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November 13th, 2006
Arrogance. Over-confidence. These themes run rampant in the initial reviews of the Microsoft Zune. And of course, that's expected.
What we didn't expect is that over-confidence is exactly what Microsoft wants at this point. It's the same kind of over-confidence that John Scully and Jean Louis Gasseé had at Apple in 1990. Eventually, they both left Apple in quasi-disgrace when Windows 3 took off.
I will grant this. Apple's executive team is a whole lot smarter than Apple was in 1990. The current company is more nimble and in a better financial position. They're better prepared to move on a dime. They have resources and a better channel. Even so, there is every sign that Microsoft is trying to pull the same stunt that they pulled with Windows 3. Whether or not it works this time will be interesting to watch.
The key to reviewing the Zune is not to look at the features that it provides. A deeper understanding is, as usual, embedded in the politics of the device. Let's look at those elements.
Brand Dilution
Right now, the iPod is a premium device. Even if you can only afford an iPod Shuffle for US$79, it still amounts to a fashion and life-style statement inherited from its larger siblings. If Microsoft wanted to design something really cool, they could. They have the money to attract the design talent. But that's not in Microsoft's DNA.
For example, I did many presentations, computer shows, and professional conferences with Apple. Most had booths. We could never give away iPods. Why? Here's the Apple logic: The iPod has great value. You give away things that have no value. Therefore, we don't give away iPods. However, all our channel and developer partners would have a raffle. There were healthy crowds in their booth hoping to win a (valuable) iPod. They understood the business benefit of giving away an iPod, while Apple was (and remains) constrained to carry the banner of product identity and branding.
The way to dilute this is not to come out with a cool device. Rather, one wants to make the portable music player a humdrum commodity device. The same people who disparage Apple, its philosophy, and latest TV ads are the very same people who don't want to be cool. Microsoft knows how to appeal to this kind of roll-up-your-sleeves-and-get-to-work crowd. No nonsense. To that end, the choice of a brown color Zune shouldn't be perceived as very bad taste. It should be understood as a sign that Microsoft intends to tear down the elitist culture of the iPod and turn the portable music device into nothing more than a $9 blister-pack Casio calculator.
Unfortunately, Microsoft had an initial set-back. The plan was to undercut the Apple video iPod in price and continue to be the lower price product at the video-player level. Apple caught on quickly and surprised Microsoft with a price reduction on September 13th. In fact, Apple's margins are such that they can shave the price considerably. But if Apple goes too far in this direction, then Microsoft wins the value dilution war. If Apple keeps the price too high, they run the risk of losing the perception war.
Business is WarThe current Zune isn't really a product per se. Not enough Zunes will be sold to qualify as a real product. Instead, the Zune needs to be viewed as a platform.
The Zune gives Microsoft a ticket to:
- Negotiate with record labels and Indies
- Negotiate with Hollywood studio execs
- Give away (where legal) Zunes to build corporate good will
- Poison Apple's dealings with other clients and partners.
- Develop product placement and visibility on TV
In other words, the Zune gives Microsoft a product platform with which to attack the iPod on business grounds. You see, Apple has always been good at vision and creating products that inspire. But Apple, in the past, hasn't been so good at hard-nosed business deals, losing degrees of freedom, and certain kinds of business partnerships that are typical in the corporate world. Microsoft is very, very good at these kinds of things. The result is that, in time, Microsoft will be able to exert the kind of business leverage that has always been distasteful to Apple.
Apple depends on the enthusiasm of the consumer. Microsoft depends on back-end business deals that line everyone's pocket. The only way to set this in motion is to have a product, any product, just like Windows 3, miserable as it was compared to the early Macs.
Design SpecificationsAlong these lines, the design and product specifications of the Zune shouldn't be taken as Microsoft's best effort at satisfying the customer. Not at this point. That fact the product features of the Zune pale in comparison to the iPod shouldn't make us gloat. It should scare the hell out of us.
