Positive Impression From the NYT

[David Tucker]

A year into this venture and Microsoft&rsquo;s announcement, if it says nothing else, says they&rsquo;re taking this market seriously. There is no doubt that they had a rough launch when it came to media impressions of the first Zune. While we might love our first generation devices, I&rsquo;m sure everyone remembers the very poor reception it was given all around. I&rsquo;ve already noticed a significantly different tenor in the media response to this generation.<br /><br /><em>&ldquo;But one of the most striking changes had to do with Microsoft&rsquo;s effort to enhance what had been perhaps the most talked-about feature on the original device: the ability to share music files and other media wirelessly with other Zune owners. Far too few people, however, purchased the player for such sharing to become commonplace, and the function held little appeal because it was crippled by usage rules negotiated with the music industry. Shared songs expired within a few days, even if the recipient did not play them. And a file acquired from one Zune user could not be shared with a third user. <br /><br />Under the new rules, Microsoft said, shared songs would have no expiration date and it would be possible repeatedly to pass along songs sent from one device to another. But a shared file can be played only three times on each Zune.&rdquo; &ndash; Jeff Leeds, NYT</em><br /><br />I don&rsquo;t think there is any doubt that this is a far more positive response to the new sharing scheme than what the first Zune garnered. While this is still a minor feature for many users due to the size of the installed user base, this response is a FAR cry from the derision seen in the first generation for this feature.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/03/technology/03zune.html?_r=1&amp;adxnnl=1&amp;oref=slogin&amp;ref=business&amp;adxnnlx=1191384450-cfvE7mYpyiSQfZZ1xhcsnA">The NYT article</a> goes on to talk about Bill Gates comments about the new Zune and the different models that will be available, as we all now know. Mr. Leeds seemed interested in the different social aspects that the new generation would bring such as sharing playlists via the web and the Zune Social website.<br /><br />They say you don&rsquo;t get a second chance to make a first impression but it seems that Zune 2.0 may be making its own first impression. So far it looks pretty positive!

[enemes]

I think MS is definitely moving in the right direction.

They still need to add a few key features to the platform:

- WiFi store
- Web-browsing
- Take the web2.0-ish cue from iPhone
o Apps via MS Live?
o Zune-to-Zune as well as MS Live Chat (yeah, maybe its a bit tough to type with a squarecircle)
- MORE Social features!

[Adam Krebs]

- WiFi store
- Web-browsing
- Take the web2.0-ish cue from iPhone
o Apps via MS Live?
o Zune-to-Zune as well as MS Live Chat (yeah, maybe its a bit tough to type with a squarecircle)
- MORE Social features!

I dunno... I think keeping it a strong audio and video player is the ultimate goal. Windows Mobile should be for the work tools. If I want a browser, I'll use something else. I think the iPod direction is ultimately flawed, but that's just me.

That said, I wouldn't mind some more really cool social features... that's the truly killer app for the Zune.

[enemes]

I think a music+video player is not what MS is after. What they're trying to do is build an ecosystem that is glued together around a social network. Social network is the goal for them, in my opinion. (Look at their willingness to invest in Facebook at absurd valuation...) If they are to do it, more social elements will have to be added to their music player offering as well as to XBOX, and possibly even to Media Centre.

[David Tucker]

Microsoft doesn't need to give the Zune most of that stuff. You're right. They ARE building an ecosystem. When I leave the house every day I have my Zune and my T-Mobile MDA.

Entertainment, internet...right there. Two seperate devices, yes, but that's how I and I think most people still, like it. At home I have my PC for the web and the Xbox for my gaming.

I'm living Bill Gate's dream world ;)

[enemes]

maybe you guys are right. I'm too obsessed with social networking evolution. Hanging out too much with VCs would do it to you.

[enemes]

businessweek was not nearly as positive:

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/oct2007/tc2007103_540664.htm?chan=technology_technology+index+page_top+stories

[Janak Parekh]

businessweek was not nearly as positive: I don't know about that, I think that was a reasonably positive review as much as one can be given the current iPod juggernaut. I agree with your wishlist, primarily because now is the Zune's chance to differentiate itself from the iPod. Personally, I think MS should somehow try to partner up with MySpace and/or Facebook for social music sharing. That could really shake up the online music industry. That said, it doesn't look like MS is sitting still, and they certainly have the ability to retrofit new software on their existing units.

In either case, kudos to MS. The new Zunes look great, the touchpad UI looks very nice too. I'm not keen on all of the colors, but I suspect they look better in person. If only the Zune supported Macs... ;) Admittedly, that's unlikely to happen because WMA DRM isn't supported on Macs, either.

--janak

[enemes]

If you look at it, Apple is in business of pushing Hardware. Everything they do is based on promoting Hardware sales. Software, Services. Everything. Apple has turned razor and razor-blade paradigm upside down. Arguably, this model worked really well for them. What Apple hasn't tried/done is any sort of social platform. Again, they're in business of pushing hardware. This service would not contribute to their hardware sales.

MS, on the other hand, is a complete opposite. They're in many cases, generally speaking, an infrastructure play, a platform provider. Their platforms typically are a quilt of many components. If you look at MS latest efforts, those have been obsessively centered around Web2.0-ish and social media/networking areas as well as any derivative models that produce interesting avenues for marketing products and media. For MS, Xbox, Zune, MCE are just vehicles of achieving a fairly complicated vision. If next-gen Social Networking is MS's true goal, these devices should see further addition of social features. Will they have to turn Zune into a phone? Most likely not. Possible, but not necessary. Some sort of other social communications device? Most definitely. MS missed out on a lot of web-related fronts. They lost search to Google, Yahoo. They missed out on first gen social networking to MySpace, Facebook (which they might still acquire.) It's time for them to catch up. And I think they might have all necessary ingredients. MS just has to leverage them right.

[enemes]

kinda confirms what in my prev post. No ZunePhone:

http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/03/j-allard-says-no-zune-phone-on-the-horizon-zune-tattoo-guy-weep/#comments