Microsoft, at a recent company meeting in Seattle, showed a spoof of Apple’s “Get a Mac” ads, featuring their Zune digital media player taking on Apple’s iPod.
Besides completely missing the central theme by having the actors state that one is a Mac and the other a PC and then quickly forgetting the whole premise by turning into just two people with MP3 players – in the actual Apple ads, the actors are playing the products (John Hodgman is a Windows PC and Justin Long is an Apple Mac) – the spoof also fails the reality test.
In Microsoft’s spoof, two actors play, ahem, people (not products) that look like Apple’s Hodgman and Long who discuss how easily iPod scratches (harking back to an ill-fated, spectacularly unsuccessful FUD campaign), how supposedly nice it is that Zune comes in brown, but mainly how Zune supposedly trumps iPod on ease-of-use and wireless song transfer.
Of course, Microsoft neglects to explain that by wirelessly transferring a song to your soon-to-be-ex-friend, you are sending them an advertisement. Songs “squirted” from Zune to Zune (as if you could ever find another Zune, that is) last for only 3 “plays” (a minute or so counts as a “play”) or 3 days before they stop playing and turn into an ad on the “squirtee’s” Zune. Do you get a commission from the music labels and Microsoft for performing this service? Nope, it’s just free advertising that you’re expected to inflict on your friends for free. Why not just go from website to website signing up your “friends” for thought-you-might-like-this spam?
The Microsoft spoof is funny, but not in the way Microsoft probably intended, because multiple independent reviews of Zune (see related articles below) have indicated just how badly the Zune software performed, how “squirting” failed, how impossible it is to find someone with a Zune to whom to squirt your time-bomb ads, and how the Zune can’t match Apple’s iPod for, among other things, “ease-of-use” especially. Of course, you can buy iTunes Store songs with just one click and you cannot buy Zune songs with one click (or any number of clicks) from your Zune player.
Microsoft should stay as far away from the “ease-of-use” issue as possible when it comes to challenging Apple. Microsoft should have taken on iPod’s lighter weight/smaller size, too many accessories, too large an online song library, too much storage capacity, too many models, too many iPod-ready vehicles from which to choose, or something else instead. Ease-of-use vs. Apple is way too large a leap for Microsoft.
The Microsoft spoof also conveniently totally ignores Apple iTunes’ “iMix” feature which, of course, allows for sharing music in a different way. With total iMixes now approaching one million in the US iTunes Store alone, it seems to be a very popular social feature; certainly vastly more popular than “squirting” 3-plays-then-self-destruct-leaving-only-an-ad-behind files like Zune.
The spoof via YouTube (some more free publicity for a doomed product):
Related articles:
Desperation time? Microsoft Zune already being discounted by retailers – December 13, 2006
Zune: Welcome to the social isolation – December 11, 2006
RealMoney.com’s Holiday Gadget Gift Guide: buy Apple iPod, avoid Microsoft Zune – December 08, 2006
Microsoft Zune plummets to 5th place in U.S. digital media player market share with 2.1 percent – December 04, 2006
Analysts: Microsoft needs to ‘rethink’ as interest in Zune fades fast – December 01, 2006
Enderle on Apple iPod vs. Microsoft Zune – November 30, 2006
The Channel Checkers: 81% recommend Apple iPod – November 30, 2006
NPD: Microsoft Zune hits 9% in US market share in first week, takes #2 spot from SanDisk [UPDATED] – November 29, 2006
Microsoft says Zune sales in line with their expectations – November 29, 2006
Newsflash: analyst says Apple iPod beating Microsoft Zune – November 28, 2006
Thurrott reviews Microsoft Zune: ‘a joke, a travesty, I can’t imagine what they were thinking’ – November 28, 2006
Apple iPod clearly immune to Zune – November 27, 2006
Zune reinforces Microsoft’s dorky image, pushes people toward Apple iPods, Macs – November 27, 2006
Ihnatko: Microsoft Zune experience about as pleasant as having an airbag deploy in your face – November 24, 2006
TheStreet.com: It’s not looking good for Microsoft’s Zune; bad press may taint brand for years – November 24, 2006
Amazon’s bestselling MP3 players list chronicles Microsoft Zune dud – November 20, 2006
