Sep 18, 2006
Introducing, and Some More Q's Answered
by Cesar Menendez at 2:36 PM

Hope everybody had a real nice weekend. Yes, the Ratatat show rocked.

Two other Zune staffers (besides Richard and me) have launched their own blogs: Zuneguy (Bill Wittress and Zunester (David Caulton). Bill's asking folks to give him accessory ideas (that's his arena), so drop a comment and tell him what you want to see.

I'm actually curious about you, dear blog reader. Why don't you introduce yourself? Woody, SportsUnit, Chris, Gino, sdsdv10. . . who are you? where you from? what music do you listen to? Whatever you think about Zune, features, iPod, wireless, etc, I'm forever curious about who's reading this blog. Heck, even if you're a silly troll-boy (you know who you are), drop a line and tell everyone you're a person and not just an anonymous hater in your mom's basement.

Here's the breakdown of the last 500* readers, by region. Last 10 readers in green, most recent in red:


*(as of 2:05PM).

Also, a few of you asked about supporting some additional codecs, and whether Zune will have a tag-based or directory-based library. I didn't know the codecs answer, so I asked David C: 

First, a lot of folks wanted to know why Zune isn’t supporting some additional codecs – notably Ogg and FLAC. This is a good question, and we did spent a lot of time in the early days going through lists of codecs. In the end, we opted to focus on the most mainstream codecs first (and really getting them right - each codec is it's own implementation challenge). . .

And on the tag-based vs. directory based, David says:

The answer is tag-based. Some features:

  • I think most readers will appreciate what a mess the tag space can be. Users have files with id3v1, id3v3, etc… mixed up in various files. The Zune Software’s library will do a good job of automatically cleaning this mess up for users whenever they edit a file’s properties.
  • The library indexes music, videos, and photos.
  • The library is very fast. Even a very large, 25,000 file library is very zippy for scrolling, jumping around, filtering and searching.
  • We provide a background web service that helps fill in missing data (like album art, artist, genre, etc…) automatically, and UI that helps you manually clean up your library.

So there you have it. And hey, do me a favor, Cool Zune Kids (you know who you are). If you start a Zune site, you should come up w/ a completely unique name and URL. Go with something like . . . ILoveYouButIveChosenZune.com; AndYouWillKnowUsByTheTrailoftheZune.com or ZuneMadeMilwaukeeFamous.com. Now that would be something. . .  any takers?

