Report: Zune sequel to break cover as early as Tuesday - Page 2

Originally Posted by gloss

Honestly, the Zune is a perfectly acceptable mp3 player. It's only the software that really kills the experience. The hardware is just fine.

Originally Posted by TBaggins

'Perfectly acceptable' just doesn't cut it against the iPod, though.

The Zune will be kissing the canvas while the ref counts it out... again. \


...

Originally Posted by zanshin

and Steve & Inc. are forced to drop the price of the iPod Touch by a couple hunnerd bucks before Christmas.

Originally Posted by gloss

Eh, it competes in a different cost-space at the moment. I got mine for $150. At the time $150 for a pretty solid 30gb player was nothing to sneeze at.

Originally Posted by mrpiddly

Originally Posted by nagromme

As long as the new Zunes are priced about as low as iPods and have a pretty good web browser (maybe not touchscreen, but something almost as efficient) then that WiFi will be a VERY nice advantage over an iPod (not counting the Touch).

If not, then the WiFi is a non-feature. There aren't enough Zune users out there to communicate with--if communicating with strangers is your thing. (I can't imagine Zune-style WiFi "squirting" catching on big-time even if every iPod in the world had it.)

Originally Posted by mrpiddly

Beautiful, big color screen. A bright, durable 3.2-inch glass screen delivers uncompromised portable video viewing. Your music, video and pictures never looked better.
Touch controls. Fly effortlessly through your song, picture and video collections with the new Zune Pad. Innovative new touch controls let you brush or click.
Wireless sync. Cut the cord to your PC. Refresh your Zune with new content anywhere you charge your device. Connect to your PC through your home wireless network by setting your Zune to automatically sync the latest podcasts, music and more from your stereo dock, AC adapter or speaker dock accessory.
Zune Social, a beta online community Web site. Discover, share and leave your musical mark. Create a Zune Card and personal profile at Zune.net to reflect your musical identity. Invite friends, share song recommendations, post comments and browse member pages to discover new music and connect to other people with similar musical tastes.
Zune Marketplace. Get your fill. Over 3 million songs, albums, DRM-free MP3s, music videos, audio and video podcasts and more. Buy individual songs and albums or choose a Zune Pass to get unlimited downloads for a flat rate.
Wireless Zune-to-Zune sharing.3 Share full-length tracks of your favorite songs, albums, playlists, pictures and even audio podcasts. Listen to the full track of any song you receive up to three times, and even pass along songs you receive to other friends who have a Zune. If you like a song you receive, you can easily add it to your wish list and then buy it from your PC the next time you sync.
Recorded television content to go. The Zune software will now automatically import broadcast content recorded on Windows® Media Center for Windows Vista® Home Premium or Ultimate, so consumers can sync them onto their Zune and hit the road.4

Built-in FM radio. With the built-in FM tuner you can listen to your favorite local FM radio stations while you're on the go. Advanced tuning capabilities allow you to see the name of the song and artist currently playing on select frequencies.5
Import your music. Zune software will automatically import your existing music, pictures and videos, including music you have ripped into iTunes and Windows Media® Player, even transferring your existing playlists and song ratings in one easy step. Some content may be protected by the service you purchased it from, so those files cannot be imported.
Your games. Your music. Your way. Plug your Zune into your Xbox 360® and customize the soundtrack in your favorite games. You can also stream the music, pictures and videos from the Zune software on your PC to your Xbox 360 console using a wireless connection.

Hard drive Zunes

It's called the Zune 80 and, shockingly enough, it has 80GB of storage.
Uses the new Zune Pad -- four way touch-sensitive d-pad (with up, down, left, and right buttons).
It will sell for $250 (with "premium" headphones).
Available only in black (to start).
Screen size has increased to 3.2-inches (from 3-inches). As far as we know the resolution is still QVGA.

Dimensions are 61.1 x 108.2 x 12.9mm (2.4 x 4.25 x 0.5-inches), some 1/3rd smaller than the classic Zune.
The classic Zune will now be known as the Zune 30 -- it's not going anywhere. More on that in a sec.
New flash Zunes

Zune 8 and Zune 4 are the names for the 8 and 4GB flash based models.
Also uses the Zune Pad.
These will sell for $200 and $150 respectively.
Both will be available in pink, green, black, and red.
It will feature a 1.8-inch screen (compare to the nano's 2-inch screen).
Dimensions are 41.4 x 91.5 x 8.5mm (1.6 x 3.6 x 0.33-inches) -- compare to the new iPod nano, at 69.8 x 52.3 x 6.5mm (2.75 x 2.0 x 0.26-inches).
Everything else

New Zunes ship in November, date not yet announced.
All Zunes (including the Zune 30) will have a new, redesigned interface and feature parity. In other words, early Zune 30 adopters will have all the same software features as new Zune 80, 8, and 4 users.
Additional native video codecs for h.264 and MPEG-4 -- users no longer need transcode those file types to WMV.
Zune can FINALLY sync video from your Media Center PC! Jeez, took you friggin long enough, guys!
WiFi sync to host computer! Includes moving over music, movies, photos, podcasts, etc.

