NY Times Zune Article
Trying Out the Zune: IPod It’s Not
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/te...ref=technology
Excerpt:
The Zune offers some niceties you can’t get on the iPod. For example, any photo can be the menu background. Album artwork automatically fills the entire screen during playback. You can “flag” any song or photo for future reference on your PC. You can plug the Zune into an Xbox 360 and use its controller to play what’s on your Zune through your entertainment system.
But the opposite list — features the iPod has that the Zune doesn’t — could stretch to Steve Ballmer’s house and back 10 times.
At the very attractive but dog-slow Zune store, for example, you can either buy songs ($1 each) or rent them (unlimited songs for $15 a month). But Microsoft’s store doesn’t sell TV shows, movies or audio books. The music catalog is much smaller — 2 million vs. 3.5 million on iTunes — a fact that Microsoft ham-handedly tries to conceal by listing stuff that it doesn’t actually sell, like Beatles albums.
The Zune store is also missing gift certificates, allowances, user-submitted playlists and so on. And believe it or not, the Zune store doesn’t let you subscribe or download podcasts. (Maybe Microsoft just couldn’t bring itself to type the word “pod.”)
The Zune 1.0 player is pretty barren, too. It doesn’t have a single standard iPod amenity: no games, alarm clock, stopwatch, world clock, password-protected volume limiter, equalizer, calendar, address book or notes module.
Incredibly, you can’t even use the Zune as an external hard drive, as you can with just about every other player on earth — an extremely handy option for carting around big computer files.
Naturally, you also miss out on the 3,000 iPod accessories: speaker systems, microphones, cases, home and auto adapters, remote controls and so on. Over 80 percent of 2007 cars will have an iPod connector option — zero for Zune. And there’s only one Zune model; there’s no equivalent of the iPod Nano or Shuffle.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/te...ref=technology
Excerpt:
The Zune offers some niceties you can’t get on the iPod. For example, any photo can be the menu background. Album artwork automatically fills the entire screen during playback. You can “flag” any song or photo for future reference on your PC. You can plug the Zune into an Xbox 360 and use its controller to play what’s on your Zune through your entertainment system.
But the opposite list — features the iPod has that the Zune doesn’t — could stretch to Steve Ballmer’s house and back 10 times.
At the very attractive but dog-slow Zune store, for example, you can either buy songs ($1 each) or rent them (unlimited songs for $15 a month). But Microsoft’s store doesn’t sell TV shows, movies or audio books. The music catalog is much smaller — 2 million vs. 3.5 million on iTunes — a fact that Microsoft ham-handedly tries to conceal by listing stuff that it doesn’t actually sell, like Beatles albums.
The Zune store is also missing gift certificates, allowances, user-submitted playlists and so on. And believe it or not, the Zune store doesn’t let you subscribe or download podcasts. (Maybe Microsoft just couldn’t bring itself to type the word “pod.”)
The Zune 1.0 player is pretty barren, too. It doesn’t have a single standard iPod amenity: no games, alarm clock, stopwatch, world clock, password-protected volume limiter, equalizer, calendar, address book or notes module.
Incredibly, you can’t even use the Zune as an external hard drive, as you can with just about every other player on earth — an extremely handy option for carting around big computer files.
Naturally, you also miss out on the 3,000 iPod accessories: speaker systems, microphones, cases, home and auto adapters, remote controls and so on. Over 80 percent of 2007 cars will have an iPod connector option — zero for Zune. And there’s only one Zune model; there’s no equivalent of the iPod Nano or Shuffle.
Comments
That has to hurt...for Microsoft that is.
Wow I'm pretty surprised the zune can't be used as an external drive...
haha yeh, thats what ipods are for!
go read Bill's comments on the article.
ZuneGuy
lol I love what he says about accessories ( he is the accessories guy ).
hopefully when I get my hands on one I can do my own review.
haha people are reporting that they cant install the zune software, and that it keeps looking for updates. ah, good old M$, always buggering things up
Zune Software
it is pretty laggy, and takes a while to install. ( I think they previously didn't have the marketplace up, but it is up now )
then again, itunes 7 is laggy on my computer, so it may just be time for an upgrade.
( core 2 duo macbook ftw!)
Does anyone know if Zune's dock connector is the same as Apple's??
Zune Dock
Apple Dock
only difference is the Zune dock has a slot for the remote as well. ( sold separately)
Zune Dock
Apple Dock
only difference is the Zune dock has a slot for the remote as well. ( sold separately)
Thanks for replying. I miswrote. I was referring to whether or not the iPod and Zune could share the same cable connector. Do many iPod accessories (e.g., car chargers) also work with Zunes??
Thanks
Dave
Thanks for replying. I miswrote. I was referring to whether or not the iPod and Zune could share the same cable connector. Do many iPod accessories (e.g., car chargers) also work with Zunes??
Thanks
Dave
possibly...??
they look like the same jack so it might be possible.
Uh... Woody, I think he's referring to the dock connector. And I think the answer is definitely no.
oops I am slow.
yeah you are right, both docks have the proprietary jacks and won't work with each other.