Comments on: Microsoft unveils revamped Zunes

Changes include a complete overhaul of the device's software and a redesign of Marketplace, which will offer 1 million unprotected songs.
Photos: Round two for Zune

[The_happy_switcher]

vista video:hilarious

http://www.blimptv.net/mostpopularV1.html

[ferretboy88]

I bet the battery is better then on my Ipod

Even apple product I own has a problem with battery life not even being close to what apple says I should be getting. In fact my macbook battery had to be replaced and my ipod that was 5 weeks old had to be changed.

[ncalishome]

"But they should stick to their core business and try to improve it."

They're not neglecting their core business.. at least not all of it. Office and Exchange 07 are shockingly better than previous versions. My first reaction was "omg, they hired a UI department with some sense and style".

I have not had one problem with Vista and find it remarkably better and more productive than XP (and know a few like me) but that's certainly not going so well for them lol.. My favorite was my dad (who's basically computer illiterate) telling me the other day: "You know, that Vista is a strange, strange thing"

If the Zune has the same revamp that Office had I might consider trading in my iPod. I have a 60g Video and can't say I care much for it too much. Laggy and hard to safely find tracks while driving. The price is right here, and sorry but I have a lot more music I like to carry about than will fit on the new iPods.

[Xenu7-214951314497503184010868]

You can dress up a pig only so far

Even if you dress up a pig to look like a duck, it's still a pig.

[Guru Master]

"Chicken Soup for the Mac Fan Boy"

I think we need a new book series for the majority of the above posters titled "Chicken Soup for the Mac Fan Boy". It could teach them how to address competition issues and teach them to portray themselves, and therefore their genre, in a light that may, at some point, make them seem at least somewhat intelligent.

For the same price as the iPod nano, a Zune 2 gives you FM radio and wireless capabilities. The iPod nano's do NOT include wireless capabilities at the prices noted in the above article - The iPod touch does, but starts at $299 for the 8Gb model: Compare yourselves on the Apple Store:
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?nnmm=browse&mco=65FDC9AD&node=home/shop_ipod/family/ipod_nano

The Zune also offers full WMA support.

I think Rolling Stone got it right when they said "Still, Zune offers all-you-can eat music subscription services for $14.99 a month, an excellent and handy service that Apple doesn?t offer. And the ability to transfer TV shows you may have recorded on your Windows Vista Ulimate or Premium laptop or desktop to your Zune is a huge plus." and "the new Zune won?t overtake the iPod just yet. But Apple should hurry: The Zune offering the ability to watch shows you recorded for free is a serious app that should not be taken likely...."

link = http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2007/10/03/at-a-glance-microsofts-new-zune-players/

I think that the new Zunes combined with serious competition from Verizon and Research In Motion will make a serious dent in the mp3 market this holiday season and start pulling market share away from Apple. Additionally, the fact that ad based music and TV download web sites are popping up almost daily points to a new trend that will greatly impact iTunes. Why pay for music or videos or TV when you can download it for free and sync it wirelessly to your 4Gb Zune 2, which can be pre-ordered at Circuit City now for $149? Just as importantly, why pay Apple's inflated prices?

Circuit City Link = http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/genericContent.do?oid=194398&c=1&cm_re=main%20marquee-_-Zune:%20slick%20new%20look,%20cool%20new%20features-_-Learn%20more%20&%20preorder%20
yours%20today

Now someone please write that book and I do hope the target audience does read it! Thanks.

[yaZULU]

