[n8236]

From what i read and observed, here's wat i think;

Looks; iPod wins hands down. Poopy color for the Zune is a no no.

Personalization; Zune, own wallpaper

GUI; Zune, i think it looks more appealing than iPod

Features; Zune, it has wifi & bigger screen, vertical and horizontal use.

Style and Cool factor; iPOD iPOD iPOD

-----------

I think the looks itself will turn consumers off, esp. the p00py color. But its features could easily reverse that if what we see and know is true. I think the bigger screen and wifi could take away a few iPOD sales. While Apple won't be dented too badly, I think Apple's response w/ the new iPoD line isn't exactly a KO. But we'll see.

[dreamryche]

Many failed iPod competitors had better specs/more features, yet they wound up with the rest of the also-rans. Zune will probably steal a substantial portion of iPod's leftovers, but I don't see it hurting Apple much.

[mindwaves]

The sole reason why the Zune will "succeed" is because of the 800 lb gorilla backing it.

[baw]

And it doesn't even have a scroll wheel!

[Y3a]

RIAA will sue it off the market for the sharing aspect. What were they thinking? MAybe they should allow sharing of Vista thru Wi-Fi...

[techtrucker]

I DO like the large screen, other than that I'll stick with my iPod, thanks.

[Kerrigan]

I don't wanna get flamed for this, but the Zune is a decent player. The Toshiba Gigabeat has gotten consistently high reviews, and now with Zune it has been tied into a decent music service. Heck, even the brown color choice is not as bad as people are saying.

I wouldn't buy one, but still, if I wanted a hard drive based mp3 player I would definitely consider it along with the iPod.

[Wiskedjak]

Originally Posted by Kerrigan

Heck, even the brown color choice is not as bad as people are saying.

What I find funny is that people are talking about the brown colour as though it's the only colour the Zune comes in. iPod mini came in multiple colours, but nobody wrote it off simply because one of the colours was gold.

[Landos Mustache]

I wish the WiFi was used for something more useful like streaming radio, RSS updates etc. Using it to give your buddy a copy protected song is sorta a waste.

Question, does it allow you to send non-copy protected songs to others for keeps (doesn't expire) through WiFi?

[olePigeon]

Unless they make the Zune smaller, Apple has the athletic and "people on the go" market cornered. I'm sure it'll be popular with rich college kids, geeks, and people who don't know any better.

[iREZ]

i think that the brown and green have an urban feel most of you cant relate to. i personally would opt for the brown zune over the white or black seeing how like the combination of dark brown and olive green. only thing killing in terms of looks is its the stupid black and gray on the front face...if these colors harmonized with the brown and green (say more green or a deep orange), id LOVE the scheme...but instead they took a good concept (introduce new colors to the electronics world) and butchered it by making it look hideous overall. ill keep my white ipod.

[Velocity211]

What's that piece of turd doing with the black and white zunes? Wait...

[baw]

Looks like even if you share non-DRM music via the WiFi, the other party still only has a few times to listen to it in 3 days.

[hickey]

seems all that Play For Sure was poppycock: A Copyfighter's Musings : A Copyfighter's Musings

[macfantn]

was microsoft caught off guard by the price drop in the ipods? is this why they didn't release the zune price?

[ironknee]

Originally Posted by Wiskedjak

Do you happen to remember the gold ipod mini? Not much of a better colour choice, IMHO.

true, but you don't see gold nanos

[macfantn]

nor do you see brown nanos!

[baw]

"Microsoft's Zune will not play protected Windows Media Audio and Video purchased or "rented" from Napster 2.0, Rhapsody, Yahoo! Unlimited, Movielink, Cinemanow, or any other online media service. That's right -- the media that Microsoft promised would Play For Sure doesn't even play on Microsoft's own device."

Zune: what we know, think we know, and don't yet know - Engadget


Haha!

[C.A.T.S. CEO]

lets hope that in 2016 we don't here "What type of Zune is that?" "its not" (long pause) "its a iPod" "you need to get Zune."

[porieux]

...

[porieux]

...

[ironknee]

Originally Posted by C.A.T.S. CEO

lets hope that in 2016 we don't here "What type of Zune is that?" "its not" (long pause) "its a iPod" "you need to get Zune."

or "a new zune user group has formed for zune enthusiasts. the number of members is closing in on half of the membership of the newton user group."

[gururafiki]

I wonder if someone will make a virus/app that you can wirelessly hook to a Zune with a laptop, and copy the contents.

[icruise]

Originally Posted by Wiskedjak

What I find funny is that people are talking about the brown colour as though it's the only colour the Zune comes in. iPod mini came in multiple colours, but nobody wrote it off simply because one of the colours was gold.

What's wrong with gold? Are you honestly saying that gold is on the same level as brown? Not just plain brown, but brown with a florescent Xbox-like green highlight.

