Microsoft Launches Zune iPod competitor

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: arod
this wont be replacing my toshiba gigabeat anytime soon... (although they are pretty close being toshiba is making the zune players)

and if the ui is anything like pmc it will be much better experince than an ipod. PMC is by far the best portable interface Ive ever used.

Video of Zune UI in action 1.
Video of Zune UI in action 2.

I totally agree about the PMC interface, it rocks. This looks very similar, and very slick/pretty.

 

[arod]

yeah it does look pretty similar.... i really like the ability to put a custom wallpaper on it. i would love to be able to do that for the gigabeat S.

And the transfer looks suprisingly easy to use.... if they allow you to "sync" the device wirelessly that would be killer. for me this will still be a no-go for now. 30 gigs just isnt enough for me (have the 60 gig gigabeat S) and mainly because pmc converts all of my tv shows for the gigabeat which take up alot of space when you have 60 recorded shows.

 

[loup garou]

Random Zune musing:

What if MS takes a cue from Nintendo and offers Zune download stations, similar to DS download stations? I could see a partnership with Starbucks or McDonalds. Both already have the WiFi infrastructure. Buy a value meal? Buy a Venti latte? Get a free track from soandso. Free movie trailers/clips. Music videos. Pics for backgrounds. Also, download a sample track (or more than one) and buy the album if you like it (probably have to do this from your PC at first from what I'm reading, maybe directly from Zune devices later on). I think this is very important in getting to people to use and accept the wireless aspect. It's not like the day it comes out it's going to be as ubiquitous as the iPod and you're sharing music with all your friends and acquaintances. This would put the feature to use immediately.

 

[SpanishFry]

Originally posted by: AnyMal
My guess is that you never owned a Creative player.

That's a safe bet, given their sales numbers.

 

[EKKC]

it will make a dent on apple ipod sales as much as creative did with their Zen
Zen, Zune, whatever, to the normal joe consumer, its the same thing. but iPod is a brand name that everyone already knows.

 

[RallyMaster]

brown looks like turd...why not blue? i would buy a blue one...

 

[ElFenix]

brown = ugly

3" screen is nice until you realize that player must be gargantuan. i don't know about you, but i don't have a purse.

 

[dds14u]

They limit the number of times you can listen to shared music???
I'm really not a big fan of that...

What's new.

 

[arod]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
brown = ugly

3" screen is nice until you realize that player must be gargantuan. i don't know about you, but i don't have a purse.

they arent also wasting 60% of the size of the device for a scroll wheel. the specs are very similar to the ipod in length and width (with is being a bit thicker)

 

[NFS4]

Zune Phone

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: kmr1212

Originally posted by: AnyMal
My guess is that you never owned a Creative player.

That's a safe bet, given their sales numbers.

But remember they are the superior audio player...

People like the ipod because it plays and (with itunes) manages mp3s well. It works. You don't have to be a computer geek to get your music to sync with your mp3 player. Combine that with the ability to buy music through itunes and you truly have a 'killer' solution. Berate the average joe consumer all you want, but remember that if Apple sells 10 million ipods and Creative sells 2 million, Apple wins.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber
Berate the average joe consumer all you want, but remember that if Apple sells 10 million ipods and Creative sells 2 million, Apple wins.

So if Chevy outsells Mercedes the Malibu is a better car than the SL500? There's a difference between best and best-selling. The top selling products in the market are rarely the best. The savvy consumer looks for the best, poseurs who want whatever their friends already bought just follow along like sheep. The mp3 player market proves that concept perfectly.

 

[0roo0roo]

sorry bad comparison. now if chevy cost the same as mercedes or even more while still outselling them by 5 to 1 or whatever then it would be valid. apple creates a very well integrated easy to use device+ software+ store+insane accessories and even integrated car support. it all just works, and thats the whole package that other companies can't compete with.

 

[Blazin Trav]

Better colors please... 80gb iPod for $349 ftw.

 

[bigrash]

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber
Berate the average joe consumer all you want, but remember that if Apple sells 10 million ipods and Creative sells 2 million, Apple wins.

So if Chevy outsells Mercedes the Malibu is a better car than the SL500? There's a difference between best and best-selling. The top selling products in the market are rarely the best. The savvy consumer looks for the best, poseurs who want whatever their friends already bought just follow along like sheep. The mp3 player market proves that concept perfectly.

I think that's really a bad example. All these mp3 players are just around the same price. You bet your ass that if a Mercedes cost the same as a Chevy it would outsell it day in and day out.

 

[0roo0roo]

apple streaming video
http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/sep_2006/event/index.html

 

[Rubycon]

Looks too much like a pocket PC. Should be called a tallscreen. :laugh:

 

[HexiumVII]

all i have to say is OMFGBBQGRASS i'm about to throw away my 60GB ipod.

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: bigrash

Originally posted by: AnyMal

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: AnyMal
Try as they might, Apple and MS can't hold a candle to Creative in terms of features-to-price ratio.

Yet they still sell less audio players than Sandisk and Apple...

True. Which only proves the point that an average consumer is an uneducated sheep. Keeping up with the Jones' is the way of life.

I'm sorry, as much as you Creative fanboyz like to brag about Creative, I think their mp3 players sucks. I'd buy an iriver, sandisk, samsung, ipod or any other player before I get a vision m or whatever else they sell. Their products always malfunction. Every single person who I know that has a Creatie player always bitches and complain about how many times they had to return it. And let's not forget how ugly their products are. i've been buying iriver ever since the days they used to manufacture for rio and i never had a problem with them, no matter how many times I dropped them. Maybe the reason why people don't buy Creative is because they don't sell "quality" products.

