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66 Comments
- BadassCheese, on 10/12/2007, -7/+44I thought they were going to be $283? Oh well.
- foolfromhell, on 10/12/2007, -1/+24Prolly gonna be $300. WalMart usually marks down the price a bit.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -14/+331. It's your personal opinion that the iPod is more stylish.
2. It's your personal opinion that the iPod is better designed.
3. The Zune has features the iPod doesn't.
4. While many people love iTunes, not all do, and not everyone likes being restricted to one online store. - RonaldLewis, on 10/12/2007, -18/+36Not a bad price point. I'd certainly purchase one, even though I'd still like an iPod Nano! :)
- foolfromhell, on 10/12/2007, -17/+34WiFi?
More Video-Codecs?
FM Reciever?
Encouraging competetion?
More sources for online music and not having to mostly rely on iTunes.....
(I know you can use other services for the iPod, but with iPod using iTunes, 99% of the people who buy online music dont)
the Zune looks pretty good compared to teh iPod - colincornaby, on 10/12/2007, -6/+20"More sources for online music and not having to mostly rely on iTunes....."
Haha no. Haven't you heard? Zune ONLY works with the Zune store. It does not play "Plays For Sure". Yes, I'm serious. - brstilson, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14Yeah that sounds like a Wal-Mart discount price.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13Keep in mind that this screenshot itself is not a guarantee of the final Zune price. Microsoft hasn't announced it yet, and whoever submitted the screenshot could've Photoshopped it--notice that the Google cache of the page the price was allegedly leaked on has no mention of the Zune. (Of course, the cached snapshot could've been taken after Wal-Mart removed the Zune from the list.)
Then again, if this price were real, I think it would have to be much lower for it to be worthy for competition with the iPod. At $284 I would almost certainly get the iPod; it's cheaper, has an extremely good reputation in the category of music players, and also just because the special features of the Zune aren't all that appealing to me. Well, I guess if you were a die-hard Microsoft Media Center fan, the Zune would be worth it. - MrRedwood, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8I've had a MuVo mp3 player with FM and audio recording for over a year and have used those features precisely... hm, yup: never. I thought they'd be useful, but barring a civil emergency, those are no longer selling points. And even though I refuse to buy anyone's DRM'd tunes, I'll still be getting the 80GB (finally, it's big enough!) iPod in a month or so.
What I'll be buying for are three things: reliability, smooth user interface, and elegant styling. Zune will probably suffer the same problems with reliability that Apple did at first; I don't think microsoft could come close to Apple on the other two unless they hired people straight from Apple and kept Redmond folks away from them.
What I don't trust is microsoft's pitch against Apple's DRM lockin. MS's reputation there stinks to such high heaven that I will never buy anything will a MS-governed DRM. - cmiller1, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9But think of it this way, what are you going to ask your biggest gift giver(friend, parents, significant other) for this christmas? A Zune for $284 or a Nintendo Wii for about $250. Furthermore there is no coverage of the budget market from the Zune, Apple's iPods start at $79, making the Zune start at 3.6 times as much. (I'm aware of the shortcomings of the shuffle but I know many people who are very satisfied with it and I personally feel it is a fantastic buy for the price)
- mntpng, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Actually the WiFi feature is pretty much irrelevant if such a small number of people have the Zune player. That feature only becomes compelling when the player is ubiquitous like an iPod. Currently it's inability to play protected WMV, uninspiring estetics, thinkness, and pricepoint makes it unlikely to challenge the iPod. My guess is when it's time to launch Zune, Apple would have implemented it's own Wifi feature that would make Zune's innovative feature even more irrelevant since it won't be interoperable.
- Stonedonkey, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Allegedly, it was going to be $300 USD... then the 30GB video iPod got knocked down to $249. Probably not a coincidence. The Wal-Mart price is not the street value, since they can undercut with their colossal buying power. I expect to see the Zune come out at $249 street.
- almalax19, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Its twice as thick as the Ipod. Why would you buy something thats more expensive, heavier, and thicker?? For wifi that kills battery life? What a dumb reason...
- JackAxe, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6If you're refering to impressive as in impressively slow, then I'll give you that bit. An obnoxious background does not make a GUI better. It's the superior controls and well though out design that works better. And iPod's Click-Wheel is second to none when it comes to ease of use and speed. The Zune is limited to a simple joypad that makes it no better than any other failed player on the market.
More codecs, errr no;
Zune: h.264, MP3, AAC, and WMA.
iPod: h.264, MP3, AAC, Apple Lossless, WAV, and AIFF.
Where's the Zune's support for uncompressed music? It's not availale. The iPod can play an AIFF, which is a CD's native audio file. I would think the Zune would at least be able to play a WAV or lossless compression format like FLAC, but that's apparently not the case.
I also find it ironic that the Zune can't play "Play For Sure," nor MS's propietory WM9 video codec. But I'm glad they were at least smart enough to use h.264 instead. One of the few things they got right.
Built in WiFi cool, but not important. FM tuner, blah. Those two items don't make up for its many flaws. - WiseWeasel, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6@ creativity: Did you take PR lessons from Tarik Aziz?
