I Used The Wrong Icon, I Know.

[Jason Tate]

Reports are flying in (http://blogs.chron.com/techblog/archives/2006/11/here_a_zune_the_1.html) about Microsoft's Zune. So far, it's not looking good.

[Jason Tate]

I need to make an MS icon.

[YourMusicSucks]

Wow. Lmao.

Great icon choice. If you do make a microsoft one, include Master Chief.

[Joe DeAndrea]

Ha, I had a feeling there would be a bunch of problems with this. iPod > Everything.

[Manbotisdead]

Ha, I had a feeling there would be a bunch of problems with this. iPod > Everything.

Except the Creative one, both my brothers have them, I have an ipod, mine has had more problems then both of theirs put together.

[JordanYee]

why would apple make a microsoft mp3 player???

[Chemical Love]

Nothing is going to take over the iPod, for me at least.

[tedE]

if the wifi gets hacked, it might have a chance

[HoustonCalling]

thanks for posting this jason. i was gonna get this, but didnt wanan be an early adaptor and get burned with all the bugs/lack of features the first one would have. i was hoping to hear better reviews, but oh well. im confident tho that microsoft will get this right eventually and release a better one. hopefully sooner then later.

[youareallfreaks]

clowned

[RememberFminus2]

I need to make an MS icon.

no! keep ap.net pure!

[JordanYee]

the zune is gonna destroy the ipod, microsoft is ran by geniuses

[tymsnurmn04]

ipod has been tried and tested.

battery life asside - nothing beats it.

[Jason Tate]

the zune is gonna destroy the ipod, microsoft is ran by geniuses
:tumbleweed:

[Josephine_KCMO]

i knew the wifi feature was too good to be true...3 plays and then it goes away and you have to then buy the song to listen to it again...wtf..completely defeats the purpose of the feature in my opinion

i think ill stick with my ipod

[RememberFminus2]

the zune is gonna destroy the ipod, microsoft is ran by geniuses

the funny thing about this statement is even microsoft knows they arent going to destroy the ipod

[TBSowns524]

i'm getting a new iPod for christmas

[JordanYee]

i figure the zune is going to be more modulative than the ipod with updates, its cheaper than an ipod, has more functions, who the heck buys mp3s off of itunes anyway, i dont really care if they have a point system because ill be buying hard copies of music ,, and it has a bigger screen.

i guess that trendy apple users just arent used to complex devices

[Jonathan Lally]

the zune is gonna destroy the ipod, microsoft is ran by geniuses

you're joking, right?

[JordanYee]

you're joking, right?


you should respond to my latest post,,,,

[Jonathan Lally]

i guess that trendy apple users just arent used to complex devices

yeah.. because only apple users have iPods.. :-p

[Jonathan Lally]

you should respond to my latest post,,,,

I did. Don't you think that if Microsoft wanted a fighting chance they would have done something like this years ago when the first iPod was invented? At this point it's really too late for them. To match the cultural impact that iPods have made would be nearly impossible at this point (in my opinion.)

Follow the market trends, Apple doubled their market share of computers in ONE fiscal quarter.. that's amazing. They went from owning 3% of the computer market share to 6%. They already pretty much dominate not only personal music device market share AND legal music downloads.

This is for you, it's a quote from Steve Jobs (Apple CEO) discussing the Zune. I've included the source at the bottom.

Microsoft has announced its new iPod competitor, Zune. It says that this device is all about building communities. Are you worried?

"In a word, no. I've seen the demonstrations on the Internet about how you can find another person using a Zune and give them a song they can play three times. It takes forever. By the time you've gone through all that, the girl's got up and left! You're much better off to take one of your earbuds out and put it in her ear. Then you're connected with about two feet of headphone cable."

source (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15262121/site/newsweek/page/3/)

[blimpcityhero11]

Microsoft has announced its new iPod competitor, Zune. It says that this device is all about building communities. Are you worried?

"In a word, no. I've seen the demonstrations on the Internet about how you can find another person using a Zune and give them a song they can play three times. It takes forever. By the time you've gone through all that, the girl's got up and left! You're much better off to take one of your earbuds out and put it in her ear. Then you're connected with about two feet of headphone cable."

source (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15262121/site/newsweek/page/3/)

iPwnt. Windows honestly will never take over Apple's firm hold on the portable music market. Like Jon said, the iPod has already made its impact as the definitive portable music player in our culture. If anything, the Zune will just take away sales from companies like Sandisk and Dell.

[chokeychicken]

i figure the zune is going to be more modulative than the ipod with updates, its cheaper than an ipod, has more functions, who the heck buys mp3s off of itunes anyway, i dont really care if they have a point system because ill be buying hard copies of music ,, and it has a bigger screen.

i guess that trendy apple users just arent used to complex devices

i buy songs off itunes all the time - especially television shows. whre i used to freak out about missing my show when it came on, now i dont - i can download it 24 hours later online. quickly, too.

its NOT cheaper, and the bigger screen doesn't make up for it being less than stellar in every other department.

the reviews speak for themself, dude.

you're obvioulsy simply either really ignorant, or partial to microsoft for whatever reason. but the apple computer and operating system is way more efficient and better than anything windows, and no mp3 player will ever top the ipod.

but, you should be excited to get a zune. you'll be not only the first, but only guy on your block!

idiot.

