The Zune Era
A good friend of mine with general wise views on most matters has, in recent months, started taking the strongly counterintuitive line that those of us with iPods — a group that includes himself — are suckers and that the Zune is actually a better product. Except apparently nobody told Microsoft about leap years:
Owners of 30-gigabyte Zunes began flooding Zune-related Web sites with complaints early Wednesday morning. They said their players had suddenly stopped working, displaying only a frozen start-up screen.
After spending much of the day digging into the problem, Microsoft said that it had traced it to a software bug “related to the way the device handles a leap year.” Apparently the Zune was expecting 2008 to have 365 days, not 366.
Sloppy! I’ll say nothing more about my love of Apple products until Steve Jobs comes through with the product placement deal I deserve. Consider this post a good venue for a general Mac versus PC flame war — gotta get traffic back up.
53 Responses to “The Zune Era”
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January 2nd, 2009 at 11:25 am
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:35 am
It’s not the player, it’s the infrastructure and community surrounding it. The iPod/iPhone, plus iTunes and the music store, plus all the iPod accessories, plus all your friends who use one, makes buying an iPod a no-brainer for anyone who is the least bit intimidated by the technology surrounding digital music.
The Zune might well be a better player, and other companies like Creative also have good players. But those players lack the Apple music infrastructure. The bundled music software doesn’t hold a candle to iTunes. The music store is either awful (Zune) or non-existent. And the accessories market and community is a tiny fraction of the size of the iPod’s.
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:41 am
What mistermix said. One will generally hear the claim that the iPod is inferior to the Zune or some other mp3 player because the iPod has fewer “features” (no radio, no built-in recording microphone, etc.) and that people just buy the iPod because of the “brand” and/or its “popularity.” However, its popularity is itself a “feature.” Ultimately, the feature shortcomings of an iPod can be overcome by the simple application of money in the form of accessory purchases (they sell radios and microphones you can plug in to an iPod). You can’t buy a network of Zune Stores, a huge market for 3rd party Zune accessories, and a social network of people with a Zune that you can exchange accessories and advice with.
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:46 am
The Zune will never have the sex appeal of the iPod. It’s the curves alone that get me….
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:48 am
What Tyro said above, only I’d extend it to say that Jobs’/Ive’s/Apple’s approach to product development in general means finding at least ONE THING to do well, and then milking the fuck out of it. Thus, they end up generally outshining every comparable product put next to it in a given category, if not every single one.
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:53 am
I don’t see the point in the cult attitude. Competition is good, and the Zune has some amazing features. The iPod was cool when it first came out, but it’s amazing how stagnant Apple has been with the product.
The most frustrating thing I find about my iPod is iTunes. This has got to be one of the crappiest software products ever made with perhaps the worst UI ever. Tries to be helpful when it ought not, and isn’t helpful when it ought to be.
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:53 am
I’m sorry, but iTunes and the iTunes store are superior to Zune? No. I had an iPod and think that it is a better device, but switched to a Zune just for the Zune Pass. Sorry, but buying music from iTunes is freaking expensive and paying 14.99 per month for everything I could want (plus getting to keep 10 of the songs permanently, without any DRM) is a much better deal. Subscription music is way better and cheaper; the main reason it hasn’t taken off is because iPods don’t support it.
The Zune software and new recommendations feature is also superior the new Genius iTunes feature.
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:55 am
Get a cheap Sandisk Sansa and apply Rockbox open source replacement firmware.
Nothing better.
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:56 am
One will generally hear the claim that the iPod is inferior to the Zune or some other mp3 player because the iPod has fewer “features”…
But carefully chosen and well-designed “features” is itself a “feature” of the iPod. Apple doesn’t add functionality just so they can add a bullet point to a feature list: they wait until they can incorporate the functionality in a compelling way.
The idea that “longer feature list” equals “better product” is probably the essence of the Windows/Mac divide.
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:59 am
I have an old college friend who was visiting my small college town over the holidays. He now lives in San Francisco.
He was telling me all the real hip kids there are now using the Zune. Mianly because now that everyone has an Ipod it is the easiest way to differentiate themselves.
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:02 pm
If you really want to get your traffic back up, maybe Jennifer Palmieri could stop by with a post about how CAPAF looks forward to partnering with Zune in the future.
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:02 pm
I’ll tell you what’s sloppy: missing a perfect opportunity to title a blog post “Y2Z.”
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Linux been berry, berry good to me.
