Zune Sales Continue to Weaken 566
Dak RIT writes "Market share data for the first month of Microsoft's Zune sales is now available, and appears to confirm that after the initial hype, sales have fallen off dramatically. Microsoft came in fourth for sales during the month of November with only 1.9% of the market. Apple remained unchanged at 62.2%, and SanDisk even managed to increase to 18.4% (looks like the Zune might not even be able to compete with the rest of the market, let alone the iPod). The one surprise though is that the brown Zune is apparently not only being bought, but more popular than the white model."
waiting (Score:5, Funny)
Hehehe: looks like shit... (Score:3, Funny)
Well, to create a proper climate, he even got himself one of those decorative mini Zen gardens, with sand and little stones. He even made those circles in the sand, meaning the sea/universe, I don't know.
Well, some of his "friends" put a fake crap in his Zen garden... I almost had a seizure when I saw it... Unix guys can kill someti
DRM is not in (Score:4, Insightful)
The zune is a particularly clear exmaple of this.
However i suspect the ipod has simply hit that monopoly status like Windows in which even if the competitors were good (or better) their chances of making inroads against the market leader are severly limited.
i personaly think the ipod is best of breed, but even still one has to wonder.
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Where does monopoly come in? (Score:4, Insightful)
Really - what is the limitation to switching from an iPod?
Sure some people have songs from iTunes, but for most music people are still buying CD's. The amount of ITMS songs people own is not enough to explain why people continue to buy iPods instead of other players.
With Windows if I want to buy almost any PC but a Mac, by default I get Windows. If I want to use programs needed for work I have to use Windows, if I want to access my freaking intranet website I need Windows (or at least IE)!
THAT is monopoly.
If I wanted to, I could easily buy a different MP3 player and things would work just fine - if it played AAC, all the better (wince that's what I rip CD's to). But I stick with the iPod because it does what it does better than other players I have tried - including the Zune. The iPod has a most not of monopoly, but of ease of use - in order to start making inroads on the iPod it must be easier, or at least AS EASY to use as an iPod - and if you read Zune reviews that software does not make it the case. The Sansa on the other hand is rather simple to use and doesn't try to make the users life more complicated, which is why people are buying them.
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Joe Sixpack : I've got a new Ipod and I'm going to buy music from ITunes.
Me: You do realise that you can only copy the songs a limited number of times, they will only work on your ipod so if you get another playeyer they'll stop working etc.....
Joe Sixpack : What about allofmp3.
Me : They've been shutdown.
Joe Sixpack : Limewire it is then.
Re:DRM is not in (Score:4, Informative)
- Songs purchased from iTunes can be burned to CD (and thus stripped of all DRM) an unlimited number of times (playlists can be burned a limited number of times (seven), designed to prevent people from making copies of, say, a purchased album en masse; however, you can make a new, identical playlist, or change one thing about the playlist and then change it back, and it can continue to be burned as many times as you wish)
- Songs purchased from iTunes can be played on an unlimited number of iPods of any model
[1] Not only can you copy the music as you see fit, a new feature in iTunes 7 actually allows your authorized machines (up to 5) two-way sync all purchased music from any iPod. So even though people say, "Yeah, iTunes DRM may be okay now, but they can always tighten it in the future," Apple has actually reduced the restrictions and introduced features that give customers more flexibility.
In any event, slight compression losses aside, you can ALWAYS burn the music to CD an unlimited number of times, stripping all DRM permanently, and even reencode in any format of your choice. Yes, yes, yes, there will be losses from compression, but they are so negligible, almost ALL people will not be able to discern any difference in quality whatsoever. And if you're an audiophile-type who can, then the original AAC encoding isn't good enough for you either. So, the "but what about compression losses" is a bogus argument.
Lastly, this isn't about whether DRM is "good" or "bad". It's simply a fact of life, and will absolutely continue to exist as long as the rights owners have anything to say about it under current legal frameworks (i.e., for a LONG time). The key is making it as unobtrusive as possible, which Apple has done for the vast, vast majority of customers in spades.
