... And The Bad Reviews

[Aaron Roma]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.suntimes.com/technology/ihnatko/147048,CST-FIN-Andy23.article' target='_blank'>http://www.suntimes.com/technology/ihnatko/147048,CST-FIN-Andy23.article</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>&quot;Yes, Microsoft's new Zune digital music player is just plain dreadful. I've spent a week setting this thing up and using it, and the overall experience is about as pleasant as having an airbag deploy in your face... The Zune is a complete, humiliating failure.&quot;</em></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Wow. There are negative reviews, and then there are reviews where the writer seems pre-determined to hate the product prior to even touching it. This review from the Chicago Sun-Times falls into the latter category. This is just a terrible review, in my opinion. Other than a claim of using Zune for a week and a brief mention of a software installation problem, you couldn't guess from the article that the reviewer has had any hands-on time with Zune. The hardware isn't even talked about. This &quot;review&quot; is basically a summary of negative points previously mentioned about the Zune, plus a few cracks at Microsoft and Windows. If you have a few spare minutes, with absolutely nothing else to do, please check out the review. Does anyone actually give any weight to this type of review?</p>

[LPD]

Since its one of my home town newspaper I felt compelled to send feedback to the Sun-Times editors. The article is just completely off base. I encourage others who feel the same to go the the site and give them your feedback too. I can understand poor reviews on blogs but we should expect more from established newspapers read my over 1.5 million people.

[enemes]

The guys is a well known fan of all things Apple. I'm sure anything coming from MS makes him oh just so angry.

[jenneth]

I agree - at the same time, I'm very surprised that this got past the subeditors and editors who would've had to approve this article!

[James Fee]

Andy's a long time Mac guy so what do you expect?

To be honest the Zune is more of a dud than a hit right now. As sales number continue to come in I'm sure everyone will hop on the bash the Zune and more of this can be expected.

[LPD]

I have been seeing Zune's low Amazon Sales Rank used to say that sales are bad. That is meaningless. Amazon numbers are low because they are not discounting the player (as they do iPods and other brands). So people are going to buy it from other places that are cheaper.

Microsoft has not really started up the advertising campaign yet. I think that will not start until the first software and firmware updates are ready.

[Janak Parekh]

I have been seeing Zune's low Amazon Sales Rank used to say that sales are bad. That is meaningless. Amazon numbers are low because they are not discounting the player (as they do iPods and other brands). So people are going to buy it from other places that are cheaper. I'm not so sure. Both the iPod and Zune are discounted almost the same amount at Amazon. I agree that it could be a meaningless statistic, but we can't tell for sure yet.

Microsoft has not really started up the advertising campaign yet. I think that will not start until the first software and firmware updates are ready.
:eek: It's the holiday shopping season. I really, really hope Microsoft isn't holding back now. I finally saw a Zune billboard today: it was the typical "Welcome to the Social" with the generic background. As a regular end-user, though, I wouldn't have the faintest idea what it's about -- I was sitting on the train as it went by, and I didn't see the Zune logo in time before the billboard was out of my sight. Not only do they need to advertise more, they need to do it better.

--janak

[Janak Parekh]

The guys is a well known fan of all things Apple. I'm sure anything coming from MS makes him oh just so angry. Actually, i agree with a lot of his criticisms. I think the article is unbalanced in that it doesn't talk about anything other than those, and I don't agree with all of his inferences, but I'm glad someone's taking Microsoft to task for some of the questionable decisions they made.

--janak

[LPD]

I've been tracking the Amazon price since Nov 14th. Today is the first day its been discounted. I laughed before when it said "You save $0.01" before.

Until they get a update to fix some of the install issues there is no point is wasting a lot of money on an ad campaign. They are in this for the long haul. The big question I have is will DJ Mode be in the first firmware upgrade? That will sell more players than song sharing.

[Janak Parekh]

I've been tracking the Amazon price since Nov 14th. Today is the first day its been discounted. I laughed before when it said "You save $0.01" before. Thanks, that's good to know. That said, I'd wager the current trends aren't going to change, for one of several reasons.

Until they get a update to fix some of the install issues there is no point is wasting a lot of money on an ad campaign. Isn't that tantamount to writing off this Christmas? If so, why even release the Zune before Christmas? So that they could beta test the product? If they could evolve the product further and avoid some of the negative commentary, wouldn't that have been helpful? The Apple Newton, of all things, is a classic example that comes to mind of a platform that died not because of the promise, but the first release with its terrible handwriting recognition; newer units were actually really good, but the platform never recovered from the initial bad impressions.

--janak

[Aaron Roma]

If so, why even release the Zune before Christmas? So that they could beta test the product? If they could evolve the product further and avoid some of the negative commentary

That's my biggest gripe about the Zune right now. While it's a nice device, it just feels like it's a few months ahead of it's time. I can somewhat understand the want to be out for the holiday season, but a few months more development before launch would have made for a much stronger device. Sure, some of the criticims would still be there. If the Zune had launched with a little richer WiFi experience, podcast support, and a couple of other models, maybe a high capacity and a flash-based, we could have seen a much more successfull launch, IMO.