Happy Turkeyday to the insider, and all other Zuners as well. I'm off to California for Tday with my family, then spend a week waiting for our wedding to happen out there. The Zune will be getting plenty of action on our 5k miles of flights over the next 2.5 weeks.

I have personally seen a lot of people checking out the Zune so hopefully sales will be decent.

Honestly, I cannot wait until all the live stuff is working together. I think people will then start to realize that the Zune is part of new/social media device. ZuneTags, GamerTags, Vista... once everything is connected people will get the bigger picture and thats when iFanboys will start to get nervous. hahaha.

On a side note, tonight a "blue shirted" employee at a major electronics store told me that there were no accessories for the Zune because Microsoft was waiting to see how well it sold before they started making accessories... Wow!

I promptly told him in front of three other customers that Circuit City had all the accessories in store. hahaha!

>we are exactly where we hoped we'd be.

Congratulations! Great news!

>We're also thinking in long term here.

Feel free to promptly leak future plans. :-)

I agree about the pumpkin pie. Please call it turkey day, but I prefer to call it Pumpkin day.

I had a very similiar experience at the same store as dv8r. I asked about accessories and was told that they had lots of headphones that would work with it...

Then I told the customer next to me who was looking at the Zune that Circuit City was offering a gift card with purchase and had all the accessories.

Happy thanksgiving! Microsoft seems to have a good job on training you to say something without saying nothing, well known corporate move, release numbers when they're good, claim they're what you expected when they're not so good ;)

On the other hand, nobody really expected them to be that good.

Interesting post, which really doesn't reveal much of anything. Without knowing what Microsoft's expectations are, ya really can't determine if sales were good or bad. I mean, from comments made by Ballmer, Gates and others, it seems expectations were pretty low out of the gate, so meeting some admittedly pretty low expectations shouldn't be too difficult.

After Apple announces their sales of 15+ million iPods this quarter, it will be interesting to see if Microsoft will publish actual Zune sales figures.  We'll see.

I just picked up 2 Zunes, Brown and Black.

My question is, will we be able to use 1 PC to sync and manage both our libraries separately? is there a login feature for the zune software (not the Marketplace)?

ddv

What will Santa be putting in the stockings this year?

Do you think that the kids that get this player over Xmas, sync it, lose the pre-loaded MP3s only to find that Microsoft will only let you have the pre-loaded songs back at $15 dollars are going to like this player? Don't you think that some parents are going to be saying,  "Well Johny and Sally, let me call Zune support and see if they can help me fix your new Zune" or do you think they'll just take it back since it has a problem only days after getting it out of the box. Then if they -do- happen to call tech support and learn that this is as designed... What then?

I bought a Zune the day it came out from Target, called tech support the following weekend. After dealing with them for 2 days, getting some mis-information, calling back, etc. I have no solution. I check out Zuneinsider.com to find out that there is a playlist available for the pre-loaded songs on the Marketplace. Great, so I can get the songs back? No, not unless I spend another $15 with Microsoft.

Bleh. Its going back to the store. I'm buying an iPod and a CD with music I currently want to listen to. F***  exploring new bands through the Marketplace. I'll just head to emusic.com/movies and get -50- free MP3s that I can use on any player (unlike Zune Marketplace and the pre-loaded content that can -not- even be backed up to your hard drive with a brand new Zune if the Zune decides to eat and delete your pre-loaded songs).

ddvelin, my family also has two Zunes, that are synced to the same PC.

The PC sets up one library, and my wife and I maintain separate playlists of the music we want from that library.

You can even have set different playlist sync priorities for the two different players - but that's only necessary if your library exceeds the capacity of your Zune.

- Harvey

http://www.zunerama.com

Completely agree with Dan H.  Bottom line -- if the sales numbers were impressive Microsoft would have released the details.  

Re: Scott "...unlike Zune Marketplace and the pre-loaded content that can -not- even be backed up to your hard drive with a brand new Zune if the Zune decides to eat and delete your pre-loaded songs)."

Sorry it didn't work out for you. This is probably too late for you, but for others: you can back up the pre-loaded content to your PC. Just drag the pre-loaded content on your device to the sync panel, and it will sync those files to your PC. Works for music, pix, and video.