Ok, then

WMA support? when was the last time you found a "WMA blog
site" i really do not care about WMA, I probably care more for
.ogg, and frankly I don't care for ogg vorbis. Now, regarding
Rolling Stone as a credible magazine?! every serious musician or
aficionado dropped them for NME a looong time ago, mainly
due to every writer being about 45+. Back to zune 2.0 , i dont
mind the functionality to play videos you've recorded ( grumble
at Vista ultimate / premium) , but if im not mistaken cant you do
the same with a generic PVR / eyeTV then run it through QTpro
or some other video conversion program and it'll run sweet on
an iPod?
FM radio? isn't the whole point of an MP3 player to have music
on demand? I for one and many other people as well dont want
FM radio, if you want new music, get a podcast or a RSS MP3
blog site (See above) however why sync to a Zune? something
like 80% of MP3 player owners already have an iPod that will
happily syndicate with those sites and their downloads, its not as
if the Zune is going to revolutionize the world on this front.
This is objective, this is pro apple but personally, and once again
im certain there are many people in my boat who will agree
when i say, Zune's just are not pretty. Simple! they are
reminiscent of the original Xbox, and that green?! whoa, its not
green, i like the GUI, its not bad, nice font, but really, not much
else, the design isnt fantastic, and the "zune pad" , honestly,
kinda limp.

[mofo111]

Re: "Chicken Soup..."

"For the same price as the iPod nano, a Zune 2 gives you FM radio
and wireless capabilities."

What!? You also get an FM radio built right into the player?!! Wow!
That's AMAZING! How do they do that?!! I would have never
imagined that possible!

("Sometimes sarcasm helps us to think more clearly" - Dogbert).

[drod01]

MS & FORD :-()

Yes, MS reminds me of Ford Motor. It is a company with a
bloated executive club and no one with a 21 century plan.

MS and Ford still using formulas they used in the 80's and 90's.

Seriously, in a very competitive market why would you come out
with a product that imitates the old iPods Nanos. OK, it has
some silly new features that the old iPod Nanos did and does not
have. Why not introduce something that will WOW the
competition?

[jbonzo11]

Non-Story

it all really doesn't matter since, like the last Zune, the general
public will ignore it. only gadget geeks will hash it out and the
owners of Zunes will be those who got them as gifts by
someone who just didn't know any better.

Why kind of world to we live in where MS can no longer swoop in
a and just take a market?

The real mistake w. Zune was not adapting Halo for it- which is
why XBox was able to succeed.

[willie61]

MS:Use old tactics to Win market...

I've got a Zune and it's OK . The only reason for me is the FM radio. I must use iTunes to manage content often and have podcasts.
Remember what made MS market in the old days; best product (NO Way); best support (NEVER). Flooding the market with frequent rev's and making discounted offers to colleges and strategic agreements with PC makers, and accesory makers (YES).
MS is playing catchup ; and needs to either ante up just like they have with all their other products ; or get out . The new Zune rev doesn't sound that hot , but a better software could go a long way for me to keep this thing long term.

[kyle172]

What a Piece of Crap!

It looks uglyer than before. Give up Microsoft Apple has won this battle

[The_happy_switcher]

give it up msft

amen, brother.

[gminetos]

I wanna brown one !

<giggles>

[Hardrada]

If Microsoft wants me to buy products...

other than Windows and Office, they need to stop jerking me around with Windows and Office. If I had a choice, I would never buy anything from this miserable crap-pile of a company. They look like a monopoly, they smell like a monopoly, they taste like a monopoly. Bill, Steve, et. al. are all socialists at heart: they want a world without competition.

[Jortibereal]

All right.

All those big bad tech CEOs don't want competition? That's news to me. I figured most companies love having competition for their products.

Stop calling "socialist" and "commie". You're a few decades too late for that kind of thing.

[Jagadeesh Venugopal]

I love Zunes...

But not for reasons you might imagine. Someone like me who wants a plain vanilla MP3 player would love the Zune because:

1. It won't sell well, period. To challenge the incumbent, either your features must be much better or your price much lower.

2. The new Zune will get heavily discounted by post Christmas.

3. Ergo, shiny new MP3 player for $150 or so on 12/26. Yes it doesn't have the cachet of the Ipod but I suspect it will suit my needs pretty fine!

[yaZULU]

Huh!?!

Yep, so all those prominent WMA blog sites are? or will I point to
sites like whothehell.net, hypemachine.com, missingtoof.com or
bigstereo.net ? However there just unimportant non-influential sites
so yeah good point there.
Ok masters degree in computer science to hit "export to iPod"? yeah,
once again its pretty tricky, freaking out with all those advanced
higher functions that require 3-5 years at a sandstone university.
Why the hell does that bring on a giggle or even a laugh? Im looking
for a point but its strangely missing? and we? seriously, 2 steps at
max? and with eyeTV you can go directly to a H.264 MP4 that will
run very happily on your iPod, now where was your point again?

