first post?

yes before the drm removal i really didnt pay much attention to this but now i will be watching it much more closely

PingBack from http://zunenuze.net/2007/new-music-friday-is-here/

i always wonder back here. i've said it before, but thanks :-D

IMHO, anything that's bad for iTunes is good for Zune. (Universal is proposing a new type of music subscription service. FMI, see below link.)

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_43/b4055048.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_businessweek+exclusives

Thanks Cesar, have a good one!

Love the Sunseekerz song!

Hi Cesar - I'm a bit worried about the Zune launch this holiday season and more specifically the challenge about who'll be number 2 this year. Please note: I'm a Zuner and will continue to be so no worries here.

My concern stems from the lack of Zune presence in the retail environment, meaning - when you go to your favorite retailer, is the Zune easy to find?

Sadly, the answer is no (sort of).

First, I live in Chicago and I drive to stores, so I have a few options (Best Buy, Circuit City, Wal-mart, Target, to name the majors). Now I actually went to all four of these stores and to more than one location for each one (I know I'm an unpaid Zune scout :)), total 10 stops over this weekend and this is the overall report.

1. iPod is all over the place (Duh, you didn't need me for that right?)

2. iPod accesories are all over (This is actually more significant because of the immense amount from dock stereos to cases). This isn't to say the Zune doesn't have any cases, but in 7 of the 10 stores, there were only 2-3 cases NOT close to the actual Zune, only 1 dock (the overpriced, overhyped Altec Lansing)

3. You can find a sansa faster than a Zune

4. You can find a sansa case/dock faster than a Zune

5. The sansa displays worked, the Zunes in some stores showed power plug issues or were stuck at the boot screen and were unresponsive

6. The worst of all, the sansa 4gb player is at least $30 cheaper than the Zune and sometimes, to Christmas shoppers when faced with a still emerging name like the Zune and $30 for the "same thing", we Zuner lose.

Now I said all that to say this. We loyal Zuners know better and can count all the reasons why a Zune is better for the extra $30 bucks, but given the strategy of releasing the Zune incredibly close to the holiday, creating a buzz..hopefully that buzz will accentuate the reason to get one over any competitor period AND retailers should position the Zunes in a easy to find but unique position, I mean we wanna be no 2 (for now) so we've got to position ourselves beyond the misc media players out there.

P.S. I find after a year the incredibly small picking of (portable)zune dock players rather disheartening and the prices for the new ones dangerously insulting for the included materials (specifically the "new" altec lansing im414 with a measely 3.2w speakers for $100,ironically the same price as last years 60W model which is just a reconfigured dock for the pod one and was $200 waaaay overpriced - i mean 3.2w vs. 60w for the same price?, but i digress...) Also there an upcoming single speaker model (check best buy online) for $70 (still overpriced for 1 3w speaker)

Cesar, I have a question for you (actually the Zune Team more).

On the Marketplace I've run into quite a few songs that have this horrible cutting in them that makes the songs unlistenable. What's up with that?

Two songs I can think of are "Something" from the Across the Universe extended soundtrack and the first song from Wilco's "Being There" (I *think* it's Misunderstood)

I'd really liked this fixed..

Huh.

I just exited the software and reopened it, and it was fine...

That's really odd because I listened to it off of the Marketplace and my download, and in both cases it played all cut up.

Weird

Just to 'slightly' agree with dsharp75.

I know we don't have all the specs on the new zunes yet, but the replaceable battery on the Sansa, with the lower pricetag, is a big pull on those who use the flash-bashed player for running, working out at the gym, etc.

Nonetheless, I can't wait for the Zune 80.  I can't see anything comparing to it for a while.

Hey Cesar, the Rockinsider link is wrong, it links to the Soul-sides page from the link above, just wanted you to know...

Shout Out Louds are from Sweden