Music bloggers react to the Zune
By Peter Rojas 
posted September 14th 2006 4:04PM
posted September 14th 2006 4:04PM
It's not just the usual suspects talking about the Zune today -- last week Microsoft flew a bunch of music bloggers out to Seattle for an all-expenses paid first-look at the new device. Here's a roundup of some initial reactions: - Glenn over at Coolfer thinks it feels a little heavy, but that the navigation is intuitive and simple. He likes the brown-colored Zune best, saying that it looks better in person than in pics (which we sure hope is the case).
- Amrit from Stereogum wishes it were thinner, but thinks the Zune's wireless capability is "pretty hot." He concludes that the "Zune is long on ideas, but may be short on time."
- MOKB discovered the one confusing feature about the Zune right off the bat -- the "scroll wheel" which turns out to be a directional pad, but actually liked the navigation once they got the hang of it. What they weren't digging so much was how "big and clunky" the Zune is compared with an iPod. They say that Microsoft danced around questions about combining the Zune and the Xbox into some sort of portable gaming console.
Read - Stereogum
Read - MOKB
Well, brown was last winter's IT color, so I think that's where they're going with that color choice...albeit late.
"Has the current 5G iPod suddenly become a dinosaur of a player in the 10 months since it was announced?"
The 5G iPod was a dinosaur in some senses the day it was announced. Everyone knows Archos and the like have had much more capable video playing devices out for quite some time (they're clunky and don't compete very well vs the iPod though). The video playback on the 5g iPod is little more than a novelty, something they added to appease the whiners. Had I really cared about video playback support, I would be waiting for the "real video iPod" myself.
Got to spend a few days with the Zune and get touchy feely with it. To the Creative Vision fanboy, the Zune is far sleeker and prettier than anything Creative has ever done. If anything looks "fisher price" or "Tonka" it’s anything Creative.
The Zune is a VERY formidable adversary to the Ipod. I own a shuffle, a 60gb video, and a 4gb nano. Within the first 15min of playing with it...it has become my favorite. The click pad is just as "catchy" as the scroll wheel, and in my opinion, I actually enjoyed the experience better as did several Ipod "fanboys" who were there as well.
The screen is GORGEOUS. It destroys the Creative Vision and the Ipod video. The interface is very intuitive and easy to use; very fast. The picture function allows you to tilt the Zune to the left to hold it PSP style and view your photos like a widescreen and the navigation changes accordingly on the click pad. One touch to get out of this mode and back into the menu. Again, the interface was very very very nice. As a little something extra the user can customize there interface background with whatever photo/visual they want. Battery life seemed better than my Ipod video; far superior to the nano battery life obviously (looks like apple had to redesign everything nano because of its bad rep).
As far as transferring songs, pictures, play lists via wifi.....the whole process took me about three clicks. Not 72 to the fanboy joker in one of the earlier posts. It was also a very fast transfer for mp3 and photo; and we did not have to stand as statues.
It is slightly heavier than the Ipod video...although you notice it at first, after the first minute or two you don't notice and becomes inconsequential. It feels great in your hand and is very comfortable to hold. Not sure what type of material it is made of exactly, but it is very smudge and scratch proof and feels "smooth, velvety, and warm" if I could put the feeling into words. It is quite the opposite to the Ipod which feels cold and metallic(not that that is a bad thing, I just think this was a design consideration when making the Zune and trying to make it "different" from the Ipod experience). The software is great; the Zune marketplace is amazing and tops the Itunes store by leaps and bounds both visually and in terms of ease of use and functionality. There are few very cool winning points about it, but I can't elaborate further; they will definitely help propel the Zune and Zune experience. The Zune was made pretty open ended and leaves Microsoft with the ability to future proof it in some ways and get creative as time goes on.
The accessories are very strong for the Zune. Everything the Ipod has accessory wise, the Zune will have, plus a few things more which I can't get into. All the 3rd party makers will be supporting Zune with accessories.
I probably shouldn't be posting this stuff, but I have been careful not to say any of the specific things that I must keep confidential. However, I was just amazed at the idiotic posts by brand loyalists, who have never seen or used the Zune, making some of the most moronic statements and announcements about what it is, how it is going to work, what will fail about it, and how Microsoft fails at everything and wants to own the world; meanwhile Apple just rules and can do no wrong hahaha. The blanket statements by some of you people are pathetic which leads me to believe you maybe 13-18 and living in your parents basement; having never kissed a girl. And by the way there will be no lawsuits regarding sharing as it was the record companies and organizations that forced them to do the 3 plays for sharing.
The fact is Microsoft is VERY VERY serious about seeing the Zune through. The coming ad campaigns for it are some of the best, if not the best, that I have seen for a new product in a very long time. They contrast to Apple/Ipod advertising very nicely. Everything about this product and its release is something I did not expect from a company like Microsoft. I already had in my head that the Zune was going to be junk and most likely lack support. Boy was I wrong about that; they are going to be pushing this strong. The retail support from store chains is unreal (thanks to Apple pissing everyone off last holiday). When it launches it will be in your face and won't be shy from the consumer...the magnitude of it is something that hasn't been seen before from any other maker of mp3/media players except for Apple. Its going to be very nice to watch...almost like a heavyweight fight challenger vs. champion.
Based on everything I have seen, from the Zune itself to the support behind it, it is very possible to say that within 4 or 5 years Microsoft will have 35% to 40% of the player market... if executed correctly.
Again I was very surprised that this entire package is coming from Microsoft...I was impressed. Also, the brown color is my favorite; it grows on you.