While it was a decent review, I don't think it was evenhanded. The author didn't really explain why the iPod was better, but gave a lot of reasons why the Zune is good.
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iPod Zune Out
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While it was a decent review, I don't think it was evenhanded. The author didn't really explain why the iPod was better, but gave a lot of reasons why the Zune is good.
I think the article was written assuming that people know the iPod pretty well. If you think about it, 80% of the market is iPod based, so anyone who would be interested in reading about an mp3 player is probably already going to know what an iPod is.
That's just my guess, of course.
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/
Right next to the Fortune article that was linked in this forum, there's a CNN video link with a news crew and NY Times analyst talking about the new Zune. They don't say anything we don't already know, but the video turns into an iPod Shuffle advertisement when one of the news anchors decides to share her experience.
Right next to the Fortune article that was linked in this forum, there's a CNN video link with a news crew and NY Times analyst talking about the new Zune. They don't say anything we don't already know, but the video turns into an iPod Shuffle advertisement when one of the news anchors decides to share her experience.
God, what a nightmare.
Not only does it look like you have to jump through hoops to get things running at all, but... is anyone else offended by the wannabe-trendy images that are displayed all over the place during the process? (And I assume more of these pop up throughout using the Zune and its marketplace).
Man -- they are just trying soooo hard to be "hip and cool," but it just gives off the opposite vibe. And it seems to be trying so hard to target such a specific group of music listeners too. The beautiful thing about the iPod is that it doesn't really discriminate with musical tastes. Whether you love hip hop, rock, country, classical, jazz, alternative, rap, world music, oldies, or whatever -- ALL genres and types of listeners are welcome with the iPod (reinforced by the variety of different ads they've had). But I feel like a large portion of music listeners would be put off by the Zune, which seems to be only targeting teens.
It's quite possible teens might fall for this device and choose it just to "be different." And I'm sure M$ will throw tons of money towards marketing it and it will stay around for a while. But it's NEVER going to touch iPod sales with the way they do everything in their power to limit themselves.
Cnn
Did anyone catch CNN news this morning. The anchors HATED the zune... it is on CNN.com if anyone is interested.
Did anyone catch CNN news this morning. The anchors HATED the zune... it is on CNN.com if anyone is interested.
Gotta hand it to Microsoft, they have done a great job in getting publicity for the Zune. It's all over the 'net, local TV news all have stories on it and I saw a ton of bus ads yesterday. I have now Zuned out.
Searching the web, a ton of forums and Zune sites have popped up. Will you...
check out the zunezone?
be a member of the zunenation?
check out news at zuneinsider?
check ou the zunescene?
What amazes me is how well Microsh*t manages to take what has obvious design elements of a 1st Gen iPod, then proceed to wipe it up an employees rear end to take away the gloss that makes the ipod so pretty. The Zune even has a translucent shell over the face giving it that glassy kind of layering over it, but does so in a very chinzy tasteless manner. Probably the only upside to this is that it wont be as prone to scratching as the iPod is, but with my Agent 18 case in place, who cares.
If people dont mind the software I can see the Zune doing rather well. But I care very much about my interface experience. If the interface sucks, the whole system sucks. End of story.
lol
But shall we start taking bets to see if there will even be a 2nd gen Zune? I have a feeling it will fail miserably in sales and it will be nothing but a piece of history this time next year.
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/
Right next to the Fortune article that was linked in this forum, there's a CNN video link with a news crew and NY Times analyst talking about the new Zune. They don't say anything we don't already know, but the video turns into an iPod Shuffle advertisement when one of the news anchors decides to share her experience.
The end to that video made my day; it was hilarious!
"Why can't they get designers to make their products look good...???"
"Um...uh...."
"It's clunky."
"Heh...Um....uh....."
lol
But shall we start taking bets to see if there will even be a 2nd gen Zune? I have a feeling it will fail miserably in sales and it will be nothing but a piece of history this time next year.
I agree. Even with the Zune Marketplace being young, there is no excuse for being as meager as it is. The fact that Microsoft ignored a very BIG opportunity with its WiFi (PC syncing) shows me that M$ is not listening. With iTunes more than well seasoned, one cant compete using babysteps. Right now they'd need to drive it hard and work to make the software elegant and user friendly. I suspected from day 1 that the Zune's software was not going to work with a Mac, and i was right all along. In order to compete with the ipod, the zune has to compete at every avenue to have a chance of success. Anyone that owns a pre-intel mac is completely alienated by microsoft altogether since they cant even run windows to use it, and intel-mac users such as myself will probably not want to have to dual boot or use parallels to run software for an MP3 player when itunes works perfectly on OS X. Microsoft has made terrible progress with this product, because it's aim to kill the ipod turns out to be nothing more than a Creative Zen nuisance. The only people that get to use it are windoze users, basically microsoft is saying "You apple people keep your ipods, we cater only to our kind" Yeah. great start M$.
