AT&T Tech Support 360November 10, 2006 4:53 AM PST
Debating iPod's merits at Zune's party
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With Zune, Microsoft heads to the mosh pit
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OK, the iPods themselves weren't visible, but I suspected plenty of the devices were stashed in pockets and purses.
Do the math: Apple Computer owns 70 percent of the market for digital music players and Microsoft's Zune doesn't make its public debut until November 14. Also, Microsoft supplied the launch party with about only a half-dozen display models. I still wanted to know if I was right. Sure enough, most of party guests I interviewed acknowledged owning an iPod, even if some were embarrassed to fess up at a Zune party.
"Is that OK to say here?" asked Shana Halligan, singer for the band Bitter:Sweet, which performed at the event. "Anyway, I got it before the Zune came out."
This is what Microsoft is up against. So ubiquitous is the iPod that I suspect the company could find Apple enthusiasts within its own ranks. Nonetheless, plenty of those who attended the party see areas where the Zune could best the iPod.
British hip-hop star Lady Sovereign arrived at the party sporting her trademark ponytail, which she wears on the side of her head. She told me I had exactly two minutes to interview her. She then spent four minutes telling me how she blames Apple for two computer meltdowns that resulted in her losing thousands of songs.
The 20-year-old owns an iPod and knows her PC was running on Microsoft software, but blames Apple for not devising a better backup strategy.
"I can always replace the music but it just takes so long to load it into your computer," Lady Sovereign said. "There's got to be a way to protect the songs against that."
Halligan said that taste-testing music on iTunes can be dissatisfying. A listener gets to listen to only a song snippet at Apple's music store while Microsoft will allow users to hear a song in its entirety three times.
"You can think a song you hear on iPod is going to be fantastic," Halligan said, "but then you buy it and find out it doesn't have that great hook you expected."
Chip Hodge, an analyst with Lionsgate Entertainment, said he rejected owning an iPod years ago because of the price. He said he listens to the 200 songs he has stored on his Palm Treo 650 smart phone.
"But I'm thinking I want this," said Hodge, 26, as he hovered around a Zune display model. "This is nice. It might be time to upgrade."
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Soveriegn"'s story about her PC crashing (Windows OS), doesn't
do a back up, loses her files, then blames the iTunes software
because "it" didn't back up her music and/or it would take to
long to re-load them.
If her story is the best they can do AT a Zune party, sponsored
by MS, then good luck ...
Who the hell is she anyway ... going to look it up now. ooookay!
Just looked her up, she just signed a record contract last year.
Now, I know she's not a marquee name (basically unknown). She
can thank the author of this article later I guess.
her music". Isn't that what it should link to?? I'd like to hear how her
computer had two meltdowns and lost her music. That's
purportedly why she is blaming Apple and threatening to switch to
Zune which I guess she thinks runs on a more stable platform Than
OS X/Intel-Macs. Ha!
Genius, and I can tell ya right now I had more problems show up
with HP iPods, than generic Mac iPods...
With the lack of security, and all other things considered that Zune
doesn't provide, this is going to be a long walk off a short plank for
MS.
from the Zune Music Store during one of those free plays. Who
needs to buy them then? That'll be _great_ for the music industry,
I'm sure they'll love the lost royalties.
1 Palm T5/LifeDrive
1 SD card 1Gig+ (2Gig specifically)
1 pair of headphones
1 copy of Pocket Tunes
No DRM, No iTunes/msMusicStore, No BS. Been able to play music and movies, read books, browse the internet, manage projects and work with .txt,.doc,.ppt,.xls,.pdf formatted documents on a viewing screen that takes up most of the PDA casing.
iPod plays music and shows movies on a tiny screen. Zune plays music and shows movies on a tiny screen with the added feature of built in wireless (how is MS going to fight piracy with this one?) networking. If music is all you want, either one will take your money happily.
Sorry, Lady Soveriegn, you'll still have to backup your computer or hire someone to hide the hassle from you. Unfortunately, it is not the fault of Apple or (even) Microsoft if you don't backup your own data.
back up, and that is somehow Apple's fault? And the ANALyst
decided that an iPod is too expensive, but he's considering buying
a Zune? Uh, slighly HIGHER cost than the iPod for less quality? This
guy is good...
iTunes Store - not to the rarely used Napster store. iTMS gives you
a 30 second snippet, which prevents you from using those tools to
copy an entire song.
How hard is that?
decided that they have the time to devote to an entirely new
markert for them. Couldn't they better spend their time trying to
finish Vista? Or as some might call it, the MS version of OS X
(seriously, compare the new features in Vista with current
features in Apple's OSX 10.4 or the upcoming 10.5. It's scary the
resemblence)
Something that disturbs me about the Zune, which is not even
mentioned in this article or any of the others on the CNET page
under Zune, is how Microsoft is going to pay Universal an
undisclosed sum of money for each Zune sold. Their argument is
that since the record label lost money from music piracy, they
should be entitled to the money made selling devices that play
the pirated music. By that logic, the record labels are "entitled"
to reparations for every computer sold including parts,
especially storage medium; be it hard drive or recordable disk.
Someone needs to call MS out on this one as being what it is. An
underhanded way of getting record companies into bed with MS
and it's inept Zune player. I'm sure record companies would do
business anyways because they could dictate the prices; whereas
in iTunes, Apple has stood up against the record labels and
made them use a flat rate pricing system that favors the
consumer with any new music.
So make of it what you will, I don't plan to buy a Zune anytime
soon, and I think the only people that would buy a Zune are
those who refuse to buy an iPod because it's an iPod; they won't
buy a Zune because it has better features than the iPod.
joy of it, I have to wonder if they won't find the wireless feature of
Zune an attractive attack vector. Granted, there is not much in the
way of finacial gain to be had here, so the organized crime hackers
probably won't be interested. However, the thrill seeking teenaged
hackers may come after the wireless feature with a vengance. Who
knows, it just may happen.
they are going head to head. Apple champion their product with
Bono and U2. Microsoft arent even close.
When apple releases a product and have a major product launch,
they have loads to give away to promote their product. The
biggest software company in the world turns up to its own party
with half a dozen!!!!
As for the 'accessories table', they really neednt have bothered.
The apple ecosystem of cases, covers, chargers and other
accessories spans over a thousand products. I dont know exactly
how many. Microsoft shows us a car charger, case and one or
two other things.
I could be wrong, but its up to apple to loose this race because
microsoft have everything to do and I cant see it being a huge
hit.
- compare promotions: apple to microsoft
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by yikes31
November 10, 2006 9:41 PM PST
- You cant help but compare the two companies in this arena as
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See all 48 Comments >>they are going head to head. Apple champion their product with
Bono and U2. Microsoft arent even close.
When apple releases a product and have a major product launch,
they have loads to give away to promote their product. The
biggest software company in the world turns up to its own party
with half a dozen!!!!
As for the 'accessories table', they really neednt have bothered.
The apple ecosystem of cases, covers, chargers and other
accessories spans over a thousand products. I dont know exactly
how many. Microsoft shows us a car charger, case and one or
two other things.
I could be wrong, but its up to apple to loose this race because
microsoft have everything to do and I cant see it being a huge
hit.