Check this out..

http://www.sermonaudio.com/new_details.asp?ID=11721

The Zune being put to a "higher" purpose!

I got a Zune last week and have already convinced a few people to get one. It would be nice if you all had some video content available for this soon. Especially if I could play some content through my 360 and play my 360 tv shows/movies on my zune. I know there has been talk this is on the horizon but I hope that is coming soon. That sure would boost the old sales on both sides.

was your goal to sell 2 zunes? I think thats all you sold!!! GO IPOD!!! BYE BYE ZUNE!

Harvey,

The second day that I called Zune tech support, that was suggested. It doesn't work on the pre-loaded content. Only the content that you've put on Zune yourself. Please try again.

It's obvious to anyone who's been watching this project from the earliest days of Summer that Microsoft is in this for the long-haul. And while short-term sales are certainly nice, Sr. Management has made it perfectly clear that this isn't a 'project' which will be terminated based on so-so 2006 holiday sales. Zune is, in a very real sense, "Microsoft-as-an-entity untethered": and as such, will certainly be treated that way for a long time to come.

Gene from ZuneChannel.com

Hey Cesar, happy Thanksgiving, bud.

I am so close to getting one (actually, two, one for me and one for my daughter), but the Media Center recorded TV limitation is a deal breaker for me. I can wait for the Marketplace to get video on the menu, but in the meantime I *have* to watch Lost on that great screen.

*Please* tell me this is going to happen--that I will be able to play Media Center recorded TV shows on this thing.

I have a love/hate relationship with my zune. I got it about a week ago at eb games and I love the device itself. It works flawlessly and the only complaint I have is that the album art is is a little blurry sometimes. I even love the zunepass idea; I love the idea of only spending 14.99 a month and getting as many songs as I want. And even though I’ve yet to use it, I also like the idea behind wireless. But the software. Where do I begin with my problems on the software? I’ve installed it and reinstalled it no less than five times, I’ve wiped out and re-synced about 1,500 songs from my player, and all tech support can say is “call back in two days and we might have a fix for it.”. I mean, where did all the money for this project go? You guys didn’t even build the hardware! Toshiba gave it to you! All you had to do was get the software right. And you failed at it. Miserably.

Lots of people complain about the quality of the software. There was no open beta, So testing was all internal. Obviously because few people had the hardware to test with.

They should have made the marketplace available before the device was available. At least they could have ironed out the install issues.

Chicago's largest newspaper ran this review:

>>The Zune is a complete, humiliating failure. Toshiba's Gigabeat player, for example, is far more versatile, it has none of the Zune's limitations, and Amazon sells the 30-gig model for 40 bucks less.

Throw in the Zune's tail-wagging relationship with music publishers, and it almost becomes important that you encourage people not to buy one.

The iPod owns 85 percent of the market because it deserves to. Apple consistently makes decisions that benefit the company, the users and the media publishers -- and they continue to innovatively expand the device's capabilities without sacrificing its simplicity.

Companies such as Toshiba and Sandisk (with its wonderful Nano-like Sansa e200 series) compete effectively with the iPod by asking themselves, "What are the things that users want and Apple refuses to provide?"

Microsoft's colossal blunder was to knock the user out of that question and put the music industry in its place. <<

http://www.suntimes.com/technology/ihnatko/147048,CST-FIN-Andy23.article

Well I live in the UK... im getting tired of waiting for MS to announce ANYTHING about the release over here. Im not after a specific date, but they could at least say 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th quarter or 2007. Hearing nothing is just bad. If we hear nothing by the middle of December im off to buy an iPOD.

Although hearing the above posts/stories about the software makes things sound like a shambles anyway!!

Come on MS - your digging your own grave on this, and it hasnt even been out for a month yet!

This professional ipod zune video converter site

http://www.dvd-ipod.biz/

hope it is useful to u!

