Here today, gone Zune?
Well, Microsoft’s would-be iPod-killer (wait, now it’s no longer a killer, it’s an expand-the-marketer, or something), the Zune, is getting hammered:
Only the Zune software can sync music, video and pictures onto the device; Zune is incompatible with Windows Media Player, the familiar hub of the Windows desktop media experience.
The Zune app doesn’t even have as many features as WMP. And why (for the love of God) doesn’t it support podcasts? That’s pure insanity.
It’s incompatible with Microsoft’s own PlaysForSure standard, too.
You’ll have to buy all-new content from the new Zune Marketplace.
Oh, and the Zune Marketplace doesn’t even take real money, proving that on the Zune Planet there’s no operation so simple that it can’t be turned into a confusing ordeal. The Marketplace only accepts Zune Points, with an individual track typically costing the equivalent of the iTunes-standard 99 cents.
By forcing users to buy blocks of Zune Points (with a $5 minimum), the Marketplace only has to pay one credit-card processing fee.
Zune Points will also make it easier for the Zune Marketplace to institute variable pricing. The music industry wants it desperately. The industry has been pressuring Apple to abandon its flat 99 cent pricing and start charging more for “hot” tracks.
Apple has stood firm against this, insisting that low, uniform prices keep sales high and discourage the iTunes Store’s users from downloading music illegally.
I’m certain Microsoft will cave on this one. It has already given the music industry the other thing the industry has been demanding from Apple: a kickback on every player sold.
“These devices are just repositories for stolen music, and they all know it,” said Doug Morris, CEO of Universal Music Group. “So it’s time to get paid for it.”
Well, Morris is just a big, clueless idiot, of course. Do you honestly want morons like him to have power over your music player?
Who knew the Chicago Sun-Times could muster such venom in a tech article?
Wired went in with an upbeat attitude, but still ended up with little positive to say:
I fired up the unit, and its gorgeous interface blinked to life. So far, so good! The Zune can do things I only wish my iPod could. It wirelessly beams media files to other Zunes, sports an FM receiver, and plays video in a landscape mode. But when I tried loading some WMV files, it happened: error message! I tried loading a Grey’s Anatomy episode I got from iTunes. No love, because it’s a protected file. I couldn’t watch my personal files or anything bought from iTunes, and the Zune Marketplace doesn’t sell videos yet, so what exactly am I supposed to watch? No good WMVs? WTF!? This pretty baby has a lot going for it (like decent earphones not sold separately), but I’ll keep searching for The One — Zune and I just aren’t compatible.
Even the normally techno-lusting This Week in Tech podcast couldn’t find anything good to say about it, going so far as to say the Zune will herald the end of digital rights management, by showing just how ineffective and dumb a “solution” it is.
Meanwhile, two years on, me and my “stolen music repository” (a 20 GB iPod stuffed with songs purchased from the iTunes store) are chugging along just fine.
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