Skip navigation

 Login or Register | Member Centre

Microsoft shows off new Zune

JESSICA MINTZ

Associated Press

Latest comment posted at 9:56 AM EDT 03/10/07

Three models more in line with Apple's market-leading iPod ...Read the full article

This conversation is closed

  1. Geoff Galizia from Toronto, Canada writes: The new Zunes look good, but they don't quite look enough like an I-pod for my taste. Perhaps if they put a little apple shaped logo on the back, then I might be more interested in them.
  2. Chris Pegg from Toronto, writes: The new Zune looks like a soviet-built iPod.
  3. Mike Parker from Canada writes: If I were Bill Gates I would still buy an Ipod over my company's own ZUNES. Sounds Zanny or some country east of Siberia.
  4. Sunshine Policy from Vancouver, Canada writes: Piece of junk
  5. Stude Ham from Outremont, Canada writes:

    and worst of all... it probably needs something like the clunkiness of windows media player to load up...

    is there no justice?
  6. G S from Canada writes: FYI - the Zune (not available in Canada yet) is ten times easier to use and more functional than an iCrap. IMHO MS is doing themselves a great disservice by not making them more widely available. I bought one in the state about a year or so ago (first generation) and it's loaded to about 29.5 gigs and never broken down, or anything - Thanks MS.
  7. Liberal Elitist from Windsor, Canada writes: Good software, but MS will never have the same imagination in their product design as Apple. What a sorry looking 'me-too' product.
  8. S Kirk from Canada writes: Obviously, being a MS product, this will only synchronizes with MS operating system.... no thanks. There are better products out there that work with UNIX/Linux/BSD flawlessly.
  9. D K from Canada writes: Wow nice and it comes in beautiful snot green! Does it work with Windows?
  10. Meh Yawn from Toronto, Canada writes: Is that a butt plug from Northbound Leather? No, it's just my new Zune.
  11. Jean-Paul Sartre from Canada writes: 'Market share comes after' said MonopolySoft. Yeah, that's when they cut off the air supply to their competitors. Heh, heh. MegaSoft executives = corporate gangsters.
  12. Geoff Galizia from Toronto, Canada writes: Meh Yawn... I see you got the special Zune DRM accessory kit, specifically designed to help MS screw you up the back side.
    To be fair though, in this MS is once again just following apple's lead.
  13. Leighton Sickler from Toronto, Canada writes: I don't understand why no company seems to realize that if you build what consumers want, they WILL buy it. Apple was close with the iPhone, but then royally turned the thumbscrews on their own Mac Fanboys. The iPhone is a crippled device - hackers unlocked it and made it into a device that everyone would want (who doesn't want a NES emulator) - Steve Jobs then bricked their phones. I must admit I laughed a little. This cellphone/music-device war is ridiculous. I'm buying a walkie-talkie and a record player!
  14. B M from hALIFAX, Canada writes: Currently, I have both a 30g ZUNE and an 80g iPod. When I leave for work in the mornings, I always take the iPod. The Zune is just collecting dust.

    It is (the iPod), hands-down, a better product than the Zune. I suspect that the new generation Zune is still like the original one...sucky.

    The buttons are klunky and the gui is bad. The battery life sucks (my iPod gets 2x the play time).
    ITunes is not much better than the Zune Marketplace, but there are work arounds and 3rd party software for both.

    MS is playing catch up on this and will likely never catch up...it's time Gates and co accepted this.
  15. Randal Oulton from Canada writes: Why does Microsoft need to be in this business? Shouldn't they be focussing on their core business?
  16. Trilly B from Canada writes: Some of the comments on this board are just priceless! Love the Soviet iPod comment!

    This is very much like how Vista is Microsoft's best effort at copying Apple's OSX. From a kilometer away you might mistake the two.

