“By now, we all know the basics of the Zune: it’s a 30GB MP3 player with a photo- and video-friendly 3-inch (4:3) screen, and it will cost $249. It runs on a customized version of Portable Media Center software (Windows CE-based) and features the same intuitive twist-navigation as players such as the Toshiba Gigabeat S,” CNET reviews reports. “The Microsoft Zune can hold its own as a portable media player, and the sharing feature is definitely cool. But the lack of format support will estrange some seasoned users.”
“The Zune may be a bit thicker than the 30GB iPod, but it feels right at home in the hand. In my opinion, it’s a nice size and weight–neither too thin to hold nor too big to pocket, though others in the office say it’s bulky and have even compared it to a prototype,” CNET reviews reports. “The unit will playback MP3, protected WMA (the Zune-kind only), and unprotected AAC. No native WAV or WMA Lossless playback. If you have $200 worth of Wal-Mart tracks, you’re in trouble. (You’ll have to burn and rip, or find some way to convert).”
“Video support is worse. There is no video content available for purchase on the Zune Marketplace at launch. (It will, however, feature more than 2 million tracks, both a la carte and subscription.) It supports WMV natively–Zune software will convert MPEG-4 and H264 files to WMV–but it does not support DRMed video. So, no Amazon Unbox and no Vongo. The software will not support DivX or XviD either, so you’ll have to find a third-party conversion method. Too bad the video support is weak, since the 3-inch screen is nice, and the player controls are precise,” CNET reviews reports.
“Sharing content by using ad hoc Wi-Fi is pretty cool, although it is limited to sharing within a range of 30 feet, and you can’t share video. Microsoft stated that in open space, the range is closer to 40 and higher. It takes about two seconds to find anyone in range,” CNET reviews reports. “It takes about 10 seconds to transfer a song. Longer songs can take up to 15 seconds. Since you can play a song three times or within three days, you might be wondering what happens if you play a part of the song. A ‘play’ equals at least one minute or half the song, whichever comes first.”
“As reported earlier, battery life is rated for 14 hours of audio playback. With Wi-Fi turned on (and no sharing), battery life decreases to about 13 hours. No telling at this point what active sharing will do to battery life,” CNET reviews reports. “Overall, the Zune is a well-designed portable media device with good playback performance, a snappy processor, and an excellent interface. Wi-Fi sharing worked well, but prospective owners should know that its format support, especially for videos, is limited.”
Full review here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Island Girl” for the heads up.]
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And its brown color and squirting noises will ‘estrange’ others
I think that’s the only somewhat-positive article I’ve read so far that sounded at all genuine. Seems that’s the best that honesty can do for Microsoft.
“Launched with not so much a bang as a squirt…”
-c
MW: ‘million’ (dollar mistake)
And first to boot…gonna be a right fine day lads and laddies!
I can’t wait to see what the coterie of “Plays For Sure” manufacturers do, once the iTurd finally squirts and ships.
Something tells me they’re not ready to roll over and die just yet.
Guesses, anyone?
And even if someone squirts you a song, you can’t squirt it on to others. So much for the ‘social’.
A brown Zune with SquirtsForSure. I can’t wait.
I’m sure this will outsell every other device out on the market this Christmas season. With exclusive features like SquirtingÔ and colors like Turd Brown, the Zune is obviously destined for greatness.
Zune. It Squirts! Just don’t get any on your hands…
I HAVE THE SPECIAL HALLYWEEN EDITION GLOW IN THE DARK ZUNE! IT CAME WITH FREE COUPONS FOR TACO BELL!!! YES!!!!!!
Based on Windows CE:
Finally a music player capable of running the odd virus.
“And first to boot…gonna be a right fine day lads and laddies!”
That’s redundant, do you mean: lads and lassies ?
“unprotected AAC?”
that right?
14 hours of battery life with Wi-Fi off and 13 with it on??? I call complete BS here! I want someone to test it and give the numbers – not what Microsucks CLAIMS!
The Zen:Visions do everything the Zune and iPod don’t. And they’re less expensive. I don’t buy poorly compressed versions of the content I want so the iPod doesn’t do what I need.