For example, Microsoft's departure from an more open infrastructure, PlaysForSure, isn't a sign of confusion. Rather, it's more like what Steve Jobs did when he axed the clones after he returned to Apple. Microsoft needs to get a firm grip on the Zune's design and function as a whole so that it can carry out Microsoft's political agenda. In every case where we see a design deficit (or just something different than what Apple did) we should ask ourselves, "How does this particular feature implementation lead to some kind of capability for Microsoft to undermine the iPod through their business dealings?"
One giveaway is the larger screen. Kids have good eyes. Older adults tend not to have the same visual acuity as kids. If Microsoft is going to use the Zune as a device that gives them inroads into the business community, and they're going to be placing this device on the desks of studio executives, wouldn't it be smart to make the text large enough to actually be readable by the old farts? The added benefit is that a Zune, just a little larger than an iPod, not much mind you, presents the appearance of just a little less miniaturization, hence a little less sophisticated. This further works to dilute the brand of the iPod player. Cheap, big, and brown.
Like a turd.
Zune 2.0
The Zune is like a crowbar. It forcefully opens doors in a way that Microsoft's business partners are accustomed to. In time, the features of the Zune will improve. It will be seen as incrementally approaching the iPod -- which gives Microsoft plenty of flexibility as well as good marks for "See, I'm better!" This apparent momentum will lead Microsoft apologists to suggest that "it won't be long before the Zune is just as good as an iPod, so you might as well write Apple off."
This will have the desired effect on Apple's stock and Apple's relationships with suppliers, third party accessory developers, and corporate clients.
What Apple Can Do
Apple has several weapons at its disposal to fight this. I won't discuss all of them.
Fortunately, the market for iPods, in general, is driven by youngsters. So while Microsoft may have some tactical successes in undermining the politics behind the scenes of the music player business, the ultimate customer, kids, the young-at-heart, and music lovers, are living in another dimension. Microsoft will have a tougher time turning dirty-tricks into a business advantage when the end customer is the affluent consumer, not the businessman. That's one reason this Zune project could fail.
Another trick that Apple could play is to make a huge gamble and blow out the traditional iPod as a product, just like they blew away the iPod mini. Turn on a dime like they did with Intel Macs. They could convert the iPhone into the latest and greatest music player on the planet. This is risky, and I doubted they would do it in last week's column. However, Apple has time to assess how disruptive Microsoft's business dealings are and how successful the marriage of the Zune and Xbox becomes before making this decision in 2007. It would, in effect, change the rules of the game so dramatically that Microsoft's nascent strategy would grind to a temporary halt.
Finally, the thing to remember is that one should be very wary of the over-confident reviews that denigrate the Zune and its features and design. There is more going on here than simply assuming that Microsoft has no taste and that they are all design doofuses. Apple and we analysts who love Apple's products will need to be a lot smarter and more attuned to Microsoft's hidden strategies and typical methods of devouring competitors.
There is no Buddhism in the Zune design. It's a brute-force, low tech T-72 Russian tank designed to steamroll up the beach and create widespread chaos and destruction in the music player community. Assuming Microsoft will fail based on the examination of the Zune's features and functions would be a huge blunder by all of us.
John Martellaro is a senior scientist and author. A former U.S. Air Force officer,he has worked for NASA, White Sands Missile Range, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Apple Computer. During his five years at Apple, he worked as a Senior Marketing Manager for science and technology, Federal Account Executive, and High Performance Computing Manager. His interests include alpine skiing, SciFi, astronomy, and Perl. John lives in Denver, Colorado.
Hidden Dimensions Archives.
Observer Comments
You make interesting points, but the heart of your post is a contradiction. Dilute the iPod brand by making Zune a turd? Surely that only emphasises the iPod brand. Apple can make iPods far cheaper than MS can, so the only way for MS to disrupt the iPod is to use Zune as a loss leader and buy the market with its cash reserves. They'll never make the money back selling songs if they do this, so you seem to be saying that they are so envious of Apple's success in this market that they wish simply to destroy the market, spend a heap of cash doing it, with no hope of getting the money back. It makes no sense.