From another review:

"The Zune is a contender, but one that looks like it was obviously rushed to market to make a holiday release. The good news is that there is nothing wrong with the Zune device or PC player that can't be fixed in software. The bad news is, there's a lot of software fixin' that needs happen. If Microsoft sticks to an extremely aggressive software update release, it can turn the Zune into a killer product. If they wait for months to make modest improvements and limp out a handful of new Zune players next year, they'll toss money down a bottomless pit and implode under the ever-expanding iPod market."

http://www.extremetech.com/print_article2/0,1217,a=194545,00.asp

I kind of like the second review, it's actually by a reporter ratehr than an iBoy, which many appear to be written by.  People buy iPods because they look cool and anyone can use them.  And they are pretty good at what they do, which when you look objectively -isn't a great deal.  All of the proprietory whining that comes out, iPod is equally uilty of but as always Apple are seen as some golden techno-Hippies that love their consumers like their first born children.  never mind that to get new functionality you have to replace your iPod every 14 months.  Or that the devices only work with a horrible piece of software.  Yes! that's right!  Sony and Apple were there way before Microsoft!

I'm sorry about the rant, but I like to read reviews of things that highlight the pros and cons of things, not 'mines better than yours because I've always used these ones'.  That might be good enough for iBoys to get a sense of smug satisfaction but I'd personally prefer a review, not the pitiful opinion of someone too lazy to do any actual journalism.

Quoting the supposed iBoy review:

>>Toshiba's Gigabeat player, for example, is far more versatile, it has none of the Zune's limitations, and Amazon sells the 30-gig model for 40 bucks less.

Throw in the Zune's tail-wagging relationship with music publishers, and it almost becomes important that you encourage people not to buy one.

--

Companies such as Toshiba and Sandisk (with its wonderful Nano-like Sansa e200 series) compete effectively with the iPod by asking themselves, "What are the things that users want and Apple refuses to provide?"

Microsoft's colossal blunder was to knock the user out of that question and put the music industry in its place. <<

Wheres the Apple bias in that?  

Maybe you're a 'Z' boy.

Business Week states:

"Zune hit store shelves on Nov. 14--a mere eight months after Allard's team got the go-ahead for the seemingly impossible task of toppling Apple's iPod music player."

IMHO, they should have taken more time, and done it right. A brand name only has one chance to make a good first impression, and Zune has needlessly dug itself a hole.

BTW, on the Amazon.com bestsellers category of Hard-Drive Based MP3 Players, a Creative Zen is currently #4 and a Zune is #6. In the category of All MP3 Players a Sandisk Sansa is currently #4 and a Zune is #21.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_49/b4012001.htm?chan=tc&chan=technology_technology+index+page_today%27s+top+stories

Hard Disk Players

http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/electronics/15752041/ref=pd_ts_e_nav/103-8813283-8969460

All Players

http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/electronics/172630/ref=pd_ts_e_nav/103-8813283-8969460

Matt: I'm glad someone pointed out some of the blind perhaps somewhat misguided loyalty iPod fans have towards Apple as some sort of underdog.  Hell, I still have my Mac with the sigs of the original team inside the casing.

But many have forgotten there was a time when Apple was the "Evil Empire" back around '89 through '92 or so.

Jobs was in the wallets of high school and college students in ways that makes tobacco companies look benign.  The 1st generation Macs were priced much lower than what he wanted to gouge us for.

Have forgotten having their Macs barely 15 months before it was the Mac "Classic", and obsolete within 24 months because it had a black and white monitor.  

Forgotten how upgrading the OS/hardware would've cost more than half as much as the low-end color model which was a still a clunker next to it's mid-range sibling.

Apple didn't lower prices to defeat up and coming competitition - they sued them.  They supposedly lost only 2 cases:

1) Apple Records

2) They sued MS claiming Apple had legal copyright protection over the "look and feel" of any OS that had windows and icons. Btw, Adobe and MS were the only ones writing software for Macs back then.  Unless you count virus writers.

Oh yeah, and co-founder Jobs was sacked by Apple, and thought to do them in with NeXT even though it ran about $10k.

Now, that being said... who the hell came up with concept and design of Zune, who in marketing went along with it and what were they both smoking?  I can (sort of) understand turning their backs on the PlaysForSure consortium, but render anything purchased via MSN and URGE unusable as well?  What company purposefully makes a product that won't work with its other products?

