iPod haters, try Zune (hehe)

[sheep]

http://www.suntimes.com/technology/i...Andy23.article

[Apollo]

oh Mircrosoft what is wrong with you? are so dense to not know that the way you have designed the Zune would amount to failure. then again, your a multi-billion dollar company who doesnt really need to create a MP3 player to make money, you have so many other ways. I guess that is why you let the Zune suck as much as it does. not to mention you own nearly half of apple. you are already getting your mp3 money from them.

[sheep]

oh Mircrosoft, I guess that is why you let the Zune suck as much as it does. not to mention you own nearly half of apple. you are already getting your mp3 money from them.

I don't know where your information comes from regarding Microsofts ownership of Apple. To my knowledge Microsoft paid 200 million to Apple and were awarded a special class of shares that can't be sold. The reason for the 200 million was because 2000 consecutive lines of code in WMP or its predecessor appeared much earlier in QuickTime and the courts decided this wasn't a coincidence. Judjment for the Plaintiff: 200 million but in typical Microsoft way they wanted something in return. They got a worthless stock certificate.

So, who is winning the war? Check the stock market for the past 5 years.

[T-Rexx]

In 1997, Microsoft purchased $150 million of non-voting Apple stock. This constituted somewhere between 5 and 7% of the value of Apple at the time, which was then close to bankruptcy. Microsoft also agreed at that time to port MS Office and Internet Explorer to the Mac. Microsoft also is understood to have loaned Apple a significant amount of money at the time.

All of these are very un-Microsoft sorts of things to do, so these actions raised a lot of eyebrows, and have spawned many rumors over the years. The most accepted explanation is that Microsoft felt that the collapse of Apple (which seemed imminent at the time) would be used as an argument against them in several anti-monopoly/antitrust lawsuits pending against them at the time (including the famous Netscape case). Microsoft has long been fond of arguing in court that their control of 95% of the world's computers does not constitute a monopoly, since consumers always have the choice of buying an Apple.

It is believed that Microsoft continues to own 5 to 7% of Apple, although neither company will talk about this. Microsoft's shares are non-voting, but they can be sold. They are worth today far, far more than the $150 million MS invested.

Good investment. Not many people in 1997 believed Apple had a future.

[BrandonSBCA]

iPod + Zune = Shitty MP3 Players

GET A ZEN!

[Keeland]

In 1997, Microsoft purchased $150 million of non-voting Apple stock. This constituted somewhere between 5 and 7% of the value of Apple at the time, which was then close to bankruptcy. Microsoft also agreed at that time to port MS Office and Internet Explorer to the Mac.

Only Internet Explorer was new to the Mac (I think it was). In addition to the cash infusion, what MS did was to pledge a further five years of Office support.

MS began writing Mac apps in 1981.

MS Word for Macintosh was released five years before it was released for Windows. Excel appeared for the Mac two years before the Windows version.

Microsoft Word, or Microsoft Office Word, is Microsoft's flagship word processing software. It was first released in 1983 under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems.[1] Versions were later written for several other platforms including IBM PCs running DOS (1983), the Apple Macintosh (1984), SCO UNIX, OS/2 and Microsoft Windows (1989).

This page, dated Dec. 3, 2001, says:

Microsoft has been working on the development of applications for the Macintosh platform for over 15 years; the first version of Works for Mac appeared in 1985 and Office 1.0 first came out on the Mac Platform in 1989.

The Macintosh software team is the largest Mac team outside of Apple Computer Inc, and is dedicated to creating a great partnership that produces high-quality applications for Macintosh customers. Microsoft currently has approximately 200 employees dedicated to creating Macintosh applications that enhance the computing experience for all Macintosh customers.

[T-Rexx]

^ You are correct, Keeland. My post reads:

"...Microsoft also agreed at that time to port MS Office and Internet Explorer to the Mac..."

It should read:

"...Microsoft also agreed at that time to port MS Office 97 and Internet Explorer to the Mac..."

My apologies.

[Twisly]

OH! Microsoft is sooooo desperate!

[MetaKnight]

iPod + Zune = Shitty MP3 Players

GET A ZEN!

I had plans to buy one of those, but due to some wii reasons i never did. I just might do so now that they are a bit cheaper.

As far as iPods, i will never buy one simply because I hate iTunes plus iPods dont even have FM radio. And Zunes? Well I'll have to see one myself to judge.

[BrandonSBCA]

I had plans to buy one of those, but due to some wii reasons i never did. I just might do so now that they are a bit cheaper.

