Microsoft Zune: All the excitement that brown can bring
Tags: microsoft, case, matter, zune
The Zuni tribe of Native Americans live in western New Mexico. Ancient and peaceable, they are most notable for their language -- which is unlike any other. They also do a nice line in fetishes, small objects that contain a spirit with a characteristic personality capable of influencing their owners' futures.
The Zune tribe of native Americans, on the other hand, live up in Washington State on the Redmond reservation. Stuck in the past and rather aggressive, they are most notable for their ritual monkey dance and a language that may be related to English. They also have a fetish, a small brown object with its own characteristic spirit personality. Whether it'll influence the future, though, is another matter.
There's the spirit of sharing, which Zune encourages by letting Zunies swap music over a built-in wireless network. But all things must pass -- in this case, within 72 hours. You'll have three days in which to listen to each song three times, at which point it is summoned back to the great server in the sky. Doesn't matter if you're passing your parents a recording you made of your kid being cute -- Zune will banish it. Unless Microsoft is willing to let other companies join in the fun, your chances of sharing anything will be limited by the number of other Zune owners within a 50m radius. Perhaps that's the new digital rights management strategy -- Zero Users, No Exchange.
There's the spirit of all-encompassing capacity, which in Zune's case is limited to 30GB. That may be just the first of many, but coming the day after Apple showed off product at 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 30GB and 80GB, it looks like a one-horse town next to the city of plenty.
Then there's the spirit of time to come. The smart kids grok this -- you can see them listening to radio over their wireless networks (Zune says no), picking up streaming media from blogs (Zune says no), pumping in DivX TV programmes grabbed off the torrents (Zune says no, no, no). Zune wants you to sign up to the Zune zone and do all your dealings there.
It's a platform, not a player, says the chief of the Zunes, clearly shaking his firestick at the iPod. Which doesn't explain why the Apple's got games for sale already -- a subject on which the people of the Zune stay silent. You get to build stuff for platforms, but there's no developers' kit, no shining path for would-be Zune tribe members to pass initiation and take their place on the small screen.
It could all come good. There are plenty of details to come, like price and availability, and perhaps the missing buzz will appear between now and the rumoured November launch date -- although Microsoft shot its bolt with the over-successful teaser campaign for Origami. There may be magic in the Zune that sets it apart from all the other me-too MP3 players but, like the original tribe, I have my reservations. -RG
Update: A preview of the Microsoft Zune is now live in our Reviews channel.
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AnonymousFri 15 September, 2006 9:17pm
I think that MS was rather lucky in that they did not announce Zune before Apple cut the competing iPod price. Now all they have to do is figure out how much to cut their price before shipping the first unit, change all promotional materials that show the old price and re-negotiate wholesale prices with retailers bold enough to try to sell the Zune.
Long term I think Zune will be one of those products where MS spends more money promoting it than designing & developing it. Lots of future in that approach . . .
AnonymousFri 15 September, 2006 10:34pm
What does having a Zune Pass have to do with unprotected (non-DRM) MP3 files? So if I have paid MS I can wirelessly get illegal (and legal-- see the CC license) MP3s, and not otherwise? That sounds ridiculous.
AnonymousSat 16 September, 2006 12:23am
I think there are a lot of unsubstantiated reports flying around out there about the Zune, particularly since Microsoft has kept mum about this to the public for quite some time, with the only notable exception being their recent press release. This article seems highly opinionated and childish, as if the person writing it is throwing a tantrum about something rather than reporting the news. Grow up and read the facts. If MS decided to protect all content transferred wirelessly with DRM (a rumor at this point) it would make the ability to share photos, for instance, nearly useless - and most photos that people share are their own, not purchased photos snapped by someone else. I think there is just a lot of sabre rattling from the camp of iPod users out there who are saying "man, I wish my iPod did this, that and the other!" Microsoft took the good of the iPod (which was 1 thing - playing music well and easily) and expanded it for the 21st Century with wifi and other tools. You can expect that if this product is lacking certain features that people REALLY desire when it's first released, generation 2 will definitely have them (think iPod and color screens, tiny versions, etc.) It's time to stop the rumormongering and just wait for this thing to come out. It may not change the world... but nobody will be able to tell for sure until it's actually available and has the chance to do so.
AnonymousSat 16 September, 2006 6:18am
All Zunes are naturally brown (and you all know why). The black ones and the white ones are just dyed/bleached.
HarveyWed 20 September, 2006 7:31pm
It's all about the wireless; the 3" screen and FM are nice-to-have but likely to appear quickly in iPod and other models.
If wireless takes off, Zune will take some slice out of Apple's pie.
Another side-by-side look at Zune vs the new video iPods is available at http://www.zunerama.com
holdem pokerSun 29 October, 2006 6:54am
Take care of it and keep it on the road!
poker table building supplyWed 22 November, 2006 1:54am
Take care of it and keep it on the road!
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Jeff Miller www.fcdg.bizFri 15 September, 2006 6:50pm
I am disappointed that no SDK was offered to developers.
I was really looking forward to porting my games to this platform.
The Sony Mylo seems to also have snubbed to game development community.
Why? It only adds value to these products to have them able to play
games.