One thing that people haven't mentioned is whether this will work with Microsoft's own PlaysForSure. I remember reading that it would not, and that Microsoft's online music store will be a separate venture. And I don't see any mention of PlaysForSure in Microsoft's literature about the Zune. How can Microsoft criticize Apple for being a monopoly and "not offering the consumer enough choice" when they seem to be doing exactly the same thing?

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by Kerrigan

Financial Times made a good point, which is that in this type of market, the dominant company remains dominant until the paradigm shifts, regardless of whatever competition comes its way. Apple will remain dominant until a new form of music distribution becomes popular, which will probably happen 10 years from now. A good comparison is the struggle by MSN, Yahoo, etc to take over the top spot from Google. They can work as hard as they want, but Google will stay no.1 until there is a paradigm shift.

Not sure if Yahoo/Google is a good example, since Yahoo and AltaVista did have the top spots in search before Google showed up and took over.

[slugslugslug]

In general, I like brown better than gold, and the whole poop-color joke is just juvenile. I've got lots of brown clothing and wear brown shoes almost every day, and my ridiculously pricey custom bicycle is brown (well, okay, it didn't match the color I picked, which was a metallic dark orange, but I wound up liking it). Nobody seems to think I look like I'm covered in poop.

Not that I'm saying the brown Zune is awesome. From the pics, it doesn't look bad to me, but I'd have to see it in real life to judge. My point is that brown is not automatically bad.

CharlesS: hey, I remember Altavista...

[mitchell_pgh]

My general thoughts:
- This unit isn't going to dislodge the iPod within the near future.
- The big screen is nice, but is it nice enough to make people buy it?
- I actually like the brown
- Sure Microsoft is backing the Zune, but they have backed other failures
- Software, software, software. The iPod is a success because of iTunes. Integration is key.
- The wireless of the Zune seems like a novelty (and adds a level of complexity to the average consumer).
- The iPod line has everything from a cool $79 to a $300+ unit. A nice range...

I'm not saying the Zune is going to fail, but I'm guessing Microsoft isn't producing millions of the things.

[MaxPower2k3]

Engadget was supposedly told the battery life of the Zune. 12 hours for music and 3.5 hours for video... sounds like the original 5th-gen iPods. too bad Apple has already one-upped them with battery life. Sure, the Zune has a bigger screen, but it's also bigger and thicker. And those numbers are with WiFi turned off.

Zune battery life: 12 hours music, 3.5 hours video - Engadget

[Eug Wanker]

The 30 GB iPod's $250 price tag has ruffled MS's feathers.

Also, just in case you haven't seen this quote:

Yeah, it's interesting that they decided to reduce the price of the 30GB. It's come down $50. That's obviously a huge financial hitch. I'm not sure what they think we're doing. It's certainly an interesting thing to do - to reduce the price of a good-selling product like that - that was selling well at $299. We'll take it as it is. It's an interesting move on their part, and it's an interesting opportunity in the market place.

[Kerrigan]

I wonder if you can use Skype on it. That would be something to consider.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by Icruise

One thing that people haven't mentioned is whether this will work with Microsoft's own PlaysForSure. I remember reading that it would not, and that Microsoft's online music store will be a separate venture. And I don't see any mention of PlaysForSure in Microsoft's literature about the Zune. How can Microsoft criticize Apple for being a monopoly and "not offering the consumer enough choice" when they seem to be doing exactly the same thing?

It will not work with PlaysForSure. That means you cannot use the Zune with Napster, Walmart, or any other PlaysForSure store. Only the Zune store. Microsoft has verified this.

Originally Posted by Kerrigan

I wonder if you can use Skype on it. That would be something to consider.?

Ummm no. The WiFi on it does not currently connect to the web. Only other Zunes.

[TETENAL]

Originally Posted by goMac

It will not work with PlaysForSure. That means you cannot use the Zune with Napster, Walmart, or any other PlaysForSure store. Only the Zune store. Microsoft has verified this.

Wouldn't that piss off Microsoft's partners who licensed PlaysForSure either as store or device maker?

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by goMac

It will not work with PlaysForSure. That means you cannot use the Zune with Napster, Walmart, or any other PlaysForSure store. Only the Zune store. Microsoft has verified this.

Could you provide a link please? The only verification of this I've seen has been the Engadget link. I'm pretty skeptical - it doesn't make sense to me at all that MS wouldn't support PlaysForSure on the thing.

[icruise]

Microsoft's decision to have Zune function completely outside of the PlaysforSure ecosystem is so surprising that people are still getting used to the idea. The Associated Press is vague on the details; and while I agree with CrunchGear that it would make sense for Microsoft to allow its partners to benefit from the Zune buzz, it simply is not doing so, and that is a fact which I have confirmed with Microsoft.

