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Zune Reviews: It's OK, But No iPod | |
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| Time: 18:05 EST/23:05 GMT | News Source: BetaNews | Posted By: Byron Hinson | ||
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When the Zune arrives next Tuesday, Microsoft was hoping to make a big splash. However, it won't be getting any help from the technology media, which have for the most part passed over the so-called "iPod killer" in lackluster reviews. The bad news begins with the Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg, who called the Zune's hardware "rushed and incomplete." He pointed to both the fairly significantly larger size and poor battery life. He also notes that the larger screen doesn't mean better resolution than the iPod - just a bigger picture. | ||
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| #1 By 7754 (75.72.148.247) at 11/11/2006 6:58:31 AM |
| I'm not sold on the Zune (yet... haven't seen one personally, though, either), but c'mon... Mossberg and Pogue are the two primary sources here? Why didn't they just ask what Steve Jobs thought as well? |
| #2 By 23275 (68.17.42.38) at 11/11/2006 3:11:14 PM |
| #1, No kidding... The most difficult thing to find out here is objectivity. |
| #3 By 3 (62.253.128.15) at 11/11/2006 6:30:10 PM |
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Well from my view of the Zune is the same as these, its a good device but apart from the pretty basic and almost useless wireless feature it doesn't do anything new and isn't as easy to use as some other MP3 players, its software is not as good as hoped either which is a real shame as it looked very promising. Also as expected, the device is quite big, feels rushed and also looks cheaper than some other players.
I'm just please MS will keep going forward with the Zune hardware, the next version will be much better. |
| #4 By 10402 (72.252.15.246) at 11/11/2006 10:42:44 PM |
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Lord give it a frigging break... yes the wifi is limited but as the Zune team said its just preliminary, they said its their for future proofing the device to be compabible with future models unlike the gen 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 ipods.
As for size and battery from what i've read they feel good and the battery is respectful from what i've seen. And software? software and firmware are UPGRADEABLE and as the team has said it will continue to be upgraded into the new year... notice the 360 is getting movies on its marketplace this christmas? expect the zune to follow :) And the side by side has shown that there are several popular players even thicker than the zune so thats a poor fact. And im sorry but at 3" how the hell is picture size less important than resolution? we're not reading text were watching VIDEOS! Videos = size matters not resolution atleast not on a frigging 3" screen for gods sake! |
| #5 By 21203 (67.164.108.240) at 11/12/2006 1:39:37 AM |
| Wireless and radio and the interface are new and cool. And that alone makes it worth it, for anyone who hasn't bought into the proprietary ipod world. |
| #6 By 3653 (68.52.143.149) at 11/12/2006 2:01:21 AM |
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zune is so much more than the initial device, or even the initial zune marketplace. msft has turned its full energies and applied its best-of-breed KNOW-HOW to this market. What I mean is they are harnessing CAPITALISTIC science. They KNOW the only way this market will ever grow is if the musicians (and yes, the music companies) can PROFIT from it. Nothing MOTIVATES like the PROFIT MOTIVE. And that is a particular problem currently, where apple simply uses the music/movies to push their high-margin hardware. Microsoft is simply gonna shift the playing board a bit.
I'm speaking primarily about the deal with Universal, but I'm positive that just scratches the surface of their plans. You ALIGN interests (partner) and then your might is exponentially strong. Nobody does this as well as Microsoft, I would argue. now let the debate begin... |
| #7 By 3 (62.253.128.15) at 11/12/2006 3:19:35 AM |
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#4 - I don't disagree with you that they say they are future proofing them, I hope they do make it compatible with future models, just like they did with Play for sure ;o)
You say from what you've ready, which is fine, but I've used one, I guess thats where I notice it a bit more. It's quite a heavy device and it is quite large. It also feels cheap, that doesn't mean it is and I certainly never attempted to drop it during my time to find out Yes software is upgradeable, but I judged it on the software it has at launch, the 360 had fantastic software and UI at launch, the Zune doesn't. As for the resolution thing I never said anything about it - the quality of the screen is excellent, its a stand out feature. In saying that - when a music device is in my pocket how often do I check the screen out? Not very often as personally I tend to know what I'm listening to, its usually only when I skip tracks I go back to it. I just don't use video on it, nothing wrong with its playback though the device does have the feeling of the portable media center software Microsoft brought out. Sound quality was good, better than the ipod, but in saying that most recent devices are and should be. Don't take things so personally - remember I'm not an ipod users and I judge Zune as a music fan and I'm not bias in anyway. The one let down for me is, and you may not like hearing it as other sites have said it - the device feels like it was rushed out. Is this because its just a toshiba gigabeat underneith? Probably - which Is why I look forward to the next device that won't use those parts. |
| #8 By 135 (75.73.90.215) at 11/12/2006 10:31:22 PM |
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mooresa56 has never quite figured out that Capitalism involved consumers, not just producers.