Less than 40 days after release WMP 11 incompatible with Zune! Preview for owners of protected MSN Music files:  Prince's www.npgmusicclub.com went black earlier this year rendering all purchased tunes useless if you need to verify the license.  Upgrading to WMP 11 not only upgrades the DRM code, but you can no longer backup your license, AND when they refresh their code they also attempt to refresh DRM licensing for files in your library.

Good thing Zune plays (most) un-protected files!  We just need to find a legal way to copy our CDs and DVD's onto it.

A team from ZuneBoards were able to figure out how to use Zune as a harddrive!

Check out

http://zuneboards.com/OFFICIAL-Use-your-Zune-as-an-External-HD-AND-ADD-FILES-t-695.html

Admin, feel free to delete this if this is offending by any means.

Although you won't say it, we all know that Zune sales are lower than iPod sales (Amazon alone tells us that). And we know you know that. So you're saying that you hoped to be selling fewer Zunes than iPods? Of course you didn't *hope* that, you expected that. Say what you mean, otherwise it's obvious that it's just positive spin on a story that disappoints you.

Worse for the Zune customers is that if sales are not high, Microsoft has to run the Zune Marketplace (at a loss) for a small number of customers, most of which still rip CDs, not purchase tracks online (~80% of iPod owners do not buy from iTunes Store, Zune's owners won't be any different). It's unlikely that Microsoft will continue to run the online store for long operating at a loss. They proved that when they shut down the MSN Music store due to low sales.

Hey Fred,

The ipods been out for 5 years. The Zune has been out for what, 2 weeks? Of course they're not going to top the ipod with their first gen. Taking even 5% of the DAP marketshare would be successful, in my opinion. Feel free to debate at zuneboards.com

When the iPod came out MP3 players were out for 5 years too, but it quickly became the dominant product, taking far more than 5% with its first generation device. Why is Microsoft setting its sights ("hopes", according to Cesar) so low?

One of the biggest problems with the Zune's wi-fi sharing feature is that it's impossible for one person to use.

If a satisfied Zune user is out alone in public with his Zune, he has no way of showing interested onlookers the feature, which hurts potential word-of-mouth. As a result, most people (even interested potential Zune buyers) will never witness a Zune-to-Zune transfer. If a satisfied iPod user is out alone in public with his iPod, he can show off every feature. ("You can download TV shows from iTunes. See? Here's last week's episode of 'The Office,' and I can watch it here on my iPod.")

I think the ideas behind the Zune have serious potential -- built-in wireless, promoting sharing, etc. Unfortunately, it looks like the Zune team was constrained by artificial deadlines and corporate deal-making with the greedy media companies.

If Microsoft truly had long-term plans, they should have waited until the product (including the software) was finished. Don't just talk about cool "potential" wireless features; release them in version 1.0 and make a splash! If that wasn't an option, Microsoft should have rolled the Zune out more slowly to low expectations, and quietly built up a loyal user base of bleeding edge fans. Work out the inevitable problems, improve the version 2.0 product (something Microsoft is better at), and THEN unleash the marketing blitz.

You only get one chance to make a first impression. It's easier to convince somebody with no opinion than someone with a negative opinion. Microsoft is wasting its first impression. If more wireless capabilities are activated with a firmware update in March, will mainstream consumers be willing to take a second look?

Again, I don't think the fault lies with the actual Zune team members. They seem to be extremely talented engineers, and I'm impressed with their willingness to blog and communicate with their consumers. I'm even more impressed that they're not censoring negative comments.

They have great ideas, and the ability to implement them. But I can't shake the feeling that the Zune team is being restrained by higher management.

Interesting, Microsoft is happy where they are?  On Amazon, the Black Zune is the 76th best seller on Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year.

There are *17* music players including devices from Apple (of course), Sandisk, Creative, and RCA!!

This isn't the computer business where you can just wait for version 3.0.  In consumer electronics, brand actually matters.  Good luck reviving yours.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=V5ENLm0JsQw

Hey Cesar, How come you didn't tell us about this? Its like a Wonka golden ticket!

http://cgi.ebay.com/PINK-Zune-30-GB-MP3-Player-RARE-1-of-100-Limited_W0QQitemZ220052343929QQihZ012QQcategoryZ147175QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I heard anyone could walk off the street and pick up a Zune. That they were, in no way, walking off the shelves. Maybe it's those sucky commercials that a five year old put together for the Zune.

