Life is grand

Just been reading two reviews of Microsoft’s Zune player and while it isn’t terrible it isn’t going to convert any iPod users or be an iPod killer in the stores.

The NYT review[^] is a bit biased IMO (I own an iPod too but jeez author, get a life) but it brings up some frankly weird points about the Zune:

1. The Zune has WiFi, fantastic. Except you can only use it to send songs to other Zunes. You can’t connect to a PC, network or any other WiFi device. WTF?
2. You can’t use it as an external HD. Sorry folks, no USB drive in Explorer for the Zune. WTF?
3. The screen is bigger. Except it has the same resolution as an iPod.
4. Real world testing shows poorer battery life than an equivalent iPod (two hours less.) And yet the Zune is bigger and heavier.
5. No podcast support from what I can tell. Crikey.
6. Songs are $0.99 but you have to buy credit bundles of $5 or more.
7. Songs are listed as costing 79 “points” which sounds cool except 79 points will cost you $0.99. Now that is marketing.
8. The software media player is seemingly a stripped down Windows Media Player. You can’t use WMP with your Zune.
9. Getting all your existing music onto a Zune is a long conversion process if it works at all.

The other review[^].

It seems OK but nothing to rush out for.

It’s not another Mazda advert but instead LSD inspired rabbits for an iPod competitor from Microsoft. Plenty of noise out there about it so I won’t rehash. I just wanted to comment on two aspects.

First is this comment in a Seattle Weekly article:

To create a mass product, Microsoft can’t design products for the “blue badgers,” as Microsofties call themselves

Strange that. Google is successful with GMail, Google Calendar and others because the very people who make them, use them. Jobs of Apple uses an iPod, he is passionate about them and I’ll bet many other Apple employees are too. There is a strong ethos in all good companies to make products that you use and like. Many of the good Web 2.0 sites out there were created by someone with a personal itch to scratch.

Afterall, blue badgers listen to music, right?

The other is the WiFi sharing feature. Basically you can transmit any song on your Zune to another Zune user in physical range. That user can then listen to the song for three days. If they like it enough, they can buy it.

Cool idea and the technology must be fantastic. But just how many people are going to be in a situation where they can use it? It will take some time to get enough Zunes out there to make public-space sharing a real option. In the technology company I work for in Ireland only a handful even have iPods. The one guy I know who will buy a Zune has just started working for Microsoft, in Seattle.

The rest of us share music over the web with people we often have never met but are good friends with. People well out of WiFi range.

It is one of those cool demo features that work in setup situations at tradeshows and product launches. Nice to have it but…