As for selling Zune to old fart businessmen, the Zune doesn't even act as a hard drive, and I can't see them squirting Paul Simon tracks at each other.
The only way to own this market in the long term, either for Apple or MS is to keep putting out more and more compelling products. They're cheap enough that people do upgrade, so the market won't reach saturation for a while yet. Dell's efforts in this field failed miserably. MS's first effort looks likely to go the same way. If MS keep on putting out turds, they'll never be cool. This isn't the enterprise space. Cool matters.
Nick
Mon Nov 13, 2006 7:58 am Subject: Very interesting opinion
JM's opinion pieces are quickly becoming one of my favorite reads about all things Apple. Very nicely written, thought out pieces.
I agree that Apple needs to be wary here and not overly confident like they were in the past. There are a couple of differences here from what happened in the past that makes the MSFT strategy a little less scary though.
When MSFT was initially selling Windows, it was just a software company. You could price your product anywhere you wanted in the market to get business. With the Zune, MSFT can try for a while to make Zune loss leader on this but since it is more mainstream now and it also answers to wall street, it can't subsidize the hardware forever and some part of the business will need to be profitable at some point in time. With the Xbox, it has the software side of things there to make money on. It will be interesting to see how Zune tries to make money on the software side of things and where it stands to make money here, especially since we know that while wildly popular, the iTunes store is not a fantastic money maker for Apple.
As JM said, Apple is a more nimble company now. And there is a whole strategy behind Apple's media offerings. Apple has entered markets in a way and time that makes sense. MSFT has been trying to do this media thing as a software company for quite a while with very limited results/success. It will not be just about Zune but what they can come up with that competes with iTV and whatever other product that Apple can come up with. Things move much more quickly now as well so the iPod is a moving target. So it is much harder to hit.
With previous offerings from MSFT for business, people did have to roll up their sleeves in order to get things to work properly. They probably won't be as willing to do this with the things they need for entertainment, especially music. So while good enough for MSFT might be a plan, it won't be able to take over the market with good enough. MSFT partners in play for sure have tried this and failed to unseat Apple so far. MSFT will need to make this more than good enough in my opinion.
Neal
One other thing that I just thought about was that the perception of MSFT back then was different than it is now. Back then, they were considered an innovator on the pc side and didn't have the image problems that they have today. Today, in many circles, MSFT is no longer an innovator and has put out less than secure/stellar products in many minds. Because of this difference, they don't get the same free ride that they had in the past. If they put out a product that is not good, I believe the market won't be as forgiving. So there is some peril in a just good enough strategy for MSFT as well.
Neal
Your logic doesn't hold up. Yes, if they sold the same features at half the price, it would undercut the iPod business. Or if they sold more features AND the same experience and iPod-coolness at the same price. But they don't.
Instead, the group of people that is going to buy Zune is most likely the Microsoft fan base. If the Zune sucks MS is going to dilute its own brand amongst its most loyal customers.
And you can just as well argue that the brown Zune-turd enhances Apples iPod image as the King of Cool. Does korean cars dilute the value of the BMW brand?
There is no way that making an unattractive player is part of some brilliant master plan. MS simply isn't better than that. They are good at Me-too products.
Quotenealg wrote:
J So while good enough for MSFT might be a plan, it won't be able to take over the market with good enough.
Neal
I totally agree with you. The consumer maket is an entire beast completely. I bought an xbox 360 last week (no comments please... my girlfriend has been wanting to play Oblivion since before it was even out and I didn't want to infect my iMac with Windows!). This purchase has convinced me that MS will never be a top notch contender in the consumer space:
- it crashes. A lot.
- It's BIG, BULKY and CHEAP. Looks like it was designed by someone with a degree in shovels. Not at all like what you see in pictures.
- It's ridiculously noisy. This is intended for the living room, not the underside of a desk in the garage.
- The hardware is flimsy. My controller was broken out of the box (the guy who did the exchange at Future Shop said he was on his third already!). The headset that comes with it feels like it should belong in a cereal box - and it's MONO!!! AND it has a proprietary 1/8 jack (shorter than normal) so this is what you're stuck with.
