Zune’s Killer Features (..not)
While Microsoft is preparing its major Zune launch, Robert Scoble (former MS employee and MS Evangelist) posted an article in his blog entitled “My thoughts about Zune vs. iPod”
According to Scoble:
As an edge case, someone who tries all the latest stuff and gets excited about a lot of it, the Zune abjectly fails. It does not have a killer feature. Sorry, Microsoft, sharing songs is not it.
Instead, the bleeding edge of the market cares about sharing cool videos, some of which they might have shot themselves, sharing cool podcasts and using their device to record their own content.
- Zune doesn’t have a podcast client.
- Zune doesn’t have a microphone.
- Zune doesn’t have a way to subscribe to Rocketboom or ZeFrank or any other videoblog.
Last weekend Dave Winer took my son and me to an Apple store. What was on the biggest sign in the store? Podcasting. Apple gets this trend, Microsoft doesn’t.
- But let’s look deeper. The Zune has a wifi antenna. Can I use it to download music without hooking up to a computer? No.
- Does it work with a Macintosh? No.
- Does it free me from DRM? No.
- Can I use my iPod music on it that I’ve purchased on iTunes? No.
- Can I record off of the FM tuner? No….
People have WAY to high expectations of the Zune. I really do anticipate this player and i think i will buy one, (because of bad experiences with the iPod’s i’ve owned).
The thing that people should wait with is comparing it to the iPod. People forget that the first generation iPod also had alot of flaws. You can argue that it didn’t have alot of competition. True but then again it took time for Apple to implement new features. My guess is that the next gen Zunes will be much better once they get more feedback from the users.