Looks like the Ellen DeGeneres show gave away a bunch of Microsoft Zunes (The #1 daytime show, Oprah, already did it with Apple’s iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED Special Edition).
Note the lack of information about the draconian limits to Zune sharing (three times, then self-destruct – regardless of media source, ie. from a store or even a song you made yourself; all shared Zune content gets Microsoft’s 3-time-only-then-go-boom DRM), that the round thing there is a fake click wheel designed to fool people that it works like an iPod (it’s really just a four-way button), or the fact that the Zune Marketplace doesn’t even offer video content.
Note also that nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American housefrau (or overestimating their size). Ellen’s studio full of carbo-loaded soccer moms go absolutely berserk; it’s like a Saturday Night Live skit. We can only pray that those studio bleachers are severely reinforced. Man, there’s a whole lotta shakin’ going on over at Ellen! Seriously, they really ought to call it The Ellen DeGeneres Farm Hour: two normal-sized humans in front of the camera and 300 cows behind it. No wonder our health insurance rates are astro-freakin-nomical.
One word: diet. Here’s another: exercise.
Anyway, after seeing that bizarre reaction to a piece of re-branded Toshiba crap, we hope they had medics on hand for the fainters or at least passed out cigarettes after the orgasmic excitement subsided. We didn’t see any squirting, but something was certainly going on:
So, whaddya think, can Microsoft fool the ignorant masses again (in which case, Steve Jobs would nip the whole thing in the bud PDQ) or will people not be so excited once they find out Zune’s many weaknesses?
Related articles:
More Microsoft Zune myths explored – October 20, 2006
Five more Microsoft Zune myths – October 18, 2006
Microsoft Zune intensifies chaos in Apple iPod+iTunes also-ran market – October 16, 2006
Newsweek Q&A: Apple CEO Steve Jobs discusses iPod’s impact, Microsoft’s Zune, and more – October 15, 2006
Microsoft’s Ballmer: Zune device not money loser, wishes Apple’s 30GB iPod was $299 instead of $249 – October 11, 2006
Microsoft’s consumer electronics track record: long string of failures – October 11, 2006
MP3.com founder: ‘Zune will be an expensive failure for Microsoft because consumers aren’t stupid’ – October 06, 2006
Microsoft fails to secure key Zune domains – October 04, 2006
Microsoft rigs Zune with tricky pricing and proprietary money schemes – October 03, 2006
Why Microsoft’s Zune won’t kill Apple’s iPod – October 03, 2006
10 Apple iPod vs. Microsoft Zune myths – October 02, 2006
Analyst: Zune could lead to ‘civil war’ between Microsoft and Windows Media partners – September 29, 2006
Thurrott on Microsoft’s Zune: ‘The makings of a disaster, what the heck are these people thinking?’ – September 29, 2006
Analyst: Microsoft Zune’s as good as dead on arrival – September 28, 2006
Microsoft sets 30GB Zune price at $249.99 – September 28, 2006
How Microsoft’s Zune can kill Apple’s iPod – September 21, 2006
Microsoft’s Zune insanity – September 21, 2006
The Microsoft Zune 1.0 dud – September 20, 2006
Microsoft’s underwhelming Zune a ‘viral DRM’ device – September 18, 2006
SanDisk teams with RealNetworks against new common foe: Microsoft Zune – September 18, 2006
Creative does Apple’s dirty work by immediately attacking Microsoft’s Zune – September 17, 2006
Motley Fool’s Jayson: Microsoft’s ‘just plain ugly’ Zune a meager offering, not an iPod killer – September 15, 2006
What’s in a name? ‘Zune’ a French-Canadian euphemism for penis or vagina – September 15, 2006
Crave at CNET: ‘Microsoft Zune, all the excitement that brown can bring’ – September 15, 2006
Microsoft’s Zune underwhelms – September 15, 2006
Enderle: Microsoft Zune ‘a design mistake’ – September 15, 2006
Microsoft hypocrisy exposed with Zune: What ever happened to ‘choice?’ – September 14, 2006
Analyst: Microsoft Zune with fake scroll wheel ‘hardly an Apple iPod killer’ – September 14, 2006
Analyst: Microsoft Zune won’t spoil Apple’s biggest iPod Christmas ever – September 14, 2006
Microsoft unveils Zune 30GB player, Zune Marketplace; declines to disclose prices – September 14, 2006
Analyst: Microsoft’s Zune an ‘underwhelming’ repackaged Toshiba Gigabeat; no threat to Apple iPod – August 30, 2006
Microsoft confirms brick-like Zune to be made by Toshiba – August 25, 2006
Microsoft Zune is chunky brick made by Toshiba – August 25, 2006
Microsoft to spend hundreds of millions, several years on Zune trying to catch Apple iPod+iTunes – July 27, 2006
Zune: Apple cannot lose. Microsoft cannot win. – July 26, 2006
Maybe they thought the black Zunes were made out of chocolate. I saw a lot of heffers jumping, it reminded me of a rodeo. I wondered if they hired a rodeo clown to calm the audience.
