Posted by unregistered user at 11/9/06 7:25 a.m.

With the Universal deal, Microsoft semme to be trying to poison Apple's contract negotiations with Universal. Mr Bronfman Jr. always stated he wanted a piece of the iPod pie (as in revenue share for each hardware device sold.) Steve Jobs will never give it to him.

Posted by unregistered user at 11/9/06 7:33 a.m.

On Tuesday, November 14th, the music talk show "Soundcheck" will feature New York Times writer David Pogue to discuss the new Zune music player, its comparisons to the ipod, and the era of the mp3. "Soundcheck" discusses different topics in the world of music. It airs Monday thru Friday at 2PM eastern time live on WNYC New York Public Radio 93.9 FM. If you are outside of New York City, New Jersey, and Connecticut, you can listen online at wnyc.org

Posted by unregistered user at 11/9/06 10:06 a.m.

Journalists usually have to put up with a lot of flak from Apple fans, but in this case I'm an Apple fan who thinks those reviews might have been biased...against Microsoft.

Mossberg is very competent but it's worth noting that he's written rave reviews of recent Mac models. Pogue has a long history as an excellent author of Apple books and articles. As a result, they may be somewhat biased against the Zune. I think it would be useful to see more reviews from people who are not heavily within the Apple or Microsoft camps. I would be equally suspicious of Zune reviews from Scoble and Thurrott of the Microsoft blogosphere, although they also do try to keep open minds.

Posted by J.Goodwin at 11/9/06 11:38 a.m.

Hm yes, that's exactly what the record companies have been asking for from Apple for ... as long as they've been talking together.

The record companies have nothing to lose by negotiating with Microsoft freely and everything to gain. Apple being the walmart of digital downloads doesn't help them achieve their goals.

Posted by goaliethslinger at 11/9/06 12:04 p.m.

a rolling stone gathers no moss

Posted by lostinseattle at 11/9/06 1:29 p.m.

RealNetwork's Rhapsody mp3 player is a much better product then either the Zune or the Ipod.

Posted by unregistered user at 11/9/06 3:51 p.m.

Posted by lostinseattle at 11/9/06 1:29 p.m.
RealNetwork's Rhapsody mp3 player is a much better product then either the Zune or the Ipod.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA HAHAHAHAHAHAAAHAAA AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... aa.

BWWAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Right!

Posted by unregistered user at 11/10/06 10:38 a.m.

I'm not surprised that Pogue and Mossberg gave less-than-stellar reviews. They berate nearly anything by Microsoft and uphold nearly anything by Apple.

As a Mac-user, though, I think the two journalists are way too biased to be taken seriously. (Pogue, after all, is writing a book about windows Vista and Windows Vista isn't even going to be released for another few months! How fair could such a book possibly be?)

Oddly enough, nearly everyone else who have written a review of Zune (Gizmodo, Engadget and others) say that they have been pleasantly surprised with the performance, quality and features of the device.

Posted by unregistered user at 11/12/06 1:31 a.m.

I think the Wall Street Journal and the New York times got it exactly right. The Zune doesn't match the features of the Store/iTunes/iPod triumvirate and the few differentiated features aren't compelling enough at all:

Pros:
- WiFi music sharing (though 50% of songs purchased by money.cnn.com reviewer on Zune store had sharing disabled)
- DJ mode for broadcasting what you're playing to other Zune users (actually, just found out MS has dropped this feature - it could have been good)
- 3" screen vs 2.5" on iPod (though same 320 x 240 resolution so album art looks more blocky on Zune in portrait mode)
- Integration with Xbox 360 (iPod only works on Xbox with non-DRM music)
- FM Radio built-in ($49 option for iPod)
- Rubber-feel plastic case doesn't scratch as easily as Face of iPod Video
- Subscription option for music ($180 per year pretty expensive though for music that is deleted if offline for a month or cease subscription)
- Guest Synchronisation option to copy songs from other PC (but not back up to your PC)
- Attractive customisable background pictures and transparent menus

Cons:
- 46% larger volume than the 30GB iPod (13% larger than even the 80GB iPod)
- 35% thicker and 8% taller than the 30GB iPod
- 17% heavier than the 30GB iPod (1% heavier than the 80GB iPod)
- Zune Chunky vs slim and elegant iPod according to Wall Street Journal
- 2hrs less battery life than the 30GB iPod (in real-world tests)
- 12-14hrs battery life for Zune vs 20hrs for 80GB iPod or 24hrs for iPod Nano
- WiFi reduces battery life by 2hrs+ in real-world tests
- no WiFi to Computer or Internet only other Zune Players
- 5 buttons on imitation click-wheel instead of scroll wheel for navigation
- 2 million songs in Zune Marketplace vs 3.5 million on iTunes Store
- No TV shows in Zune Marketplace
- No Podcasts in Zune Marketplace
- No Music Videos in Zune Marketplace
- No Movies in Zune Marketplace
- No Audiobooks in Zune Marketplace
- No Games in Zune Marketplace
- No unlimited streaming music library sharing between computers on same subnet or wifi network unlike iTunes software
- Confusing points system for music purchase - $5 minimum purchase
- No Calendar on Zune so no calendar synching
- No Contacts on Zune so no contacts synching
- No Note viewing or synching on Zune
- No pre-installed games on Zune
- only ~100 accessories for Zune vs 3,000+ for iPod
- No auto integration for Zune vs 70% of new cars iPod dock compatible
- Zune adds yet another DRM standard to crowded field
- Zune not compatible with Plays For Sure so can't play music bought from Microsoft's own MSN music or other MS licensees (MS has knifed it's partners)
- Zune not compatible with Windows media player, the MS standard for MP3 player integration
- Zune Windows-only vs Windows and Mac compatible iPod
- half the songs ripped from CDs by money.cnn.com reviewer would not transfer to Zune Player
- 3 models (colours) of Zune vs Shuffle, 6 Nano models, 30GB Video iPod and 80GB Video iPod (plus Red and U2 versions of Nano and larger iPods)
- Fewer supported audio formats:
Zune: WMA, MP3, non-protected AAC
iPod: AAC, AIFF, Apple Lossless, MP3, WAV, Audible
- No USB Disk mode so can't use for file transfer/storage on PC
- plastic case on Zune vs metal case back for iPod or all-metal for Nano
- 3-day or 3 play limit on DRM and non-DRM shared music (even 1 second counts)
- No passing on shared music to a second Zune player
- no synching of purchased music from Zune up to other computer (new iPod feature)
- No equivalent to iTunes Gift certificates
- No equivalent to iTunes Allowances (monthly store credit for kids)
- The word "zune" in French-Canadian and Hebrew is quite offensive

-Mart

Posted by unregistered user at 11/12/06 7:48 p.m.

Wow, strikes me that the Zune is just a foil to show how far out ahead of the rest MP3 player world Apple has gotten with the iPod/iTunes franchise.

If Apple releases the widescreen iPod before Thanksgiving, the Zune is dead.