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Microsoft Confirms Zune's Existence

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

July 21, 2006, 4:43 PM

Microsoft has officially confirmed the existence of its homegrown media player, giving an exclusive interview to Billboard magazine that appeared in the publication Friday. Under the Zune brand, the company will begin release a line of players along with a companion music software service that is completely controlled by Microsoft.

As first reported by BetaNews late Thursday, the Redmond giant plans to begin to show off the initial player publicly beginning as early as the last week in August, with another round of demonstrations the second week of September.

This would be followed by a wave of marketing activity preceding the devices launch in October of this year. However, beyond the initial devices launch, MSN Entertainment marketing vice president Chris Stephenson said the brand would be used for "a family of hardware and software products."

Zune's confirmation and its structure seems to be an admission of failure by Microsoft. It's former strategy of allowing an open platform where its partners could develop players while the company maintained a hands-off approach has not worked, and Apple controls nearly 75 percent of the market.

JupiterResearch vice president and research director Michael Gartenberg said that fans of Microsoft should not expect market share to come from "disgruntled iPod users."

"The real losers in the short term are likely to be the likes of Creative, iRiver and other former partners that have failed to deliver to market share from Apple and will now find themselves not only competing with Apple but with their former partners from Redmond," Gartenberg said.

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By longar

edited May 2, 2008 - 2:24 PM

I have to submit one of the converters at http://videoconverterrev...ry/zune-video-converter/

Score: 0

By yzf888

posted Mar 23, 2008 - 10:12 PM

I suggest http://www.yzf888.com/zune-video-converter.html

Score: 0

By mchummer

edited Aug 1, 2006 - 7:29 PM

http://www.ibtimes.com/a...oft-zune-apple-ipod.htm

Score: 0

By mchummer

edited Aug 1, 2006 - 7:25 PM

Why Microsoft Zuneis iPod's New Challenge

Score: 0

By lovebetan

edited Jul 31, 2006 - 11:21 PM

Take a look at the zune features here
http://www.zunevideoconverter.com/

Score: 0

By isaac1234567123

edited Jul 26, 2006 - 1:10 AM

I think Microsoft owns this one too

http://www.zunescene.com

Score: 0

By Scotch Moose

posted Jul 25, 2006 - 9:07 AM

But will Zune have a "Plays for sure" sticker?

Score: 0

By mhochman

posted Jul 25, 2006 - 2:40 PM

No, because stickers wont stick to the bunny's fur...

Score: 0

By omeromy

edited Jul 25, 2006 - 5:08 AM

Not too long ago IBM, then Novell, then Netscape and then Sony laughed at Microsoft’s entrance into their turfs, whether it was with PC DOS, Novel Netware, Netscape Navigator or Sony’s dominant game console the mighty Play Station, Microsoft continues to make the big and small boys on the IT street shiver….
The fact is that the software giant has ton loads of money and continues to add about a billion dollar in revenue per month, and unlike US government the smart people at Microsoft know how to put their hard earn surplus to work.
The point I am trying to make is that Microsoft is going to be the first “real” player to challenge the authority of Apple’s iPod, and if history repeats itself, Steve Job and Apple might find themselves collecting dust and Microsoft might end up making the big bucks with Zune, just the way Bill Gates did some 20 years ago with PC taking over the personal computer market established by Macs and then dominating the Personal Computing world…
Bottom-line: Zune might not capture and destroy 100% market share of iPod, but what if it erodes the share to let say 30-40%, wouldn’t that be a big success to Microsoft and a big blow to Apple, which rely solely on the funds from iPod sales? And what if in due process it drives down the price of download music from almost a buck a song to 10 songs for a buck?
If anything, we as consumers should keep a close eye on this race and go easy on the iTunes purchase of Apples’s proprietary media :)

Omer Qureshi

Score: 0

By heat_fan1

posted Jul 24, 2006 - 9:53 AM

The one thing that nobody has mentioned yet is choices, or the lack there of. One of the big things PlaysForSure supporters have always talked about has been the choices you have. You have a wide selection in choice of player (Creative, iRiver, MobiBlue, etc.) and you have a wide selection in choice of music store (Yahoo!, URGE, Napster, etc.). Zune, apparently, is going to be just like iPod/iTunes in that it has no choices. I'm kind of disappointed in this. If you want a Zune, you're stuck with whatever Microsoft is going to offer.