    It looks like poo, it works like poo. It must be Microsoft.
  17. andy c from Canada writes: stand alone mp3 players are a dying breed. every cell phone company and apple are moving in the right direction with the a intergrated pda/phone/mp3 player/mass storage device. i think stand alone mp3 players will still have there place with the more athletic/gym going crowd
  18. Ziad Fazel from Calgary, Canada writes: I find the Soviet-built comment insulting... to the people of the former Soviet Union.

    Thankfully the Zune is contained to the United States. We have enough of the crappy American 'culture' in Canada anyway, and not enough of the good.
  19. Jimmy VanDino from Atlantic Canada, writes: Hmmmmm....seems like the iZealots are out in full force feeling compelled to post on an item that they've probably never used. Lots of still-insecure Apple users worshiping at the feet of The Steve. Any objective user would look at the Zune and say 'meh...another mp3 player' it surely does not elicit the disgust with form some of these posts display. Judging from the reviews around the web Zune 2.0 seems to have a compelling feature set...not enough to be knocking off the iPod of course. But it seems like MS was listening to users...and they actually did something Apple could take a cue from. They're making new features compatible back to original Zune users (both of them...sry couldn't help myself) in the form of a firmware upgrade. Not a bad move.
  20. Simon Crook from Canada writes: Hey Mr. VanDino, good comment about MS being backwards compatible. Maybe those guys who came up with Vista could take a cue... Hey, wait a second...!
  21. The Last Full Measure from Toronto, Canada writes: Microsoft is so far behind in this field it's not even funny anymore. As usual they are playing catch up to Apple and the comments out here from iPod owners has nothing to do with worshipping Steve Jobs. It's been proven time and again that Microsoft software is crap and that this piece of junk has to run on Media Player is sad indeed. The only thing Gates hasn't screwed up is the xBox but the rest of his product line is garbage.
  22. M j from Canada writes: Last Full, your post is a useless diatribe with much vitriol ("crap", "piece of junk", "sad", "screwed up", "garbage") but little substance. It says little about the Zune, but much about you. Scientists base opinions on evidence generally - take the hint.

    I've only handled the original Zune, obviously, and while uninspiring, it wasn't "junk". The build quality was good, and the interface adequate, if not as slick as the iPod. Mostly we wondered about big mistakes like why MS would fail to include wireless syncing or put a time limit on shared songs. With these release, they've fixed those issues in addition to upgrading the hardware. For those of us not sucking at the populist teat of Steve Jobs, the DRM-free media support is also a compelling feature.

    With respect to the iPod, and grandiose claims made by Teh Steve and his zealous following, the new iPod Touch and iPhones are hardly revolutionary. My Archos PMP touted a touch-screen, big video, WiFi, and wireless web browsing for over a year before the iPhone's release. It's pretty obvious that Apple ripped off some good ideas from the small French company.
  23. Trilly B from Canada writes: M j, I think what Last Full was getting at with so many descriptive words is that MS generally falls well short of Apple's offerings in areas such as functionality and interface design. Surely you'll agree.

    From your comment, Zune is uninspiring, merely adequate, and not as slick as the iPod.

    It's normally interface design that sets Apple products apart from competitors, and the iPod is no different.
  24. Jimmy VanDino from Atlantic Canada, writes: Simon Crook...I'm no OS zealot, I prefer to stay technology agnostic and use the tech that best fits my needs. I own some Apple and some MS software and hardware. MS may have broke some compatibility in Vista you didn't mention in your post what in particular is broken...typical iZealot response of course, sweeping accusation with no evidence, but I digress. MS in large part built the company monopoly by bending over backwards to be backward compatible. That's one of the reasons the ate Apple's lunch in the late 80's and 90's. Apart from Mr. Crook this talk of MS software being worthless and junk and copying Apple proves the writers know little of OS development, features and architecture...Apple didn't 'invent' half the features some of these folds think they did. Both Vista and OSX have their strong suits and both can improve.
  25. Pete Kauchak, Red Tory from Cascadia, Canada writes: Will it play ogg format which I feel is better than MP3?
  26. Jimmy K from Toronto, Canada writes: as infuriating as the iPod is, LOOK HOW UGLY THAT ZUNE IS... iPods, phones, electronics in general are becoming more and more like fashion accessories, and from that perspective, I give this Zune (and every other Zune) -2.4 out of 10.
  27. The Last Full Measure from Toronto, Canada writes: My point is that MS software is useless and this comes from extensive experience. I'm not some Apple drone here as I've used PC's for the past 15 years personally and professionally, but the simple fact remains that MS is what it is. Uninspiring and lacking in any ingenuity whatsoever. And ideas that aren't fully realized with some are invariably realized by others with the capacity to bring them to fruition. Apple certainly doesn't have a monopoly on all things technological, but it amazes me how MS 'drones' out there criticize Apple, referring to Jobs as "The Steve" and implying those of us who have been converted in recent years as somehow being insecure when in reality we're probably far more discriminating as buyers than most.

