Zunetastic
I have a lot of brand loyalty, especially when it comes to companies based in my home town, like Microsoft. I wanted an IPod in the beginning but it wasn't a priority for me. When I finally had the disposable income available to buy one without concern for priorities I'd heard that Microsoft was planning to come out with it's own MP3 player that would rival the IPod so I waited. I bought the Zune the day it was released and I've loved it.
Admittedly it was primarily brand loyalty that made me get a Zune instead of an IPod, but I also really believed in the product. I think it's a better product and I think that it can be competitive.
That first generation Zune did have a couple features intended to put it ahead of the IPod. First of all it had a "community" function which, if turned on, would search for other Zunes within range and and allow you to send songs to them or receive songs from them. Also, it had a built in radio.
Both of those features were things that IPod didn't have at the time. Those two features alone might have been enough to put Zune ahead of IPod, if the Zune had come out a couple years earlier, but the first one only works if your friends also have Zunes and the second isn't enough in itself to give Zune the edge. The problem was that there were already so many IPods out there that you couldn't count on many of your friends switching to the (equally pricey) Zune when they'd already shelled out for an IPod. I knew plenty of people who already had IPods and didn't want to switch.
IPod was already in it's 3rd or 4th generation at least by the time Zune came out. It was time tested, popular, and well established, market leader. I've heard a lot of people talk about how they wanted to wait until the second generation of the Zune so they could be sure all the bugs would be worked out, but waiting is no fun and many went with the more established IPod rather than waiting for the 2nd generation Zune.
One of the great things about being an "early adopter" is that everyone asks you about the product. All my friends and family, my coworkers and classmates, and numerous strangers on the street have asked me about my Zune. I've told them it's a great product, better than IPod (a comparison I'm able to make despite having never owned an IPod because IPod is so ubiquitous I've had many opportunities to use all the versions of it except the Nano). I've tried to allay their fears about bugs in the first generation. In fact, I've really only noticed one problem: sometimes it plays a different song than the display says it's playing which isn't much of a bug if you ask me (I don't need the display to tell me what song I'm listening to). I've been able to convince several people to come over to my side. In fact I've been so convincing that I think Microsoft ought to be paying me a commission, or perhaps hire me to do marketing for the Zune, or at least give me a new 80G Zune (because my only complaint about my Zune is that 30G just isn't enough space).
The first generation of the Zune didn't exactly knock the IPod off the top of the MP3 player mountain, but I think the second generation could. At very least I think it will be a much tighter race from here on out.
Amazon is leading the charge away from DRM software (which you may remember ITunes came out in support of a while back). There's a pretty clear rivalry between ITunes and Amazon developing and the labels seem to be leaning towards Amazon and away from ITunes. Amazon allows the labels more flexibility, with a range of prices starting at $0.89 per track, where as ITunes sells all tracks for $0.99. With the labels moving support away from ITunes, the corresponding players (IPods) will likely take a hit giving Zune a leg up in the market. It might be wise for Zune to scrap its marketplace in favor of an alliance with Amazon (and I could still feel good about supporting the local economy in my home town).
Zune, by the way, plays the ITunes proprietary file format in addition to MP3 and WMA (at least the first generation one I have does) which means if you do decide to switch to Zune all those songs you ripped to your hard drive in ITunes will still be playable on you new Zune. So, what are you waiting for? It's time to make the switch to Zune.
Admittedly it was primarily brand loyalty that made me get a Zune instead of an IPod, but I also really believed in the product. I think it's a better product and I think that it can be competitive.
That first generation Zune did have a couple features intended to put it ahead of the IPod. First of all it had a "community" function which, if turned on, would search for other Zunes within range and and allow you to send songs to them or receive songs from them. Also, it had a built in radio.
Both of those features were things that IPod didn't have at the time. Those two features alone might have been enough to put Zune ahead of IPod, if the Zune had come out a couple years earlier, but the first one only works if your friends also have Zunes and the second isn't enough in itself to give Zune the edge. The problem was that there were already so many IPods out there that you couldn't count on many of your friends switching to the (equally pricey) Zune when they'd already shelled out for an IPod. I knew plenty of people who already had IPods and didn't want to switch.
IPod was already in it's 3rd or 4th generation at least by the time Zune came out. It was time tested, popular, and well established, market leader. I've heard a lot of people talk about how they wanted to wait until the second generation of the Zune so they could be sure all the bugs would be worked out, but waiting is no fun and many went with the more established IPod rather than waiting for the 2nd generation Zune.
One of the great things about being an "early adopter" is that everyone asks you about the product. All my friends and family, my coworkers and classmates, and numerous strangers on the street have asked me about my Zune. I've told them it's a great product, better than IPod (a comparison I'm able to make despite having never owned an IPod because IPod is so ubiquitous I've had many opportunities to use all the versions of it except the Nano). I've tried to allay their fears about bugs in the first generation. In fact, I've really only noticed one problem: sometimes it plays a different song than the display says it's playing which isn't much of a bug if you ask me (I don't need the display to tell me what song I'm listening to). I've been able to convince several people to come over to my side. In fact I've been so convincing that I think Microsoft ought to be paying me a commission, or perhaps hire me to do marketing for the Zune, or at least give me a new 80G Zune (because my only complaint about my Zune is that 30G just isn't enough space).
The first generation of the Zune didn't exactly knock the IPod off the top of the MP3 player mountain, but I think the second generation could. At very least I think it will be a much tighter race from here on out.
Amazon is leading the charge away from DRM software (which you may remember ITunes came out in support of a while back). There's a pretty clear rivalry between ITunes and Amazon developing and the labels seem to be leaning towards Amazon and away from ITunes. Amazon allows the labels more flexibility, with a range of prices starting at $0.89 per track, where as ITunes sells all tracks for $0.99. With the labels moving support away from ITunes, the corresponding players (IPods) will likely take a hit giving Zune a leg up in the market. It might be wise for Zune to scrap its marketplace in favor of an alliance with Amazon (and I could still feel good about supporting the local economy in my home town).
Zune, by the way, plays the ITunes proprietary file format in addition to MP3 and WMA (at least the first generation one I have does) which means if you do decide to switch to Zune all those songs you ripped to your hard drive in ITunes will still be playable on you new Zune. So, what are you waiting for? It's time to make the switch to Zune.
posted by Beth at
5:20 PM
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