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Zune Is Dead. Long Live Zune.

DToTheJ said:
I guess it was a foregone conclusion that, just as HD Radios aren't flying off the shelves, that they would discontinue the Zune due to "weak demand."
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/03/rip-microsoft-zune/

The question now is, when will they stop manufacturing HD radios?
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The reason why the Zune HD failed is because Microsoft can't market things for $%^ which leads to them not giving a damn because of nothing really happening. I sincerely doubt anyone in their right mind bought a Zune HD mainly for it having an HD Radio. ::)
 
I would have thought that just about the ONLY people that bought a Zune were the HD boosters on this board! LOL
 
I mainly bought my Zune HD (32GB) because: it was inexpensive than the iPod Touch (3rd generation), has superior video and audio quality, was less bulky than the iPod Touch, had four times the storage space, and other aspects. HD Radio was just a nice addition. I have 3 other stand alone devices that I mainly bought for HD Radio (2 portable Insignia radios and one Sangean tuner for home use). Thankfully, Zune Marketplace will still exist. I agree Microsoft didn't really market the Zune line as well as Apple has with the iPod.
 
Zach said:
I know. What we have here is a product that garnered nothing but positive reviews in its "HD" guise yet still failed due to Microsoft being Microsoft. It had nothing to do with HD radio, for better or for worse.
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You're right, HD did have nothing to do with the Zune's failure or success which proves that HD radio doesn't matter one bit no matter what it's put into, it has absolutely no drawing power of it's own. If Apple ever did put in one of the dropout king apps in their iPod touch, it would still probably sell as it does now if it were the only iPod available, but I be 99% of the people who bought them would not even know it could receive HD, nor care. HD is a dead man walking. .
 
This probably has more to due with the iPod dominating the market than HD Radio, but the unpopularity of HD radio certainly didn't help things.

Sony appears to have discontinued the XDR-F1HD, a HD tuner that has been really popular with DXers because of how well it handles analog signals.
 
i bought the zune 80GB when it first come out at $250. To me it's like junk, the zune software (in the computer like zune market place) it's hard to use, and never buy any hardware from Microsoft again.
 
emprex said:
i bought the zune 80GB when it first come out at $250. To me it's like junk, the zune software (in the computer like zune market place) it's hard to use, and never buy any hardware from Microsoft again.
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Elaborate please? :-\
 
ddsparxx said:
So what happens to HD radio if Sony no longer makes the XDR-F1HD and doesn't replace it with another HD tuner or radio?
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That's a good question. As far as I've seen, the Sony is the only truely great HD radio out there for home use. Of course, it is just a tuner, so that limited its popularity. If it is gone (and not replaced) that doesn't leave a lot of choices, unless you really like stuff from Coby... Was there anything noteworthy at CES?

Are we down to just car radios and the Insignia portable?
 
staticradio said:
I mainly bought my Zune HD (32GB) because: it was inexpensive than the iPod Touch (3rd generation), has superior video and audio quality, was less bulky than the iPod Touch, had four times the storage space, and other aspects. HD Radio was just a nice addition. I have 3 other stand alone devices that I mainly bought for HD Radio (2 portable Insignia radios and one Sangean tuner for home use). Thankfully, Zune Marketplace will still exist. I agree Microsoft didn't really market the Zune line as well as Apple has with the iPod.
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Wow, a died-with-his-boots-on Zune fanatic. Microsoft should have you bronzed and put in a museum somewhere (along with device itself). Zune was dead at birth, starting with its name (supposedly it rhymes with a Yiddish word for a certain part of the male anatomy). Then it gets a ballyhooed introduction from the second un-coolest guy on the planet (next to #1 Bill Gates), Steve Ballmer, who declares to the media that he'd never let his daughter own an iPod. Wonder if his daughter ever forgave him for being forced to walk around school with some odd duck device with an equally bizarre name ("Be sure and show it off to your schoolmates, honey") while her friends sported iPods and snickered behind her back. Whatever the technical merits of the Zune over the iPod were, being attached to Microsoft and Ballmer meant the kiss of death for it.

Kurt Hanson wrote about the end of the Zune in his blog:

http://textpattern.kurthanson.com/k...proves-the-way-onto-devices-for-radio-is-apps

Kurt honestly thought HD Radio in a Zune was a strong selling point. More interesting though are the statistics he sites: 240 million iPods sold vs. 3 million Zunes or about 2% market share for MP3 players.
 