All in all, it just feels like a rushed this-is-good-enough product without any polish, refinement or intelligent thought about its ultimate purpose. The power brick alone should put every designer who worked on this product to shame: it could be a small radiator for god's sake!
i believe this is the perfect example of MS's internal culture. I think no matter what talent they recruit, this culture will always negate it in the end. We often hear how Windows is so much more complex because it has to deal with so many configurations. That if MS had Apple's advantage of controlling "the whole widget" we'd see that they're just as capable of creating great products that "just work". Well, no. The Xbox is closed. It's proprietary. This should be their moment to shine. And it's crap. And from what I've seen so far, you can apply everything I've said to Xbox Live.
This was a great article. But I believe this is a very different reality. MS's tried and true tactics aren't an advantage on this one.
BS in the boardroom will not change consumer's minds. The iPod is a consumer item. Millions of consumers have chosen iPod over some pretty good competition because the iPod looks good and is easier to use.
Microsoft will always fail in looks good and ease of use no matter which Microsoft product we are talking about.
Consumers shun ugly and hard to use get's thrown in a drawer somewhere, never to be seen again.
Seems that each successive article by JM gets more and more, shall we say, abstruse. MS has been stumbling around for years. Maybe instead of divining some inspired and audacious marketing gambit of willful mediocrity behind the Zune, maybe we should just admit that it's just another indication of the club-footed ineptness that has been plaguing Microsoft these past 5+ years.
I agree with previous posts that this notion of taking the shine of the iPod brand by selling a crappy competing product just doesn't make sense.
Zune is first and foremost a brute force attempt at throwing money at the problem and hoping that something sticks. That was, is, and as long as Gates & Ballmer are in control, will always be the only way Microsoft will do business.
Microsoft is not good at designing great products. It's business model is to muscle out competitors through shrewd and timely contracting, coercive business practices, and a near limitless capacity to absorb losses.
Microsoft has never ever had a profitable product (think DOS, Windows & Office) that can be thought of as the best in category. You always bought Microsoft because either that's what everyone else bought or because (you thought) you had no choice. In all other products where MS comes in faced by established competition, their product mediocrity led to failure. No reason why Zune would be any different.
Microsoft has agreed to kickbacks to at least one movie studio, agreeing to a payment per unit sold.This is in MS dna. Remember how they forced every manufacturer to pay a Window's fee on every PC sold, even if it came equipted with another operating system?
The studio's may be using this as leverage with Apple, as they negotiate movie deals. Unfortunatly, it is the consumer who loses, but it may be trying to force Apple to change its business model.
The studios may be waiting to cut their deals, and so far MS seems to have the same avaricious thoughts and methods as they traditionally do. this could be bad for Ipod and Apple.
I've no doubt that having established the Zune as what PlaysForSure should have been, MS will 'open' the platform (thus selling server software to music stores, and chip patents to players) in the way Apple haven't.
(Then again, they haven't done so with XBox, have they?).
I think they key thing for Apple is to keep the focus on music, music, music - not technology or features. 'Technology is stuff that doesn't work yet' as Mac fan Douglas Adams once said. The iPod is in the position - unlike Macs - of not being technology for most people.
Mon Nov 13, 2006 2:21 pm Subject: Music business out of control
The music industry wants to desperately get back control of its business. So much so they're applying a shotgun approach to the problem and seeing what sticks.
Piracy still outranks legal sales and according to recent numbers there are but 21 iTunes songs sold per iPod. If this information is correct then the music industry must think Apple isn't doing enough for them. Of course, Microsoft will prove they can't do much either. Still, Microsoft is pitching that they understand viral social forces. This is ludicrous to the say the least. No one understands these forces. Ironically, the music industry should know this better than anyone: who could have have predicted Elvis Presley, The Beatles or The Sex Pistols? Still, I can imagine Microsoft boosters at music business meetings saying: let's give Microsoft a chance; we're being treated too shabbily by Apple. The fence-sitters and even Mac supporters at those meetings will feel compelled to acquiesce.
