Microsoft Bashing
Why I am not worried about the Zune
[ It only seems fitting to be bashing the Zune on Day Against DRM since it seems to be more loaded with DRM than the iPod. ]
Microsoft's supposed iPod killer, the Zune, is gathering quite a bit of attention these days. Some people are saying that the Zune is going to be a serious contender to the iPod, especially with its wireless capabilities.
Personally, that's a bunch of hooey. When has M$ ever gotten anything right on the first try? M$ is notorious for taking several rounds of product releases before things become usable. Windows wasn't usable until 3.1. Windows CE was much the same. So, without really looking at the Zune features, I can already tell that M$ isn't going to displace the iPod right out of the gate. M$ has never done such a thing, so why would it be possible now?
I think that the Zune will come out and largely be a flop. M$ die-hards will buy it but the general public won't go for it in droves. M$ will follow up with 2-3 more models before it has a chance of getting serious market share. Call it a 12 - 18 months from now. In the meantime Steve Jobs will flog its engineers to bring its rumored iPod with wireless capabilities to market ASAP. I would not be surprised if Jobs releases it a day before the Zune launches -- for a buck less. Failing that I'd expect another iPod release to blow the Zune out of the water sometime early next year.
But when you look at the features and the pictures we get actual clues as to why the Zune will suck:
- The marketing for the Zune is lame.
- It's clunkly compared to an iPod video.
- The wireless will be useless and crippled.
- the DRM on the Zune will make it so complicated to get songs on and off that device. You can't do it via the wireless -- undoubtedly you will need to run Windows to get songs on and off it.
Can you tell I am less than impressed? Come on, its M$ afterall!
Posted by Mayhem at October 3, 2006 10:31 AM