Podcast support! (Sorry, no over the air downloads -- sync only.) Podcasts can also be shared via WiFi.
The 3x3 song sharing DRM has had its three day restriction removed, but users can still only play files three times.
There is still NO wireless music store.
The Zune software is all new and rewritten, and is supposed to actually be more than a rebadge of WMP10 now. Friggin finally.
The Zune music store is going DRM-free, with over 1m MP3 tracks being made available for download. Other details (like which labels, whether there is a DRM-free upgrade path is for users who've bought music with DRM, price differences, etc.) are not yet revealed.

The first generation 30GB Zune—which 1.2 million of you already purchased—is getting all the new Zune's features. All. Microsoft's did something fantastic here and rewarded the believers who purchased Zunes in the first year by allowing them to get in on all the cool new stuff without having to pay more. Are you paying attention Apple? This is how you should treat your customers.

Take the yearly upgrades to the iPod. Did you know the new iPod classic can't play the games you bought for your iPod Video? You have to buy the games all over again. And when's the last time Apple offered owners of the previous generation ALL THE FEATURES that a new iPod has. To be fair to Apple, they gave the improved scrolling to 5G iPods when they moved up to 5.5G (but left out some other features). We're not saying they should give everyone free upgrades all the time, but if the only difference is in the software, don't treat your customers like idiots and expect them to pony up for something you can, and should, easily give them for free. Good job Microsoft.

Not only is the 30GB getting the new Wi-Fi syncing, it's getting the updated sharing features, the new codecs, the podcasts, and the new Windows Media Center TV on the go. It's essentially the new Zune, except thicker and has less storage space.

But contrast this to what Apple did between the iPhone and the iPod Touch. The iPod Touch is running the same software as the iPhone, but it's artificially gimped. There's no email. There's no weather or stocks. No notes. No adding events to the Calendar. All stuff that's right there in the software and costs nothing for Apple to put in, except they leave it out to artificially differentiate the product line.

But back to the Zune. If you're now interested in what Microsoft's throwing your way, you have the option of picking either the 4GB, the 8GB, 30GB or the 80GB, which only differ on size and storage space (plus the 80GB comes with premium headphones). No artificially gimped players here, unlike the iPod Nano vs. iPod Classic—you just get a different screen and slightly different innards. You get to decide what you want.

Originally Posted by icfireball

Zune.net

Cnet

Very underwhelming compared to iPod lineup.

Originally Posted by danielsmi

The Zunes have been announce and damn are they sweet!! You'll all find some way to hate on them won't you!! Yes the green is ugly no it doesn't have 160gb but other than that it's better deal for the $$.

Originally Posted by danielsmi

Really!! Everywhere I've looked everyone but Apple fanboys said the exact opposite, wireless sync, isn't cool to you? Taking your FREE recorded TV with you (oh wait you can't record TV so you could never do that to begin with, that sux. I guess that's why Apple is more 1337 than M$). bigger GLASS screen similar the iPhone and unlike the classic and nano you don't have to worry about scratching anymore. Wouldn't you like to wireless sync from your nano to your Mac, no? FM radio? Remember this is all for the same price. If you wanted FM radio it'd cost an additional $50 from apple, but it's included from MS and many other companies. Really, what feature does the iPod classic have that is better than the Zune 80? I have a classic and I don't see ANYTHING, NOTHING that it has that the Zune doesn't and I see lots of cool things Zune has that the iPod doesn't.

Originally Posted by addabox

Given that your entire posting history here consists of pro MS, anti-Apple trolling, I think the chances of you actually owning a classic are slim, at best. If you do, why didn't you just get a Zune in the first place? The previous model has a lot of the stuff you apparently think makes the iPod look weak; why did you buy such a weak-ass MP3 player?

As always with your type, I have to wonder: what's stopping you from getting your Zune and enjoying it? Why in the world are you wasting you time carrying on at an Apple enthusiast site?

For instance, it would never occur to me to start hanging out at MS or Zune centric sites, yammering about Zune fan boys and aggressively pushing my preferences and suggesting that everyone who disagreed with me was probably stupid or deluded. I just use the stuff I like and don't worry too much because other people like other things.

You know why? Because I'm not a fucked-up loser.

Additional native video codecs for h.264 and MPEG-4 -- users no longer need transcode those file types to WMV.

Originally Posted by danielsmi

Really!! Everywhere I've looked everyone but Apple fanboys said the exact opposite, wireless sync, isn't cool to you? Taking your FREE recorded TV with you (oh wait you can't record TV so you could never do that to begin with, that sux. I guess that's why Apple is more 1337 than M$). bigger GLASS screen similar the iPhone and unlike the classic and nano you don't have to worry about scratching anymore. Wouldn't you like to wireless sync from your nano to your Mac, no? FM radio? Remember this is all for the same price. If you wanted FM radio it'd cost an additional $50 from apple, but it's included from MS and many other companies. Really, what feature does the iPod classic have that is better than the Zune 80? I have a classic and I don't see ANYTHING, NOTHING that it has that the Zune doesn't and I see lots of cool things Zune has that the iPod doesn't.