Microsoft Finally Kills The Zune

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
Microsoft has officially killed the Zune. Those of you that own the devices will still be able to get service and support but the company will no longer make the devices.

We recently announced that, going forward, Windows Phone will be the focus of our mobile music and video strategy, and that we will no longer be producing Zune players. So what does this mean for our current Zune users? Absolutely nothing. Your device will continue to work with Zune services just as it does today. And we will continue to honor the warranties of all devices for both current owners and those who buy our very last devices. Customer service has been, and will remain a top priority for us.
Click to expand...
 
Wow. Apple lets you chose between iPod and iPhone. I'm thinking this is a dumb move on Microsoft's part. Now you're tied to a phone plan if you want what was once Zune.
 
though understandable, I still prefer a separate music player from my phone , and honestly I enjoyed my Zune HD more than any ipod product. lol
 
dyzophoria said:
though understandable, I still prefer a separate music player from my phone , and honestly I enjoyed my Zune HD more than any ipod product. lol
Click to expand...

Absolutely +1000.

I want my music and my phone separate.

As a service I still feel that Zune is unmatched by any other offering, at least for now.
 
It was an MS hardware product. Of course they killed it. No hardware product has ever survived Microsoft.
 
sometimes i wonder how Microsoft is so huge.. thank god for the 90s!
 
TechLarry said:
It was an MS hardware product. Of course they killed it. No hardware product has ever survived Microsoft.
Click to expand...

Well they do make good keyboard and mice. I love my Microsoft Wireless Comfort 5000 at work and on my media center - though I use a Logitech Illuminated and a VX Revolution for my gaming PC.
 
Kill what could have just been marketed better. My Zune HD is better than any media player Apple ever made.
 
Would it have been so hard for Microsoft to try and slap WP7 (just call it Windows 7 Portable) on them?
 
Well, I already knew this had to be comming, after the Zune HD basically died off... so I bought a Focus to replace it, and it inadvertedly replaced my Atrix (CM7, though only beta), lol... Both have their upsides, but I ended up taking a liking to the Focus. Now I'm waiting on the Focus S to come out :D
 
I no longer see the point of stand-alone MP3 players. I can throw a 32GB SD card in my phone and have all of my most listened to music on hand, and with Google Music I have another 150GB or so ready and waiting to be streamed to my device. One less gadget to pay for, keep track of, carry around, ect.
 
I loved that line in Family Guy. Dude talking to Bill Gates and asks "hey Bill, can you help me program my Zune? Oh that's right, I have an iPod like the rest of the world".
 
I was disappointed that they didn't make more non-HD models. I was really interested, after seeing how great of a music player they were after playing with a friend's.

I also prefer separating my phone and music player. Phones just have terrible battery life, plus I don't want to keep in-ear phones with the phone. The phones I've used have had poor interfaces and jacks for music.

I don't want swiss army knife electronic devices. I also prefer having dedicated gaming devices.

Does anyone else make a good alternative to the iPod? I'm not terribly impressed with the iPod, plus I really don't like Apple anyways.
 
Viper87227 said:
I no longer see the point of stand-alone MP3 players. I can throw a 32GB SD card in my phone and have all of my most listened to music on hand, and with Google Music I have another 150GB or so ready and waiting to be streamed to my device. One less gadget to pay for, keep track of, carry around, ect.
Click to expand...


I keep my Zune HD docked in my truck. It supports wireless syncing while plugged into a power source, and my home WiFi reaches into the garage no problem. Basically automated as far as I'm concerned. I love being able to just get in, hit play and go. Some people prefer to keep their communications devices and their media devices separate. I'll use the phone if I'm in some obscure area and want some music for a short period. Other than that, I much prefer my Zune.
 
eurin said:
I was disappointed that they didn't make more non-HD models. I was really interested, after seeing how great of a music player they were after playing with a friend's.

I also prefer separating my phone and music player. Phones just have terrible battery life, plus I don't want to keep in-ear phones with the phone. The phones I've used have had poor interfaces and jacks for music.