Bill Gates: Apple iPod ‘phenomenal, unbelievable, fantastic’ – November 16, 2006
Cramer’s Mad Money: Microsoft’s Zune is pathetic; Vista may cause people to turn to Apple Mac – November 15, 2006
Microsoft’s Zune selling like snotcakes – November 15, 2006
Microsoft’s Zune incompatible with Windows Vista – November 14, 2006
Dvorak: ‘If anything is doomed to failure, it’s Microsoft’s Zune’ – November 14, 2006
Ballmer: Zune’s Wi-Fi will help Microsoft challenge Apple’s iPod+iTunes – November 14, 2006
CNN ridicules Microsoft’s Zune while gushing over Apple’s new iPod shuffle – November 14, 2006
Engadget: Microsoft’s Zune software: ‘It sucks’ – November 13, 2006
Early Microsoft Zune customer greeted with Zune ‘Installation Error’ – November 13, 2006
Zuned: What’s the ‘deal’ with Microsoft Points? – November 12, 2006
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Apple has no need to worry about Microsoft’s cumbersome, chunkier Zune – November 11, 2006
BusinessWeek: ‘By this time next year, Microsoft’s Zune will be considered a dismal failure’ – November 10, 2006
USA Today’s Baig: Microsoft Zune is no Apple iPod – November 09, 2006
Forbes: Microsoft’s Zune stinks; like ‘Microsoft Bob,’ only more embarrassing – November 09, 2006
NY Times’ Pogue: Zune should come in green to match Microsoft’s iPod envy – November 09, 2006
Mossberg: MS Zune has ‘too many compromises, missing features’ vs. ‘thin, sleek, elegant’ Apple iPod – November 09, 2006
Microsoft to pay Universal for every Zune sold – November 09, 2006
Analysts: Microsoft Zune may end up being a flop – November 08, 2006
Are 58% of iPod owners really thinking of a Zune switch? – November 08, 2006
Survey: 58% of iPod owners planning another MP3 player purchase will consider Microsoft’s Zune – November 01, 2006
Zune is from Microsoft, but Microsoft doesn’t want anybody to know about it – November 07, 2006
Microsoft Zune to be US-only, no firm plans to launch anywhere else globally – November 03, 2006
Five Microsoft Zune TV commercials – November 02, 2006
JupiterResearch: Apple’s iPod will dominate for foreseeable future; Microsoft’s Zune insignificant – October 25, 2006
Ellen DeGeneres Show gives away Microsoft Zunes, studio audience goes berserk – October 23, 2006
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 sell single Zune model this fall, rumors of Wi-Fi capability were greatly exaggerated – August 10, 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
Opinion: More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: Microsoft pulls plug on Zune – July 25, 2006
Everyone even PC users know that ease of use is NOT a Microsoft trait and from what it looks like, NEVER WILL BE.
With Zune, I can skeet songs all over my peeps. Skeet! Skeet! Skeet-skeet!
Of course iMixes are the way that tracks are shared and with anyone wherever they are in the country that has a store.
That is not in the vicinity of your own iPod! That is still quite impersonal as no one really knows who you are on iTunes.
I have published 4 iMixes in my time and does anyone know which 4 iMixes are mine?
I might mention it to my friends and even then they will have to get on to iTunes to see my iMixes and the tracks they contain.
I hate the Zune and everything about it too, but I can see a gap in the market that the Zune seems to be capitalising on. A sense of instantaneous connectivity??
Apple will have to respond in a similar way as I have already mentioned above. Knowing Apple they will make the same functionality a whole lot better!
MW: ‘north’ is there really a chance that the iPod market moves north. From Cupertino to Redmond.
Hmm – I recall purchasing an iTunes card with CASH at my local pharmacy and the using it to purchase items from iTunes without a credit card. We need a Red Forman type to go to MS just to remind them when they are being a Dumbass – but I guess nobody would have that much time.
i bought an xbox 360
it’s noisy , badly made , scratches discs and sounds like it’ll blow up
first and last microsuck product i ever buy
The big problem with this (and so many other attempts at spoof/parody ads, be they amature or professionally produced) is that they are attempting to spoof/parody humorous ads. Trying to poke fun of something that’s funny just never works and always comes across as rather pathetic.
You only spoof or parody something that’s serious or, at least, not intentionally funny.
