Consumers Uninterested in Zune

To hear Microsoft tell the story, you'd think its recently released Zune MP3 was doing just fine: Sales of the widely-reviled device were "exactly within our expectations," a Microsoft spokesperson said recently. Reality, however, is a bit more cruel: After appearing in the top 10 on Amazon.com's list of best-selling electronics devices for about a week after its debut, the highest-charting Zune model today can only be found if you scroll quite a ways down the list: The black Zune is currently nestled at number 95. The white and brown models, even more embarrassingly, can be found at numbers 866 and 687, respectively. Michael Gartenberg of Jupiter Research refers to Amazon's sales list as "a pretty good indicator of consumer interest."

So what went wrong? Just about everything, actually. The Zune provides only a small portion of the functionality a consumer gets with an iPod, and it does so with a device is that delivers less batter life and yet costs exactly the same as a comparable iPod. The Zune is incompatible with every single online service on the planet, even those that utilize Microsoft's PlaysForSure technologies. Zune's marketing is abysmal, while Microsoft appears to be going to great lengths to mimic everything about the iPod it can while offering virtually no real benefits over Apple's dominant solutions.

How dominant is the iPod? Looking over Amazon's top-10 list for electronics, you'll see that 6 of the devices are MP3 players. Of those 6 MP3 players, the top 5 are made by Apple, and iPods make up 4 of the 6 top positions on the chart, including the first two spots. The number one electronics device, incidentally, is a 30 GB black iPod that--you guessed it--competes directly with the Zune.

In the months leading up to the Zune's release, Microsoft handled its PR as if it were a badly-made movie. Rather than seed the technical press with pre-release Zune units, Microsoft's PR company decided to provide Zunes only to music bloggers and four mainstream news agencies in advance of its release. Others wishing to review the Zune didn't receive Zune devices until the day before its public release, making effective reviews virtually impossible. Since that time, Microsoft hasn't received a positive review yet: Everyone who's gotten their hands on one of these devices has declared it an abject failure, including, not coincidentally, yours truly: My review is now available on the SuperSite for Windows. It ain't pretty.

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I don't know about anyone else, but I can't wait to get myself a Zune. A brown one at that!
I'm in the UK and was a little disapointed to see that it is not being released worldwide simultaniously.
People where I work have the iPod and after showing them some of the photos of the Zune, they're keen, especially on the brown one. They like the idea of the sharing too - especially as we all have different tastes.

It's bound to be poo-poo'd though because it's not an iPod, not because it's inferior.

I would have liked to see it work with Media Player 11 though.

djdarknight November 28, 2006 (Article Rating:

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The best review so far is from the Chicago Sun-Times:

"Yes, Microsoft's new Zune digital music player is just plain dreadful. I've spent a week setting this thing up and using it, and the overall experience is about as pleasant as having an airbag deploy in your face.

" 'Avoid,' is my general message. The Zune is a square wheel, a product that's so absurd and so obviously immune to success that it evokes something akin to a sense of pity.

"The setup process stands among the very worst experiences I've ever had with digital music players. The installer app failed, and an hour into the ordeal, I found myself asking my office goldfish, "Has it really come to this? Am I really about to manually create and install a .dll file?

"...it almost becomes important that you encourage people not to buy one.

"The iPod owns 85 percent of the market because it deserves to. Apple consistently makes decisions that benefit the company, the users and the media publishers -- and they continue to innovatively expand the device's capabilities without sacrificing its simplicity.

"Companies such as Toshiba and Sandisk (with its wonderful Nano-like Sansa e200 series) compete effectively with the iPod by asking themselves, 'What are the things that users want and Apple refuses to provide?'

"Microsoft's colossal blunder was to knock the user out of that question and put the music industry in its place.

"Result: The Zune will be dead and gone within six months. Good riddance."

But that's not to disparage Paul's excellent Zune review. Both he and Andy hit this one out of the park. Well done.

lotsamystuff November 28, 2006 (Article Rating:

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Hello,
I think this is a very disappointing and unprofessional article.

First being a ZEN Vision M owner I really don't understand why somebody would be pro iPod. The zen supports Divx, transparently converts quicktime into wmv and features a now matures zencast piece of software that manages RSS much better than iTune.