I don't want swiss army knife electronic devices. I also prefer having dedicated gaming devices.

Does anyone else make a good alternative to the iPod? I'm not terribly impressed with the iPod, plus I really don't like Apple anyways.
Click to expand...
The iPod touch IS a good device, all things considered.
mETRo said:
I keep my Zune HD docked in my truck. It supports wireless syncing while plugged into a power source, and my home WiFi reaches into the garage no problem. Basically automated as far as I'm concerned. I love being able to just get in, hit play and go. Some people prefer to keep their communications devices and their media devices separate. I'll use the phone if I'm in some obscure area and want some music for a short period. Other than that, I much prefer my Zune.
Click to expand...

Ah, that makes sense, then :)
Wireless sync is a nice feature I forget about a lot :D
 
eurin said:
I was disappointed that they didn't make more non-HD models. I was really interested, after seeing how great of a music player they were after playing with a friend's.
Click to expand...

The Zune 80/120 + subscription really were great for a while. Eventually though, the syncing and Microsoft's reorganizing killed it for me. Having previously working songs stop working and license renewals fail (because of the reorganizing) made me cancel the service, and no one stopped me on my way out. Nothing more frustrating than syncing your Zune and having 90% of the songs fail because of a problem with the syncing system.

Zune support service was incredibly poor and the support people on their forums never had any positive solutions.
 
mETRo said:
I keep my Zune HD docked in my truck. It supports wireless syncing while plugged into a power source, and my home WiFi reaches into the garage no problem. Basically automated as far as I'm concerned. I love being able to just get in, hit play and go. Some people prefer to keep their communications devices and their media devices separate. I'll use the phone if I'm in some obscure area and want some music for a short period. Other than that, I much prefer my Zune.
Click to expand...
This is what I like about stand-alone MP3 players like the iPod and Zune, the connector is on the BOTTOM of the device, not the top, not the side, even though I have yet to find a better dock than the one Microsoft sells with the higher-end Zunes.

A bit of double-sided tape and bam, instant car dock. :)

I've always felt that Microsoft wasn't as committed to the Zune as Apple was committed to the iPod.
 
To add to that, I don't know why every problem occurred but sometimes they'd add a duplicate album and cancel the original, so the music was still part of their service but your license would fail and you'd have to delete the original and download the new version.

That's fine once or twice, but not with 120GB of music.
 
Microsoft said from day one at the release of the Zune HD that there were getting out of the PMP business. I like separate players too, but Microsoft needs to focus on phones right now.
 
heatlesssun said:
Microsoft said from day one at the release of the Zune HD that there were getting out of the PMP business. I like separate players too, but Microsoft needs to focus on phones right now.
Click to expand...

There's still no reason not to have a PMP. Apple's iOS works on iPod Touch and iPhones just the same, minus the phone and text feature. Microsoft should have done the same with WM7. I'm no programmer but I don't see how it can be difficult making WM7 detect that you're using a Zune and omit phone and text when updating or whatever.
 
The Zune HD really could have done well if they had marketed it better (rather, if they had marketed it at ALL). It's a fantastic device. Sleek look, great software, fantastic OLED screen, great sound quality (though no-one ever made a decent LOD for it, which would have been fantastic).

But seriously, since they're designing Windows 8 to be cross-platform, why not extend that beyond tablets, phones and PCs and do a version for a re-incarnation of the Zune? I already have my Android phone, I don't need a tablet, but I sure wouldn't mind a PMP that was integrated seamlessly into Windows 8 desktop PC, with all of the other features that made the Zune fantastic.
 
JMccovery said:
This is what I like about stand-alone MP3 players like the iPod and Zune, the connector is on the BOTTOM of the device, not the top, not the side, even though I have yet to find a better dock than the one Microsoft sells with the higher-end Zunes.

A bit of double-sided tape and bam, instant car dock. :)

I've always felt that Microsoft wasn't as committed to the Zune as Apple was committed to the iPod.
Click to expand...

