Mon Nov 27, 2006 5:17 pm

	Anonymous wrote:
	As my nephew said last year, "everyone's got one (iPod) so I had better get one." Not particuarly good reasoning but its the kind that made Windows so popular. I find it ironic that MS$ now faces the problem Apple has had for years with the additional disadvantage of an inferior product.

Agreed, Guest. The irony is thick.

Mon Nov 27, 2006 5:31 pm

+

This small survey aside, the Zune continues to get pretty negative reviews. Some say Zune reinforces Microsoft's dorky image (like this article in SFGate), and several reviewers have negatively noted that the Zune software can not be downloaded via Firefox...only IE will work. Not a great way to build cred amongst the technorati, IMHO.

Mon Nov 27, 2006 6:07 pm

	mrmgraphics wrote:
	Not a great way to build cred amongst the technorati, IMHO.

Maybe they're aiming for the unsophisticated and unstylish segment. Don't underestimate the number of these people!

Mon Nov 27, 2006 8:03 pm

Think long term.

I'm not suggesting that Microsoft have deliberately released an inferior product, but it is interesting to note that they have entered the market at the high end. If they wanted to rapidly build a base of Zune users then the logical thing would have been a cheaper 4Gb Flash player up against the Nano, and something going against the Shuffle. Those are the products parents will buy for their kids.

Why would Microsoft pass on that market, and instead target the niche?? I suspect to iron out the problems with the system, and build up the Zune store before they bring out their Nano equivalent.

Tue Nov 28, 2006 3:48 am

	Guest wrote:
	I've seen this Zune ranking of 76 in another article. I'm no Zune fan, but let's be fair when reporting rankings. The ranking quoted is for all electronics, including digital cameras. The Zune actually ranks 21st for all MP3 players on amazon.com, just after the black 60 gb iPod. I think this ranking is more fair since it is just for MP3 players.

Here's the current MP3 player top 25, plus 2. (The ratings change hourly, so, by the time you read this, it will be different.)

1. iPod 5.5G 30 GB black

2. iPod Nano 2G 2 GB silver

3. iPod Shuffle 2G 1 GB

4. iPod 5.5G 80 GB black

5. iPod Nano 2G 4 GB pink

6. Sansa M240 1 GB silver

7. iPod Nano 4 GB black

8. Sansa e250 2 GB

9. iPod Nano 2G 4 GB silver

10. Zen Vision:M 30 GB black

11. iPod Nano 2G 8 GB black

12. iPod Nano 2G 4 GB Blue

13. iPod Nano 2G 4 GB green

14. iPod 5.5G 30 GB white

15. Sansa e260 4 GB

16. Sansa M250 2 GB black

17. iPod Nano 4 GB white

18. iPod 5G 60 GB black

19. Zen V 1 GB black/orange

20. iPod 5.5G 80 GB white

21. Zune black

22. Sansa e280 8 GB black

23. miJam Drummer

24. Machspeed Trio 1 GB thumb drive

25. iPod 5G 60 GB

...

61. Zune brown

...

81. Zune white

On the Consumer Electronics list, the black Zune is #88. The Brown didn't make the top 100.

----

Look at what is ahead of the Zune, on either list. It includes iPods that are no longer being made (original Nanos and 5G). On the consumer electronics list, here are some things that are ahead of the black Zune.

14 Canon cameras

8 Garmin GPS units

4 digital photo frames

----

5 iPod accessories (numbers are placings):

33. Kensington Digital FM Transmitter and Auto Charger for iPod (Black)

43. Belkin F8Z060 iPod Nano Silicon Sleeve (Black)

44. Kensington Digital FM Radio and Transmitter for iPod

45. Apple Ipod Home/Travel Charger (by Bargaincell, not Apple)

75. Apple iPod USB Power Adapter

----

and some rather odd things:

50. Xtreme TBDVD020 20-Disc DVD Case

52. Xtreme TBDVD020 20-Disc DVD Case

70. Sony 2500 mAh AA Rechargeable Nimh Batteries, 4-pack

82. Sony ICF-S79V Weather Band Shower Radio

87. Memorex 700MB/80-Minute 52x Data CD-R Media (50-Pack Spindle)

Zune sales seem to be tanking. Its ranking in Consumer Electronics has been going down and down. It started in the top 10, quickly slipped to the lower part of the top 25, then to the bottom of the top 50, and, now, it's heading off the top 100, entirely.

