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Microsoft Zune MP3 Player Interface Revealed
Posted by
CmdrTaco
on Fri Aug 18, 2006 12:01 AM
from the monkey-see-monkey-try dept.
from the monkey-see-monkey-try dept.
bain writes to tell us that iLounge has put up details on the Zune, Microsoft's MP3 player. According to the article, "Zune is a bit bigger than a standard 30GB iPod, and apparently made entirely of plastic." Interestingly, Microsoft forgoes a touch-sensitive scrollwheel in favor of wheel-shaped buttons. Included are WiFi capabilities, an FM tuner, and (in stark contrast to the iPod) a white-on-black color scheme. The 30GB model is expected to sell for $300.
This story selected and edited by LinuxWorld editor for the day Saied Pinto.
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The one thing missing (Score:5, Insightful)
The one thing missing for Microsoft, is panache. There's nothing hip or cool aboug having some music device from a giant corporation. Without that certain cachet of having something from a company which makes very stylish computers and operating systems and got U2 on board.
It could say Ronco on it for all the Microsoft connection will be good for. It'll sell to some who want to experiment beyond the bounds of iPodness, but with that plastic case and wheel-like buttons it says WalMart-chic all over it.
Of course, we can't discount the notion that Microsoft might further piss-off the EU and risk a severe look from US trustbusters, by bundling some shit into Windows Vista which only works with the Zune and means you have to have one to get those Zune-casts...
Smells like another waste of money from a company that just doesn't understand that they are only profitable at a few things and should stop this kind of nonsense. FFS, who are they trying to be, the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation? [wikipedia.org]
They'll get 100% of the market, all right. (Score:5, Interesting)
I think it stands a chance of being clearly superior to all the other iPod wannabes, and basically wipe up their market-share and send them into some other line of work, particularly because of the WiFi feature, but there's just nothing compelling about it that would displace the iPod.
I have no doubt that Microsoft will capture close to 100% of the market: but the "market" for this device is "MP3 players other than iPods."
Re:They'll get 100% of the market, all right. (Score:5, Insightful)
I have no doubt that Microsoft will capture close to 100% of the market: but the "market" for this device is "MP3 players other than iPods."
Actually, they won't have the cellphone-mp3 player, PSP/other portable video game-mp3 player or cheep mp3 player market, either. They aren't simply a late entry into THE market, they're a late entry into a NICHE
Re:They'll get 100% of the market, all right. (Score:5, Interesting)
In ten years that will be virtually the entire market. There will be a few hundred makers and they'll be so cheap they'll be selling them in drug stores at the counter for pocket change.
Whoever controls the codec wins.
KFG
Re:They'll get 100% of the market, all right. (Score:5, Insightful)
(Although, I wonder what the economic impact will be for the explosion of new sites devoted to Zune hacking....)
Re:They'll get 100% of the market, all right. (Score:5, Funny)
Dime to a dollar that 48 hours after the Zune in released that someone will have figured out how to use a Zune as a Yet Another Vector for infecting wi-fi enabled Windows machines with malware.
Re:They'll get 100% of the market, all right. (Score:5, Informative)
Duh, patents. They didn't "forgo", they "prevented a giant lawsuit they were sure to lose."
Re:The one thing missing (Score:5, Funny)
Some day we'll teach the Apple folks this lesson.
Re:The one thing missing (Score:5, Insightful)
But you're right, Apple has perpretrated a pretty impressive deception. In fact, it is the ultimate marketing coup : a multi-billion dollar company masquerading as a marginalized, under-appreciated underdog. It works quite well - how else to get the too-cool-for-school, indie, emo, anti-conformist crowd to buy their mass-media-oriented, incredibly trendy device? I'm starting to think all those years of stagnant sales, bad management, and being tethered to a virtually ignored platform are paying off. That's what fostered this image. It's a text-book case study on how to form a brand.
Moreover, this is a winning attitude that we see everywhere. After all, it's how people get elected, too. Make people think you are a little guy, fighting against a greater, unflagging, oppressive evil - even if you are the Man - and not only do they let their guard down, they're on your side almost immediately(witness: the bombastic "Star Wars" take-off the Republicans did at one of their conventions, framing the Democrats as the dark Imperial forces and themselves as the Rebel Alliance. Or the multi-millionaire cable executive Ned Lamont in the recent Democratic primary. )
They won't be able to keep up this facade forever. For almost a year now, everywhere I turn I see an iPod. Even though I myself own one, it's starting to make me resentful. Do people have to be entertained every minute of the day? How much of our life are we willing to spend on distractions?
Apple has to be weary of becoming disconnected - of pitching products *at* people rather than *to* people. Microsoft does the former, especially with Xbox and Zune. They are obviously grasping at markets they have no business being near. I think Apple is less evil, though - or maybe not, judging by the recent accounting scandal. Anyway, Apple doesn't want to go that route. Of course Jobs and his marketing department have mastered the art of the opposite - making people think that Apple furthers their individualism and self-expression, their person-hood. Apple's ads talk to you as people instead of as commodities. They've even gone so far as to anthropomorphize computers, as if to emphasize(or invent) the humanity sequestered in all this sterile circuitry. You're getting a friend, not just a tool. It's aesthetic genius - all geared towards delivering another channel for the mainstream recording industry to reach you with their over-produced crap. So I doubt Apple's music-player monopoly will go away unless some court or legislation tears down their partial vertical integration with ITMS.