Nice job at being wrong at pretty much everything about iTunes purchases in your post, though!
They lost their focus... (Score:5, Insightful)
It's the nature of the market, it destroys people that are standing still. The problem for the IP cartels is that technology used to take decades to eat the market (VHS ate the re-released movie market, but created the home Video market, DVD ate VHS rental commissions, but created the home movie collection), now it takes years. However, if you move fast, you can make money.
Napster made it possible for large swaths of the public to become exposed to non Top 40 music, people traded MP3s around, and it was easy to get a file, but a pain to get a CD, so if you liked it, you bought the CD. Killing Napster opened the market to better P2P solutions. Apple created a pleasant way to buy digital music. The only constant is change.
If I were in charge of the music studios, I'd keep my legal teams on a short leash, harassing P2P enough to push people toward Apple and Microsoft solutions, but not enough to make my customers hate me. I'd use sites like Myspace.com to get my bands out there, and I would crank out new artists. I'd focus less on monetizing my archive with DRM, and sell whatever I can sell. I'd increasing touring, push SA-CD / DVD-A as a higher quality solution. Hit the market everywhere, some stuff will sell, some won't.
However, my biggest change would be my contracting of artists. The current solution, lose money on 9 bands but make a killing on 1, giving everyone giant advances to live like rock stars, playing the celebrity gossip game, etc., isn't working. The one-hit wonder who gets famous flashing the papparazzi is a dead strategy because P2P eats you, but bands with a following make you money. I'd lower advances, increase the artist cut, and get the artists to think like music creators, creating more CDs, and less time playing celebrity. When a band gets discovered, give them money to produce albums, not party it up. There are more music channels (XM, Sirius, HD Radio, etc.), most outlets for videos (Myspace.com, Youtube.com, Google Video, etc.), and more ways to introduce people to music.
Sure, piracy will eat some sales, but it will expose people to more music. Some people may never buy music, but others will if you make it easy. Get product out there, sell what you can, and keep the legal team on enough of an offensive to keep the pirates at bay... however, forget the idea that you can STOP piracy.
Also, STOP making the technology suck. HDMI has proved to be a colossal disaster, it doesn't work right. Havi over Firewire was the easier solution, multiple cables suck (component + firewire or optical audio), but the HDMI situation causes SOOOOO many problems. The technical hurdles affecting your high end customers are killing you. If you want to move discs, get people to WANT higher quality. SA-CD and DVD-A presented a way to make downloaded MP3s of questionable quality less valuable, but you never supported them, and required people to run 6 audio cables because you didn't want digital solutions to take off, WTF!
Stop screwing around, you're missing the fact that pirates attack your low-end, move up market, and just rattle the pirates a bit. You've lost site of your business, and became engrossed with piracy. Put out music people like, and sales will take off... even if the piracy rate hurts somewhat, you can move product. With a minor harassment game, high school and college kids may not buy CDs, but they will after school when they have money, if you have created bands that they love. The market is changes, adapt with it... but in the end, SELL product EVERYWHERE, stop navel gazing and running in fear.
Why bother. (Score:4, Insightful)
(Cue the naive laissez-faire capitalists who think that this competition will create magic in the music industry)
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^^ Microsoft shill (Score:4, Insightful)
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"I won't lie: we're very disappointed. We'd been hoping to play a mediocre second fiddle to Apple on this one. We'd even put all kinds of half-baked functionality into the Zune to limit the obviously great potential of the wifi capabilities. And yet, we've gone and eclipsed the iPod. Heads are going to roll, I'll tell you that much."
