CrunchGear

I didn’t think that linux could use Ipod, but please don’t let that tarnish your little tirade. Soem things Apple is better, other MS comes out on top.

What I don’t get is that MS can criticize apple for using the zune strategy on the iphone. iphone is only out to make money on a small share of the market. That is all that zune was intended to do as well. When MS does it, it is a great idea, hen apple does it it is the biggest mistake ot their life (according to MS)

Damn, wish I could type.

The only sneaky bit about the iPod is building the database the device uses to provide the track information for the UI. There are open source programs to do that.

Gotta say, though, it was dumb buying a Zune and expecting it to work with any kind of non-Microsoft software. Their whole strategy is lock-in. Look at Windows handhelds and phones, they aren’t provided with software to sync them with anything but Windows and Office. They even require that you have IE as your web browser for some functionality.

Blake, I have a Zune too and work on several Macs during the day. The Zune device is great but I have the same problem as you with connecting to Zune MMS outside of Windows. My only solution has been running Parallels 3.0 and running Zune in Win Vista in virtual. I’m sure this is probably too costly for some (Parallels - $80 and Win Vista - $100+) but it works for me since there are numerous Windows applications that I need to run already.

I think that its pretty safe to guess that Microsoft didn’t port the Zune software over to Mac as the overwhelming majority of Mac users are fanatical about Apple products and there would likely be just too minimal of an audience to invest their R&D dollars for this feature. However, on the contrast, Apple had to make their iTunes MMS available on Windows to be able to make the iPod successful since Mac is such a small segment of the OS marketplace.

Dear Microsoft,

Ignore this guy. We both know he’s an outlier: Zune 1.0 was never targeted at Mac users, or really, even existing iPod users. And more to the point, he knew that too. It’s too bad that you can’t serve all customer segments in all markets, but only ruthless prioritizing is going to help you build on your successes.

(That’s right, successes. Don’t let the naysayers get you down - you met an aggressive deadline to get your product on store shelves, it was relatively bug-free, and you snagged 10% of your market segment to sit comfortably in the #2 spot. You realistically didn’t expect anything more than that. Good.)

For the past year or so, you’ve had two main options. One was to make small, incremental improvements to the 1.0 - add a clock, add calendar support, add Mac support, etc. The other was to fix broken stuff with point release firmware updates, but mostly crank away on version(s) 2.0 with the unspoken promise that some 2.0 features would also work on the 1.0 product. You chose the latter option - wisely. We’ll never know for sure, but it seems pretty clear that even if you made big improvements to 1.0, like adding podcast support or integration with WMP, you weren’t going to move the needle very far. 1.0 was targeted at customers who didn’t really care about podcasts, or even wifi - you won them over with the FM tuner, of all things, so it seems pretty likely that most of them didn’t care about a wireless synch. And lord knows hardly any of them are Mac users.

Here’s my open-letter request - or rather, hope. Even though it was much more hype than substance the first time around, I hope you’re differentiating the Zune2 around the “Welcome to the Social” (with or without that particular catchphrase - I happen to like it, but it may have met too much scorn to keep in use). Surprisingly, Apple hasn’t squeezed you out of the niche you badly stake a claim to, so this is your chance. I’m looking forward to your exact implementation, but some ideas include: Bonjour support for computer-to-computer streaming, built-in FM transmitter to broadcast your music to other Zunes (or other DAPs with FM tuners), multi-stereo Bluetooth support that allows more than one person to listen to the same player on Bluetooth headphones at the same time, and some improvement to the “squirting” of songs. It’s too late for you to buy last.fm and integrate some kind of music social networking service, but maybe you can work that angle as well somehow.

Anyway, the most important thing is this: stay on point. Eyes on the prize, that prize being the Zune 2(s). Ignore Mac support and all the rest. Focus, Zune team, focus!

Blake, you forgot a PS:

PS: Please put in the ability to turn wireless on and off in Community in the 1.5 update. Cuz, y’know, it kinda belongs there. =)

Why the f@#$ would Microsoft care about 10% of the market’s OS?
It’s obvious Apple HAD to make iTunes available on PC since Windows is on nearly 88% of machines out there. SO GO GET AN IPOD If you wanna sync with yer stupid crapbook

Yeah, I agree.

If it was really that important to be able to sync with your Mac, why didn’t you just get an iPod to begin with?

There is no reason in the world for Microsoft to worry about being able to sync a Zune with Mac OS. Since it has gotten your dander up so much, and as much as it pains me to say it (being an all things Microsoft “fanboy”), you should get an iPod.

No need to get mad at Microsoft though.

Microsoft always fucks things up.

What makes you think that it’s not Apple keeping other hardware/software developers from designing stuff for their OS? it would be trivial for them to put something in leopard (For example) that disallowed non-itunes DSPs from working.

Take note that Apple wouldn’t allow rights for MS to port Zune software for OS X. They only want to support their own product. MS would gladly create a player and support for OS X if they had permission. So not that I’m a fan of either OS (even though I use both on a daily basis) but I can’t really say MS is the villain here. Since Apple has a very small % of the market, they have to do what they can to keep people from trying anything other than apples.

I for one will buy a Zune over an iPod simply because I don’t like the security features built into the iPod/iTunes that make it a pain in the ass to work around. I want my media player to work like a hard drive.