Comments on: With Zune, Microsoft heads to the mosh pit

Is the software giant's music player for those who rock steady, or is it all just a rock 'n' roll fantasy?

[Sumatra-Bosch]

Forbes Magazine Condemns Zune !

At last, a magazine that doesn't have MS as an advertiser can tell the objective truth about this ridiculous iPod wanna be.

http://blogs.forbes.com/digitaldownload/2006/11/zune_stinks.html

Forbes get it right on DRM, pricing complexity and MS's singularly demented marketing. What does the sell line "Welcome to the Social" is supposed to mean? Is this an attempt at, hey, hep cat speak?

And, hey, they're only selling that at a loss of $50 a unit. Are these guys geniuses or what?

Roberto

[VidPro]

The Microsoft Mantra

"Competition is good for every one."

Yes, who more than Microsoft has embraced the spirit and strength
of open competition?

This is hilarious coming from a Microsoft employee. I'm sure all the
past employees of the competitors that Microsoft crushed are
rolling on the floor laughing right now!

[Ryo Hazuki]

The Anti-Microsoft Mantra

Who more than Microsoft has been forced to compete with disadvantages like having to sell versions of Windows without Windows Media Player when nobody complains Apple bundles QuickTime with every OSX, thanks to all those fines (many of them totally ridiculous, like this one) against them? What I think it's hilarious is that people like you accuse Microsoft of not playing fair just because some of their products are better than the competition and, thus, have completely dominated the market by a large margin for many years (nobody is pointing a gun to anyone's head forcing people to buy Microsoft products). I'm sure too all people like you will continue to give the ignorant excuse that whenever a Microsoft product succeeds it's because they don't play fair.

[Santa Clauz]

no monopoly no fun

The cometition in MP3 player market very, very strong. There are literally dozens of small Asian brands of players, who are more cheaper, feature-rich and pirate-friendly than Zune. And since we talk about youth market the emphasis on "pirate-friendly" is important.
So, why should anyone suffer the DRM hell of Microsoft?

[Santa Clauz]

no monopoly no fun

The competition in MP3 player market very, very strong. There are literally dozens of small Asian brands of players, who are more cheaper, feature-rich and pirate-friendly than Zune. And since we talk about youth market the emphasis on "pirate-friendly" is important.
So, why should anyone suffer the DRM hell of Microsoft?

[DeusExMachina]

monopoly

By NO measure is the competition in the DMP market "veery. veery
strong. It does not matter how many players their are, it matters
how the market is carved up. With one company having over 80% of
the market, it is hard to see how you think their is competitipn. as
for being pirate friendly, it is of trivial importance.

[ZuneChannel]

By Next Year's Holiday Season...

...all of the iPod worshipers will be searching new meaning in their lives when they see how well-received Zune has been by consumers. BTW, where did this "everyone must love AAPL" belief system come from, which seems to be endlessly regurgitated?

Gene from ZuneChannel.com

[Ringhorne]

... your Zune will be REPLACED

Do you, you silly, endlessly regurgitating MS fanboy, have any reason to think that Zune is a ripoff simply because the battery cannot be replaced? What the heck is that about? More disposable GARBAGE to clutter the planet -- especially if it is as successful as YOU seem to think it will be. SUCKERS!

[DeusExMachina]

By next summer

you will be posting under a different name, deny ever posting
such ridiculous prognostications, and be no where to be found
to be called to task for such.

Balmer will be well on the way to making the decision to cut and
run on the Zune, and by next holiday season you will all be
scrambling for some lousy firmware update to allow you to play
tracks from Napster since the Zune store will have gone belly up,
and none of the original Microshaft partners in plays4sure, nor
MTV will be willing to jump in to fill the breach.

[OS11]

The Top Reasons the Zune Will Fail -----

Doom & Gloom surrounds Zune has it tries to compete against a much smarter Apple. Here is a great list of Opps! mistakes that will KILL the Zune on Tuesday. It's now easy to see, MS will drop the Zune within 24 months!

----

Not all purchased Zune songs can be sent wirelessly! Get ready for people to YELL about the error: "Can't receive songs because of rights restrictions." Microsoft completely fails to tell the purchaser which ones don't work! Microsoft says that they have no plans to give you that information. False Advertising!!!

It doesn?t have a single standard iPod amenity: no games, alarm clock, stopwatch, world clock, password-protected volume limiter, equalizer, calendar, address book or notes module.

Incredibly, you can?t even use the Zune as an external hard drive! as you can with just about every other player on earth.

Zune is 60% larger and 17% heavier than the comparable iPod!

It has much worse battery life for music than the iPod or than Microsoft claims -- at least two hours less than the iPod.

With wireless turned on, battery life on the Zune is just 10 hours and 12 minutes, even if you don't send or receive any songs. Even worse if you do.

Larger screen, lower quality... many album covers, photos look worse than they do on the iPod. It has the same resolution, but stretches everything.

You can't share music libraries between computers like you can with iTunes.

The wheel, isn't a wheel, but merely up/down - left/right buttons!

Zune's online store offers far fewer songs, just over two million, compared with 3.5 million for the iTunes store.

Zune Marketplace offers no TV shows, movies or music videos that iTunes does, and has no audiobooks or podcast ability.