The other item I'm disappointed in is the lack of support for WMP. I have been using WMP since 7.0 and I don't care to change anytime soon. I love the new 11.0 Beta and I simply don't understand why Microsoft won't stick with it. I don't see how it's possible to have tighter integration than the clix offers with WMP, but that's what they're going for, apparently. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

What I really hope to see soon is a 4GB+ clix. The player is small and great, offers a nice cradle, but is skimping with only 2GB right now.

Score: 0

By sleeper60

edited Jul 23, 2006 - 12:58 PM

There is good and bad here.
Yes this will increase compitition but only on a limited basis. Since the Ipod and Zune are controling the content in a way that only allows use on a specific player, this creates parameters that would be harder for others to enter the market. Anyone else making players would have to create their own websites and formats for their own players which puts a limit on competition. I always thought there were laws that prevented making things like music only able to play on specific equipment. I thought the formats had to be made available to others in order to promote compitition. This is going to be an example of why selling DRMed formats to the public is harmful to compitition.

Score: 0

By Grazer

posted Jul 24, 2006 - 5:59 PM

...this creates parameters that would be harder for others to enter the market. Anyone else making players would have to create their own websites and formats for their own players which puts a limit on competition. I always thought there were laws...
Sorry, as far as I know, there are no laws forcing companies to let competitors use their own content distribution infrastructore, outside of phone companies and the like. Contrary to what you say, this does not make it harder for others to enter the market. They have to go through the same steps their predecessors do, establishing infrastructure and locked in customer base. Like with all things, if you are late to the party, and not bringing anything extraordinary to it, then no one is going to care.

Score: 0

By dn2004

posted Jul 22, 2006 - 7:14 PM

they seemed to have a launched a website too!
http://www.comingzune.com/

Score: 0

By Intrusive_Rogue

posted Jul 24, 2006 - 2:19 PM

I think they invested more money on registering the domain than they did on the design.

Score: 0

By wincement

edited Jul 24, 2006 - 1:26 PM

I'm going to sue.

I lost 30 brain cells by clicking on that link.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Jul 24, 2006 - 1:57 PM

30?

Wow. Half as intelligent as he used to be...

*ducks*

Score: 0

By wincement

posted Jul 24, 2006 - 4:42 PM

*aims .22 at kneecaps*

Score: 0

By PhoenixPath

posted Jul 24, 2006 - 5:57 PM

Hah!

Little did you know, my legs were amputated above the kneecaps due to an old MMORPG injury!

Muahahahaha!!!

*cough*

Where'd I put my meds?

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Jul 24, 2006 - 10:55 AM

What...

The...

Hell...???

Score: 0

By crashoverride

posted Jul 22, 2006 - 11:46 PM

ummm, ok...as previously stated...I'm not quite sure what to make of it. As I sit here I can't help but wonder what a couple of shmucks petting a rabbit has to do with a music player.

Score: 0

By mhochman

posted Jul 23, 2006 - 9:20 AM

what i get is.. "In their world only the big guy gets to pet the rabbit, in our world, everyone gets to pet the rabbit"

maybe their music player will be in the shape of a fuzzy bunny...

Score: 0

By ds0934

posted Jul 22, 2006 - 9:46 PM

PETA is going to sue them for harming that poor rabbit.

Score: 0

By Ishtumba

posted Jul 22, 2006 - 8:59 PM

I'm not really sure what to make of that...

