C|NET Editor Goes Looking for Zunes, Doesn't Find Any

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.com.com/Desperately+seeking+Zune/2100-1041_3-6142291.html' target='_blank'>http://news.com.com/Desperately+seeking+Zune/2100-1041_3-6142291.html</a><br /><br /></div><em>&quot;Welcome to the social. That's the promise Microsoft makes with its new Zune. Unlike the solitary iPods, the digital music player lets you make new friends and discover new music. Using its built-in Wi-Fi, it can send a song to another Zune, and that song can be played up to three times before the recipient has to either buy it or lose it. Well, it had been two weeks since the Zune had hit stores, and I was ready to sample a stranger's tunes. Equipped with a demonstration unit--courtesy of the folks in Redmond--I set out to try to find some fellow Zunes and their playlists.&quot;</em><br /><br />Look, I can appreciate (but not understand) the media's need to bash Microsoft and their products, but this is just getting ridiculous. The Zune was launched a little under 30 days ago, and it's not selling like hotcakes, so there are a limited number of Zunes out in the wild. It also has a wireless range of around 40 feet or so (I haven't tested this yet), so even if someone on my street had a Zune, if they were more than one house away from me I couldn't detect it. Most Zune users also understand that until there are more Zunes around, keeping the WiFi turned on is a battery drain - so they turn it off (like I did). Those three factors put together mean this article is about as valid as me writing an article about how I couldn't find any rattlesnakes in my backyard...which is now covered in snow. It's just basic math, and while it's worth pointing out that the <a href="http://www.zunethoughts.com/news/show/134/zune-networking-the-rough-road-ahead.html">value of the network is directly proportional to the number of nodes it contains</a>, to write an article article like this is disingenuous at best and insulting at worse. No one, including the author, honestly expected to find Zunes to connect with a few weeks after launch - the entire article was an exercise in mockery and is a farce.<br /><br />This is the email I sent to Ina Fried:<br /><br /><span class="109435518-12122006"><font size="2" face="Tahoma"><em>&quot;Hi there - I have an idea for your next article: rattlesnakes. You can walk around, looking for rattlesnakes, and write an article about how you didn't find any. Should be gripping reading, no?&quot;</em><br /><br />I'm not expecting a response.<br /></font></span>

[ucfgrad93]

I believe that this would have been a great story if it had happened in April. At that point the Zune would have been out for 6 months and the holiday season. It would have been a much better way to see the sucess or failure of the "social" aspect of the Zune.

But I agree, to go out searching for one after just a couple of weeks is pretty lame. However, in her defense its not like San Francisco is some little town and it does sound like she went to the proper places (except the Apple store) in her search.

[jltuv]

http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,72281-0.html?tw=rss.index

I think this guy gets it and isn't just hunting for some press focus:)

[enemes]

Do keep in mind that SF and neighboring SV is the most anti-MS area in the world. Here, MS is evil just because it is. Gate's the devil. Steve Jobs is the savior. No matter how his ways are more monopolist than anything MS ever attempted. A lot of folks around here love dissing MS products as just default behavior even if they never experienced the product they're criticizing.

[Crystal3]

I'm just wondering why MS is so quiet while all this lambasting of the product is going on. I'm sure they're well aware that there are very few good reviews of Zune. Why aren't they defending their product?

[Damion Chaplin]

the entire article was an exercise in mockery and is a farce.

Don't mince words, Jason, tell us what you really think. Your email to Ina was priceless. :)

Do keep in mind that SF and neighboring SV is the most anti-MS area in the world. Here, MS is evil just because it is. Gate's the devil. Steve Jobs is the savior. No matter how his ways are more monopolist than anything MS ever attempted. A lot of folks around here love dissing MS products as just default behavior even if they never experienced the product they're criticizing.

Which bizarro San Francisco are you in? Me, I have to keep myself from bombing the Apple store every day when I walk past it...

I'm just wondering why MS is so quiet while all this lambasting of the product is going on. I'm sure they're well aware that there are very few good reviews of Zune. Why aren't they defending their product?

Because MS, like us, knows that most of these reviews (and the conclusions they reach) are premature, biased, uninformed or all three...

[tmL]

Also, some people turn off their wireless because they think they won't find anyone. I've seen 3 people at least in my high school (1200 kids) with a Zune.

[LPD]

I'm just wondering why MS is so quiet while all this lambasting of the product is going on. I'm sure they're well aware that there are very few good reviews of Zune. Why aren't they defending their product?

Someone once said "the only bad press is no press". When Paul Thurrott (winsupersite.com) blogged about his interviewed David Caulton (Zune team) he said:This holiday season is a "beachhead" period for Microsoft, during which it's trying to change people's perceptions of the MP3 player market from "Apple and everyone else" to "Apple and Microsoft and everyone else."
It is too soon to tell if that is working but it would appear to be going that way.

If you haven't read Paul Thurrott's article I encourage you to do so, it one of the most revealing article yet as to what MS is thinking, doing, and planning about the Zune. It's interesting that Caulton choose Thurrott to reveal all this infomation to.

[Crystal3]

I believe that I have read it, however, it will look again and see if I missed it. Thanks for the pointer. :o