Microsoft Zune adds filesharing and videos
Microsoft Corp., trailing Apple Inc. badly in the market for portable music and video players, is introducing a new technology that will let users of its Zune portable devices legally share portions of their song libraries with other Zune users. The Redmond, Wash., company on Tuesday also plans to announce it has started selling downloads of television shows that will play on Zunes, including “South Park” and “Heroes,” through relationships with Comedy Central, NBC, MTV and other broadcasters. The company says it will have about 800 episodes available for purchase at $1.99 each on its Zune online store, compared with thousands of episodes from 600 different shows on Apple’s iTunes Store.
The music-sharing function for Zunes underscores how Microsoft is seeking to set itself apart from Apple, which dominates the portable-music and movie-player market. Microsoft has failed to take any meaningful share from Apple since it entered the business with Zune in late 2006. According to market-research firm NPD Group Inc., Apple had 71% of the U.S. portable-music-player market in the first quarter, compared with 4% for Microsoft. Microsoft has for some time allowed users to view the titles of the latest songs that friends are listening to and to hear clips through the Zune Web site. A new feature will allow users access their friends nine most recently played songs, as well as nine other songs flagged as favorites, and copy them onto their own Zunes. To play back the tracks, users will need a $14.99-a-month subscription to Microsoft’s Zune Pass service, which offers unlimited access to a library of millions of tracks.
Source: WSJ
zune shmune. who cares? untill microsnot gets its head out of its ass and actually innovates something i’ll keep my ipod. not because it’s a better product, but because it isn’t a microsnot ‘badly done’ rip off.
If apple invents a time machine,we know who will attempt to make a rip-off!
doesn’t itunes already allow you to share your music on your network?
I haven’t used my ipod ever since i got my Zune, it’s a much better product: better sound quality and easier to navigate.
Give Zune (the 80 gig, 2nd generation one) a chance, you won’t regret it.
listening right now too my touch with some nice mayday sounds
f**K zune
which one has longer video playback?
this zune is still so ugly
2@ for your information, the ipod is a rip-off of the Creative JukeBox from the early 90’s, the first ipod was released after 2000, when creative already had a full line of hd mp3 players. apple is just an assembling company, they don’t invent nothing at all.
so… this is only another JukeBox rip-off like ipod, there’s nothing wrong with it
People actualy buy zune? lol
in the end its your descission what you prefer. i really like the touch - everything else is kindergarten
are we pretending iPod is good music player?
I got 8g nano player, i actually paid 200€ for a friggin mp3 player. and god damn its one bugged p.o.s and iTunes itself is horribly slow and its a major resource hog, i mean comeone 500mhz cpu and 256mb memory for a program that allows you to transfer songs to your ipod. I have to format the player quite frequently, about once a week because ipod jams and itunes refuses to recognize what it even is
but still, i love that crappy little thing and i wouldnt change it to anything
I hate when people call things rip offs.
There is no such thing as a rip off in the tech industry. When a new technology comes out, other companies will build off of that to further it.
It’s how the industry works.
all comments except #s 1 and 2 are invalidated by the fail brigade.
iPod sounds just fine, by some proper headphones you cheap dumbasses
Funny how many iPod Fanboys are in here. Zune FTW
I think it is a shame the creative vision m/w are discontinued, my vision:m lets me load my downloaded movies to it (no transcoding/recompressing) and watch them, the zune and ipod wont do that. It also has tv out and supports the full rez of the video, so i can dump the latest r5 on it and go to a friends house with just my player and an av cable and we have movie night. Only downside is no ac3 (but i can transcode audio in less then 10 min).
I think the zune has potential, because microsoft can leverage their assets on multiple platforms. Imagine having your zune bring up a program guide for your windows media center. Imagine using the zune’s wifi to inject your mp3s into a 360 game. I think microsoft has a real chance here if they can get cross-application support, adding value and function that apple will have a hard time matching.
I gave my 1g nano a new life by installing RockBox (linux) in it.
It’s awesome, i can even play Doom in it. The sound is 10x better with lots of equalization options, i don’t have to use iTunes anymore, it has a software video player (you have to remember that my nano doesn’t play videos), support for lots of other audio formats, tons of mini-games, etc etc.
Just google for rockbox. it’s great.
wow all the haters need to open their eyes
I own a macbook pro and a iphone. I played with my friends zune 80, it’svery nice especially compare to its competitor the ipod classic…
“users will need a $14.99-a-month subscription to Microsoft’s Zune Pass service”
LOL LOLLOLLOL LOL
LOL LOL LOL LOL
LOL LOL LOL LOL
LOL LOL LOL LOL
LOL LOL LOL LOL
LOLLOLLOL LOLLOLLOL LOLLOLLOL
rockbox !! will chk it out?
don’t knock it til you’ve tried it. i thought the zune was stupid until i was playing around with my friends, now i have my own zune. it’s a better product, and if you give it a chance, you’ll probably like it.