As far as iPods, i will never buy one simply because I hate iTunes plus iPods dont even have FM radio. And Zunes? Well I'll have to see one myself to judge.

I've had my Zen for two months now, and I'm happy as hell that I have it. It has FM radio and can view a lot of video formats. My brother is a iPod user and he says he'll never get use to doing a different MP3 Player. It seems players done by people who've released Operating Systems tend to be kind of shitty. Zune I've heard bad reviews about that, and iPods are good but only if you are risking to have iTunes on your computer

[Matt1809]

Well this isnt a review so much as a rant. I actually own a Zune (the brown one which looks much better in person) and most of this article it is compete crap. I installed the software on both XP and Vista (64-bit) and didnt have any trouble with the install. They sync went fine and the device works nicely, plus the big screen and radio are nice.

I mean the guy doesnt even review the features. Plus I fail to see how MS points make it easier to change the price. He is aware that you can charge different amounts of money, yes?

This article is crap from an Mac fanboi and is nothing more then FUD, go read a real review.

[Apollo]

iPod + Zune = Shitty MP3 Players

GET A ZEN!

I own a Zen V and I love it. Easy to use, not very complicated. Great sound, not to mention really cute. I plan to get the Zen V plus eventually, so I can have the video and FM radio features. Also, the headphones that came with it were actually good. I still had to switch to my sony headphones though.

[icefan]

I'm not sure what to make of the review. I've owned the Zune for about a month now and haven't run into any of the issues that the author wrote about. I'm not talking about the WiFi feature, I wasn't expecting it to be able to wirelessly download songs since the package never said anything about that anyway...since I've only owned mine for 1 month, I was wondering what you other Zune owners out there think of the product?

[Matt1809]

Well I got one for christmas and the only thing that I didnt like was the fact that it deleted all the preloaded content as soon as I synced with with my PC, and that you cant do anything while its connected. I would also like Divx/Xvid support, which I hear they are adding, whethers its native or just converts is another question.

[BrandonSBCA]

Well I got one for christmas and the only thing that I didnt like was the fact that it deleted all the preloaded content as soon as I synced with with my PC, and that you cant do anything while its connected. I would also like Divx/Xvid support, which I hear they are adding, whethers its native or just converts is another question.

Well it would probably be more expensive when they finally do release one with DivX/XviD support. My Zen Vision M already supports that and it plays them crystal clear. Plus it doesn't delete stuff that is already on the player when syncing to your computer like the Zune does.

[playwithmemonkey]

Mac all the way baby

[fuzzy64]

have had my Ipod for just about 2 years now, and love it! no complaints, no problems!

what is up with the stupid complaint about no FM radio on an MP3 player?
why would you want a radio?

[agaymale]

There is no way I could afford a Zune...They are too damn expensive...

[Apollo]

have had my Ipod for just about 2 years now, and love it! no complaints, no problems!

what is up with the stupid complaint about no FM radio on an MP3 player?
why would you want a radio?

because you might be tired of your selection of music on your MP3 player and want to listen to something new, therefore you turn on your FM radio to listen to some music you havent heard before, or that you dont already have on your MP3 player.

[panic1]

zunes are good, they are a lil too bulky though, good idea, good size screen, and a fantastic idea with the bluetooth thing. bluetooth songs to other zunes !

[sheep]

zunes are good, they are a lil too bulky though, good idea, good size screen, and a fantastic idea with the bluetooth thing. bluetooth songs to other zunes !

But remember, you can only play a tune d/l from another 3 times.

[phantombrave]

zunes didnt come in pink or red hehehe

[sweetescape]

My sister got me a Sansa e250 for Christmas and it's pretty good. It has pictures, video (converts AVI, MPEG 1,2,4, .VOB, WMV) has FM radio, voice recorder that also records the radio. There is also a MicroSD slot for more memory and Trusted Flash and gruvi cards. The picture/video quality is good as well as the battery life.

[evilest]

I've had two iPods die on me in 11 months for no reason. They're not built to last. I couldn't get used to a Zen (my friend had one) and I'm worried about Zune. Problem is I can't go back to 1 CD Walkmans...

[sheep]

I've had a Pod for more than 4 years. Never any problem.

[The General]

because you might be tired of your selection of music on your MP3 player and want to listen to something new, therefore you turn on your FM radio to listen to some music you havent heard before, or that you dont already have on your MP3 player.

It stands to reason that the only music you're gonna put on your ipod is stuff you want to listen to, doesn't it? I rarely listen to the radio because it's full of stuff I don't want to hear (and DJ's that babble incessantly before/during/after tunes 'cos they love the sound of their own voice too much and then forget to tell you what they've just been playing). If I wanna hear new stuff I check itunes each week - it doesn't cater for all tastes but its good enough for what I want.