[Ryanr14]

i figure the zune is going to be more modulative than the ipod with updates, its cheaper than an ipod, has more functions, who the heck buys mp3s off of itunes anyway, i dont really care if they have a point system because ill be buying hard copies of music ,, and it has a bigger screen.

i guess that trendy apple users just arent used to complex devices


Well first, you can ONLY buy one model of the Zune at 30GB, and yes it is cheaper than the 30GB iPod but thats only by 50 cents. Apple updated their line of iPods in what was it September? and lowered the prices when the Zune was originally at 299. To get anyone to buy that thing they have to be price competitive and 50 cents.... that isn't a big enough gap to call it cheaper IMHO. There also aren't 80GB or 1,2,4 & 8GB models of Zune which the smaller ones are cheaper than the Zune. It has only one function that the iPod didn't have first and that is Wi-Fi and again their limits on Wi-Fi are really idiotic...even if you wrote the song, even if you own the rights to it, Microsoft puts it's DRM on it!! Wi-Fi will be in an iPod but Apple will get it right, atleast better than Microsoft. And against your last point that it has a bigger screen.....technically 3 inches is bigger than 2.5 inches, but look again because the pixels and screen ratio are the same!! so the screen is yes "bigger" but they show the same amount of video.

Ps-> i buy some music off of iTunes and so do millions of others, i think the iTunes store was ranked 5th, in the USA atleast, as to where people buy music.

[gcore]

the ipod is an above average player at best, and there are certainly better things out there in my opinion. its certainly easy to use, very intuitive, and pretty fuckin sexy, so its understandable that pretty much everyone is going to use it. however, my 3 year old iriver still gets better battery life than the newest ipods. plus i can use any method to import my music (ie not have all my music being restricted to ipod-only play by itunes) and i can just drag and drop my music and playlists right on there, using windows explorer. this also makes it easier to put on docs et al and use it as a massive flash drive. its also driverless, any comp will see it as an external drive. include deleting tracks, voice recording, and having a record out function (i can plug my player into yours and copy a song onto mine), my 3 year old player beats out even 5g ipods in many respects. but not everyone needs these features, and not a lot of people realize that there are extremely good quality devices out there. the average consumer probably thinks that they are all cheaper carbon copies.

[desipunk7]

why would apple make a microsoft mp3 player???

WoW.

[GirlyGirlGirlGi]

The Zune - The most uncool christmas gift of 2006.

[getupkid584]

Perhaps it's more than the Zune, but maybe the business model Microsoft is going after.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2006/tc20061112_599349.htm?chan=technolo gy_technology+index+page_more+of+to day's+top+stories

[yaksordrpepper]

the ipod is an above average player at best, and there are certainly better things out there in my opinion. its certainly easy to use, very intuitive, and pretty fuckin sexy, so its understandable that pretty much everyone is going to use it. however, my 3 year old iriver still gets better battery life than the newest ipods. plus i can use any method to import my music (ie not have all my music being restricted to ipod-only play by itunes) and i can just drag and drop my music and playlists right on there, using windows explorer. this also makes it easier to put on docs et al and use it as a massive flash drive. its also driverless, any comp will see it as an external drive. include deleting tracks, voice recording, and having a record out function (i can plug my player into yours and copy a song onto mine), my 3 year old player beats out even 5g ipods in many respects. but not everyone needs these features, and not a lot of people realize that there are extremely good quality devices out there. the average consumer probably thinks that they are all cheaper carbon copies.

agreed
i loved my old iriver

ahhh how i miss it.
tear.

[Ryan Imhof]

Hahaah, all the limitations on this thing becuase of copyrights..etc. it would be interesting to see what would happen to the industry if you could just go by someones ipod or.. "...zune" and stream a song off of it. the way microsoft has all these licenses and stuff is going to be the downfall of the player. who wants to rent music.

[Ryanr14]

Also this is an interesting read....

http://gotzuned.com/

[emiliodelgado]

the zune is not going to do well. we only have 20 preorders on it and thats horribly low for such anadvertised item

[IAPAI]

i'm getting a new iPod for christmas

I'd probably wait until MacWorld in Jan '07.... just a feeling.

[petey536]

nice try microsoft, ipod dominates the market

[LillieDesigns]

I am on an apple computer right now, love apple, BUT am not a fanboy. I also have a 360 and windows PC's yaddy yaddy yada...

I have been following the zune pretty closely though and it's not as bad as you think. The same people behind releasing the 360 are working on the zune launch and the 1st generation zune is just an upgraded toshiba gigbeat.

Second, the wfi is limited BUT the designers ahve stated that the hardware is there they just need time to properly release the software needed to communicate with PC's, networks, etc.

It is "only" 30 gigs and there are no nano sized versions BUT microsoft is working on an in house version for the second generation of zunes.