Competition (Score:5, Informative)
A squirting helmet camera. Wha? (Score:3, Funny)
Might be something to do with the display set up (Score:3, Interesting)
Compare and contrast with the iPod Nano - there is only one nano display, but there are about a million Nano's out for people to play with because they are being used as part of demo sets for speakers, headphones, in car entertainment systems, kids toys. There are just a lot more units for people to get their hands on and try out - at this point. I imagine things will be a little bit different when Best Buy has a whole aisle for nothing but Zune protective cases, like the do for iPods right now.
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You say that like it was ever going to happen. The aisle of accessories follows the market share, not the other way around. The wide availability of acessories helps keep the leader in place perhaps; but nobody will make, and best buy wouldn't stock, a ton of accessories for a player that isn't already owned by a ton of customers.
My prediction: the Zune c
Re:Might be something to do with the display set u (Score:4, Insightful)
So basically what you are saying is that microsoft could leverage their existing os and office monopolies to create favourable deals for promoting the zune and gaining marketshare in the portable player market. I wonder if the U.S. legal system will work this time around, or if we'll have to rely on the EU courts again.
Even worse (Score:4, Informative)
First of all, the Borwn Zune (there were two, black and white) was either locked up or had a fake screen. I couldn't tell, but the impression a user would have is that it had crashed.
The black one worked, and I was able to try using it (though the speakers connected didn't work or were not on). A real problem the Zune has with a fixed kiosk is that browsing between pictures and video and songs, the whole interface rotates - that is to say, Zune changes the display such that you need to hold the Zune on it's side for some photos and video. When the device is fixed upright you cannot and it makes it really hard to use - plus the controls are also rotated (up becomes left, right becomes down) which you have to figure out. Personally I really did not like this control rotation and found it made it hard to figure out what you were supposed to do in any given mode.
Nah. (Score:4, Funny)
Proof indeed that people are dim. Bless their little hearts!
White Elephant (Score:2, Funny)
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Possible Use (Score:4, Funny)
In all seriousness, I was a bit perked by the Zune until I saw how big it actually was. I'm certainly no Microsoft fan boy, but what the heck were they thinking?
Do they come in any other colors? (Score:2)
Didn't the same thing happen with the iPod? (Score:2)
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That was 2001. Welcome to half a decade later.
Expensive but nothing like it (Score:4, Insightful)
It's funny that five years later, Microsoft introduces a player that can't even be used as a hard drive...
Sales really took off for the iPod when they introduced the Windows compatible model. The funny thing is, today Microsoft started with Windows compatibility - perhaps sales will really take off when they introduce software that lets the Zune work with Macs!
Data? (Score:4, Insightful)
Interesting (Score:5, Insightful)
Whoever is buying the brown Zunes... (Score:2)
Get yours while they still exist (Score:2)
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Why is everyone so surprised (Score:3, Interesting)
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Perhaps they should put them in locked then. Shoplifting losses don't count as sales (except to the manufacturer).
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Long term strategy. (Score:3, Insightful)
See Internet Explorer. Now v7. First versions were bad.
See DirectX. From v0 (WinG) to v10. First versions were bad.
Wait for Zune 2, 3, 4... Today, it sucks, but in a few years, it will be OK.
Slow News Day (Score:2)
Proof positive of Supply-side Economics? (Score:2)
I always thought that was more than a little suspect, but the fact that *anyone* bought a Zune makes me reconsider.
It's the hackers... (Score:2)
Re:It's the hackers... (Score:4, Funny)
Cut The Price (Score:2)
A Zune next to an iPod for the same price, equals iPod for teh win! Drop the Zune price say 15-20
Results Accurately Predicted Here (Score:2)
shock! Horror! (Score:2, Insightful)
Just like happens with 99% of consumer products that have glitzy launches?
Seriously this is a piece of non-news turned into Microsoft bashing.
In store advertisement (Score:2)
It consists of a (probably teenaged) girl's face. In massive closeup. With a sort of "natural", unretouched look. And just like, her face with a little bit of her hair. Like somebody hit the wrong zoom level somewhere. Five or ten times the size of a human face.
