Zune 2.0: How Microsoft could beat the iPod

Besides being snarky and asking why Microsoft bothered in the first place, I've been thinking about the more significant aspects of the Zune, such as what it means (and could mean) to the market and the culture of the industry. There is a lot to be said about the fact that Microsoft is paying a record label tax on every device sold and the terrifying precedent that sets, as well as the IP-trampling and DRM-wrapping Wi-Fi sharing feature. Through all this I realized that Microsoft *could* have a great product on their hands - if they got to working on some true innovation (instead of - at best - an unpolished gimmick), and cleaned out the criticism todo list. It wouldn't be easy, especially in light of the uphill battle that seems to be getting steeper by the week, but it could theoretically be done, and we all would be better off if it happened (remember: competition is good for you and me). After the break, I've listed a a few fundamental elements and features that could propel the Zune not simply into the position of a justifiable contender to the DAP throne, but that of a truly innovative and culturally significant product like the iPod has become.

Share music, sans the bombing: Instead of *only* wrapping shared tunes in time-bombed 3 day/3 play DRM, allow songs rightfully purchased from the store to truly be shared - and kept - between, say, two or three users. All others get the time-bombed DRM version. This idea is borne from the fact that the iTS really has the most agreeable DRM to date. Setting aside the overall DRM argument: you're allowed to burn 7 copies of an iTS album or playlist before you have to change something about it, and you can have your library on any 5 machines at a given time. While we all know having a backup or two is *always* a good idea, it's also pretty obvious that virtually no one needs 7 copies; this is an undocumented compromise for true sharing amongst family and friends - no time bombs necessary. If Microsoft could take this 'agreeable sharing' concept and give it wings through Wi-Fi on the Zune, it would be a significant win for both the consumer and the industry, and a powerful evolution in the social aspect of this new realm of digital content and dizzying IP legislation.

Respect everyone's intellectual property: Again, setting aside the DRM debate, it seems that it might be here to stay, at least for now. That being the case, Microsoft needs to figure out a way to manage their DRM and sharing tunes without trampling the IP rights of other content. Songs with a Creative Commons license and podcasts with nary a license in sight, for example, still get wrapped in time-bombed DRM when 'squirted' between Zunes. This not only is a problem for, say, indie artists who are just happy that someone is sharing their music, but it shows a complete disregard on Microsoft's part for the IP of the rest of the industry - another fundamental criticism of the company. I am admittedly no software engineer, but to really give life to the Wi-Fi sharing feature, they need to find a way to respect everyone's IP - all the way from the major labels to the indie podcasters and bands across the world. Whether this is through some sort of CC metadata tag or some centralized database of content (*cough* podcasting support in the store *cough* *cough*), Microsoft needs to step outside the Redmond campus and join the party.

Fess up and open your store's doors: I get the fact that the point of the Zune is to take on not only the iPod, but the iTunes + iPod combination; this is why, at least in part, Microsoft decided to allow the Zune - and only the Zune - into their new store. The problem with this decision, and one of the most significant and obvious criticisms of it, is that Microsoft screwed over all their third party partners like Napster, Yahoo! Music and Rhapsody who have a serious investment in Microsoft's PlaysForSure DRM system which - for right now - is DamnedForSure. Like many others, I can't stress and echo loudly enough how dreadfully horrific of a decision this was. Microsoft owes it to the industry and every involved customer (those who bought music and devices from these other parties) to open this new store's doors to PlaysForSure and all the other Microsoft DRM-compatible devices on the market. If the Zune is (or becomes) a good device, customers will take notice and buy them. In Microsoft's particular circumstances, locking out this entire ecosystem that they themselves created is a near-unforgivable offense.

Stop treating store customers like idiots: Speaking of stores, I didn't realize the Xbox Live marketplace used the same ridiculous 'points system' that the much-criticized Zune Marketplace store does. This, too, is a massive mistake on their part, bordering on insulting, as it horrendously and needlessly confuses an otherwise basic, so-fundamental-you-don't-think-about-it process. Sure - many claim they're trying to save money by cutting down on credit card authorization charges, but c'mon - this is Microsoft, not the small business in your garage. Further to the point: customers know what a dollar (or whatever one's local currency may be) is, and forcing them to learn some silly new exchange system is another major derailing of what should be an otherwise pleasant and simple experience. Stop it - bring back plain and simple cash. Remember what 'cash' is, Microsoft?