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64 Comments
Comments
A basic question that isn't answered is if the Zune will be able to play DRM protected WMA files.
Total iPod guy here, but only because its highly changed my relationship with my music. The digital music scene interests me, I'm not *too* invested in the iTMS and I'd just like to see how things develop. I like the music recommendations here too.
Intro? Hmmm. Here is the bio I always use: "I have done things. Those things have had both massive success and massive failure. Some things haven't had either. I have yet to burn down a building, but I have burned a few bridges. " Honestly--Married, kid, way too much Xbox360. Looking at a career change (moving to Gaming/etc). On try #3 with MS. Work, kid, sleep, rinse, repeat. So is my life. :) Why visit the site? Mostly because I always like to be 'on top of' any new tech coming out and the Zune (and Microsoft's for that matter) business strategy is interesting. I am VERY interested to see how the 'community' strategy plays out.
Well Im Carey...not much to hide there, I am really interested in the Zune. The business strategy, the design, the features, are all top notch. Yes I do want to know why OGG and FLAC are not supported, they are both extremely good formats that would put the Zune over the top in my opinion; as would allowing us to use the zune marketplace straight from the device. Right now the Zune is only marginally better than evry other player out there right now...which makes me sad. I wanted the Zune to be the end all of any debates about what mp3 player is king. I own a Creative Zen Vision M it's scsreen is amazing, codec support superb (but no Flac or OGG either :( ) and I am looking at replacing it with the Zune if it turns out ok. Please tell me that the Zune will get better...wouldn't adding extra features set it apart from the crowd? no AVI support? AVI is a mainstream codec isn't it? I am just wondering, and my biggest suggestion to the Zune Team is to let the Zune be able to access the Zune Marketplace from the device, and to add at LEAST AVI support, (OGG and FLAC wouldn't hurt)
Hey! I guess I will introduce myself. Im a huge gamer and music lover, so I am looking forward to how the Zune plays with my Xbox 360. Music I like includes Bjork, Flaming Lips, Mum, The Clash, Johnny Cash, Daft Punk, LCD Soundsystem, Deerhoof, Aphex twin, Animal Collective, Blondie, Of Montreal, Can, The Shins, Kraftwerk, The Cientelle, and Pink Floyd, among many many others. Lately Ive really been into Charlotte Gainsbourg, Pulp, Yo La Tengo, and Regina Spektor. If you got time check out my Gaming blog: http://bigheadmode.blogspot.com P.S. I am disappointed with the decision to add DRM to MP3's I own (when transferred), I thought that was kind of invasive. But other than that, the design looks great.
Hey Cesar--since my post on DRM doesn't appear to be right, can you delete that for me? Just want to avoid any misinfo... :)
Hi there, only been reading a short time. I'm very excited by Zune. I've never had an MP3 (no use really), but will be picking one up as soon as I can. I probably won't buy much online music, but rather transfer my existing CD's. There is still something about an "album", complete with disc, liner notes, artwork, etc that really completes the music experience for me. Purely digital strips some of that, so I'll just use my Zune now that my discman died after 12 years of use. I've heard that the FM transmitter will allow the Zune to send/play playlists through your car stereo without having to have all the accessories the iPod requires. Is that true? ~ddv
I too want to express how dissapointed I am with the Flac and OGG not being supported. They are two VERY FAST growing codecs. I really dont think I will get a Zune soley because of that. You make a design very simaler to the iPod and add wireless and expect it to be an iPod killer. Thats just wishful thinking. The wireless will be useless. I really dont think that many people will get the Zune to be able to utilize this feature. Im not just trying to bash the Zune, just trying to help you out. Zune really needs to seperate themself from the iPod. I mean really seperate. Not just wireless. Add more and more and more.
I agree COnnor The Zune needs to seperate itself from the competion, not just another option, but the only option. A big 3'' screen is nice, so is the wireless, but thats where the differences stop...they just stop. OGG and FLAC are pretty popular codecs, sure some really mainstream people may not use them but does the Zune only want to target those people that only use WMA at 64kbs? I mean truly? A player that is leaps and bounds better than the competion is the way to go, not just another opition in the already crowded space. Please reply Ceaser and let us know if any additional codec support will be added in the future or if any of theose features I posted previously will be added later.
I listen to and occasionally make podcasts (I hate that name). I was hoping the Zune would allow me to remotely record both audio and video. Short one or two minute video recording would be so hot. I currently have an iRiver ifp799. Upgrading to an audio/video recorder is my dream. I was hoping the Zune would do that.
I'm the Director of IT for a medium-size business and I just always like to keep on top of new technology. I currently am a big fan of the portable media center devices as I use Windows Media Center at home as my primary TV, Movie, Music device. I have a Creative Zen Portable Media Center that I use, even though it's a brick I like the screen size and features of Portable Media Center. From the pictures of the GUI I've seen, Zune's looks to be akin to PMC. I like the prospects Zune offers and I anticipate replacing my Zen with one, but probably not till Generation 2 as I'm more anxious to see a Microsoft hardware take on the idea instead of Toshiba. I get wound up sometimes when you post about music instead of the Zune, forgive me for that, I'm just excited that's all :) Love the blog.
