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Microsoft Releases Zune Details

strangers on a train

when i first heard that this player could share songs wirelessly (in a limited capacity) i thought it was stupid. And i still do.

But then i thought what if you're on a packed train. you turn on your ipod and see a message saying "do you want to listen to shared music?". you press yes; a message now says "listen to steve's music" another says "listen to julie's music" and another says "listen to susan's music". you press for julie's music and after a short delay you hear "the scissor sisters" playing on your ipod. you haven't downloaded the track, you've just got julies tracks streaming on your ipod.


You have now turned what is predominately a singular, anti-social pastime into a mass party! everyone could be listening to the same track. except you soon switch it off because you dont really like the scissor sisters





This idea also works well on buses.
 
minnesotamacman said:
One thing about being an iPod supporter is that you begin to hate anything, and everything, that isn't an iPod.
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isn't that weird? i mean you use an iPod and suddenly you hate other players!

it is like my cars. i have a cheap no frills truck for hauling things and towing, and an audi with a luxury package. for some reason, the more i drive the audi, especially in winter with the all wheel drive and the heated seats, the less i like the truck.

it is almost as if the audi is somehow nicer.

i wonder why it is people who actually own and use iPods like them so much? ;)
 
hmmm. One can only wonder what the ad campaign will be like for the brown one... :D
 

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To me a MP3 player is just an MP3 player. As long as it plays music. I only bought an iPod cos of the iTMS (which I Don't use anymore-GoMusic.ru is way cheaper!). Its the same with a computer-as long as it works (which is exactly why I got a Mac :D).
 
Once people get used to using Zunes at work they'll end up buying them for home use too.
 
DoogieWoogie said:
But then i thought what if you're on a packed train. you turn on your ipod and see a message saying "do you want to listen to shared music?". you press yes; a message now says "listen to steve's music" another says "listen to julie's music" and another says "listen to susan's music". you press for julie's music and after a short delay you hear "the scissor sisters" playing on your ipod. you haven't downloaded the track, you've just got julies tracks streaming on your ipod.
Click to expand...
You know, that would be really cool. Apart from this strange scissor sister thing.
 
How did we all miss this???

Microsoft's Zune Won't Play Protected Windows Media

ChrisG said:
To me a MP3 player is just an MP3 player. As long as it plays music. I only bought an iPod cos of the iTMS (which I Don't use anymore-GoMusic.ru is way cheaper!). Its the same with a computer-as long as it works (which is exactly why I got a Mac :D).
Click to expand...

Hmm, well I for one don't think a product should only exists to perform it's minimum job requirement.

I also wouldn't entirely trust that any web site ending in ".ru" (aka russian) is legal. I somehow cant believe that all the major American labels that appear to be there, for some reason, negotiated a tremendous deal with this Russian web site instead of any of the major American sites that have launched.

Finally, AAC is higher quality than MP3.
 
That's just surreal and mindblowing. Microsoft's own DRM dosen't play on their own player. Wow. Where's the line start for the Zune? 'Cause I want to pay more for a worse product.
 
Wolfpup said:
That's just surreal and mindblowing. Microsoft's own DRM dosen't play on their own player. Wow. Where's the line start for the Zune? 'Cause I want to pay more for a worse product.
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I certainly don't see myself dumping my iPods anytime soon, but I will be very anxious to try a Zune for myself when it actually comes out, before I start denouncing it too much.

Right now though, it's not sitting very pretty.
 
Can anyone provide a reason for MS not incorporating their "Playsforsure" DRM thing in the Zune? I've been reading articles all day about how stupid MS is for doing this, but no one mentions why.
 
MoparShaha said:
Can anyone provide a reason for MS not incorporating their "Playsforsure" DRM thing in the Zune? I've been reading articles all day about how stupid MS is for doing this, but no one mentions why.
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Why they're stupid or why they're not doing it?

Doing it because they're Microsoft: they do things like that.

Stupid because it doesn't make any sense.
 
MoparShaha said:
Can anyone provide a reason for MS not incorporating their "Playsforsure" DRM thing in the Zune? I've been reading articles all day about how stupid MS is for doing this, but no one mentions why.
Click to expand...


Here's one, albeit not properly thought-out. :D

What if MS decided not to alienate all other allies in this iPod war, leaving a large part of the remaining market (Creative, Napster et al) to continue their struggle while opening up yet another front with the Zune, banking on its longer-term future.
 
Blue Velvet said:
Here's one, albeit not properly thought-out. :D

What if MS decided not to alienate all other allies in this iPod war, leaving a large part of the remaining market (Creative, Napster et al) to continue their struggle while opening up yet another front with the Zune, banking on its longer-term future.
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I suppose this does sound like a traditional MS marketing move, but surely they're not this crazy. It's hard enough for the #2 media format/DRM (Playsforsure) to compete against Apple and their FairPlay. Starting another format/DRM scheme is surely doomed to fail. The irony, and my favorite part of all of this, is MS is abandoning it's own format. Gotta love that.
 
Has anyone noticed the Wal Mart slip up?

