Mass Failure Of 30GB Zunes Shows That At Least A Few People Actually Own Zunes

from the who-knew? dept

It's no secret that Microsoft's "iPod killer" Zune device has been a pretty big disappointment in terms of sales -- but who knew that the most attention the Zune would get in ages would be for having all of the 30 GB models fail at once. Obviously, there's some sort of software bug that caught Microsoft by surprise (apparently Zune's were never taught to understand leap years), causing a ton of Zunes to freeze up at the same time. At least, Microsoft can take a little comfort in knowing that there really are some people out there who use their Zunes.

73 Comments | Leave a Comment..

Zune Music Rental Service, Now With Stuff You Get To Keep, Too

from the getting-desperate? dept

Online-music rental services -- where users get access to a library of songs for as long as they pay a monthly fee -- keep hanging around, despite little apparent interest in them. In an attempt to breathe some life into its subscription service, called Zune Pass, Microsoft is now giving subscribers 10 songs they can permanently keep per month. The company says its research shows that more consumers might consider subscription services at current pricing levels if they got "to take something with them." But isn't that just saying consumers prefer to buy music, rather than rent it? Rentals work for one-time-use items like movies and books, but for things like songs, which people tend to listen to multiple times, subscriptions aren't attractive. The argument that subscriptions are good for discovery doesn't really hold water, either, given the proliferation of online services that let users listen to huge libraries of music for free. One other angle to this news: why would anybody purchase digital content from Microsoft after the PlaysForSure fiasco, in which it shut off its DRM servers, making it impossible to transfer PlaysForSure-"protected" content to any new devices, rendering it largely useless?

Carlo Longino is an expert at the Insight Community. To get insight and analysis from Carlo Longino and other experts on challenges your company faces, click here.

20 Comments | Leave a Comment..

Microsoft Agrees To Put A Copyright Cop On The Zune

from the not-quite-how-you-grow-your-market-share dept

Want to know exactly what not to do in order to build up marketshare against a formidable competitor? It's doing what Microsoft appears to be doing with the Zune: making it less useful for buyers. Remember, last month NBC Universal claimed that the reason it was keeping TV shows off of iTunes was because Apple refused to build a filter that would try to spot other unauthorized material and block it from getting on the iPod. So, with Microsoft announcing a deal to carry NBC TV shows for the Zune... the question had to be asked. And, yes, NBC is claiming that it went with Microsoft because Microsoft has agreed to build a copyright cop into the Zune. In other words, if you want the "legitimate" version of Heroes on your Zune, you may no longer be able to transfer lots of other content onto your Zune. This from the company that is already struggling to find people to buy a Zune.

It's difficult to figure out which side is making the bigger mistake here, so we'll just say that both companies are working hard to drag each other down. First off, Microsoft. Apparently not having learned anything from recent DRM debacles, building a special copyright cop into the Zune software immediately makes the device that much less useful. Any such filter will be more of a nuisance than anything else. While it may temporarily cause annoyance to some users, those who really want to get content onto their Zunes will figure out other ways -- so this will only serve to piss them off. And, in many cases it will (yes, it will) stop the perfectly legitimate transfer of content to the Zune. So, it won't serve the purpose, but it will piss people off. Why would anyone buy into that plan?

As for NBC, remember, we're talking about TV shows here. TV shows that the company already distributes for free. You want as many people watching these shows as possible. Stop worrying about "piracy" and focus on making it as damn easy as possible for as many people to watch the shows as possible, and just include a few non-intrusive, non-annoying (but very entertaining) advertisements in there and everything will be great. Pissing off the very people you're trying to get to watch your (free!) TV shows doesn't seem like a strategy that's going to make many fans happy. They have plenty of other options on what to do with their time. Even worse, making sure that the only way that owners of iPods (the dominant player in the market) can see your shows is to get them from unauthorized sources (of which there are plenty) doesn't seem particularly smart.

These are rather simple things that should be obvious to anyone online at this point. That folks at Microsoft and NBC Universal seem to not realize them gives you a hint of what direction both companies are heading in with this effort. Update: Microsoft is denying the NY Times story. Update 2: Microsoft PR points us to Microsoft's blog statement denying the story as well. Reading between the lines, it sounds like NBC brought it up and Microsoft basically said "we'll think about it," but hasn't promised to do anything.

33 Comments | Leave a Comment..

PlaysForWhatNow? Microsoft 'ReBrands' Misnamed DRM

from the confused-for-sure dept

Sometimes you wonder if Microsoft is just messing around with people for the hell of it. Remember Microsoft's fairly useless DRM offering called PlaysForSure? The one that was (like pretty much all DRM systems) easily hacked? The one that was used to convince a bunch of partners to sign up as Microsoft partners? The one that Microsoft itself then ditched itself when launching the Zune, abandoning all of the partners who could only laugh at the irony of Microsoft devices not playing content using Microsoft's own "PlaysForSure" system? Well, Microsoft has decided that perhaps it was time to change the name of PlaysForSure. Given how inaccurate the name is, perhaps that makes sense -- though, not nearly as much sense as just letting the damn thing die. However, even in changing the name it appears Microsoft has bungled the situation. The new name is "Certified for Windows Vista" which (oops) just so happens to be the same classification used for the Zune and its content... yet, as just noted, PlaysForSure content doesn't work on the Zune. Confusing enough for you? To recap: we've got DRM from Microsoft called PlaysForSure that surely doesn't play on Microsoft's own Zune player -- so Microsoft changes the name to "Certified for Windows Vista" using the same logo as found on the Zune, even though the content still won't play on the Zune. And the company thinks this isn't going to confuse and upset even more people?

16 Comments | Leave a Comment..

Bill Gates Damns Zune With Faint Praise

from the the-anti-Jobs dept

By now, most people are aware of the "reality distortion field" that surrounds Steve Jobs. Folks attending his keynotes or product launches talk about how it's almost a religious experience, where he really does make you feel like the latest iPod nano is the greatest device ever invented. It's no secret that Bill Gates has a rather different personality -- but it's still quite bizarre to see the level of faint praise Gates gives the Zune as its second generation launches:

"For something we pulled together in six months, we are very pleased with the satisfaction we got.... It was just so-so on the software side. I'm sure a year from now we'll do even better."

He does insist that the satisfaction was "superhigh," but satisfaction and passion are two very different beasts. Of course, this fits right in with how Microsoft has attacked this problem from the beginning: designing the product by committee, rather than coming up with something that they can be passionate about. When even your CEO can't show much passion about your products (especially when those products are up against Steve Jobs' latest products), you've got a problem.

27 Comments | Leave a Comment..