Hey, it's SportsUnit aka Felix George. I'm a 24 year old special education teacher in Houston. Currently, I'm attending Grad school for Instructional Technology at the U of H. I'm also an avid XBOX 360 gamer, with SportsUnit being my gamertag. I'm originally from Brooklyn, NY. Don't ask me how I got to Houston. I had a few dollars, my bachelors degree and a dream of owning my own home (NY real estate is just crazy). Getting away from the Snow was one of my wife's biggest priorities too. So, here we are. Anyway, my favorite Microsoft product ever is Media Center 2005. The 360 comes in a close second. I own a Sandisk player and subscribe to AOL Music Now. Football is my passion. I'm a big Falcons fan. #1 Rushing offense baby (Can they stop Dunn & Vick)? My dream career would be to design user interfaces for Microsoft's entertainment products. I plan on getting my Ph. D. in Human Computer Interaction at Rice University. That's about it for me... By the way, I love the brown zune and hope they have brown headphones to match. The styling of the Zune is on point. The design team nailed it. And, the possibilities are endless in terms of integrating zune with the 360 and media center. I just hope Microsoft can put it all together in a coherent, "connected" package. On a side note, I'm currently sulking over the fact that I'm (zune60.net) not "A Cool Zune Kid." I know I go back and forth with the positives and negatives (instead of just positives), but I think I'm fair. Dang you Caesar...(:
Hey Cesar, I'm Charlie...the kid that emailed you and in all likelyhood will continue to. My bio...well, I'm a Sophmore in High School, and my life is Film. I've set my sights on Film School, but I'm also very interested in business and Computer Science...so my destiny isn't set in stone. I'm here because frankly, I think you guys are doing some really cool stuff over there at Microsoft these days. The first turning point for me was the Xbox and then the Xbox 360, I think J's vision of "connected" is where everything is going and I think that now that you guys have turned your sights on music, it's going to change the way we interact and share our tunes. Good luck with the Zune, -Charlie
Hi, My name is Woody. I live in South Carolina, I have a strange assortment of music. Mainly consisting of Rock, Pop, Christian, Techno, World, and Classical. I currently use a Creative Zen Xtra ( don't cry for me, I am upgrading soon. ) The features I like most about the Zune is the community features it offers. Wireless DJing, sharing music with friends, Community recommendations from Zune Marketplace. I love the idea of itegrating my media devices. ( example is 360 being a media extender ) I think an mp3 player is windows next step in media integration. However, I do have some concerns. 1. battery life. wireless is useless if battery life is low to begin with. 2.no podcast support. this one can be easily fixed in time or patched, but zune must have podcast integration/aggregation to be succesful. I am thinking of buying a new nano just because of the amount of podcasts I listen to. (they make it easy by automatically removing and adding new podcasts you are subscribe to, listen up MS) 3. which brings me to my final point. design... mp3 users are shallow shallow people. The average consumer won't buy an mp3 player if it doesn't look outstanding. ( I still think the black clickpad is a bad choice, but since it is probably too late to change, I am adjusting to it. need to up the design budget for your first in-house device, because I know MS makes beatiful products; e.g. xbox 360) p.s. how about live anywhere support?
oops I didn't even mention my age or why I go to this blog. I am 16, 17 in 2 months =P, and am looking at a computer programming or marketing major. I love technology and am quick to visit *cough* stalk *cough* sites/forums/blogs frequently for more information.
OK, I'm a programmer who's a total music freak and gadget interested. I currently use an iPod and I have to say it's a love/hate thing. What the iPod does it does very well, but it's all those little things it could have done that makes me look for a better player. I don't need ogg or flac, but I would like to be able to use a subscription service and I would like it to be of better quality than 128kbps. For me, what will make me decide on switching to Zune or not, is the software. The one inside the player as well as that on the PC. I quite like how iTunes is laid out, but it's just so limited. I want more ID3 tags (producer/language/keywords etc..) and more flexible smart playlists. I'd like small, easy to use features in the player like playlists browsable by artist/album/genre/producer... I'd like to have a shuffle option in every playlist and album as well as a "Best of"-function that automatically selects the best rated and/or most played songs from an artist/genre/playlist. I'd like to find Tortoise & Bonnie 'Prince' Billy under both Tortoise and B'P'B, not as a third new artist. Stuff like that. I've got a big list of these things. I'd like for someone to really try to make the best player possible and not just a quitegood one. I realize that software needs to be simple, but there are lots of features that no one implements that I'm sure would be used both by beginners and power-users. And, of course, some features (like dozens of ID3-tags) could be hidden behind "advanced" tabs or something. Come on, Impress me!
I am just the usual early adopter. I was 100% sure that I wanted to buy a Zune since i thought transfer of Windows Media Center PC recorded TV files was going to be supported. Since then I found out that this is not the case. Why? if this is already supported by the Gigabeat S.
I'm curious about the zune, so I occasionally check this blog. I don't own an IPod *gasp*, but have a fairly large digital music collection. My orginal thought was to go with a Palm Treo, or other smartphone device. I'm intrigued by the social aspects of the zune though, and I am holding off, at least till I can see what the zune offers.
I don't own an iPod either and am thinking of getting either a video iPod or a Zune in Dec. Let's see. I'm interviewing with the SCM team at MS and will buy a Zune only if I get in. :p Seriously, though, i don't see why MS is ready to piss off all its partners by not supporting Plays For Sure in Zune.
