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Zune to have games by 2008
by Ryan Carter Jan 11th 2007 at 3:30PM
Bloomberg reports that Microsoft is planning to add gaming to the Zune by 2008, to better compete with Apple's iPod, which already has games on-board. Zune must add games and continue to include more and better features than Apple to be ahead of the curve, instead of trailing behind. Nothing will come close to challenging the iPod for a while, since it is so far out in front, including the mind-share of the country that the iPod holds, but having played with the Zune a bit, I think it has a good chance to be a popular second place item. Microsoft execs also are contemplating a Zune phone, and possibly wi-fi video-sharing as well. Will Zune be a sleeping Lion, and eventually take some of the market-share from Apple? Do you have a Zune? Care to share your experiences with using it daily, how it works, what you like about it? Please, feel free.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
DJFMA said 4:17PM on 1-11-2007
I just picked up a zune after finally getting fed up with my ipod. I'm really turned off by ANY product apple is releasing / has released lately. In reality, a lot (not all) of their products are way overpriced and underpowered compared to what other companies offer.
The only reason they remain ahead, is because they are "the thing" to have. Did I mention, I HATE itunes?
To be honest, I didn't care about all the negative reviews the zune was getting. I figure most of those reviews are by non tech-savy people (whereas technology is my career). Apon receiving it, the software installed without a glitch. I synched all my music and videos and was off to an awesome experience. The screen looks amazing, the sound is much better than my ipod. I am way beyond satisfied with what microsoft has offered.
And since I have an xbox 360 (another reason I got it), it's exciting to hear about the possible features that may come to it in the future.
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knoopx said 6:17PM on 1-11-2007
i hate itunes but love ipod. awesome capacity, fast browsing, hi-quality audio and long battery on a small device. i dont want wifi/games/notes/contacts, for those there are other better devices.
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joey said 9:32PM on 1-11-2007
Hahaha.. the iPhone will have games by 2007. It runs a mini-OSX and has an awesome touchscreen, and EA is already developing games for the iPod so I'm assuming they will make iPhone games too.
The zune is dead guys, get over it.
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Tim said 9:32PM on 1-11-2007
Maybe the Zune will be like the first Xbox. It won't be profitable, but it will earn plenty of mindshare. Then, the public will be eager and ready for the next generation Zune.
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J. Shaw said 9:50PM on 1-11-2007
I have a Zune and am completely satisfied with it. I had an iPod but got sick of the thing as it simply wasn't up to par with my standards. I love this thing, it works perfectly, its almost indestructible, it has plenty of battery power, and it has a beautiful screen. I have also had the fortune of meeting up with others who have Zunes, and the sharing is seamless.
Overall, I am extremely happy with it.
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Gus said 2:08AM on 1-12-2007
Well, I bought a zune for my girlfriend for chirstmas and have had it for a while... I had a 20gb4th gen ipod since 1 yr ago.
The itunes vs zune marketplace is bad!
Itunes is sooooo easy!
Zune feels like a bad palm software clone.
But as for the actual hardware...
I love the ZUNE!
It feels sturdy and looks incredible.
I didn't have the ipod video so I can't really compare but looking at diggnation and downloaded movies on it is amazing!
The buttons are actually easier for non geeks, come on folks spinning the ipod touch wheel take some time to learn, zune is strait up, down, left, right.
Sound is actualy about the same.
WHERE IS THE DIFFERENCE U ASK?
$15 all you can eat music on zune!
That's awesome, I think Microsoft should really push this more in the advertisment, I spent about 50 bucks on i tunes for 50 songs... I just finished downloading 4.2 Gigs of music, all for 15 and I'm still downloading... ALL NEW STUFF!
ITUNES 99 cents is what is going to kill it..
I just sold my ipod on ebay, and am getting another zune!...
LONG LIVE ZUNE!
DOWN WITH APPLE!
600 for i phone? no thanks...
sounds like ps3 prices to me...