Have they sold out? Is this something we want to preserve even if it is deceptive? Maybe. I have no problem with big corporations as long as they don't start unduly influencing our public policies. I do however like it when gigantic corporations see the importance of talking to their customers as if they were human beings and not wallets - or at least pretending to. Google does this. Apple does this. It's great - but we mustn't let our guard down. If it's not too late.
Re:The one thing missing (Score:5, Insightful)
I guess you don't remember when having a Sony walkman was a big thing. Sony being a giant corporation.
It's all about how the brand is managed.
Re:No Marketing versus Established Product Line (Score:5, Funny)
There's no buzz about Zune. Microsoft will need a significant and unique advertising campaign to make this thing sell.
So .. Rolling Stones again?
you make a grown man cryyyy...
Good to go (Score:5, Funny)
* More space than a Nomad
Raging success I'd say!
UI pics (Score:5, Insightful)
Those photos make for a good story but likely have very little to do with Zune.
-r
Cheap bastards.... (Score:4, Funny)
Steve: Well, Bill, what successful thing is there left in the market that we *HAVENT* ripped off?
Bill: Umm... There's the PSP, and the DS...
Steve: The team is way ahead of you bill, they've already got a Xbox360M in the works!
(Just my speculation, of course)
Microsoft PR (Score:5, Funny)
I don't get it (Score:5, Interesting)
I think Apple should develop a random product, say an iToaster Oven, just to see if MS will follow suit...
Re:I don't get it (Score:5, Insightful)
To sell DRM technology. ACC is the target, not the silly iPod thingy, but they've done ok with mice, keyboards, joysticks, etc.
KFG
Because they can... (Score:5, Insightful)
They can afford to take a few punts to see what works.
If I was an investor, I'd be pretty pleased with this (well,
actually I'd be more pleased if they paid some dividends or
got their stock price up, but hey... this aint bad).
All power to them - they want to create a complete
home entertainment experience, and this is an essential part
of the pie.
Signed
A happy iPod owner.
Re:I don't get it (Score:5, Funny)
An MS Toaster Oven is the last thing the world needs. God knows how convoluted the process would be to toast a simple piece of bread.
1. Welcome to the Microsoft (TM) Toasting Wizard. What are you toasting today?
2. What type of bread?
3. Microsoft (TM) Toasting Wizard is searching for "Dempster's white bread"...
(little animated magnifying glass on globe icon)
4. Toasting Wizard could not find your bread. Please make sure you've typed the type of bread correctly and try again.
5. Wizard Completed!
Toasting Wizard was quit by user before toasting was complete.
Now all they need is music (Score:5, Insightful)
I have a feeling they'll get thousands of people buying these things. They'll get them home, try to install them, not be able to get music to upload, or the thing will crash all the time, or their PCs won't be able to see it when it's plugged in. Pack it up, take it back, and just go spend the $300 on something that actually works.
Nice thing about this is Apple will probably lower the price of the 30GB iPod to $250 just to stick it to MS. Then I'll dump my mini and finally get a video iPod.
Re:Now all they need is music (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Now all they need is music (Score:5, Informative)
I don't quite know how you define 'easy', but it's certainly not how I do, and I'd imagine not very close to Webster, either. I hated iTunes for the longest time, too, but at least I was never in denial about how my old process sucked. I'm not meaning to flame you here, but iTunes has been the best thing to happen to my music library since the MP3 format. Videos are another story, but I can deal with that (or, rather, just avoid it)
MS fanbois, are you out there? (Score:5, Interesting)
So, the question is, is there such a movement - like behind Linux or other subcultures we are familiar with here in Slashdot - for Microsoft products? And now I'm not talking about business software. I'm talking about the passionate young people with ideologies and ideals.
Re:The other Scroll Wheel (Score:5, Interesting)
To be precise: the wheel was a cylinder right where the 4-way keys usually are (clamshell phone), about 1,5cm wide and maybe 8mm in diameter, in a horizontal direction. You could roll it and click it just like a mouse wheel, and had two extra buttons on either side for left-right clicking. It also had just the right feel, not too tight, but not too loose either, so you wouldn't accidentally misclick like you do with some cheap mice. Scrolling along lists was never easier.
Cylinder? I think you're on to something (Score:5, Funny)
Holy crap, you're right. But---get this----what if we mounted it upright on (i.e., normal to) the music player's surface? Then you could reach out, maybe with your thumb and forefinger, and ... I don't know, rotate the thing? Twist it? "Turn" it?
I could totally imagine this on the front of music players everywhere for volume control and maybe to select between different wireless "channels" (TODO: figure out how to modulate multiple streams of music in a band of EM radiation).
Actually, this could be even bigger! We could use these kinds of controls in any situation where fine-tuning and coarse-grained adjustment are necessary (say, on microscopes), or really on any kind of mechanism where the act of turning the control can be made to do useful mechanical work (TODO: maybe this can be used on water faucets? doors? something like that).
I'm stuck on a name for this physical, continuously-variable, cylindrical widget. Any ideas?