Our soldiers will walk on the skulls of our defeated enemies... - almalax19, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6- that is pure opinion and the UI on the iPOD is the best in the industry bar none. Inless something revolutionary comes out the click wheel is the best controller for browsing your music library.
-h.264 is not ok with you?? Its probably the best codec for this application. It it honstely taht hard to convert your files??
-buy the add on fm reciever/remote for the ipod and you've got the same price as the Zune plus its an Ipod and its sexy as hell. Probably better reception as well.
NIce try though - fatnutz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4With the iPod price drop I wouldn't be surprised if the Wal-Mart figure is off.
- pierrefilms, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5@ foolfromhell:
"WiFi?
More Video-Codecs?
FM Reciever?
Encouraging competetion?
More sources for online music and not having to mostly rely on iTunes.....
(I know you can use other services for the iPod, but with iPod using iTunes, 99% of the people who buy online music dont)
"
Let me go through this point-by-point:
-WiFi?:
Initially, it's going to be VERY hard to find any Zune users to share songs with so that makes the feature kind-of moot until Zune itself gains in popularity.
-More Video-Codecs? FM Reciever?:
MANY other MP3 players offer those two features (creative for one) and it hasn't brought them massive success.
-Encouraging competetion?:
Perhaps if it had any compelling features. Other than FM and a few more video codecs, it is no different than a 5G iPod. It has a .5" larger screen, yet it's still the same resolution as the iPod. It's not smaller, nor thinner, nor does it have a better way of navigating (D-Pad anyone?). A product, yes...but a product that encourages competition? No.
-More sources for online music...:
Zune will be JUST LIKE the iPod in that it will have its own app for organizing and purchasing music. And even saying that, iTunes as an App itself is more popular than any Windows Media app Microsoft has. iTunes has a market share of about 85% (iPod has 75%) meaning many that do not even own iPods, use iTunes for their music.
@ jasonhe
"4. While many people love iTunes, not all do, and not everyone likes being restricted to one online store."
Same as what was said above to foolfromhell. Zune will have its own priority app for purchasing, syncing, and organizing. - felchdonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Stonedonkey - (nice name, we must be related)
I think you got it backwards. If WalMart has the lower price, the street would be higher. $284 WalMart means $299 street. - eatrains, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Currently, WiFi is much slower than USB. I'd rather spend two seconds plugging in a cable and have 20x the transfer speed.
- WiseWeasel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@hostilefreak: Have you used FM transmitters before? I live in an Urban area, and every FM transmitter I've had the pleasure to use has been complete crap. It's hard enough to find a part of the FM spectrum that isn't being used; then you drive a couple miles, get a bunch of interference on the frequency you selected, and have to keep switching to new frequencies as you drive around. The audio quality is absolute crap, with lots of distortion and interference. It's a driving hazard to have to keep switching frequencies, and painful when you turn on your car before your FM transmitter, and get blasted with loud static. FM transmitters are the worst possible way to hook up your MP3 player to your car stereo.
- mywhitenoise, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4it doesn't look THAT bad, but it's thick as hell.
- neuropsychguy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4jasonhe
"4. While many people love iTunes, not all do, and not everyone likes being restricted to one online store."
I thought that the Zune is going to lock you into one store, since it doesn't work with PlaysFor Sure. Plus, there are other fully legal stores from which you can buy unrestricted MP3s so the iPod technically doesn't lock you into one store.
Colin beat me to some of what I said. I need to refresh a little more. - 0crabby0, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Could the $284 be an after Day-After-Thankgiving sale price?
- WiseWeasel, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3WiFi is pretty much useless on a small portable battery-operated device like the Zune. It uses so much battery power that you must disable it when not in use, and you can't use it for very long. Also, the songs that you copy over via WiFi are protected by MS's DRM scheme, and they become useless after 72 hours. WiFi might be kinda handy when synching with your computer, but again, it will suck down the battery, and the typical user will want to charge their player while synching, so cables are still required. WiFi is most-certainly NOT going to be a killer feature of the Zune.
- Anubis2051, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5I don't get why so many people are calling the zune ugly. I actually prefer the way it looks to the iPod.
- bonked, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Every product that MS sells at a $*99.95 MSRP sells at WM for $*84.95. (e.g. Microsoft Works Suite - MSRP $99.95 - at WM $84.95.)
So if they leaked $284.95, it's likely the street price is going to be $299.95. - waterdrop, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I find the brown color Zune to have a warm fuzzy feeling. If I were to get Zune, I'd go for the brown one. Probally won't, as I own a 3rd Gen iPod that works pretty well except for battery life. And I got a PSP and Pocket PC also, so I really don't need a Zune. But I may buy a 2nd Gen Zune to replace my oldish iPod. Anyway though, I'd rather get a Nintendo Wii this holiday season.
- Muse, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The amount microsoft is investing the zune is miniscule compared to their overall expenses and revenues...