I want Apple to succeed. To do so, I think Apple needs to be more compassionate towards the music industry and apply their talents toward helping them out of their dilemma. Apple should think beyond hardware sales solely. Use the mind-share they've build up with iTunes/iPod to create new avenues of opportunity for content providers. Partner with more channels of distribution: satellite radio, brick-and-mortar. Provide symbiotic link-backs (ad space if you will) from iTunes to outside provider's sites.
Mon Nov 13, 2006 4:26 pm Subject: Good Points But MS Will Lose Badly
MS is clearly trying to to roil the waters by signing that deal with Universal but there are several reasons that will fail:
a) MS is trying the same game plan they used to win the PC OS market (veering into illegal territory eventually) where by locking up manufacturers, sellers & distributors - they were able to lock out or effectively lock out everyone (including Unix, CP/M, Mac,mini computer OSes, etc ...) until the dawn of the internet age. This is the EXACT game plan they set in place 8 years ago when they came up with their WMA (with DRM). They dutifully went to all the content providers they could find - music, movie studios, etc ... (hell Bill Gates even bought Corbis) and showed them how WMA DRM's was bulletproof and of course, they all signed off so MS created an entire turnkey system from encoding to online streaming. They thought their work was done but as with EVERY MS venture, they never bothered to ask consumers - just like the enterprise market - who cares what the drones at the desk actually want. But then came the internet. The early years were a jumble because with dialup, even music streaming at a tiny bitrate (and crappy) took too much effort but eventually Mp3 burst from the gate which confounded MS - they already had a digital format - who would use this other format? For those that don't remember, they introduced a new WMA version (don't exactly remember which version) that had "better fidelity" and was 10% smaller - analysts and non-thinking journalists fell over themselves to proclaim this would be new digital format - it was MS after all - at the heyday of napster, I'll bet it was 95% mp3, 5% wma at best. MS loses when consumers get to freely choose and in the internet age, consumers decide.
To extend that, remember that MS had about 10-25 online store partners (all selling WMA) and they had pretty much all the manufacturers/sellers locked up (couple hundred worldwide?) so they were certainly not worried when the ipod came out ... but they didn't realize the world had changed and they were still in 1992. You cannot buy up the internet - you cannot extend and embrace the internet no matter how hard you try. No one cared that there were 20 oonline stores selling WMA or 100 other choices, the majority of people choose the ipod. They tried with plays4sure and now the Zune. They think if we sign up all the record labels or offer them a better deal - we'll have "exclusive" content ... which leads us to B ...
b) CLEARLY consumers know how to load content onto their ipod/DAP's without buying that many tracks from online stores (whether itunes or not) so this really serves no purpose because consumers have clearly stated through their actions that an online store is imprtant but not the most important reason to won a DAP/ipod. Universal's head guy calls us thieves - another good way to win us over ... so even if Apple refuses to pay extortion to Universal or others, consumers will hardly switch to the Zune just to buy these tracks - consumers know exactly how to buy a CD or WORSE for Universal as Apple will point out - simply download it for FREE as a protest or just because ...
c) Honestly, who is going to win a PR battle between Apple, ipod users (maybe 85 million by the next negotiations) and Steve Jobs? Steve Jobs who not only heads Apple & Pixar but sits on the board at Disney? Or the record labels? All Apple has to do is point out that $1 does not go to artists and more importantly - what's next for consumers? pay the car manufacturer everytime you buy gas? pay the fridge comapnies everytime you open the fridge to load food? Or what if you have no tracks from Universal - do they want the hassle of a class action lawsuit to "re-pay" people if thousands/millions ipod users claim they have no Universal artists on their ipod?
d) if anything, MS' actions have fired up the internet tech heads/early adopters and gives them yet another reason not to buy a Zune.
MS has already lost because they do NOT understand consumers at all. They are pretty much zero for 11 including spending over $400 on each each Xbox to sell each one ... except now, they don't have multi billions to waste and of course, music tracks are not $49 so there's not enough cash flow for the Zune to be $99.