Now about the ZUNE. Come on paul,eventhough the software has some glitches(don't you remember itune 1) they are not preventing the device from being useful. Second Microsoft is not stupid they wanted to be on the market for Q4 PERIOD. Q1 2007 will most probably bring major software updates including Zune Marketplace from the device and much more. You seem to underestimate the fact that Zune Marketplace and Xbox live will help each other in the short and medium term.

the xna framework could run on the zune along with xbox liveanywhere......

i could go on and on......

You will be proven wrong in 2007

fdumesle November 28, 2006 (Article Rating:

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1. Not all reviews were critical. CNet, PCMag, Engadget all had favorable reviews.
2. Amazon is a single online store. This article was obviously not well researched.
3. We get it, Paul. You hate the Zune. How many times are you going to say the same thing? Are there three different ways of saying you hate something? :-)

shark47 November 28, 2006 (Article Rating:

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fdumesie and djdarknight:

Come on, just call a lemon a lemon. 95% of people who've reviewed the Zune hate it. Why is it so hard for you to admit that Microsoft messed this one up?

And who cares what happens in 2007? Paul's point is that they screwed up NOW in 2006. And several articles have mentioned that the initial Zune is so bad, it may taint the brand for a long time to come. Paul has always maintained that Zune could improve in the long term.

Finally, the thing IS inferior to the iPod. There's just no question. No TV shows, no Videos, shorter battery life, bulkier, software that crashes and takes 30 minutes to install, confusing UI, more restrictive DRM... come on.

You really have to be a hardcore Microsoft lackie to call this iteration of Zune good.

bdkjones November 28, 2006 (Article Rating:

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"Now about the ZUNE. Come on paul,eventhough the software has some glitches(don't you remember itune 1) they are not preventing the device from being useful."

Or even iTunes7! :-)

shark47 November 28, 2006 (Article Rating:

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Fdumesie:

If you'd like to understand why "someone would be pro-iPod" simply stop by an Apple store, pick one up, and then install iTunes.

You'll understand within 45 seconds.

...But don't worry. Even though you've never owned an iPod or given one a shot, we'll still value your highly important opinion about the device based on an absolute lack of experience.

bdkjones November 28, 2006 (Article Rating:

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Cheap shot Shark! :)

iTunes 7 had a few bumps, but it still didn't take 30 minutes to download and install, it didn't require you to create two user ID's just to use the program, it didn't feature pictures of orgasming chicks for error screens, and it certainly was fixed within 72 hours.

Zune Marketplace shouldn't even be mentioned in the same breath as iTunes.

bdkjones November 28, 2006 (Article Rating:

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Paul needed to go after something made by Microsoft to avoid being called a "Microsoft fanboy". He was critical of the Zune even before it was officially announced (before any pictures were made available online or any ). While I do agree with certain points in his review, I really don't think the tone was justified. Or maybe it was so that people would take his Vista articles more seriously. I don't know. He ends up sounding like a wannabe iFanatic. And what about this article? Amazon store? That's just one store - one among the thousands of stores and however tempted you are, I don't think that can be used to arrive at any conclusions. Did anyone really expect Zune to come and displace iPods? REally?

shark47 November 28, 2006 (Article Rating:

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"Finally, the thing IS inferior to the iPod. There's just no question. No TV shows, no Videos, shorter battery life, bulkier, software that crashes and takes 30 minutes to install, confusing UI, more restrictive DRM... come on."

And don't forget about those newfangled "podcast" thingies everyone's talking about.

Microsoft's had FIVE YEARS to get this right. And I'm laughing at all the "...but wait! It'll get better!" comments. Of course, as Mr. Ihnatko points out, other players ARE worthy competitors to the iPod, but their sales are fairly lackluster, too. Perhaps the brain trust at Microsoft (led by the ultra-cool "J") thought "good enough" would be, well, good enough this time around too.

"How many times are you going to say the same thing? Are there three different ways of saying you hate something? :-)"

Oh, come on. Paul's just being Paul. How many ways can he say he loves the xBox? I don't hear you complaining about THAT!

lotsamystuff November 28, 2006 (Article Rating:

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