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another great article

Dec 03, 07 - 10:03 am Comment from: TowerTone

"masquerading as a counterculture art brand"

Well, it DOES run counter to culture....

Culture:"the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively : 20th century popular culture."

One of Daniel's great lines in his article: (telling about struggling thru zune's installation)

"Selecting a custom setup presents another wizard process that leads you thorough pages of a paisley printed interface that manages to violate all human interface ideas conceived to date..."

Although Maybe Microsoft wants to Control All Media Playback.

Would you say Apple wants to do this as well?

what happened to Zunetang??? i guess he finally realized what the numbers are showing, the fast death of the zune.

Not according to Amazon reviews.

astroturf....

MDN: What is it with you continually reporting these Zune reviews? Do you really need constant reassurance of the superiority of the iPod?

An Astroturd!

Dec 03, 07 - 10:42 am Comment from: Grigori

Now THAT'S what I call journalism.

About the ONLY informed and sensible review I have read.

Who DO Microsft bother? They are an abomination from start to finish, top to bottom.

Dec 03, 07 - 10:46 am Comment from: Ampar

"Do you really need constant reassurance of the superiority of the iPod?"

New here?

Dec 03, 07 - 10:48 am Comment from: Chip

I love the word "trounces". I so rarely get to use it in a sentence.

Since June, Microsoft’s retail partners have been working to sell those first million Zunes to consumers at fire sale prices as low as $80.

That's at or even below cost. This would explain why it's one of the top selling on amazon right now.

Microsoft is dumping the Zune on the market, figuring because it's cheap enough people will settle for mediocre, like they did Windows.

Dec 03, 07 - 11:00 am Comment from: Jubei

Wow what an article/review. I love the comments below. Why does MS bother doing this at all? Screwing their partners with PlayFerShure, and taking on the iPod? You know in the end, the sad thing is they may win. With unlimited revenue guaranteed by their continued monopoly, they can afford to waste millions and millions on this till they catch up or flood the market with Zunes. I'm sure they'll eventually catch up with hardware parity and software, and continue to lose money till then. I think thats just a disgusting way to win a market.

Dec 03, 07 - 11:05 am Comment from: Ampar

"I love the word "trounces". I so rarely get to use it in a sentence."

Great word. I certainly wouldn't say it's use was floccinaucinihilipilification.

Dec 03, 07 - 11:19 am Comment from: ChrisM

Analysts are typically off base and incorrect. This, many of us know.

But: "...Any random blue-vested circus freak trying to push Dells onto the mouthbreathers in Wal-Mart could have told us as much, thanks."

Yeah... thats not condecending.
More fuel for the cliche that Mac fans are elitists.

Dec 03, 07 - 11:30 am Comment from: DLMeyer

MDN is reporting this because it is Apple-related news - Apple's most dangerous competitor in a market has failed to achieve 5% of that market ... even at fire-sale pricing.
Zune Tang is looking for something witty to say, something that will amuse and outrage us. Unfortunately, he has a life outside MDN.
Apple could not have started this "war" with any real expectation of winning a Windows-like share of the market, though I'm sure they believed they could become one of the major players.
MAYBE, just maybe, Microsoft will get serious for round three (or four) and produce something that would have been competitive in 2006 or even the first half of 2007. So far they haven't offered much of a challenge to the 2005 iPod line.
Dave

Dec 03, 07 - 11:31 am Comment from: Big Al

@ ChrisM,

WalMart sells Dells.

WalMart is an equal opportunity employer who employs many handicapped people.

If you want to see what a mouth-breather looks like, go to WalMart on a payday.

The only thing wrong with the statement is 'trying to push'. No one at WalMart pushes sales. They greet customers, stock shelves and man cash registers but they do not push sales.

Dec 03, 07 - 11:43 am Comment from: shen

"But: "...Any random blue-vested circus freak trying to push Dells onto the mouthbreathers in Wal-Mart could have told us as much, thanks."

