1st Generation Zune Enhancements Coming?

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://zuneinsider.com/archive/2007/09/07/on-listening-to-the-community.aspx' target='_blank'>http://zuneinsider.com/archive/2007/09/07/on-listening-to-the-community.aspx</a><br /><br /></div>This is <a href="http://zuneinsider.com/archive/2007/09/07/on-listening-to-the-community.aspx" target="_blank">from a post</a> Cesar Menendez, a member of the Zune team, did on the 7th of this month:<br /><br /><em>&quot;A while ago I had said the recent announcement doesn&rsquo;t change any of our plans &ndash; it doesn&rsquo;t. We&rsquo;re really confident about the lineup we&rsquo;re building, and to the enhancements we&rsquo;re bringing to gen 1 Zunes (no specifics to share right now). Until then, today is Friday, and my next post will contain a bunch of free music.&quot;</em><br /><br />It baffles me slightly that Cesar would be talking about enhancements being made to the first generation Zune products when we're on the eve of the second generation products being released. Unless, and this is a very large &quot;unless&quot;, the Zune team is keeping the core hardware so much the same that when the second generation Zunes come out the features will be <em>100% backward compatible with the older Zunes</em>. In an ideal world, this would mean that whatever new features and enhancements coming out for the Zune 2.0 devices could be applied to the Zune 1.0 devices. This is certainly possible to do - Microsoft controls the hardware end to end, so if Zune 2.0 has enhancements to the menu system, more on-board codecs, etc., it might be backward compatible with the hardware we have here.<br /><br />That's a highly speculative guess, but seeing as how the first generation Zunes have received no significant firmware updates since launch, and we're all wondering what the Zune team is up to (since it's clearly not firmware upgrades), maybe this is it? Talk about wishing on a star...I almost feel silly writing this up. But hey, if I'm right, you heard it here first.

[mrozema]

Hmm. Wishing upon a star? Yes. Being a gen. 1 Zune owner myself, I like the sound of backward compatibility. Get 'er done boys! I want an update!

[mrozema]

Ooh, here's a thought... Would providing feature updates to the legacy device once said Zune 2.0 is released negatively affect its sales? People might stick with their old Zune instead of picking up the latest and greatest. That might not be ideal for M$.

[Rocco Augusto]

I'm sure at least one of the new Zunes will have an 80+GB hard drive as well as being thinner than the current brick like devices. Even with the new functionality, I can see the new ones being more appealing with those features :)

[enjoythemusic]

It is good to know MS is not leaving 1st gen folks in the dust like Samsung does with the SportsCam. In fact because of Samsung's lackluster support i shall never buy another one of their products ever. With MS showing continued support the favor will be returned.

[mgullotta]

As a current Zune owner I would love it if the new software or services (I hope new services) are 100% backward compatible. However, I get so much use out of my Zune that I wouldn't mind buying a new one for Christmas if it meant meaningful additional features or services.

I also agree 80gig would be great, but only if there was a reason for it. Without marketplace support for movies and without native lossless support, 80gigs is a bit much for 160k wma files. Does anyone agree?

[Jason Dunn]

Would providing feature updates to the legacy device once said Zune 2.0 is released negatively affect its sales?

Well, Microsoft has only sold a bit over a million Zunes so far...so it's fair to say that the majority of the MP3-player-buying market are not Zune owners. The number of people that would get this upgrade and not buy a new Zune eventually can't be that big...

[Jason Dunn]

I also agree 80gig would be great, but only if there was a reason for it. Without marketplace support for movies and without native lossless support, 80gigs is a bit much for 160k wma files. Does anyone agree?

Indeed - the average person doesn't have 80 GB of music, and with the Zune lacking support for a movie download service, Media Center DVR-MS sync for TV shows, real podcasting support, native USB hard drive mode, and any video codec other than WMV...you'd have a lot of storage not going to much good use. :rolleyes:

[Alber1690]

If I had to make a bet, I would probably place the money down on your side. Although some say that it would make some customers not want Zune 2.0 if Zune 1.0 would receive updates...people would still want newer hardware for whatever purpose (thinner, colors, models, etc.) Microsoft would offer come this holiday season. But, seriously, we 1.0 customers have received nothing, I repeat NOTHING. The only way for Microsoft to fix its image would be to not only amaze 1.0 owners, but also provide a phenomenal 2.0. That's probably what they should and want to do.