The standards are Divx/xvid/mp4. iPod needs Divx. My $50 DVD player has it. Why not iPods too?
what’s with this squirt term everyone’s using? just curious.
I read it and it’s a very glowing article. I’ll be interested reading how folks in here react to it. Will people just make fun of the brown color, poo-poo the wifi feature, and generally discount it because it’s made by microsoft? Or will people come up with well reasoned rebuttals of the article’s arguments?
I’d personally never buy one, but will the uneducated, marketer influenced masses be fooled into getting one? I hope not–I hope it flops miserably and microsoft loses TONS of money. I hate that those guys put out horrible products and are still rewarded for it.
Understand your wondering where “squirt” came from. It’s an official Microsoft word for putting a self-destructing song onto a Zune from another, if you can find one of course.
Ballmerquote: “I want to squirt you a picture of my kids. You want to squirt me back a video of your vacation. That’s a software experience. The truth is, though, if it makes money, it will be built into the gross margin on the hardware. We’ll figure out how to make money on the community perhaps later though advertising or other means.”
As you see they have it all planned (not!). I think Ballmer will be more surprised than anyone if Zune sells anything more than 250,000 units…
RE: huh?, the ‘squirt’ issue.
It’s taken from an interview that Ballmer did for Business Week a while back…
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/oct2006/tc20061011_940241.htm
The passage that generated the hilarity went thusly..
Does Zune fit into the hardware piece of this?
Sure it does. Because the value of Zune, if we’re successful, is all in the software. It’s in community [the ability to share music and pictures with other Zune users]. I want to squirt you a picture of my kids. You want to squirt me back a video of your vacation. That’s a software experience. The truth is, though, if it makes money, it will be built into the gross margin on the hardware. We’ll figure out how to make money on the community perhaps later though advertising or other means.
-c
MW: ‘learned’ (it’s pronounced ‘learn’d’, Pepsi)
2 times! sry, Macady beat me to it.
-c
MW: ‘did’ (not type quickly enough)
Macaday…
Thanks for the answer about the squirt term. I can see Balmer having to explain to the masses about the use of this term. “It’s not sexual, it’s innocent. Here, see for yourself. I’ll squirt you a photo of my… “
huh?
Ballmer said: “It’s in community [the ability to share music and pictures with other Zune users]. I want to squirt you a picture of my kids. You want to squirt me back a video of your vacation. That’s a software experience.”
http://www.macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/microsofts_ballmer_zune_device_not_money_loser/
The Zune is not being marketed towards geeks.
It’s being marketed to the non geeks and non techies of the world who don’t care about ‘formats’.
Hmmmm, interesting article and finally one thats at least partly believeable.
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Sales, Hmmmm, either it will sell pretty good initially to the microsoft faithful (say 250,000 -500,000 copies) or it will just lay there (say 50,000 copies).
But even if they sell 500,000 copies, that is only a couple per city. I just do not see people using the squirt feature (what do you bet they come up with a different word for that, real quick.
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Nope, I do see them selling say maybe a million or so (hey, windows is big and as I understand it, every copy of VIsta will be tied into use of Zune.) before they come out with a new unit, but with Apple selling 20 million this Xmas for a total of 70 MILLION. That is just going to be too hard to beat. And you can seem to transfer Apple songs to Zune but not the other way around. (protected to mp3 but not mp3 to Zune.
HMmmmmmmmm, just a poorly thought out protection scheme. To limited a DRM, just not well thought out. JMHO.
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N.
Let me take a moment to take a crack at how this article would have been written if it was an Apple product going up against the market.
So assume the Zune is an Apple device, and iTunes/iPod were invented by MicroSoft and you will get it really quickly:
“By now, all Mac users probably know basics of the Zune, but it’s time to fill in the mainstream: it’s a 30GB MP3 player with photo ability, and a larger display than most, but at only 320 x 240 resolution (and 4:3) you don’t gain more image area, just a physically large display vs. that of an iPod or other products, which can show just as much data, but in a smaller physical space. The Zune it will cost $249.”