Yeah... thats not condecending.
More fuel for the cliche that Mac fans are elitists."

i am sorry but feeling you are superior to wal-mart shoppers or employees is not elitist. hell all you have to be to stand a step above that is human. the majority of people are above that...

Dec 03, 07 - 11:51 am Comment from: Ampar

To shen:

Thanks. It was sesquipedalian but certainly not intended to be lexiphanic.

(You can also control-click a word to get a contextual menu pop-up for a Spotlight, Google or Dictionary search and a few other options.)

Dec 03, 07 - 12:02 pm Comment from: Haiku

floc-cin-au-cin-i-
hil-ip-il-if-i-ca-tion:
"I know lots and lots"

All this shows is that MS cannot succeed in an open, fair competitive market where it has to offer a quality product. It can only succeed when it can engage in sleazy monopolistic practices. Apple scooped the market before MS could get in and use its typical underhanded shenanigans.

"Yawn".... another Aplle fanboi playing journalist again........ wake me when this guy can really write a story.

Man you guys really are full of yourselves. Very little human dignity showing from this group. I guess this is what Freud would call MP3 envy......

Zune, another proof of the fact that a product is never totally useless, it can always act as a bad example.

Dec 03, 07 - 12:44 pm Comment from: Ampar

Haiku: "floc-cin-au-cin-i-
hil-ip-il-if-i-ca-tion:
'I know lots and lots'"

Brilliant comeback! A real high coup.

Dec 03, 07 - 12:47 pm Comment from: GizmoDan

Everyone should DIGG this article.

A masterpiece.

Dec 03, 07 - 01:07 pm Comment from: KingMel

"If it does, perhaps Microsoft will get serious about delivering a high quality, competitively priced product next year and introduce it with software that’s a real match for iTunes, not just a sloppy placeholder."
- MS can't develop and ship anything of substance in a year. Apple took years to develop the iPod and MS is far behind, even with a Zerox mentality
- high quality M$ product - oxymoron

Walmart carries iPods, too, and they look incredibly nice in comparison to the "new" Zunes right next to them. All I can say about the Zunes is that M$ appears to be slowly gaining on the iPod - the previous generation iPod, that is. The iPod will rule the portable music world for some time to come.

Dec 03, 07 - 01:12 pm Comment from: ericdano

*cry* Daniel, you are so on the ball!

Where is Zune Tang®?

I miss her!

Saw both in Best Buy next to each other yesterday. That was enough to show the painful truth.

Taste. No taste.

Dec 03, 07 - 01:56 pm Comment from: Mr. Reeee

Apple entered the digital music player market when players from the likes of iRiver and Creative ruled the land.

Apple offered extremely well designed players with great multi-platform software and the iTunes Store to top it all off. And it ALL just WORKED. THAT'S what sold the iPod to the masses, not Mac user's (at the time) 3% marketshare.

Apple was hoping to become a major player at some point, but I think that the success of the iPod line exceeded their wildest expectations.

That's why Apple worked hard and constantly improved and expanded the iPod line. Moves like canceling their best selling players (iPod mini, 2G nano) were bold and, some thought, crazy ideas.

When third parties started offering the huge array of fun, functional and attractive iPod accessories, it really helped to solidify the iPod market.

MIcrosoft, on the other hand, has NEVER learned to compete head to head, feature for feature with ANYone. They don't know what a level playing field really is or what's needed in a product to actually compete in such a landscape. Their historic bullying and monopolistic approach to taking over and dominating markets fell flat in the consumer space.

People were just tired of all the promises of Windows and the hassles of what was actually delivered. When their own money was to be spent, they looked elsewhere and found the iPod.

With XBox and Zune and Windows Mobile and Vista we see how MS competes. And MS still doesn't understand how to do it.

Dec 03, 07 - 03:33 pm Comment from: Crabapple

@ Ampar, I eat my hat in honour of your submission!!!

&

@ YoYo, your submission is chocolate sauce to accompany my Haty (hearty) meal!!!!

@DLMeyer
MDN is reporting this because it is Apple-related news - Apple's most dangerous competitor in a market has failed to achieve 5% of that market ... even at fire-sale pricing.

