Ah! It looks like the marketing manager has started whipping around and finally kicked off the Zune campaign for real. Sure, there’s been ads and banners around on the net, but now it’s been taken to the next level. At last, fellow waiters, the long wait is almost over. Zune is T minus 8 days and counting ! Go check out the Zune-Arts site, there’s some really cool clips you just got to see.
Over at the main Zune site, there’s 6 commercials posted at this time, all weird and funky, the Zune way. I’ve been looking at the auction for the customized Zunes too, but I think I’ll just wait for a regular one and customize it myself, even though the Stüssy Zune looks tempting and pretty neat.
I know there was a reason why my inner self told me not to go for ye olde iPod. And I think this is the reason. :) Looking at the specs, the shape, the design… boy-oh boy. Pleasure overload. I can’t wait to buy one of these.
Things that make me horny:
Display
- Size: 3.0 inches
- Orientation: Vertical and Horizontal
- Resolution: 320 x 240 pixels
Wireless
- Connectivity: 802.11 b/g
- Range: Up to 30 feet
Battery
- Music: up to 14 hours (wireless off)
- up to 13 hours (wireless on)
- Pictures: up to 4 hours
- Video: up to 4 hours
Yes, and Zune you too!
Wouter Schut
November 6, 2006 at 12:36 pm
Of course you would like a device which consists mainly of marketing. ;)
No seriously, I would certainly wait for all the kinks to get worked out.
Coolz0r
November 6, 2006 at 1:08 pm
I don’t expect many ‘kinks’ in the basic version of the player Wouter, but if there are any, I’ll gladly take them along with the 99% of the working parts. It’s just what I’ve been waiting for, and I want it as soon as humanly possible.
:-)
Dominique
November 6, 2006 at 2:21 pm
before you get a total hard on, read this :-)
http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,71896-0.html?tw=rss.culture
Coolz0r
November 6, 2006 at 2:55 pm
Hmm. I’m not impressed at all by that article Dominique. Here’s why:
Giving off on the color brown is very easy. Color is just a matter of taste. Black or white will do fine for me, in fact, I’m going for black. Black rules. It’ll only be a matter of time until other colors are released. Initially, the iPod only came in white, if I recall correctly. So the first item they tackle isn’t really a big deal. If you don’t like brown, then there’s always black and white to go for.
I don’t intend to buy music in the Microsoft store for now, and I hope the Zune will play all the mp3’s I already have. I’m not into ‘new’ music that hard. As long as I can play my good old trusted files, the Zune will work fine for me. I might try it once or twice, but I have more than enough files already.
As for the wi-fi feature, it might look cool but i’m not the kind of type that’ll constantly check the surroundings for other Zune users. I know a few guys who’ll also buy a Zune and we will share files ‘amongst us’. I won’t take my Zune to concerts or bars to exchange files and find new music, I have other channels for that, as do most of the other users. The picture painted by Leander Kahney is quite a dark one. He shares his personal opinion, which is his good right. But that opinion isn’t backed with any facts.
Looking at Leander Kahney’s articles on Wired, they’re all about Mac, iPod or Apple. The story he wrote is kind of a one-way view on the situation, as seen from an Apple adept. (cfr titles as “Why I love Apple” and others). Let me quote a phrase of his article of Oct. 17th:
“The magical music player wasn’t plucked from a stone by Steve Jobs. Here’s the story of how a team of designers and engineers produced Apple’s groundbreaking gadget.”
Honestly, you can’t expect an unjudged view on the situation here? The guy obviously loves a Mac and everything Apple, with the same devotion as I love my PC and what comes with it. Let’s not start the old Mac vs PC talks here again and give a little credit to the guys over at Microsoft. I don’t think they have the intention of shooting in their own foot with a product like this one and I believe it’ll work out just fine. I’ll keep you posted :-)
Rafael GV
November 6, 2006 at 6:16 pm
I really like your blog. But this last post seems to me just to much biased. It makes me remember this controversy about bloggers been paid to post good commentaries about this or that product. I’m not saying you are one of those bloggers. But differences tend to blend.
Best,
RGV
(Mexico city)
Coolz0r
November 6, 2006 at 8:12 pm
In all honesty Rafael, I’m not paid to post anything at all. I just look forward to buying, owning and using the Zune. I fell in love with it, and I talk about it with as much animo as I did about the Lego ice cubes or any other gadget I’ve written about that made it to my wish list.(check out the ‘gadgets & digital toys’ category in the sidebar to see which other cool gadgets I’d love to check out, fyi)
frédéric
November 7, 2006 at 12:15 pm
I have an iPod and I like it. I even go to bed with it! (It’s nice to fall into sleep with some cooljazz filling your ears.) I sleep with it, yet I don’t love my iPod.
I hate the fact that it’s hard to share music between both my iPod, my laptop & my desktop. And I definitely hate cables.
And no, the Zune will never ever be as goodlooking as the iPod. It’ll have less street-cred. And sure, once again it’s a feature-rich-copy-with-some-design-flaws from Redmond. But next time the battery of my iPod comes at the end of its pretty short lifecycle, I will consider the Zune. As I will consider a Mac when I buy my next PC ;)
Uw Moeder
November 7, 2006 at 4:47 pm
Forget Zune, forget iPod, Saint B is what you really want! http://www.manworksdesign.com/eng/index1.php?id_part=5
LH
November 18, 2006 at 8:09 pm
Coolz0r:
I really like your site with all the marketing and ad campaigns.
But I was wondering if you have finally bought the ZUNE and what do you compare it against the iPod.
Tell me the truth. I just went to see it at BestBuy… I always tend to give various products a fair critique, but I am sorry to say that I was right by thinking the Zune will be gone really zune ;-)
Almost three times the size, brown poop color, I agree the larger screen is nice… but is a waste of real state with the interface it has, don’t you think?
Coolz0r
November 20, 2006 at 11:33 am
I’m still looking to buy one… haven’t seen it launch in Belgium yet :) I’ll post my review as soon as I get my hands on one, promise!