I'm a junior in highschool who recently had his Zen Vison: M stolen from his football locker. Needless to say, I was quite upset, but soon realized that the Zen was not the right MP3 player. I'm staunchly opposed to iPods myself, but don't mind others who use them (except when they're pretensious pr*cks). I had already gotten two of my friends on ZV:Ms, and one who just had his iPod stolen wondered what he should get to replace it. I think word-of-mouth will be a huge factor in spreading the joy. Sure OGG Vorbis/Theora codecs are fun and nerds use them, but very few others (a far cry from "popular codecs"). I think the biggest thing Microsoft could do to improve sales would be to develop an SDK or API to allow apps and add-ons to be added to the player. If something like this could be implimented, it would be amazing, and allow customization. But that's just me....
wow... cnet podcast today just revealed something to me. Is it true that MS puts drm on ALL music?? I thought it just put drm when it was shared? here is the podcast. ( 9/18 ) http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-11455_7-6457370-1.html?tag=cnetfd.pdcst I would greatly appreciate if you would respond to this.
I live in Argentina and I’m finishing my systems bachelor’s degree in computer information systems in a couple of month. I’m also a big fan of gadgets, especially of the iPod. I run a Spanish site dedicated to the iPod and recently started a Zune site ( http://www.zunetotal.com ). I’m not a big fan of Microsoft software buy I like their hardware, so I would give Zune a chance and see what happened.
hey -- im 16 and if i get a zune itll be my ..4th mp3 player. (i ran out of space a few times..) i have an ipod right now, but it doesnt work very well.. hard drive crash or something.. please impress me with the battery life of this thing so i don't have to get another ipod! music i like-- metric, islands, why?, animal collective, the unicorns, girl talk, pixies, broken social scene, stars... that kind of thing (p.s. i might be going to the ratatat concert in dc!) all in all, the zune looks pretty cool, and im excited for it! hopefully itll be worth the wait and the specs match up to the new ipod :-)
Que bueno! ahora yo podria practicar mi espanol y todavia leer un articulo interesante sobre la Zune.
Wanna know what I want? Playforsure included Movies and Recorded TV downloads (integrated wiht media center) Zune marketplace to "merge" with WMP11 Zune to look beter... and no brown. (bet rif og the border around the sccreen and click wheel and you got it made) *kills DRM* Digital camera in zune, like the ones in cell phones 60 MB memory (need if you even want to compete with the losers in Cupertino) That is all, long list, yet so little time :(
Wanna know what I want? Playforsure included *Agree with you on that one. Movies and Recorded TV downloads (integrated wiht media center) *probably a feature of zune marketplace Zune marketplace to "merge" with WMP11 *I hope marketplace is just like wmp11, cause they said they aren't using it. =*( Zune to look beter... and no brown. (bet rif og the border around the sccreen and click wheel and you got it made) *I like the brown, and the border, but as I have said, they need to use silver clickpad. *kills DRM* *Necessary evil. ( see my earlier response ) Digital camera in zune, like the ones in cell phones *now that would be sweet! specially if it was a video recorder ( as olf mentioned ) but would drive up the cost considerably. 60 MB memory (need if you even want to compete with the losers in Cupertino) *I really hophe you don't want 60 mb of memory... =P *yeah 60gb would be nice, hopefully their next player has 60/100 gigs. That is all, long list, yet so little time :(
ok the most important question is pricing... when will it be revealed I know you said the price will be on par with the market .. does the market include the ipod price slash?
Yo! (Or something of that nature.) I'm from Atlanta and I love Ratatat! In fact, I will be first in line to see them when they come to town this Fall. What I'd love from Zune: Well, I actually have suggestions about Zune Marketplace. Have you ever been to the sites AOL Full CD Listening Party and MTV's The Leak? They let you listen to full albums the week they are released. That's what I'd recommend for Zune! An artist puts their album or selected songs on Zune Marketplace; and users can load them onto their Zune and listen for 3 days of 3 plays. Then, when you reconnect your Zune to your computer, a little button shows up beside the song in Marketplace that says, "You wanna buy this song?" It beats having to sit at the computer to listen to the album or song; and it makes the idea of a 30 second preview pale in comparison. It'd be sort of like a mobile mp3 blog! Make it happen, C! P.S. A friend of mine went to see Band of Horses live this weekend after she recognized the band's name as being preloaded on Zune. Your marketing work is already prospering, dude.
Why doesn't Microsoft support Play For Sure? This fact makes me want to not buy the Zune.
I second damien's idea. trying out tracks for 3days/3plays sounds like a great idea. I hate 30 second previews because you never know if the other 2:30 of the song is good, or when they give you the lame start or end of the song and you miss the best part. having the full song available for trial would really help me experiment with new genres and bands that I otherwise probably wouldn't take the time to listen to ( on a computer ). But listening on my zune, and listening to the complete song! would actually make me buy more music. * great idea damien!
Is there any info on an Australian release date?
Hello everyone, I am currently using a Zen Vision M.. I love music(ambient,eltro,..) and small video clips. About zune, I would hope zune wifi feature list would be the following: - ability to upgrade firmware on the fly through xbox live - ability to stream video and sound to xbox 360 through wifi - ability to stream internet radio - streaming from zune to zune... - ability to buy songs over wifi My 2 cents and good luck for the device
