“Microsoft Corp. chose Toshiba Corp. to manufacture its Zune digital music player, a device that will compete with Apple Computer Inc.’s market-dominating iPod,” Dina Bass reports for Bloomberg.
Bass reports, “Toshiba, which currently sells music and video players with Microsoft’s Windows software, yesterday filed with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission for approval of the device. Microsoft spokeswoman Denise Gocke confirmed the filing and Toshiba’s role in the project.”
Bass reports, “The Redmond, Washington-based company plans to invest hundreds of millions of dollars over the next several years in a bid to dent Apple’s 77 percent share of the $4 billion U.S. market for digital music players. ‘Toshiba makes a very high-quality product,’ said Rob Enderle, an analyst at the Enderle Group in San Jose, California. He called the decision ‘a good choice’ and said Toshiba’s Gigabeat music player is often reviewed as one of the few devices whose hardware is equal to or better than the iPod.”
Bass reports, “”The FCC filing included a photo of the device, which is white with a black-trimmed screen and a black-trimmed, white scroll wheel. Zune will have a 30-gigabyte hard drive, a three-inch screen, and be available in three colors, black, white and brown, according to the Toshiba filing.”
Full article here.
And, so, it’s confirmed. The Zune, or as it’s already known in France, “Z’Brick,” is made by Toshiba and is the size of a small convenience store. Oh, and that “white scroll wheel” mentioned by Bloomberg is not a scroll wheel at all, it’s only a four-way button that just happens to be round. You know, to look like Apple’s product in an effort to fool the ignorant. As usual. Apple’s patent pending iPod Click Wheel is patent-pending for a reason, you know. The fact that the brick-like Zune comes in brown is considered by many analysts to be highly appropriate. And, if Rob Enderle thinks it’s all good, then you know it’s very, very bad. How bad? Even we expected more from Microsoft.
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Look again at the picture…I don’t know which brick looks worse.. the Zune-ditty or the actual laptop it is connected to. That thing looks 3 inches thick. My Macbook puts that contraption to shame and I can imagine the next version of the iPod and nano just driving in the stake. It should be called the Zumbarrassment.
From the article:
“The device will enable a user to stream music to four other devices at one time so friends can listen together.”
Um, when my friends and I want to listen to the same music we use these new fangled things called “speakers”.
Once again Microsoft is presenting a solution to a problem that does not exist.
MDN Magic Word: “through” as in Mircrosoft is “through” in the mp3 player game before they even begin.
Enderle… what a tool. If he says it’s good, you know for sure it’s steaming cowflop.
A few months ago I was writing a hatemail to Enderle in Mozilla’s Thunderbird email program. When I spellchecked, it flagged “Enderle” and said, “Do you mean ‘genderless?'”
I laughed my ass off! And then I looked closer. Sure enough, “enderle” is fully-contained in “genderless.” Rob Genderless! LOL!!
MW types — it takes all…
The end of the OS era is nigh
This brick needs more straw (obscure Exodus reference).
MS Press Release:
C’mon kids! Our super cool Zune is preloaded with Johnny Mathis, Perry Como and John Tesh!
I think M$ is just presenting this brick to throw everyone off balance. They show some crap, make everyone laugh, THEN come out with this brilliant, cool-looking, incredible player.
Sure…
Can you stack them up with mortar ? like : “look at my new 5’000’000 GB MP3player WALL” ! =)
Microsoft confirms leftover brick-like Zunes to be eaten by Ballmer.
I just wish Apple’s next iPod is somewhat close to this design:
C’mon Apple, you can do it.
Wow, I guess Microsoft if going to be sh*tting brown bricks.
>A big hit that will divert attention from unsightly cracks of overweight plummers when stored in their back pocket!>
The ‘B’ in plumbers, stands for brick.
MW–choice–as in, spelling correctly is a choice.
This thing is going to be HOT in Japan, but a non-starter in the US.
http://www.zune.com.br/flash/zune.htm
http://www.aros.org/documentation/developers/zune-application-development.php#what-is-zune
Cue the lawyers.
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=33244
Cue the fluffer.
The thing about trolls and Zune is that we all have iPods already. And we like them
You people are morons. Those photos are from the FCC certification lab, and those antennas and big-ass wires are from the testing equipment they use to measure a device’s EM interference.
But hey- those are technical details that most Mac users couldn’t ever hope to understand- after all until last year Apple said the average user was too dumb to comprehend a mouse with more than one button.
Mr./Ms./Dr. morons:
OK, so the aerial and No. 4 AWG cables are FCC components used for testing purposes only. That still doesn’t explain why this thing is as thick as some telephone books I’ve seen. However, since you seem intimately aware of the particulars of Zune development, perhaps you will also share a few specs with us. I would like to know the precise size and weight of this thing, as well as its expected battery life. I’m sure that answering these questions would boost your credibility and send shock waves through Cupertino. Also, if you post a few photos this would be great.
I wouldn’t get too complacent thinking that all Mac users aren’t able to comprehend mice with more than one button. A lot of us use mice and track balls with more than one button, really. Nah, just kidding, I didn’t know mice came with buttons, really. Thank for the tip, really.
They had to go to Enderle for his opinion? You’ve got to be kidding! Enderle is the biggest fucking farse in the universe; a self-proclaimed “analyst.” He is nothing but a dog-fucking dicklick.
BrooklynNYC:
That’s why New Yorkers never get any respect. I don’t know if you like this guy, Enderle, or not. You New Yorkers never come out and say anything directly. You people use words that obscure what you really feel emotionally deep inside. By the way, what’s your opinion of Ralph Nagin?
===
But hey- those are technical details that most Mac users couldn’t ever hope to understand- after all until last year Apple said the average user was too dumb to comprehend a mouse with more than one button.
===
Something like Windows users thinking Internet Explorer is The Internet.
Or like PC users saying things like “The Macintosh uses an experimental pointing device called a ‘mouse’. There is no evidence that people want to use these things.”
Hey ahole. The WWW and world’s first web browser was written on a NeXT computer, which used the same OS Mac OS X is based on.
Back when windows looked like this:
NeXT looked like this:
Note the gray interface, X fro close button and other things Windows later ripped off for Win95 many years later…
…Tim Berners-Lee used a NeXTcube in 1991 to create the first web browser and web server, the beginning of the World Wide Web as it is known today. Also, in the early 1990s, John Carmack used a NeXTcube to build two of his pioneering games: Wolfenstein 3D and Doom.
We killed the floppy, ushered in the mouse, trackball, trackpad, FireWire, USB, killed SCSI & Serial, have always had sound and graphics cards built-in…on and on.
The NeXT and Mac DOMINATE progress while your shitstained Windows OS is an embarrassment.
PERIOD.
hey !!!!!!!
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Don’t forget that most of the prototypes are always hidden (like cars) under another packaging, not really the final one, usually this packaging is just a box (transparent from a FCC interferences point of view).
This may be just an FCC test, not the final retail packaging and also a leaked photo just to test the waters with the design and form factor.
Look at the crash test cars, their design and captors are not the one you’re driving.
I’m not religious but I just pray for that thing to be really brown
vive Z’SHIT !!!
the Zune is doomed and will be flushed down the toilet.
This site says it best:
http://www.microsoftshitbrick.com