Surely you acquire more than 1 CD's worth of music a year, right?
The point is, most people are still getting their music from buying CDs or from P2P downloads. I'm not comparing subscription services to either of those options (one is illegal, the other one is a preference for a physical product and uncompressed sound format). I'm specifically comparing legal digital download options: subscription services vs. a-la-carte song purchases. For someone who doesn't mind not buying the CD and who doesn't want to download music illegally, I think the subscription service would be preferable to the a-la-carte option.
So actually, this brings up a good point. In my case, I may not be in the mainstream because I am completely willing to forgo CD purchases, which are still the primary way that people acquire music. For someone that doesn't download illegally, and still acquires their music primarily through CDs, then a subscription service may not be such a good option. For those consumers, they may only purchase a song from iTunes when they only want that one song and don't want to buy the rest of the CD.
Good point, most of my purchases are through CD's (and I just don't buy much music in general), and that definitely does affect it. So for people who don't buy a lot of music, or for those who mainly buy CD's, it is better for the person to do per song, but for those who only download and buy a lot of music, it is better to have subscription. Seems reasonable to me.
I purposely did not include illegal music acquisition in that because, well, it's illegal.
I purposely did not include illegal music acquisition in that because, well, it's illegal.