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Like someone above, my main problem with Apple has been iTunes. Their draconian anti-competition DRM policies that only allow you to play iTunes purchased music in iPods promotes opposition purely on principle… and makes hypocrites of many anti-Microsoft Apple fanbois.
Otherwise, I thought their hardware was fairly nice, if overpriced, until just this past week… when my girlfriend decided to replace her old nano with a new one instead of getting it fixed… a decision that, since they apparently killed off Firewire, made all of her peripherals useless (or nearly so), including a perfectly functional iGroove I bought her a few years ago (granted, it still plays music, but no longer charges).
Couple that kind of behavior with the way they brutally punish early adopters and I have a hard time understanding why they are so loved. It must be masochism.
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Like someone above, my main problem with Apple has been iTunes. Their draconian anti-competition DRM policies that only allow you to play iTunes purchased music in iPods promotes opposition purely on principle… and makes hypocrites of many anti-Microsoft Apple fanbois.
This is an ambiguous sentence — are you claiming that the iTunes Music Store should support the Zune, iRiver, etc.? Because if you’re saying that iPod only supports iTunes-purchased music, you’re confused; I’ve got a ton of self-ripped, Amazon MP3 Store, eMusic, and, uhh, “otherwise acquired” music in my library, with I believe two (Christmas!) MP3s purchased via iTMS.
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Hah! Zune and ipods are dead ends. The future is in cell phones. Why would anyone want to carry around both a cellphone and an mp3 player? It is now iphone vs storm, instinct, omnia, and every other iphone clone. Microsoft doesn’t get it, and that is why they are doomed in the long run.
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Also, I hate iTunes. I believe that 90% of PC users hate it too.
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:26 pm
This is an ambiguous sentence — are you claiming that the iTunes Music Store should support the Zune, iRiver, etc.?
Yes. All the other music stores support a wide range of hardware. Apple doesn’t allow other hardware platforms access to their DRM because they wan’t to maintain their market share… which is fine I guess, but it makes Apple fans who complained about Microsoft’s “anti-competitive practices” seem a little silly.
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Hey, Jobs, how come your super-awesome, does-everything iPhone doesn’t have a damn flash for the camera?
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:31 pm
The Zune is really gaining in popularity–have you heard that thousands waited in line overnight at a Zune store to get one?
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Apple DRM is there at the insistence of the labels. Apple only breaks even on the ITMS. It exists to ensure that there is good, cheap content for the iPod. If Apple could drop the DRM, they’d be happy to; it doesn’t do them any good. Why does amazon have no DRM? My understanding is that the labels are trying to promote a competitor to iTMS because they’re afraid of Apple having too much clout. I think mostly they want variable pricing, which Apple refuses to do.
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:43 pm
And the iPod line is only stagnant if you ignore the Touch.
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:50 pm
MS has problems with leap years. Excel date constants begin on day 1 (1 January 1900) and increment by one for each day. But 1900 was NOT a leap year (centuries are an exception to the “divisible by 4″), though Excel thinks it is, so you can have a 29-Feb-1900.
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:58 pm
read this and weep, you silly apple lovers:
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/thousands_wait_overnight_at
bill gates 2012!!!
January 2nd, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Before even buying my first mp3 player, I looked at online music stores. The iTunes software convinced me I should buy anything but an iPod. It was so “helpful” I couldn’t do anything with it.
What’s really annoying is that even though I uninstalled it, it keeps asking me to update it. The lesson I take from this is to not even look into Apple products.
I bought a Zune, but only because it was the cheapest product that had the memory I wanted.
January 2nd, 2009 at 1:23 pm
I had an ipod, but the HD kept dying on me, so eventually I replaced it with an iRiver, which works just fine. I still use iTunes to organize my tracks, even though it’s a bit buggy. Genius in particular is dumb beyond compare.
All the alternatives to the iPod are fine, as long as you don’t by crap from the iTunes Music Store, which I never do (maybe one track a year). Why pay for DRM-laden, compressed tunes by the single? Gack.
January 2nd, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Don’t overlook the fact that the Zune is available in brown. Just like your grandparents’ home stereo console.
I want to second (or third) the point that you’re buying a piece of the Apple entertainment ecosystem, not an MP3 player. I just got an Apple TV for Christmas, hooked it all up, and had the (not very profound) realization that it’s just another iPod with an HDMI out jack. Which is good! Because I can access everything (photos, music, movies) and order content from iTunes, which is a known and trusted quantity.