As a lurker and yet another early adopter, I've been keeping a keen eye on the site and all things Zunish for a while now. For once, I really got the impression that this was a device designed by music listeners for other people like us. Cool choice of artists to showcase on this site and the Zune program interface screenshot. Very cool brown. A focus on sharing and community and discovery, that's what it's all about! Gradually, however, my hopes began to fade. Another closed model (talk of the 'tag-based library' fuels my suspicions that I won't be able to drag-and-drop on the go). No Ogg (yet?). Doesn'tPlayForSure. Worse, the imposition of DRM on my own recordings is the polar opposite of promoting my work - it's simply not enough to laugh off the restriction with 'they'll come back for more of your stuff in three days!'. It's simpler to wrap everything in DRM in the same way it's simpler to shoot first and ask questions later, that is to say that I just don't like it. I'm also keen to understand the rationale behind the "3 days/3 plays" system. Three listens could possibly give a nice taste of a track...but for a track to become unplayable after 3 days even if it was never heard? How does this help content producers, who lose a potential sale, or Zune owners who would rather explore new stuff in their own time? The non-replaceable battery is just the final disappointment for me. A glimmer of hope remains though - the fact that calls for feedback like this do exist, because a considered response to these (and other) issues are needed before Zune becomes something I can embrace.
It's great to see the Zune team blog sites springing up. I'm an IT consultant and also run a mobile news / views site called Just Another Mobile Monday. I've never owned an iPod and have used Windows Mobile devices for music / podcasts etc - but I am very keen to see and probably buy a Zune. Oh, and one more shameless plug - recently posted a small first stab at a "I'm an iPod, I'm a Zune' commercial in the style of the Mac vs. Pc ads - basically because I think the whole iPod vs. Zune vs. other players is just a whole lot of fun ...
Hey all, my name is Lex. I'm a merchandiser for Microsoft. I've recently started coming here, becuase it seems the uber-lord of this site is the Zune god in some circles. Those circles i have yet to discover! I decided i'd try to befriend a real Microsoft employee so some day i might get a chance to tour the campus "behind the scenes." Actually all in all this is a good Zune info site and i NEED to keep up to date. Training all those RSPs (Retail Sales Person for you non-training type poeple) is a pain in the a$$ if you don't have good info. So yea.. oh yea intro.. Single, Male, 21, Live near Tacoma, WA (woot to WA residents), am kinda nerdy/geeky (there are differences. I think Star Trek v. Star Wars has something to do with it.. i dunno). So yea, have fun ya'll.. Oh and i'm one of those white dots in the northwest!! YAY!!
Hi, I'm Anton, a developer for CGSociety from Adelaide, South Australia. I'm the proud owner of an iRiver h320, which I've added an extended battery, and larger hard-drive, and designed my own case skin. Microsoft has been hitting home runs lately, XBLA and XNA are awesome. So when I heard Microsoft had a PMP coming out I was looking forward to something full of features, that would work with everything. What are we given? Another purchase system (why aren't you using LIVE at least?), broken 'viral' file sharing (I'm yet to hear, can I share files that have been shared with me?), and a music player that can't play very common music formats (FLAC and OGG are essential). The brown, is very cool however - If someone manages to put a fully functional OS (Rockbox perhaps?) on these I might get one and 'update' it :)
Im Jamie; work for Microsoft doing Market Research. My main machine is a Mac, so cant see myself buying Zune but am definitely intrigued about it and its future. I have a 4G, 20gb iPod and a 2gb Nano. Love the integration of OSX and iPod and the Zune guys will do well to reach that level of tightness. Im most impressed by the community aspect of Zune. Not necessarily the wifi sharing, but the features built into the client such as contacts, ZuneCards, Journal etc. Its one of the few times that I hope Apple directly rip off a feature from a MS product. I applaud the Zune guys for not just making another player and try to outspec iPod. As far as music goes, im a Hiphop man at heart. Everything from Tribe Called Quest to Wu Tang and Black Moon. Dilla to Dre. Pete Rock to Timbaland. Outside of that I listen to a lot of RnB, Roots Reggae, Dancehall, Jazz, Blues etc. But the track thats played in the Zune advert is pretty damn ill. Where can I find it. (The Ashtar Command track)
"If you start a Zune site, you should come up w/ a completely unique name and URL. Go with something like . . . ILoveYouButIveChosenZune.com; AndYouWillKnowUsByTheTrailoftheZune.com or ZuneMadeMilwaukeeFamous.com." Did you check with your legal department before posting this? 'Zune' surely is a reg. trademark. Do you guarantee that users who create a website with 'zune' in the name won't be sued by Microsoft? I strongly recommend Users not to follow Zuneinsider's advice as long as they don't have a written acknoledgement by Microsoft that this is OK! Otherwise, this might become a costly mistake.
Just out of curiosity, you use a Mac and you work at Microsoft? Isn't that a bit of a conflict of interest? :)
Hi - introduce myself... I'm pushing 40, drank the MS Kool-Aid back in 1989 as a network engineer but am not a zealot. Was an early MCP in a land of CNEs. Now agnostic, and work with anything - Oracle, Unix, etc. In college (Arizona, 1985-1989), played keyboards in a band -- thought we were going to 'make it'. Now married, have 2 boys (one almost 5, the other 8 months), live in Northern VA, work in DC, and am a gadget guy. Last couple years have been very much getting back into music thanks to XM. Depending on my mood, I listen to just about anything. Have 26.4GB in /music (just under your 30GB size - with no video), 99% from physical CD's I bought and ripped. Copied to a 2.5" portable USB disk so I can listen at work if I tire of XM (which rarely happens). Wife has an iPod (the cute pink mini) - she likes it. Am curious about Zune, also the Inno. Wife got me XM MyFi for Xmas 2004 (she's awesome), Zune might be perfect price point for Xmas 2006. But I gotta figure out how to hide all my devices (PDA, BlackBerry, Cell Phone, MyFi, Zune, Portable HD) or surrender and embrace my inner geek - maybe the Scott eVest or Dockers mobile pants (snicker). Am not usually into blogs, but am finding this one interesting (also