@19
I totally agree. I think I’ll stick to P2P. LMFAO
@21 Dude, dont play around with your friends im sure they dont appreciate it
Zune is so much better than iPod… I pay $14.99 a month and have access to millions of songs all the time… wonderful… iPod users pay $14.99 and get what, 1 album? Weak. Have fun not listening to whatever you want, iPod morons.
” Zorz
May 6th, 2008 | 10:31 ”
How’s that ‘cognitive dissonance’ working out for you?
“halfbreed
May 6th, 2008 | 15:37″
Same goes for you..
Cognitive dissonance.. such a beautiful thing.. and so clearly the case with such comments as yours.
standalone MP3/media players are going to end soon, I’ve been using my Nokia N95 8GB and it beats the iphone by some distance, nokia have also made the N96 with 16GB drive and no doubt when it comes to upgrade time for me next year Nokia will have another phone with even more storage.
im not an ipod or even an apple fanboy AT ALL but i do enjoy listening to music and INTERNET CONNECTIVITY in my pocket. full web broser on your mp3 player FTW. ipod touch much much greater than zune!
i feel bad for all the zune owners =[
@24 halfbreed
im an ipod user and you think i pay for music? lol why do you think i would even be on a site like this………….
Ill take my 32gb Zen anyday. But at least mS is givin people more for their money as opposed to less. Its a different angle for them.
lolzune!
haha f()ck that
I will not buy apple, ms or creative audio or video players EVER. I will never buy Creative sound cards either, based on principle.
Microsoft windows users put Mac users down by saying they own the market share…
Microsoft Zune users put Ipod users down for owning the Music Market share…
Make up your minds!
But when will it be for sale in canada.
lol @ Zune
nah… never liked the Zune or any portable MP3 player
used to own a 6GB Nano, it sounds great and works great but then it’s just me that does not like such portables. Maybe if I’d get another MP3 player then perhaps I’d try Sony’s or other brands’…
lol at the iFanboys
zune is superior to every ipod other than the touch, but the touch is in a different class of portable media player. and the $15/month zune pass is well worth the dollars, especially with tunebite on the side. millions of “drm-free” songs on unlimited download… i’ve found so much music on the ZM that i never would have found anywhere else.
if i wasnt using a zune i’d be using creative again, but never would i stoop so low as to owning another ipod. why would i pay more for less? i figured the cheap bastards on here would understand that more than anyone else.
oh and use zune users have had wireless song sharing since the beginning, it’s just been expanded now to include the zune card and your previously played/favorite songs.
Who the hell pays for music? and if you do, you’re seriously on the wrong site.
Me + iPod Touch + intarweb + numerous private Bittorrent sites = Zune Fails
OR
Jailbroken iPod Touch + Transmission + direct download through wifi = i win
i pity the fools using zune
i own a Zune 80gb and loving it… sure the software is a headache but once u’re familiar with it and know all of it qicks and know hows, it works wonderfully. Other than the getting use-to of the Zune software, the hardware is a gem… it feels perfect in my hand, nice large screen, but best of all is the squircle control (i use to think the clickwheel was the coolest thing ever, until i experience the Zune’s). Hell, i sold my old 60GB 5th gen ipod video to/and bought the new zune.
I’m not dissing apple or anything b/c i also own an ipod shuffle 2nd gen and it’s great. I love apple’s stuff. it’s just that their stuff cost too damn much for a poor guy like me = i’ll trade in a zune anyday if i can get the itouch or iphone for the same price i paid for the zune or at least cheaper than what it is.
BTW, you can’t compare the iTouch to the Zune… they’re just two completely different class of products
yeah i have to say comparing the touch to the zune means you lose the argument, they really arent in the same class, ones like a mini computer, the other a portable media device, compare the touch/iphone to other touch phones and it will get beat. i agree with who ever said creative zen vision m, its what i dumped my ipod video for. i convert nothing and 90% of everything video plays in it. i like the zune, but i wouldnt trade any of them for my zen, not even a touch, i dont have the time to spend converting all my movies, which is my number 1 concern in a media player, and my nokia phone does everything else the touch does, so whats the point?
ITT: iPod-worshiping sheep.
Creative Zen Vision:M > Zune > AIDS > iPod.
I pay the $15 a month for zune, because of the ease of its software and the selection. Whats $15 to what I make on a day-to-day basis? Its much more convenient than surfing links for torrents and such. There are some albums I want to own, but I’m willing to pay zune $15 a month to hold 5,000 songs for me. Any avid iPod users spend $5,000? And don’t you remember the article about apple possibly starting a subscription-status music store?
http://lifehacker.com/387780/best-online-file-sharing-service
its nice to see this whole site isnt completely full of iPoo maniacs and can tell what a real device can do for them.
i just updated my zune software and firmware to 2.5. the software is a HUGE improvement and gapless playback is finally here. other than that there’s not much more that stands out in the upgrade.
But once Apple does the whole $14.99 unlimited download thing that they’ve discussed what argument will you have then to compare? At least @42 DaDOME has some decent comments for comparison.