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Will it or Won't it: Kill the iPod?
Techtree News Staff, Nov 27, 2006 1214 hrs ISTIt's been but a fortnight since the launch of Microsoft's Zune, but the verdict already seems far from being an "iPod killer"...
It's been but a fortnight since the launch of Microsoft's Zune, but the verdict already seems far from being an "iPod killer"...
While consumers have responded positively to the choice of colors, the Zune's bigger screen, and its scratch-resistant case, there are bits and parts that don't seem to be going down very well with a majority of the users.
For starters, in order to download the Zune software, a user's system has to meet certain requirements; namely, Win XP SP2, processor running at minimum 1.5GHz, and so on. By comparison, Apple Computer's iTunes 7 software does not have any such hardware requirements.
Also, to download the Zune software, users' need to use only Internet Explorer 7 (IE 7). The software cannot be downloaded by using Mozilla's Firefox for instance.
And, there are complaints already that the Zune software takes a good 30 minutes to download, unlike iTunes 7 that reportedly takes 5 minutes flat to download.
Further, the result of the download is a media player interface that looks a lot like a less suave version of Microsoft's Windows Media Player. What's more, its not even compatible with Windows Media Player.
Going to the Zune Marketplace, it offers around 2 million music tracks (no videos/podcasts). But in order to buy songs, consumers have to use the store currency of points, plus there's something called a minimum purchase.
In effect, a customer needs to spend at least $5 to purchase blocks of 400 points (99 cents = 79 points). And, only upon spending $80, customers stand to get one extra song free-of-charge.
There are other minor things as well about the Zune; for example, its inability to wirelessly connect to the user's PC even though its Wi-Fi capable.
Although users feel Microsoft will eventually take care of the minor things, the general feeling is that Microsoft has emulated the one bad thing about Apple's iPod and iTunes, which is the DRM restricted closed system, while ignoring the many good things in making its Zune.
While consumers have responded positively to the choice of colors, the Zune's bigger screen, and its scratch-resistant case, there are bits and parts that don't seem to be going down very well with a majority of the users.
For starters, in order to download the Zune software, a user's system has to meet certain requirements; namely, Win XP SP2, processor running at minimum 1.5GHz, and so on. By comparison, Apple Computer's iTunes 7 software does not have any such hardware requirements.
Also, to download the Zune software, users' need to use only Internet Explorer 7 (IE 7). The software cannot be downloaded by using Mozilla's Firefox for instance.
And, there are complaints already that the Zune software takes a good 30 minutes to download, unlike iTunes 7 that reportedly takes 5 minutes flat to download.
Further, the result of the download is a media player interface that looks a lot like a less suave version of Microsoft's Windows Media Player. What's more, its not even compatible with Windows Media Player.
Going to the Zune Marketplace, it offers around 2 million music tracks (no videos/podcasts). But in order to buy songs, consumers have to use the store currency of points, plus there's something called a minimum purchase.
In effect, a customer needs to spend at least $5 to purchase blocks of 400 points (99 cents = 79 points). And, only upon spending $80, customers stand to get one extra song free-of-charge.
There are other minor things as well about the Zune; for example, its inability to wirelessly connect to the user's PC even though its Wi-Fi capable.
Although users feel Microsoft will eventually take care of the minor things, the general feeling is that Microsoft has emulated the one bad thing about Apple's iPod and iTunes, which is the DRM restricted closed system, while ignoring the many good things in making its Zune.
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