A Zune rave

In The Wow, Brandon pointed to Cesar's post about the Zune talent gathering in
Seattle, working on Zune updates...and I just wanted to post the narrative
results of our own family Zune survey. :)

I gave my daughter a Zune (brown) for her 26th birthday last week. She totally
flipped over it. She found it easy to set up and sync; and loves the sound
quality and easy selection. It took 40 minutes to sync every song, video clip,
and photo they have ever downloaded, copied, or created. She was able to take
the latest videos and photos of the baby to show everyone at work; she listens
to the Zune in her car as she drives; it's become a can't-leave-home-without-it
device, like her cell phone and car keys. :)

She loved it so much that my son-in-law got her the Altec Lansing speaker system
and docking system...so now she can dock the Zune in the living room when she
comes in and they can all jam to Zune tunes in the evening.

A couple of days later, my son-in-law asked to borrow Kelly's Zune. He took it
to work and showed the crew all the new baby images. He learned various tricks
and organizing techniques. Every other sentence for two days included the word
"Zune" somewhere. :) Kelly began to worry that she was never going to
get her birthday present back.

And then, less than a week after Kelly's birthday, they went out and purchased a
Zune for Tony (Sams Club has a special blowout deal on Zune packages right
now--if you purchase the Zune and car adapter set, you can get the whole thing
for $199).

Three days ago, they cleaned out their bookshelves and took the majority of
their CDs to the used bookstore and sold them. No doubt the money will go to
Zunaccessories. :)

I just wanted to share the story and say that at least for this young couple,
the Zune really hits the digital lifestyle bullseye!

Funny how far we've gone since the unveiling, eh, Waggler?

The more you think about it, the more the platform think seems as if it would
have more legs.

A very overlooked reason whythe iPod is successful is the number of accessories
the 'iPod ecosystem' has spawned, and the vested interest those vendors have in
the success of the system.

However, here comes Microsoft with a refinement of the idea: extensibility of
already purchased devices. 

Already, Zune has gone through two firmware revisions and we're looking at
another one very soon.

Actually, it is in Microsoft's DNA to provide downlevel compatibility; though
IMO, sometimes they take that responsibility too far - I'll have a post on that
someday.

If you look at the chaff that was the PlaysForSure crowd, one of the things they
did was close off their systems to everything. They used the old CE (consumer
electronics) model on a product which was a more modern melding of the CE and
computing fields on a very astute and demanding clientele. Who fled with their
wallets.

For instance,guess what I was shocked to find out just today when researching
why the Zen Micro I had foistered on some unsuspecting victim given to a niece
would not charge unless when connected to the original Zen wall charger? That
Creative released a firmware update to allow endusers the use of chargers of
their choice.

You had to peel me off the ceiling! I'm still editing the tirade rant I was
going to post for civilized language, but will get to it.

When you combine the two, and also remember that Microsoft sees the PMC space as
another entrepoint into the living room, this is only going to get better.

My Zune rave?

At UniMatrix Zero-1, we now have:   

3 iPods=gone. 
1 Creative Zen Micro=gone 
2 Zunes replacing those 4 devices = priceless.

how about IBM not allowing 3rd party batteries to charge in their 
thinkpads? (that bit me) 

On Sat, 3 Mar 2007 05:47:37 +0000 (UTC), "john"  wrote: 

>That Creative released a firmware update to allow endusers the use of
chargers of their choice. 


Barb 
http://blogs.digitalmediaphile.com/barb/default.aspx 
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/meetexperts/bowman.mspx 

--

the one that I was told was potentially coming soon at CES (that I 
didn't believe) was enabling WiFi for infrastructure connections to 
the Internet. 

On Sat, 3 Mar 2007 05:47:37 +0000 (UTC), "john"  wrote: 

>Already, Zune has gone through two firmware revisions and we're looking at
another one very soon. 


Barb 
http://blogs.digitalmediaphile.com/barb/default.aspx 
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/meetexperts/bowman.mspx 

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