MacDailyNews - Where Mac news comes first

A month late, they should have made a deal with Joss Whedon for his industry-rocking comic-book musical web series in three acts. Oh, but they made a deal with iTunes too. Sorry!

And why is this on a so-called Mac news site?

don't they already have exclusivity in the form of NBC?

Aug 11, 08 - 08:57 am Comment from: Hm...

And just who would be surprised if the media cartels were to give Zune exclusive content in yet another failed attempt to bring down the iTunes Store/iPod success?

Aug 11, 08 - 09:02 am Comment from: ElderNorm

@John,
"And why is this on a so-called Mac news site?"......... Who was it that said, "Keep your friends close ..... and your enemies closer!"..........

With so many people out there spouting the glories of Microsoft, as a person who enjoys Macs and recommends them to friends, it never hurts to know what they are doing.

Just a thought.

PS, what do I recommend to my enemies??? :Take a wild guess.

Aug 11, 08 - 09:05 am Comment from: Burlyman007

John:

The Zune competes directly with the iPod, and therefore is Apple news.

After reading the article, I think it is really sad that these people bought Zunes not because they are better products than the iPod, but because they hate Apple so much. Is that a reason to buy (or not buy) a product? I like Apple's products because they work as advertised. The minute Apple starts creating products that fail on a regular basis like Microsoft, I will start looking for a product made by a different company.

Whoops. The link I was referring to was the 'not the only place' link.

Aug 11, 08 - 09:16 am Comment from: Famous Grouse

It must be chilly in Redmond. Ballmer has run out of chairs and is now throwing $100 bills on the fire....

Zunes are on sale in Canada at Best Buy and Wal-Mart. They are placed right beside the iPods in both stores.

Equivalent iPods are priced lower than the Zunes!

Only Apple haters would ever purchase a Zune.

I wonder if Canadians can buy points and do their Zune Tang® Thang.

Zune Tang should take another pseudonym now.
His name smells like failure. Poor Zune Tangie...
What about Vista Tang? Another failure in the works?

Calling the "fake" Zune Tang; I need some help here. They are bashing our beloved Zune, the only one that squirts.

Your Potential. Our Passion.

Aug 11, 08 - 09:37 am Comment from: HMCIV

I'd be a fool not to be on the take.

Ooops! I mean... I love my Zoon Zune.

Aug 11, 08 - 09:47 am Comment from: kirkgray

Go Microsoft keep aiming to dethrone the iPod!!

(Shhhhh.... Nobody tell them the target has moved. Maybe they'll not notice the new iPod is iPod touch / iPhone.)

My rebellious teenage son bought one. He's really showing me. Luckily it was his own money.

The only one that squirts?

You're killing me again!

@John
"And why is this on a so-called Mac news site?"

Because no Mac is an island.

And for the same reason, you probably don't live in solitary confinement with absolutely no contact with the world.

Explore Das Glasperlenspiel, synchronicity or the Butterfly Effect.

"anyone who treats it otherwise is either a fool or on the take."

Or both. This is known as the Enderlean Principle.

Aug 11, 08 - 09:58 am Comment from: Predrag

Don't underestimate the band sentiments, folks. Whether we like it or not, Apple is THE brand where emotion plays an important part in marketing. Solid majority of Apple's customers made their buying decision emotionally. Brand loyalty is nowhere as strong as with Apple. We all rationalise our buying decisions by proclaiming that Apple's products are superior. We defend against those who argue that they are expensive, lack features, have problems/issues, and we defend with passion. We have memorised lists of talking points regarding this.

What is a bit unusual, but not unexpected, is that a large number of Zune owners made THEIR decision in s similar, emotional way. Not because of features, or usability, but because Zune WASN'T iPod. As Apple dominates the portrable music player market, many people out there who prefer to delcare themselves as different from the pack, wanted to go elsewhere. Couple with that the "smug" attitude of Apple buyers and the motivation is even stronger. This explains the existence of sites such as anythingbutipod.com, ihatemyipod.com and such.

As a true Apple fan, I say, good luck MS and Zune. Enjoy your little playground.

Yeah - about the Mac News thing - I see there is not ONE WORD about the death of Bernie Mac. Does that seem right to you?

Aug 11, 08 - 10:14 am Comment from: Wade Smith

Anyone catch the phrase 'rocket up your zunehole' in the NYTimes piece. I guess the recent models of the zune have built-in lubricant.

Didn't anyone noticed what Zune upside down spells using their own font? Very funny catch MDN!

What major studio in their right mind would give exclusives to a format that no one uses? What exactly would MSFT's pitch be? Oh, I know, we'll pay you all the cash you won't get from the millions of people that don't have the Zune. Remember the HD-DVD pay offs?

now don't get me wrong, my wife and i own 5 ipods and one iphone and i think the zune is a far inferior item as much as everybody else and would never consider owning nor recommending one,

HOWEVER

this passage struck a chord of sympathy with me...