Hire a marketing team that doesn't suck: for the love of all things rational: stop calling it 'squirting.' Microsoft is well known for having some good ideas... and then horribly blowing their implementation or, sometimes even worse, developing ridiculous, silly or con-flustering marketing for said ideas. 'Squirting' is about the dumbest name for a product or feature I've heard from that camp this side of Microsoft Bob.

Go big or go home: The Zune 2.0 and, more importantly, its software need to just work. Our friends at Engadget, who are wearing a little thin on the iPod, mind you, had barely a good word to say about their Zune software installation experience. Roadblocks, crashes, hangs, too many login dialogs and memberships to enter or create, marred what should have been a heavenly experience - and they are by no stretch of the imagination alone in these bubble-bursting complaints. Case in point: If Microsoft wants to go after the iTunes and iPod, they need to go after the iTunes and iPod. Apple's products are by no means devoid of the occasional problems and software quirks, but it would be hard to argue that their failure rate is anywhere near on par with Microsoft's. The Zune and its software need to just work - from start to finish, top to bottom, through and through. Period. Reviewers of the Zune 2.0 need to sing from atop mountains how ecstatic they are with the dramatically improved experience. They need to cry tears of joy and pen praise worthy of the Emmy-sweeping movie of the ~~year~~ century. Anything less means they failed, utterly and completely, again - and we've all seen how rarely products like this get a third chance at bat.

A tough challenge? Sure - but a possibility for Microsoft? Sure thing. The world's largest technology company has been getting buried under criticism across many of its products for over-management and embarrassing under-performance. While the Zune in its current implementation might fit that bill, change could easily be on the menu at Redmond (or it had darn well better be). They have the chance to turn their player into a polished example of inspired innovation that benefits everyone - the industry, the market and consumers. Now that would be something to write about.

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Besides being snarky and asking why Microsoft bothered in the first place, I've been thinking about the more significant aspects of the...

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notasquirtyBillfiller

ZUNE 2.0 is BREATHTAKING

I, and my supermodel girlfriend, stumbled over this really ugly brown thing called a zune while we were buying the kids that live in the next apartment Christmas presents. The sales person saw us laughing and thought that we were, perhaps, pleased with something we'd found in the dreariest corner of the gadget shop.

We explained that we were laughing at the idea of displaying a donkey turd. We thought it was funny to put a fake scroll wheel on a turd. It was more funny to put the turd in a display cabinet. The sales person apologized and said that he was sorry he couldn't tell us much about the turd. Apparently his boss had been really embarrassed when the turds had turned up. She'd told all the sales people to forget about the turds and get on with selling the things that kept the store going. Like iPods.

We liked the turd so much that we bought three of them (the total stock of the store) and took them home with us. The store manger was so thankful that we'd taken the smelly turds out of her shop that she shed tears as we held our stinky shopping bag at arms length and left the shop.

The neighbors' kids really loved the nanos that Sarah and I gave them.

On new year's eve we partied with good friends and at sometime after midnight we remembered our funny plastic turds and showed them about. Everyone laughed like we'd done when we'd first seen them. Soon everyone realized that these things were trying to look like music players so we stacked the three of them up and (after stoking the iPod fed music system with some Jimmy Hendrix) torched the dirty little cheap plastic turds.

As they burnt on their own little bonfire we all danced around them like Jimmy - knowing that they were not going to the same place ... and therefore could not offend him. At daybreak, with the iPod still pumping we looked at the filthy melted pile of cheap plastic and finally realized we'd done something magical... something important. We'd come-up with zune 2.0 way before MICROSOFTON!!

January 10 2007 at 4:13 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Guy

#11 iPod is tops right now, and will be for the forseable future. That said doesn't mean you can't change what you have and expect it stay on top. Nintendo in 1995 thought they would always be on top and didn't offer what people wanted, a CD based system, and Playstation took over, and they fell behind XBOX and PS2 when they didn't offer a DVD player. They learned from their mistakes and made an innovative system with the Wii, Apple can't keep making the same player with a brighter screen, or new colors and expect people to keep buying. I hear people say thing about the limited wi-fi, atleast it has wi-fi, and until someone does it better, it has the best wi-fi and mp3 player can offer. I hear it is large and bulky, yes it is bigger than the iPod video, but has a 40% larger screen. That is like me saying my 32" TV is better than your 60" because it is smaller. If the size of the screen isn't important, buy a Nano or another small MP3, if you want to watch videos they are more enjoyable on the Zune over the iPod, or actually even better on the Zen:W. Same goes with the resolution factor, again at 32" TV and 60" TV at 1080p has the same resolution you can't tell me the 32" is better since each pixel is smaller. As for engadgets review, they said the box was hard to open. I work at an electronics store, and we sell both, Zune and iPod, and when we got the Zune we opened it and put it out, the box wasn't hard to open, if you can't cut little seals at the bottom, slide the top off, open the front flap, and 2 side flaps you shouldn't be reviewing a product. As for as installing the software we had no problem doing that here. We put the software on one of our PCs in the store, same one we have itunes on. We don't have internet access for it, but to rip songs it works fine. We took it home one night to update the firmware though. It did freeze once so far while synching, but we have the our iPods do it before, everything frezzes from time to time. In conclusion, the iPod will sell better for now, but in the long run they need to add to their product to make it last.