Here's how to do a good commercial. Take notes:

http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/ads/

What's up Ben. I didn't tell you all because we wanted to make these a surprise ;)

Diego! That's my cousin's name! You're not in Helsinki by any chance are you? Welcome back man, it's been a while since you've commented in here. Keep the thoughts coming.  

Zune'r - I linked to that video, see here: http://zuneinsider.com/archive/2006/11/21/zune-crackalackin.aspx

Fred, remember we never got out there to be the iPod killer or anything like that, if you here  You do have an interesting analysis of the ZMP, but again, we're thinking of the long-term here. So yeah, we're happy with where we are; it's where we hoped we'd be. I actually intend to publish the numbers when NPD does. Dan H, we'll see indeed, we'll see indeed.

BJ, great analysis. But I actually think that the Zune team had pretty good control over the project - J Allard made sure we had as few constraints as possible.

Happy Thanksgiving to you too, Pedro. P.S., I voted for you ;)

Ok guys, keep the thoughts comin.

Hey! This is some great content and news. I love the background graphic for color, too.

What do you guys think about <a href="http://feedyourzune.com">Feed Your Zune</a>? Love it? Hate it? I haven't heard the Microsoft opinion on it (or didn't know where to find the post).

Do you like that you can get great stuff from <a href="http://network2.tv">Network2</a> onto your Zune, and then have subscriptions to the best independent internet TV shows?

Love to know what you think.

Hello, my name is enjoilax, and I <i>GUESS</i> you could say I am an iFanboy. As much as I hate to say it, I love my iPod. We're currently having a discussion at iLounge.com and I think it would benefit everyone greatly (including yourself) to hear what an <i>intelligent</i> group of Fanboys have to say as opposed to the trolls that most likely frequent these comments.

i dont know if this has been posted on here or not but somebody has already found a hack to bypass the 3days3plays restriction and it also means that any kind of file can be sent to another zune unrestricted. here's the link:

http://www.zune-online.com/news/zune/share-with-zune-wifi-any-file-type.html

There is a great discussion here and thanks for that.

I would like to ask - why would be zune better for me than my iPod 5g?

In my small Czech Republic there is no iTunes Music Store and no Zune Marketplace. What is more surprising, there are not many people with iPod - for example Creative is more popular here!! (ok, it is starting to get better for Apple, but iPod is still "the expensive one") So I bet there will be nobody here with Zune.

So, marketplace and wifi is useless. iPod 5g is perfect in size, Zune is bigger. iPod has sooo many accesories. Benefits of zune?

I, personally, dont like the look of iPod 5g so much as my former mini, but zune has 50% worst design than iPod 5g. I have to ask - why? XBOX 360 looks perfect and I also like aero in Vista (the only good thing in vista), maybe more then aqua in MacOS. So why does Zune look so bad?

And the last think. Don't tell me that zune was not designed a "iPod killer". It is planning to be iPod killer. You are trying to avoid writing the name "iPod" in your posts, its obvious and logical, but its simply not possible. Zune is simply answer to iPod in my eyes.

But I am for competition - competition always makes better products,

And happy thanksgiving to America.

if only you had not caved into the universal deal (or shall we call it blackmail), I'd be more willing to support this platform. Right now as it seems, the apple monopoly is beneficial to the users. They don't cave into any of the ridiculous demands made by these studios (next thing you know, they'll want harddrive manufacturers to pay them royalties, because obviously if anyone wants 200gb of space they MUST be doing something illegal). The also make sure that every song is sold for $.99!

The artists don't get shit out of this deal and you all know this. The industry has been f***ing them over for a loong time. They get most of their revenue from concerts anyways.

