[Ron Hostetter]

Kinda quiet around here. Here's a conversation starter...

What are your thoughts on today's iPod announcements?

For me, I was pretty unimpressed. Really nothing new for the touch devices besides games. The Nano gets a work over (and an FM radio!).

I didn't really see anything that threatens the HD directly, but hopefully MSFT still has some tricks up their sleeves. It seems like the time is ripe to really make a splash.

I do wish MSFT still would offer a small Zune to compare to the Nano. I wonder if that's still a possiblity?

[Ron Hostetter]

Kinda quiet around here. Here's a conversation starter...

What are your thoughts on today's iPod announcements?

For me, I was pretty unimpressed. Really nothing new for the touch devices besides games. The Nano gets a work over (and an FM radio!).

I didn't really see anything that threatens the HD directly, but hopefully MSFT still has some tricks up their sleeves. It seems like the time is ripe to really make a splash.

I do wish MSFT still would offer a small Zune to compare to the Nano. I wonder if that's still a possiblity?

[David Tucker]

Originally Posted by Ron Hostetter

For me, I was pretty unimpressed. Really nothing new for the touch devices besides games. The Nano gets a work over (and an FM radio!).

I didn't pay very close attention. The iPod really has never interested me much since it doesn't have features that I can't live without (subscription music). What I've seen though didn't impress me.

That said...MS has nothing that really will capitalize on any perceived holes really. The HD is great but I still think the Touch will reign supreme.

[Ron Hostetter]

Agreed. I keep dreaming that MSFT will announce something new in the next few days that will really capitalize on the opening that Apple is leaving.

I'm not sure what it would be, but it seems like something more should be coming. Maybe not a camera, but how about a 64GB HD that is cheaper than the iPod 64?

And what if Zune could take the iTunes LP idea (liner notes, photos, lyrics, etc) and push it to the device. They are already doing a little bit of that with the new Now Playing screen (photos, bio), but it'd be cool if they could do that with album art as well. The iPods don't push any extra content to the device, so the Zune has them beat there, but I 'm just thinking they could really pounce on that feature.

Or, does anybody care about that? Who knows. We'll see on Tuesday.

[David Tucker]

Ron, I've been waiting since the day the Zune was announced for them to capitalize on the opportunities that were out there.

As a device the Zune has always been more capable than the iPod but it seems like MS hasn't really figured out the market. I think they should have been pushing the Zune as a serious music device from day one.

Liner notes, lyrics...all easily done. The social in its current state is what it should have been from launch. And I don't care what MS had to do...they simply HAD to do this as a worldwide release from the start. Maybe they were afraid of the cost of failure but it certainly would have had a higher chance of success if they had.