The effect is
They probably know what they're doing (Score:5, Insightful)
Define success. (Score:3, Interesting)
Brown (Score:4, Interesting)
While you may think the color brown is unhip, you must understand that from a designer's and marketer's POV brown has been a 'HOT' color for at least the last year.
Now my background in color makes me recognize when color-trends take over. All you need to do is get out of your house/apartment/basements and go to a trendy store like Target, Crate and Barrel... etc. Casually look at accessories for your hip and swingin' pad and you will notice that a very dark blueish-brown color paired with either a cream-color, minty green or a greenish-blue (think a pale cyan here) with nickel plated hardware (brass is out) are all the rage.
Now you may not think brown in any form is hip, but since you are a small speck in the marketplace for items without IDE/SATA/USB/Fibre and/or RJ-45 connectors as standard equipment, you may not realize this trend.
I know it's fun to make fun of MS anything but I just thought I'd mention all this because no Zune article can be posted without poking fun at the "brown one" either purposely or subconsciously.Yes, in my mind even I associate the color brown with shit, and while the Zune might be a POS on many levels, the brown one does not reinforce that fact. What tells me it's a POS is that MS only casually wants you to know the Zune is an MS product, that with the fact the wireless is crippled AND 'Plays4Sure' is unsupported.
Re:Brown (Score:4, Insightful)
that pretty much destroys your credibility of knowing what is in
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We know. But this is precisely why a piece of electronic hardware should not be that color -- it is going to look dated fast. When you follow a hot trend, you get burned very quickly as the market turns elsewhere by next year.
I actually have a Zune, and can see why (Score:5, Informative)
The hardware of the unit is ok, but the sound quality is pretty sad. It's worse than my Dell DJ gen 1, which is based off the Creative Zen line. There's no customizable EQ. The interface is decent, but they really dropped the ball with the SQ. How do you mess that up? I'm no audiophile and my best canalphones aren't even that expensive relatively, and I can hear the sound difference vs. the Creative Zen hardware in my Dell DJ. Plus, the unit is a little fat relative to an iPod, and only 30GB of capacity. I dunno about you guys, but I have more than 30GB of music. The lack of an in-line optional remote is also annoying. The RDS feature for FM was interesting, but it seems to take a while to populate the text and it often gets corrupted. I don't know if this is an RDS issue or a problem with the Zune implementation. The Wifi, is of course a DRM'd useless joke that just makes the player weigh more. Bluetooth stereo headphone support would've been far more useful.
The software on the PC is the real killer. It's not iTunes. In fact, it sucks. It crashes quite often, has poor format support, is slow (seriously, just scrolling through music chugs). I don't like iTunes much, in fact I'm a folder/WinAmp man, but iTunes is pretty good compared to the suck that is the Zune software. The features to get missing song tag info also don't work very well. Seriously, if a file is named "Artist - Song.mp3" it doesn't take Hal 9000 to deduce that might be a good place to start looking for MP3 tag information. Speaking of which, the lack of support for a folder-based navigation system bothers me in general. That aside, the software is a bloated, slow, buggy mess.
Is it worth $90? Maybe. Is it worth $250? Not even close. The software sucks, the player's a fatty with mediocre sound quality, and even if the iPod did not exist I'd rather have a Creative or Samsung player. Bad design, and bad implementation. It's aggravating and annoying to use, and doesn't play the formats I use. Rio once had a player called "Karma". I think that's a more fitting title than "Zune" for what's happening here. Supposedly the odds of getting one on Amazon.com for $90 were 122:1 or something. In my crystal ball I see those odds decreasing in the future, unless Microsoft learns how to write efficient, stable, interoperable code. (hah)
Brown Zune And DRM... (Score:3, Funny)
Here's why: (Score:4, Insightful)
No real biggie there, but I have a lot of live concerts, most all of which span multiple CDs. In foobar2000, I had already had them all tagged accordingly, but for some reason the Zune just didn't recognize the metadata for it. No substitute field, either. It's really annoying to half to skip 2 tracks every track when listening to WEEN live in Minneapolis.
