But the zune has a way better looking interface and does a lot more than the iPod.
I have never even touched a Zune let alone played with it. But maybe this will be one of tomorrow's tricks. The standard iPod interface is getting a little long in the tooth. It works well, is easy to use but I am sure there is space for improvement.
SanDIsk kicks but on unit sales because they do so many cheap players, while I think Creative is all large PMPs. SanDisk will jump up a lot for the holiday quarter. They offer huge discounts which severely hurt their profits.
Except, it was announced today that Samsung is looking into buying Sandisk?
I agree. The Zune may not be everything that the iPod is, but it will be a long time competitor.
It's an unfair advantage to competitors. With guaranteed revenue from its monopolized core market, MS can continue to waste money on money losing products. What sound business would continue producing products that are not profitable? They would kill it. MS will continue to fund till the competition fatigues with innovative initiatives for the product.
I have never even touched a Zune let alone played with it. But maybe this will be one of tomorrow's tricks. The standard iPod interface is getting a little long in the tooth. It works well, is easy to use but I am sure there is space for improvement.
The zune interface defiantly wins over the classic ipod interface but both pale in comparison to the iPod Touch / iPhone interface.
I think that apple recognizes the current demand for the smaller nano and hard drive based ipods, but they also believe that touched screen, flash based devices represent the future. I believe Apple will update the interface of the "standard" ipods tomorrow, but eventually they will introduce smaller nano like devices that uses the mobile OSX operating system and slowly phase out hard drive based ipods completely. From my point of view, Microsoft is competing with the last "generation" of devices. (I always consider the software to be the most important aspect of a device)
Also, the zune media management software is overall just horrible.
i would not consider the Zune an iPod knock off at all. the Zune is a fine media player and the subscription service is nice. the software sucks though and since they decided not to make a mac compatible version of it, they will never gain any real market share. a huge mistake on their part.
Yea, like all MSoft attemps to get people hooked up in Windows. Same thing to MS Silverlight, want to beat Flash? but development is on Windows platform only.
Quote:
The zune interface defiantly wins over the classic ipod interface but both pale in comparison to the iPod Touch / iPhone interface.
Yeah, but I prefer the iPod interface, it looks less distracting and simple.
- Or have M$ managed to pull their heads out of their A$$ long enough to make a product that is good enough to be sold at a profit?
- to be honest, I think competition for Apple is a good thing, but not if the competition deliberately sold at a loss in order to gain market-share (that means you M$!).
The Zune doesn't create any competition for Apple. The Zune is not compatible with iTunes and the Zune Marketplace is not compatible with the Mac. So the Zune would not steal any Mac users to buy their product instead of an iPod. For Windows users, maybe. But if they already have an iPod with an iTunes library of music, I don't think there would be much of an incentive to switch players, especially since the Zune doesn't have any good reviews. If the Zune was compatible with iTunes, then there would be true competition.
Talk all the shit you want but out of about 1,500 different companies it's number 2. They are doing something right.
As others have said on this post, MS is 3rd behind Apple and SanDisk, not 2nd. Also, the market share that MS did manage to grab did not hurt Apple one bit. In fact, they cannibalized their own Plays For Sure partners (Creative, SanDisk, etc.) and stole market share away from them. Apple's market share has been pretty steady for years now, and not a whole lot has even come close to hurting them.
For cryin' out loud! Microsoft really has not done any innovation to make PCs personable. iPod was one of the first successful digital music players. Why? BECAUSE IT HAS A NO FRILLS INTERFACE AND LOOKS GREAT! The Zune really is a knock-off of the iPod.
A coworker I knew from Radioshack was always talking about how Apple charges an arm and a leg for their products and doesn't let users share between iPods. I know those are the main gripes right now, but the benefits of an intuitive design far outway the quirks. Plus, Apple and iTunes have attracted far bigger talent than all of the Zune artists combined, and there are ways to free music from DRM - or you can use a file-sharing service like I do (even though it is illegal).
Bill Gates may get all the credit, but he is mainly a logician and not much of an innovator. Steve Jobs is an innovator who knows that most consumers are not logicians and need a clear interface. On digital music, I'd take Apple over Microsoft any day of the week!
Bill Gates may get all the credit, but he is mainly a logician and not much of an innovator. Steve Jobs is an innovator who knows that most consumers are not logicians and need a clear interface. On digital music, I'd take Apple over Microsoft any day of the week!
Yeah, I dont get it why they still ask Gates to advertise for them even though he is not in the company anymore. Not only the ad, even on Windows 7.
I agree that it is an improvement over the first version, however, anything would be an improvement over the first version. Microsoft relies on graphics to make the Zune OS feel different then Apple's.