And besides, FM is gonna get phased out (in the UK at least) and there's a big push for DAB right now. Some of the good things about DAB are the fact you can record to SD cards, pause live radio, clarity of sound, huge choice of channels and use an EPG to record specific shows over the coming week. Internet Radio is gathering pace too.

[Matt1809]

Yes, but what if you want to listen to the BBC news while walking down the street?

[sheep]

Yes, but what if you want to listen to the BBC news while walking down the street?

Then you buy a radio. iPod buyers dont seem to care about a tuner function.

[nadan]

From the article "How Zune Will Try to Take Down the iPod" on Mac News

"If Microsoft wanted to design something really cool, they could. They have the money to attract the design talent. However, that's not in Microsoft's DNA."

http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/54233.html

The guy has a point, Microsoft doesn't want to sell a kick-ass MP3 player, it want's to cripple iPod. And it isn't the first time they tried something like this. Remember Netscape?

[BrandonSBCA]

iPod Vs. Zune. The both of those players will try to crush each other's reputation while all the other MP3 Players like Creative, and the other ones will just sit on the side lines and laugh.

[The General]

Yes, but what if you want to listen to the BBC news while walking down the street?

But I don't want to listen to the news while I'm walking down the street.

I don't get why people want a tuner in their MP3 players. As I said, the idea of a portable music player is to have stuff you want to listen to. Radio is almost exclusively governed by playlists - the shows producer decides what gets played and that in itself is made up of tunes that the various record labels have been plugging like crazy. You don't think Terry Wogan decides what records to play do you? And how many times did we hear Madonna's "Hung Up" on Radio 2 when it first came out? Every daytime show played it so at least 5 times a day!

BTW, at home, the radio is usually on in the background - but I don't go out of my way to listen to it! But we're talking about music on the go here, not our habits at home.

[Matt1809]

I find apple/ipod fans unique in their rejection of choice. So you dont want to listen to the radio, but many others do. I maybe people want to be able to flip between their own music/movies/photos and local radio stations. Maybe I want to listen to talk radio, or get the latest news.

[The General]

I find apple/ipod fans unique in their rejection of choice. So you dont want to listen to the radio, but many others do. I maybe people want to be able to flip between their own music/movies/photos and local radio stations. Maybe I want to listen to talk radio, or get the latest news.

When did I say I had an ipod? It's not a rejection of choice. I just don't get why people need a radio in their MP3 player. For as long as portable music players have been around, it's always been about listening to your choice of music. That why Sony invented them! On the radio, it's always somebody else's...

And please don't get me started on photos on the ipod. The PSP I can understand but the ipod? Pointless.

Bit like camera phones...

[phantombrave]

what's wrong with camera phone? i luv every bit of it... i dont carry my camera all day, but i carry my phone all day, and i used it to snap anything interest me in my daily life... it was like having extra usable tool on your mobile phone.. as long as you had the need the to used it, i thinks it's fine

back to the zune... it was not like ipod vs Zune. It was more like zune trying to fight ipod, while ipod not really care about him . With the new iphone, i guess RnD guy from microsoft will lock himself in his room and refused to come out for the next 3 months

[Soilwork]

I have 4 ipods.

I have one that I use souly as a portable hard drive so I can edit video anywhere.

I have one that I store just video on for long trips on airplanes.

I have one that's just for music since my library is now over 9,000 songs.

I have an iPod shuffle I use for working out because it's so small that I can run with it on and never feel it and it won't get damaged if it gets banged around or dropped.






I'll never geta zune and I don't care about radio.

And can someone please explain the Zune billboards to me? I can't figure out what the fuck any of them mean.

[eastietop]

I love my ipod - it's the best thing I ever bought next to maybe the mac I got last year when I left the PC behind. No crashes, no freezes just fast, happy computing. I'm not hating on pc's but I love my mac.

[nvzblmn]

just to pop in my feelings about the iPod:
iTunes is definately the best music program I have used.
the way that it works with the iPod (once u know a thing or 2 about it) is incredible.

The iPod also has an FM tuner... as an accessory.
I think it is better to have it as an accessory that some people will pay extra to buy,
rather than having a higher price tag because what if some people dont want to pay extra just for the FM tuner? they wont alienate customers.



The Zune looks to be a neat music player with its wi-fi capabilities, but they (microsoft) definately need some more time to come up with more uses for it.