Just because it's news doesn't mean their stock is not going to plummet if the zune fails. Microsoft *wants* to lose money on this to build the market share because the wifi features are useful if its reserved for an elite few. - deadbaby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Microsoft has way too much money in the bank to let Apple undercut them on price. It will be the same price, or cheaper, than an iPod. That being said, I doubt it will negatively impact iPod sales. The iPod market is basically a mirror image of the Windows monopoly. The iPod can continue indefinitely based on the momentum it already has. At this point Microsoft is to the iPod like Linux is to Windows. They can probably build a 10-15% market share just by eating up Creative Labs, iRiver, etc but they won't be able to break into the mainstream because people have already decided that iPod = music, Windows = computer. Sad, but true. Nothing is going to change until "the next big thing" comes around and everyone scrambles to take it over.
- colincornaby, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2"And, I thought the no "Plays for Sure" compatibility was just a rumour. Was it confirmed?"
Yes, it was confirmed by Microsoft in an interview. I don't have the link handy but it's been posted many times before. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2It's like their 88 cent music downloads...w/e...
- DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Note that there's no audio recording feature on the Zune...
The recording feature on the iPods is built-in but requires an external dongle that enables the feature. Apple doesn't provide this dongle, only third-parties...
This looks like restrictions imposed from contracts with the RIAA. I guess Apple cannot sell iPods with built-in audio recording features so they get around this by having the feature sold as an external device by third-parties.
The fact that the Zune also doesn't have it is further hint at these requirements by the RIAA. - mntpng, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5Brown Zune looks like a rectangular dog poop.
- JackAxe, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Maybe if MS pumps in billions like it did for the XBox with its 4 billion loss, they'll be able to grab some share. Sony a music leader was unsuccessfull at doing so, so I really don't have any faith that MS can make it happen. Afterall, the Zune does not have a Halo, nothing exclusive that will make it a must buy. Halo of course is the only thing that saved the XBox. If anything, Apple's Halo is its Click-Wheel and iTunes, where as WiFi is not something that is a Zune exclusive, Apple could adopt it if it were usefull.
- Celeron, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4"our main man Bernice"
isn't Bernice a girl's name because it sure sounds like one. - Coffeedemon, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Again - car appearance would be irrelevant as well in favour of other more important features that would come first. Same as my argument about the media player 'war'. Its primary purpose is to play media - how well it does that and how much it can do in terms of multiple formats of media is the primary concern. I could care less if it matches my ***** belt - you might be concerned with such *****.
- Funkly, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5@foolfromhell if you look in to it, M$ is trying to lock the Zune down, napster and other such service, basically Windows DRM'd files WILL NOT work on the Zune.. unless of course you crack them with something
- Fraydog, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Yeah, and if that's true, what do the Windows drones buy on?
- mywhitenoise, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5You don't buy a car that's ugly, am I correct? ...or do you drive an American car?
- heyitsme23, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Anyone but the serious tech crowd are not going to use the wifi feature and here is why. A feature that you have to "turn on" on a portable device will simply never be used. I never use the bluetooth on my razr, and that is why. Also, those other extra features will not turn the crowd either. People want a device to listen to music, but is small and can be put in a pocket and forgot about. that is why the ipod shuffle and nano do so well. The next crowd up want to be able to share their pictures, and watch a video now and then. This is the ipod video crowd, and believe me, wirelessly transferring pictures to another device will not be the catch. That is the point of gathering a crowd to show them pictures, to interact. (also, there is something called a headphone splitter that will not do anything to your battery life)
- SadPanda, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I found a webpage on the internets that expresses my personal opinion about the zune...
http://www.podcastingnews.com/2006/09/14/five-reasons-the-zune-is-a-disappointment/
I won't buy one of these, I don't think it is a sleek as the iPod and don't access online media while i'm out. - hostilefreak, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2@WiseWeasel - obviously, you are not familiar with the Pocket PC devices. Pretty much every pocket pc (and other HH computers) has Wifi. PocketPCs usually consume a lot more power than mp3 players and they have weaker or same batts. Mobile wifi chips have drivers to allow low-energy consumption when the host signal is strong enough, so don't expect any problems especially when syncing sitting next to the access point.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Fitting it will be sold at Walmart.
- tooktheredpill, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I don't think that a direct price comparison between the Zune and the iPod is really warranted. The WiFi functionality of the Zune is huge, and adds a whole new world of possible uses. I think that WiFi is the only way that Microsoft will be able to take significant market share from Apple, though. It will be really hard for Microsoft to beat the music library available from Apple.
- rypaintD, on 10/12/2007, -8/+7@pope7
Wow, you must be desperate. - heyitsme23, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0the problem microsoft faces in undercutting price is that if a large percent decide to switch and buy the zune, suddenly their losing tons of money (and they still have stockholders to please, even though they have a pile of cash) Their stock can easily go under, being only in the mid 20's (while apple has a target price of 99)
Apples problem is if they lower the price, suddenly there is a huge demand and their factories can only make so many ipods in a day. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2The apple drones buy apple crap based COMPLETELY on what it looks like ratehr than the actual functionality.
- hostilefreak, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1@Wise - I haven't used FM transmitters, but when it comes "for free" I will at least try it. I can't wait to see a review about this feature of zune. May be they found some way to improve the quality..
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1I'm glad you're here to tell me all about the formats that a product that hasn't even been released yet will support.
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