December 15 2006 at 1:24 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Mitch

Microsoft or other iPod challenger has to offer a clearly superior product to the iPod to make any real impact in the mp3 market.

The iPod is not superior to the competition in EVERY category but it superior to the competition in TOTAL.

Design, value, ease of use, features, support, online music store, software, available accessories, marketing & advertising, installed base, DRM restrictions, available podcasts, available, video, owner feedback, etc.

No other manufacturer comes close with what they offer in Total. I believe the question most every buyer asks in not 'Why should I buy an iPod' but rather 'Why shouldn't I buy an iPod'.

IMHO - the answer to that question is most likely to be different than the herd followed by features & price.

The market inertia that has helped make Windows & Office so successful is now working against Microsoft.

December 01 2006 at 11:10 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Alex

The problem with a device fee is that I have a right to rip and listen to any CD I buy. I already paid for my CDs. I see no reason I should have to pay again. I should not have to pay one Dollar, one dime or one cent for the right to listen to music I ripped from my own CDs. Besides, what if I don't rip CDs? What if I only listen to my own content why should I have to pay any fee to the music industry? What have they done for me lately? The big music publishing companies are nothing but parasites sucking the lifeblood out of musicians and their fans. If they want money, let them work for it. Put out music I want to listen to, instead of over produced crap.

December 01 2006 at 10:37 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Gary Marshall

Nice post. I'd quibble with one thing though - while Microsoft Points are a truly bad idea for the Zune marketplace, they actually do make sense on Xbox live for micro-transactions such as gamer pictures, themes, stuff like that. It's only when you get to bigger things that the points model falls on its arse.

December 01 2006 at 3:32 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Grimreaper

#11 YES the iPod is mainly there due its looks. BUT a major factor into the entire thing is also its ease of use. I never could have thought so myself since everyone who I knew earlier was pretty much decently involved with computers so it would be naturally easy for them to use it. But just recently when I stayed over at my aunts house, she took the nano from me to see what it was and within a minute, she basically learnt how to use the damn thing from starting it up, to shutting it down. This was the moment I realized that "Yes, Apple have created a simplistic masterpiece". It's really not about all the features etc. It's more about the usability which 90% of the world cares about.

December 01 2006 at 12:31 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Gandhi

I showed my wife a Zune at the local Best Buy store, and her reaction was - "That's ugly." About sums it up. She and I both have 4g iPods, and she is definitely not a techie. The Zune in its current form is a failure.

December 01 2006 at 12:25 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Peter Payne

My own thoughts: I like an iPod, and I like smartphone/email/webmail features. Why the heck didn't M$ make Zune based on their already passable Windows Mobile 5.0 OS? I mean, here's a fully functional music player that can read RSS feeds with its browser and wireless connection. Or, get an add on keyboard and type emails if you want. I know that PDAs music players, but everyone would love the option, I think, of reading TUAW while listening to music, no? I used a (damned) Palm TX for this while watching TV, and if Apple had an iPod that could do this, I'd be all over it.

November 30 2006 at 11:52 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Fine Art Guy

Yes, please let's get some decent competition into this arena. One company dominating the market is good for no one except that company.

November 30 2006 at 9:30 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Kordan

I maintain that right now the iPod is on top because of looks. It's a fashion accessory. It happens to be a fashion accessory that does what it does very, very well, but it also looks good. 90% of the users of MP3 players are not feature driven. Nearly everyone can appreciate that the iPod blows the Zune out of the water in terms of looks, and in a looks driven society, that's really all that matters. I can't remember the last time I saw someone pull out a nano and someone else complement the screen, or the sound quality, the first thing they invariably say is "Wow that looks so cool".

November 30 2006 at 8:32 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply