Pink outsells brown, and other Zune tales
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Blog: Microsoft sent out an update on the device today: pink is selling, and the device is holding on to its No. 2 spot in the market for hard drive-based music players.
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By Byron Acohido  SEATTLE -- In a bold strategic overhaul, Microsoft on Thursday confirmed that it will launch Zune and Zune MarketPlace this fall in hopes of playing catch-up to Apple in the fast-emerging digital entertainment market.
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While Microsoft's new Zune won't topple iPod as the leading media player, a survey indicates it could eventually take sales away from Apple.
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Tycho:  Poking around at the 'Avatar yesterday, hungry for news, we came across a link to Engadget's verdict on the Zune.  At least, the Zune as it is currently conceived - before the animal hunger and ingenuity of the open-source community penetrates it.  I got the impression that Engadget was as surprised as we were to find a lot of the gadget's potential - things that seemed natural to expect, seeing as they are currently made manifest by competing devices - was sort of missing in action.
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I saw an ad in yesterday's NY Times that offered the complete New Yorker magazine archive, including all the cartoons and ads, going back to 1920-something for a bit more than the hard disk would cost. The ad was from J&R, the company that makes the product is Pexagon. $149. Sounds like there might be DRM. I asked for something like this from the music business. A hundred gigs of popular music for $500, all pre-installed on the disk without DRM.  Someone at the New Yorker had this idea too? It's a good one. Bulk content for collector types. Another source of revenue. I want to run my own personal radio station, so having every song of a certain genre or from a certain period makes the diff.
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Revisiting the best online music store for indie fans.
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Apple's music player apparently is wildly popular on Microsoft's campus. Thousands of Microsofties own the devices, to the great irritation of management. By Leander Kahney.
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Tight-lipped on prices, availability Microsoft yesterday revealed what World+Dog already knew: what it's upcoming Zune-branded digital music player will look like. Yes, the star of US Federal Communications Commission filings and blurry, amateur-look picture leaks is official.â¦
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Microsoft has beaten its goal of shipping over a million Zune digital music players by June.
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Apple Computer&#39;s lovely little music player dominates the market, and its design and simplicity make it hard to beat. But let&#39;s face it - the iPod is the luxury car of hard-drive music players.
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While overall sales may not be all that impressive, there is still a rabid enthusiast community looking to snag some 100 special edition pink-colored Microsoft Zunes, which have begun appearing on eBay.
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newsmaker There's still a lot Microsoft wants to do with Windows, and it has its work cut out with Zune,  CEO says.
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Microsoft's new MP3 player has a lot going against it, even without the iPod around. It's not cool, the DRM will be a pain and wireless sharing is just another way for people to lie to strangers. Commentary by Leander Kahney.
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Tune for tune Microsoft is to retail Zune, its first digital music player, at the same price as feature-equivalent iPods.â¦
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Microsoft Corp.'s Zune music player looks a lot like an iPod, acts a lot like an iPod and will cost about the same as an iPod. The software giant said Thursday that it will charge $249.99 for the device, signaling that it isn't planning to spark a major price war to gain market share.
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(InfoWorld) - Financial analysts watching the consumer electronics space report that early sales of Microsoft Corp.'s Zune player should give little reason for iPod loyalists and Apple Computer Inc. to fear this holiday season. Since its retail debut on Nov. 15, customer interest in Zune has been lackluster, analysts report. Early reviews of the product have been less than stellar as well. According to a research note published Tuesday by PiperJaffray senior research analyst Gene Munster, only 8 percent of 40 retailers surveyed by the firm recommend the Zune to customers, while 75 percent recommend Apple's iPod. Moreover, some MP3 salespeople hadn't even heard of Zune, even though the players are being sold at their stores, he wrote in his report. Quotes from retail clerks cited in Munster's report range from them claiming they don't know what the Zune is, to comments that Zune is a good option if a customer does not use Apple's iTunes software. "To be honest, I don't really know much about the Zune," one clerk is quoted as saying in Munster's report. Another said, "I don't suggest the Zune because it is really heavy," according to the report. Zune also did not fair well against other MP3 players and Apple's iPod even during its initial week of sales, when the hype surrounding the product was at its peak. According to Munster's report, during its launch week on Nov. 16, Zune held the seventh spot on online retailer Amazon.com's top 10 best-selling MP3 players list, and it fell from that spot to 13 on the list only five days after launch, on Nov. 20. "The buzz that Microsoft was able to generate for the Zune's launch clearly helped the player in its first week, but much of the publicity took the form of Zune/iPod comparisons," Munster wrote. He added that these comparisons show that Zune "failed to match up in the eyes of most reviewers" to the iPod, a fact that negatively affected sales of the device. Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore wrote Monday that the iPod continues to be a strong seller going into the busy holiday shopping season, and the 30G-byte video iPods -- with which Zune competes -- "appear to be immune to the Zune." He said both the 30G-byte video iPods and the new 4G-byte iPods nanos currently are popular with consumers. A note about Apple's performance from financial firm UBS IT hardware analyst Ben Reitzes also said that Zune does not appear to be any threat to iPod at this time. To be fair, Apple has a five-year head start in the music and video player market, and no one expected Microsoft's first entry would be comparable right away to the immensely popular iPod. Microsoft has said it plans to invest significantly in the Zune over the next several years, and the device is expected to become more competitive. Microsoft's 30G-byte Zune costs US$249.99, the same as Apple's video iPod, but is different from the iPod in two key ways. Zune includes an FM tuner and wireless capability that allows users to share songs between devices.
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As expected, Microsoft on Thursday took the wraps off its Zune portable media player, set to be available in time for the holidays. Zune features a 30GB hard drive, wireless connectivity and will come in three colors. But pricing has not been decided. Photos: View images of Microsoft's Zune