[pds6]

Business Wire says:
A new survey conducted by ABI Research has shown that many prospective MP3 player buyers-even owners of iPods-would be likely to choose Microsoft's Zune player.

 

[Comfy]

Maybe if the Zune came with a DAC by Lavry and an amp stage by Singlepower. And something by UE or Shure or Ety as the factory zBuds.

 

[3X0]

People are getting bored?

 

[Digitalbath3737]

I wouldn't buy the Zune for two reason...MS is a drm happy company...no way would I trust a single music file with M$...

Also it's nothing inventive...a very boring player... I'm currently looking for a HD player and I wouldn't even consider it.... bad battery life... they needed to release this thing like last year... I wouldn't have even bought it then... because of reason 1.

 

[Purgatos]

I have some pretty serious doubts on the overall neutrality of this survey.

I've never heard anyone anywhere ever say "wow, that Zune thing looks pretty great!".

 

[pds6]

Purgatos says:
Quote:

I've never heard anyone anywhere ever say "wow, that Zune thing looks pretty great!".

That was exactly my thought.

 

[LFC_SL]

I suppose there's a first for everything (positive PR for the Zune).

Not that I'm paying attention to yet another research company out for some free PR

 

[wanderman]

it is 1st gen hardware from microsoft; they are simply trying to test the market waters. The second gen zune is bound to better and people will get bored of the ipod. They do bring wifi though limited, xbox syncing, and very clean interface to the table.

 

[m_memmory]

Well it took the 5th Gen iPod before I was actually interested in what Apple were doing with the players (and the 5.5 Gen before I actually got one) so I'm not interested in the 1st Gen Zune at all.

That being said I'd like to see what they do with the hardware and maybe in the next year or two they might actually have a decent player that I could be interested in.

 

[blessingx]

It seems this is only news because of MS low status (new to this market and not "cool"). iPod and other DAP owners would consider the Zune when making their next purchase. We'd be idiots if we didn't consider it. True MS probably tested higher than iRiver, Toshiba, iAudio, Samsung, Creative, etc. (if even asked), but why shouldn't it? I'd be curious how Sony tests.

Quote:

So is Zune attractive enough to build anything like iPod's massive sales record? ABI Research believes that a critical factor will be whether or not Microsoft can differentiate the Zune from competing products in some meaningful way.

Wow.

 

[Xpander]

I think the survey gives some weight to MS's capacity to impact the market, but I don't think said impact will be as severe as the results would belie.

That having been said, I will be playing with the Zune hands-on comes Tuesday, so I'll see if I can put up any meaningful reviews.

 

[Febs]

Given that the Zune is not yet on the market and no one is exactly sure what it will do or how it will perform, the results of this survey don't seem very significant.

 

[Xpander]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Febs Given that the Zune is not yet on the market and no one is exactly sure what it will do or how it will perform, the results of this survey don't seem very significant.

The results may or may not be accurate, but I wouldn't say that it's insignificant.

Marketing's a bitch, no?

 

[Bob_McBob]

Quote:

58% of those identifying themselves as existing iPod owners and 59% of those who owned other brands said they would be "somewhat likely" or "extremely likely" to choose a Microsoft Zune player over an iPod or another brand of MP3 player.

Since it's not possible to view the survey without paying, it would have been nice if the news article gave more specifics. From the way they worded it, there is no way to draw any real conclusion. The fact that a lot of iPod owners MIGHT consider buying something different is not really all that important. What percentage said they were extremely likely to buy a Zune? For all we know it was one guy.

 

[camille]

that's big shoes to fill if the Zune is to topple the entire iPod lineup.

from a Mac standpoint, I don't know how well the Zune will correspond to the Mac (if it even has that option)

that being said, i'm still banking on buying an 80GB (or 60GB refurb) iPod soon. that or wait for the 6G (if it does come out).