Five Ways to Make the Zune a Success

[Damion Chaplin]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9014838&pageNumber=1' target='_blank'>http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9014838&pageNumber=1</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>&quot;Five months after its introduction, industry experts give Microsoft Corp.'s Zune media player barely passing grades in terms of its marketplace success while Microsoft insists the device is on course... So far, Microsoft has failed in one of their market goals -- to take market share from Apple Inc.'s iPods, Rubin and Chen agreed. Rather, it has taken sales away from smaller vendors, most notably Creative Labs, which previously was in second place behind Apple... To put the hurt on iPod, Microsoft must deal with some serious issues, the analysts agreed. Here are five steps they said Microsoft must take to get itself into the game.&quot;</em></p><p>An interesting article over at Computerworld listing five thing that Microsoft should do if they want to ensure the Zune's success. I won't list the five things here (you'll have to read the article ;-) ), but I agree with every one or them (though I think the last one should really be two different items). What things do you think Microsoft needs to do with the Zune in order to make it truly competitive? Personally I think if they just made sure the Zune could do everything the iPod does that would be a giant step in the right direction.</p>

[eufreka]

What things do you think Microsoft needs to do with the Zune in order to make it truly competeive?


Really, this is a little embarrassing. The Zune is so much better than the iPod it is not funny. How can I prove it: With a 14-year-old girl.

She's already on her third iPod. She owns maybe 200 tracks. No sooner did she get her last...a pink 4 gig mini, than she decided she wanted a video iPod. (Which I tried to explain to her at the time.)

Then I got my Zune. She was NOT impressed.

Then I downloaded all the latest releases onto it the first day--a couple of thousand tracks, including everything she owned and everything she wanted...suddenly her attitude changed.

Now she understands...sure, she'll want the pink one, but she wants it.

Microsoft needs to stop trying to sell the zune device...they should be selling the subcription (because once you want the subscription, well then, I guess you'll be wanting a zune after all).

Imagine a variation on Apple's PC vs MAC commercials, only this time, with 2 teenagers holding their MP3 players...

A group of their friends surround them, and they start competing to see who has the most music and what it cost them...gradually the other kids drift over to the zune because it has (1) more content--from their perspective UNLIMITED content and (2) it costs less.

When teenagers understand that they can have an unlimited amount of music (and even share it over the wifi) for 15 a month...the iPod will be so Yesterday.

Course that brings to mind my "subversive ad"...

Some kids come by a friend's house, and music is blaring over the whole house audio...it's a non-stop string of the latest hits...

So the kids go into the media room and are talking and listening to the music, and then they start commenting on how great it is and what an incredible selection it is...then the middle aged dad--or mom--(dressed for running) comes into the room, unplugs his/her zune and plugs in their headphones, kinda waves it to the kids on the way out the door and shouts (over the blaring music in their headphones), "Hey, I need my zune, it's time for my run, y'all have fun."

The kids are left in the now silent room staring at each other...

Cut to the outside of the front door, where the parent is starting to jog in place with a smug look on their face, as the voice over says, "Who knew that teaching the kids about the value of a dollar could be so much fun...two million songs, 15 dollars a month." And the parent starts jogging down the street as the music swells....

[David Tucker]

Microsoft needs to hire you for PR ;)

[egads]

A few random rants:<O:p</O:p
<O:p</O:p
I can't believe people support all this subscription crap. I'm subscription'd out. I want to pay $400 for a cell phone and 25 cents a call, not a free cell phone and a $30 a month bill. Most people think the free cell phone way is cheaper, but it isn't, it makes the cell phone companies ALOT more money. The same goes for this subscription music crap...<O:p</O:p
<O:p</O:p
I'd like to see MS come out with a AllofMp3 style download site. Make the music 50 cents a song and people would be lining up to buy music.<O:p</O:p
<O:p</O:p
Hardware wise the Zune is even or ahead of the iPod. My Zune is the best MP3 player I've ever owned, its sturdy, has decent battery life, and a beautiful screen. I did agree that there needs to be a small flash based Zune ASAP.

[zunexplorer]

Really, this is a little embarrassing. The Zune is so much better than the iPod it is not funny. How can I prove it: With a 14-year-old girl.