But this MDN not ADN.

Dec 03, 07 - 03:57 pm Comment from: 84 Mac Guy

You know a product is really, really crap when the reviewer constantly has to say in his review: "but if you think that is awful, wait till I tell you the next thing."

WHO'S BUYING THESE THINGS!

Dec 03, 07 - 04:45 pm Comment from: Ampar

"WHO'S BUYING THESE THINGS!"

Steve Ballmer's college interns?

haha, apple fanboys... lol.

Dec 03, 07 - 07:30 pm Comment from: Ampar

To Crabapple: Thanks, mate. Now go eat a Zantac!

http://www.ugo.com/ugo/html/article/?id=18063§ionId=2 Read this one, much more informative and unbiased like your commissioned lap dog wrote.
When are you guys going to get it, Apple has had one hit in the market place. The Ipod, now your worried the Zune is catching and passing you. Lol, Look what happened with Windows versus Apple OS. What 95% windows 3% Apple. And you know what, we as consumers did that.
You know you really deserve Steve Jobs the arrogant SOB doesnt care about anything but his own pocket in the end, and you zombies keep shoving cash into it. He is laughing all the way to the bank.

Dec 03, 07 - 08:39 pm Comment from: LorD1776

Mmmmmm, Zantac!

Dec 03, 07 - 08:47 pm Comment from: LorD1776

Crash,
Please feel free to kiss all of our asses. Thank you.

Dec 03, 07 - 08:47 pm Comment from: Road Warrior

I had to laugh at DLMeyer's comment: "Zune Tang is looking for something witty to say, something that will amuse and outrage us. Unfortunately, he has a life outside MDN."

Well I don't know about the rest of you but Zune Tang has been relatively quiet since registration. I don't know if he/she has a life outside MDN, but the way that article was written and the lack of a reply just may indicate that ZT could be considering the the "just wait and see until I am ressurected and Zunes will rule the world."

Just keep on waiting, and waiting and waiting.

Dec 03, 07 - 10:14 pm Comment from: macK

Man I love this:

"In the meantime, perhaps Microsoft will drop the facade of its Zune brand masquerading as a counterculture art brand, because there really isn’t anything counterculture about financing an astroturf campaign in a bid to acquire monopoly control of media playback."

Zune aside, their whole marketing campaign is a pathetic joke.

Hey Crash (named after his Window computer.....)

"You know you really deserve *Steve Jobs* the arrogant SOB doesnt care about anything but his own pocket in the end, and you zombies keep shoving cash into it. He is laughing all the way to the bank."

I think the name you were thinking of was Bill Gates

To a degree - yes. Apple wants to be the media player king - which harness any media playback.

But Apple offers options. iTunes converts AUDIO CD to mp3, aiff, wav, acc - well at least to MP3 and ACC. Which are two formats not OWNED by Apple.

MS owns WMA, WMV where Apple partners the tehnology and uses open-source.

Does this matter? If I were SONY... I wouldn't deal will the closed system of MS. Too controlling and to much in their favour.

Obviously he didn't actually try to buy any music for the Zune, otherwise the author would have noted that while Apple simply charges 99 cents per song, Microsoft's Zune store makes you buy in "points". One song costs 79 points, which is actually 99 cents when converted from Microsoft's new proprietary currency to regular US dollars. Additionally, Microsoft only allows users to buy Points in blocks of 100, which means Microsoft gets to earn interest off the extra few unused cents sitting in every Zune user's account.

I bought a cheap Chinese mp3 player off ebay and it looks just like the Zune. Square corners, fat profile, and it looks so plastic - whatever the material is. Having the Zune screen not put on the letters of the word 'Podcast' on it, shows a real lack of design.

Crash ... go buy a zune and STFU!

Dec 04, 07 - 01:02 pm Comment from: twilightmoon

??? floccinaucinihilipilification ???

what the hell does that mean?

See cnet review "Zune Vs Ipod" Zune wins on all category.


http://reviews.cnet.com/4370-11399_7-324-101.html?tag=lnav