The fact that there’s very little new there is perfect, because I didn’t want to learn how to navigate a new ecosystem, I just wanted it on my TV, and now it’s on my TV.
January 2nd, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Benny Lava: Also, I hate iTunes. I believe that 90% of PC users hate it too.
Yes, I do think there’s probably a connection there, if you think about it. PC users are PC users for a reason.
January 2nd, 2009 at 1:55 pm
BTW, Steve Jobs has openly and energetically railed against DRM, and iTunes tracks are increasingly free of DRM. For the record.
January 2nd, 2009 at 1:56 pm
The Other Steve: The iPod was cool when it first came out, but it’s amazing how stagnant Apple has been with the product.
Indeed. Why don’t they updated, like with a touch screen or something?
January 2nd, 2009 at 1:58 pm
ifv: Did you remember to convert $14.99 into Microsoft Points first, and buy in blocks of $5 (which converts to 5688 MS points based on today’s exchange rates)?
January 2nd, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Public Service Announcement:
Piracy is good for you.
Also, why fool around with crappy hardware from Apple or Microsoft when there is…
Clix from Iriver
or
D2 from Cowon
both of them are superb devices with excellent sound quality.
Public Service Announcement 2:
No, the geeks really *weren’t* kidding about y2k.
January 2nd, 2009 at 4:02 pm
I use a Creative Zen and have a real rhapsody subscription. I don’t want to have to buy music. For some music, I’ve purchased album, tape and CD. I’ve spent 3x on owning the intellectual property, which gets me almost nothing. I should not have to ever spend anything because of technological changes.
January 2nd, 2009 at 4:51 pm
Microsoft’s main problem is it’s name, Microsoft. It is the all time worst name for a big company. Micro and soft = small and flaccid. Microsoft will always be fighting a strong subconscious “weenie” image because of their name. People that consider their choice of technology as a personal reflection of themselves will always subconsciously resist being associated with the small limp dick company, no matter how good the product might be.
One way Microsoft has fought this in the past is by adding female connotations to a brand to counteract the small penis thing, for example their hugely successful “XBox”.
January 2nd, 2009 at 6:14 pm
As someone who spent a hellish several hours yesterday trying to make iTunes do what I wanted and organize my music properly, the UI is crap.
Unfortunately, it’s also the only way to use the iPod I do have, which is a wonderful piece of hardware that does exactly what I want it to (allow me to listen to podcasts on the way to work and occasionally get me pumped up for a night out with some music).
A Zune might be in order next round. I won’t buy iTunes music unless I’m able to use it on a future non-iPod.
January 2nd, 2009 at 7:13 pm
For those having trouble using iTunes, there ARE OSS alternatives that pretty much do everything iTunes does and probably better.
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/11/08/itunes-alternatives/
January 2nd, 2009 at 7:19 pm
If you want a Zune, you probably ought to get one soon. Zune may not be around for much longer.
Microsoft may be laying off 17%of their employees soon.
January 2nd, 2009 at 9:31 pm
I was that guy–the annoying Zune evangelist who wouldn’t stop talking about what suckers all my iPod using friends were– until my Zune bricked itself 3 months after I bought it.
I went out and bought a Sansa for $35 on woot. It’s reliable, runs Rockbox, and doesn’t lock you into certain software and DRM-schemes like Apple or Microsoft.
Anyway, here’s my genius analogy:
Apple is George W. Bush – just competent enough to gain power and screw the consumer.
Microsoft is Hillary Clinton – also trying to screw their customers but too incompetent to get in a position to do so.
Companies like Sandisk are Russ Feingold – actually deliver a quality product with the best intentions of the customer in mind, but lack the money, muscle and sexy design to gain any support.
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:01 pm
iTunes is proof Apple doesn’t do software. The stupid really burns. The reason to own an iPod is – as has been noted – the enviornment around it. Much like windows and office software.
Now, let get back to recovering from the black screen of death on my 3G iPhone.
January 3rd, 2009 at 1:19 am
Give me the IPhone with included IPod + Pandora + Internet radio (for hometown sports station) + ease of ITunes podcast handler and then an IPod shuffle for the gym and biking.
January 5th, 2009 at 10:35 am
I have a Creative Zen and I love it. It probably has a calendar function somewhere on it, but I prefer to use it to actually listen to music.
February 6th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Samsung has just released the first 8 MP camera phone in the US. I’m still waiting on the optical zoom..
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