She's already on her third iPod. She owns maybe 200 tracks. No sooner did she get her last...a pink 4 gig mini, than she decided she wanted a video iPod. (Which I tried to explain to her at the time.)

Then I got my Zune. She was NOT impressed.

Then I downloaded all the latest releases onto it the first day--a couple of thousand tracks, including everything she owned and everything she wanted...suddenly her attitude changed.

Now she understands...sure, she'll want the pink one, but she wants it.

Microsoft needs to stop trying to sell the zune device...they should be selling the subcription (because once you want the subscription, well then, I guess you'll be wanting a zune after all).

Imagine a variation on Apple's PC vs MAC commercials, only this time, with 2 teenagers holding their MP3 players...

A group of their friends surround them, and they start competing to see who has the most music and what it cost them...gradually the other kids drift over to the zune because it has (1) more content--from their perspective UNLIMITED content and (2) it costs less.

When teenagers understand that they can have an unlimited amount of music (and even share it over the wifi) for 15 a month...the iPod will be so Yesterday.

Course that brings to mind my "subversive ad"...

Some kids come by a friend's house, and music is blaring over the whole house audio...it's a non-stop string of the latest hits...

So the kids go into the media room and are talking and listening to the music, and then they start commenting on how great it is and what an incredible selection it is...then the middle aged dad--or mom--(dressed for running) comes into the room, unplugs his/her zune and plugs in their headphones, kinda waves it to the kids on the way out the door and shouts (over the blaring music in their headphones), "Hey, I need my zune, it's time for my run, y'all have fun."

The kids are left in the now silent room staring at each other...

Cut to the outside of the front door, where the parent is starting to jog in place with a smug look on their face, as the voice over says, "Who knew that teaching the kids about the value of a dollar could be so much fun...two million songs, 15 dollars a month." And the parent starts jogging down the street as the music swells....

I am in agreement. About 2 years ago I had bought 1,700 songs during the year from the iTunes store. And I was very much of the frame of mind that it was better to own the song forever. But the reality is this. Not every song is a keeper. Not every song is worth owning. There are perhaps 100 of the 1,700 songs that I care to own. The rest, I could care less about except that I did pay for them, so I sort of what to keep them.

I tend to explore music much less when I have to pay for every single song. But under the Zune plan, if it sounds like something I'd like, then I go for the whole album. Why not, it doesn't cost me any more or less to do that. With that kind of system I found several new arists I never heard of, but I love their music. I would not have found these on the iTunes store. On iTunes I tend to go for what I already know I like. It's not exploring. Zune let's you explore music, and at $15 a month, I assure you I am saving a ton of money.

Think about 1,700 songs I bought on iTunes. 1,600 of them will not be listend to much if ever again. So why buy them in the first place. They were fads. Good songs for a while, but not anymore. If I bought a years worth of subscription on Zune, that would be $180. Say I did buy the 100 songs I truly wanted. So now $280. Deduct that from the $1,700 paid at iTunes, and I would have saved $1,420. But here is the best part. I would have enjoyed more than 1,700 songs with Zune. So I get more and save a ton of money. So much money in fact that it is worth it to me to drop the iPod, even though I already own it. I'm not going to buy another 1,700 songs this year. But I do plan on exploring a lot more than I did on iTunes.

-Alex

[VanHlebar]

Two items that I really would like to see with the zune is mostly on the software side of things.

1. The need to quickly add support for podcasts. We need to be able to subscribe to and manage these within the software. Yes I can and currently do, do this with Juice, but it would be much better if I could just do this inside the Zune software.

2. I would love to see them add support for TV shows like iTunes has. I spend alot of time away from TV and there are lot of shows that I would like to watch. I currently have MediaCenter record them, but it is a PIA to get them reencoded correctly to fit onto my Zune. If they added support for these similar to iTunes I think it would be a huge success.

On the hardware side, I would like to see different and brighter colors for the Zunes. It would also be nice if they made the device a tad bit slimer. Lastly, we need more accessories. It amazes me that the Zune has relatively few accessories and they have absolutely no portable speaker systems that run on batteries. I love this little case that I saw at the store the other day for the iPod that was rechargeable and you could fold the speakers up and then zip it up for easy storage or carrying. Why can't we get something like that for the Zune?

-Eric