Microsoft's Zune Adds NBC Shows, Other Features; Still Unable To Combat Fierce Apathy

This is a great score for Zune users.

All 20 of them.

Really, what is NBC thinking? Oh, wait. This is NBC, the company that brings great shows to market, then knifes them through various levels of incompetent reading of their viewer base. Their most illustrative failure occurred over 40 years ago when they forced changes to the screenplays of a show, later canceling it and selling it off to another company, who later learned to make billions from it. NBC executives are so inept that they haven't learned how to kick themselves for that move.

Oh, the show. You might know its name. Star Trek.

I don't have a problem with NBC trying to sell through another vendor; Apple's virtual lock on online content can't be a lasting thing. However, it's silly to host content on a service that works for only one player and one platform, much less one that doesn't sell well at all.

Recent NBC-Universal shows like Sci Fi Channel's Battlestar Galactica, NBC's The Office and Heroes are worth a download, but not worth me forking over cash for a new computer and/or a new music player and subject myself to the fickle nature of Microsoft, who abandoned one music player format just to make their own exclusive one for the Zune. Not a prudent move, even to compete against Apple.

You said it KS. NBC could at least put that stuff on xbox live too, heh. Stupid zune.

This is why NBC is last in the ratings - brainacs running the ship. They claimed that iTunes' millions wasn't good enough so they pulled the shows to spend $100 million to launch their own portal. That in itself is fine if they just admited that Hulu needed all the help it could get but instead, they decide to calling SJ an idiot and also wanted revenue from ipods (shouldn't kraft get a payment from GE everytime we use a microwave also by that thinking?) so now instead of revenue from the 90% of users, they instead crawl back to the 4% Zune for the EXACT SAME PRICE they claimed was too low priced. WTH?

And they'll see very few sales, why? Because MS is now the low budget brand - you'll use their oS when it's included in a $399 PC but pay for a separate upgrade version? Same with the Zune ... MS has now driven their branding to the dollar bin of technology so if the ZUne is on sale, people will buy it but like Google search & the ipod, when MS employees don't work in that specific division, they don't use MS either ...

"'Zune will control the price of the episodes, but we're open to understanding which episodes can be priced lower and how we may introduce premium content which may be priced higher than $1.99,' aid Julio Estrada, general manager for Zune Social."

And that in a nutshell is why Microsoft either loses or is a loser's choice when it comes to consumer products. They give lip service to be for the consumer but their allegiance is to the corporation. As sure as IE development died and PlaysForSure was backstabbed, higher prices will be the standard on Zune within 12 months...I'll bet a $1K on it!

I'd have to be out of my gourd to buy a POS Zune, both as a player and as a content provided!!

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I try to not touch anything that has anything to do with Microsoft.

Microsoft should change their name to XeroX. Nothing original here. Copy Apple, Copy Apple, Copy Apple.

Or you can go onto bittorrent and get HD versions of these same shows, for free, with no DRM.

When are these people going to learn you can't sell a product when a superior product is free.

The only thing NBC, Apple, Zune can offer is convenience, I'd pay $1.99 to get an HD, non DRMed version of The Office in a timely fashion, but pay for something that I can't even burn to a DVD?

It isn't rocket science.

KS: You say Microsoft abandoned one music player format. They didn't abandon it, so much as shutdown their store with prior warning. This is very unlike what Apple does when it abandons previous generation iPod users. Honestly, how many people are inconvenienced by the fact that an online music store is closing 4 months in the future and telling its (few - I'll admit) users to get ready for the end? Users are being notified about future troubles so that they can plan accordingly. Their devices still work becasue WalMart uses the same type of DRM. Has Apple ever sent out an email to its customers saying "We're sorry but when the iPod Classic comes out you won't be able to download video on you 5.5G iPod." I don't think so. Yet Zune30 owners (1st generation)can do just that along with Zune80 owners (current generation). They'll also be able to play games in the future. So when you talk about MS abandoning a digital player I think you should think again.

jbelkin: How is Zune a budget brand when the Zune80 is priced comparatively with the 80gig iPod Classic? Even looking at a 4/8gig comparison, Zune is the cheaper device, but since when did Apple get to dictate the cost of mp3 players? Finally how is Zune a budget brand when it has it's own customization service in ZuneOriginals.net? have you Googled/read any of the Zune Originals reviews? They're all solid. I would love to read a negative review from a respectable media outlet.

RT: Which was the first OS with a 10 foot interface for your media? That would be XP Media Center Edition 2002. Apple came out with Front Row in 2005.

In Vista, where have the gadgets always lived? On the desktop. In Leopard, where are the widgets now? On the desktop after being on the Dashboard. Oh and on which platform did the idea of widgets/gadgets first exist? That would be Windows.

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Personally, I agree with stwf and wonder why people are paying for something that is free, that being TV programming. Oh and with Vista Media Center, you can record the show, have the Zune software transcode it, and put it on your Zune. I don't think you can do that with any Apple-made program (not even Front Row) or have iTunes transcode your file for later iPod consumption. With Apple you have to pay for the "privilege" of watching TV on your device. With the Zune, it's possible to legally have the same privilege without paying for it.

640-802 Microsoft's Zune Adds NBC Shows, Other Features; Still Unable To Combat Fierce Apathy I know. Save your breath. I don't like scary and violent movies. There's too much blood and gore.

640-802 / 70-237 / 350-001 / 70-624 / 642-105 / 642-453Microsoft's Zune Adds NBC Shows, Other Features; Still Unable To Combat Fierce Apathy Don't take it the wrong way. Don't get me wrong. Up to you. You're the Boss. Anything you say.