Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Microsoft kills off Zune players despite earlier promises
Electronista ^ | October 3, 2011 | Electronista Staff

Posted on 10/04/2011 2:08:31 AM PDT by Spktyr

Zune HD support page, podcast end lineup

Microsoft in spite of its earlier claims has said it will drop Zune players. A support page has made clear the company will "no longer be producing Zune players." It will keep honoring support and sales, but hasn't made mention of future OS updates.

The company quietly discontinued the Zune Insider podcast on Friday after hosts Jessica Zahn and Matt Akers said they had to move on to other projects. Zahn is working on social services involving Live.

Its end comes after two years without significant hardware updates and signs that the Zune line was coming to an end. It recently stopped selling Zune Originals and began porting Zune HD apps to Windows Phone.

While the core music component will live in Windows Phone, the Xbox 360, and the desktop, it marks an end to Microsoft's hopes of competing with the iPod almost exactly five years after entering the field in fall 2006. Microsoft had hoped to use its size and unique features to outmuscle Apple. While it had advantages such as FM radio, "squirting" songs, and later Wi-Fi syncing and the Zune Pass, they weren't considered big enough to sway users from the iPod line.

Zunes may have inadvertently helped Apple in the process. By entering with the Zune device and Marketplace, Microsoft started competing with partners that were using PlaysForSure on their music stores, such as Walmart. The Zune never got more than two percent share in the US, but it was enough to lead to the closure of some stores and mostly cannibalized device share from Microsoft's allies.

Apple's success has been credited both to stronger momentum as well as to a much more aggressive update schedule. Microsoft started slowing down as soon as 2008, when it put out a conservative update to the "clickpad" Zunes. Apple has always updated iPods at least once a year and, with the iPod nano, has had a significant redesign every year. The company was quicker to touchscreen players and had both cheaper as well as higher-end models.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: failure; microaoft; zune
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-42 next last
To: OCCASparky

Wasn’t exactly snarking. Seriously, if you had a proper backup, it wouldn’t have even been a problem. Had hard drives blow up on Macs and PCs and with proper backup the only thing lost was a little time having the iPod resync. Everything went back to where it was quite quickly with no loss of data.

If you are having to ‘recover’ files from your Zune because you didn’t have backups, you screwed up *bad* and recovering your music is the least of your problems.


21 posted on 10/04/2011 3:09:35 AM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Spktyr

oh no, there’s no such thing as a freeper tech company.

But Apple boycotted Fox News over Glenn Beck (not just his show but the entire channel) and Google likes to play snarky games with its homepage during holidays as I’m sure you’re aware. Microsoft doesn’t try to appeal to the leftist kiddies. I remember when the M in MSNBC used to stand for Microsoft. It was a pretty decent network that featured John Gibson and several other conservatives.


22 posted on 10/04/2011 3:16:47 AM PDT by ari-freedom (I'm a heartless conservative because I love this country.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Spktyr
Sorry--late here too (or early). My biggest gripe about the iPod was if you did in fact try to transfer to a new computer (laptop in my case) you MIGHT get MOST of your purchased songs, but forget about anything you personally burned to iTunes.

Like I said, the iPod was a great idea 7 years ago, but technology moves on, and yes, the Zune really never stood a chance, for more reasons than we've both discussed. I like Pandora because even in the free version I can get a lot of stuff (if you don't mind the commercials) and have actually been turned on to a lot of groups/artists I wouldn't have otherwise been exposed to in the process.
23 posted on 10/04/2011 3:19:30 AM PDT by OCCASparky (Steely-eyed killer of the deep.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: ari-freedom

The M in MSNBC still stands for Microsoft, at least partially. msnbc.com is still a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC. Note the bastion of liberalism that it’s become.

“In a June 2011 interview, MSNBC president Phil Griffin stated that “MSNBC has established a sensibility, a position, a platform” and that “MSNBC is really the place to go for progressives.””


24 posted on 10/04/2011 3:24:55 AM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: OCCASparky

Actually, having been in that situation once for a client, I was easily able to recover all the files, intact, off the iPod using a third party utility.

The problem with the same idea on the Zune was that every music file you stuck on it was infected by the Zune with DRM, so you got three plays or three days out of it when you copied it off and then it would self destruct.

http://medialoper.com/zunes-big-innovation-viral-drm/


25 posted on 10/04/2011 3:28:36 AM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: OCCASparky

Hit post too soon. No, the problem with copying stuff off the iPod was 1) the names got scrambled if you didn’t have a decoding utility and 2) it was all or nothing. You either got it all off or you got zilch (there were a couple of models you could not get file system access to.)