And with google checkout on buy.com I got the whole thing for about 230!
Epsonkit.com
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pepa said 2:18AM on 1-12-2007
>4. Maybe the Zune will be like the first Xbox. It won't be profitable, but it will >earn plenty of mindshare. Then, the public will be eager and ready for the next >generation Zune.
This means that second version of Zune will just loose less money then first (same like xbox 360), maybe by fifth version it will even turn into black numbers (or maybe not)
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gen2 said 2:22AM on 1-12-2007
i have 4 latest generations of ipods, nano and shuffle i love to upgrade whenever theres new gizmo, i have zune too and for me zune is a major upgrade for the ipods latest model and i love it more than all my collections as for now.. but i cant wait till iphone comes out!!!!
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KB said 10:08AM on 1-12-2007
I got a Zune for Christmas (listening to it now with the awesome Bose in ear Triports) and am a huge fan. The biggest difference for me is the media center software, and the sharing ability with my XBox 360. I can basically stream all of my songs pictures and .wmv videos to my home entertainment system.
Also, needless to say, i don't have to deal with crappy iTunes anymore, thank god! I hope Cisco sues Apple for everything they've got, I'm so sick of Apple and Mac. Hopefully Vista won't disappoint!
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KB said 10:15AM on 1-12-2007
I got a Zune for Christmas (listening to it now with the awesome Bose in ear Triports) and am a huge fan. The biggest difference for me is the media center software, and the sharing ability with my XBox 360. I can basically stream all of my songs pictures and .wmv videos to my home entertainment system.
Also, needless to say, i don't have to deal with crappy iTunes anymore, thank god! I hope Cisco sues Apple for everything they've got, I'm so sick of Apple and Mac. Hopefully Vista won't disappoint!
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Alex Land said 2:21PM on 1-12-2007
I love Zune. Like another poster said, the 15$ all you can eat plan is amazing. I've seriously quit downloading music illegally (and that's saying a lot).
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Fabulo said 7:49PM on 1-12-2007
Well, the day we can buy a Zune for what it is or the day it can be mentioned without also mentioning iPod in the same sentence is the day the Zune is a success.
Just make a good product, it will sell. You're setting yourself up to fail if you constantly measure yourself to your biggest competitor (competitor who is 5 years ahead of you) Especially when the Zune is so lukewarm on many fatures. To make a killing, you need a killer product, not a meee-tooo-pleaaase product.
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glacia00 said 12:55AM on 1-13-2007
I hear more about the ipod than I can stand and I've never heard any mention a game on it. I can only imagine on the small screen they must be like cellphone games.
MS could do a lot in that area if they leverage their Xboxpertise. Whether or not it's a major selling point who knows.
The Bloomberg article is one more in a long line of oddball stories that seem to have bought into the ipod fanboy fantasy that MS was expecting to crush ipod with the Zune on day one. It was even the fanboys who invented the term ipod killer. The media of course aren't known for being the brightest bulbs.
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EA said 12:56AM on 1-13-2007
I got a Zune for Christmas. The hardware is seriously good. Much, much better than the Ipod plastic-ware. The software, however, leaves much to be desired. The library often doesn't update itself (for example, if you delete files in explorer, they often stay in the library indefinitely), the interface/sync routines are buggy, and don't even get me started on the automatic tagging (taking 15 tracks from an album and splitting it into 2 albums, both of the same name!!). I find it funny that Microsoft, the software company, has great hardware and relatively crappy software. Go figure.
