I bought one. I have a couple of friends who bought one, as well. It wasn't for the Xbox functionality (that's actually one of the few letdowns of the whole thing, very few multiplayer Live titles). It was because we were all Zune owners.
Let me take you back to 2006. iPods were still using the classic click wheel. iTunes was horribly slow on a PC. Microsoft comes out with a competitor that has a simple up/down/left/right directional pad, and software that looks stunning and runs better on a PC. Many weren't sold on the idea. Many of those who were, however, loved it. Killer feature: the Zune Pass. All-you-can-eat from a huge library, fully integrated, syncs over wifi right to your player.
Time passes, and PMPs are a thing of the past. It's about phones now. You can either go back to using the iPod via the iPhone (and back to iTunes) and lose the Zune Pass, or to Android during its early, rough years. Still losing the Zune Pass, and having no centralized music manager. Then Microsoft comes along with a Zune phone, killer interface, Office, and Xbox Live to boot. I kept using my Zune right up to the point when I got a Windows Phone.
Microsoft is making some slam dunks recently, but the people and the press were, for a long time, unwilling to get burned again (understandably). Problem is, now the press has changed their tune but the people haven't. The Zune was a killer PMP, and now I can have it in phone form. For others, it's not so much that but the idea of not needing iTunes. That's major.
Now that I feel like a dirty shill, I'm going to go take a shower.
PlaysForSure® was hilarious. Sell people music. Revoke rights later. Oh, Microsoft. You are such a cad!
The subscription service was as much of a joke. Sure, it sounds great to be able to access a huge library for a low monthly fee, but guess what, if you don't pay that monthly fee...forever...you won't have access to any of your favorite music. A track on iTunes is $0.99. A track on the Zune subscription service was $∞.00.
I can't agree with that. Subscription is a totally different way of paying for music, and comparing them doesn't really mean much. Subscription means you can access any track instantly- yes, you'll lose that if you unsubscribe, but you can easily sign up for a competing service and get all that music back. It doesn't really make sense to compare it to 'ownership'.
Though as an interesting PS, the Zune Pass offers (offered?) 10 free permanent downloads every month. So, at 99c a track, you'd more or less make your subscription fee back.
Yeah, you still get 10 DRM-free downloads per month. If that's still not something you're comfortable with, I have heard of other ways to... "fix" the Zune DRM.
In the UK at least, the 10 DRM-free downloads no longer apply for new Zune Pass subscribers. Those who already had that type of subscription will keep it, from what I understand, but it's no longer an option for new people.
Switching from one service to another is non-trivial if you've accumulated playlists or favorites. You basically have to either write it all down and re-do it by hand, or start over out of principle.
The subscription model is the modern equivalent of the Columbia Music House. They'll send you music relentlessly even when you don't want it, only in this case if you cancel it all goes away and you've got nothing to show for it.
You'd have to be diligent to use those ten free downloads a month. You can't bank them, can you?
> The subscription model is the modern equivalent of the Columbia Music House.
This is a ridiculous comparison. Do you pay for Netflix? Hulu Plus? Cable? Internet access? These are all subscription services.
Does it cost you infinite money to read Hacker News? Or to watch "Frasier" on cable or Netflix? Of course not. Zune Pass doesn't cost infinite money, either.
Columbia House was (is?) very nearly the opposite of a subscription. You paid for a crappy CD every month. You owned it. You didn't get inclusive access to a catalog.
"Subscription means you can access any track instantly- yes, you'll lose that if you unsubscribe, but you can easily sign up for a competing service and get all that music back. It doesn't really make sense to compare it to 'ownership'."
Name 3 music subscription services that have 90+% overlap in their catalogs.
Not that it's a particular boon for music acquisition, but since iOS 5, a desktop install of iTunes need not come in to the picture at all for an iOS device. Apple calls all the changes related to this "PC Free".
iTunes' hitherto expansion in scope has been amusing / scary. I noticed that the iOS app collection got saved in a subdirectory of ~/Music/ :)
Let me take you back to 2006. iPods were still using the classic click wheel. iTunes was horribly slow on a PC. Microsoft comes out with a competitor that has a simple up/down/left/right directional pad, and software that looks stunning and runs better on a PC. Many weren't sold on the idea. Many of those who were, however, loved it. Killer feature: the Zune Pass. All-you-can-eat from a huge library, fully integrated, syncs over wifi right to your player.
Time passes, and PMPs are a thing of the past. It's about phones now. You can either go back to using the iPod via the iPhone (and back to iTunes) and lose the Zune Pass, or to Android during its early, rough years. Still losing the Zune Pass, and having no centralized music manager. Then Microsoft comes along with a Zune phone, killer interface, Office, and Xbox Live to boot. I kept using my Zune right up to the point when I got a Windows Phone.
Microsoft is making some slam dunks recently, but the people and the press were, for a long time, unwilling to get burned again (understandably). Problem is, now the press has changed their tune but the people haven't. The Zune was a killer PMP, and now I can have it in phone form. For others, it's not so much that but the idea of not needing iTunes. That's major.
Now that I feel like a dirty shill, I'm going to go take a shower.