Even worse, to buy even a single 99-cent song from the Zune store, you have to purchase blocks of "points" from Microsoft, in increments of at least $5!

You can't just click and have the 99 cents deducted from a credit card. And the point system is deceptive. Songs are priced at 79 points, which some people might think means 79 cents. But 79 points actually cost 99 cents. (In true MS theft style!)

And lastly, it costs 99 cents MORE than the iPod, which means you lose 1 song even before you pay $5 to listen to your very first song :)

Great work Microsoft! thanks for cementing iPod's 77% share!

pass it on!

[gernblan]

It's true

I've seen one, the are really ugly, clunky, bulky, DRM encumbered pieces of feces (hey, they rhymes, sorta!)

[OS11]

The Top Reasons the Zune Will Fail -----

Doom & Gloom surrounds Zune has it tries to compete against a much smarter Apple. Here is a great list of Opps! mistakes that will KILL the Zune on Tuesday. It's now easy to see, MS will drop the Zune within 24 months!

----

Not all purchased Zune songs can be sent wirelessly! Get ready for people to YELL about the error: "Can't receive songs because of rights restrictions." Microsoft completely fails to tell the purchaser which ones don't work! Microsoft says that they have no plans to give you that information. False Advertising!!!

It doesn?t have a single standard iPod amenity: no games, alarm clock, stopwatch, world clock, password-protected volume limiter, equalizer, calendar, address book or notes module.

Incredibly, you can?t even use the Zune as an external hard drive! as you can with just about every other player on earth.

Zune is 60% larger and 17% heavier than the comparable iPod!

It has much worse battery life for music than the iPod or than Microsoft claims -- at least two hours less than the iPod.

With wireless turned on, battery life on the Zune is just 10 hours and 12 minutes, even if you don't send or receive any songs. Even worse if you do.

Larger screen, lower quality... many album covers, photos look worse than they do on the iPod. It has the same resolution, but stretches everything.

You can't share music libraries between computers like you can with iTunes.

The wheel, isn't a wheel, but merely up/down - left/right buttons!

Zune's online store offers far fewer songs, just over two million, compared with 3.5 million for the iTunes store.

Zune Marketplace offers no TV shows, movies or music videos that iTunes does, and has no audiobooks or podcast ability.

Even worse, to buy even a single 99-cent song from the Zune store, you have to purchase blocks of "points" from Microsoft, in increments of at least $5!

You can't just click and have the 99 cents deducted from a credit card. And the point system is deceptive. Songs are priced at 79 points, which some people might think means 79 cents. But 79 points actually cost 99 cents. (In true MS theft style!)

And lastly, it costs 99 cents MORE than the iPod, which means you lose 1 song even before you pay $5 to listen to your very first song :)

Great work Microsoft! thanks for cementing iPod's 77% share!

pass it on!

[gernblan]

Yeah and they are slamming CLOCKWISE

... it's a race to the basement! Vista vs. Zune. Who will win?

It's going to be an exciting race!

[gernblan]

Google...

...is in Cupertino, CA. Nice try, Betty from Microsoft.

[Betty Roper]

You poor dear...

Google headquarters is in Mountain View, though they have an office in New York

http://www.google.com/intl/en/corporate/address.html

Apple is in Cupertino. Thanks for sharing.

[rcrusoe]

Zune in the wild

http://www.engadget.com/2006/11/12/stores-selling-zunes-early/

[bsn]

I Figured It Out!

I have been trying to think of what the Zune reminds me of.
Finally, it dawned on me. When the Zune is turned off, it looks just
like a remote control for a garge door opener.

[bsn]

I Figured It Out!

I have been trying to think of what the Zune reminds me of.
Finally, it dawned on me. When the Zune is turned off, it looks just
like a remote control for a garage door opener.

[mgreere]

Me? I think Pong.

or some other chunky portable video game from the 80s.

[john55440]

Music Industry Cripples Wireless Feature

The music industry's demand that wireless sharing be limited to 3-days/3-plays is a deal breaker. It just sucks the fun out of that feature.

[mgreere]

No woman will buy this!

I think it's fugly.

My fiance said "ewwww" when I showed her a picture.

No joke. That was her unbiased, unprompted reaction: disgust.

Check out the rubberized case that looks like a tire tread on
zune.net

Yeah, geeks without taste (ie, many of us) will be the only people
buying this for the time being.

[eddy m]

Poor English?

Hilarious! You criticise someone's English and then write nonsense.
How would a spell checker 'breach the gap'? I believe the phrase
you're looking for is 'bridge the gap'. At least if you want to make a
little sense, it is.

[DeusExMachina]

Nonsense

First, if you want to make any sense at all, you might try to reply
to the post in question, instead of to the article. Second, a spell
check would not catch that, but so what? What exactly is your
point? Since it was I who wrote that, the original poster using a
spell checker would not have provided any benefit. I know you
think you are turning a clever phrase, but you are just coming of
as an ignoramus. As for the rest, "breach the gap" is common
enough phrase in its own right, and its use in no way made what
was written nonsensical. Your failure to understand is more an
indication of your own mental faculties than of any deficiency of
mine.

Oh, and punctuation goes inside quotations.