The iPod is a cash cow for Apple, why wouldn't they be committed to it?
 
Rumor is iPod classic and Shuffle are getting killed off too.

There are even more rumors to suggest the entire iPod line is getting killed because it only represents 8% of revenue for Apple now. (That's not profits, but revenue)

With all the head units in cars that interface with iPod, car mfgs are going to be !@#$%#@.

IMHO: The thing that killed the Zune was three fold:
1: A lack of advertising
2: A lack of apps (although XDNA development was a good start)
3: A lack of accessories to support it, including head units by car mfgs.

If Msft was smart they would have packaged a very low cost Zune with every new car sold, if the mfg made a head unit that directly supported it.

But Apple was the jauggernaut in this space by this point.
 
If Microsoft wants to win the phone space now, they need to do drastic things, like give away the windows phones that directly interact with cars.

Free attracts customers. These are customers who upgrade down the road. Short term loss, long term gain.
 
I have had a ZUNE HD 32 since launch and its honestly the best player I have ever owned. The interface is killer, the Zune Pass is awesome and more importantly (also more impressive), one by one I sold all my apple devices. There were many and that is something I thought I would never do. I will keep my Zune HD until it's dying day and I will lament its passing. It was a stellar attempt at killing a Juggernaut.
 
Azhar said:
There's still no reason not to have a PMP. Apple's iOS works on iPod Touch and iPhones just the same, minus the phone and text feature. Microsoft should have done the same with WM7. I'm no programmer but I don't see how it can be difficult making WM7 detect that you're using a Zune and omit phone and text when updating or whatever.
Click to expand...

The problem here though is that Microsoft really isn't a hardware company and PMP market is simply not the thing to concentrate on if you're Microsoft right now. Phones and tablets, phones and tablets, phones and tablets, phones and tablets. Did I say phones and tablets? When you're behind you have to prioritize, and the PMP space just isn't a big enough deal to spend time on when you're behind in MUCH more important markets.
 
I really liked my Zune, but after getting an iPhone, I usually just streamed pandora. That being said, I loved having my Zune pass. Was great being able to use WMP to play my mp3s with visualizations, was perfect for parties to throw up on my media pc on the big screen.
 
So why all the shenanigans yesterday from Microsoft after it yanked references to its Zune HD player from its Zune website, then Microsoft denied it saying that the incident as "a mistake."

senanigans.jpg
 
Viper87227 said:
I no longer see the point of stand-alone MP3 players. I can throw a 32GB SD card in my phone and have all of my most listened to music on hand, and with Google Music I have another 150GB or so ready and waiting to be streamed to my device. One less gadget to pay for, keep track of, carry around, ect.
Click to expand...

I sweat like crazy when working out, so I prefer a nice small ipod shuffle and a waterproof case. I wouldn't want a phone for that even if it had a waterproof case.
 
DigitalGriffin said:
Rumor is iPod classic and Shuffle are getting killed off too.

There are even more rumors to suggest the entire iPod line is getting killed because it only represents 8% of revenue for Apple now. (That's not profits, but revenue)

With all the head units in cars that interface with iPod, car mfgs are going to be !@#$%#@.

IMHO: The thing that killed the Zune was three fold:
1: A lack of advertising
2: A lack of apps (although XDNA development was a good start)
3: A lack of accessories to support it, including head units by car mfgs.

If Msft was smart they would have packaged a very low cost Zune with every new car sold, if the mfg made a head unit that directly supported it.

But Apple was the jauggernaut in this space by this point.
Click to expand...

You managed to hit the nail on the head. MS could have spent some money to get car head unit manufactures to support them, and it would have helped. They could have competed on price too, but decided not to.

Of course Microsoft marketing can't find it's way out of a wet paper bag in general, so it was doomed from the start.
 
If it wasn't for microsoft office and windows microsoft would be extinct.
 
MP3 players, including the iPods, are going the way of the dinosaur. Apple and Microsoft both will be rolling the functionality into their phones. Makes sense to me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top