Listening Post

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by TETENAL

Wouldn't that piss off Microsoft's partners who licensed PlaysForSure either as store or device maker?

If businesses can't wise up to Microsoft's "embrace and extend" policy that they've been using for the past 30 years, I have zero sympathy.

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by lcruise

Listening Post

Holy crap. That just makes me go

Following some links in your article, I eventually found this amusing article:

10layers.com: Zune: the iPod-killer killer

It's too bad really, since I do kind of like the idea of being able to choose between music stores and MP3 player devices. Oh well, maybe when Apple's got enough of a stranglehold on the market that they feel there's no chance of losing it, they'll start licensing FairPlay.

At any rate, this is going to greatly diminish the complaint people often bring up about Apple's proprietary everything, since the Zune is now going to be doing the same thing. At least now people might quit thinking that protected WMA is some kind of open standard.

[Landos Mustache]

The zune is a bigger threat to the non-iPod market. The only thing it will end up doing is creating a civil war while the iPod stands at the sidelines.

[xi_hyperon]

Originally Posted by CharlesS

At any rate, this is going to greatly diminish the complaint people often bring up about Apple's proprietary everything, since the Zune is now going to be doing the same thing.

Yes, it will quiet this criticsm, especially from the spokespeople at MS who did a lot of the criticising.

[Landos Mustache]

Originally Posted by xi_hyperon

Yes, it will quiet this criticsm, especially from the spokespeople at MS who did a lot of the criticising.

Funny how Microsoft's "PlaysForSure" doesn't "PlayForShit" on its own product.

[Eug Wanker]

Zune to retail for US$249.

Microsoft Corp said Thursday its Zune digital media player will be sold at relatively the same price as Apple Computer's new 30GB video-enabled iPod and admitted that it will lose money on each sale as a result.

I guess they plan on making it for it in volume?

[kmkkid]

Hopefully it will drive Apple's prices down, or at least prompt them to make a new version with all new features, not just rehashes of the same old technology.

[starman]

I just want a widescreen iPod. MS can eat their Zunes.

[::maroma::]

Originally Posted by kmkkid

Hopefully it will drive Apple's prices down, or at least prompt them to make a new version with all new features, not just rehashes of the same old technology.

Yep, here's to hoping this gives Apple some stiff competition so that we get better iPods in the near future. It won't dethrone the iPod, but at least it can give it a much needed kick in the pants.

[rickey939]

Definitely bah.

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by ::maroma::

Yep, here's to hoping this gives Apple some stiff competition so that we get better iPods in the near future. It won't dethrone the iPod, but at least it can give it a much needed kick in the pants.

Maybe they'll finally have to release one with decent audio recording capabilities out of the box. The current ones come oh so close, but none of the recorders available for it have a real gain control (they just have a switch that lets you choose between "low gain" and "high gain").

Ironically, they'll probably add this right after I finally break down and just get one of these iKey Plus things, which is probably going to happen pretty soon (basically, I'm waiting for the thing to start shipping so I can order it).

[Mediaman_12]

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker

Zune to retail for US$249.

Microsoft Corp said Thursday its Zune digital media player will be sold at relatively the same price as Apple Computer's new 30GB video-enabled iPod and admitted that it will lose money on each sale as a result.

Oh that old MS trick, 'We will beet everybody, buy selling at a loss'. Unlike the console market where you can claw the HW loss in the games sales, this market has no other 'strong' revenue stream. If you attempt to get the loss back via the music, it will just end up more expensive than people are willing to pay, and they will got there music form 'other sources'.
There is a danger of MS totally skewing the entire 'mp3 Player+' market with a trick like this. Everybody else's have to add to the bottom line, while MS can just subsidise theirs with the massive profits from Office.

[SirCastor]

From slashdot:
Opinion: Why Microsoft's Zune scares Apple to the core

It's somewhat convincing. When I first saw Zune, I laughed it off. While the iPod is sexy, the Zune has that inter-relational thing going for it. Networking. This will appeal exactly where the iPod is most popular. High Schools and Colleges. It is the cross of myspace and the iPod.

I don't think we're taking this seriously enough (as though we have any control over it anyway.) MS has looked a little bit ahead. I don't have any interest in the popular social sites like MySpace or Facebook or any of 'em (MacNN is it for me.) but those sites and their associative communities are massively popular. Remember when you were part of the cool kids iPod club because you had an iPod? Remember when you first noticed that everyone and their dog suddenly had an iPod?

I do.

[Chuckit]

To be honest, the Zune sounds pretty good. More so than most of the iPod competitors. Knowing Microsoft, though, it will be horribly flawed in the implementation details.

[neverskatewsandles]

Screw the zune ipod 4 ever

[Kerrigan]

Can't wait for Zune2