Here Comes the Zune

[mandy]

At a glance, the Zune looks like yet another aspiring iPod rival.

It is a digital music and video player, priced at $250, with a slightly larger screen than that of many competitors, an FM radio tuner and a 30-gigabyte hard drive that can store thousands of songs and pictures and hours of video. Its hefty rectangular body can be dressed in white, black or even a muted brown.

But the Zune can do something that no other player, including the iPod from Apple, can claim: it can locate other Zune players and wirelessly exchange content — music and pictures, for starters — with a few touches of a big shiny button...

full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/13/technology/13zune.html?ex=1321074000&en=8df0d4a37629158b&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

[mandy]

Oops, forgot to add the Vista support. 

Apparently, Microsoft has been so focused on getting Zune out the door in time for the mad holiday rush that it hasn't gotten around to supporting the player under its next-generation operating system...

"This operating system is currently not supported by Zune," reads an error message when trying to install Zune software on the latest versions of Microsoft's own Windows Vista operating system

full article: http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=2237

[mandy]

8 months later and the possible death of Zune is already being discussed.  Score: Apple 1 Microsoft 0.

You don't need Microsoft's high-powered marketing staff or sophisticated statistics to know where the power currently lies in the portable media player market. Very simply, the score reads something like this: Apple's iPod, 100 million units shipped; Microsoft's Zune, 1 million...

"Apple was able to capitalize on the opportunity of the portable media player market at a much earlier stage than Microsoft was, so Zune is not as getting as much attention as it should have, or ideally deserved," Aima noted.

Indeed, Microsoft's late entry into the market is perhaps the biggest factor behind Zune's lackluster performance so far.

Price is another issue, with Zune coming in at around US$250 while the iPod can be below $100. "If I have to choose between a $300 Zune and a $70 iPod, which is so popular and almost cult-like, my instinct is going to be to get an iPod," Aima said...

full article: http://ecommercetimes.com/story/Y2FXYGGt...Dead.xhtml