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CrashPryor
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Digital Dogfight: Microsoft's Zune vs. the iPod

Posted over 3 years ago
Yesterday "Microsoft's Zune":http://www.zune.net/en-US/meetzune went on the market and Bill Gates' posse is planning to give the folks over at Apple a run for their market share money...although I've seen 'em around and have read a little on 'em I haven't taken one for a spin just yet but here are some quick stats: the newer device weighs 1 oz. more in weight; offers a wireless file sharing feature with other Zune owners (which smacks of Dr. Suess' Star-Bellied Sneetches vs. Plain-Bellied Sneetches tale, but that's just me)...you can test run your tunes on the newer digital device for up to 3 times before actually purchasing music/ videos but you can't reconfigure old files used elsewhere on other machines which I think is a deal breaker (and the fecal brown coloring ain't helping either)...is it gonna give the iPod a run for it's money? only time will tell (my tea leaves are on the fritz, yo)...clocking in at $249.99 for 30 Gigs of space it's a tough call...Nerd alert, Nerd alert: check out "engadgets' review":http://www.engadget.com/2006/11/15/microsofts-zune-gets-cracked-open-for-the-world-to-see which also links to a funny-ass "tertiary-tactile experience" video that's kind of funny too...having said all of the above...call me a luddite if you like, but all the bells and whistles on this thing seems to take the Zune in a direction that exceeds my needs in a portable device...I'll hang with my 5th gen. 30 gig iPod and put my bookies scrilla there...any takers?
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Comments (20)

