Analyst: Microsoft Should Abandon Zune

[tipoo]

Never ever abandon the Zune.

 

[crom]

Zune sucks. Apple makes a much better product than the Zune. It's smaller, sleeker, and a much better interface. They now have everyone under the sun developing for them. It's become the Windows of the mobile world. Microsoft would have never even attempted a Zune if Apple hadn't cornered the MP3 player market. Even then Microsoft is years late to the game with their product.

Microsoft should work on their Xbox portable and give it some more multimedia capabilities. Hell toss a cellular receiver in there too.

 

[Guest]

LOL I though no one else would find the irony in a guy named Kavorkian telling MS to Kill the Zune.. LOL..

P.S. I love my Zune.

 

[eatmeimadanish]

Bewildering. Is microsoft full of zombies? Hey guys lets deliver a phone that you can dial now without talking to an operator! I mean how do you have billions of dollars in cash, yet you can't even innovate a handheld device and get shlacked by Apple and Palm. When is WM7 due, 2011? How is it even possible that Microsoft is taken seriously?

 

[frozenlead]

The reason I'm excited about the Zune HD is the video playing capability and the HDMI output. I mean, seriously - I can't tell you how many times I've had to lug my notebook and external hard disk somewhere just to play a movie. When a mobile device supports a STANDARD I/O PORT, I'm all for it. I'd like to see Apple put a displayport output on ipods. lol. Useless.

 

[nachowarrior]

There's always market for new pmp devices or "ppm's" as i like to call them. Just look at the nokia n8xx series. Came out earlier and basically broke all the barriers of what hardware and software companies thought they could cram into a pocket sized device. All with community developed software. Now you see everyone rushing to pump their devices to the hilt with this kind of functionality yet 99% of the devices on the market still can't support fully functioning internet browsing. There is definitely a need for more capable pocket sized devices, especially ones that can stream hulu video. I spent countless hours researching pocket sized devices recently and still have yet to find one that fully supports flash 9 and can stream processor intensive video's like hulu. At least not one that's documented to do so at an affordable price range. The n8xx series can play the video it's just not something that's entirely watchable. Even intel's touted atom processor has a hard time keeping up with hulu in netbooks, especially when the resolution is turned up. This primarily has to do with poor utilization of existing hardware. However, industry trends tend to indicate that the hardware community is just going to find a way to boost performance at a cost people can appreciate rather than wait for companies like Adobe to adopt more platforms and utilize hardware properly. Hence the tegra chip. Hope it's all that it's cracked up to be. Frankly we're at a point in computer and mobile processing that we should be able to have nearly all the functional parts of the web in our pocket, or at least you would think given the leaps and bounds in power saving and processing capability. Conclusively the Zune HD should come to market and should not be abandoned by microsoft. Given it will be one of the first and few devices with the tegra chip bringing what we have known as a standard of video quality for YEARS to an ultra portable device. Granted there are other devices such as the archos 5 and 7 that have hd capabilities along with a slew of other devices, they tend to rely more on x86 codecs and all of them seem to have something missing and fail to bring a fully matured pocket pc experience to the table. Competition breeds innovation and innovation breeds competition hence the saying goes. I'll be glad to see anything that can challenge the n8xx series in functionality, performance, and price.

 

[nachowarrior]

As a side note I have to hand it to benq's s6 model. They built a very nice GUI over windows mobile, something generally done with linux based platforms that are open source and thus easier to modify.

 

[rcmaniac25]

Let the Zune HD come out before you determine if MS should stop making them. The iPod didn't become as big as it did until the 3rd version (so I heard). What if an analyst told Apple, before they released the iPod 3G, that they should drop the line because they were not doing as well as expected?

 

[compulsionnra]

I have an ipod and a zune. I like the zune alot better. The interface is superior and it was cheaper. The bundled headphones are also great compared to the AWFUL ipod headphones.

 

[simplyderp]

My first MP3 player was an iPod 4GB Nano. I prefer to use Winamp now, because it correctly recognizes all my file tags when iTunes doesn't. It also leaves less of a footprint when I'm gaming.

 

[simplyderp]

^ point: iPod and iTunes is overhyped. I'll be looking into a Zune / other brand for my next mp3 player.

 

[eccentric909]

[citation][nom]g-thor[/nom]So, it will playback 720p! And where will this content to play at that resolution come from? I can't go buy a DVD and legally rip it to put on my Zune (or iPod, or any other device).[/citation]

Actually, a lot of movie DVDs purchased nowadays come with a free Digital Download of the movie. For example, I bought my girlfriend the new Fast and the Furious movie last Friday (can't figure out for the life of me why she likes the F&F movies lol) and it comes with a free digital copy of the movie to put on whatever you want, computer, phone, ipod, zune, xbox360/ps3, etc.

While that might not be at 720p, that is the way a lot of movies are being packaged, thus giving an avenue for video content on your .

 

[eccentric909]

[citation][nom]crom[/nom]Microsoft should work on their Xbox portable and give it some more multimedia capabilities. Hell toss a cellular receiver in there too.[/citation]

While I don't agree with most of your post, I do have to agree with this. It would be a nice road for the Zune to go down, becoming more of a portable gaming device with all of it's media capabilities. With an Nvidia Tegra CPU, I'm sure it could eventually turn that way. I think MS would have a good chance to make a success out of it, like they've done with the 360.

I mean, I like my PSP, it has nice graphics and decent controls, but the selection of games is pitiful. I'm not a big fan of the DS, though it's a nice little machine, the games are just not for me really, however there is a huge selection at least.

Now, if MS could make a portable gaming device with a library that would one day compete with the DS and better graphics than the PSP, I'd be all over it. LOL, would also be nice if they had SD support built-in, unlike the PSP which you have to buy a MS Duo to SD-mini adapter to take advantage of the low cost SD memory.

 

[Wonderwill]

I currently own an 80GB Zune and it still kicks the iPod Classic's butt. I watch many movies, tv shows and podcasts on it without a problem. I believe Zune could easily dominate the high-capacity PMP market if MS created one with a higher-res screen and better battery life. They should stay away from iPod touch/iPhone competition and focus on people that want a portable video player with 60+ gigs that fits in their pocket.