[jdmountford]

I can easily say I am a huge proponent of the Zune. We own two. I would esily buy a third for my wife but she will not let me and instead carries around a Nano that I got for a hell of a deal. I can say that the amount of things that I can do natively with my Zune makes her Nano pale in comparison, but for some people it is not the features that they care about but the size. That is why there are so many iPods in the world.

I would love to have the Marketplace work wirelessly. Heck I would love to be able to delete and edit playlists right from my Zune, but I can live with out those things for now. Still I do get disapointed that Apple learns from it's customers. They make changes to improve their devices. Heck the new Touch is rumored to do wireless istore. How come MS can not figure out how to take feedback and implement it. I mean they built a device that is updatable, but can not make updates. HTis is where they are failing. The Zunes are solid. I LOVE mine. And my 12 year old loves hers. But I want the device to live up to it's potential.

I went to Project Revolution. It was being Sponsored by Xbox and to a smaller degree Zune. There was a Zune tent so I went into ask if they had herd rumors about the new devices or any new colors. I got to talking with the guys manning the tent. I was one of just a few people who they had talked to who even owned a Zune, let alone knew what it was. And absolutely no one else had two in the family. I walked out of there with over three months worth of passes for free Marketplace.

BTW they knew nothing about upcoming devices.

[Rocco Augusto]

Indeed - the average person doesn't have 80 GB of music, and with the Zune lacking support for a movie download service, Media Center DVR-MS sync for TV shows, real podcasting support, native USB hard drive mode, and any video codec other than WMV...you'd have a lot of storage not going to much good use. :rolleyes:

Though if one of these new features was the ability to play, or transcode, DVR-MS files you could easily gobble up 80GBs worth of harddrive space. I know Microsoft hasn't said whether or not this would be a feature... but I just can't fathom why it isn't. The Zune could be the perfect portable Media Center extender! It even has built in WiFi support! You should be able to take the Zune anywhere in the house and use it just like a set top extender.

How can you not capitalize on this, it is so elementary?!?!?!

[dr_doak]

How can you not capitalize on this, it is so elementary?!?!?!


You know, I was just taking a good look at the 5th gen Archos (I had an Archos HDD based player way back before iPods were big) and thinking the same thing... Why on earth can't I stream files from either Media Player or Media Center, or SOMETHING? That would be vastly more attractive to me as a customer than the ability to share a song for a few days. Kind of frustrating when it seems like I find some new way to interconnect my PCs, Media Center, 360, and Pocket PC every other day. Pretty much anything MS makes seems to plug into all of the other MS products. To me, being able to plug the Zune into the 360 via USB is meaningless when my 360 can already stream everything from my PC.

If they can add this feature (and dvr-ms support) to the Zune 2, I'd be all over it. Even better if they get the Zune 1 to actually use its full capabilities.

[tbird]

As a current Zune owner I would love it if the new software or services (I hope new services) are 100% backward compatible. However, I get so much use out of my Zune that I wouldn't mind buying a new one for Christmas if it meant meaningful additional features or services.

I also agree 80gig would be great, but only if there was a reason for it. Without marketplace support for movies and without native lossless support, 80gigs is a bit much for 160k wma files. Does anyone agree?
I do!
You bring up a good point....I use my Zune everyday for both tunes and video, it does just what I wanted it to do.
But if the New Zune has some added feature that can only be found on it, like more memory, and MS updates the old Zune to at least keep pace, Hell yes sign me up I will buy another Zune, and give my 1st gen Zune to my son who really wants it, but is stuck in "apple" land.

[MrJoe]

This would be a great move. I'd be more inclined to stick with the brand if I knew that Microsoft would support old users as well. Microsoft, Apple, and the other competitors know that these things don't last forever, so I don't think it would hurt sales much. If Microsoft makes big Zune UI enhancements with Zune 2.0 and leaves my $250 Zune 1.0 in the dust, I'd be more inclined to look to what the competition offers when the time comes.

[the_rapture]

If what happens with the Zune is the same as what happened with the OEMs and Pocket PCs, then I'll likely move on to a different product or just stay where I'm at for 3 years before I change devices. I'm hoping they want some loyalty not just money, because Apple has loyal fans and then once you have that then you can charge more. I was really disappointed when OEMs for PPC stopped offering updates for a $500 PPC that was only a year old.

[SkateZilla]

my zune is only 3 months old.. lol, so, i was gonna get one for my brother this X-mas, I love my Zune, the Software doesn't bluescreen my pc like the other one (itunes),

anyway, they will most likely upgrade ZUne 1.0 Firmware to work on the new network,.... they wont drop support cold turkey for something still being put on shelves.