It’s the humor equivalent of a double negative.
Turnabout is fair play. The ad is funny and effective.
M$ would be smart to go with it on TV – but wouldn’t make any large impact… ultimately the devices compete on their merits, and this iteration of the zune is an inferior product to the iPod.
That looks so corny!!
First off your bud’s have to have a Zume – know anyone, a bud or otherwise that has spend their money on a Zume of late – NO!
Now ask yourself just how many bud’s or otherwise has bought a iPod in the 6 months – many
End-Game!
This is of no real surprise coming from copysoft, but it does tell you theyre poor losers.
check out this idiot preaching the zune and getting absolutely drilled.
[url=http://www.rebelmac.com/?p=32]http://www.rebelmac.com/?p=32[/url]
@ Buster:
Best. Post. Ever.
You owe it to yourself to click on Buster’s link.
@ Zune Gangsta:
Bravo. Made my day.
Why do so many still get the name wrong.. it’s NOT Ipod or I-Pod…. it’s iPod.
Geesh.
“The ad is funny and effective.”
Sure. If you limit the audience to just the MS boardroom.
hahahahaha!!!
eat it and enjoy.
The funny thing is that they are trying to show the iPod in a bad light by talking about how “difficult” it is to put music on it, while it’s as easy as a press of the button with Zune. That’s apples and oranges. It’s not the same thing at all. The Zune guy had to go through exactly the same steps (probably more) to get that song on his Zune the first time. If they wanted to compare similar actions, the iPod would connect to someone else’s computer and they could get music that their friends or family bought, and have it as long as they wanted.
Besides, isn’t there a little more to “squirting” that pushing one button? I mean, they didn’t put a “Squirt” button on the interface, did they? Don’t you have to ask someone for a specific song and then the one guy has to set up to receive and the other has to set up to send? I’d be really surprised to hear that MS made it easier than that.
“Yeah, and they make it in brown.
It matches the turds floating in the toilet bowl.
Hmmm.”
Interesting comments.
ZuneTang, incognito?
Meanwhile, Ballmer is pitching his original idea for a sitcom to Fox. He wants to play a crotchety grandfather that throws chairs at his son and chases his grandkids with a squirt gun. The working title is:
“Everybody Loves Redmond”
MDN claims this is an actual M$ piece? Is it really, or just a spoof piece done by two kids a camera and a room?
If done by M$ I can only think they did it for an interenal promotional event.
But if produced by M$ for an in-house event, they were wise to post it to YouTube, as Zune is once again being talked about.
M$, each and every few weeks will have some sort of Zune announcement, good, bad, poinless, it will be in our faces the next two years..
Then it will go silent as M$ will be abandoning Zune and have moved onto their next great entertainment wave – which will be another bad copy of whatever Apple is doing…
Didn’t they do the same exact thing with the Switch ads? Microsoft copying Apple, that is. Then it was found out she was a Microsoft employee. I guess they really can’t find a good marketing team, or maybe they just don’t have a marketable product.
I thought that it was pretty funny too. Did Microsoft really make this? Because it looked like an amateur job. I’ve seen some better Pro Windoze/anti Apple videos out there. But better than Balmer’s monkeyboy dance, “Developers, developers, developers, developers, developers.”
I loved the “Watch it you’ll scratch my iPod!” comment. I’m kind of surprised that Microsoft didn’t make it as a virus infected Quicktime that you can screw up Macs on MySpace. That would have been the ultimate put down to the Macintosh.
Just keep on creating the next big thing, Apple. Microsoft will never manage to catch up.
http://soapbox.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=7b841d66-fa63-45a4-83f4-45179814dcd1
Actually pretty funny!
The PC guy looks like a young Donald Rumsfeld.
http://soapbox.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=22fd376f-e1fa-4fea-b8fd-3242ae0de3ab
Funny that this is posted on a MS site!
Truth be told, I never tire of the Monkey Boy Dance.
I wonder if Ballmer would disown his kids for owning and using a Mac/iPod. It’d be like a parent disowning their kid for being gay or a different religion or something. Microsoft is a religion, Apple is a cult. Religions are people going through the motions in hopes for something better, but stale and boring like Microsoft. Cults believe they have got something better and are excited about it.