Score: 0

By mhochman

edited Jul 23, 2006 - 9:14 AM

The real positive i see coming out of this, if its a good player, would finally be some real competition for the IPOD, which will hopefully fuel competition between the companies and drive down the price. the Ipod has been able to stay at such a high price because there really is no competition.

With real competition. comes innovation, and lower prices, if Micro$oft puts out a good product, then the main people to benefit will be consumers, not at first, but as time goes along, prices of both units will drop, features will go up.

Score: 0

By bobthegoat2001

posted Jul 23, 2006 - 12:21 AM

You misspelled product.

Score: 0

By mjm01010101

posted Jul 22, 2006 - 1:15 PM

It's priced high because it's top of it's market in so many ways it's not even funny.

And since when does apple lower it's prices to make it a better deal?

Score: 0

By mhochman

posted Jul 23, 2006 - 9:17 AM

mac mini, iMac.. have you checked the price on those lately?

the reason apple has never had to lower prices, is because there has been no direct competition, Apple could always say that comparing their computers to a PC was (pardon the pun) comparing Apples to Oranges, Macs ran different software, people used them for different purposes. but with the Ipod Vs Zune (stupid name) its 2 devices, with the EXACT same purpose, play music/videos.

with the PC/Mac debate you could always say, well one plays games, one is better for productivity, with Ipod/Zune they BOTH are designed to play music and videos. thats it. so there should be more competition, thus driving the price of both to a reasonable level.

I still maintain that Ipod's are pretty much the same price now as they have been all along, because there has been no competition.

Score: 0

By simonchretien

posted Jul 23, 2006 - 1:11 PM

There has been competition, people are just too stupid in general to compare products and realize there are products as good or better. No, they heard of that "iPod thing that can hold hundreds of tunes" and sticked with that. Oh the craze.

Score: 0

By Intrusive_Rogue

posted Jul 24, 2006 - 2:20 PM

Amen Brother!

Score: 0

By billtheitguy

posted Jul 24, 2006 - 11:38 AM

You are absolutely right. This has nothing to do with who has the better product or even which one looks better. It is all in the marketing. There were many mp3/video players out there and many before ipod.

Apple has just done better marketing and convinced a lot of people that they need one of their devices.

It will be interresting to see the marketing strategy from MS to try and take some of the market share back.

Warning- You may not get a better device from Microsoft, But the commercials should be fun to watch.

Score: 0

By xyzcb1

edited Jul 22, 2006 - 6:26 PM

Apple did "lower" their price from G3 to G4 iPod, but that's only after they took away all the accessories that come with G3, like the dock station.

As most said, included myself, Apple selling over priced stuff and yet they have enough fans to buy it from them. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate apple, as a consumer, I only looking for the best value for my money.

Score: 0

By kingkhearts

posted Jul 21, 2006 - 8:23 PM

Meh, doesn't even look to good. Has potential though.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

edited Jul 21, 2006 - 5:11 PM

doh!

Not going to replace my iRiver X5 with one of these, guaranteed.

I highly doubt it will be anywhere near as varied in what formats it will play or come anywhere close to the audio quality.

*shrug*

But hey, here's hoping they do.

Score: 0

By bobthegoat2001

posted Jul 23, 2006 - 12:24 AM

Did you mean iAudio X5?

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Jul 24, 2006 - 9:12 AM

Yup.

Not enough caffiene in the system that day.

Score: 0

By smarterthanyou

posted Jul 22, 2006 - 2:21 AM

192K bitrate WMA files sound just as good as 320K MP3 files. Chances are Microsoft's music player will support the previously mentioned WMA format.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Jul 24, 2006 - 9:13 AM

Dude, put the pipe down and buy some decent speakers...

...please.

Score: 0

By smarterthanyou

edited Jul 24, 2006 - 2:02 PM

I already have a set of decent speakers. I have a Bose Acoustimass 15 Series II speaker system (the sub has three downward firing 5.25-inch woofers that give you the equivalent amount of bass from a single 15-inch woofer) paired with a Yamaha THX Select 2 HTR-5990 receiver.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Jul 24, 2006 - 3:12 PM

Wow.