  1. chucky
    chucky says I saw this yesterday or the day before on the Today Show. The feature that lets you send a friend a song that they can listen to in full 3 times sounds like a very nifty feature. I hate buying songs based off a 30 second preview. On the other hand, I am attached to my ipod.
    Permalink posted 11/15/2006
  2. Marco1019
    Marco1019 says I've come across a few reviews, none of which were positive. Here is David Pogue's review from last week's Circuits section in the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/technology/09pogue.html?_r=1&oref=slogin Just as Chucky is attached to her ipod, I am attached to my Creative Zen Touch.
    Permalink posted 11/15/2006
  3. Dale
    Dale says Is this even a battle anymore? I haven't seen a positive review yet.
    Permalink posted 11/15/2006
  4. Marco1019
    Marco1019 says Good point, Dale. At this rate, it'll be a homecoming.
    Permalink posted 11/15/2006
  5. Manos
    Manos says Now, if they'd eliminated DRM, I'd consider switching. Of course, they wouldn't do that, but a fella can dream, can't he?
    Permalink posted 11/15/2006
  6. SamTheButcher
    SamTheButcher says Funny thing I noticed when peeping the front page BigElectronicBoxRetailer ad in the Sunday paper - nowhere, but NOWHERE did it say "Microsoft Zune". Hell, it didn't even say Microsoft. Just Zune player. Funny that. ;)
    Permalink posted 11/15/2006
  7. Lester Jonze
    Lester Jonze says Ipod or death, here, thanks.
    Permalink posted 11/15/2006
  8. Pseudo Cyborg
    Pseudo Cyborg says Regarding the "sharing" feature, I can just as easily hand over my headphones to my friend and say "listen to this". It's much more "social" and conserves hours of battery life. It's a complete waste of Wi-Fi. Better would have been wireless syncing. I mean, you need to be next to the person to transfer the song anway. *shrug* There's a lot more that's wrong with the device and their tactics. They do have a lot of money to throw at it, though. Time will tell, but I imagine things won't be changing.
    Permalink posted 11/15/2006
  9. CrashPryor
    CrashPryor says ...I agree Pseudo…I don’t think there’s going to be any teeth-gnashing sea-changes either…I put this story up on rhino blog too "and got these comments": comments:http://rhinorecords.blogspot.com/2006/11/fight-fight-fight-microsofts-zune-vs.html pointing to some interesting review links…I think Microsoft’s a day late and a dollar short…however…that throwing money at it capability might level the playing field…
    Permalink posted 11/15/2006
  10. Pseudo Cyborg
    Pseudo Cyborg says They were able to do it with the Xbox... but that was with the help of Halo. I don't know if I trust frequency analysis from a site called "Microsoft Is Awesome". Objective my ass.
    Permalink posted 11/15/2006
  11. Pseudo Cyborg
    Pseudo Cyborg says ESPECIALLY when the person who posted the link is the author: http://beta.blogger.com/profile/01139605078652057619
    Permalink posted 11/15/2006
  12. CrashPryor
    CrashPryor says I KNOW!!! I was like...riiight, why don't you call me when you have no class? (a Rodney Dangerfield joke BTW)...I think the microsoft web-lackeys and yes-men are getting payola to police up the info in cyberspace....
    Permalink posted 11/15/2006
  13. Pseudo Cyborg
    Pseudo Cyborg says LOL I love Rodney Dangerfield. His appearance on The Simpsons was classic. That's exactly it. I mean, I've always taken everything I read as "news" with a grain of salt, but the Internet has made me more wary and jaded. Sometimes I feel I lack the benefit of giving the benefit of the doubt to what I read.
    Permalink posted 11/15/2006
  14. CrashPryor
    CrashPryor says ...too, I wonder what 82Times would have to say vis-a-vis all of this glad-handing...
    Permalink posted 11/15/2006
  15. ROCKNROLLPIMP1
    ROCKNROLLPIMP1 says shhh dood "it is mog brown" muahahahahaha
    Permalink posted 11/15/2006
  16. missjunk
    missjunk says I will have to be "old school" and stick with my iPod. I'm a big apple fan...
    Permalink posted 11/15/2006
  17. k8girl
    k8girl says Well this has been bugging me all evening. There has been an advertisment for Zune (get those dollers David!! woohoo!) on MOG all evening. Why in the world would they want to advertise on a site that runs off of iTunes... AND we can't import our massive iTunes collections into Zune. I have a Mac, so this Zune I cannot use anyway. But, I thought it was a tad ironic ;)
    Permalink posted 11/16/2006
  18. 82times
    82times says mm....most folks who review electronics on the internet are big geeks like me. That means they have the ability to see past the shiny factor and dig into the features that make one product different from another. Most consumers, on the other hand, don't. (here's a good response to any glad-handling... ;-) There have been plenty of pocket mp3 players that have had more features than the iPod in the last 5 years (Creative and Samsung and others have all made cool contributions to the choices available). This doesn't mean that lots of people will buy them. The Zune, though, is the only one to have enough marketing/buzz behind it to grab up some of Apple's ginormous market share. Still, I don't think it'll be as huge of a contender as the iPod--at least not for a while. Here are some of the reasons I don't care about Zune: *I use a Mac.* Zune don't like me. *It's too big.* But, then again, I think the iPod is borderline too big. It might (barely) fit in your pocket. *Control.* For me, there's no turning back from the scroll wheel. *Capacity.* I'm sure they'll come out with a bigger model, but 30 GB doesn't justify the size of this monster for me. For real, if you're going to use it to watch TV shows or movies _and_ have a lot of music, you'll fill this thing up quick. *They don't sell TV Shows.* You no longer need to be tech-savvy to get stolen copies of music. In a lot of cases, its more convenient to steal something than it is to pay a dollar for it. TV Shows, on the other hand, still take some extra nerdiness to gank with reliability. The $1.99 price point that iTunes has is still more convenient than stealing for most people. *Podcasts.* No built-in support for subscribing to podcasts. My iPod always has the most current editions of TWiM, Live at KEXP, and FADER. It sounds like you'd have to use an additional piece of software to do this with Zune. Reasons I think Zune is cool: *I like brown.* *Has a subscription model* for its store (not that I've ever found one worth subscribing to...I'd really like to, though...might be willing to try it if Zune worked with Mac) *Sound quality* is supposedly better (I've seen a couple-three different reviews about this now). ...this wouldn't be a selling-point for me, but fanatic audiophiles may appreciate. Cool Zune features that are mostly irrelevant: *FM Tuner.* I've always had a useless experience with radio on pocket devices. Probably depends on where you live, though. I know my old MP3CD player just used the headphone wire as the antenna which only got me static. Also, I've read that you can't set radio presets. Lame. *Sharing thing.* This only works if there are lots of people with Zunes around you. May only happen if you're on the vanpool to Redmond for quite a while. OK--I've blabbed way enough. Zune is a cool addition to the market. ...but it's no "iPod Killer" that the media had been hyping endlessly about.
    Permalink posted 11/16/2006
  19. CrashPryor
    CrashPryor says 82Times, I knew you'd have some salient points...thanks, yo
    Permalink posted 11/16/2006
  20. Pseudo Cyborg
    Pseudo Cyborg says The whole thing, I think, is that they simply rushed it to market. It's an incomplete product. It could be and do so much more, they just wanted to get it out in time for the holiday season. I'm sure there'll be some software/firmware upgrades soon offering "enhancements". They just need to hurry, though. Getting to market is one thing, but getting to market with an incomplete product can kill you.
    Permalink posted 11/17/2006

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