“Well, it had been two weeks since the Zune had hit stores, and I was ready to sample a stranger’s tunes. Equipped with a demonstration unit–courtesy of the folks in Redmond–I set out to try to find some fellow Zunes and their playlists,” Ina Fried reports for CNET News.
“I headed from CNET’s offices in downtown San Francisco up two blocks to Market Street, the main thoroughfare in the city,” Fried reports. “Along the way, I popped into a Starbucks to see if there were any Zunes amid the Venti Macchiatos, or whatever it is that they serve these days. I quickly checked my player. ‘Searching for Zune devices,’ it said, promisingly. I waited, hopeful. ‘No nearby Zune devices found, or nearby devices have wireless turned off,’ my device sadly informed me a few seconds later. Sigh.”
Fried continues searching, “I checked for Zunes frequently as I headed down busy Valencia Street, passing thrift stores and tragically hip coffee shops. I was searching for a particular spot, recommended as the ‘in’ coffee joint. It was called Ritual Coffee Roasters, and it seemed almost to require a laptop for entry. There was a decidedly Mac bent to the ultrahip crowd, however. There were 19 Mac laptops, along with nine Windows machines. An iPod or two could be spotted, though most of the white headphones were plugged directly into the Macs. I immediately realized this was probably not where Zunes come to meet. Alas, after a fruitless search, I was right.”
After a week of searching for another Zune with no luck, lightning struck Fried, “I hopped on the subway to head into the office and went through the familiar Zune routine. Menu…Community…nearby. This time, I did not see the familiar rejection notice. Was I dreaming? …There was another Zune. ‘I should send them a song,’ I thought. But what? I quickly settled on R.E.M’s ‘Begin the Begin.’ ‘Lost connection,’ my Zune reported. ‘0 of 1 songs sent…'”
Full article here.
Instead of the real world, Fried should’ve tried trolling the halls of CNET to try and fail at transferring a DRM-laden time-bomb advertisement disguised as a song. Surely he’d have quickly run into Michael Kanellos or any number of other “I’ll screw myself in a vain attempt to spite Apple” types right there in the adjoining cubicles.
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Opinion: More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: Microsoft pulls plug on Zune – July 25, 2006
Wow. Nothing quite kills off a product than failures in the real world, outside of the test labs. Welcome to the dustbin of history, Zune. You will be buried.
“Fried should’ve tried trolling the halls of CNET instead of the real world. Surely he’d have run into…”
I believe you meant to say “she’d have”
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believe it or not, Ina is a guy.
I wish she had sent me a song. She could have sent me “I’m dreaming of a White Christmas”
I imagine she would have gotten the same results out in the middle of a nowhere.
I leave it to others to further anlayze how downtown SF is like the middle of nowhere.
What? No choruses of “I’m dreaming of a brown Zune-mas”
I’m a male. I know, weird name. Thanks a lot, mom and dad!
TG: That all depends on your point of view.
Is it legal to “squirt” a song to someone else? Granted the “squirted” song will be gone in three listens or 3 days whichever comes first. But if someone squirted me a song, a song that I do not own in my own personal library, will I be subject to criminal charges because of this? Just a thought……
MDN got it right
Ina is a Man that perhaps thinks He is a woman.. but no.. definetly born male. I saw an interview He had with Balmer. I just don’t get why people would call a man who dresses acts or has surgry in opposition to their gender of oragin a woman.. or refer to him as her.
Great idea for Microsoft, give up, talk the inventory and give each employee of Microsoft a Zune. That way they can trade songs during lunch. So at work it’s Zune, at home it’s iPod.
There are much easier ways to squirt people in San Francisco especially at night.
MS needs to tap into the profitable kids toys market with a special edition and machine washable Squirt Me Elmo.
That’s a tough article to write, at least as far as the timing is concerned. Right now it seems a little early because it hasn’t been on the market long, but if you wait until next spring to publish it, who will care? By then, the ‘iTV’ will be out, and sharing videos and music between computer, iPod, and television will be the big story. That, and Vista’s troubles.
how far does someone need to drive away from Redmond, WA until they are considered to be in the “real world?”
The only sure way to avoid a social disease is abstinence.
They were suprised at the Zune being so unpopular?
Why? It’s wireless feature is worthless. It’s interface to a host computer is pitifull along with the Zune store and its rediculous points payment plan. And they will be really disappointed when Microsoft puts out a new model next year and basically says screw you on the old one. No updates to be had there but thanks for trying it out for us.
Buy an iPod and free yourself of the stupidity known as Microsoft.
Kudos to the R.E.M. choice, but I would have sent something more apropos like Ignoreland or Can’t Get There From Here.
Receiving a Zune for Xmas might make me think…
What if we give it away?
-c
MW: ‘keep’ (your hat on your head, home is long way away)
The only thing Zune’s wireless capability is good for will be “squirting” Zune (Windows CE based?) viruses when they come out.
I feel sorry for those unsuspecting Zune owners ho would leave the wireless on and get hit with a virus. A latte and a virus, to go please.
How about driving up to Redmond? There’s got to be a few Zunes “in the wild up” there.
If Microsoft had followed through on its “astroturfing” campaign, the smart move would have been to plant some “fake” zune users at various places in big cities. Just have a PC with wi-fi running software and scripts that pretend to be a nearby Zune users.
ZUNE = Zero Users in Nearby Environment
If you are in Paris in the spriingtime, you will find many Zunes laying about on the sidewalks. Perhaps those are the million Zunes that MS is refering to by June 2007?
Jimbo von Winskinheimer
“ZUNE = Zero Users in Nearby Environment”
Oh, that’s very good!
Brown Zune – $249
Double Mochachino Latte – $5.99
Seeing the CNet reviewer unable to squirt “Mr. Lonely” amidst all the Macs & iPods? PRICELESS.
Just shut up. We know what you’re going to say, so just don’t. You’re an idiot. Everytime you open your mouth you further affirm that. So just don’t.
Microsoft…there isn’t, will be, or ever has been a ‘social’, so you can drop it too.
Let’s get on with the important matters of life, such as Leopard, iPods, Macs, etc.
And MDN and Mac users are experts on isolation, what with 3 percent of the world pc market and all.