Quote:
Originally Posted by solipsism
The latest Zune firmware is nice. i like the layout better than Apple's iPod line. Now, the HW and syncing, Zune Software (PC) and Marketpalce, I have nothing good to say.
I agree that it is an improvement over the first version, however, anything would be an improvement over the first version. Microsoft relies on graphics to make the Zune OS feel different then Apple's.
I'm a university professor, and by most of my student's standards, I'd qualify as a "fogey" or a "geezer". Last spring I bought my first ever iPod, an 80GB 5.5G. After class one day, I was talking with a small group of my students, just chatting with them really, and I made a joke that "I'm one of the cool kids now" and showed them my new iPod. Of the six or so students who were all talking together and with me, all but one also produced theirs, and we all started comparing notes on the advantages and disadvantages of the different iPods. A few minutes later, a student coming into the classroom for the next class being held there saw us and pulled out a Zune... all my students burst out laughing.
It was the first one I'd ever seen in public, and still to this day is the only one I've ever seen that wasn't in an ad or a display.
But the zune has a way better looking interface and does a lot more than the iPod. The iPod touch is the only Competiter to zune as far as quality but the iPods still do very much outsell the zune. This probably won't change but zune will for a long time be a competiter in the market.
Love how people always separate the iPod touch from the other...iPods. I recognize the difference, but sorry, the iPod touch is the next generation, widescreeen, touch-based iPod. The original 2006 Zune 30 and the one year later Zune 80 are to this day competing with the three year old iPod video! The flash-based Zunes that debuted alongside the Zune 80 are competing with the three year old iPod nano! Yet all these Zunes debuted at prices identical to the comparable iPod, they lack good desktop software and/or comparable media store and any useful new features.
I'm a university professor, and by most of my student's standards, I'd qualify as a "fogey" or a "geezer". Last spring I bought my first ever iPod, an 80GB 5.5G. After class one day, I was talking with a small group of my students, just chatting with them really, and I made a joke that "I'm one of the cool kids now" and showed them my new iPod. Of the six or so students who were all talking together and with me, all but one also produced theirs, and we all started comparing notes on the advantages and disadvantages of the different iPods. A few minutes later, a student coming into the classroom for the next class being held there saw us and pulled out a Zune... all my students burst out laughing.
It was the first one I'd ever seen in public, and still to this day is the only one I've ever seen that wasn't in an ad or a display.
You should've immediately given him a failing grade.
Having actually played around with an 8 GB Zune, in terms of hardware it's actually a very nice player with pretty decent controls. It's the software that lets down the Zune--it's nowhere as integrated as iTunes is.
Don't be surprised if Microsoft releases the third-generation Zune software as part of the next-generation Zune model, one with a vastly easier to use and more integrated interface that works directly with Windows Media Player 11 for easier copying of downloaded music from places like the Amazon MP3 store.
Having actually played around with an 8 GB Zune, in terms of hardware it's actually a very nice player with pretty decent controls. It's the software that lets down the Zune--it's nowhere as integrated as iTunes is.
Don't be surprised if Microsoft releases the third-generation Zune software as part of the next-generation Zune model, one with a vastly easier to use and more integrated interface that works directly with Windows Media Player 11 for easier copying of downloaded music from places like the Amazon MP3 store.
I give MS 5 years to realize that their Zune software sucks.
Only now they realize that their App Store for Windows Mobile is incomplete...and that is after how many years they are in the market.
Having actually played around with an 8 GB Zune, in terms of hardware it's actually a very nice player with pretty decent controls.
While the Zune's industrial design is uninspired (and just plain ugly), the innards...have been noted to be identical to those of the iPod. So in terms of internal components, I'm sure the Zune is just dandy.
Love how people always separate the iPod touch from the other...iPods. I recognize the difference, but sorry, the iPod touch is the next generation, widescreeen, touch-based iPod. The original 2006 Zune 30 and the one year later Zune 80 are to this day competing with the three year old iPod video! The flash-based Zunes that debuted alongside the Zune 80 are competing with the three year old iPod nano! Yet all these Zunes debuted at prices identical to the comparable iPod, they lack good desktop software and/or comparable media store and any useful new features.
You are a moron. Lets start with that. You said in your same paragraph first that ipod touch is the next generation (meaning different from old ipod) and that the zune lacks media store. Zune lacks media store? 120gb isnt enough media store? Do you feel like you would rather be able to cram all those other songs in your 32gb ipod touch? you idiot? The ipod touch has no storage its crap! Plus it is fucking expensive. Anyway this story is just to let all you nerdy faggots knock on microsoft yet again. Get the fuck over it. They are selling more computers so the fuck what! If you like apple buy and apple stop bitching. Sheesh you damn lame asses.