Still, better than the “hey, where’d all my files go” Zune. :P


26 posted on 10/04/2011 3:31:00 AM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: OCCASparky

” even the iPod’s days are numbered.”

How right you are: that number may be 0.

Indications are Apple may end the iPod proper (the Classic line) today. The Nano and Shuffle will continue, as cheap small-capacity accessories. The iPod Touch is for most practical purposes the iPad Nano (and will be if a 3G option is added). But as for the robust, large capacity, dedicated music device, the iPod is just about done.


27 posted on 10/04/2011 3:47:56 AM PDT by ctdonath2 ($1 meals: http://abuckaplate.blogspot.com/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Spktyr

Does this mean we are no longer welcome to the social?


28 posted on 10/04/2011 4:19:53 AM PDT by relictele (Pax Quaeritur Bello)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: relictele

Yeah, I think the cops broke up ‘the social’ some time ago as someone complained about the smell of the drugs that were being partaken of. :P


29 posted on 10/04/2011 4:26:18 AM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: ctdonath2

Here’s what I don’t understand...even casual music fans have hundreds of gigabytes of files on disk and many/most of those fans have abandoned the 128k bit rate...yet the largest MP3 player is less than 200 GB.

As with USB flash drives, the 64 GB limit seems to have lingered for quite a long time in tech terms. Spinning hard disks aren’t the answer...what about solid state drives? Despite demand and ubiquity they are still ridiculously expensive and show very little of the usual decline in price per megabyte over time. Still, they seem the best answer at present.


30 posted on 10/04/2011 4:28:05 AM PDT by relictele (Pax Quaeritur Bello)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: relictele

As you say, flash is too expensive for those capacities. And hard drives are too physically large for the application.

For comparison, the largest iPod Touch has what you want, large capacity and small size, but is over $400.


31 posted on 10/04/2011 4:39:21 AM PDT by ctdonath2 ($1 meals: http://abuckaplate.blogspot.com/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: relictele

SSDs are up to 4TB now, but a 4TB drive is the size of an old HH DVD drive.


32 posted on 10/04/2011 4:44:38 AM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: Spktyr

Probably the only guy in the world grateful for the Zune is Walden Schmidt.


33 posted on 10/04/2011 5:18:21 AM PDT by Ghengis
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ghengis

LOL - and he’s fictional. :P


34 posted on 10/04/2011 5:19:53 AM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: ctdonath2
The iPod Touch is for most practical purposes the iPad Nano...

And a good thing too! Now my three-year-old can have her "phone" just like mommy and daddy, and look at pictures of herself to her heart's content.

I wasn't willing to put an expensive iPad in her hands yet, but a Touch at half the price (and based on how she treated M&D's iPhones) put early apps in her hands, AND gave her a way to listen to her "Marley" whenever she wants.

35 posted on 10/04/2011 5:37:56 AM PDT by papertyger (Make no mistake: Sheepdogs are for keeping sheep in, not keeping wolves out.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: Spktyr

“Fictional” my eye!

Have you seen the size of the “blur” on that guy? ;o)


36 posted on 10/04/2011 5:42:27 AM PDT by papertyger (Make no mistake: Sheepdogs are for keeping sheep in, not keeping wolves out.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: papertyger

I need to find someplace that will do an iPod Touch Gen 1 battery replacement. Have one that won’t turn on, and have two toddlers that want to play with Daddy’s iPad too much.


37 posted on 10/04/2011 5:50:21 AM PDT by ctdonath2 ($1 meals: http://abuckaplate.blogspot.com/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: Spktyr

Highly underrated device and “ecosystem”, plagued with terrible decisions, the marketing division should be shot.


38 posted on 10/04/2011 6:18:44 AM PDT by Paradox (Democrats on Obama, They can't deny him, He is them.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Spktyr

I thought the Zune was dead a couple of years ago. I haven’t seen any in stores for a very long time.


39 posted on 10/04/2011 6:55:22 AM PDT by The Great RJ ("The problem with socialism is that pretty soon you run out of other people's money" M. Thatcher)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Spktyr

Why such visceral hatred for a consumer electronic product? Did a Zune run over your dog?

I have a brown Zune and it’s been a good music player. The brown was ridiculed, but it actually looks pretty good in person and I can assure you no one will mistake it for their iPod.

The sound quality was actually better than my first gen iPod Nano. ...and it was only $80 on clearance.


40 posted on 10/04/2011 7:00:12 AM PDT by MediaMole
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-42 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson