Comments on: Teen survey makes Microsoft's Zune seem futile

Piper Jaffray's biannual Teen Survey is out and when it comes to MP3 players, things look very good for Apple and bleak for Microsoft and Sony.

[jonathan0766]

Competition is a good thing. The worst outcome would be for the other competitors to be driven from the market. Microsoft should slash prices on Zune hard, drop the cost by 50% and hit Apple during this down turn.

[camanda]

I understand the need for teens to get in line with their peers, the social pressure can be crippling. But, to choose the overpriced iPod Nano over Sandisk's Sansa Fuze is almost cause for an intervention. When you factor in the purchase price, the availability of monthly subscription services and the versatility that the Fuze offers versus the purchase price of the Nano, the cost of buying all the songs and media through iTunes or, heaven forbid, the cost of getting your computer running again after a month of the P2P sites how can you not strongly suggest your kid look at the Fuze?

[markdoiron]

I'll bet that most of these teens have never heard of a Sony Walkman. And in twenty years most of their children will have no idea what an iPod is. For my purposes, the Zune is a better fit. What's sad is I know it is for many more folks as well, but they dismiss it out-of-hand. I hope that their loss doesn't turn into mine because the iPod, which won't do what I need because of the hard-headedness of Steve Jobs (AKA "He Who Knows Better Than The Customer"), becomes the only option.

--mark d.

[tipoo_]

Fret not, the Zune HD commeth.

[mjkittredge]

With no previous experience, I helped a technologically illiterate person set up their Ipod with their computer and put more songs on it.

After using the ipod software program, I can say that it is definitely not user friendly. It's very easy to accidentally delete music you already have on your ipod while trying to load new music onto it. It does not have much information to educate new users as to what you should do, so it leaves you to trial and error. The layout of it, with obscure buttons down in corners with strange words like "Autofill" and devils choices like "If you autosync, we'll delete all songs already on your players" - How could young people prefer this? Do they get their parents to do it for them?

If another company makes a more user friendly program for their player, they could gain more market share. The experience I had with Ipods program made me not want to have to use it again.

[Cfischer83]

Would you say the same about the Mac? Hardly, yet MS has 96% of the PC market and Apple less than 4%. Keep in mind also that the Zune is only sold in the North America.

You'd never say this about a Mac because you'd be trashed by the Mac community. However it is the "in" thing to do in the tech community to bash Microsoft any chance you get. I call it spineless because you are accommodating those you fear. Why not say the iPod is the number one choice? That's what I get from the info provided in this article, but you spin it to say the Zune is doomed when it has a higher percentage of the MP3 market than the Mac does the PC market.

Please, just be fair and honest. Bull headlines like that insult your readers intelligence.

[ikramerica--2008]

MS does not have 96% of the consumer market. Not even close...

[seven7dust]

Apple only competes in the high end or 1000+$ computers !
USA marketshare is a lot higher somewhere around 10-15%
Zune marketshare OTOH is only 4% and it's also sold at a lot cheaper prices than the iPod BTW
and Microsoft only makes the Windows O.S and other software not whole computers BTW !
comparing the Zune to the Mac is as foolish as you can get !

[Cfischer83]

@Ikramerica, check your latest gartner or IDC reports.

@seven7dust. Apple sells a $599 desktop, and the US market share is higher than the 3.2% worldwide, but why only include US when they market it in 100 other countries? It's not 10-15% in the US anyway. Also, the Zune is priced the same as the iPod of the same size.

Both of you need to check your facts.

[seven7dust]

@Cfischer83
the Zune is sold only in the U.S and a few other countries
So U.S marketshare is the only stat that matters in this comparison !
worldwide the Zune won't even have a single percent marketshare then !

and like I said Windows is only one component of the computer
it's not that simple to compare marketsahre considering Apple only sells it's O.S on it's own computers so it's a Apples to oranges comparison

when compared to HP and others Apple holds up pretty decently !

another imporatant statistic is customer satisfaction something the Mac has been leading in for years ! I'm not sure about the Zune in this regard !

saying the Mac is a failure is retarded
considering it's been in existance and profitable for over 25 years
can you say the same for the Zune ?

So plzz stop comparing them it's meaningless

[Alexander_Goldman]

Wow, most of the comments and seeing more backlash against CNET that I had expected. I am not a huge Apple Fan but have a few iPods for different purposes (I would gladly buy from a competitor if they had a better product FOR MY NEEDS).

I am by no means very loyal to Microsoft but use Windows XP and other peripherals from the behemoth.

With respect to the Zune, personally I am not a fan as I would feel ripped off by capping the number of wireless songs that can be transferred. If Microsoft wants to win sizeable market share from Apple, they need innovation. Capping transfers to 3 songs or a certain timeframe is a dumb move in my opinion. If it was unlimited, I could see a LOT of people buying this - myself included.

Oh well, I know the iPod is probably not the best player BFTB but it is a good looking device that works decently and has developed into a solid brand. For the record, I think iTunes works satisfactorily but could be a lot easier to use..

[Rapol12]

I dont care, zune is better than the ipod nano or the ipod classic. Dont include the ipone or itouch because thats another category.

[deowll]

The ipod may be on top but how do you stay there? This is a fashion statement and how does anything stay in fashion for years or decades? It's just a matter of time before somebody starts to eat their lunch.

[oxtail01]

Can anyone REALLY tell me the why any one mp3 menufacturer is better than the other? Except for the cosmetics, they all basically have similar form factors and offer the same functions. I've owned several players from the unknown to the better known and in general have been satisfied with all of them. Actually, I've never bought Ipod 'cause it offered the least for the money and, unlike a 16 yr. old, I have no need to be status concious.

[DrewN]

This article was put out there solely to generate hits on this website, I'm kind of shocked no one else has mentioned how blatant an attempt this is. It was carefully worded and presented solely to generate the ire of MS and Apple fanboys alike. Ultimately there is nothing else of value here as far as I can tell.

[dennisl59]

This survey confirms the "common knowledge" of what everyone already knew-Apple owns the Dominant Market Share. All the complaints about this number or that feature doesn't matter.

You know it and I know it. So buy what you like for the price you can afford and move on.

Thank You.

[d_headshot]

Lol because apple has so much power over the industry, pretty soon apple will start taking away freedoms and make the ipod compatible with only itunes music. Sounds similar to a country that I know of haha.

[cdw2929]

wake up people....people dont buy apple because of the specs. they do it because they are sheep...why else would someone pay so much for an inferior product....apple loves to put out a product to only become obsolete in a few months.....I like having the option of listening to the radio in the morning...I've had a hard drive based jukebox since archos released their first model (which was awesome to use as a portable hard drive) .....zune is the best so far....I bought it on the second day it came out and havent had a problem yet....most people that Ive let use my zune prefer it to the ipod

[Angmarr]

bunch of fad oriented teen ... so is this news!?

[iruka*]

This is just me, but I nod my head in shame as I look through this chart. I mean, iPods were great when they first came out. But as time went on and they "improved" I just became more detached. I used to want one to death, but now it's not even on the list.

And yeah, compared to everyone else, they're not doing so bad. It's just that Apple's doing hell better. It's still in second place and that's good enough. They knew from the start that they probably couldn't overcome Apple, not in the state it (Apple) was in when the Zune first came out.

Either way, everyone's just fallen in love with Apple. It's basically (and this is true, it happened millions of times) like......I ask someone "do you have an mp3 player" and they're like "no I have an ipod"......yes, they're putting them into two different categories now. It's sad. It's even more funnier when I have something from Creative (like my Zen) and they ask me "is that an ipod".