In response to the notion that Apple should be more responsive to the misfortunes of the Music industry. The Music Industry has done this (lowering sales) to themselves. The historical way to be aquatinted to new music was hearing it on the radio or a friend gives you a cassette or CD copy. The stuff you really like you most often would buy a real version.
Almost all (97%) radio is owned by two companies that play the same narrow formats everywhere. The larger audience is deprived of an easy means to be exposed to new music from a broader range were they might find something they like; sales go down. Pirating songs have a minimal effect on downward sales, and use to provide a stimulus. The CDs no longer offer anything beyond a couple good songs and people do not buy the whole overpriced album to get them. The prof is in the history; People used to buy tapes and CDs after hearing the pirate versions. There was value.
Big music has a failing business model that is choking off access to a broader range of potential buyers. If the industry was focused on real quality over a more accessible broad range they would not have lagging sales. The last new music I was introduced to was on a PBS show. I have bought ten albums as a result of that one TV show and friends hearing my albums have bought many many more. I have never heard any of these songs on the radio. The music companies only promote "Acts" they think will score big; They do not try any other promotion model.
The best thing for music would be the complete collapse of big music. This might work for sports also.
roger
To those who say that the author has as flawed logic in stating that "Zune as a turd will dilute the iPod". I presume he is saying that, the Zune will commoditize the entire mp3 player segment, not the the iPod specifiically. And, as to whether Creative, iRiver etc doing the same - the only argument is that Microsoft is a lot bigger than the other companies, and has advertising dollars to spend. We can all agree that, MS will outsell all the other "Plays for Sure" players very soon - can't we?. Just a thought.
Suppose Kia sells as many cars as they want. Suppose they're so successful that they take over 50% of the market.
They still would not have commoditized the auto market. They Would have commoditized themselves but I doubt that they would have commoditized Honda or Toyota or Volvo or Cadillac or BMW or Mercedes or any other brand that sells on the basis of unique brand-specific features and/or a reputation of superior quality rather than low price.
As long as the iPod is seen by consumers to be a premium quality product with unique features, whatever commoditization Zune does it will be doing only unto itself.
This site is hilarious. Check it out at:
http://www.microsoftshitbrick.com
Amusing to see how the Apple zombies keep living in cloud cuckooland.
At the end of the day, an iPod is just a music/video device.
Its not a fashion statement (a very high percantage of iPod uers are geriatric old men and women), and its not so you can look cute ( I have seen some of the UNcooloset, least cute, corpulent individuals packing iPods). Its just for playng music/videos. Period.
Music is essentialy the same no matter which MP3 device you play it on, with some minor differences.
If anything music on the Zune actually sounds better than the iPod (I compared).
The # 1 reason why competitors have not been able to do too much damage to the iPod is because firms like Creative are simply too broke to do any effective marketing (they just had 3 straight quarters of losses). Even so, the iPod's market share has fallen from 92% in 2004 to 77% today. That is a fall of 15% in just 2 years or less, most of that loss to the lil new pstart, the SanDisk Sansa.
Micrsoft does have the money for some very effective marketing, like they are doing right now..
There is incredible buzz about the Zune. At Circuit City Friday and Monday, there were people begging to be allowed to buy it before the official Tuesday unveilling.
Never seen any MP3 player generate this kind of exitement.
The Zune has attributes that the 70 million iPods already bought, will never have, like Zune to Zune sharing.
That makes the iPod look like something from Fred Flintstone's world.
Ulitmately, Microsoft is going to win this war, even if Apple wins some initial skirmishes.
Tue Nov 14, 2006 2:33 am Subject: Zune missing tons of features iPod already has. D'Oh!
"The Zune has attributes that the 70 million iPods already bought, will never have, like Zune to Zune sharing.
That makes the iPod look like something from Fred Flintstone's world."
Everyone talks about this one Zune feature like it's the be all and end all iPod killing feature but the reality is it will be a rarely used thing since the technology is so limited. Three playbacks of a song (regardless of how long you play the song before losing playback counts) and it turns off and no other Wi-Fi advantage beyond this? Lame. Apple would/will do far more with this.