frequent Fark and XM411). Features I'd like to see in the Zune: - Video integration with Media Center - Extend "community" and sharing via the 802.11x internet connection. At work, I can think of 1 guy who also might buy a Zune. But, I've got lots of friends around the country who like to talk about music with each other. At a reunion of sorts last year, a DJ friend of mine set up his gig -- a mixer, great speakers, and two iPods. It was great... Then the rest of the guys would 'queue up' a song, either exposure to something new, or a flashback, on their iPods. Was amazing how many of my friends came with iPods loaded with tunes (and how well the sharing thing worked with the DJ setup). (apology for length) Oh, one other thing - I saw an article about CBS pushing ads for their new shows via BlueTooth to cell phones (http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-6109387.html). I envision a Zune spin to this. I see newly released, full albums being Zuned from billboards, at concerts, subway stations, maybe record stores (probably not, they wouldn't want to push potential buyers online) -- any thoughts to this type of effort forthcoming? My apologies if this is "duh" instead of "a-ha!", it just dawned on me that this might be a good use of the Zune sharing.
Hi there, I'm Neil and I'm a music addict. I work as a digital media designer (using a Windows PC) in a studio full of Apple users... cry for me ;) I have a passion for new music and buy most of it from CD stores. Download stores just don’t have the small independent labels that I love. While chart music gets blander and blander, the small Indy labels are really keeping the creativity in the music industry in my opinion. I own a Zen Micro which is now too small for my music collection. The Zune is perfect for me… well it should be perfect. I love the community ideas, finding new music through other music lovers (inspired concept). I like the WiFi and the big screen. However I’m a little worried about a few of the rumours. Battery life is a BIG issue for me; anything short of 12 hours music play would be an instant turn off. I don’t think I’d play movies on it, but I’d still like to know if it has the ability to play full length movies (now or in the future). I’d also like to know if you have plans to widen the codec lists after launch, is it possible to upgrade the firmware to do this? Finally I’ll list a few bands you all should check out. Bat For Lashes (Kate Bush meets Bijork), Blackbud (mellow rock), Hybrid’s new album (Electronic) and finally Roddy Woomble (funny name, superb solo album).
MarkD"Just out of curiosity, you use a Mac and you work at Microsoft? Isn't that a bit of a conflict of interest? :)" haha, I guess so. But you would be surprised just how many Mac users there are at Microsoft. I see more Macs here than at an Apple Store.
I'm an iPod guy but can easily be swayed :o) Actually, I run a web site - expodition.com - which utilises iPod's Notes feature to store travel related guides and content. I wanted to know if Zune had support for a similar feature as I'd love to support Zune on my site alongside iPod. Any ideas if text based documents can be viewed through the Zune UI? Thanks! Rod.
Still waiting for the ZMP post... Disappointed in some of the stuff. I understand the iTunes DRM'd stuff is a 'no go', but my DRMs purchased from YMU or Musicmatch through WMP10 no good?!? Ouch. Also interested in a comment on the Walmart Zune listing at $284! I saw it on the Walmart site yesterday. Interestingly enough it disappeared since then, twilight zone. Absolute top is $249! You gotta match the 30GB price on the same size iPod to even have a shot here. $284 (knowing there'll probably be a need for accessories) will likely make this a wait for rev 2 decision. Of course to answer your other question on who's out there I probably don't fit in your target demographic. From the midwest, married, 2 kids, programmer (Java) and a household w/3 players (iRiver 20GB, Nano 2GB, and a Sandisk 1GB) and the music reaches nearly every room in the house through my sound system and a media adapter with P4S. Tastes are across the board, Alternative, CCM, Pop, little country and also classical. Wide taste like that makes the subscription a worthwhile piece. If iTunes added that.... ...hype curve on downswing.
" . . any takers? " Sure. I'm just off to register ZuneWontEvenPlayTheExtortionateDRMCrippledGarbageThatMicrosoft- PromisedMeOnlyLastYearWouldPlay4Sure.com Creative enough for you?
hehe, So you have it. Anyway, i am one of youngest here-16, but i am not stupid or something, oh and i am from poland, so it will be hard to get zune here but you are on my list of my next player, dont know when your luching but i hope my player will surfive until then:D here is my list(random order): zen vision: m ipod Toshiba Gigabeat S30 zune music iam listening to: better than ezra gawin degraw the format an many many more ofcourse:P its in your hands if i will pick zune, its what i need- sharing with everything wifiable, and sharing everything, from rars to avis, oh and ofcourse if mp3 is home made, dont limit it to 3times for 3 days! video codecs- as much as you can, optymalize one codec(wmv?) for as longest battery life as you can make it multitasking of course! i dont want to stop listening music when i am sending something make background in menu changable, like you have folder with photos and zune is randomly showing them when you are going thrue menu anyway, i love your job. hope my future wil go somewhere in this direction:P