Still, I thought those were both kinda minor, but then I got to using the Zune for the real reason I bought it: lossless. Long story short I goofed up on reading the specs and the Zune doesn't support lossless. It will even try to cap your 320kbs .mp3/.m4a at 192 and convert it to .wma. But here's the question: Why would a device trying to compete--nay overthrow, the iPod limit its capabilities to anything inferior?? The iPod has its own lossless codec, which is quite good.
All those little things have the marks of typical Microsoft goof-ups and they just stare you in the face when you use the Zune and you hate it more and more.
Re:Zune (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Zune (Score:5, Informative)
Third party software support.
Support for Mac, Windows 2000 and Vista.
Less restrictive DRM.
Ability to hook it into most cars and display track info on the dashboard.
Better resale.
The Zune might make sense at $130. But of course, then it would compete with the Sansa players which appear to be designed by someone not from the Soviet Politboro (Zune's brown color is widely called "Soviet Brown" in the trade and consumer press).
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Can you please highlight the differences? In which way iPod's DRM is less restrictive?
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iTMS FairPlay allows you to;
Copy a tune to (and play it back on) any number of iPods.
Copy the tune to (and play it back on) five different computers.
Burn the tune to a standard Audio CD any number of times.
- The resulting CD has no DRM and may be ripped, encoded and played back like any other CD.
Does the Zune system let you do any of those things?
Re:Zune (Score:5, Informative)
For tracks you bought - yes for all things you listed. For tracks you rented via subscription - no.
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However, the iTMS song you purchased, it in a less than ideal 'lossy' format...you've lost information before you even purchased it, from the retail CD version. And, after you re-encode it to mp3 (or whatever), you've lost information again. Now you have basically a 2nd generation copy...much like in the old days of borrowing a friends taped copy of a song, and copying that tape...in principal.
I'd rather buy the
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Re:Zune (Score:4, Interesting)
So, I was in a GameStop this weekend (my friend was trading in his gamecube) and this woman behind the register was talking to a customer about the zune and she was talking it up like I've never heard anyone talk up any product in my life. I mean, she wasn't just saying how great it was, she was making up lies on the spot to this guy and she even managed to sell one to the guy.
When I heard the conversation start, it began with "so, is that zune actually any good?" and the woman behind the counter says "yeah, I have one and it's awesome. I threw my ipod out after I got it because that thing was such a waste of money. It only plays music that you buy from apple in the iPod store and I have an extensive MP3 collection, so that was all useless, and the Zune is compatable with your xbox360 points, so you can use that money for that. try that with APPLE!"
she went on to say how the ipod is $400, but the zune is only $200 and the zune can share the music which the ipod can't do. She also claims to have contacted microsoft and quized the about it and she was saying how music purchased at any online music store can be played on the zune, plus it has an FM radio, which is a huge plus.
now, I don't know what her deal was and I'm not even sure if she realized if she was lying, but I was ready to throw something at her. seriously.
Also, my dislike for the zune isn't fueled by any hate for microsoft that I have. it's directly related to the quality of the product and its featureset. it's a poorly designed music player (and I'm not talking aesthetically) and doesn't do what it should (namely, the #1 thing it should do that it doesn't is play Plays For Sure(TM) files).
btw, this is my 666th comment. yay!
Re:Zune (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Zune (Score:5, Informative)
But you really shouldn't just compare the iPod to the Zune. Right now if I were looking for a new music player I'd be paying some serious attention to what Creative is selling.
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I got the Apple FM attachment [apple.com] for my Nano and am very happy with how slickly it integrates.
Re:Zune (Score:5, Informative)
The 30GB iPod has 15% less mass than both the Zune and the 30GB Creative Zen Vision:M.
