Touch Zune?

[David Tucker]

http://www.electronista.com/article....on.zune.touch/

“Microsoft ultimately expects its Zune media player line to receive a touchscreen, the company's Entertainment and Devices chief Robbie Bach says. Without committing to a specific product, the executive describes the addition as near-certain and implies that the media player will eventually drop its physical control pad entirely in favor of a touch interface as part of a broader company philosophy.”

This bit of news isn’t exactly surprising. If Apple has it then I would expect Microsoft to have a similar device. Whether it’s a good thing or not is entirely up to personal preference. As someone who utilizes my Zune quite often for video playback I can’t imagine wanting to smear my finger prints all over the screen. I also like having the tactile feedback of my d-pad many times.

That said, I think it’s an important option for people to have. The potential to have a very large screen is also very appealing so I can’t say I’d discount a touch only device for myself.

[David Tucker]

http://www.electronista.com/article....on.zune.touch/

“Microsoft ultimately expects its Zune media player line to receive a touchscreen, the company's Entertainment and Devices chief Robbie Bach says. Without committing to a specific product, the executive describes the addition as near-certain and implies that the media player will eventually drop its physical control pad entirely in favor of a touch interface as part of a broader company philosophy.”

This bit of news isn’t exactly surprising. If Apple has it then I would expect Microsoft to have a similar device. Whether it’s a good thing or not is entirely up to personal preference. As someone who utilizes my Zune quite often for video playback I can’t imagine wanting to smear my finger prints all over the screen. I also like having the tactile feedback of my d-pad many times.

That said, I think it’s an important option for people to have. The potential to have a very large screen is also very appealing so I can’t say I’d discount a touch only device for myself.

[Stinger]

If the firmware updates are free then I'm interested.

[bugeyed]

Noooooooooooooooooo! Don't loose the tactile controls completely! At least have volume & transport buttons on the side or something. Or offer two or more models, so we would be able to choose touch or feel!

[USArcher]

Originally Posted by bugeyed

Noooooooooooooooooo! Don't loose the tactile controls completely! At least have volume & transport buttons on the side or something. Or offer two or more models, so we would be able to choose touch or feel!

I think thats what would likely happen. For the time being, if/when it comes out I think its just going to be a 3rd Zune form factor. Eventually the Zune 80 form factor might be blended in with Touch. Microsoft's acquistion of Danger could factor in here. Likely not in the mobile phone configuration shown below but it does open the door to some possibilities. With a wider screen than shown it could be very attractive for a variety of uses. With some gaming purpose controls..abit more fun/comfortable to play upcoming Zune games. And the keyboard as shown is ideal for IMing...which is about as far a Zune device probably would go when it comes to enabling user-to-user communication features. They don't want to tread into mobile phone terroritory with their devices. Just my .02.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by bugeyed

Don't loose the tactile controls completely! At least have volume & transport buttons on the side or something.

I'd personally be surprised if they were to ever do that - touch is fine for some things, but hardware buttons that you can use to play/pause while it's in your pocket are quite important.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by USArcher

Microsoft's acquistion of Danger could factor in here. Likely not in the mobile phone configuration shown below but it does open the door to some possibilities.

I think many people are pinning far too many hopes on the Danger acquisition...I don't expect much to come of it.

[CylonJason]

Why is the world going crazy for touch screens all of the sudden? Why? Because the Iphone has one? Newsflash; touch screens kind of suck! For a device like the Iphone it makes some sense but for a DAP, none at all. Apple is the only ones who've managed to do it semi successfully job on implementing a touch screen device but for Digital Audio Player purposes, it sucks! I have an Iphone and forget about changing anything but the volume without pulling it out of your pocket. If you're moving about it's annoying as hell! If you're sitting sill somewhere, it's not so bad. Don't even think about scrolling through a track as it's almost impossible with any degree of accuracy and the most annoying thing about the Ipod Touch/ Iphone as a music player! Just because Mad Dog Steve Jobs has a phobia about buttons, doesn't mean there's anything wrong with them and the whole world has to jump the button ship and get on the touch screen band wagon. We've been making due with buttons for many many many years just fine.

Think of all the crappy touch screen devices out there right now and it's only getting worse with all the Iphone/ ipod touch imitators. Trying to imitate a technology that is still flawed (touch screen) and doing a worse job of it, is not going to get you anywhere.

So for the Microsoft Zune developers, a little advice; save tactile buttons! Stop following Mad Dog and do your own thing, lastly leave my Zune buttons alone!