Microsoft hopes to turn it around with Zune HD
(Credit:
Microsoft)
Microsoft will take another swipe at the iPod on Wednesday when it launches the latest version of the Zune media player.
After three years and untold millions spent on the line, Microsoft's hopes of cutting into iPod's big lead are now on the Zune HD, with its 3.3-inch multitouch screen, streaming-music feature, and the ability to playback video, with the help of an HDTV, in 720p. A 16GB Zune HD is available at retailers for $219.99 and a 32GB will cost $289.99.
But at this point in Zune's evolution there's plenty of skepticism that the Zune can close the gap on Apple. A Zune-iPod comparison has for too long resembled a late-round prize fight, the kind where the challenger is cut, swollen-eyed and wobbly legged but refuses to go to the canvas. Zune sales are falling, a top manager has moved on and what's perhaps most worrisome is that the category is becoming passe.
While Apple also tries to kick-start lackluster iPod sales--upgrading Nanos with such features as a video camera and voice recording--CEO Steve Jobs has steered consumer interest away from straight digital music players and into smartphones. Apple has sold more than 30 million iPhones over the past two years and seen more than 1.8 billion iPhone applications downloaded.
Nonetheless, this is still Microsoft, one of the biggest technology companies in the world and well known for its patience.
"You can make the argument this is Microsoft's first real shot to getting it right," said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis for The NPD Group. "Remember, the bar doesn't have to be set all that high for them to be successful. Nobody is supposed to unseat iPod...and Microsoft now has a product that they seem to be more confident in."
That confidence may come in part from an upgrade that some have called the best Zune yet. (For more, see CNET's full review of the Zune HD.)
Zune HD features a new OLED (organic light emitting diode) screen and will send high-def video to a HDTV using a new Zune AV dock, sold separately.
"Consumers can buy or rent HD content from the Zune Marketplace," Microsoft said in a statement, "sync that content to a Zune HD and take it with them to play back on a large screen HD TV in the home or on the road."
The 16GB is available in black and the 32GB is available in "platinum" at retail locations. Customers can purchase Zune in red, green, or blue in both capacities from Zuneoriginals.net.
Zune HD will also play games, HD Radio, and offers music-recommendation software, called Smart DJ.
Greg Sandoval covers media and digital entertainment for CNET News. He is a former reporter for The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. E-mail Greg, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sandoCNET. 
PLUS get this-
OLED sucks more battery and is not as bright as LCD.
Nvidia's Tegra processor is an older chip than what the iPhone/Touch use. (from PortalPlayer that Apple dumped)
Tegra is NOT an 8 core chip, but a single core. They are counting logical blocks, not cores in their lies.
Zune's display has LESS pixels (18%) than the iPhone/Touch and CANNOT display HD. It can only push HD out to a display.
For those who make purchasing decisions by spec sheets, you'll jump on this and pay for it.
Don't be fooled.
you're awful at it.
Besides, The funny part is what happens when the things finally do come out:
* The OLED screen ( by its own nature) will be too dark and pretty much worthless in full sunlight (read: roughly half the brightness of normal LED screens).
* The Tegra everyone's talking about turns out to be a warmed-over iPod Gen5 (and iPhone Gen1) ARM11 core with some extra parts slathered onto the same die.
* Like earlier Zunes, you're going to be stuck with less pixels on the screen than the item it competes with - again.
'course, you can play 720p HD video from it onto your television... dunno why I'd want to though, what with full 1080p on the typical HDTV and real dedicated hi-def players out there. But to each their own, I guess.
Along comes a Microsoft device with a tiny ecosystem (little software, few games) and a snazzy UI and the Microsoft apologists are swooning with ecstasy (read the Engadget comments section - you'd think everyone and his dog wants a Zune). "The real iPod killer!" they proclaim. Ecosystem is suddenly unimportant and eye candy trumps all. Hilarious.
This thing is the most astroturfed product in years. But it still won't sell. Microsoft needs to stop bleeding money and kill all these stupid pet projects and concentrate on what they do well: mediocre operating systems and office software.
It is, but the screen is (judging from a quick peek at the specs) 480×272, a bit smaller than the iPhone/Touch (480×320) screen. Basically, both the Zune HD and iPhone/Touch can play DVD-quality movies (480p), so there's no real differentiator there.
Also supposedly an OLED will have 100 nits at 50% brightness. Don't know how that compares to an iPod.
Too little too late for this device. If they had of built in a cell phone, and maybe a camera, then it might sell well. MP3 players will decline as more and more people buy smart phones.
http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20090915/microsoft-zune-team-launches-latest-exercise-in-futility/?reflink=ATD_yahoo_ticker
Now that Apple has Boot Camp and there is third party support for Windows with programs like Parallels Microsoft should still be making a Mac browser, Mac Zune support, and a $99 Boot Camp edition of Windows.
Good point
Agreed. I installed QuickTime on my computer to see if it was any good (and it most certainly was NOT any good) and while it was installing it asked me three times to install iTunes and Safari. Needless to say I chose no all three times and QuickTime is also no longer on my computer. And people think other software companies try to force their products.
No argument here. loading through my media player is convenient though. I use a Zen and it lets me load either way.
SansDisk numbers are somewhere around 3 percent of the market share and Microsoft is around 2 percent.
I know very many people who would love to have the option of getting a decent music player (such as the Zune) and not always have to rely upon the products offered by Apple.
I know very many people who would love to have the option of getting a decent music player (such as the Zune)...
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Thanks, I needed to get a good laugh.
Coolaid or not; it should be a solid device.
Regardless of whether people buy more iPODs than Zunes; it might just shake up the market.
Do we think Zune HD triggered a change in heart for Apple about FM radio? If it did...all the better for us the consumer.
