Filed under: iPod Family, Video, Odds and ends
Found Footage: Zune upstaged by a Shuffle
The Zune might not be the most popular topic here at TUAW, but this video from CNN is too good not to share. The New York Times' Andrew Ross Sorkin was on to show off the Zune and give his opinion of it (he thinks it has potential, but isn't up to the iPod yet), however, watch until the end to see the real star of the segment, the new iPod shuffle. One of the anchors says, while holding her shuffle, 'Why would I buy that [meaning the Zune]?'Probably not the reaction our friends in Redmond are hoping for. This is the last Zune related post from me for a week.
[via TUG]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
phil said 4:40PM on 11-14-2006
it IS in windows media format, though. :( (thanks flip4mac!)
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Jeffrey said 4:40PM on 11-14-2006
y dont they buy some decent design people lmao
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MadMac said 4:48PM on 11-14-2006
This is just too cool
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coorspate said 5:56PM on 11-14-2006
too funny!!! rotflmao!!!
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arnaudt said 4:59PM on 11-14-2006
The anchor is, obviously, Soledad O'Brien
Well done Soledad ! :)
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Daniel Brauer said 5:18PM on 11-14-2006
Wow. They really tore the Zune a new one.
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Jonathan Baldwin said 6:09PM on 11-14-2006
Ha - not the buzz MS wanted on the first day. The more they tried to explain it, the worse Zune sounded (you have to go up to the person and ask to share the music? It can't do email? You can't play music from other stores? Oh - and it's got an FM radio, which will go down really well in the UK where electrical stores have just stopped selling FM sets as digital has taken off so much). They didn't even mention the bizarre pricing - you have to buy credit!
Yep, compared to that, I want the shuffle.
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Joe V said 5:08PM on 11-14-2006
Interesting. It wasn't too long ago that Ms. O'Brien was at that new MSNBC network.. Perhaps that was a jab...
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Andrew said 5:08PM on 11-14-2006
That was hilarious!
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machem said 5:17PM on 11-14-2006
ouch. I mean, OUCH. A shuffle beats a Zune. Can't buy that kind of exposure.
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bl8ant said 5:17PM on 11-14-2006
ha ha ha, that was such an über-bashing! yes tom, tell us, why would you buy this ugly piece of crap that's only difference from the ipod is that it can stream a (3 play-and-die) song to another zune user? oh yeah, and it's ugly. that's another difference. and i guess if you were a perv you could try to send naked pictures of yourself to cute girls at starbucks. ok, nevermind, i take it all back. that sounds pretty cool.
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WhoCares said 5:18PM on 11-14-2006
Who cares!!!!!
STOP, STOP!!!!!
Zune this, Zune that.
Is this "The Unofficial Apple Weblog" or "The Unofficial MicrosoftSucksAndAllTheirProductsAreBadBadBad Weblog"??????
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Splashman said 5:19PM on 11-14-2006
Hee hee. The ending made me laugh out loud, but what's really interesting is that both anchors were clearly predisposed against the Zune, from the segment intro all the way to end. All their questions were pointing to the Zune's limitations. They must have known it couldn't do e-mail and connect to the Net (c'mon -- do you really believe this was all improv?), but the anchors asked anyway. They didn't ask about ease of use (which, from all reports, sounds pretty good), the larger screen, or any other feature which users might potentially prefer to the iPod. Anyone here think that was an accident?
Not that I'm complaining in this particular case, since I'm sympathetic to the anchors' conclusion, but next week or next year it could very well be Apple (or Froot Loops or Paraguay) that they're predisposed against. My point? Don't confuse CNN with "unbiased reporting." Better yet, don't assume *any* source is unbiased. Learn from each article you read, and compare to other reports from other sources. Pay attention to the use of language; notice what they choose to emphasize and what they choose to ignore. Then make your own determination about objectivity, or lack thereof.
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Joel Heflin said 5:33PM on 11-14-2006
Made me laugh very hard! Like someone said earlier, Apple couldn't buy that kind of exposure.
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Jason said 5:35PM on 11-14-2006
What I want to know is how you linked to the cnn video?
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Ricky said 5:36PM on 11-14-2006
The best line of all came at the very end of the segment, when the anchor pointed at the Zune and said, "Why don't they get some decent design people to make things look better? I mean, it's clunky. It's clunky." I'm sure he repeated that just for emphasis.
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mentalfloss said 5:50PM on 11-14-2006
If I'm not mistaken, Soledad got her start with CNet, back when CNet
was actually on television. She clearly had an agenda this morning...I
personally like her agenda, but she wasn't unbiased nor is she the
tech illiterate this piece hinted at her being. Soledad
knows her way around the consumer electonics industry.
Still, Apple
couldn't BUY a better commercial.
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Splashman said 5:57PM on 11-14-2006
Jason, CNN's video player hides the address bar by default. If you're using Safari, choose View>Address Bar. Not sure if this is possible in Firefox.
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Chip said 6:06PM on 11-14-2006
I saw the CNN segment, but I am surprised that none of you have chimed in on UMG Chairman/CEO Doug Morris' comments that iPods are " devices are just repositories for stolen music, and they all know it," "So it's time to get paid for it."
and how the Zune is sharing profits with artists.....
http://billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003380831
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Joseph Crawford said 6:36PM on 11-14-2006
Very nice video, good find. I like how they start by talking about the Zune and end with why can't microsoft design as sexy as Apple ;D
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