Microsoft's Zune To Rival Apple's Ipod

[dreus 0]

Wow. iPods are taking quite the heat on this thread eh?

 

I bought a 3rd gen iPod, I guess a few months before they exploded on the market, and have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, its simple yet sleek look is quite attractive (in my opinion, at least) and the 40gb storage was absolutely phenonmenol at the time. However, its downfall resulted from its shoddy battery life and well, how pricey it was (I think it was around $700 back when I bought it - the reasons being a)It caught my eye B)I had saved up enough money to splurge a little for myself c)I'm a dj and was at that time going through a phase of hardware-to-digital, using the Pod as opposed to lugging around vinyls and cds).

 

Despite popular belief that iPods and iTunes go hand in hand, there is another widely used program out there that works really well for Windows + iPod users. Winamp! (you do need a 3rd party plug-in), in my opinion, works swell with the Pod. Musicmatch Jukebox isn't too bad either (heck, that's the program that came with the iPod before iTunes was made available for Windows). And of course, there are a lot of other really well designed 3rd party apps that make the Windows/Pod combo a successful one.

 

Nonetheless, I'm excited to see what the "Zune" has to offer.

[nitesh 0]

It is going to be a big release and definitely it is a big threat to Apple's market share.Although, there are no promises attached with Zune but still, there are lot of hopes from people that it will be a big release and it will have features competitive to those of iPod.

[Cerebral Stasis 0]

That Zune opening flash disgusts me. Literally."We're all friends here"? Sounds like a scheming way to get some email addresses to sell to spam lists.

Edited July 25, 2006 by Cerebral Stasis (see edit history)

[brandon10092 0]

Dreus, thank you for pointing out that with iPods, you're NOT forced to use iTunes. Many simple everyday computer people have written programs to work with the iPod because they didn't like iTunes as well. There's Musicmatch, Winamp, Realplayer, Yamipod, Copypod, PodUtil, Anapod, Ephpod, EuPod, and a lot more. Also, why does everybody bag on the iPod? Sure it's got its flaws, just like every other mp3 player. And if you're whining because they're so popular, it's not that they're overrated; they got to be so popular for a reason (many reasons actually.) For one it's capacity sizes are adequete for everyone: 512MB, 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40,and 60GB (yes, I'm including the older Gen. iPods.) And you can't tell me the iPod is ugly, like some mp3 players. The design is made for easy use and so is the iPod interface. It does have a steep pricetag, but for the people who love their music, they're either willing to pay for it or have the money either way. And yes, you can use the harddrive for storage, the whole thing actually. So if you base your opinions solely on a battery problem or some other kind of hardware problem, that's not how every iPod is. And Apple gives you a 1 year warranty if anything happens, and on top of that, if you want to buy a 2 year warranty, you can wait until your 1 year is almost over, so even if something does happen you're still in good hands. Microsoft thinks that they can beat the iPod because of a Wi-Fi connection. But they're basing all their strategies on the current iPod. The new 6G iPod will be out in October (trust me I know, because Apple announces a new Generation iPod exactly 1 year after the last one.) So Microsoft will have this thing made and ready to release in November right after the new, more improved iPod is out and sure, a few people will buy the Zune (what kind of name is that?), but I bet you that more people will buy the iPod over the Zune.

[Cerebral Stasis 0]

I was never "bagging" on the iPod, I was just explaining why I considered it to be overrated and why I didn't see why they should be preferred over any other brand simply because of their popularity.

[T100 0]

I dont know whether I should call this a good news or a bad one. I don't like microsoft for most of their products. And I dont like the company itself. But I dont like ipod either. I always think ipod is a too easy success for apple. The product itself, unlike Microsoft products like Xbox, is no technologically advanced at all. The design and the function of ipod are just at Third World standards. The amazing part is how people like this kind of low-end products at a high price. Probably it is due to the irrational market of the US. Now microsoft, being a US company, is targeting this market. I think microsft has the edge of integrating Zune with Windows, which is an OS more popular then Mac-OS X. I hope microsoft will win this battle this time.

[Florisjuh 0]

They wont pull it off, everyone has an iPod nowadays and people wont upgrade to an unknown kind of music player...

[mtvoyagers 0]

I dont know whether I should call this a good news or a bad one. I don't like microsoft for most of their products. And I dont like the company itself. But I dont like ipod either. I always think ipod is a too easy success for apple. The product itself, unlike Microsoft products like Xbox, is no technologically advanced at all. The design and the function of ipod are just at Third World standards. The amazing part is how people like this kind of low-end products at a high price. Probably it is due to the irrational market of the US. Now microsoft, being a US company, is targeting this market. I think microsft has the edge of integrating Zune with Windows, which is an OS more popular then Mac-OS X. I hope microsoft will win this battle this time.

It kind of sounds like you have never seen in real life, or used an iPod, 3rd World contry? do you see pictures of people in etheopia walking around saying these are right for us third world type, no, you see them wanting and needing food and shelter. Also I do hope you know that iPod works with mac and windows with no hastel, and most likely, "Zune" will have troubles with integration, depending on what software they use for it. One last quick thing, once you have boughten twenty dolars of music from iTunes you really can't use any other mp3 player, besides iPod and I really don't feel like buying $350 in music from someone else, just because all of a sudden microsoft decides to start the race.



I do support Microsoft and Windows much, much more than Apple and mac, but from what I have used, music player wise Apple definatly has the better product with better features, also Apple won the race in advertisement, I might have thought an iRiver, or something else was better, but I didnt see the features and the QUALITY that I saw and see in iPods. If you think iPod is low-end then why dont you try to find a music player with a cleaner interface, and more features than iPod, which will also play protected content without going over $300.



I bet the Zune will cost just as much or more as your average iPod too. But if microsoft actually pulls something out worth while that looks good, is compact, and is a better value than iPod that will also play protected content I would love to use it.