IMO it's a good first attempt and the zune music store is neede dand offers the option to pay a flat fee and download liek wild. I also think that sharing songs helps artists out and there are off and on rumors that there were will be a Dj function where a number of zunes connect to via wifi and one perons dj;s for other people.

I've owned 5 iPods...not by choice because 4 of them broke. Mac OSX is so far ahead of windows but the quality of the ipod's hardware isnt perfect.

Only thing stopping me form buying a zune tomorrow is that it isnt mac compatible.

Edit: there is also gonna be awesome zune to xbox 360 communications and starting nov 22 you can download movies straight to your xbox hard drive from the xbox marketplace.

[buttonsforeyes]

thanks for posting this jason. i was gonna get this, but didnt wanan be an early adaptor and get burned with all the bugs/lack of features the first one would have. i was hoping to hear better reviews, but oh well. im confident tho that microsoft will get this right eventually and release a better one. hopefully sooner then later.

amazing icon, i miss face first

[moonlights]

i've had the worst luck of any i know with ipods (i'm currently on my 5th ipod, all four before that had the harddrive die and were replaced free of charge by the apple store because of malfunction) and i'm still tempted to say ipod > zune.

the wifi thing would be cool if it wasn't so incredibly limited. the biggest pro of the wifi i can see right now is that obviously in the next gen of ipods apple is going to have to one-up microsoft, and thus will probably integrate a less limited wifi into the next gen of ipods.

[buttonsforeyes]

im a windows/pc/microsoft user and i still think nothing will ever be better than the ipod, even more so with the new rumors of the next ipod being full/touch screen

[The Coalition]

you absolutely used the right icon Jason.

[tiff_taff]

It will never match the iPod. It may be better or have more features in the feature, but iPods are popular. That's pretty much it.

[bste_lax]

Ha, I had a feeling there would be a bunch of problems with this. iPod > Everything.

Creative Zen Vision:M >> iPod >> Everything.

I went through two iPods and had nothing but trouble even sending them in a couple times. The Zen Vision has a much better batter life, you can upload about any video (not stuck by format constraints).

I find it much easier to just plug in and put songs on it without having problems as I had problems with iTunes freezing up and other stuff.

[Scott Weber]

Personally, I'll take a more trusted source (Cnet, etc) review over a "blogs.chron" review (whatever the hell that is). But I've seen positive reviews of the Zune linked from digg.com, so it's all who you ask. There's been mediocre ones there as well. Nothing's going to be able to take down the ipod, they've got too big of a grasp on the industry thanks to genius marketing, fashion appeal, and a simple, sexy, clean player. i really don't think anybody actually thought microsoft would release an ipod killer, including microsoft. i think the media tried to make it look like that. instead, microsoft looks like they'll release a solid mp3 player with some cool features that they will make some money on and possibly make a small dent in apple's market share in this industry.

The bottom line is that both the ipod and the Zune have serious, serious problems with file compatibility problems, and ipods are unstable and are prone to breaking down and/or freezing. I'd rather have an mp3 player with great functionability than a sexy screen or as a fashion statement (which is what the ipod is to some - and the zune will be as well when it's first released). iRivers are the shit for that. File transfer is a breeze, the interface is awesome.

[DieForAlgernon]

i own an ipod, but ive had such a hard time with itunes, which recently with the update stoped recognizing my ipod as being connected

and that zune is damn sexy...

[loganmmm]

I actually really want a Zune. A brown one.
I cant believe you use Windows Media Player for it...

[risew/thefallen]

what in God's name is a zune?

[Ambulance X]

Nothing is going to take over the iPod, for me at least.

Then you are retarded.

[Ambulance X]

Creative Zen Vision:M >> Everything.



Exactly. At least someone in this thread has half of a brain in their head.

[MonkeyBars]

I've heard nothing bad about it from Gizmodo, and they've been using them extensively. Everyone saying iPod>Zune hasn't ever used it, you just see the iPod as the standard and judge by that. "Oooh, we hate Microsoft because...well because we're supposed to, so let's assume everything they make is crap, and can't hold up to the industry standard before we even have any face time with it." I have a 3G iPod (before the clickwheel) and it serves me fine, I've had to get it replaced at cost because the battery was effed, and as much as I love it, it's nothing exceptional. I've used the newer ones, and they're more of the same, with a colour screen and crappy videos.

[MonkeyBars]

Hahaah, all the limitations on this thing becuase of copyrights..etc. it would be interesting to see what would happen to the industry if you could just go by someones ipod or.. "...zune" and stream a song off of it. the way microsoft has all these licenses and stuff is going to be the downfall of the player. who wants to rent music.

What? It's not like all you can do is borrow music. It's just an added feature, one that can let you sample music to see if you like it. The fact that you're bashing something that really does you no harm and has the potential for good is just ridiculous and shows you haven't really given it a chance. I've never used a Zune, but the reports I have read (by self-professed Mac fanboys) have all been positive.

[Chris Fallon]

Apple wins this round.