    And BTW, to those that suggest MS was listening to consumers in bringing forward this new Zune I tell you Apple was doing the same with the new iPod lineup. Difference is that Apple as usual is way ahead of the game in this field.
  28. Jim R from Toronto, Canada writes: Zune 2 is better than Zune 1 and it's nice of Microsoft to offer the latest software to Zune 1 owners but what was Microsoft thinking? The flash Zune looks like last years iPod Nano and although it has video, the screen is smaller than the Apple version. Microsoft is not doing itself any favours by directly linking it to Windows either. It needs to attack the vulnerabilities of the iPod (such as the closed ecosystem, the limited codecs, etc). Instead, the Zune looks more restricted. The wireless in Zune 1 was a gimmick yet Apple took it and blew past Microsoft with its implementation in the iPhone/iTouch. It's as if Microsoft is happy to do OK. The problem with that is that the Zune range has effectively hamstrung the other PlaysForSure players.

    Microsoft seems to be positioning the Zune as the anti-iPod (not a bad strategy). However, it comes across as last years-iPod. But don't count them out. Windows only hit its stride in Version 3.1......
  29. Peter Kells from Bytown, Canada writes: The point of the exercise will be to dump the product on the market and use the MS financial bloat to buy market share. Once that has been established, then stage two will be to establish proprietary software protocols for all music and effectively shut out any competition or open standards. Then MS will defend these actions as necessary for "innovation" and charge that adherence to open standards stifles creativity. I think that I have seen this movie before......
  30. D K from Canada writes: "Microsoft seems to be positioning the Zune as the anti-iPod (not a bad strategy)."

    To have a chance at that they need to seriously undercut the iPod's price, not match it. If it works like and iPod and costs the same as an iPod, why not buy an iPod instead of the copy?
  31. anon amous from Canada writes: MS is doing what it always does copy other vendors innovation try to improve it and then take over the market.
  32. Trilly B from Canada writes: anon, you're absolutely right. Except for the "improve" part of your comment! :)

    D K, if MS is basing their price on capacity, then the zune is not terribly priced; it does offer a hefty 30GB. But the iPod line offers more value if you're willing to drop in capacity or pay a little more.
  33. Jan Steinman from Canada writes: G S from Canada writes: "MS is doing themselves a great disservice by not making them more widely available."

    You mean, they're holding back, and purposely not selling every one they can make?

    Funny how the same people who criticize Apple for lack of market share consider it a diabolical strategy when Micro$oft only has 1.2% of a market.

Comments are closed

Thanks for your interest in commenting on this article, however we are no longer accepting submissions. If you would like, you may send a letter to the editor.

Report an abusive comment to our editorial staff

close

Alert us about this comment

Please let us know if this reader’s comment breaks the editor's rules and is obscene, abusive, threatening, unlawful, harassing, defamatory, profane or racially offensive by selecting the appropriate option to describe the problem.

Do not use this to complain about comments that don’t break the rules, for example those comments that you disagree with or contain spelling errors or multiple postings.

Back to top