Hey, they should better let Rockbox do the firmware stuff..lol. (www.rockbox.org ) No Ogg Vorbis and no lossless codec support on Zune yet, they should shame. I bet, not even WMA lossless is supported by Zune :) Then, there is no expansion slot for more media or media exchange like with Sandisk Sansa e200 series..! Shame about that! I know WiFi and I know 30 GB hdd, but that's not the point! And USB OTG 2.0 port would be also cool.. You know, some friend have an sd card or usb stick/device with some cool musik stuff on it and want to share it with you or you should listen to it, but without expansion slot or USB OTG support, you can't do this and use this! Bad bad, boys.. You (MS) want compete? rofl, lol. With that? With these "features"..Forget it! Price tag must be under the pricepoint of Apple iPod 30g 5G! So price must be a maximum of 250$, better 200$, to compete.. The WiFi chip must be very good and very ultra low power needs, because if you can't use them often and long enough, the feature is nearly/mostly/hardly/almost useless..! I hope your akku/battery is powerful enough, to give the user at least 4-5 hours of video playback, better about 6 hours like with the new Apple iPod 5G 80 GB HDD.., and a minimum of 15-20 hours audio playback on all audio formats! And of course, I hope your battery in the Zune is replaceable, like with the battery of the Sansa e200 series! If you don't can offer these features, you should go away and better rethink what you want to try.. Without these killer features, Zune is nothing than another laughable "iPod killer product" with, I bet, no sucess.. You can't compete without these! Of course Zune Marketplace prices must be clearly below iTunes shop and clearly below Napster pricepoints! Say 0.50$ per music title and 5$ monthly flat fee and 10$ monthly flat fee for use on other PCs and on mobile devices.. Other comments in my next post.. Good look with this (without my features mentioned here..), best regards, PSchuetz
I think you made a mistake here. You guys need to carve out a niche for yourself. One way to do that is to appeal to the FLAC/OGG types out there. To have super broadbased codec support would grab you a devoted segment of the market from which to build on. Going for the common denominator makes sense on the surface but not in a situation where there exists another 'monopoly' player. Turn the tables around. Consider if you were starting a company to take on Office or Windows. Would you go after the common denominator consumer or would you find a 10% niche of consumers to wow? Building for the masses would be suicide. And it is the same here.
good point hmmmm... look at firefox. it appealed to the niche open-source people, but now is spreading to others and taking over as most loved browser. ( even though only 10% use it, the numbers are growing dramatically ). I think Zune will probably be a "cult" hit, just like macs were/are before/now.
For any households that have more than one music player (like those with kids), the plays for sure incompatibility is a 'no go' since any purchased music couldn't be shared with Zune and if you have a subscription service for the non-zune players, you'd have to subscribe to two services. It's a shame that the music market with versions of DRM from Apple, Microsoft, Zune, and now Real are all incompatible and that any music we purchase or rent will have to be purchased again. For those with iPods or other devices today that purchase digital music, they are stuck with their investment. Looks like Zune wants to repeat this model and that's just pitiful. Will Zune 3.0 or 4.0 a few years from now support what we purchase today? Based on the track record, it won't. Anyone looking at Zune has to look beyond the flash of limited wifi, limited storage, limited battery life and understand that purchasing music online locks you in to the platform. At least plays for sure allowed you to upgrade to another plays for sure device or share within your family or stream to any plays for sure device. Zune won't. It's closed and at least at the start has no 3rd party player support. I sure do hope out of the box there is xbox360 and Media Center Exender support. Don't brainwash users like Apple has done with iTunes and restrict Zune users to only 'Zune' music. Looks like the press is starting to pick up on the plays for sure issues and they are not being kind... http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2006/09/19/Zune_doesnt_play_for_sure/ http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=34478 http://comment.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020505,39283449,00.htm http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/285407_software18.html
"even though only 10% use it, the numbers are growing dramatically" That number varies greatly; I run several high traffic websites - The more technically competant the user, the more likely they are to use Firefox, one of our sites has more than 50% of it's users on Firefox, and the majority of them are Windows users. The lesson, find something that is broken, and replace it with something that does it well, then get the community behind it. When purchasing my media player, I looked at a few things; 1. the quality of the DSP chip. 2. if i could play all my music. 3. if i could use the device without a bloated connection to the PC. That's why I ended up with an iRiver, it (h320) has a great DSP especially compared with the iPod, plays everything, and mounts as a hard-drive.
yeah, ive been surfing your blog for a while now, ever since i first learned about it when the zune rumors started a flowing. im not gonna lie and say ive been following your site religously :p, but i love how it gives the 'behind the headlines' view, especially with your more recent posts.
Terrence, 26, tech from Bloomington, Indiana. I check the blog to get the digs on the player as I'm rooting for a competitor to kill Apple's monopoly in this market. I'm not a big fan of iPods, as I've had two that I had to return 3 times each for HD failures... As with most Apple products, they are overpriced, underfeatured and way overrated. A quick rundown on my music digs can be found here - http://www.last.fm/user/renode/ mostly IDM, electro, trip-hop, ambient, etc.
"i love how it gives the 'behind the headlines' view, especially with your more recent posts." Yeah. Well, who said that advertising can't be entertainig?
Since you called me out (:P), I'll introduce myself and give you my opinion on the Zune so far. Hi my name is Kevin, I'm huge into music, active musician myself, not much of a gamer, but I often play games, my favorite bands include Sufjan Stevens, Calexico, and Iron & Wine. I was going to get a iPod til I started looking into the Zune, the wifi, and ui caught my attention as did the brown (although I hate that greenish tint) Zune, one thing that would seal the deal for me getting a Zune instead of a new iPod is bluetooth builtin, because this could lead to wireless headphones, and is something I really want, although I know that this would cut down even more on the battery life (blue + the wifi really kinda eat away at the portability), but I think it'd be really nice and would make a lot of people choose the Zune over the iPod, and possibly give iPod users a push to switch. I'll stop there, but incase you want more of my opinions on the Zune, email me or what not, I could make a full 8 page report on ideas ;).
