Beauty or the Beast?

[Aaron Roma]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=370' target='_blank'>http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=370</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>&quot;I thought that Microsoft had already learned its lesson with the bulky/clunky XBox which many people didn't want in their living rooms. Microsoft learned its lesson and came out with the XBox 360 which was sleek and sexy. My question to Microsoft is why they couldn't have applied this same lesson to the Zune? Why waste an entire product cycle? A music/video player is even more fashion sensitive than a game console.&quot;</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/zt/2006/cnn-ugly-111706.jpg" alt="" /></p><p>Technical specs and performance aside, the Zune has a fairly unique look. Most people either love it or hate it. George Ou over at ZDNet obviously is in the &quot;Hate It&quot; camp. Maybe this first generation device doesn't quite have the sex appeal of the iPod, but personally, I&rsquo;m pleased with the design. I would like the see the size trimmed down a bit. The &quot;double-shot&quot; color is something that you can't truly appreciate until you see it in person. The article gives Microsoft bad points for the Zune's &quot;ugly and clashing colors&quot;, while recommending the Zune team should have taken a clue from the Sansa's fashion savvy color scheme. I guess SanDisk's use of blue on black design is better than Microsoft&rsquo;s use of blue on black. :) It's also interesting to note that while the article is extremely critical of the Zune&rsquo;s attractiveness, the included audience poll is almost dead even (at the time of this writing.) So how important are looks in the DMP world? How does the Zune stack up?</p>

[rzanology]

Who is this clown and why is he allowed to open his mouth. It seems people are more than willing to bash any Microsoft made product more so than they would something else. This is getting out of control. Because it doesn’t look like an ipod is ugly? How about we get his picture on the site...and ask everyone is he ugly or not....im sure he wouldn't be too eager to have that happen. I think everyone is missing the point here. Lets take the xbox....Microsoft sat back...watch sony and jumped in when they thought the time was right. Sure there were doubts....sure they were going up against and unstoppable force. You know what...2 years later the xbox was outselling ps2 on cross platform games. Then came the 360....and we are on the verge of seeing microsfot completely over throw the giant it went into battle with 3 years ago. Now...lets take the zune. No matter how much these people bash it...they still seem to give it a very good rating. Even cnet gave it an admirable rating...and we all know how those clowns at cnet get down. So here goes microsoft again...they watch apple...and now they pounced. Whats amazing to me is...on the first try they've rivaled apple. So lets enjoy our product now....and embrace it for what it is (which still has more to offer than the ipod) because the next time around...im looking for microsoft to crush all nah sayers.

[fgarcia10]

Ugly?

I can't stop looking at my Zune, "I think it's a thing of beaty":)

[MarxMarvelous]

Looks are definitely important, but so is durability. I bought my dad a nano a while back and couldn't believe how much you have to baby it or get a case. From what I have seen of the Zune it should resist scratches and fingerprints much better. To me, that is even worth some of the size differential (carry it naked instead of requiring a case).

[Aaron Roma]

Looks are definitely important, but so is durability.

Absolutely. I remember when I got my first iPod, a 4G, and I thought "Dang, this thing is sexy, it can't get any better than this." Then of course the 5G's blew that out of the water. But you know what? Within 10 minutes, that nice sexy finish was covered with fingerprints. And within a couple of days or a week, they were covered in scratches. (My Nano is faring better, but I boy do I baby that thing.) But the Zune so far has been MUCH more durable than my iPods. It withstands fingerprints and my deliberate attempts to scratch it.