[NOTE] I had to type this message twice. Let me tell you why. Because my stupid iphone 3g's safari crashed. So to send this message I had to turn on my dell with windows vista using the new internet explorer 8 beta to put this message in this forum. And it worked like a charm. Just like always you bitchers! I like Apple products. I really do. I want a powerbook, I also want a mac air. What I don't want is to know that I own the same apple product as 100,000 of you bitchy rich kids who always complain about microsoft. GET OVER IT!
Comments
But the zune has a way better looking interface and does a lot more than the iPod.
I have never even touched a Zune let alone played with it. But maybe this will be one of tomorrow's tricks. The standard iPod interface is getting a little long in the tooth. It works well, is easy to use but I am sure there is space for improvement.
SanDIsk kicks but on unit sales because they do so many cheap players, while I think Creative is all large PMPs. SanDisk will jump up a lot for the holiday quarter. They offer huge discounts which severely hurt their profits.
Except, it was announced today that Samsung is looking into buying Sandisk?
I agree. The Zune may not be everything that the iPod is, but it will be a long time competitor.
It's an unfair advantage to competitors. With guaranteed revenue from its monopolized core market, MS can continue to waste money on money losing products. What sound business would continue producing products that are not profitable? They would kill it. MS will continue to fund till the competition fatigues with innovative initiatives for the product.
I have never even touched a Zune let alone played with it. But maybe this will be one of tomorrow's tricks. The standard iPod interface is getting a little long in the tooth. It works well, is easy to use but I am sure there is space for improvement.
The zune interface defiantly wins over the classic ipod interface but both pale in comparison to the iPod Touch / iPhone interface.
I think that apple recognizes the current demand for the smaller nano and hard drive based ipods, but they also believe that touched screen, flash based devices represent the future. I believe Apple will update the interface of the "standard" ipods tomorrow, but eventually they will introduce smaller nano like devices that uses the mobile OSX operating system and slowly phase out hard drive based ipods completely. From my point of view, Microsoft is competing with the last "generation" of devices. (I always consider the software to be the most important aspect of a device)
Also, the zune media management software is overall just horrible.
Why innovate when you can copy? I wonder how much Microsoft has lost so far with their ipod knock off?
They made billions with their Mac OS knock off (aka Windoze) so I guess they figure they should keep trying.
i would not consider the Zune an iPod knock off at all. the Zune is a fine media player and the subscription service is nice. the software sucks though and since they decided not to make a mac compatible version of it, they will never gain any real market share. a huge mistake on their part.
Yea, like all MSoft attemps to get people hooked up in Windows. Same thing to MS Silverlight, want to beat Flash? but development is on Windows platform only.
The zune interface defiantly wins over the classic ipod interface but both pale in comparison to the iPod Touch / iPhone interface.
Yeah, but I prefer the iPod interface, it looks less distracting and simple.
Are M$ still selling the Zune family at a loss?
- Or have M$ managed to pull their heads out of their A$$ long enough to make a product that is good enough to be sold at a profit?
- to be honest, I think competition for Apple is a good thing, but not if the competition deliberately sold at a loss in order to gain market-share (that means you M$!).
The Zune doesn't create any competition for Apple. The Zune is not compatible with iTunes and the Zune Marketplace is not compatible with the Mac. So the Zune would not steal any Mac users to buy their product instead of an iPod. For Windows users, maybe. But if they already have an iPod with an iTunes library of music, I don't think there would be much of an incentive to switch players, especially since the Zune doesn't have any good reviews. If the Zune was compatible with iTunes, then there would be true competition.
Talk all the shit you want but out of about 1,500 different companies it's number 2. They are doing something right.
As others have said on this post, MS is 3rd behind Apple and SanDisk, not 2nd. Also, the market share that MS did manage to grab did not hurt Apple one bit. In fact, they cannibalized their own Plays For Sure partners (Creative, SanDisk, etc.) and stole market share away from them. Apple's market share has been pretty steady for years now, and not a whole lot has even come close to hurting them.
Now I know why the Zune looks good, its cause the designer uses a Mac
The woman must be saying in her thoughts, "I will never use Windows, Mac is too nice to use"
Oh yeah, Apple will never open up iTunes anyway, they dont even open up their DRM.
A coworker I knew from Radioshack was always talking about how Apple charges an arm and a leg for their products and doesn't let users share between iPods. I know those are the main gripes right now, but the benefits of an intuitive design far outway the quirks. Plus, Apple and iTunes have attracted far bigger talent than all of the Zune artists combined, and there are ways to free music from DRM - or you can use a file-sharing service like I do (even though it is illegal).