Tue Nov 28, 2006 5:01 pm

MSFT, just because of who they are and how much money they have, is always a dangerous competitor. I think they will have staying power with the Zune because this is more than just about a music player. The real battle here is to become the portal for home entertainment and to control the majority of endpoints for home entertainement. So even if the Zune totally bombs, which it appears to be doing right now, I think they will continue to try to develop it, not just to have a music player but to keep a foot in the door for home entertainment. I don't think the writers are right when they say they will be out of this market in 6 months.

That being said, the big problem for MSFT is that the Zune was a very big miss. The publicity it has gotten has been pretty bad. MSFT will have a ton damage control in order to patch things up here. There were some that have written that if MSFT does miss with the Zune, they may have trouble getting people back to take another look. That is difficult to say. They do have the xbox audience that may help them here but they might have cooked their own goose by coming out with a product that seems to have been half thought out. And there are many out there that are pretty dissatisfied with MSFT so they may not give them another chance.

As a player, the Zune, to me didn't seem too bad when I played around with it in the store. The big thing for me was to see how it worked integrated with the software and the reports here haven't been good. This is where MSFT really needed to get it right and it seems from reports that it was a big swing and a miss. Another swing and a miss was that it is presently incompatible with Vista. Another problem seems that many don't like the Zune marketplace. And as many have mentioned here, Apple is not standing still so Zune is aiming for a moving target.

There have been reports that MSFT was going to upgrade the hardware and software once a year. I really think they need to do something more drastic much earlier if these reports are true. I think they need to get a new and improved version out to the public as early as possible in order to create some buzz about the product with the teenage market, maybe getting something new out there for the graduation or back to school crowd at the latest. If not, all the bad publicity will just be sitting there and even if MSFT would come out with a reasonable product, consumers might not pay much attention.

JMO though

Neal

Tue Nov 28, 2006 5:44 pm

What about their responsibility to shareholders? Pouring money into a black hole (ie trying to compete with the iPod/iTS combo) is a poor waste of assets and mismanagement at its worst. If I were a voting member I'd be pretty pissed off at 1) attempting to break into a market that isn't in their core competency (hardware design); and 2) attempting to break into a market with such a poor entry (Zune/Zune marketplace combo). Poor strategy and even poorer execution of said strategy.

MS' personality trait of "I've never seen a market I didn't want to dominate" will be their eventual undoing.

At least with XBox they can make up the money on the games. They will never make money on the Zune marketplace.

Tue Nov 28, 2006 6:08 pm

From another site, I eventually found this image, which is purportedly the "error screen" during Zune installation. What emotion is the young woman at the bottom expressing? Pain? Laughter? Hard to tell.

That was the focus of the article that led me to the photo (the link is on page 3). However, move up to the couple to the young woman's right. Are they both women? (Looks like it.) What are they doing? Is this an ad for The L Word? (That's a joke, folks. I personally don't care if both are women--that's their business.)

Conjure up this scenario: It's the day after Christmas. Susie, 11, has a new Zune (probably given by her grandparents, who were convinced by the teenaged boy at the local big box store that "It's just like the iPod"). She's trying to install the software on her PC. First, she tries to use Firefox, which her parents want her to use 'cause it's less vulnerable to viruses than Internet Explorer. Click. Click. CLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICK. Nothing works. (You can't download Zune software with any browser except Internet Explorer. Didn't MS learn anything from the slapdown it got from the Federal judge AND the EU?) Susie asks her parents if she can use IE this one time. Her mom comes in to help her. (Well, she can at least lend moral support.) Together, they go through the installation process. OOPS! Something goes wrong and the error screen pops up. After they see the screaming/laughing young woman at the bottom, their attention drifts to the couple at the top. Mom turns rather red when the child asks, "What are they doing?" The next day, the Zune goes back to the store.