14 Responses to “5 Reasons why Zune is a threat to the iPod”

1. 1 Art Kho 许冠俊 Oct 2nd, 2006 at 2:08 am

   Had you preceded “we report, you decide” with “fair and balanced”, I would have thought that Ruport Murdoch bought out chinesepod and turned into Fox News.

2. 2 AuntySue Oct 2nd, 2006 at 9:51 pm

   But… but… I can already do that stuff on my Palm PDA, including landscape mode for movies, and I’m not bound to a long chain of proprietary hardware and software, nor do I have to pay for anything I listen to or watch, and I can give and receive it with anyone I please on any platform without any time restrictions. I don’t know what the big deal is, with either of these overpriced and crippled ultra-proprietary devices.

   But looking at the Zune, my crystal ball shows me a field day for crackers of many kind. Now *that* will be entertaining to watch.

3. 3 Bazza Oct 2nd, 2006 at 9:58 pm

   I could design a mp3 player that would easily beat both Apple and Microsoft, but I don’t have recources to do it.

4. 4 Bazza Oct 2nd, 2006 at 10:16 pm

   After a little thought, here is the concept for my mp3 player. It’s a simple implant that connects directly to your brainstem, it consists of a wifi/bluetooth receiver/convertor which allows you to transfer audio/video and store it directly in your brain. It’s all purely thought controlled and audio/video data can be read directly by your brain as audio and visual signals that would normally come from your eyes and ears. It also has a FM/DAB/Wifi/Bluetooth transmitter from sharing your music with others.

   I better patent this idea before it’s stolen.

5. 5 Carl Oct 4th, 2006 at 6:33 am

   The iPod and Zune are best considered as functional mock-ups for the copy-cat products that will be cheaper and less restrictive…

   With my sony mp3 player, I have to fool it into thinking I’m running a Chinese version of Windows just to copy chinese music onto it (due to the hanzi in the filename). The player is fine; the software is both restrictive and badly written (non-Unicode).

   I just thought I’d add that because anyone here considering a Sony mp3 player is going to get very angry, very quickly: ChinesePod podcasts cannot be transferred via the SonicStage software without either renaming files or using annoying workarounds. No other transfer mechanism works.

6. 6 Conrad Oct 7th, 2006 at 1:16 am

   Like Aunty Sue, I can get all the media I want onto my PDA. But most users won’t do all the hacking and converting that requires. Zune will take off if it delivers more content than IPOD. And if it’s easy to do. Those references to a Media-Player-like interface made me shudder, but Microsoft seems to have a raft of content-providers lined up.

7. 7 Yv Oct 7th, 2006 at 3:29 am

   I have a Gmini 402 from Archos, design may not be as slick as iPod or Zune but it comes with a 20Mb harddisk, has video (DivX) is cheaper and doesn’t require any special software. It’s plug-and-play, copy mp3 or wav files as you would to an external disk. And that’s nothing new, it’s been around for quite a while. Support for Chinese filenames is straightforward, just move the corresponding font file to the right place.

8. 8 Bazza 吴白锐 Oct 7th, 2006 at 11:38 pm

   I think Microsoft might have trouble competing with itunes music store. Unless of course they offer tv shows and movies to the UK.

9. 9 Ken Carroll Oct 7th, 2006 at 11:58 pm

   As I understand it, Zune will come with some pre-loaded content, but will have its own Zune Marketplace that includes music, videos, and I hope, ChinesePod podcasts! I reckon Microsoft are taking this pretty seriously, so the Marketplace might turn out to be pretty interesting. Competition is always good.

   Ken Carroll

10. 10 Lantian Dec 12th, 2006 at 2:01 pm

    iPOD FANATICS - this is a callout to iPod lunatics out there in Cpod land. I just got a Nano…alas only the 2 gig version, after a year of plain MP3 Cpod listening.

    Well…it is a different iWorld isn’t it?! I only accidentally clicked the button too many times and finally understood what Aggie once told me about being able to see the transcript for the dialogue on the iPod, and getting lyrics for Chinese songs.

    If a huge bulk of Chinesepod listeners come via iTunes, is Cpod making them exceedingly happy? (notice how I am very self-serving!)

    Is there a FAQ on the website on how to best utilize your iPod with Cpod, how to integrate your iPod with premium services? Why isn’t there a seperate Cpod RSS feed/iTunes feed for additional questions, vocab tidbits and test that I could have available on my Nano. What is Cpod doing to retain/convert/and make me spend even more money on Cpod and iPod accessories??!!

    Is this all available somewhere on the bleeding-edge Cpod Forum?

    Darn it, I should have bought that third-party FM transmitter attachment for my iPod. I could then broadcast Cpod right into my friend’s car radio. …unfortunately not all my buddies have BMWs with built in iPod connections.

    So what else can I do with this Nano..as it relates to Cpod? You know, all the cooool stuff that no chunky Zune or PocketPC is gonna do?

    I can load photos…can one ‘podcast, RSS feed photos in? You know, the one-hanzi a day kinda approach?

    Nobody start me on the iPod video stuff, I can’t afford that yet!

11. 11 Erica (from USA, North Carolina) Dec 13th, 2006 at 12:44 pm

    Lantian,
    Don’t waste your money on the “third party FM transmitter…” been there done that. Reception is very inconsistent and you will be out $50 if your not careful. I invested in one but was lucky to return in 1 day before the return period expired. I am back to using my tape adaptor which works MUCH better and I already had it on hand anyways. Some of this stuff in my opinion is still hypeland. Either that or people are just dying to part with their money and are staying awake all night trying to figure out how best to do it. Hope you have a tape deck in your car if you want to hear your ipod through your stereo, otherwise you will probably be want to use the ipod’s earphones.

12. 12 Lantian Dec 13th, 2006 at 1:26 pm

    8-Track - Thanks for that advice. Hmm, what to do now. Actually, here in China I don’t have a car, but it would be nice if I could somehow share my iTunes when in other people’s cars. You know, it’s the season — all about sharing!

    It would be cool if one day iPods, kinda liked the previously hyped BlueTooth devices, or actually the Nintendo DS, could wirelessly link up with others. We could have some kind of interaction or ability to annoy others!

    I’ve started to re-listen to old podcasts now that I have some space, I didn’t realize Jenny was so ‘crazy’. She had a ‘hair’ phobia, was claustrophobic in the lavatory, is stalking tennis players! j/k

13. 13 Richard Sharpe Dec 14th, 2006 at 1:53 am

    Yeah, I think the FM transmitters are useless as well.

    I wish I had an audio-in jack on the CD player in my car, but I don’t.

    I might change the CD player over Christmas, as that will be cheaper than changing the car.

14. 14 Richard Sharpe Dec 14th, 2006 at 2:19 am

    I suspect that Zune is not really worrying Apple. What must really be worrying them is the reported drop off in iTunes sales recent.

    I wonder if they have left their converged phone, camera and mp3 player to late, though.

Leave a Reply