How Microsoft Can Make Zune a Success 305
jcatcw writes "Zune had potential, but 5 months in it barely gets passing grades. According to the article, there are five things Microsoft must change: 1) The built-in Wi-Fi, aka 'the social,' was a bad idea. 2) Tell newbies what it can do. 3) Create a low-end, flash-based player. 4) Push subscriptions. 5) Make it sexy. A Microsoft representative said, about the wireless concept: 'We felt we were addressing the social aspect of music, and the research we've done has shown that people understand the concept that wireless enables sharing ... but the tagline, while provocative, hasn't meant a lot to consumers.'"
Do like they do with everything else... (Score:5, Interesting)
3 words... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Wifi (Score:1, Interesting)
Do you think Apple have not put wifi in their iPods because of the "abuse" that people might carry out ? (as in, sharing music) ?.. I have genuinly wondered this, because you'd bet if an iPod had wifi, I'd buy one instantly.
Zune Frustrations, 1.3, et al (Score:5, Interesting)
First off, there has been a skipping issue on some units (mine included), a workaroudn for it meant leaving display on 100% of the time, which did wonders for the battery. Plus, at times navigating in its menus, while they were laid out, it would just lag behind your clicks and presses, then suddenly catch up and do everything you did in frustration.
Okay, they had a patch in the works for this, firmware 1.3. Rumor had it would be out yesterday.. it actually did make it out today. But even the execution of this shows carelessness...
For example. the www.zune.net website was down 24 hours tuesday for maintenance. Okay, I understand sometimes you gotta do that, but you're telling me they couldn't put up a mirror? All attempts to do stuff on that day produced an error, and when it did, it would direct you to www.zune.net/support. which didn't come up. You didnt' get the maintenance message even unless you went to www.zune.net (even zune.net failed to do this).
Okay, the patch came out next day, the site's back up. It tells me I have an update. Says downloading... then returns an error message of "unable to update sync settings at this time". calling zune support they have me update the zune software. Same. They have me install zune software on another machine. Same. I told them from the start that I've seen others posting about this on some zune boards. uh-huh. Since I'd redone zune software from their own website, the guy now wants me to instead reinstall it from the original CD, which is lying somewhere in a box in a garage. Most drivers and software should like be obselete by the time you get them, but this is apparently their standard procedure, never mind how that is going to fix what isn't coming through from their website.
I'm still trying to get 1.3 on my zune now, some 10 hours after first trying. Oh, and btw, the patch notes they have for the 1.3 are verbatim copied from the patch notes from 1.2, including the note about how this includes everything from 1.1 and earlier. (as if 1.2 is not included). Again, its like how much care and effort are they putting into this.
Oh, but Zune has exciting things on the way, they announced a pink zune. That will get their cool factor going, no doubt.
Given what microsoft did in the past to people who adopted their tech (playsforsure), I have a real uneasy feeling that they'll release some new hardware that abandon the current zune.
I want to like this thing, I really do. But they make it so hard. I *do* like the zune pass, it makes most of the frustrations worth it for me, given that I'd downloaded what would have been about $6000-$7000 worth of songs directly if I'd bought them. I like not caring which version of a song I get. I like the look and feel of the player. But they find a way to kill it. Its like Isaiah Thomas is running the Zune team. I know J Allard is supposed to be in charge of it now, but is it really his main focus? I haven't seen any drastic changes since they put him back in charge of it, and quite honestly in his shoes I'd be wanting to go on to other things by now anyway.
That's pretty much how I feel about it at this time...
the real way to instant zune 2.0 success? (Score:5, Interesting)
Seriously, that's it.
There are some details involved, so I'll be more specific:
add wireless shopping over wifi.
allow wireless transfer of any data file. (music/pics/vids/arbitrary data)
don't add DRM to media that didn't start with it. (seriously: how dumb was that?)
allow wireless syncing and reverse syncing. (moving tunes from the Zune to the PC)
allow the playback of wireless media that isn't done copying (just buffer it up and let it rip).
allow wireless transfers in the background. (while listening to something else, while doing something else, etc)
Do that, and you actually deliver an experience that the iPod doesn't.