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Evan said 4:30PM on 1-13-2007
alright, to you people who think the iphone is gonne kick the zunes a$$? wth? iphone? its honestly a disaster, $599 with a maximum capacity of 8 GB? u gotta be kidding me... to be honest, i was looking forward to the iphone even though i have a zune (thats friggen insane) but when the specs were released and the price i was like wtf?
same here, regardless off the bad reviews on the zune i just knew that it was perfect for me. I didnt have ANY problems installing the software and same goes for my friend who got it for christmas. Its an amazing piece of hardware and honestly if microsoft keeps it up, it will kill ipod because the zune right now is the first gen! just imaginge the 5th or 6th gen! Apples goin down if microsoft keeps it up. And think about it, microsoft is more likely to do even better the next generation because 2006 was a HUGE milestone for microsoft, they had so much work to do with vista, xbox 360, and the zune. If they can do all that AND still make a good quality first gen mp3 player that comes pretty damn close to competing with the 5th gen ipod... next gens gonna kick a$$
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Ryan said 4:40PM on 1-13-2007
I bought a Zune the day it came out. I have to say that I have never had an iPod and I never want one. The iPod is too "trendy" for me and it never actually interested me enough to warrant a purchase. When I first saw the Zune interface I was immediately interested and when I saw it in stores I made an impulse purchase and joined the few proud Zune owners. I read all the bad reviews and all the trouble people has with the installation but I had no problems.
As far as the software goes, I'm not completely impressed or satisfied. I'm hoping that things get better with updates. But the hardware I feel completely outperforms the iPod. I love the interface, I love the way it looks and I'm completely happy with the sound quality. It's even more exciting to hear about all the features that may still come to the first generation Zune. I think it's a great device and I'm 100% happy with my purchase.
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Nick said 5:00PM on 1-14-2007
I got a Zune from American Express, ($140 overall w/shipping - woot!) and I absolutely love it. This is the first iPod-esque player I've owned, and I wouldn't trade it for all the Mac-branded crap in all the world. Granted, the software is pretty buggy, but the capabilities far outweigh the slight nuisance with syncing. I do wish for an adjustable EQ, and of course I'm going to swap out the hard drive with one of the single platter Seagate 60GB drives. Other than that, I use it everyday, and I think that the next iteration will definitely give crApple a run for its money.
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john said 12:51AM on 1-20-2007
I have a zune and I honestly couldn't be happier with it. I really can't stand how every singnle person on earth has an ipod. It really shows great skill in apples ability to use advertising to absolutly exploit a rather (Mediocre at best) mp3 player. As far as games are concerned that be cool if you could view game stats and stuff like on the xbox 360 dash board somehow with the wi-fi. I don't so much mind that the zune doesnt have games because ipod games and cell phone games really aren't fun. I have heard the zune doesnt have the right hardware to support real graphical games but it would be cool to see a hardware attachment in the USb port that would have maybe a couple thumb sticks the necessary 3d thing and maybe some buttons
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Brian said 1:28PM on 2-03-2007
You know what? I bought a Zune, and it has to be my best purchase that I have ever made (MP3 wise). Though it is true that the syncing can have some problems, for the most part, the software is pretty good! My friend has a video iPod, well, actually, it his his fourth one in six months. That is apple's problem. Bad quality. They think that just because they are all the hype, they can just send out flawed products. If you compare the numbers of flawed Zunes and iPods, iPods win by a long shot.
As long as Bill keeps up on teh Zune, and adds some great marketing, this may be the only ipod killer on the planet. I like the idea about the the gaming attachment (Post 18). Now THAT would kill the iPod. (A browser would also kill it.)
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Budd said 2:58PM on 3-04-2007
Hey I have just Lost my Ipod Video at school and sadly never came across it again =(
I droped by BestBuy to pick up an new Ipod, but the 30gb zune's big screen and fm radio ability really cought the eye. I figured what the heck, it had the same price tag on it as the 30gb Ipod did and had more abilities to satisfy the need of enternainment =) Im glad that i have bought the microsoft Zune, i would never go back to an Ipod again.
THE ONE PROBLEM BOUT THE ZUNE! would be its software, its much more complicated than the Ipods Itunes and not as friendly too, but other than the Zune software, Ipod vs the Zune.....Zune is defintly better, i would purchase an Zune any day any time before an Ipod.
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