Zune Thoughts Coming Soon

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.zunethoughts.com' target='_blank'>http://www.zunethoughts.com</a><br /><br /></div><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/zunethoughts-logo.jpg" />

[randalllewis]

So Jason, is this graphic some insider hint at what the first Zune product will look like? Hmmm.

My first thought about the Zune is that the name is going to have to grow on me.

My second thought is I understand why MS is doing this, given the inability of its partners to do crack the player market in anything close to double digit shares. I've said it here before and I will now repeat myself- it is about marketing. There are several players out there that are as cool looking and functional as ipods, but no one as come close to showing any real marketing skill.

[David Horn]

Oooh...

*Runs out to register zunegamer.org*

[jeffd]

oh come on.. we dont even know if zune is gona be a dap, a pmp, or a pda, how much it will cost, or its specs, and you want to make a site out of it allready?

[Mr. MacinTiger]

Why haven't you ever had an iPod Thoughts site? It's proven and sucessful and there are a myrid of third party add-ons for it. You don't even know at this point if the Zune is going to be competative at all against the iPod. :roll:

[Phronetix]

Why haven't you ever had an iPod Thoughts site? It's proven and sucessful and there are a myrid of third party add-ons for it. You don't even know at this point if the Zune is going to be competative at all against the iPod. :roll:

Even I know the answer to this one.

Because.

Okay, fine, I'll add to that. Because he doesn't want one.

;-)

[sojourner753]

Why haven't you ever had an iPod Thoughts site? It's proven and sucessful and there are a myrid of third party add-ons for it. You don't even know at this point if the Zune is going to be competative at all against the iPod. :roll:


Thats a pretty easy answser, I think. Thoughts Media are enthusiast sites based on what Jason is enthusiastic about. No secret there.

[Damion Chaplin]

Why haven't you ever had an iPod Thoughts site? It's proven and sucessful and there are a myrid of third party add-ons for it. You don't even know at this point if the Zune is going to be competative at all against the iPod. :roll:

1) There are already a billion iPod sites out there. Do you really need another?

2) Zune is really more of a platform than a single player and software companion. Zune Thoughts would be more like PPC Thoughts in that many devices [will] fall under the 'Zune' name. The iPod is too specialized.

[BugDude10]

Man, this Jason guy thinks thoughts about everything! 8O

[sojourner753]

To be honest, it wasn't until Jason's site announcement that my interest was really peaked.

Before that it was more like "Okay, so MS is releasing a player. Lets see what happens."

But now, it sounds like Zune could be something that wont just compete with Apple, but maybe change the whole game.

[Felix Torres]

Why haven't you ever had an iPod Thoughts site? It's proven and sucessful and there are a myrid of third party add-ons for it. You don't even know at this point if the Zune is going to be competative at all against the iPod. :roll:

Dunno.
Probably afraid of being sued.
The PCWorld guys wanted to call Playlist Magazine iPODWorld and got hit with a cease and desist letter before the proposed logo had been finalized.
Apple is kinda zealous about their toys.

[entropy1980]

Zune = Yawn. Seriously next week we will see apple drop the nuke that will basically see everyone eternally playing catch-up. If apple makes it first with a great player and way to get movies legally (read: iTunes for Movies) MS can just give it up now. Apple has the one thing MS can't seem to wrap their head around which is good industrial design. Until that happens the Zune will fail just as their Plays for Sure. Which reminds me what the heck is up with the Zune not being compatible with Plays for Sure? That's the kind of headache I am talking about. With Apple's approach you don't have to wonder if the media you are going to buy will work, it just does.

/rant.

[Felix Torres]

Which reminds me what the heck is up with the Zune not being compatible with Plays for Sure?
/rant.

What about it?
Don't have to go very far to see that it *is* compatible.
Just two posts earlier:
http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=64341&amp;sid=6201711f98f30ea0a1009b662f932cc0

My first thought about a Zune-thoughts site was that Mr Dunn was being a tad premature, just as all the naysayers claiming Zune=yawn and Zune=failure.

My second though is that he gets to see a lot of stuff under non-disclosure agreements. And, it is *his* money going into the new site.

Me, I'll wait to see what Zune comes up with.
I can think of at least 5 all-new features/capabilities that are doable with Windows Mobile that would make for an, ahem, insanely great music player:
Start with multiple bluetooth headset support and let your mind open up to the possibilities...

[Jason Dunn]

Why haven't you ever had an iPod Thoughts site? It's proven and sucessful and there are a myrid of third party add-ons for it.

A few reasons:

1) I couldn't have called it iPod Thoughts because Apple is brutal about their trademark. White Audio Player Thoughts? Not a nice ring to it. ;-)

2) There are a lot of iPod sites out there, it's hard to have a successful community when you're the last one to the party.

3) I registered Mac Thoughts.com (the idea being to cover all things Apple), and had an editor lined up to helm it, but things fell through and the site has been bumped down the list. It's still something I'd like to see happen though, Thoughts Media is all about enthusiast communities, and Apple users are nothing if not enthusiastic. ;-)

[Jason Dunn]

Apple has the one thing MS can't seem to wrap their head around which is good industrial design

You haven't even SEEN the Zune player yet, doesn't it seem a bit early to decide it sucks? ;-) When I look at the hardware that Microsoft has designed (mice, keyboards, routers), I think their hardware looks great. Hell, look at the Xbox 360 - it has a great industrial design, and this is the same team of people working on the Zune. Give it a chance before making up your mind...

[Jason Dunn]

My second though is that he gets to see a lot of stuff under non-disclosure agreements. And, it is *his* money going into the new site.

