RSS120 GB Zunes begin to appear in stores
By Ed Oswald | Published September 5, 2008, 1:15 PM
Microsoft has confirmed that it has begun to ship the newer high-capacity Zunes at a price that makes it quite competitive against the market-leading iPod.
The 120 GB Zune will sell for $249, the same price as the 80 GB Apple iPod. Internet reports say the devices began shipping to retailers this week, and Microsoft says the rollout will continue to additional retailers over the next several weeks.
Rumors that the higher-capacity device was coming was first posted by Zune enthusiast site Zunerama last weekend. From there, the story took flight and reports seemed to indicate the 80 GB model was being phased out.
Zune team member Cesar Menendez later confirmed to Zunerama that the device was indeed on its way.
Microsoft has not been able to gain much traction at all, with its market share still remaining in the single digits. While the introduction of flash-based players helped -- which are much more popular with consumers -- the device still is outsold by a factor of many times over versus the iPod.
While the 80 GB version included a pair of premium headphones, it appears from the unboxing reports done by various blogs that Microsoft has only included a pair of standard headphones with this model.
It's likely that in order to put the price at a level that would put it in direct competition with the entry level iPod classic, some concessions had to be made. Otherwise, all other accessories included appear to be the same as previous models.
"Microsoft has not been able to gain much traction at all, with its market share still remaining in the single digits."
Out of interest, how many countries do they sell the Zune in? Is it just the US?
What language support does it have?
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|I'm pretty sure the zune is now available in canada, but i don't know if it's available across the pond yet
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|There are waaaaaaaay too many products build around the iPod for Zune to ever catch up. I'm stuck with these lousy Apple coasters for the rest of my life.
I have four separate units that all have iPod direct connect and no support for anything else. My home theater receiver, my vehicle, my spa's radio, and my wife's iDock or whatever it's called sitting next to our bed.
Good luck MS, even if it does sound better (pretty much everything does) than an iPod.
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|Other than headlines and male chest-thumping (my disk is bigger than your disk), is there any actual need for a 120GB disk on a portable music player?
My entire personal CD collection as reasonably high-quality MP3's (Lame quality 2) takes less than 40GB.
First, I myself wouldn't want/need my entire music collection on a portable device.
Second, as the sound quality of a portable device is much lower than even a desktop PC's speaker system, I could re-rip my collection at lower quality without any perceptible loss of quality and use even less disk space.
I bought myself a simple Sansa 1GB MP3 player - I can store hours of music in that 1GB, sound quality is just fine for gym/walking/planes, and it only cost me $30! If it gets lost/stolen/damaged, no big deal.
So what am I missing? I just do not see the point in shelling out over $200 for an MP3 player...
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|Then you wouldn't be the target market...
The Zune also plays games and you can put applications on it.
It plays movies too.
I personally like having all my music with me as its a lot better then trying to dig through cds and carry them around constantly.
Disagree with the desktop sound quality, the majority of mp3 players have better then desktop quality especially when used with a decent set of headphones...
Its all subjective though, so as you stated since you don't need your music collection with you, you wouldn't be in the demographic they are targeting.
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|I have a 80GB ipod now, and Its nearly full, has about 6GB of movies and maybe half a gig of pictures, the rest is my music collection. I figure within 6-12 months it will be full and Ill buy a 160 GB ipod. I would love to get the touch but not until they hit atleast 64GB. As for sound quality, Put a nice set of head phones on. Nobody listens to their TV speakers expecting quality sound they buy a sound system.
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|I have a Zune 30Gb and love it too. My son has one too but the rest of my family have iPods. Both are great devices. MS just waited too long to get in on this market. MS needs a Zune model that is more like the Touch than simple MP3 player at this stage.
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|Microsoft has not been able to gain much traction at all, with its market share still remaining in the single digits
So the Zune is the Mac of the PMP market?
Or the Opera of the Browser market?
*laughing*
Oh, the irony...
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|well said pctool.
i own a zune and i love it.
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|Same here.
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|Same here.
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|same here
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|I'd be more than happy to switch to a Zune (or two) if they used the same plugs and protocol is the iPod for direct connect control devices.
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|Same here.
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