Hi, I'm Fritzo. Now that you know me, I've been using Creative MP3 players since 2001 now (started with a Nomad Jukebox!). I've never had one go bad on me. The Vision M I have now is the envy of the office, and has replaced a portable DVD player for trips (the screen on those things are incredible!).

Now that you know me, you can no longer say "Everyone I know..."

 

[bigrash]

Originally posted by: Fritzo

Originally posted by: bigrash

Originally posted by: AnyMal

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: AnyMal
Try as they might, Apple and MS can't hold a candle to Creative in terms of features-to-price ratio.

Yet they still sell less audio players than Sandisk and Apple...

True. Which only proves the point that an average consumer is an uneducated sheep. Keeping up with the Jones' is the way of life.

I'm sorry, as much as you Creative fanboyz like to brag about Creative, I think their mp3 players sucks. I'd buy an iriver, sandisk, samsung, ipod or any other player before I get a vision m or whatever else they sell. Their products always malfunction. Every single person who I know that has a Creatie player always bitches and complain about how many times they had to return it. And let's not forget how ugly their products are. i've been buying iriver ever since the days they used to manufacture for rio and i never had a problem with them, no matter how many times I dropped them. Maybe the reason why people don't buy Creative is because they don't sell "quality" products.

Hi, I'm Fritzo. Now that you know me, I've been using Creative MP3 players since 2001 now (started with a Nomad Jukebox!). I've never had one go bad on me. The Vision M I have now is the envy of the office, and has replaced a portable DVD player for trips (the screen on those things are incredible!).

Now that you know me, you can no longer say "Everyone I know..."

lol. sorry, but your opinion don't count. I don't base my opinion on some stranger from the internet. hell for all I know you might even be lying about your experience.

 

[imported_Rat]

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber
But remember they are the superior audio player...

By what metric?

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Originally posted by: Vegitto
I don't give a fsck about the Jones'. I was using an MP3 CDplayer for a loong time, but it's kaput now . Switching CD's everytime was a bitch, too. So I want something that looks kind of nice and does what I want. The new iPods do that, but their horribly overpriced. DRM I can live with, I don't have any DRM'ed music, I rip all of my CD's myself. I only hope it will play XviD, DivX, H.264 etc. etc., I wanna see my family vacation videos encoded in H.264.

Tell me how a $349 80 GB DAP (or $249 30 GB for that matter) is overpriced, f**king hater.

I was actually planning on buying the new iPod, but it turned out to be nothing more than a firmware update and a brighter screen. And they didn't update the U2 iPod!

 

[Babbles]

Originally posted by: bigrash

Originally posted by: Fritzo

Originally posted by: bigrash

Originally posted by: AnyMal

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: AnyMal
Try as they might, Apple and MS can't hold a candle to Creative in terms of features-to-price ratio.

Yet they still sell less audio players than Sandisk and Apple...

True. Which only proves the point that an average consumer is an uneducated sheep. Keeping up with the Jones' is the way of life.

I'm sorry, as much as you Creative fanboyz like to brag about Creative, I think their mp3 players sucks. I'd buy an iriver, sandisk, samsung, ipod or any other player before I get a vision m or whatever else they sell. Their products always malfunction. Every single person who I know that has a Creatie player always bitches and complain about how many times they had to return it. And let's not forget how ugly their products are. i've been buying iriver ever since the days they used to manufacture for rio and i never had a problem with them, no matter how many times I dropped them. Maybe the reason why people don't buy Creative is because they don't sell "quality" products.

Hi, I'm Fritzo. Now that you know me, I've been using Creative MP3 players since 2001 now (started with a Nomad Jukebox!). I've never had one go bad on me. The Vision M I have now is the envy of the office, and has replaced a portable DVD player for trips (the screen on those things are incredible!).

Now that you know me, you can no longer say "Everyone I know..."

lol. sorry, but your opinion don't count. I don't base my opinion on some stranger from the internet. hell for all I know you might even be lying about your experience.

Haha, you are such a douche; "your opinion don't count" but your friends do, right?

By that sort of idiocy how do we know that you are not lying about your "friend's" experience - which, by the way, I probably think you are grossly over-exaggerating.

I too have had a Creative MP3 player for about two years without a single problem - zip, zero, zilch nada.

Or maybe I'm lying and only you are telling the truth . . .

 

[mpitts]

I'm sure I will buy one.

 

[newParadigm]

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
It actually looks pretty good. The iPod is on its way out anyway as a 'fashion' item and people will start looking elsewhere fairly soon I think.

Keep in mind, when I say 'fashion' I am not referring to people in the demographic who would come to this forum. So let's just head that off right here and now.

I highly doubt that. Thinksecret has released some [relativley] new information about the upcoming touch screen iPod. Its now more sure than just a rumor. The info gathered so far eludes to a unit with a 4" widescreen touchscreen, bluetooth and possible WiFi capabilities. I think people are more concerned with size(both physical and storage capacity), reliability, and ease of use over features such as p2p music sharing (esp when you can't keep the songs) and WiFi. The touchscreen idea seems very cool to me, and the fact that the new iPod will be at least 80gb, if not 100gb, will surely one-up MS, unless they bring something new to the table before or near the release of the 6th Gen iPod.