The MP3 player market is one where logic is thrown out the window and as long as the player is manufactured by Apple, it'll perform quite well. Although there have been a number of solid alternatives, none have gained ground. And by the look of things, the Zune is up next on the chopping block.
According to GameStop, it will stop selling the Zune in its stores due to insufficient demand from customers. And although it may not matter to, oh, 99 percent of you, the fact that GameStop is ditching the Zune tells you that Microsoft's media player is on its way out.
"We have decided to exit the Zune category because it just did not have the appeal we had anticipated," said a GameStop spokesperson. "It (also) did not fit with our product mix."
GameStop's decision to remove the Zune from its store shelves reflects an increasingly prominent notion among retailers that suggests that only the iPod is a viable product regardless of the fact that Microsoft has sold more than 2 million Zunes and its other competitors have fought valiantly.
So what's the deal? Is it really true that iPods are the only MP3 players that matter? You better believe it.
... Read moreDon Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
(Credit:
Zune.net)
UPDATE (12:35 p.m. on 5-03-08): To include reference to possible ties to Zune VideoX.
A reader of a site dedicated to Zune news has posted photos of what are claimed to be new features at Zune's Marketplace, including flash animation and a new video section.
The photos were posted at Zunerama.com and are said to be of flash animation and two new tabs. One of the tabs is called "video" and the other is "listeners."
Speculation on the site is that Microsoft is possibly preparing to update Marketplace and is testing some new features.
A Microsoft spokesman said that the company's policy is not to comment on speculation. He added that Microsoft has not announced any upcoming changes at Marketplace.
The person who posted the photos questioned whether the "listeners" tab may be some kind of social-networking feature. If you have any information, we'd love to know.
UPDATE: Mary Jo Foley over at ZDNet e-mailed me and said she wonders if the photos found on Zunerama are tied to "the coming-out party for Zune VideoX" she has written about lately. Foley has a source who told her that Zune VideoX is "a Video store that bridges Xbox, Windows, Zune and Pink."
According to Foley's source, Microsoft wants to play it up it's video, which it sees as better than iTunes' offer. Go here to read more.
Artist Catalina Estrada's laser-etched creation on a new red Zune
(Credit: Microsoft)Like most news about Microsoft's oddly-named media player, it was leaked well in advance. But now it's official: consumers buying the new Zune devices, which are set to be released on Tuesday, will be able to customize them with laser-engraved text and select artwork.
Now that explains the tag line "you make it you."
Called "Zune Originals," the new Zunes will feature a selection of artwork by 18 artists and design studios: Colletivo Studios, Catalina Estrada, Laurent Fetis, Sam Flores, Klaus Haapaniemi, Pierre Marie, Kenzo Minami, Parskid, Mike Perry, Phunk Studios, Chisato Shinya, Skwak, Iosefatu Sua, Tado, Nobumasa Takahashi, Ramiro Torres, Darvin Vida, and Steve Wilson. 27 total designs will be offered.
In addition, creative Zune buyers can add up to three lines of text (or five lines in place of a design), or a selection of 20 "tattoos" that are independent of the "Artist Series." This will all be offered free of charge.
The Zunes, as previously announced, are going to be available in 4GB ($149.99), 8GB ($199.99), and 80GB ($249.99) versions.
Existing Zune owners will receive a free upgrade to the player's new firmware, which includes revamped search functions and a drag-and-drop organization interface.
Update 5:30 p.m. PDT: Microsoft plans to announce the second generation of Zune digital music players on Tuesday, according to a source close to the company.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is supposed to take part in the formal announcement of the new music player, the Web site BetaNews reported on Monday. A source with knowledge of the announcement confirmed the report when contacted by CNET News.com.
The upcoming player, which will be available in November, will be the first Zune to feature flash-based memory, BetaNews reported.
The site also said Zune's flash-based players will measure 3 inches by 1.25 inches and the device will look very similar to the iPod Nano.
A Microsoft spokesman did not immediately reply to an interview request.
SpiralFrog is a proposed online service that would let users download songs for free in exchange for viewing some sort of advertising. It got some press coverage last August when it announced an agreement to license the music catalog of Universal Music Group, the largest of the four major labels. Over the next few months, however, a missed launch date and executive shake-up led many to write it off as dead.
But the company survived, and now its founder, Joe Mohen, is heralding the beginning of a closed beta test in the United States, with wide release expected by the end of the year.
It seems as if Mohen has a good grasp on the realities of the online-music business, naming pirated music from file-trading networks as SpiralFrog's main competitor, rather than paid downloads from iTunes and the like. But based on this review of the beta from a Canadian publication (the beta launched there in May), there seems to be a crippling lack of portability.
You can't transfer songs from the service to an iPod/iPhone or to a Zune. Wired's preview from last summer explains that the service is part of Microsoft's PlaysForSure logo program, meaning that it uses a version of Windows Media DRM (digital rights management) that's not compatible with Zune. (And Apple's portable devices can't play Windows Media Audio files at all, protected or not.) Nor can you burn the tracks to CD or DVD.
Instead, you're limited to playing tracks on your computer, or on one of the non-Microsoft players that supports PlaysForSure. These players make up less than 20 percent of the market, and this share could fall further, if Microsoft releases an inexpensive flash memory Zune model in time for this holiday season (which is widely expected but hasn't yet been confirmed.)
The only benefit of compressed digital audio is portability--nobody's listening to MP3s for their sound quality. Cutting out more than 80 percent of the portable market seems like a recipe for defeat. Not to mention that only two of the majors have signed on--Universal and Sony/BMG, with EMI and Warner so far staying away. This means that SpiralFrog is launching with 700,000 songs, compared with more than 5 million for iTunes, and at least 2 million for the Zune Marketplace and most other services.