My guess is that Sony may have learned that the XDR-F1HD was much more likely being used for FM DX rather than receiving HD signals. The rumor about the tuner being discontinued is the reason why I bought the second XDR-F1HD--for its excellent FM analog performance, as well as heaing any HD subchannels that might be worth listening to. But if HD radio really does fail then this tuner would definitely be worth keeping. Oh, by the way, nothing that's affordable at CES looked appealing and I tend to avoid the Coby products.
 
When Sony does finally build a really decent device, they stop selling it in the USA! Their XDR-F1HD tuner is a classic up there with their SRF-A100 portable AM Stereo radio, and the totally unappreciated MiniDisc - still my choice for digital recording for simplicity audio quality 100x better than MP3 and on the fly editing - all without any computer required! Only in Japan do they appreciate these 3 devices and market them correctly and offered them BEFORE other alternatives were offered.

Likewise, the Zune had many things going for it like not being stuck with uncopyable songs that you can't backup (like Apple) and better audio quality (IMO). The RDS radio (and then HD radio) was just the icing on the cake, but like Sony, too little, too late and not well-publicised in the States. It's weird that it seems that Apple can do no wrong, and is rich beyond belief; Bill Gates isn't doing too bad, but his company just didn't have somebody like Steve Jobs to run the music portion of the company. Even Sony - despite owning Columbia Records, can't seem to be able to get a decent platform for selling their music in digital form outside of Apple-land.
 
JohnnyElectron said:
Likewise, the Zune had many things going for it like not being stuck with uncopyable songs that you can't backup (like Apple) and better audio quality (IMO). The RDS radio (and then HD radio) was just the icing on the cake, but like Sony, too little, too late and not well-publicised in the States. It's weird that it seems that Apple can do no wrong, and is rich beyond belief; Bill Gates isn't doing too bad, but his company just didn't have somebody like Steve Jobs to run the music portion of the company.
Click to expand...

Except that the Zune had a nasty little habit of deleting any songs you loaded into it after a few plays. One key reason the iPod Touch is superior to the Zune is the vast amount of apps you can use with it. One critic called the Touch "a mini computer." Plus the Touch has Bluetooth in addition to WiFi. So overall it is just a much more versatile device than the Zune which primarily is a media player ever would be.

But I'm not crying for Microsoft. They may not be innovating much anymore but Office and Windows still remain extremely fat cash cows and will sustain the company for years to come. Plus Apple has not been without its clunkers. The iAd service, which Apple paid millions for, has yet to be a hit with advertisers.
 
But I don't want my mp3 player to be a mini computer. I want it to be a top notch music player, which rules out all the Apple devices. They have great interfaces but poor sound quality for discerning ears. Don't get me wrong, it's fine for 80% of the public, but I'm in the other 20%.

I'm old fashioned, and I like my devices to be unitaskers. I want my music player to play music, my camera to take pictures and my phone to make phone calls. Convergence means my phone does all of these things and none of them well. The camera, 5 MP, sucks. The music player is a joke. Sound quality is OK but not on par with my minidisc unit (which I officially retired after my last move, sadly.) The actual phone part is just another app that force closes sometimes and sounds terrible when I do actually place a call.
 
But I don't want my mp3 player to be a mini computer. I want it to be a top notch music player, which rules out all the Apple devices. They have great interfaces but poor sound quality for discerning ears. Don't get me wrong, it's fine for 80% of the public, but I'm in the other 20%.

I'm old fashioned, and I like my devices to be unitaskers. I want my music player to play music, my camera to take pictures and my phone to make phone calls. Convergence means my phone does all of these things and none of them well. The camera, 5 MP, sucks. The music player is a joke. Sound quality is OK but not on par with my minidisc unit (which I officially retired after my last move, sadly.) The actual phone part is just another app that force closes sometimes and sounds terrible when I do actually place a call.
 
I love my Zunes (the 30GB brick, the slim 8GB & the 16GB HD). I agree that they are the best music & video players around. However, there weren't enough apps to please most of the "does it all" folks.

The player has an innovative interface for music, the HD radio is a plus. The screen is superb for video. I love the computer software. When searching for music, it will show you both your collection & the marketplace on one screen, making it easy to see if your already have that song.

I also have a 4th gen iPod Touch & love all the things this one device can do. But, it's music interface is clanky & boring.

I will continue to use my Zunes until they become inoperable.
 
Careful, Zach! You're sounding pretty curmudgeonly ;) when you write like that!

You want your camera to be a camera and your phone to be a phone?

Jeez! What's next?? Are you going to try to tell us that AM can sound as good as FM?? :eek:

You sound vaguely like "a 61-year old I know pretty well"...! :D
 
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