The 80GB iPod has 167% more storage space than the Zune and takes up 12% less volume than the Zune.
The 80GB iPod has 33% more storage space, takes up 38% less volume, and has 12% less mass than the 60GB Creative Zen Vision:M.
The 80GB iPod has 167% more storage space, takes up 26% less volume, and has 4% less mass than even the 30GB Creative Zen Vision:M.
No one makes an MP3 player comparable to the iPod in the capacity/form factor department. Same goes for the Nano. iPod owns the market because Apple has no real competition.
Re:Zune (Score:5, Funny)
Mark Foley
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I wouldn't be very surprised if what Creative is selling is iPods before long. Or, in other words, Create may not exist as a company that builds not-iPods.
Just saying. We could be at the point where licensing FairPlay or buying up hardware vendors starts to make sense for Apple. After all, Microsoft has already pissed in the face of e
Nitpick (Score:3, Interesting)
A player that is untouched by DRM is a player that will not play any DRM-encumbered formats. To the best of my knowledge, there is not a single hard drive based player on the market that fits this category.
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-The ability to act as an external hard drive in a pinch.
-A software client that runs on Windows and Macintosh.
-Seasons in the market.
Is Microsoft really going to go the distance with this or will the Zune become another MSNtv(WebTv) type of product where all the R&D is done and it just festers?
Re:Zune (Score:5, Informative)
-The ability to act as an external hard drive in a pinch.
-A software client that runs on Windows and Macintosh.
-Seasons in the market.
A couple additions:
* A huge (and still growing) accessory market
* Can interface directly with a large number of cars (not just through an aux-in)
* Better software - not just cross-platform, but more polished and less buggy (even as buggy as iTunes 7 was initially, it was nothing compared to some of the horror stories I've seen about the Zune software)
* More software options - you don't need to use iTunes if you don't want to
* Clickwheel interface
* Better size/form factor
And yes, style. The Zune is big and ugly. The iPod is svelte and classy. Sure, that's subjective and you might not agree. Unfortunately for MS, 62+% of the market does agree and only 1.8% of the market feels otherwise.
Also, let's not forget that Apple has several different iPods on the market, and they don't break down sales by model. I think it's entirely possible that MS could do better if they released a nano and/or shuffle type Zune. They still won't catch the iPod, but they could easily triple their 1.8% market share (not that that means much). Apple has a model for every taste, where MS seems to specialize in big ugly brown boxes.
Are you sure it's more customizable? (Score:2)
If by "being more customizable" you mean changing the background image in your menu - yes, it's more customizable.
If by "being more customizable" you meant tailoring the interface to suit what things you do most often, like putting the artists folder on the top level menu or something along those lines, then the iPod is more customizable.
If you meant using the iPod to
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Re:Zune (Score:4, Insightful)
This may not be a feature, but it is important to some people. Also, there are a good number of other mp3 players out there, notably iRiver. Apple and MS aren't the only ones to consider.
Re:Zune (Score:4, Funny)
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An Apple logo?
Other than that, they are both overpriced MP3 players.
Perhaps there is some difference in sound quality, but cost is the chief deciding factor (and is probably why I own neither, with no plans to own either).
Re:Zune (Score:5, Funny)
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One of the things I like about the Zune is that it seems to have a bigger screen, can get FM broadcasts, and its interface looks nice though I have not really had much opportunity to use one except at the store.
Re:Zune (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Zune (Score:5, Funny)
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I think the young people enjoy it when I "get down" verbally, don't you?
Re:Zune (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Zune (Score:4, Funny)
That's why... (Score:3, Insightful)
If the other manufacturers standardized an external connector, they could have en
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You're right though, that if all the other manufacturers could decide on an industry standard interface they'd have a shot at breaking the iPods dominance.
Re:That's why... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Considering the impact on the internet market that Windows + IE has had, I'm not sure I even need to esplain this, but hey, it's slashdot.
iTunes is about as groundbreaking as Windows Media Player.