Dude...

If you cannot tell the difference with those speakers, you *really* do need to get your ears checked. Seriously. You're missing something.

The speakers in my car absolutely *suck* by comparison (along with the other 99.998% of the speakers out there), and I can *feel* the difference.

Score: 0

By smarterthanyou

edited Jul 25, 2006 - 2:36 AM

And I suppose you think that the "Enhanced" 16-bit 48 KHz stereo sound on the DVD side of a DualDisc is a huge improvement over the standard 16-bit 44.1 KHz sound on the other side of the disc.

Score: 0

By wincement

edited Jul 25, 2006 - 2:52 PM

I don't think those numbers are right for the DVD quality. I thought it was 24-bit audio. Oh well. I'm too lazy to look up the real specs, and it's really a moot point anyway. I can sum up the advantage to DVD audio in two words:

"More Channels"

DualDiscs usually feature 5.1 surround sound on the DVD side. I hope you know CDs only have the left and right channels. Right?

Once you get up to CD-quality audio, there's not a whole lot of improvement to be made as far as the actual quality is concerned, unless you are just insanely picky about your audio.

Score: 0

By smarterthanyou

edited Jul 26, 2006 - 2:09 AM

Actually, many DualDiscs only have so-called "enhanced" CD audio (not to be confused with DVD Audio) on the DVD side of the disc which does actually mean 48KHz 16-bit STEREO sound.

Score: 0

By simonchretien

posted Jul 23, 2006 - 1:12 PM

lol

Score: 0

By wincement

posted Jul 22, 2006 - 1:40 PM

192K WMA == Ewwww...

Score: 0

By crashoverride

posted Jul 21, 2006 - 5:46 PM

It'll be just our luck it'll have the wide range of formats of WMA, WMA DRM, and WMA Lossless.

Score: 0

By ghammer

posted Jul 21, 2006 - 11:17 PM

If it has WMA Lossless, I'll have one.

Score: 0

By PhoenixPath

posted Jul 21, 2006 - 6:15 PM

Oooh....

Impressive...

Score: 0

By wincement

posted Jul 21, 2006 - 4:56 PM

It'll be interesting to see the specs.

...and of course, what it looks like.

Score: 0

By andrewtheart

posted Jul 22, 2006 - 12:47 AM

DRM will kill it

Score: 0

By rayz66

posted Jul 22, 2006 - 1:47 AM

How come? DRM didn't kill the iPod.

Score: 0

By gafisher

edited Jul 22, 2006 - 6:24 AM

DRM didn't kill the iPod because it wasn't a hot button issue until long after Apple's player had sewn up the market. Since then, existing iPod owners are all but locked in (the real reason DRM exists), and new iPod buyers weigh the player's near cult status high enough to overlook the pitfalls of DRM.

The rise of DRM-free services like www.mp3tunes.com and Yahoo's new offering are evidence Digitally Restricted Music has become an issue that could sway potential customers.

Score: 0

By speedmeister

posted Jul 23, 2006 - 1:50 AM

Since when is Yahoo Music DRM free? Virtually all of the major digital music sellers have DRM. iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody, MSN Music, Wal-Mart Music all have some form of DRM. The only service that has had much success is eMusic which has managed to get their prepaid gift cards sold at stores like CompUSA and Circuit City. While MP3Tunes is a good idea their selection is far too small and has too little in the way of marketing for it to have a chance and really being succesful.

Score: 0

By Desides

posted Jul 22, 2006 - 11:10 PM

Pretty much everyone buying from the iTunes Music Store really doesn't care about FairPlay--if they did, the store wouldn't be the success that it is.

Score: 0

By Ian_UK

edited Jul 22, 2006 - 9:37 AM

mp3tunes is not a DRM free site, read the small print.

* Digitally restricted files may not play

Score: 0

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