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| #9 By 37 (67.37.29.142) at 11/13/2006 3:27:32 PM |
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What about all the good reviews?
Site: 2Old2Play.com Zune Review: Reviewed on 20th of October - Link Details: One of the first independent full hands on reviews of the Zune. These guys go into great depth and try to explain every thing about the Zune the best they could. They do not really go into great detail on the Zune MarketPlcae and there are no videos or pictures as well. But 2Old2Play.com do cover the core aspects of the Zune: The Zune setup, music sharing, video playback, and user interface. Site: Cnet.com Zune Review: Reviewed on 2nd of October - Link Details: No surprise Cnet.com has done a review of the Zune, Cnet is one of the leading consumer product reviewers on the net. These guys opinions are usually pretty spot on and holds allot of weight as far as product reviews go. The Cnet Zune review covers: Body design, interface and the Zune features. Site: Gizmodo.com Zune Review: Reviewed on 3rd of November - Link Details: One of the big tech blogs out there and my personal favorite one as well, Gizmodo has carried out a great review on the Zune. They cover some of the things not covered that well in other reviews, including the Zune Marketplace, where they get to try it out and see how it works on a PC. Gizmodo also covers DRM protection, with and interesting point: Another not-published or seldom-talked-about feature is guesting. A friend can take his Zune over to your computer, set up a “guest” relationship with your Zune Marketplace software (as opposed to a regular owner relationship), and you’re free to drag songs and pictures from your library onto her device. These songs do not have the 3 play 3 day limit on them. Depending on whether you purchased or you’re leasing these songs, you can do this with either 5 or 2 Zunes, respectively. So in essence, if your wife wants to grab a few songs off your library for listening to… Gizmodo has some great pictures of all 3 colored Zunes (Black, Brown and White) as well as some video clips of them using the Zune MarketPlace. Site: Engadget.com Zune Review: Reviewed on 3rd of November - Link Details: The Engadget review is more for the people who do not like to read and are more visual. There are various pictures on the Zune, that pretty cool looking Zune case that they are carried around in and the Zune MarketPlace. Engadget also has a really in depth video walk through, where they do a complete interface walk through, showing you every nook and cranny of the Zune and the things it can do. That video can be viewed here or download it here (109mb) The following is a list of the reviews from 6 music industry bloggers who were flown out to Zune HQ a few months ago for a first hand look of the Zune: SteroGum.com Coolfer.com MOKB 3Hive.com There were 6, but the other 2 were not really that good, so I did not include them |
| #10 By 3 (62.253.128.15) at 11/13/2006 5:18:35 PM |
| #9 that was just pasted from the Zune Insider Blog - so in other words they are never EVER going to mention the mass of average reviews that are out there. No one says its rubbish (well one review did) but its nothing special at all... |
| #11 By 3653 (68.52.143.149) at 11/14/2006 1:42:07 AM |
| sodablue pops up his head after a democrat victory. where you been these past 2 years? |
| #12 By 37 (67.37.29.142) at 11/14/2006 9:00:37 AM |
| Doesn't matter where I pasted them from. They are still good reviews no matter what. |
| #13 By 135 (209.180.28.6) at 11/14/2006 12:13:49 PM |
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"sodablue pops up his head after a democrat victory. where you been these past 2 years? "
Working to remove the idiotarians from Congress. |
| #14 By 3653 (68.52.143.149) at 11/14/2006 10:53:49 PM |
| well now the demos have a chance... lets see how well they do. best of luck. |
| #15 By 135 (75.73.90.215) at 11/15/2006 1:27:11 PM |
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"well now the demos have a chance... lets see how well they do. best of luck. "
The idiotarians set a pretty low bar to exceed. |
| #16 By 3653 (68.52.143.149) at 11/17/2006 2:49:16 AM |
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i agree, clinton pushed that bar to the very bottom for 8 years. anything half positive from the demos at this point would look like they are getting messages from the divine.
ps... i can FEEL your hate seething. thats a shame. This post was edited by mooresa56 on Friday, November 17, 2006 at 02:50. |
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