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Media players on parade
September 18, 2006 -
Microsoft hopes to sell Zune using brown, not green
September 14, 2006
The Zune's price will put it in direct competition with Apple Computer's latest 30GB iPod, which also costs $249.
To introduce the companion Zune Pass music service, the device will come preloaded with songs, music videos and film shorts from the store. A Zune Pass will cost $14.99 a month, or $44.97 for three months.
"It's clear that we are not going to see a pricing war at this predictable moment. They are not going to undercut Apple's prices. But given the lack of volume discount and the screen size and the Wi-Fi capability included on it, $249 is still an aggressive price point," said Michael Gartenberg, research director at JupiterResearch.
There will also be the option of purchasing individual songs through a system called Microsoft Points. The new Microsoft cash system will work by adding money to an account, as with a prepaid phone card. Points will then be deducted from the account with each purchase. A single song will cost 79 points, "the equivalent of 99 cents," according to Microsoft spokeswoman Kyrsa Dixon.
The point system is already used in the Xbox Live Marketplace, and Microsoft plans to host other online stores where Microsoft points can be redeemed, according to Katy Gentes, product marketing manager for Zune. In the United States, points are available in denominations of $5 for 400 points, $15 for 1,200, $25 for 2,000 and $50 for 4,000. That makes $1 worth about 80 points.
Gentes said this system will enable Microsoft to sell retail gift cards of Microsoft points that could then be split over different Microsoft online stores. It will also act as a common global currency for Microsoft products, according to Gentes.
Microsoft said Zune software will play files in several popular formats, including the AAC format used by Apple's iTunes software.
"Zune software can automatically import your existing music, pictures and videos from iTunes and Windows Media Player in a variety of formats, including your existing playlists and song ratings, as permitted by the online service from which it was purchased," Microsoft said in a statement, clarifying in a footnote that the music files must be "in unprotected WMA, MP3, AAC (formats); photos in JPEG; and videos in WMV, MPEG-4, H.264."
That means that although songs purchased from the iTunes Store are barred by digital rights management (DRM) restrictions from being moved, songs that were originally ripped from a CD and uploaded to a computer with iTunes software may be able to be copied onto the Zune.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"What we tried to do is recognize that consumers have a lot of files that might not be WMA. They have MP3 or AACs because they may have ripped CDs into those files. We want to make it easy for them to bring them into the Zune, if they have the rights. And we just import them as AAC (or MP3) files. They don't change. We are supporting all those different formats and codecs," Gentes said.
"The real magic would have been if they had a way of importing protected AAC files, and people could make the transition," JupiterResearch's Gartenberg's said. "It won't work with purchased music from Urge or Rhapsody or Napster, for example. It's interesting, but it's not really a game changer, one way or the other, and not something that I think will drive iPod users over to the platform."
As previously reported, the Zune will come in black, brown and white. It will have wireless capability that lets people share music, playlists and photos from one Zune to another, and it will feature an FM tuner and a 3-inch LCD screen. The Zune will hold 7,500 songs, 25,000 pictures or 100 hours of video, and it will come with a set of earphones, as well as a sync cable and a device sleeve.
Microsoft also released details on Thursday on the Zune's three accessory kits.
The $99 Zune home pack hooks the device into one's entertainment system. It includes an A/V output cable, a Zune dock, a wireless remote, a Zune sync cable and an AC adapter. The $99 Zune Travel Pack includes earphones, a Zune dual-connect remote, a gear bag, a sync cable and an AC adapter. For a car, there is $79 kit that comes with a charger and an FM Tuner with AutoSeek.
All of the accessories from the kits will also be sold individually as well. The cables are each priced at about $20. The AC adapter, gear bag, wireless dock remote and wireless dual-connect remote sell for $30 each. The dock and earphones cost $40 each, while the car charger costs $25, and the FM Tuner with AutoSeek costs $69.
All of this means that Microsoft's marketing department has its work cut out for it, Gartenberg said.
"At the end of the day, it's not going to be price that drives people to Zune," he said. "It's going to be feature set versus feature set, and form factor versus form factor, and the ability for Microsoft to start marketing this to win the hearts and minds of consumers."
See more CNET content tagged:
Microsoft Zune, AAC, online store, song, Apple iTunes
http://www.teckmagazine.com/content/view/631/43/
portable media player that's shaped like something out of the toilet.
I'm thinking of switching from AAC to WMAPro.
Mostly, WMAPro seems targeted at 24-bit, and surround. Both would be useless in Zune. The few 2-channel, 16-bit settings that WMAPro does have are low-bit rate.
