Zune — $249.99 On Nov. 14 355
Cubricon writes, "As expected, Microsoft has dropped their price on the Zune in response to Apple's recent iPod updates. Ars Technica has an article that discusses the Zune's use of Microsoft's prepaid 'points' system for songs. Will the masses notice the difference between an iPod and a Zune? Will they want the FM and wireless capabilities?" The Zune lists for $0.99 more than the comparable iPod and songs from the Zune Marketplace will cost just under $0.99.
Not buying it. (Score:5, Funny)
For the young slashdot whipper snappers (Score:5, Informative)
The Fatal Flaw, that will kill zune (Score:5, Insightful)
For famliles it may be unattractive.
As I understand the Zune sales model, if you buy a song it's locked to play only on your computer and your Zune is also locked to your computer.
The problem is then families that have multiple computers or multiple zunes. If both sis and bro and mom like the latest snoop-dog tune, they can't buy it once and share it o all their computer's and Zunes. They have to buy one copy per machine/zune. That's freakin' nuts.
Or did I get it wrong. Sorry if I did, since Im itunes for the long haul and don't really care about Zune.
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Re:MOD PARENT UP (Score:5, Informative)
Re:MOD PARENT UP (Score:4, Funny)
Talk about hindsight being 20/20...
Re:MOD PARENT UP (Score:4, Informative)
FM... (Score:5, Interesting)
Busses are on the way (Score:4, Funny)
Yeah, hearing rhetoric, empty promises and outright lies live over the air while you're up to you ears in alligators would be a heckuva plus.
Re:FM... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, but FM? I think AM will be more useful.
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Yes, but FM? I think AM will be more useful.
Ramsey Electronics [ramseyelectronics.com] sells 50 watt LPFM stations in a box starting at $4000. Low power demands. Instant set-up. Freedom from interference.
That powerful AM radio station may be trying to provide regional or multi-state coverage when you need something much more focused. That is the FM advantage.
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Fuck running, i'm stealing a Hummer H1 with a radio and killing 2 birds with one stone (and anyone who won't move out of my way)!
Re:FM... (Score:5, Funny)
What happens 6 miles down the road after you run out of fuel?
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Re:FM... (Score:5, Funny)
That's still 5.5 more miles than I would have gotten running!
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Re:FM... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:FM... (Score:5, Insightful)
You're obviously not an American, and haven't listened to FM radio much in America if you've ever visited here.
Let me educate you a little. Here in America, where we talk a lot about businesses and competition and capitalism, we're actually not much different from the Soviets: all the FM radio stations in the country, except for those playing NPR (National Public Radio--like an extremely watered-down BBC), are owned by a single company: ClearChannel. This company decides what we all listen to, and plays the exact same thing on every station across the country. So they'll have a couple of country music stations, a rock station, etc., in each metro area, but it's playing the same crap that every other station of that format is playing, whether you're in Florida or California or North Dakota. Even worse, each station only plays about 10 songs, in a continuous loop; the only time you'll hear something new is when ClearChannel is working with the RIAA to brainwash us into buying some new album, and they have to update their loop with the one song they'll ever play on that album. Lastly, while a lot of your media is controlled by the BBC, it seems to actually care about producing quality media, or at least trying to. BBC News is world-renowned for being one of the best news outlets (you'll never find that reputation among any American news sources). Here, there's no such pursuit of quality at all. You can forget about any good DJs on the radio, since the DJs don't decide which songs to play anyway (that's decided by the upper management).
As for Sirius and XM, I'm surprised ClearChannel hasn't lobbied our politicians to make that stuff illegal.
The hyperbole is getting thick in here (Score:3, Insightful)
I avoid FM radio like the plague most of the time, but it's not quite as bad as you're painting it.
ClearChannel [wikipedia.org] is the biggest player in the radio market, and now that there are no FCC impediments, they usually own multiple channels in a given market. They arguably wield monopoly power in some markets, but they don't e [techliberation.com]
emergency radio (Score:3, Informative)
Radios in general (Score:4, Interesting)
If I'm paying several hundred dollars for a portable player, it should damn well have an FM *AND* AM tuner in it.
Simple as that. Until then, the CD/MP3 player that cost me $50 3 years ago will do just fine.
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You can get quite small radio tuners
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Yeah, people who use stereotypes are all alike.
Re:FM... (Score:5, Informative)
Also, relying on Zune for emergency signal is silly (and I'm being nice) since it has a short battery life and no AM/SW bands. Also, what will you listen to after 5hrs have passed?!
If you want an emergency radio, get one with three bands and get one that has a hand crank.
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Might I suggest a hand crank radio would be more useful for emergency purposes?
Something like this [amazon.com] perhaps?
Additional features over a Zune:
* Hand crank can be used to recharge the built-in battery
* Tunes AM/FM, seven NOAA weather alert channels, and TV channels 2-13
* Features emergency lights, plus a flashing beacon mode; cell phone charger
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When your battery powered unit quits working because your batteries have gone dead, I'll be nice and let you listen to my hand cranked radio.
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Ah, but there are many situations where batteries are not available, but there are plenty of broadcasts. Like the hurricane Katrina disaster. Or, if you want to get apocalyptic, in the case of a 90 to 99 percent death rate in the human population, it might be useful for finding other pe
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Brains.... brains...
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Inspired by the professor of Gilligans Island and using the crystal from the Six Million Dollar Man radio, learning science was fun as a kid.
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Is that a battery in your trousers or are you just happy to see me?
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The better question is what do we care and why would you ask? Did anyone say that you should buy a Zune just for FM reception?
Sweet (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Sweet (Score:5, Insightful)
As an Apple user, I'm all for this. A REAL competitor in the mp3 player market means that Apple has to "innovate" something cooler in order to stay on the top. I'd like to see a wide-screen iPod by the end of the year. :D
Yeah, that's what we'll likely see, pointless innovation for the sake of innovation, the next gen will probably have
Actaully... naw... well, maybe...
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all those features kick ass. I shouldn't have bought my ipod yet. Nothing like an easy to use turnip twaddler made by apple.
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Video on e-paper? You do realize that the refresh rate on those things are at best on the order of hundreds of milliseconds...
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- 1GB iPod nano = $79
- 2GB iPod nano = $99
- 4GB iPod nano = $149
- 30GB iPod = $199
- 60GB iPod = $249
And that's down from their clearance prices listed 2 weeks ago.Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Zune vs Wii (Score:3, Insightful)
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Geeks are (I reckon) more likely to buy outside iPod - witness the amount of Slashposts about Nomads, Zen, etc, etc.
So at that point the fact that Zune is the same price as an iPod is pretty irrelevant. Now the Zune looks like the e
Monday Morning Quarterbacking (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Monday Morning Quarterbacking (Score:5, Funny)
Isn't that supposed to be "might as well"? Or is there some kind of joke that I'm missing?
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Re:Monday Morning Quarterbacking (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Monday Morning Quarterbacking (Score:5, Funny)
"Points" might be the winner (Score:2)
But, I think a points system could make this a winner for MS and be a way to muscle share away from others or help to get other service providers in a nice sit-up-and-beg stance. eg. Use MSN search and earn points, takes share away from Google. Use IE and earn points. Buy goods from SearsOnline/Amazon/whatever and earn points....
Perhaps thus Zune thing is just a tool to gain some leverage in service space. Could it go as far as: Write a pro-MS lette
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Next MP3... (Score:2, Insightful)
Next MP3 player won't be one of these, I'll get something cheep, like that little jobby that works with a USB drive, which i can then plug into the new generation of car stereos with USB. Hoo Hah!
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You can mount an iRiver, an iPod, (and I gotta believe a Zune) as a UMS device, working just fine on the "next generation of car stereos with USB."
MTP vs UMS (Score:5, Interesting)
Read between the lines of this MS developer's [anythingbutipod.com] post, in which he says "PlaysForSure does not require devices to support only MTP - UMS can be implemented too, but under certain conditions that prevent newbies from transferring content via MTP, switching to UMS and then calling tech support because they can't find/play their content"...
Now re-read that sentence while pondering the notion that Zune will not support PlaysForSure.
This is a Microsoft product. More so than Apple products, less so than Sony products, it's still all about vendor lock-in.
I speculate that Zune will be an MTP (Media Transfer Protocol [wikipedia.org])-only device. UMS (USB Mass Storage [wikipedia.org]) cannot be supported, because only by eliminating UMS can Microsoft mandate the use of WMP10/11 and the accompanying XP/Vista DRM platform.
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Great advantage (Score:5, Funny)
I predict a flood of switchers.
Walmart.com offers its songs for 88 cents (Score:3, Insightful)
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Re:Walmart.com offers its songs for 88 cents (Score:4, Insightful)
Look at it this way. Even though MS controls the desktop, controls IE, and forces everyone to MSN, MSN is still not a real player in any market. They cannot win the the market on quality, or even controlling the software. So the hope is to take another page out of the Apple book and try make inroads into the music business by controlling the software and hardware, and locking consumers into the format.
I have a feeling that the lack of play for sure support is going to be a detriment, as those same people that buy the player form wal mart are going to want to download songs from wal mart, or whoever. Also, at some point MS is going to want to raise the subscription fee, and at that point owning a Zune will be more expensive than owning another device. Recall that one thing that makes a non-iPod device desirable is the play for sure market is somewhat completive, while the iTunes and alleged MS Music market is not.
As always MS makes the entire thing way too complex, and so will only appeal to those that want the MS name. Otherwise a Zen will be a better choice, unless MS is going to start giving music away, say a free three month subscription with purchase.
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98 and three-quarters of a cent. You buy four songs from Zune and you've saved a whole penny!
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What about the shitty brown color scheme ? (Score:4, Funny)
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I think I'm the only person on the planet that thinks the brown actually looks nice.
i mean, I'm not saying I'm getting one of those things. I've got my ipods... nor am I saying I'd get a brown ipod... but the brown has a classic feel to it. Like a leather upholstered stereo receiver. Man that would be cool.
Re:What about the shitty brown color scheme ? (Score:5, Funny)
"U2" was already taken
Fuzzy Math? (Score:5, Insightful)
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0.9999999... (infinite number of 9's) = 1
> Since when does "just under" mean "equals"?
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Hehe. I figured they'd do Gasoline Math... (Score:2)
Re:Fuzzy Math? (Score:4, Informative)
Because songs aren't bought using money. You use money to buy Microsoft Points, or something with a similarly retarded name, and then use those points to buy songs. The current price is a buck for 80 points, and songs cost 79 points. So each point costs 1.25 cents, and 79 points works out to 98.75 cents. Due to rounding, if you buy 1 or 2 songs you pay the same as in ITMS, and past that you pay a very small amount less (if you buy 100 songs you save a whole quarter).
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Very sneaky of them.
the microsoft way (Score:3, Interesting)
At first...
Lots of work to do... (Score:3, Insightful)
Platform Monopoly (Score:2)
The iPod is bringing too many people into the Apple store. Microsoft smells blood.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Zune or music credit got bundled with legit copies of Vista... which through the magic of DRM won't be downloadable to an iPod.
...or something sickening like that.
Planned obsolescence (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Planned obsolescence (Score:4, Insightful)
DOA (Score:4, Insightful)
"Hey, let's offer a player two months from now at the same price as Apple is already selling the iPod at today. Also, let's make sure that our new, unproven propriatary music DRM is completely incompatible with our previous propritary music DRM! That way we get to drive away consumers fearful of unknown technology and piss off our existing music partners to boot!"
Dead on Arrival.
Crow T. Trollbot
ho hum (Score:5, Insightful)
- It only lets you share one song at a time via wi-fi and then only with another Zune player. What's more, even if the song is not DRM'd, it infects that song with DRM so that the recipient can only play the song a maximum of 3 times or for a maximum of 3 days, whichever comes first. So much for Microsoft's wonderful social networking scheme.
- It can't play songs you've already downloaded encoded with Microsoft's own Play For Sure DRM. Dumb. Just plain dumb.
And if including an FM tuner didn't get people to flock to Creative's Zen video pod, why should it be such a hot feature in the Zune? And who the frack thought brown was cool?
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It's only guys who think that, "Apple doesn't have radio in its iPod, so radio must suck" think that leaving FM functionality out is GOOD. Zune has FM and yet c
Zune is like... (Score:2, Insightful)
iPod haters were already saying that the market was saturated with iPods and Apple's time was over...so how is Zune going to fare any better? You can't have it both ways. Zune is simply not a compelling product...especially when the iPod is still "hip".
Whether intentional or not, I think it was BRILLIANT that Apple did not release the true video iPod a
Zune for $249.99? (Score:2)
the Zune is $249.99. The iPod is $249.00, with $0.99 left over to buy a song with.
Re:Zune for $249.99? (Score:5, Funny)
Ahh, but you'll make than up after you buy your 397th song from the Zune Store.
249.99+397*0.9875=642.0275 (Zune)
249.00+397*0.9900=642.0300
What are we, retarded? (Score:5, Interesting)
Um, yeah. I'm not buying into some funky dirka-dirka currency that can fluctuate at the company's sheer will.
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Not that I'm wearing a tinfoil hat or anything, but this sounds like the precursor to Microsoft Dollars, or Wal-Mart Bucks and that really scares me.
Article is wrong (Score:3, Informative)
But there are a few key differences [from the iPod]: Microsoft plans to use the same transaction system as Xbox Live, its video game console's online service, which will allow consumers to pay for music using prepaid cards they can buy in retail stores -- saving some the hassle of needing to use a credit card.
I can walk into Walmart and buy a prepaid iTunes card with cash. The only I ever "bought" from iTunes was with a code from Pepsi. So please playmag.com, tell me how iTunes requires a credit card again? iTunes already has an allowance system too.
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Can't wait for this to be verbed (Score:5, Funny)
Confused (Score:2, Funny)
To get me to buy one you'd have to ... (Score:5, Insightful)
I like the Zune, from what I've read and the pictures I've seen it seems pretty cool! Especially the wireless sharing of files - that's really cool. However, the DRM that the wireless transfers forces on your media is unacceptable.
Any takers on how long it will take to crack the DRM?
Or
Any takers on how long it will take to get Linux running - doing the same things - minus the DRM?
Much Worse than PlaysforSure (Score:4, Interesting)
This is worse because if I actually wanted to BUY a song (own forever, burn to CD, etc.) then it only costs $0.79.
Microsoft points == Itchy and Scratchy Money (Score:5, Insightful)
Homer: What's that?
Woman: Well it's money that's made just for the park. It works just like regular money, but it's, er
Bart: Do it, Dad.
Homer: Well, OK, if it's fun...let's see, uh...I'll take $1,100 worth.
Homer walks in to see signs advertising that Itchy & Scratchy money is non-negotiable at various booths (e.g., "No I&S money," "We don't take Itchy and Scratchy money," etc).
Homer: "Aw!"
Who want s a dollar? (Score:5, Insightful)
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