All I have to say is, long live Zune. I'm so sick of my scratched up iPod with this pathetic 1995 interface. I seriously can't wait to pick up my Zune the day it comes out. I just want to say you guys have been doing an excellent job so far with this project. The buzz behind Zune is going strong, good marketing so far. I'm excited to make the switch over the WMP11, hopefully it'll be a positive environment that is a much more advanced interface compared to iTunes. Rock on Microsoft.
Ok I have a few questions that popped up to me during dinner. Please take the time to respond them. Where is the dedicated hold switch if there is any? Dedicated volume controls are present or not?
About me? Hmmmm I'm from the Philippines and I work in advertising. Work keeps me extremely busy but I find ways to indulge my love for all things geek. I'm a geek through and through. I suffer from a bad case of technolust too. Gadgets and other high-tech toys are a passion. Star Wars is another. And of course, music. My favorite artists include Pavement, Nirvana, Radiohead, Interpol, Tokyo Police Club, XTC, Aphex Twin and Broken Social Scene. I checked this blog out because I thought it was another one of those contrived Microsoft "viral marketing" campaigns. But now, I actually like dropping by regularly, especially since you guys officially announced Zune. It's a promising device. I'm not exactly a Microsoft fan but ever since Xbox 360, I look at MS in a better light :)
im tellin ya cesar, if you guys want a knockout punch on launch, preload an aphex twin track, preferably something unreleased, and any other warp artists you can get. you have no idea what kind of marketing blitz that would be.
Rabid Music freak, I am. I'm the guy with half a dozen milk crates full of vinyl on one side of the living room and a full wall of CDs on the other. I was a columbia house member before they merged with BMG. Currently I am a Yourmusic club member. I read your blog and follow whats is going on with these players for a few reasons. One reason is that I am right now in the market for some kind of portable player. I got tired of purchasing the same CD's over and over because of scratches from normal wear and tear so I started ripping my collection to my PC and burning backups and mixes. I spend a ton of money burning mix CDs every year. They either get trashed, lost or I become bored with the playlist and want to change it up. The other reason I have been reading is I am both curious and concerned about the furture direction of music as a product. I mentioned in another post that I have seen the product change from somthing great to somthing that is kind of sad. Givin a side by side comparison of what it was and what it is I think anyone can see that todays music consumer is really getting the short end of the stick. Come to my house and spend a few hours opening up the vinyl sleeves and checking out the inserts. Sit back and enjoy the photos, art and stories while the music plays and you'll know what I mean. I never even concidered an ipod. Their stuff is too closed off. Also, apart from the odd single obscure track, why would anyone choose to buy a CD digitally instead of buying the actually CD? How does this make any sense at all? What exactly is it your paying for? I don't get it. Wheres the product? I guess the soulless suits view everything but the ones and zeros as just packaging. My largest concern with the future of music is DRM. A couple of years ago Sony infected my computer with DRM on some music CD's I had purchased. They also attempted to restrict how often I burn songs into my unique mixes. Thankfully, they got sued for it. This is a huge concern for me. I am not a thief nor do I make my large collection available to the general public. I do want to keep my ability to use my records and Cd's to make my unique mood mixes (however many times I want or need to). I want to keep my tangible product and hold it in my hands while I listen. Thats who I am. Why does it feel like someone is trying to take these things from me?
hello, well,i must say the zune has every college kid's attention. many and i mean many of the ipod fans are bashing zune, because of their ignorance. Yet they still want one. one thing i don't think its a great idea about zune is that, even though you guys are having that three day song that you can upload or download from another zune member. i think that apple will take this apportunity to do the same and better. meaning, instead of three day it will be 10-30 days, or so on. you guys are just giving more ideas to steve and that is definetly not good. i like how you guys borught that up, but i think you guys need to be a bit flexible. just like the codecs for the videos. there needs to be some flexibility. your consumers dont want rules... they want to break them. so why not help them do what they like to do...in a legal way! i still to this day dont know how to get my dvd movies to my computer so i can watch them withouth the dvd, and when i had my zen i couldnt find a program to put in my zen. it was frustrating! hopefully you guys have a way that will allow all these features in the zune and in a much safer, faster and easy way. I returned my zen because i really want to support MS. all of my friends work for apple and are apple fanatics. i'm pretty sure that apple workers are getting ideas for their new ipod thanks to zune. i can not wait untill zune comes out. till then go zune and keep doing a good job. think of ideas that you know that the ipod wont think of... and bend the rules as far as you can so you know that steve wont step his foot in there.

My Zune was stolen what can i do to track it? please help!

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Zuneinsider Podcast: Episode 3

Welcome to episode 3 of the Zune Insider Podcast! This episode was recorded in conference room 1430 in the Zune...

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