AOL exits the music subscription biz - Napster picks up the pieces
AOL/Musicnow is apparently dumping themselves and giving their users to Napster. This follows a similar move by Virgin digital. I'd make the same comments as I did then....
This highlights what's likely to be a trend - there's not really any profit
in running a standalone music service (Apple and Zune are likely to make the
money from hardware sales, not from service fees), so the standalone guys are
left with a real challenge. Expect to see more consolidations, shut-downs, and
outright acquisitions in this space over the next 12 months.
23 Comments:
I wonder if Zune had anything to do with this...
Are you joking?!
If only Apple wasn't making a profit...
And if only the Zune team showed any faith and commitment to music sales (and TV shows and movies and music videos and podcasts for that matter), the Zune might be slightly more than not successful.
If Zune is actually getting the
money from hardware sales PLEASE make it really social:
1. More codec support like XviD/DivX
2. More WiFi features, let them be creative. (web browser, wireless sync, wireless DJ, etc)
Please!
Can we talk about Zune and not how it compares with the competition. There is a ton of work that Zune needs and this seems counterproductive.
David, can you discuss how agressive the roadmap is for 2007. For example? Do you forsee one major upgrade or two/three smaller ones? If you have 2-3 year roadmap, how many product development milestones are on that roadmap?
Thanks!
Unfortunately, one of the tenets of this blog is that I can't really go into future roadmap details.
I can say that 12 months from now you'll look back and be pleased. We've now got a big, growing team dedicated to Zune and the roadmap looks good. I honestly wouldn't say that if I didn't believe it.
Good enough for me, looking forward to it!
"I honestly wouldn't say that if I didn't believe it."
You believe your current offering is good. Why should we believe you?
You've spent two months bending over backwards to misrepresent mpeg and to explain how to get your own video formats onto your device and to ludicrously diss Apple's iTunes sales with bad analysis and innacurate numbers...
anonymous (the negative one), would you mind registering (or at the very least using a name in the "other" box below the comments)? It gets kinda difficult to keep up with your apple fanboyness when we can't tell who you are. Thanks!
As for David, I'm happy with my Zune now. It's no iPhone, but it's not $500 either. Plus, I have it now, and it beats the iPod hands-down. Bringing the iPhone into a discussion about Zune vs. iPod is quite possibly the most blatant straw man fallacy I've ever seen. It'd be like comparing the functionality of the Xbox360 to an iMac, which just shouldn't be done.
I'm looking forward to the next few months with my Zune.
David, can you get the higher-ups to implement an official way to suggest features/report bugs? I'm sure you don't like being the messenger, and it isn't the right place. Even if I'm dropping my suggestions into a black hole, I'll still feel better knowing that at least I put it in the right place. Ya mind?
Thanks bub.
It would be nice to have a suggestion/bug reporting mechanism that Kreb0 describes. If I can make a suggestion, make it available in the Zune->Support area.
Funny you should mention; I've been pushing a ZuneWish or some such alias for folks for a couple of weeks; I'll post when it's live.
I concur if Zune is going to be sold on hardware you guys need to make the device as feature rich as possible.
First off what is the deal with no lossless audio file support?
I like my Zune but nearly every mp3 player support some type of lossless audio.
Zune needs to support Either
WMA Lossless
.flac
.shn
or even just .wav files
Not having lossless support really isolates users that want CD quality music on there player.
With a 30 GB hardrive you can fit 50 CD's worth of music on it it at full cd quality.
The Zune will never be taken seriously as a quality audio device until it supports Lossless playback.
Also along those lines we need a user adjustable EQ.
Add these two features and the Zune will be heavily adopted by audiophiles and will have a market for the hardware.
http://jameskyton.wordpress.com/2007/01/15/microsoft-plans-for-the-zune/
any thoughts on this. i can understand if you cant say anything about it but i really cant wait for all the new features that will be coming. i know that beast of a processor in the zune will be put to use at sometime in the future.
Anonymous...(the one who wants lossless).
I am with you on this one. But I think it has been discussed before. It is one of the upgrades. I just hope its not too far down in the list.
I also agree that comparing Zune to iPhone is just outright stupid. Totally different category and price.
Rohit
Rohit - I wouldn't call comparing Zune to the iPhone "outright stupid". It's very likely that a future version of the iPod will look just like the iPhone, minus the phone.
I personally think this is what the Christmas 2007 version of the iPod will look like, and if so, the Zune has some serious challenges ahead. Because the "non-phone" version won't have its wireless capabilities restricted by a wireless carrier Zune then loses a key advantage it currently holds over the iPod, and the iPod once again leapfrogs the competition in user interface, design, etc.
Two things David,
Are you negotiating to get Zune.com domain rights? I mentioned Zune to a friend and they of course typed Zune.com to get info. Hopefully this can get resolved shortly.
Also, re:AppleTV have you folks thought about turning Zune into a extender when its docked. If not, please pass that idea along. I think it would be a great way to introduce the extender concept to consumers at a budget price.
"Anonymous...(the one who wants lossless).
I am with you on this one. But I think it has been discussed before. It is one of the upgrades. I just hope its not too far down in the list."
Cool, I have not heard an official word about lossless support, this is a huge must for me, I was really bummed when I got my zune and found out it did not support lossless.
Are their any links from a zune dev saying this will be in an update?
There is speculation that the Beatles will be available on iTunes come Feb.14. Is there any hope of getting Beatles and/or other currently unavailable content for Zune?
Tech.co.uk are reporting that Apple will open its FairPlay DRM to companies that are a part of the "Made for iPod" club. Will this have any impact on Zune?
I they mean "opening up FairPlay" = "letting companies like Roku or Sonos license & play Fairplay DRM content"... then, that's great. Zune (as well as PlaysForSure stores) can do this now. This just levels it more. If they don't do this, you could only use Apple products (like the AppleTV) to access DRM content.
A "bigger" change would be if Apple added subscription content support... but that would require a DRM design update and Apple has shown little interest.
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Hey David, I have a question that I was wondering if you could answer for me. Why is it that the Zune interupts a song that you're listening too when you are recieving music of photos?
Is this a hardware limitation (processor power or something like that), or is it done intentionally?
Thanks,
-Charlie
www.zunecorps.com
Do you know I see 3gp to mpeg converter , dvd to zune converter, convert dvd to zune -- ipod zune psp video converter software released in http://www.ipod-zune-psp.com ?
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