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Please, for the sake of all mankind, stop posting.
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Jeff Hawkins went from GRiD to Tandy to USR to 3COM and then Handspring with his Palm ideas, and was met with incompetence all the way. Palm and Handspring merged, creating Palm, split apart and rejoined together in an exhausting series of corporate incompetence. The Palm's high point was the Palm V, and it pretty much floundered since by trying to be more like what WinCE offered: big color screens with no battery life in a big box: useless.
1994-
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What model is that?
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But unless it's very superior, Apple has a huge entrenched market share and a "name" in the business. This is kind of the reverse of the Vista vs OS X situation.
-b.
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To be fair, Betamax was superior to VHS both aesthetically and functionally.
I'll take the bait. (Score:5, Insightful)
Additionally the display, while larger, is the same resolution. The software it comes with has quickly developed a reputation for bugginess. Its one potentially cool feature (wireless) is utterly crippled by its implementation, with ridiculous DRM, no way to purchase music wirelessly, and not even the ability to sync with your computer wirelessly.
Finally, while I realize that this is probably a non-issue for most of the Slashdot crowd, the fact remains that the iPod is simply considered cooler within the cultural zeitgeist.
Other than that you're right- the Zune is a fine
Out of curiosity, does anyone out there know if music purchased in the Zune Marketplace can be shared with multiple computers? Purchases from iTMS can be authorized for up to 5 computers. I haven't heard one way or the other how this works for the Zune.
Doh! It's worse than I thought! (Score:4, Informative)
Apparently it can't be used as an external hard drive. Damn. I use my iPod as extra storage all the time. It's such a simple and useful bit of functionality that I'd assumed the Zune would have this capability. It turns out that it doesn't.
I've even used my iPod as a boot drive for troubleshooting Macs. I obviously wouldn't expect the Zune to be able to do this, but to not be usable for storing/transfering large files at all is absurd.
Re:Slashdot shill spin surprises! (Score:5, Informative)
From the article :
"In contrast, there are already questions about how sustainable Microsoft's Zune sales will be. NPD's own weekly data had Microsoft falling from the No. 2 vendor of MP3 players in its first week to No. 5 in its second week."
Sounds like their sales are weakening to me.
Hell, the article summary isn't even correct. Slashdot spin version: "Apple remained unchanged at 62.2%". Actual article text: "Apple's share of the hard drive market fell to 82.7 percent from 86.8 percent a year ago, its share of the overall market came in at 62.2 percent, essentially even with the 63 percent it posted a year ago."
As your own quote says, Apple's overall share was essentially unchanged. That's exactly what the summary said.
What the article also says is that the Nano (up 37%) and shuffle (doubled) market shares increased. The reduction in Apple hard drive market share could easily be explained by the market shifting more towards flash based players. The article's and the summary's assertion that the zune has had no impact on the ipod seems pretty reasonable to me.
The slashdot summary was even generous in its comment about the brown zune, which has actually sold as poorly as the white zune.
Instead of trying to spin existing articles, I personally think that it's time for Slashdot editors to just start making shit up.
You do know that people submit the stories and the editors just post them, right?
This attempt at spin is pretty sad. Why not just make up an article that says, "Bill Gates went on a shooting spree today, killing 100 orphan children, before turning the weapon on himself".
If that constitutes "shill spin" on slashdot's part, your response should easily qualify as microsoft shill spin.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
So slashdot needs to buy the onion [theonion.com]?
That could be fun!
In other news, ESR to release The Cathedral and the Bazaar as a film on October 31, 2007 staring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Brad Pitt and Jessi
Re:Zune potential (Score:4, Funny)
Astroturf alert (Score:3, Interesting)
What about the interface makes it "fun" to use compared to an iPod? Personally a prefer a device I can listen to music to, where the interface is not "fun" but quick and non-intrusive.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
that doesn't make any sense ...