OK, why's OLED so bad? Well a few reasons, firstly it burns more power than backlit LCD (not a good start in something you want to run off a battery) the figure actually varies depending on what's on the display (LCD is a constant draw) but if the display is mostly white it can be as much as 3 times that required by LCD. OLED offers better blacks right? Well yes under certain conditions, the only light emitted from an OLED is from lit pixels (LCD "leaks" light even out of "black" pixels), but there's are a couple of downsides. Firstly if you look as LCD outside much of what you're seeing is reflected light - not that coming from the backlight, with OLED this doesn't happen - the display washes out far more than LCD. The second problem? OLED can't offer the brightness of LCD, it's just a dimmer display. So on a device you're going to use outside of darkened rooms - OLED sucks. However there are other problems, OLED displays have far shorter working lives than LCD, and their colour performance varies greatly with age (they lose the ability to produce strong blue colours over time). You wondered why they're not making a ZunePhone? This could be why - you'd mostly use it outside, and there you can't read the display!
As for the rest of it, yesterday's processor, yesterday's software, and too many broken promises. For all the journalists who saw Zune and cooed, didn't you wonder why it was so flippin' dark?!?!
I'm not sure I know which is true. I think I'll reserve judgement until I can see the displays side by side and make up my own mind about it with experience and first hand knowledge.
The guy went into technical and provable detail as to why OLED on a PMP form factor is generally regarded as a bad idea. Sony has one out right now, and quite frankly it stinks on ice as far as visual display capability - for the very same reasons.
As for "it's odd that companies like Apple are promoting this same technology" - please show us where you can buy one - the Apple Store currently shows only "back-lit" LED displays for MacBook Pros, and specifically says "TFT" for the $999 MacBook. Everywhere else points to the idea of OLED on Mac products as rumor/speculation, and very little else. IT is about as viable as the fabled Apple-made MacTablet... and likely just as tangible.
I suspect Apple won't bother with OLED on an MacBook or an iPod/Phone, and for one simple reason - no one has figured out how to keep the same brightness as a TFT without making it a powerhog.
Now bring it to Europe MS! You can't sustain an 'iPod killer' (in quotes before anyone says) based off one territory...
However you are right about the current trend being towards convergence and there aren't that many players with not only the hardware and software ecosystem across the desktop and smartphone, but also the developer mindshare.
Maybe only Microsoft and Apple - and possibly Google - can realistically pull this off.
ROFLMAO @ U.
But if someone outsells Apple then there is no competition because the new player will have a monopoly!
Keep in mind that Apple thought that the entire 'copy' and 'paste' concept was a novel idea for the iPhone, unlike any other device on the market... even though it had been used in the marketplace for more than a decade previous. On the iPhone it was a new feature never seen before on a smartphone or PDA.
Being 'original' doesn't really mean much these days unless you actually DO have something original.
May want to google for "COBY"... http://www.cobyusa.com/?p=prod&prod_num_id=355&pcat_id=1001
Please cite where Apple claimed such a thing to be "novel". Thx in advance.
Where do you get this strange notion that companies should give their competitors a free ride on their successful products?
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/devices/flash.aspx
(not a MS attack, just a bit of fun)
For anyone who's not tried iTunes (is there anyone?) you DON"T have to buy your music from the store. The iPod plays MP3 just fine, sure it's easy to buy from their store - but you'd expect that (wouldn't you?)
Ah yes, the irony! That ad is several years old from the days of PlaysForSure - before Zune came out and the iPod acquired most of those features.
I'm amazed Microsoft haven't pulled it yet.
Ok, not to judge, but 8 songs is "less than 10%" of your library? Do you only have 100 songs? I've heard about people with very small libraries like that but I have never actually met one.
I have about 3,300 songs on my iPod and *not one* was purchased from the iTunes music store. And you've *never* had to purchase music from Apple, so if that's what MS's ad says, they were lying from the start. I only ever buy CD's, for archival purposes, I rip them with EAC, then I import them into iTunes. And I've always done it that way. (iTunes has always been able to import CD's directly, but its mp3 encoder isn't as good as LAME, which is what my EAC is front-ending. I do use iTunes importing sometimes for Japanese CD's, since EAC doesn't support Japanese.)
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Oh wow, you so totally showed everyone how awesomely cool and hip you are with that whole '$' thing. That's so impressive! You have amazed everyone here on CNET with your wit and wisdom with your clever attempts at whimsy and satire.
Excellent job! Your parents must be proud. Perhaps you can print this out and they can hang it on the refridgerator next to your fingerpainting.
Zune Store is currently unavailable from your location. If you are using software that masks your IP address, you may need to deactivate it temporarily to access the site. Please visit Zune.net for the latest news and information.
With points, you will always have money in their system, which they earn interest from.
Plus come on it's running Windows CE under the covers if it was so successful to develop games and it's been around since the days of the Palm dominance then wouldn't they have won this battle already.
Seems like MS is just catching up with the iTouch minus the gaming.
My kids have no idea what a Zune is and given the choice they'd be in the Apple Store.
you'll all need to **** and look up "tegra" for starters. That chip blows whats in the ipod touch out of the water.
Contrary to the hype you swallowed, the Tegra is not a mini-GeForce.
These devices are worth every penny to someone who uses all their additional features.
- by myles taylor September 15, 2009 7:20 AM PDT
- It won't be able to steal much market share from the iPod Touch. The iPod Touch (and inversely the iPhone) have the advantage of being able to use each other's applications, giving it a user base of over 50 million rather than just the 30 million for iPhones or 20 million for the iPod Touch. There is no way any other phone or media player can touch that.
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (118 Comments)The Zune HD looks great; but it won't grab a huge market share. That's my prediction anyway.