Your turkey day sales might have been good, but they could have been alot better if you guys had just focused on the basics. I'm not a ifanboy (i despise them), i'm writing this on a compaq laptop which runs windows xp perfectly fine... never had a virus in my life on this computer.  But sorry for this rant, hope you guys change your mind about the universal deal. Everything else looks fine, and hopefully you'll get the software issues fixed.

happy thanks giving.

also (sorry if this has been posted already) this article really sums up why there are so many bad reviews of the zune:

http://ten23.typepad.com/ten23_software/2006/11/10_signs_the_zu.html

also i was looking through the apple mac website and now know i why those mossberg(wall street journal) and pogue journalists gave such stupid and awful reviews of the zune, it is plain to me that they are obviusly been paid by apple cause you will see that all of the quotes that are given praising the mac are all from mossberg and pogue, they are so blatantly biased i dont understand why they are given jobs to review gadgets "independently" when they will always lean towards the ipod/apple

Scott - you are right. Sorry, I was mistaken about the ability to back up your pre-loaded content.

I "tested" it using Bitter:Sweet, but had forgotten that I'd already downloaded their whole album through my ZunePass.

- Harvey

enjoilax - do you have a URL for that discussion? I'd love to read it. And there is a noticeable difference between an iFanboy and an informed, insightful commenter who loves apple. both are welcome here, though.

Cesar, I do have one question, if the development timeframe for this project was so tight as some comments suggest, why not just replace the URGE section in WMP 11 with the Zune MP? it would have probably cost less and taken less time than coming up with a whole new peice of software which obviously tries to imitate the look and feel of the new WMP (and yet strangely isn't compatible with it). that, and WMP is a much better peice of software, so basically, why create new software that doesn't work as well when you've got a great peice of software already created and perfected?

that, and why is it that an artist prominately featured in the artist section on your website, like the little ones, is not available on the marketplace? you would think that when somebody goes to write about a band and talk about how great they are, that you would actually be able to go and download/purchase that band's album, but maybe that's just me.

This must be the iLounge thread

http://forums.ilounge.com/showthread.php?t=180484&highlight=zune

From Consumer Reports:

"THE BOTTOM LINE

There's a lot to like about the new Zune, including simple controls and a large display. And with some fine-tuning, future Zunes might very well surpass the iPod. But not today. Compared with other players on the market, it's bulky and unrefined. The wireless sharing is a nice idea, but the Zune's restrictions take all the fun out of using it. And the Zune is a pricey buy for those who invested in other Windows-based players and copy-protected music, since they'll essentially have to start buying that content all over again."

More at:

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/electronics-computers/news-electronics-computers/november-2006/first-look-microsoft-zune-digital-media-player-11-06/overview/1106_zune.htm

On Thanks Giving day, I went back to NYC to visit the fam and there were at least 25 family members in my house from all over the U.S.  Of course I had to show off my Zune and not one single person knew what it was.  One of my cousins works in an electronics store in Brooklyn and he did say "oh thats the new player people are asking about in my store."  However, all of my young cousins and hi tech family members asked me what was different about it.  I told them about the wifi sharing and most said "that's it?"  4 or 5 of my family members then proceeded to whip out sony erickson and samsung cell phones that allowed them to send songs to each other.  It turns out, I was the one that was amazed.  I honestly didn't know that cell phones have been doing the Zune's main feature for some time already.  Overall, I don't know what to say.  Not too many people were excited about it.  A lot of the fam complained that it was big, especially compared to their song beaming cell phones.  This Zune project has a long way to go.  I don't think too many people that are not Microsoft fanboys are excited.  There's really nothing to be excited about, I guess.  Besides having my wife resend me the preloaded content from her Zune, I've yet to use the wifi in any meaningful way.  The Zune had a lot of steam when it first launched but they may never be able to really recover from the  lack of any compelling features.  First impressions are a big deal, and the sad fact is that the Zune doesn't make good first impressions because of its size and then fact that it's not much different than anything else on the market.  Like someone said above, there's no way to demo the wifi when you're the only person in the room with a Zune.

Cesar,

If I'm not mistaken, NPD reports shipments, not sales. I predict that Microsoft will ship a large volume to retailers - say 3 million units - and then when NPD publishes their numbers - surprise - they'll report 3 million Zunes shipped. Microsoft will then get this number out in the press and tout it as a success. The reality will be only a fraction of those 3 million will have been purchased by consumers.

But I doubt we'll ever know because from what I've seen most media outlets these days simply take the company press release and run with it, without ever analyzing the information or providing any real insight into the data. If MS puts out a press release touting 3 million shipped - most media outlets will take the bait and run stories that state or imply that 3 million Zunes were sold this quarter.

Cesar, will Microsoft publish actual units sold after the holiday quarter?

Dan

I think the zune might have some MSN Direct/Microsoft SPOT Functionality appearing in the near future.

I will admit right off the bat that I love Microsoft and have been a long time supporter of their products and effort. Given the fact that I am a .NET (C# not vb) developer and have been since the first wave program should give you an idea of where I am coming from. I have a nice car which was too nice apparently to put an audio jack in.....which is another rant... I love my zune. I read all the negative reviews and decided to get one anyway. I think all the bs everyone has been saying about it is unjust and beg everyone to at least give it a chance and understand what it is like to have a manager making decisions which impact the overall quality of a hardware/software product. So what if the guys who built the software didnt have time to put IComparer interface into their list views. But I will have to say this for sure. I purchased the car kit for my zune and the fm transmitter REALLY REALLY REALLY sucks. It troubles me that this was MS's best effort to get people to use the zune in their house, computer, and car. I ended up buying the Monster FM transmitter for the zune and I gotta say this thing actually works great. The downside is the fact that it is just an fm transmitter and does not charge the zune. The upside is that it costs $60 and $20 for the zune car charger so it equals out at the end. But it does sadden me to see that someone didn't bother to actually put it in a car to see if it works. And if they did why didn't they just say these people are already shelling out 250 and 15 a month for this thing so lets make a product we can be proud of and say "Yeah we built that".

So whoever the guy is that decided to cut costs by buying crap internals should have partnered with monster and put the good parts in the $80 zune fm transmitter and been done with it. I am SURE more than one EE or developer mentioned this to someone along the way which went ignored.

I never blog. I never rant but seriously this is the best you could do?

Soap box mode off

Dan

The Zune may not be DOA, but the pulse rate is plummeting and the crash cart has been called.  I say don't bother putting it on life support.  

It's not going to recover fully, if at all.  Let us just hope after it's buried, it doesn't Zombify.

O.K, I ordered a black Zune and it should be arriving this week. But I am already thinking of returning it as soon as it arrives. I have been hearing over and over again that the preloaded content gets deleted once you sync your Zune to the PC. So far I am yet to hear anyone from Zune address this "problem." Believe me I was totally willing to give Zune the benefit of the doubt, even though iFanboys in a rage attacking blindly. Why would you put preloaded content just for it to be deleted? What if someone syncs even before checking out the material? I was dissapointed with the MSN/WMP 11 issue but this just takes the cake! I have made up my mind that unless you guys can address this issue of preloaded content being deleted without hope of  being recovered I will defintely be returning my Zune. Clearly you guys rushed this product. Can someone give me a solution to this?

I was just thinking about the Wireless feature of the Zune...

You can use it to send music/pics to others right? O.K, when you are in public, on a train or something and some random dude wants o send you pics, how do you know what is contained in the pics. What if some dude sends you 200 pics of gay porn or something? I mean...this would be a serious problem...did you guys think about this and is there any solution to it?

I stopped by Walmart to look at a Zune, and man I was blown away by the size!!!   I really couldn't tell as much by the screen shots on the web.  But I do now see what the iFanBoys were talking about.  Cesar that thing is just too big. monstrous.  Like the gadgets on the original Star Trek.

I'll happily eat my words if proven wrong.  But Zune is going to be a disaster.  Get rid of this, and do a flash based product with XBox branding.  XBox Mini?

I can't imagine  talking about the music "on my zune"  awful!

Maybe you should just buy Sansa???

-disappointed.  :-[

Flop for catering to the MPAA and not the consumer.  Zune is DOA for too many reasons.  Better luck with Zune 2.0, let's hope you learned from your mistakes.

Does anyone know how to get around logging into marketplace, and getting re-directed to the support page? I have called up tech support and they keep telling me the are "investigating it" and to try back in 48 hours. Well that was 5 days ago. I have heard alot of people are having this same problem.