If you want high-quality Zune-compatible audio, you should probably go with regular WMA, 2-pass VBR @ 160 Kbps or higher.
Rather than WMAPro, I'd like to see Microsoft pushing out WMA-Voice. With the amount of podcasts I listen to, it would be quite useful. I'm also hoping for Ogg Vorbis support as well, as it allows true VBR (which WMA, AAC, and MP3 do not), and better sound quality than WMA in my experience.
It will be interesting to see if MS ends up in court over this. From what I've read, applying DRM to Creative Commons music is a copyright violation.
IMO, MS is going to have to drop the price a lot more if they want to unload this things.
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=236497
Sorry, that piece of FUD has been shot down.
What will be made up next?
to the music will be on but can be turned off in the prefs. For
what we know at the moment the Zune itself will not add DRM
tot unprotected music.
Playing AAC is a big plus because iTunes can be used for those
with an iPod and a Zune. its still not clear if it play's them or has
to be converted first.
them do any sharing is through some sort of rights
management. The 3/3 rule IS DRM. How do you do this without
adding DRM to a file? It may not be applied when you load the
track on your player, but it does do it when you transfer it.
And I'll bet dollars to donuts there's some code in there to track
"handshakes" between players and for this to be serruptitiously
uploaded somewhere, sometime. It can be used for copyright
"protection" (i.e. lawsuits) and for marketing. If I owned a Zune
I'd compare what others shared with me and any music
marketing I received. I'll bet there's a direct corelation. Am I
paranoid? You bet. But MS has a long history to cause paranoia.
It was widely reported that Zune may attach DRM to non-DRM'd files. These reports were all complete speculation, and not based on any news that ever came out of Microsoft.
For all of Zune's development, there's been a lot of group-think, echo-chamber reporting. An editorial would say, "Microsoft should do this," and the bloggers would start blogging about it. Then, it would appear in "legit" news stories as, "Microsoft is expected to do this."
There isn't a PMP that works on a Mac that has those features and felxibility. And we're stuck with only the iPod, which kind of sucks.
so stop griping about it as if you don't.
Last time I checked it was a free country. You would have had to
either typed an order online or physically travelled to a store selling
Apple Products to make a purchase. Sounds like a choice and a
preference to me.
Confusing point system. Subcription model that hasn't worked for anyone else.
Yawn. Pass. i'll stick to my iPods.
be 15 minutes... but hey you buy the Microsoft car battery carrier
accessory to go with this "portable".
Is anyone with an iPod capable of objectively reviewing a different MP3 player? I think I'm gonna have to say no on that one.
It has way more features than an iPod, a nicer screen, and is virtually the same size (-barely- larger because it has a bigger screen and WiFi). I think that's worth 99 cents.
Ridiculous ...
Your iPod already has headphones and dock so the $10 iPod to
Zune conversion kit contains pre-cut wood tone contact paper and
a black permanent marker for coloring your scroll wheel.
never heard a complaint about the playback on an iPod. Why
not? Because Apple protects the iPod by making sure you get
very good quality ear buds. A crappy pair will leave you with a
bad impression, which you will be sure to tell your friends.
Third, Apple was GENIUS with their ear bud design. When I got
an iPod back in '03, strangers would ask how I liked it after they
recognized my COOL white ear buds. MS could have done the
same, except they can't even spell Industrial Design, nevermind
understand what it means.
This also tells you the kind of thinking that likely went into the
overall design of what's under the hood, too. Caveat Emptor.
ever turn them in. They have ca$h in hand and now you must
convert the funny money later.
Like buying a gift certificate and then it sits in your drawer for
two years. The company sold you a piece of paper and you
forgot to get your product. Or like getting something "free" on
rebate but you never send in the paperwork.
Maybe these points expire at some point? Maybe you can't
transfer them? Maybe you buy a bunch all at once and get hit by
a bus the next day?
So since there will never be a complete 100% conversion of all M
$ funny-money into real product, they can advertise a lower
price which is subsidized by the people that never use the pre-
purchased points. It's like a built-in bonus for them.
It's insulting that Microsoft thinks we are that stupid. It's alarming that they may be right.
however it is useful for kids. my kids don't have credit cards, but I can buy points for them.
Would have preferred to just "put money" in their "Microsoft accounts", but then I suppose there would be confusion about it being real money and the ability to withdraw, etc.
The other problem of course is that we are an iPod/iTunes household and it would be nice to have a common points system to pay for content there as well.