"The most recent figures from NPD Group, the retail-data collector, showed Apple’s device holding 70 percent of the MP3-player market, compared with 3 percent for the Zune. (This put Microsoft in third place, behind SanDisk, at 10 percent.)

Rather, what this column wonders is: Who is buying Zunes, and why?""

i seem to recall people asking me the same thing in 1997 (the same friends and family who now own macs, btw) as to why in the world i would use a mac and was so stubborn about it to boot...

just saying.....

Aug 11, 08 - 11:36 am Comment from: Webbyswim

is it me, or does the MDN take on the zune logo look like "anus"? that makes more sense to me.

Aug 11, 08 - 11:56 am Comment from: Anonymous©

Well, according to the NYTs article, the Zunies buy them not because they love Zune or MS, but because they are anti-Apple. That's sad.

I mean, I buy tons of Apple stuff, but not because I'm anti-MS, but because Apple stuff appeals to me, in a way that MS stuff never has.

What I find ironic is that the Zunies don't want to be part of the ubiquitous masses who own iPods, so they get their Zunes to be part of the ubiquitous masses who have to use Windows PCs to load them. Wouldn't it be far easier to express one's individuality with one's playlist, rather than by what device one owned?

Aug 11, 08 - 11:59 am Comment from: Anonymous©

Regarding the backward spelling of Zune, I wonder if the geniuses at Microsoft were playing with the lettering for Janus, which is the name for the DRM that MS uses. If you look carefully, you can see a "J" in the Zune logo, and then of course, you are left with "anus", when reversed gets you close to Zune.

Aug 11, 08 - 12:01 pm Comment from: Jubei

What they are trying to do is "LOCK OUT" Apple for content in Hollywood. Just wait and see. Hopefully they won't be able to convince them.

Aug 11, 08 - 12:22 pm Comment from: Demon

No, no really good or not enough exclusive Zune continent and the Zune death watch maybe over sooner then expected.

I should start a Zune Death Watch Pool.

Who will be the first to sign an exclusive deal with a company on a losing streak? Typical Microsoft. They'll bully someone, offer a big $weetener, get a few lunches with Ballmer....

I'm surprised they didn't arrange something with NBC for the Olympics.

And people wonder why I despise MS...is there NOTHING that man doesn't want to own...what's a fucking ego..

Stealing every available market with the money they made from the monopoly built on technology they stole from Apple - it's a despicable situation. a tyranny is what they are with a history of badness.

That's the true cost of permitting a monopoly to continue hold a 90% global desktop PC market-share.

For some reason Ballmer thinks the regulatory heat is off him and he's literally going all out to own everything ;

Let's see he wants ;

all the desktop market-share
all the server marketshare ( recently taken to trying to buy off open source apache in an effort to integrate into IIS 8.0)
all the search engine market share ( ok so google's a monopoly but heck it's never done wrong yet so it's to be accorded the benefit of the doubt)
all the game console market share ( propped up with dollars from the desktop marketshare)
now they want to lock apple out the ipod market they practically built single handidly


Oh be sure zune phone is coming...and probably a few more media acquisitions as well..

Will people NEVER learn this company is a parasite and it won't stop till it get's everything.

Seems like MS billions will continue to rule us all...

to Jubel - money talks in Hollywood... a billion dollars of MS petty cash could literally change the face of TV and cinema screens everywhere into MS shill zones...

They literally are going to buy public opinion...

So once again Microsoft is trying to lock thier customers into using proprietary formats, playable on a machine that nobody wants. What a surprise.

Aug 11, 08 - 06:29 pm Comment from: Sir Gill Bates

I'll bet that if MicroSoft would reverse the name and logo like MDN has done, and emblazoned it on all Zunes, that their market share would increase. All of the proctologists would just have to get one.

Does everyone who wants a Zune have a Zune? I wonder what the trend line looks like now.

Aug 11, 08 - 06:34 pm Comment from: twilightmoon

Tilted Sideways "Yeah - about the Mac News thing - I see there is not ONE WORD about the death of Bernie Mac. Does that seem right to you?"

Not Mac or Apple related. There was no mention of Carlin's death either.

With Fall just around the corner, it's time to make sure the cash furnace is still working properly for those cold nights in Redmond.

Your Potential. Our.........? oh forget it

Wrong answer: this is on MDN because it is flame bait. Otherwise, where is the news about all the other Apple competitors?

MDN loves stoking the hate with M$ bait.

Its what gets the hits.

Aug 12, 08 - 06:32 am Comment from: Cubert

I saw my first Zune in the wild last week.

I still have nightmares about it.

The Bullshit: " the product plays a key role in Microsoft's buildout of an interconnected ecosystem where content seamlessly flows among all company-owned platforms like Xbox."

The reality: In a word document try to open a jpg. You get code. Go to "insert picture from file" and bingo you get a picture.

When I think of content seamlessly flowing from a Zune it is not squirting...it is diarrhea.