Bahahahahhahah! spoken like a true fusty old man, I used to
subscribe to rolling-stone and basically every month they just cut
and paste NME's reviews and what's hot. So I cut the ******** and
went straight to the source, once again spoken like a true old man
"numbers mean everything" NME actually finds new bands and alerts
you to new, and good music! Rolling stone mainly just re caps what
happened over the last 50 years and is coasting on their name, their
front page consists of Kid Rock, Britney Spears, Bruce Springsteen, R
Kelly, Mick Jagger and Van Halen not to mention quizzes about the
rolling stones. Heaps of fresh up and coming musicians there. Now
would you like me to post all links with statistics and spreadsheets to
prove my point?
Now I cant disagree with you here, beauty is subjective, and
personally, zune doesn't do it for ME. Whilst the iPod maintains a
clean, minimalist approach thats understated and timeless, black and
aluminum with glass is an elegant and contemporary scheme whilst
the old white was timeless again, whilst the Nano's and shuffles
pastels I'm not as impressed or chuffed over it, however it does look
better than than that god forsaken green-chutney brown.
Now functionality, Wi-Fi synching will not change people experience
with there music radically, a 3.5 inch touch-screen however will. FM
radio isn't new and if your dying for it, get an external plug for it.
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2006/jan/10ipod.html ohhh look
a link!!
yep, MS, keeps knocking them balls out the park dont they? sounds
like a lovely little bit of hypnopaedia there "Microsoft will always win"
we kinda giggle - okay, sorry, we just laugh out loud.
By the way if you want to embed MP3's like the rest of world, just
upload them to a server and uh um, download them?
Thanks for your time,
oh and 'kojacked" I suppose your one of those people who would
claim that Porsche, Mercedes Benz and BMW are irrelevant because
of their less than 6.6% market share? nice argument there. Oh and I
actually respect 'Guru Master' becuase he bothered to make a point
and validate it not just spiel

[savagesteve13]

Yawn....

Nuff said.

[savagesteve13]

Zune: RIAA needs money!

Remember with every purchase, you fund RIAA terrorism. A percentage of proceeds go towards suing homemakers and grandmothers who download rap and death metal.

[kojacked]

Troll

I guess you didn't believe yourself when you said "Nuff said."

If you read the article Microsoft is going non-DRM...

Keep the lies coming troll.

[Datcyde]

Let down

Why hasn't anybody other then Cowon made a music player that is wide open. Companies that want to make music players need to stop looking at the old play and make a new "non-standard" music player that is wireless, takes just about every type of music format, an easy interface, and the backing of big online music store thats not apple and that would be something everyone will want. Companies get to serious about it and forget that consumers want something that is fun, easy, that sounds great. Let have more fun and stop thing about the bottom line and apples top line.

[ukaukarule]

IPOD Screen WAY TOO SMALL!!!!!!

i like the ipod but i cant see the tiny screen. i bought the zune last year at christmas and have never used it. i am totally computor illiterate. is there a phone # where someone could talk me through it? 44 year old.

[Sparky650]

Give a Hint Hint...Rockbox

Deploy a workaround so that some useful software like Rockbox can be used on these and I will buy 3. I wouldn't care about voided warranty.

[bartsystems]

Too Little Too Late - Why Not Listen to users wants and needs, and testers

Microsoft,

Wheres the voice recorder, VOX operated, external microphone jack,, line in jack, user replaceable battery, 20+ hour use, line in encoder, bluetooth, 802.11b/g/n, solar powered/charger as part of the case, television, internet streaming audio/video, Visual/audio slide show, and external presentations, internet browser, email, clock, timer, stopwatch, alarm, touch screen, reflective daylight backlit screen, etc. etc.

Then you will have lines waiting to purchase millions of them.
G Bart

[JohnSP]

I Wouldn't Want To Be Seen With a Zune

Why would anyone even consider that thing? Microsoft is old news, if someone gave me a Zune I would never take it out in public.