Zune Views

Replacing the Hard Drive

LPH — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 16:36:39 GMT

Now that you own the Zune, are you wishing for a larger hard drive? iPodMods has the Zune parts for sale. There is a 90-day warranty on the parts.

Discuss your success with replacing your hard drive in the Zune forums.

Zune Success

LPH — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 23:30:42 GMT

InformationWeek states sales on Amazon did not reach the top list. Does this really matter? Regardless, each store I ventured into this holiday season had a prominent display of Zune players and my students state they want one. I wonder whether or not they received one.

The Zune Plans

LPH — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 15:42:00 GMT

The Chicago Tribune describes the Microsoft plans for Zune. Sharing files is the devices biggest competitive advantage. Yet, the style and lack of format sharing with the iPod is going to hamper the device. As an iPod owner, I would prefer not being told to give up my iPod and all of the music and videos. Instead, the Zune should enhance the experience - not kill it.

Can Zune Beat Black Friday Deadline?

LPH — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 06:15:00 GMT

Despite Gizmodo's post regarding an early November launch, we still wonder if Microsoft will be able to get all of the retail stores prepared, including shipping the product, training the salespeople, having good demo units, and pricing the unit so that individuals will line up for the holiday sales. Ultimately, we ask, what would it take for MS to beat the Black Friday deadline?

Two Important Zune Questions

LPH — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 02:27:00 GMT

Two excellent questions are asked by PlayFuls.com

So, is Zune enough to reinvent Microsoft? Will the Redmond-based company be capable – even at the cost of investing hundreds of thousands of dollars – of convincing the public that beyond its software portfolio, they are able to produce something just as competitive, but on a hardware level?
Microsoft picked a rather sensitive time for this. Everyone's still waiting for Windows Vista and Office 2007. Will Zune be enough to make consumers forget that this year is passing as well without the launch of the much awaited two software products?

Both questions are excellent ones, however, Microsoft is divided into teams with each team working on their own projects. One does not influence the other. Interestingly consumers lump Microsoft into one big company rather than smaller teams.

Microsoft Approach to Partners

LPH — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 02:53:14 GMT

A valid concern whenever someone partner’s with Microsoft is the future, what will the future bring? Microsoft can turn on a dime, changing directions and changing tunes. A company who works with MS today may be the MS meal tomorrow.

Companies such as Creative and iRiver have worked closely with Microsoft in the past, now they will find themselves in the somewhat awkward position of competing against it while still having to licence its Windows technology.

Peter Branton discusses the conundrum partners find with Zune.

Zune gets preloaded content

LPH — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 16:28:00 GMT

According to Cesar Menendez (Zune Insider), Zune will get preloaded content. Hm. What do you suppose he means? Will there be songs no one wants to hear? Will there be music from all types of genres or just the development teams favorites? Who will choose the music?Will there be podcasts? How about video content to really push this forward. Since Yoko Ono refuses to sign with iTunes maybe we can get The Beatles onto Zune. After all, Johns' documentary is coming out soon (September 26).

10 reasons why I will swap my iPod for a Zune

LPH — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 19:04:19 GMT

e-Consultancy posted 10 reasons why I’ll swap my iPod for a Zune.

iTunes = Too expensive
iTunes = Too single-minded
iTunes = Unforgiving
iTunes = Horrible user experience
iPod = Crash
iPod = False dawn
iPod = Unethical?
iTunes = Proprietary file format
iPods = Quality issues?
iPod = Not Zune!

A few of the items are little questionable. For example, my first iPod crashed and definitely had quality issues. The second one, the video iPod, is working fine.

Microsoft to invest millions into Zune

LPH — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 20:06:00 GMT

Zungeists will be happy to know Microsoft plans to invest millions into the Zune project. They will introduce one player this year and a download service.

More important is that we have an answer about PlaysForSure:

Bach said Microsoft is not abandoning its partner-oriented PlaysForSure program, even as it looks to build its rival Zune approach.
"PlaysForSure continues as it is today," he said, addressing a question from analysts. "We're going to continue to support that," he said.

Good. Hopefully Microsoft will not abandon this promise.

More MS Marketing Confusion

LPH — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 23:40:00 GMT

Stuff Magazine asks the question whether PlaysForSure is supported in Zune. This is an important question to ask. There are many others that fall under one main umbrella - will Zune be easy to use? From a consumer viewpoint, I want to purchase music online and be able to move it to whatever player I am using. Manufacturers who make this too difficult do not interest me with their product. So, if Microsoft chooses to be proprietary then my interest will wane.

Can Microsoft Compete with the iPod?

LPH — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 13:10:00 GMT

This is the main question on everyone's mind, can Microsoft compete in the music market?

Microsoft’s also plans to cut from iTunes’ market share with a piece of software integrated into the small device that will examine your current iTunes library for songs you've already bought from iTunes and let you download them from the Microsoft store for free.

This is an interesting concept to capture people who already use iTunes. Will URGE also be involved?

The Zune Commercial

LPH — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 03:13:00 GMT

The following video has been passed around the Internet for several months. Now that Zune has been officially announced by Microsoft, I thought it was be nice to point to the video again.