Microsoft unveils Zune digital media player (images) - Page 2

I can just see them trying to talk it up...

"...with a battery life TWICE that of ten minutes"

Oh, M$.... you make me laugh.

and way to botch up the whole "colors" thing.

brown... *giggles*

-Clive

Zune looks pretty frightening... I think there's an Apple spy that works for MS as a design consultant.

And I'm sure that will be just as nice and useful as all that preloaded software you get on your brand new PC.

I think that zune's display is still 4x3. It's just a little bigger than the iPod's.

I wonder what the compression for the video will be. Being that Apple is known to use open standards and Microsoft typically uses WMV (or whatever it's called) I imagine the quality will be rather poor on the Zune.

Not to mention the integration between Windows Media Player and the Zune will most likely be very difficult as opposed to the drag and drop ease of use of iTunes. And with iTunes 7, things just got easier.

Well, by then, the iPod will have lept a light year ahead.

[Duplicate post]

iPod: "Hello, I'm an iPod"
Zune: "And I'm a Zune"

iPod: "So Zunie, what's up with the sunless tanning creme. You're positively brown"
Zune: "I was waiting for my security patches to download and fell asleep with it on"

-------

hehe I just can't wait

this is the chode of mp3 players. look at how beefy that thing is haha.

Haha, great comments, all! This whole Zune thing is basically a joke. The one possible area I think MS might be able to make some headway is if they were to allow third party software to be programmed for Zune easily. Remember, availability of programs is what drew many people away from the Mac in the first place and to some extent continues to do so today. But then, Apple is already starting (albeit slowly) in that direction with these new games.

Other than that, the wireless and tons of free accessories are nice stuff that will probably draw some people but I don't see this thing competing well with iPod. People who have that much money to spend on a music player care about looks and feel, etc. not just features.

Question is, will it sync from a Mac!

Not that I really care of course...

Uh, the brown one made me immediately think of this:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...57865278871719

The places my mind goes . .

Good lord, what show was that from?

Paging 'Creative Patent' lawsuit in 5, 4, 3 ...

Yeah, but Microsoft's patent license payment will reduce Apple's burden. It probably is tied to number of units sold, plus a base fee. Since Zune has no sales so far, their payment would likely be small... and possibly stay small as a few units per month are sold.

they would sure be funny commercials, but that'd be giving them way too much importance, considering apple is the dominant force/marketshare leader here.

I just purchased a digital camera with wireless and the one thing I was quickly reminded of is that even 802.11 is WAY slower than USB. Bluetooth is even slower. After realizing it would take 10 times as long to download my pictures I quickly grabbed the USB cable and used it instead. I think Apple is smart enough to realize this whereas Microsoft will have to learn the hard way.

Movie called "The Groove Tube" - old but funny.

Yup, this is typical MS vs Apple thinking. The iTv no doubt has 802.11n...

Meh on the video resolution, still 320X240 (although it is physically larger than the video iPod).

To get to DVD resolution (720X480) you'd need 180PPI to get the dimensions down to a 4 inch wide screen, what would be the overall dimensions of such a video player.

I think I'll s(h)it this one out!

i love the brown zune. actually i was a little dissapointed when apple stopped selling the golden, almost brownish ipod mini.

Some ZUNE fine print, from their Zune Fact Sheet:

"Import your music. 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."

Interesting. I wonder if they mean they have some way of importing AAC or itunes store stuff (doubt it, since they say "as permitted"), or if they just mean mp3's. Import of playlists and song ratings is pretty cool, if they can make it work right.

"The Zune-to-Zune sharing feature may not be available for all songs on your device, and works only between Zune devices within wireless range of each other. This feature allows recipients to play full-length sample tracks up to three times in three days. Recipients cannot resend music that they have received via the sharing feature."

Hmmm. Doesn't sound nearly as cool any more, does it? Sounds like the artists must allow sharing for it to work.

"Music estimates are based on 128KBps WMA files, with length of four minutes each. Pictures transferred to Zune will be optimized for Zune screen size. Video estimates are based on 500KBps WMV files with 128KBps WMA audio tracks."

Isn't that about a third the data rate in the new iTunes stuff?

"Zune software can import audio files in unprotected WMA, MP3, AAC; photos in JPEG; and videos in WMV, MPEG-4, H.264."

Not too bad. So audio files ripped in iTunes should be good to go, videos optimized for iPod may work if it uses the same specs otherwise.

More pix and info here:
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/p...veilingPR.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/zune/

Wait, is this a trick question, cuz I think the answer is yes, and "the Turd" would agree with me. I mean Brown Zune.

Im pretty sure I would take my ipod mini over the zune. Im waiting till discounts come out on v5.5 30gb and then ill update.

You know the more I think about it, I'm surprised Microsoft didn't try to hijack the iPod.

What I mean by this is to develop a software replacement kinda like RoxBox (I think that's the name).

MS develop a utility to capture the firmware image so the user can roll back to Apple very easily. And guarantee that if they didn't like the new software they could go back to Apple, and if it couldn't be restored then they would buy that person a new iPod. (not much of a real risk)

1) Replace Apple's software with MS' software that only works with the Zune Music Store - Ownership and Subscription Models, but with Microsoft's DRM. - The conversion software would be free, (with a $250.00 Zune store credit or something - they said they were going to lose money for the first 5 years).