I have no more information than most people, but what I've seen and know of the team working on the platform makes me think they're in it for the long haul.

I can think of at least 5 all-new features/capabilities that are doable with Windows Mobile that would make for an, ahem, insanely great music player...

The Zune won't be based on Windows Mobile though...but you're right, there are some great possibilities beyond what the iPod has offered so far!

[Jason Eaton]

...I registered Mac Thoughts.com (the idea being to cover all things Apple...

Oooo that sounds like an interesting site. Have to admit that the Mac site sounds more tempting to me then Zune. Not that I am arguing against a Zune site, that would be silly. However how much content can one cover on just a music player? Same argument for an iPod site.

Well then again maybe the site isn't targeted towards me. Good luck with the Zune site, I'll be sure to give it a clickabout when it is live. :D

[Felix Torres]

The Zune won't be based on Windows Mobile though...

Really?
Odd, the Mobile-based PMC 2.1 series are very nice devices and MS generally eats their own dogfood whenever possible. (The strength of their second generation wireless routers was their use of WinCE, for example, and the XBOXes run custom versions of Windows, etc)
And WM5 would bring a whole lot of prime code ready to run for WiFi stacks, Bluetooth, communications and media playback, even gaming...

Still, the SPOT watches run a third, leaner, MS device OS so its possible they're reaching into that line of code.
With all the speculation floating around (400MHz cpus, etc) its going to be tough for MS to actually impress anybody with the first Zune player so they're really going to have to get creative.

Should be fun to see this one play out; things were getting boring in media player-land.

[Gary Sheynkman]

Wow

I just love it that some of you guys are jumping all over Jason from starting yet another Thoughts Media website that will provide you with reliable information, great reviews, and a great community to share your passion for technology..... god forbid he ever do such a thing. :roll:

Considering that Zune is being developed by the xbox360 team I am sure it will be a great product. Sure Microsoft might "suck" :roll: but when they enter a market they do so prepared because they are the only people with the resources to do so.

Jason, I look forward to making zunethoughtsa daily read just like ppct and dmt. :)

[Jason Dunn]

However how much content can one cover on just a music player? Same argument for an iPod site.

Tell that to the guys at iLounge (http://www.ilounge.com/). ;-) Do I think Zune Thoughts will have the same volume of news as Pocket PC Thoughts at first? No, probably not. But I'm also open to the possibility of Zune Thoughts being more important as a community site for Zune owners, and a review site for accessories, rather than a fast-paced news site.

Well then again maybe the site isn't targeted towards me. Good luck with the Zune site, I'll be sure to give it a clickabout when it is live. :D

Absolutely! That's really key for everyone to realize: not every Thoughts Media site is meant for every member of this community.

[Jason Dunn]

Really? Odd, the Mobile-based PMC 2.1 series are very nice devices and MS generally eats their own dogfood whenever possible.

I've been told by the head PR guy for Windows Mobile that the Zune is not a Windows Mobile product and not part of the Windows Mobile family. Does that mean it's not running Windows CE? No, it might be, but that's not the same as Windows Mobile. Still much to be revealed about it...I wish I knew more! :-)

[Gary Sheynkman]

Jason,

Do you think that Microsoft will offer several devices at launch? Something to compete with the Archos AV series but with a movie/tv show subscription service. That would be pretty cool.

Also... I am a jerk when it comes to sound quality. Will microsoft be the one to make the next rio karma in terms of a good dac, amp, (gasp!) gapless playback?


I know you have answers!

[Jason Dunn]

Do you think that Microsoft will offer several devices at launch? Something to compete with the Archos AV series but with a movie/tv show subscription service. That would be pretty cool.

I've read rumours about multiple devices down the road, but I think at launch there will only be one device. No facts yet though.

Also... I am a jerk when it comes to sound quality. Will microsoft be the one to make the next rio karma in terms of a good dac, amp, (gasp!) gapless playback?

You should read the thread at Pocket PC Thoughts then (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/posting.php?mode=quote&p=411503), there's a REAL jerk in there who's kicking up a real fuss. Maybe you can appeal to him as a fellow audiophile... ;-)

[Felix Torres]

I've been told by the head PR guy for Windows Mobile that the Zune is not a Windows Mobile product and not part of the Windows Mobile family. Does that mean it's not running Windows CE? No, it might be, but that's not the same as Windows Mobile.

Ah, when you put it that way it makes some sense.
Windows Mobile is as much a branding exercise as it is a platform toolkit; kinda like XP Embedded.

So they could be using the toolkit building blocks, which is what I was wondering about, but not brand it as Windows mobile so as not to tie it in to the PDA/Smartphone space, which is what a PR person would worry about.
Definitely a parallel to the XBOX where, while they acknowledge the Os is based on windows and uses windows code, they treat it as a wholly separate creature for marketing purposes. So they get the benefits of the Windows tech without drawing as much attention from the ABM crowd who can pretend the 360 isn't really a Microsoft product. ;-)

[jeffd]

is this zune site replacing dmt? or is there another reason theres been no news in the pasy 3 days? ;)

[Jason Dunn]

is this zune site replacing dmt? or is there another reason theres been no news in the pasy 3 days? ;)

No, it's certainly not replacing DMT. As for why there's been less news lately, busy team members I suppose.

[Gary Sheynkman]

You should read the thread at Pocket PC Thoughts then (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/posting.php?mode=quote&p=411503), there's a REAL jerk in there who's kicking up a real fuss. Maybe you can appeal to him as a fellow audiophile... ;-)


ask and you shall .... well ok you get the point

hit me up on MSN sometime we should catch up