I bought a zune as a christmas present, and have been trying to get into the marketplace to set it up on my PC, but this is getting to be rediculous. If this isnt fixed soon, I will return it before the 30 day return policy is up. Nothing like giving a christmas present that doesnt even work to someone.

I just bought my Zune, and I'm a little upset that the Zune Website doesn't have a forum.  It would be cool to be able to connect with other people, and get help from them.  And the Zune software needs a better way to edit playlist on the Zune device.  Other then that, I love it.  

If you look at the cool zune kids list on this blog you will find tons of forums.  Or just do a google search on "zune forum" there are tons.

I agree Jerm - We're working on a forum for the website, though. Cool.

See our article on Zune v. IPod

http://www.thechannelcheckers.com/2006/11/zune-selling-at-best-buy-not-in-canada-yet/

Articles include titles:

Zune Selling at Best Buy, Not in Canada Yet

Preliminary Results: iPod Recommended by 70% of Retailers in Early Christmas MP3 Player Survey

http://www.thechannelcheckers.com/2006/11/zune-selling-at-best-buy-not-in-canada-yet/

I agree with Jerm! Give us a community site similar to xbox.com. Allow us to share information, backgrounds and playlists.

It would really be cool to show a list of recently played or purchased songs in a friends list, just like the recently played games feature on the 360.

Hahahaha... imagine if the Zune had achievements. That would be different. lol!

What's your ZunerScore? Ha!

Who cares about preloaded content?! This is so hilarious! You're returning the product because you lost the free sample videos and music. Haha what the hell? You're buying a zune for the preloaded content? That's amazing.

Regarding the Zune Displays:

They make the Zune look bigger than it is. So do the cases... but the Zune IS a bit too large.

Microsoft stating they don't intend the Zune to kill the iPod:

Why? Why not release the product right the first time? Why leave out features and designs you know would tromp the iPod? Me and 4 friends could think of 12 changes to the Zune that would make it the best product on the market. For some reason your billions of dollars told you to release inferior products at first instead of releases a single superior product. Right now the Zune's only selling points over the ipod are the FM radio and Wireless. Wrireless is currently crippled and rarely used.

The 6th generation iPod will have a bigger screen and be smaller/more stylish. It won't however have wireless or a built in radio. I will sell my zune though to buy the smaller more stylish 6th gen ipod vido if the zune isn't improved by then.

The Zune Marketplace is awesome though.. the subscription idea is what everyone should do. BUT, how could you not include TV shows and video?? Your xbox does this but not your MEDIA PLAYER.

Also, the Zune software is limited and nothing can be edited on the zune its self.

So those are my updated thoughts after owning the Zune for a couple weeks.

Delivering updates sounds like it should be fairly effortless.  But I hope we will get notice about upcoming updates via Zune Website and/or whenever we launch Zune Marketplace.  Excluding security patches, I absolutely hate learning about things the same day an update is released.

From Microsoft Watch:

"Nearly two weeks ago, I asked the question: "Why then should Microsoft create another bundle--music player, store and music format--that is incompatible with its own products?" My answer: Microsoft shouldn't have. Zune should have been, absolutely should be more social with longstanding Windows Media technologies and products."

http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/games_consumer/microsofts_music_madness.html?kc=MWRSS02129TX1K0000535

John, I know they're working on an update now. I'll definitely post here before it drops.

Why does the Zune not have a clock?

I think the zune might have some MSN Direct/Microsoft SPOT Functionality appearing in the near future.

Paul Thurrott, a dyed-in-the-wool Windows guy gives his verdict on Zune. Ya can't call this guy an iPod fanboy!

http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/zune.asp

His summary : "The bottom line is that Microsoft should have waited until it had a more compelling product to sell. I can't imagine what they were thinking"

what r you talking about??? Zune sold less then creative zen, sansa, and iRiver. i'm sure most of you dont even know wut iRiver is. in it's second week, it grabbed 2.1% of the mp3 sales. ipod grabbed 40%. i like the zune, but seriously guys, the sales are pitable.

Zune isn't selling. It looks like a good product, but it has too many little annoyances that detract from it overall. Also it doesn't have itunes which is almost globally recognised as the best mainstream player out there. It syncs so well to the iPod and it has been improved over so many years how can Microsoft hope to compete?