“It runs on a locked-down version of Portable Media Center software (Windows CE-based) and being that the Zune is Toshiba’s Gigabeat hardware rebranded and given MicroSofts software, it has the same twist-navigation as the Gigabeat, which simply never took off in sales or popularity.”
“Microsoft wants to claim Zune can hold its own as a portable media player, but the lack of format support coupled with the Zune market place (as Microsoft calls it) will not have any video for downloading, not even music videos… The idea of WiFi sharing is nice, but obvious questions comes to mind – who else will have a Zune and do I want them connecting to my Zune? It seems that Microsoft snoops around on our computers quite enough, so perhaps they are now giving us the abilities to do the same and snoop other’s Zunes…”
“One would think a 30 GB Zune would be the same size as a 30GB iPod, but it is not. In fact, the Zune is larger than even an 80 GB iPod, so while it felt okay in my hand, I needed a bag or something else to put it in when I was not using it. To put it in my pocket or clip it on my waistband seemed out of the quesiton. The size is probably due to the fact it is a Gigabeat hardware design, and thus out of date by MP3 player technology, as the Gigabeat is well over a year old now. Others in the office also said it was bulky and have even compared it to a prototype,”
“The unit will playback MP3, protected WMA (the Zune-kind only), and unprotected AAC. No native WAV or WMA Lossless playback. If you have $200 worth of Wal-Mart tracks, you’re in trouble. (You’ll have to burn and rip, or find some way to convert). Again, this seems Microsoft’s trend to alienate users and lock them into a scheme whereas it is difficult to leave their platform once in, but loyal Windows user should dive right in.”
“Video, which is the emerging portable market space, is where Zune is the weakest. There will be no video content available for purchase on the Zune Marketplace at launch. However, the Zune Marketplace will feature more than 2 million tracks, both a la carte and subscription, but iTunes already have over 3 million music tracks, 240 TV shows, music videos, and video podcasts. Zune marketplace will have none of these featues. It supports WMV natively–Zune software will convert MPEG-4 and H264 files to WMV–but it does not support DRMed video. So, no Amazon Unbox and no Vongo, and most importantly, no iTunes. Basically, all your video content will be converted and Zune’d, the typical MicroSoft way.”
“Sharing content by using ad hoc Wi-Fi is pretty interesting idea, but a tad creepy. The problem here is that the Zune only allows content to be played 3 times or 3 days, whichever comes first. It feels like a bait and buy tactic, but the record labels should love it if this technology takes off. But again we must ask the question, since no one yet has a Zune who will I be able to share content with since 70% of MP3 users have iPods?”
“As reported earlier, battery life is rated for 14 hours of audio playback. With Wi-Fi turned on (and no sharing), battery life decreases to about 13 hours. No telling at this point what active sharing will do to battery life, and our labs have yet to test this marketing battery spin so the verdict is still out.”
“Overall, the Zune is a sizeable media device compared with current products in the market, and an excellent interface, taking it’s cues from iPod. Wi-Fi sharing worked well, but prospective owners should know that its format support, especially for videos, is limited, and question whether this product will even take off. If not, the reasons for buying it for Wi-Fi sake will be rendered usesless, as will the Zune platform.”
If the tables were turned, this is EXACTLY how CNet (short for Closed, Neo- Natzi, Exclusionary, Technology, web mag for all things MicroSoft), would spin and write this article, no doubt about it.
Just follow the ad dollars my friends, and there is why CNet talks walks and smells like Redmond.
“No native WAV or WMA Lossless playback.”
Good move, MS. Way to stupidly limit your device for no apparent reason.
Mikey: “The Zune is not being marketed towards geeks. It’s being marketed to the non geeks and non techies of the world who don’t care about ‘formats’.”
Well, these people will care when they tracks they bought at Plays For Shit stores won’t play, even though they are both WMA. The difference between these folks and techies is that “non geeks” have a much lower probablity of a) realizing there is a difference between Zune-WMA and PFS-WMA and b) having any clue how to convert. So if you are implying this is bad for the “non geeks”, then I agree.