Zune 2.0 - Dull As Ever
It’s blatently clear. The Zune will not win. Heck - it’s in worse shape than the PS3… and that’s saying something. In the latest development, Microsoft has ‘officialy’ confirmed that come Christmas, we can expect to lay our eyes (or not as the case may be) and the brand new Zune 2.0. The Microsoft rep who made the announcement, stated that some new sizes were planned, along with more styles and varying pricepoints.
A bit like the iPod I guess. Thinner Zunes perhaps, mimicing the Nano. Maybe even some tiny ‘Shuffle’ Zunes, too. And then there’s the rumoured video and podcast integration, taking the Zune one step further still into iPod territory. The evidently clueless rep also slipped in mention of how undeniably future-proof the Zune is. Why? According to the rep, “the Zune’s firmware can always be updated making new features available”. Just like almost every other RAM based player out there, unless I’m gravely mistaken.
With only a million Zunes under their belt (compared to Apple’s whopping 100,000,000+), it’s clear reform is needed. Will the added features and new pricepoints make a difference though? I doubt it. 
Jumping into a market five years too late isn’t always the smartest thing to do, especially when up against a dominating leader, who’s brand exposure has penetrated just about everywhere. Africa, Europe, The Americas, Asia, Australisa, Antarctica… You name it!
July 23rd, 2007 at 11:01 pm
They need to fix the stuff that should have been there in the first place, like the WiFi. That should have been a no-brainer to be able to connect to the net and so forth.
Ahh well, let MS be idiotic.
July 24th, 2007 at 12:52 am
When will Microsoft learn that it can’t be everything to everyone? Do what you do and do it well. You don’t have to have a piece of every market. What’s next, Microsoft cars?
It’s bad enough their making furniture now.
July 24th, 2007 at 6:58 am
Well said! I can’t agree with you more… Stick to what you know and do it well.
July 24th, 2007 at 6:30 am
Hey, microsoft is great with version 2 products. They’ll probably fix everything that’s wrong with the current one.
July 24th, 2007 at 6:59 am
You really think it’s possible to salvage some good out of the overpriced, oversized, underpowered, feature-lacking piece of crap?
Dude.
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July 24th, 2007 at 8:11 am
They should learn from apple.
May be they can put some music things into xbox like apple added kinda ipod flavour in iphone.
Hehe
July 24th, 2007 at 9:10 am
There’s an ‘okay’ (not ‘good’) music player built into the Xbox 360. It makes no sense to switch the console on and use it though, when my PC is always on with my music collection spread between the two.
July 24th, 2007 at 8:12 am
That image looks like a retro gadget. While I love retro stuff, the Zune isn’t inlcuded heh.
July 24th, 2007 at 6:17 pm
hahaha…retro… yes i think i had something similar when i was 8. it actually hurts a little to read articles like this, even though i completely agree.
July 24th, 2007 at 10:17 am
I gotta say, I think you’re way off base on this one - the Zune v1 is miles better than the v1 iPod was. And I’d buy one, if I could port all my iTunes purchases to it.
As for the “well, they’ve sold far fewer units” argument, that’s just daft. Apple have a 5% share of the computer market, should they give up and go home?
iTunes is great. The iPod isn’t.
July 24th, 2007 at 10:21 am
“the Zune v1 is miles better than the v1 iPod was”
Think the five year difference has anything to do with it?
“iTunes is great. The iPod isn’t.”
The iPhone is.
“Apple have a 5% share of the computer market, should they give up and go home?”
Nope. Why? Because they’re catching up on Microsoft. The Zune isn’t catching up with the iPod. In the time the Zune has amassed 1,000,000 purchases, the iPod has grown by quite a few more million. You see my point?
And for the record, I’m not an Apple fanboy. I use Vista primarily and there aren’t any Apple products in my house, besides the iPod.
July 24th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
You so clearly are caught up in iPhone hype… It’s really not that good. The forgot that it’s an iPHONE, not an iGadget.
I want a phone. Not a call thing that happens to be a phone too, but a phone that happens to do other things too.