2) Allow the highjacked iPod to link to the XBox 360, Windows Media Player 11

3) Come out with a ton of games only for the hijacked iPod (Pod Halo anyone?) With a handheld gamepad dock (I saw the mockup somewhere).

If they did this, they would have Apple's scroll wheel and a quality player! They would just attempt to take over as the service provider.

Their pitch would be that MS has the best player with Zune because of these extra features (Wi-Fi, FM Radio, ect...). But if you already have a 5G iPod, changeover to the MS Zune format and gain X,Y and Z.

Pretty scarey.

Like most things, it will work better with a mac.

Well i am really puzzled. That is it? Zune. I almost instantly
remembered the (very) old Microsoft joke:
The day Microsoft releases a product that doesn't suck
is probably the day they release a vacuum cleaner.

OMG, the clicker wheel navigation is horrible!

http://www.youtube.com/v/QI3B9XX3lf0 - Broken link

http://www.youtube.com/v/jwGol5D9Csg - Broken link

Zune TV Ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgSEXKff04E



edit: The video is in this forum, remastered with "You can't touch this", yuck:

http://zuneboards.com/showthread.php?tid=203

Whoo! So glad i'm not the only one.

I actually really like the design, and the brown. Brown is a great colour for many things, and I really like the colour on the Zune.

The big screen is niice. I'm not fussed that it's thick, i actually liked the thickness of the 3g iPod. Having some heft behind it makes it easier to hold. I wouldn't buy a nano or even iPod Mini, because they're too small.

Yes it became critical. I hope Apple is aware of this issue.
But they are not losing substance though.

Wow, it looks kinda like a tacky PDA or mobile phone. Plus that advert will makes no sense to people who haven't already heard about the Zune. Hell, they don't even show what the player looks like in the advert.

From the Chicago Tribune:

"In terms of units sold it's going to be a long time before we catch Apple,'' Allard, 37, said. ``But that's not what I look at. I want to be the leader in innovation. I want to be the company that's bringing new things to digital entertainment quickly.''

Does this make anyone else laugh out loud? First, they really think they'll ever catch up with sales of the iPod? Second, leader of innovation? MICROSOFT?!

It looks like it's time for Apple not to charge people for the "Made for iPod" campain.

I agree. I was kinda getting worried with the start of the hype over this thing, but now that I've seen the videos I have the giggles.

Can you imagine finding a song in your 3000 song library with that little clicker thingy. The UI looks clunky as hell.

Big sigh of relief.

http://37signals.com/svn/archives2/i...thome_good.php

the iPod does perfect in respect to that article. the zune on the other hand is the exact opposite IMO.

a few critical nitpicks with the zune's design:
1) The controls are too far down. If you hold an iPod with one hand, the scrollwheel is in exactly the right place for your thumb. Just imgaine right now holding that thing, and now imagine the stretch down your thumb is making to use the scrollwheel.
2) The aspect of the screen is too narrow, when held in the standard manner. I really don't think thats 3:4, it looks more like 5:8. For navigating lists and menus, you do not want a narrow, portrait aspect - I suspect theres going to be a lot of track names cut short with a '...'
3) The whole unit looks too big for my liking. People want small and sleek. Chunky and fat is not cool.
4)I don't like the positioning of the buttons either side of the scrollwheel and they look a tad on the small side. Again, more work for the thumb. I can make certain operations with an iPod while its inside my pocket without taking it out. I don't think we'll be able to say the same for this device.
5)In his statement, Scott Erickson clearly stated that they were focussing on music with the zune more than other content. If that is the case, then why the huge screen? To me that comes across as an excuse for having no real service for getting other media onto the device with ease, and having no answer to video podcasts or the itunes movie and TV stores.

6)Is wireless really necessary or attractive? I don't think so. To me it seems like a case of a solution looking for a problem. iPod users tend to pull out one ear phone and pass it to their buddy to catch a snippet of what they are listening to - such a gesture is instant, and does not require 2 of the same device. People swapping headphones isn't something designed into the device, and this reflects the spontanaiety of the action. I don't think going through wireless to a buddies device will ever have the same spontaniety as simply lending a headphone. Of course Zune users would have the same ability to simply pull out a headphone and pass it to a friend, but doesn't that undermine one quite significant component and selling point of the device?

These 6 points lead me to the conclusion that the Zune is a device which has had a lot of ideas thrown into it but doesn't really know what its purpose is. And I think this will show to the consumer - or rather, the essence of the device is what won't be clear. A strength of the iPod is that it definately has a distinct purpose. That purpose is definately clear, and the product definately fulfills that purpose very successfully.

my 2 cents

THIS IS A TRICK, THIS IS NOT THE REAL ZUNE.
This is just Microsoft having some fun. They are making expectations real low, so that when they release the real Zune, people will be blown away.
I mean... that must be it right?

THE ENTIRE MARKETING TEAM SHOULD FIRED AND SHOT!

Apple's Design team is probably LMFAO!

wtf is this? a BROWN mp3 player?

LOL

Has any major corporation EVER done anything like that? Doing that would just give them a bad reputation, when they shipped the real one people would say, isn't that the brown piece of crap thing?

I predict that people will be too embarrassed to buy this. Imagine turning up to work or to school with a Zune!

yeah!!!!11!! Totally!!!!11!