Zune might cost $ 284 :eek: :eek: :confused:

I really really hope this is true. Most people let their wallets choose for them. I M§ had released the Zune at $150, it could have surpassed iPod, but when it costs almost $50 more than the iPod with equal hard drive, I can't see that happen (okay, you get wireless (not really that fantastic right now) and a slighly bigger, though still a full screen display)

I hope the price stays this way, and the Zune will flop
 
I honestly have no idea what Microsoft could possibly be thinking. The screen is bigger, sure, but it's not even out yet. By the time it's released it's very possible that on the heels of their success with the iTunes movie sales, Apple will finally release their much anticipated video iPod.

This has to be J Allard's creation? I mean I love my Xbox, but there is nothing about the Zune that excites me. (Particularly when I heard about the DRM everything "feature".)
 
coal said:
I honestly have no idea what Microsoft could possibly be thinking. The screen is bigger, sure, but it's not even out yet. By the time it's released it's very possible that on the heels of their success with the iTunes movie sales, Apple will finally release their much anticipated video iPod.

This has to be J Allard's creation? I mean I love my Xbox, but there is nothing about the Zune that excites me. (Particularly when I heard about the DRM everything "feature".)
Click to expand...

Yep, the design is also nothing like the new XBox, which is not really that bad. It's basically a brick in three colours (okay, iPod isn't very different, too) but I thought they were planning on making their hardware more whiteish and organic (and I don't think they mean that as in the brown Zune)
 
DoogieWoogie said:
when i first heard that this player could share songs wirelessly (in a limited capacity) i thought it was stupid. And i still do.

But then i thought what if you're on a packed train. you turn on your ipod and see a message saying "do you want to listen to shared music?". you press yes; a message now says "listen to steve's music" another says "listen to julie's music" and another says "listen to susan's music". you press for julie's music and after a short delay you hear "the scissor sisters" playing on your ipod. you haven't downloaded the track, you've just got julies tracks streaming on your ipod.


You have now turned what is predominately a singular, anti-social pastime into a mass party! everyone could be listening to the same track. except you soon switch it off because you dont really like the scissor sisters

This idea also works well on buses.
Click to expand...


You press for jack's music and after a short delay, you hear a voice that whispers all the things he wants to do with you, and in front of you a stranger starts smiling at you.

Or, you press for John's music, and after a short delay, you hear nothing. You see a message from Microsoft that you need to sync your Zune to your PC. It also asks for your administrator password. When you come home and sync your Zune wirelessly, you start getting messages for free gay porn on your computer, and after a short delay, the Blue Screen of Death appears.


You're right, it is a great feature, more switchers !
 
I like many of the fetures on the Zune, I think Apple is moving to slowly on the iPod in many ways.

One that sticks out in my mind
The Zune lets you place any picture in your photo library for backgorunds in menus, and also allows for color themes on the user interface. Apple has had an iPod with color screen capability for years now, Still no customized menu backgrounds, or color themes. Their OS allows this on the Macintosh, why not on the iPod ?

Also, the Zune has what appear to be 3D menus, with special effects when selecting items in the menu. Apple has a little Dual processor setup in the iPod, why not put some OS X Special effects (like the ones the Zune copied) in the iPod to breath new life into the interface? The Sliding menu's are quite dated, and could easily be upgraded to something else!

Will I buy one

Perhaps, however if there is no support for MacOS, then I will definitely not even consider it.

Am I going to wait for the "Next step" from Apple?

Definitely, and I have higher hopes for Apple's creativity as opposed to Microsoft, however only time will tell what will come of this new competition from Microsoft. Hopefully it will force Apple to innovate again, and not just upgrade!

Apple currently is the market leader in this segment, hopefully they can do what Microsoft has been able to do in the operating system , productivity segment.
 
840quadra said:
I like many of the fetures on the Zune, I think Apple is moving to slowly on the iPod in many ways.

One that sticks out in my mind
The Zune lets you place any picture in your photo library for backgorunds in menus, and also allows for color themes on the user interface. Apple has had an iPod with color screen capability for years now, Still no customized menu backgrounds, or color themes. Their OS allows this on the Macintosh, why not on the iPod ?

Also, the Zune has what appear to be 3D menus, with special effects when selecting items in the menu. Apple has a little Dual processor setup in the iPod, why not put some OS X Special effects (like the ones the Zune copied) in the iPod to breath new life into the interface? The Sliding menu's are quite dated, and could easily be upgraded to something else!
Click to expand...

I'm inclined to agree. I get that the iPod is all about simplicity, and if it continues to stay that way I won't complain because ultimately, it works. However, I would like to see something a bit different incorporated into the 6G iPod which will (hopefully) be the full-screen, touch-screen model we've all been waiting for. I want customisable backgrounds. I want a OS-X-esque dock for navigation. I want album-art thumbnails.

I hope the 6G iPod is released soon, although I'm not sure it will be with the 5Gs recently updated. Maybe the Zune will pressure Apple into releasing the 6G, I don't know. The only downside would be that I just went and bought myself a new blue Nano and it would kill me to have to shell out again.
 
Sdashiki said:
your all talking about an MP3 capable cellphone.

being able to set pictures and whatnot.
Click to expand...

Not really... I would expect an MP3 capable phone to have the ability to make phone calls. All I want is a bit of user-customisation.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy without it. It would just be a nice added touch for those that want to use it.
 
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