One tantalizing possibility: SpiralFrog could team up with a cell phone maker and wireless carrier to create a competitor to the iPhone. Offering free over-the-air downloads could help it compete against iPhone's computer-tethered paid-download model, and this distribution method would probably be more amenable to the content owners--it's hard to strip the DRM from a song that's stuck on a device, but much easier if that file has to pass through a computer first.
I've signed up for the beta, and if they let me in, I'll test it on a PlaysForSure player and share how it stacks up.
In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Microsoft's Robbie Bach revealed that by the end of the fiscal year in June, they will have reached just over 1 million Zunes sold. The figure meets the sales goals Microsoft predicted at the product's launch last year. Bach was quick to admit that the 1 million mark isn't gangbusters when compared against Apple's recent announcement of 100 million iPods sold. Still, Bach assures that Microsoft's current 10% share of the hard-drive MP3 player market is still a "good start" and that they will continue to invest in the Zune. Bach dodged questions about a rumored Zune phone and wouldn't reveal much about the new Zune rollout scheduled for the fall, except to say that they will "expand" on the "social aspects of connecting people together". Some might say the cat's already out of the bag on the Zune's future, but I'm betting Microsoft may still have a few tricks up its sleeve before fall.
[Editor's note: This story has been corrected from an earlier version.]
(via SFGate)
It's Wednesday afternoon, do you know how the Zune is doing?
If not, Microsoft is happy to fill you in. The pale pink version, which hit shelves earlier this month, is outselling the white and brown shades, according to the company, which sent out an update on the music player today. It doesn't want you to forget that the Halo 3 Zune is just a couple of weeks away. w00t!
(Credit:
Microsoft)
The Zune in all colors (expect to see red this summer) is holding on to its No. 2 spot in the U.S. retail market for hard drive-based music players. NPD numbers had the player at 9.1 percent market share for April, and it's still hanging steady.
After an initial marketing campaign aimed at familiarizing consumers with the brand, Microsoft this month launched a second push for the Zune that stressed the "Sync Pink" print campaign and a TV commercial that spotlights the player's wireless sharing, FM radio and LCD screen.
Of course, the ascent of the pink Zune could mean that people are feeling rosy about the shade, or that they just aren't warming up to the other hues all that much. No word yet on the next pretty-Zune-color marketing campaign.
No phone for Zune says Ballmer
(Credit: CNET Networks)There's been much ado about the possibility of a Microsoft Zune cell phone lately, and Crave has joined the chorus of musings with several posts of our own. While a Microsoft exec said last year that such a device is a possibility, CEO Steve Ballmer wasn't so optimistic when he was asked that very question last week. "It's not a concept you'll ever get from us," Ballmer said while speaking at the University of Washington. "We're in the Windows Mobile business." While such comments obviously are open to interpretation, Ballmer went on to speculate (and may I say rather perceptively) what most people want from their cell phone. "A phone is really a general-purpose device," he said. "You want it to make telephone calls. You want to get and receive messages--text, e-mail, whatever your preference is." So is Ballmer pulling our leg? Give Crave your feedback below.
The mysterious patent application image
(Credit: Mad4MobilePhones)Earlier this week, Microsoft filed what appeared to be a patent application for a smart phone interface, causing many a blog to begin speculating that maybe it was for a "Zune phone" (for better or for worse)--something that's been talked about for some time now. The images in the application, showing a tiled graphical interface, definitely look somewhat iPhone-ish, and plenty of buzz arose that perhaps Microsoft was trying to develop an "iPhone killer."
ZenZui's tiled user interface
(Credit: ZenZui)But a few sharp eyes (namely, those of our Microsoft guru Ina Fried) noticed that the interface also bore a striking resemblance to that of the software made by ZenZui, the Seattle-based mobile Web start-up that's using Microsoft's research labs to develop a "zoomable" user interface for smart phones. (Not to be confused with Deepfish, a "zoomable interface" browser developed by Microsoft Labs that aims to facilitate Web surfing on small screens.)
So we called up ZenZui to check it out. But company co-founder John SanGiovanni was quick to debunk the speculation: the patent application, he said, does not depict a "zoomable" interface and is unrelated to ZenZui's technology. As for what it actually was, he said he didn't know.
So maybe it is a "Zune phone." Or not. I suppose tiled interfaces are just rather hot right now.
(Credit:
Mad4MobilePhones)
There have been plenty of Zune 2.0 rumors recently--flash memory, a "watermelon" version this summer, and what-have-you. Now here's another one to add to the pile; Engadget recently pointed us to a "Zune phone" interface patent application unearthed by Mad4MobilePhones. It appears to be a sort of "tiled" setup for for "improved user interface for mobile devices such as smartphones" and "personal digital assistants." Looks like a fancy Bingo card to me.
Engadget pointed out that some of the icons appear to point to weather, music, and the like. There's also a TV icon with rabbit ears (umm, online video?), a globe (mobile Web?), a shopping cart, and...a dog? From the looks of it, it definitely seems like a Microsoft answer to the iPhone.
Concrete Zune phone rumors started flying around a few months ago. And keep in mind that Microsoft has filed other applications involving wireless communication over a 4G WiMax network. Hmmm...
Anybody else think that Microsoft plants rumor fodder in an attempt to deflect from the recent onslaught of Apple rumors? Sneaky, sneaky Steve Ballmer!