The experience the Zune promised but failed at so horribly that it might as well not exist.
oh and it'd be nice if the Zune would mount as a generic USB volume, so it could be used to ferry about and wirelessly share arbitrary data files.
Beats PSP? (Score:3, Interesting)
And overall, which one is the better buy? What if you own an XBox, or if you own a PS3? How about cross-brand, is either portable anything but useless with the cross-brand console?
Here's how (Score:3, Interesting)
Not at all, just very badly implemented, let users really share music rather than crippling it. This is actually the best selling point of the device as it is the only thing unique about the zune.
2) Tell newbies what it can do.
Hm, this is a poor recommendation, its like saying 'sell more of them'. I think their tagline must be changed ASAP, enter the social just doesn't make sense, as the MS rep knows, I'm sure they are already working on this one.
3) Create a low-end, flash-based player.
The best idea here, remove wifi and hd, make it thinner, add 4-8gb of flash and sell it for $99, that would be awesome.
4) Push subscriptions.
Don't you think they are already doing this, it doesn't matter how much you push subscriptions, if the person doens't have the device why the hell are they going to subscribe. Perhaps give away devices for subscription plans, like cell phones.
5) Make it sexy.
Yes turd brown was a very bad color, it is mute and relaxed and I actually like it, but it doesn't nothing for selling the things, or at least offer all colors including shiney ones, and not just crap brown quake ones.
Re:Microsoft iPod video (Score:2, Interesting)
That video should be required watching for Microsoft marketers/engineers/etc.
MS has never made cool stuff (Score:3, Interesting)
The ipod is low on features, but high on style. That just shows that features are not what make this kind of product. The ipod is iconic - you really struggle to find any way to dislodge that.
MS has always been high on features/low on style (eg. Office).
MP3 players are not technical products. They are fashion statements. What sane kid will walk around with a Brown Zune Turd in their pocket?
If MS has any sense they'll can Zune. If they make Zune2 then they'd better come up with something far better. Perhaps something based on http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS7994750806.html [linuxdevices.com]
Zune enterprise edition (Score:3, Interesting)
More features would help... (Score:3, Interesting)
Granted there may be some security aspects to having a player which can synchronise over the network or do rudimentary web browsing even if it's just to browse the URGE store, what about the ability to plug it right into your digital camera and offload the photos, does it do TV output like the iPod, could it play standard MPEG4/AAC video (like the iPod) rather than WMA (no reason why all the Zune tools can't stick to WMV/WMA though, the same way nobody has to play URGE WMA rather than MP3). What about plugging it into your HiFi and streaming from Windows Media Player 11?
On "the social"... (Score:3, Interesting)
The quote points out incredibly well what the problem with "the social" was: it was a tagline, nothing more. In order to run "the social" as the tagline for the launch campaign, Microsoft marketing had to ignore:
Eh...I've ranted about this so many times I can't rant no more. If you actually want to read more about it, check out the Zunebox Proposal [thezunebox.com] or the catalog of failure and incompetence [blackmailr.com] that is the blog posts I've written about the Zune's marketing.
Here's my list of things to make it a success: (Score:3, Interesting)
2. It must have click wheel or some other sort of touch sensitive technology that allows me to intuitively navigate and quickly change volume.
3. Wi-Fi sharing must work over the internet. I mean, really, why the fuck not?
4. It must be able to stream music from my PC wirelessly.
5. It must cost $50 less than iPod.
6. A marketing campaign without penises and asses in commercials.
Tall order? You bet. But that's what you have to do when you're entering a well established market.
Re:Wifi (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Here's an idea (Score:3, Interesting)
http://bdmonkeys.net/brown.png [bdmonkeys.net]
about your favorite (Score:3, Interesting)
The problem is MS, once again, does not understand the user, or one of the key reasons the user is using the product.
1) Don't interupt someones song whenever someone wants to conect. Flash something on the screen in case thre watching it, let them turn off any indicator, and allow them to let iother people dump music for later review.
Put the power in the users hands.
2) People listening to music are saying "I am not interested in what sounds are around me."