The Zune Cometh 291
Well, except for those hiding under a mountain of used iPod batteries, it's fairly well known that the Zune iPod-wannabe killer is coming out Monday/Tuesday. There's a piece in the NYTimes about counting on the wireless part of the Zune to take down the iPod as well as some interviews with people involved in the creation. But OTOH, RoughlyDrafted (which has had a series of pieces about the Zune) points out some issues with the DRM systems, and forecasts a number of issues — and also calls out what they called a "Digg Fraud Campaign". But soon — the market decides.
The War of the News & Products (Score:2, Insightful)
You know what's funny? It's easy to say bad things about a large company because they have marketing departments & businessmen running them. Oftentimes, marketing and business involve areas of questionable ethics & integrity--or the sheer will to sell your product at any cost since that's your paycheck. Is a "Digg fraud Campaign" really that surprising?
Microsoft is doing horrible things here
You know what is also funny? It's easy to say good things about a large company because they have a lot of resources and can accomplish a lot for the consumer. Stand back, I'm about to say something that will ensure this post hits rock bottom on the karma: Microsoft has done good things for computing. And you know what? So has Apple. I've used products of both of them to varying levels of success in my past--and that in and of itself is something.
Now consider the fact that both Microsoft & Apple are very large companies. This Zune/iPod crap is always going to happen and they love that it's in the public's eye.
Re:The War of the News & Products (Score:5, Insightful)
Now, stuff like this digg thing, is pretty different. Setting up anonymous blogs, etc. to give the impression that the story is independent and not coming from the company paying for it and doing the marketing is something different. Same thing with slashvertisements.
Not necessarily saying anything is better or worse, but I think there's a pretty big distinction to be made between things that are clearly identified as advertisements, and things that are not clearly identified as advertisements in order to give the impression that they are something else.
But what about the battery? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Not a big intro (Score:5, Insightful)
Perhaps they figured that saying it's from Microsoft is not a way to promote your product to their target audience.
Re:The War of the News & Products (Score:5, Insightful)
This is an unusual viewpoint here on slashdot, but honestly, so long as they stick to bettering each other through competition rather than belittling each other, I'm all for it. When one company decides to launch whole hearted smear campaigns rather than improve their product, or, even worse, decides it's more cost effective to buy out the competition, that's where I get worried, and in honesty, most major corporations have done one, if not both.
Re:Intentional or error? (Score:3, Insightful)
because when it comes right down to it, all those other services will die becaue they partnered with MSFT, and then MSFT stabbed them all in the back.
or maybe it was a chair in the board room.
Re:The War of the News & Products (Score:3, Insightful)
Emotions sell things because at the end of the day none of us actually need any of this shit, so keeping cold hard logic at bay is necessary for selling the vast majority of things. I do some product photography and I've sat through hundreds of sessions with ad people picking out which photos to use in a campaign and there is always a lot of talk about how this one particular shot 'makes me feel'. I hear more of that in ad sessions than at art gallery openings.
"Choosy mothers choose Jif" doesn't even explain what product the Jif Corporation is trying to sell, and isn't backed up by any evidence, but voice it over a shot of some kid kicking a ball to his dog in his perfect little backyard and it sells because it implies that if you don't serve your child Jif Corporation products his little body will rot away and he won't be able to kick balls to dogs in your backyard. Or at least that was how it made me feel.
Re:But what about the battery? (Score:3, Insightful)
Heh... Zune? (Score:3, Insightful)
I think that you'll find the market breakdown between Zune and the iPod will fall along the same lines that you see in the PC vs. Mac world. The people who want the "stylish and beautiful" device will still buy iPods. The people who want the utilitarian device with more features than sense, will buy the Zune. The wireless functionality of the Zune is a perfect example. To paraphrase Jobs, who WANT that sort of thing when you can just swap your [insert music player here] with a friend for a few minutes to listen to the songs on each other's players to see if you want to buy the tracks? (Funny how 80s Walkman technology, the 1/8" headphone plug, is perfectly compatible with nearly every music player out there. Don't expect that to last much longer... it keeps the goons from making more money through artifical restrictions.) The ridiculous filesharing that deletes itself thanks to DRM is just another component bound to cause more negative user experiences than positive ones. But, the fact is that Zune will likely break even or tank. I don't see it becoming the defacto standard as iPod has. Hell, I own a Rio Karma (they RULE BTW...) and I can attest to the fact that EVERY digital music player or service you want is made for the iPod. The FM transmitter I bought along with it's cigarette lighter adapter has a funny extra plug on it that is specifically for the iPod and totally useless on my Karma. Again... the problem of not using or establishing any kind of REAL drafted standard.
IF there were an actual standard, then the Zune and the iPod would be able to actually compete on their merits rather than artifically limiting each other. I'd say a reasonable standard would look like this:
1. A standard interface for purchasing/downloading music within the player itself rather than through a PC. This would happen via WiFi or a NIC or even a cell phone data link
2. Standard bluetooth for sending the audio data to a bluetooth headphone, or in-dash blue tooth enabled car stereos. This would eliminate the interference that you experience on the road while other people blast Howard Stern with their Sirius sets
3. A standard hardware interface for a dock that all players would utilize regardless of shape or size
4. Standard power jacks that are multipurpose for car, house or even USB power
5. A standard underlying base OS that could have extras layered on top of it to extend functionality and support for additional features in software and extended hardware features as well
6. Interaction with other bluetooth devices so that you could also use them as data drives, or even personal answering machines for cell phones (screw voice mail...)