Wow! I never imagined Apple people could be so nasty and vicious. We all know the Zune will NEVER even come close to the success of the iPod. The fact that we’re secure in that knowledge makes the name-calling and cruelty all the more unnecessary.
One word: humility. Here’s another: compassion.
I may be a bit late to this (i do have a job y’know) someone may have covered this already… and if they have then I totally agree with them. That said, has anyone here ever been to the taping of a program with a studio audience? I have. I’ve been to a few. Doesn’t matter which one you go to –they’re all the same. Audience participation and reaction is manufactured. It’s Hollywood baby! What you don’t see is what’s happening with the audience between takes and comercial breaks. There’s someone (in many cases a few people) in charge of making the audience cheer, boo, gasp and/or whimper as the situation may dictate. As anyone here who’s witnessed it can attest, audience reaction is absolutely fake and very much manufactured. These people are excited about being told to be excited. Their reaction has little to do with anything except the sheer excitement of being part of the show in some way. It’s more than a little scary how mob mentality is engadged in these situations. You saw it. It’s almost as if they were reacting to the fact thay every person in the studio won 100 million dollars and a limo ride to the moon. Now, I’m not saying that Zune will succeed or fail. Microsoft needs to make this work. I’m sure they’ll pull out all the stops on this one…
i don’t know…but what i could see…the people there were really fat, overweight 15 year olds….sorry….i watched it twice….the show should have been about how fat those girls really are….and what they should do about it….sorry…they have an IQ of a tree and they saw a sign to cheer and jump up and down about zune….or some other body part…
i know…i shouldn’t be so cruel….but i just can’t help saying the truth….young people are so very stupid….especially with the fag woman up there telling everyone how great this thing is…it really sounds like a microcrap commerical…
i wonder if the raptor will use this in a few weeks…this will be the best commerical redmond will come up with….as they lose $$ on everyone they sale…
i’m sorry to offend anyone out there that is overwieght….but to be 50 + pounds overweight at 15 years old is really bad…it will only get worse as you grow older….
I will try to be more polically correct in the future….but zune is a nothing thing….but then…for free…i bet there will be millions sold…or given away….
This whole social networking thing Microcock is trying to push probably will have some sort of MySpace-like hype about it. “If you use a Zune, you’ll have friends.” Ought to appeal to the socially inept geeks that tend to be some of the most diehard Windoze fans and all the emo people, which may include the type on this show. Just my opinion on the matter.
MDW class. Such as Microsoft has no class.
Poor brainwashed masses.
But that Zune-mongering Asian woman sure looked hot.
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I got a toy in my Cracker Jacks yesterday. I was excited at first. It sucked, but the Cracker Jacks were good…
Hey, is it me or that Zune-squiriting Asian lady looks like the actress Lucy Liu !?!
YAY! I got a Zune! I got a Zune!
Now I can put this bad boy on eBay and use the money to help me get an iPod! BOOYA!
they shoulda given those wobblebottoms ipods with running shoes…
You can’t even get TV shows on Zune.
Come on, MDN, fat jokes? Why would you even present your readers with the temptation to engage in such juvenile crap. Are you that insecure about the dominance of the iPod? I’m not. As I see it, the only thing the Zune has going for it is the widescreen display for movies. I figure Apple is going to encorporate that into a future version of iPod anyway, so it won’t make a huge difference.
Unfortunately – MS CAN fool the masses. I was at a sales recognition event last night where they gave away some Zen MP3 and video players and people went nuts. – Overheard a comment that iPods were for macs so they were glad to get this one.
The untapped market of ignorance is still huge – all the iPods ever sold would probably not furnish all the inhabitants of the state of Texas. (20 mil plus) – that leaves the rest of the world untapped for MS crap
Apple has sold over 68 million iPods to date.
“Matthew”
Zune doesn’t have a widescreen display… just do a little research and you’ll see that… in fact, just search THIS site for the article Zune Myths and you’ll see all about that “widescreen display”.
“The movies is so clear”
What movies?
“Zune: the choice of DeGenerates”
Now you’d just stealing Apple’s line where they claim to appeal to “Artistic” people.
“Which means your pixels are just bigger.”
Which results in a larger overall screen size, Which is the point.
“The untapped market of ignorance is still huge “
1.6 million Macs this quarter, it has to be at least THAT big.
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