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wo/0.RSLID?mco=59413922&nclm=iTMSCardsCertificates
what's the big deal here?
Kind of hard to punch you credit card info into a zune, nor would I want my info stored in an mp3 player.
"A Zune Pass will cost $14.99 a month, or $44.97 for three
months.
There will also be the option of purchasing individual songs ... A
single song will cost 79 points, "the equivalent of 99 cents," ...
people will be able to buy points in the denominations of $5 for
400 points, $15 for 1,200, $25 for 2,000, and $50 for 4,000.
That makes $1 worth about 80 points"
So, price per point? Monitarily, if 80 points is $1, then each point
is worth roughly $0.12. But it depends on whether or not you're
including the fact that you've just become a slave to micro$loth.
I guess if you're dumb enough to accept this funny money
conversion so they can play number games with you, then you
might be dumb enough to not recognize the bondage you're tied
into.
I wouldn't touch one of these disaster areas with my worst
enemies limbs. Trading files through wi-fi sounds nice, until you
realize this is the same company that can't secure a single
application they have produced over the last 20 years. And we
thought viruses were a problem now! Just wait until this mess
hits the streets!
The zune doesn't seem to have anything great about it. Microsoft missed a chance by making a portable player that would compete with the Nano, but instead went for the iPod with the smaller adoptee rate. Yeah sharing is maybe the one feature that could hurt the iPod but i'm sure microsoft loused that up as well.
And 79 points = 99 cents? Maybe there's a formula in excel that will help me keep track of that...
It's really amazing to me that there are now a bunch of devices that try this gimmick. Look at the LG Chocolate phone or any number of mp3 players out there and they've gone to great lengths to make sure their buttons LOOK like a real wheel. But as far as I know, only the iPod really lets you "scroll continuously" the way a wheel mouse lets you scroll on a long webpage. Actually the Rio Carbon did too, and the original Rio Riot. Strange that almost no manufacturers have been willing to go up against Apple and implement a "real" scrolling type of interface. Sure Apple's lawyers would jump on them, but in the end Apple wouldn't have a leg to stand on, the Rio RIot had a scroll wheel way before the iPod came out. I'd think even Steve Jobs would have a tough time convincing a jury he actually invented the wheel!
"First off, that scroll wheel you see? That's not a wheel. It's just four buttons arranged in a wheel formation. "
But the feature is better than iPod's click wheel.
To scroll down several songs u dont have to push the button several times, u just have to hold it down. The longer u hold it down, the faster it scrolls. Its better than the iPod where u have to keep on rotating ur finger round n round. The click wheel has definitely got to be the dumbest thing Steve Jobs ever made. (I definitely dont need any finger exercises)
for OSX to transfer songs, but they dont (to my knowledge)
because most people who own apple computers use iPods. it
wouldnt be profitable for the companies to design the software.
Does the Pope where a funny white hat?
Can't play on other devices.
No flash players to use.
At least apple's iTunes can use used on both mac and windows and already has ishuffle, nano and new itv.
Its another Microsoft monopoly building up.
Beware.
I don't own an ipod.
And i still prefer ipod+itunes.
Microsoft never had a problem making their stuff compatible on other operating systems. U can even run a Windows OS in dual boot configuration on a Mac. But can u do the same with Mac OSX on a machine with windows? No!!
Its Apple that has a problem with giving others rights. Well....if the iPod wasn't made compatible with Windows, all the iPods would still be sitting on shelves in the stores.
Steve Jobs knows how to make good products....but he sure doesn't know how to promote them.
iPod+iTunes...all they do is steal ur money and make it hard for u to share music.
no one's actually seen the devise - but the press releases have
been pretty much unimpressive (in my humble opinion).
My comment here though is about "You".
Your reference to mentally challenged children was totally
uncalled for. You might as well throw in some racial, ethnic and
religious slurs while you're at it.
I'll just use a basic slur - you're an a$$hole.
'Nuff said - **** off
;-)
No thanks! I'm sticking with Apple iPod, its been nearly flawless.
That is alot more than I can say for any Microsoft product that I
have owned or operated. I'm fed up with your crapy code, viruses,
bugs, crashing, and ..... Why, why, why would I consider buying
something else from Microsoft? NO THANKS. Apple already has the
best product in the space and we all know it.
- Zune & Amazon.com Unboxed
- by jmarszal September 29, 2006 6:11 AM PDT
- Will Zune play the WMVs I get from Amazon.com's Unboxed downloads?
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