Just a few ideas which I'm sure the "elite" here will rip apart. My point is that Zune is not going to be able to easily usurp the lead that Apple has at the moment. The only way they will is if Apple rests on their laurels and doesn't provide the next "high".
Re:But what about the battery? (Score:3, Insightful)
Talk about not comparing apples to apples. A cellular phone, while talking uses a radio to transmit and receive signals, the iPod does no such thing.
If you believe the non-user removable battery was done for any other reason than:
1) design - no seams in the plastic
2) cost - we want the money for either a new iPod after three years, or at least pay us to replace the battery
you are being naive.
Designs are about compromise.
Yes, but the compromise may not be for the best "design" it may be for the benefit of the company.
-dave
Re:Intentional or error? (Score:3, Insightful)
That would make it something that kills iPod wannabe's, like Creative or Rio or Sandisk players."
Maybe it's just my pidgin English, but I'd see "iPod-wannabe killer" as something that kills iPod wannabes. Those hyphens...
...and it has shitty marketing! (Score:5, Insightful)
These ads show people out in public, at parties and concerts, with friends; there's talking, laughing, dancing; a DJ or a band playing music. And somehow you're supposed to make the connection that these are the perfect places to put on your headphones and listen to your own music.
"Wow, I'm glad I paid $20 for a ticket to this concert with all of these people! Now I'm going to listen to my $250 Zune by myself! Welcome to the Social."
Re:Not a big intro (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe they feel it unwise to make use of the Microsoft brand for these products.
Re:But what about the battery? (Score:4, Insightful)
For something that only needs to be done every couple years or so, this really isn't a big deal.
No, it makes sense. (Score:3, Insightful)
That doesn't make any sense at all. If Murphey is trying to get people more interested in Zune and wanting to buy a Zune, why would he suggest that a new iPod is coming out. This would actually make people considering a Zune potentially abort that purchase waiting for Apple to produce an iPod with WiFi or something similar.
Actually, it does make some sense. Imagine you're a weak-minded consumer and you're going to buy an iPod tomorrow, and I'm selling Zunes. Now, if you buy that iPod tomorrow, there's no way you buy a Zune. Of course, I'm going to tell you about this Zune thing, but one day of my evangelism probably won't win you over. Unless I do something drastic, you buy that new iPod tomorrow.
So I bust out the big gun. I start an unfounded rumor that Apple is coming out with a Video iPod next month. You think, there's no way I'm buying a new iPod if there's a new one out next month. See, I just got you to postpone your iPod purchase! This gives me time to convince you that the Zune is great. It gives me time to get the Zune in people's hands, and allows you to *see* the Zune. If my marketing blitz worked, then it'll give you time to maybe think that this old Zune thing isn't so bad after all. The only problem is that you're still pining for that video iPod, and won't touch my Zune.
Next month, you're still holding out for that new Video iPod. By now, even though you're a weak-minded consumer, you've figured out that video iPod was just a rumor. Problem is, you still need a new music player. In the meantime, I've been telling every day you how great the Zune is.
If I've done my job, I've made you more likely to buy a Zune now that you've had a chance to see it and its marketing in action than you were before. With one little rumor, I got you not to buy an iPod at least until I've had a chance to demo my product. There was no chance you bought a Zune before, AND I would have lost you as a consumer for probably 2 years. Now, I at least get a crack at you.
The key here is that there isn't actually a video ipod coming soon, and the slick marketeer I am, I know that. ;)
Re:The War of the News & Products (Score:5, Insightful)
Because PC's do, and Macs don't.
I've been running an entire network of unsecured Macs 24/7 connected to my DSL connection for years with no anti-virus software. Not one infection.
On the other hand, in a one-year span, I had a RedHat Linux box and a Windows game machine that were pwned once each.
Why they claim Mac's are "just better" at doing graphics work
Ask somebody in the graphic printing business. I don't really know everything about it, but the professionals swear by Macs.
Why they claim that your average PC lock up every few seconds and needs rebooting
An amusing exaggeration. It wouldn't have gotten so many laughs if it wasn't rather close to the experience many people had with Windows.
If you honestly believe any of these things then you are behind your reality distortion field.
Call it what you like, but working virus-free on computers that don't get in the way of my creative work and run more reliably than Windows is a nice "field" to be standing in. You should try it sometime.
No Zune For Me (Score:2, Insightful)
My Christmas money is going on a iPod Nano PRODUCT (RED) 8GB model. My 3G iPod is still going strong - sure, battery is stuffed so playtime is now about 2 hours instead of 6, but at least the 40GB iPod still works as a 40GB Firewire/USB hard drive, while the Zune is a huge brick sitting on my desk wasting space while I play my music in iTunes.
The iPod Nano can fit in my shirt pocket, or it can squeeze in behind my mobile phone in the mobile phone pocket on my backpack. The Zune, being a huge brick, would have to take up space in my backpack. Along with my 3G iPod which is still functional after all these years (no battery replacement yet).
So: 3 year old iPod is still doing: calendar, contacts, music, and functions as an external hard drive. Zune would be doing: brick impressions.
Oh... I'm a Mac user by the way, so how am I supposed to load music onto the Zune for when I feel like lugging a huge brick around with me? I don't need to plug myself into a huge brick to compensate for lack of endowment. I'll buy the slim and fashionably coloured iPod Nano PRODUCT (RED) and have Apple send $10 off to help people in Africa survive against AIDS.