Bill Gates may get all the credit, but he is mainly a logician and not much of an innovator. Steve Jobs is an innovator who knows that most consumers are not logicians and need a clear interface. On digital music, I'd take Apple over Microsoft any day of the week!
Bill Gates may get all the credit, but he is mainly a logician and not much of an innovator. Steve Jobs is an innovator who knows that most consumers are not logicians and need a clear interface. On digital music, I'd take Apple over Microsoft any day of the week!
Yeah, I dont get it why they still ask Gates to advertise for them even though he is not in the company anymore. Not only the ad, even on Windows 7.
Yeah, I dont get it why they still ask Gates to advertise for them even though he is not in the company anymore. Not only the ad, even on Windows 7.
I think he is the Chairman of MS.
The latest Zune firmware is nice. i like the layout better than Apple's iPod line. Now, the HW and syncing, Zune Software (PC) and Marketpalce, I have nothing good to say.
I agree that it is an improvement over the first version, however, anything would be an improvement over the first version. Microsoft relies on graphics to make the Zune OS feel different then Apple's.
I'm a university professor, and by most of my student's standards, I'd qualify as a "fogey" or a "geezer". Last spring I bought my first ever iPod, an 80GB 5.5G. After class one day, I was talking with a small group of my students, just chatting with them really, and I made a joke that "I'm one of the cool kids now" and showed them my new iPod. Of the six or so students who were all talking together and with me, all but one also produced theirs, and we all started comparing notes on the advantages and disadvantages of the different iPods. A few minutes later, a student coming into the classroom for the next class being held there saw us and pulled out a Zune... all my students burst out laughing.
It was the first one I'd ever seen in public, and still to this day is the only one I've ever seen that wasn't in an ad or a display.
But the zune has a way better looking interface and does a lot more than the iPod. The iPod touch is the only Competiter to zune as far as quality but the iPods still do very much outsell the zune. This probably won't change but zune will for a long time be a competiter in the market.
Love how people always separate the iPod touch from the other...iPods.
I'm a university professor, and by most of my student's standards, I'd qualify as a "fogey" or a "geezer". Last spring I bought my first ever iPod, an 80GB 5.5G. After class one day, I was talking with a small group of my students, just chatting with them really, and I made a joke that "I'm one of the cool kids now" and showed them my new iPod. Of the six or so students who were all talking together and with me, all but one also produced theirs, and we all started comparing notes on the advantages and disadvantages of the different iPods. A few minutes later, a student coming into the classroom for the next class being held there saw us and pulled out a Zune... all my students burst out laughing.
It was the first one I'd ever seen in public, and still to this day is the only one I've ever seen that wasn't in an ad or a display.
You should've immediately given him a failing grade.
Don't be surprised if Microsoft releases the third-generation Zune software as part of the next-generation Zune model, one with a vastly easier to use and more integrated interface that works directly with Windows Media Player 11 for easier copying of downloaded music from places like the Amazon MP3 store.
Having actually played around with an 8 GB Zune, in terms of hardware it's actually a very nice player with pretty decent controls. It's the software that lets down the Zune--it's nowhere as integrated as iTunes is.
Don't be surprised if Microsoft releases the third-generation Zune software as part of the next-generation Zune model, one with a vastly easier to use and more integrated interface that works directly with Windows Media Player 11 for easier copying of downloaded music from places like the Amazon MP3 store.
I give MS 5 years to realize that their Zune software sucks.
Only now they realize that their App Store for Windows Mobile is incomplete...and that is after how many years they are in the market.
Having actually played around with an 8 GB Zune, in terms of hardware it's actually a very nice player with pretty decent controls.
While the Zune's industrial design is uninspired (and just plain ugly), the innards...have been noted to be identical to those of the iPod.
Love how people always separate the iPod touch from the other...iPods.
You are a moron. Lets start with that. You said in your same paragraph first that ipod touch is the next generation (meaning different from old ipod) and that the zune lacks media store. Zune lacks media store? 120gb isnt enough media store? Do you feel like you would rather be able to cram all those other songs in your 32gb ipod touch? you idiot? The ipod touch has no storage its crap! Plus it is fucking expensive. Anyway this story is just to let all you nerdy faggots knock on microsoft yet again. Get the fuck over it. They are selling more computers so the fuck what! If you like apple buy and apple stop bitching. Sheesh you damn lame asses.
[NOTE] I had to type this message twice. Let me tell you why. Because my stupid iphone 3g's safari crashed. So to send this message I had to turn on my dell with windows vista using the new internet explorer 8 beta to put this message in this forum. And it worked like a charm. Just like always you bitchers! I like Apple products. I really do. I want a powerbook, I also want a mac air. What I don't want is to know that I own the same apple product as 100,000 of you bitchy rich kids who always complain about microsoft. GET OVER IT!