On a side note, ipod-haters usually only hate ipods because of the popularity. If you think im kidding, this principle applies to music as well. some pseudo-cultured people tend to think the least popular songs are the ones they should be listening too, and no matter how good something in the mainstream is, their neverending quest for individuality drives them to hate it. So ipod haters will try out the zune, and perhaps theres enough of them to keep the zune afloat, but until microsoft makes their product usable on both win/vista and OS X, there is no possible way the zune will ever ever gain the same foothold that the ipod has. apple has been continuously catering to the windows crowd, even making their computers dual-booting machines. all microsoft did was rip off a 1st gen ipod, wrap it in cheap plastic and flip us mac users the bird. wow.
Then it will fail until they iron this out. Thier biggest selling point is then crippled from the begining.
On top of taking a big loss on every Zune sold (both for the bigger screen and almost totally unused WiFi, and for bribing studios for every Zune sold) and killing off all their partners by not making it PlaysForSure compatible, Microsoft is also throwing money in a HUGE advertising campaign to get people to buy a product that'll lose money, but is not significantly superior and not cheaper than the competing product (iPod) with 70% marketshare.
Sigh.
Sigh.
You're totally correct. Microsoft has dropped the ball completely. They've already gone and made a device that won't ever be able to compete with the iPod. I'd type more, but my joints are all stiff since I've got a bad stomach bug.
Ha ha, did you see this? They're looking for every opportunity they can find to knock the iPod:
http://www.zunescene.com/comparison/
ZuneScene said:
http://www.zunescene.com/comparison/
Except that they're wrong on some parts of it. FM receiver? Yea, the iPod has one and you get a damn remote control with it, too.
Also noticed they conveniently forgot to mention that you can't use the Zune as a portable drive... huge selling point for me as I'm often bringing work home in 2gb+ folders.
This product is seriously pathetic and a quick glance through the forums is a laugh really...
http://www.zunescene.com/forums/index.php?topic=2012.msg15961#msg15961
moron said:
lol
But shall we start taking bets to see if there will even be a 2nd gen Zune? I have a feeling it will fail miserably in sales and it will be nothing but a piece of history this time next year.
I'd be amazed if there wasn't a second generation zune, even if this one sells 10 units; such is MS desire to succeed in this market. I never really thought that their launch model would be much of a threat to the ipod. Afterall, it is basically a toshiba gigabeat S, just like how the first Xbox utilised standard pc components.
Their goal is to gain a small foothold in the market, build brand awareness and when they are ready release a potential ipod killer. I'd imagine the G2 zune to be as much a quantum leap as the Xbox360 was to the xbox. Remember MS are in this for the long haul.
Oh i didn't know that. I constantly use my ipod as an external drive, i dont even use my flash drive anymore because of its far greater capacity. Well I'm with you completely that this thing is pathetic, and the fact that ipods offered disk mode for the longest is a serious indication of ignorance on the part of microsoft.
omfg on nbc they compared the zune to a 4th gen b&w ipod
no way
that is sooo under the beltI hope they only did case comparisons, because if they would claim Zune plays video and iPod doesn't...
I hope the consumers think just a little bit about it, that would be enough to let the Zune die a silent dead
As seen on American Morning
http://www.cnn.com/video/partners/clickability/index.html?url=/video/business/2006/11/14/sorkin.minding.your.business.cnn
Here is a little news piece from CNN's American Morning. The News people seem to gets whats wrong with the Zune.
http://www.cnn.com/video/partners/clickability/index.html?url=/video/business/2006/11/14/sorkin.minding.your.business.cnn
Here is a little news piece from CNN's American Morning. The News people seem to gets whats wrong with the Zune.
I haven't heard a single thing about the Zune in Aussie at all. I guess the release date will be later. Its out in time for the holiday season which is great for the people that want to buy something make my microcrap for xmas. Good one microsoft!
Zune, as its color says, is a DEAD CRAP...nobody bothers and nobody should bother...let them lose some more money, along with that piece of crap called XBox.
Apple is already squeezing MS with the Macs and iPods that more than dominate the scene...Sony will squeeze the other side with the PS3...only MS fanboys will buy this brown brick of crap.
Apple is already squeezing MS with the Macs and iPods that more than dominate the scene...Sony will squeeze the other side with the PS3...only MS fanboys will buy this brown brick of crap.