Too bad the Zune too is missing dozens of existing iPod features and capabilities and can't even be used as an external storage device like the iPod can! No equalizer either!
This sharing feature is a hobbled and ill-conceived Wi-Fi feature that Apple will blow away in terms of useful functionality as soon as they turn their expert eyes to it which won't be long. In fact I predict they will come up with features neanderthal Microsoft can only dream about.
As David Pogue and Walt Mosberg pointed out in their reviews:
Pogue wrote: "It doesn't have a single standard iPod amenity: no games, alarm clock, stopwatch, world clock, password-protected volume limiter, equalizer, calendar, address book or notes module."
You cannot download podcasts either, he pointed out.
"This first Zune has too many compromises and missing features to be as good a choice as the iPod for most users," wrote Mossberg.
He added: "The hardware feels rushed and incomplete.
THAT'S THE MICROSOFT WE'VE COME TO KNOW AND DESPISE!
It's iTues that counts. Until Microsoft can at least build a music store that's 10 percent as good, it will not outsell the iPod. With a store 10 percent as good, it could, because the iPod itself can be outdone in features that allow advertisers to persuade buyers that their product is better. iPod may or may not be better than other players. I own it because of iTunes, which gives me easy and fast ways to access music, movies, podcasts and TV shows and easy and fast ways to organize all of the above. And the utter simplicity of it all means it doesn't take much time from the rest of my life.
Tue Nov 14, 2006 9:12 am Subject: Zune has everything iPod has, just better and MORE!
"Too bad the Zune too is missing dozens of existing iPod features and capabilities and can't even be used as an external storage device like the iPod can! No equalizer either! "
Hah!
The Zune has an equalizer.
Tried it myself at Circuit City , Union Square.
And it kicks the carap out of the iPods, punu equalizer.
"Zune" is missing dozens of existing iPod faetures"?
Why don't you just name one of them dude?
"It's iTues that counts. Until Microsoft can at least build a music store that's 10 percent as good, it will not outsell the iPod"
The Zune Market Place is at least as good, if not better than iTunes 7.
Its got features that iTunes can only dream about.
It's very easy to use, intuitive, and very fast.
Do you people even actually know anything about what you keep prattling about at all?
Tue Nov 14, 2006 4:22 pm Subject: Re: Zune has everything iPod has, just better and MORE!
QuoteAnonymous wrote:
Hah!
The Zune has an equalizer.
Tried it myself at Circuit City , Union Square.
And it kicks the carap out of the iPods, punu equalizer.
"Zune" is missing dozens of existing iPod faetures"?
Why don't you just name one of them dude?
Well, the iPod attracts people who can construct readable sentences and can spell, unlike those who only have the imagination to by a Zune.
Why, FFS, would having an equaliser make the Zune a better buy? And what is the difference between the Zune equaliser and that on the iPod? What is so great about sharing music? Would you want to do it, ever? Is that why you would want a Zune over an iPod?
I have had an iPod for over 3 years now and not once have I ever wanted to "squirt" my music to someone. Furthermore, I don't put something on to escape from the world so I can be "social." I have my ipod on sometimes so I can ignore people not so I can make friends. It is a great way to tune out the bums that constant ask you for money in major metropolitan areas. The Zune advertisements make no sense.
Tue Nov 14, 2006 6:35 pm Subject: Re: who cares about sharing music?
Tue Nov 14, 2006 6:42 pm Subject: Re: Zune has everything iPod has, just better and MORE!
"Well, the iPod attracts people who can construct readable sentences and can spell, unlike those who only have the imagination to by a Zune. "
You mean zombies like you?
BTW, what does that have to do with Zune haviung a better equalizer than the iPod, and you claiming that it doesn't?
"Why, FFS, would having an equaliser make the Zune a better buy?"
Same reason people spend thousands to buy the best sound system they can get, including the best equalizer..sound quality, which is what it's all about.
Listening to great music is not about "cute" or "cool" or whatever. It's all about the quality of the sound.