RIP Microsoft Zune brand

http://www.geek.com/articles/mobile/microsoft-to-kill-off-zune-branding-20110215/

by str • 15 years ago

66 45 15 years ago

allwein• 15 years ago

This seems like a silly move to me. I would have expected a zune running Phone 7 to help push the OS to more users. I would love to have a Phone 7 device to hack around on, but I've already got a phone and data plan.

protomyth• 15 years ago

It would make sense, as a way to build market share, to turn Zune into the WP7's iPod touch. From a developer perspective, that is a powerful additional number of users.

burgerbrain2• 15 years ago

When you say "Zune" to your average consumer, all you get is laughter. The tech might have been good, but in my (humble) opinion, ditching the brand and all it's baggage is a very good idea.

r00fus• 15 years ago

So no more iPod Touch competitor? Perhaps it'll exist, but not be called the Zune HD (and run WP7 Apps). In fact, that would be quite cool (esp. if Nokia is in on this operation).

rbanffy3• 15 years ago

> So no more iPod Touch competitor?

Was it ever?

Legion2• 15 years ago

Another Microsoft digital media strategy reset? Has it been 5 years already?

At least the Zune Marketplace went DRM-free, so people won't get shafted like all those PlaysForSure media buyers.

thasmin• 15 years ago

Yet another spin on the Microsoft brand carousel. Someone over there seems to think that if they give their product a certain name then people will start buying it. Zune seemed like a good brand. The products were of high quality and had good reputations. I feel like a few well placed articles titled "Zune: Microsoft's quiet success" or "Microsoft becomes the underdog with Zune" would have gone a long way.

Legion2• 15 years ago

I think the Zune launch tarnished the name so permanently that it never recovered. In too many peoples' eyes, it was always the poop-brown also-ran.

Which is too bad, because in many ways, the later Zunes were superior devices, although far too prone to sync problems. My old Zune became unrecognizable to the Zune software far too many times.

gamble2• 15 years ago

The Zune was never well-known enough for its name to be tarnished. The marketing was so low-key and sporadic that it hardly seemed to penetrate much beyond Redmond. Not to mention that it was basically non-existent outside of the US.

rbanffy3• 15 years ago

> The products (...) had good reputations

Considering I never met anyone who actually owned one, Microsoft employees excepted, I am not surprised the reputation was good.

brondaire• 15 years ago

Although the Zune was largely a failure in terms of overall market share, it wasn't a bad product offering.

* The Zune Pass was an excellent way to get music for a flat monthly rate, and the selection and price was competitive with Rhapsody and other services.

* Zune hardware was always top-notch, with Zune devices having FM or HD radio. The Zune HD was particularly nice.

* Zune Social was somewhat similar to last.fm and provided useful music recommendations.

* Zune offered DRM-free music, in addition to DRM-locked music for the Zune Pass.

* The (Windows-only) client software was very well designed, and superior in usability to iTunes (IMO).

I would be disappointed to see the Zune name go, but sometimes good products fail in the market.

makmanalp• 15 years ago

Especially the hardware. Nice build quality overall with solid plastic and metal, slick braid-covered earbuds instead of plasticy ones. The UI was pretty awesome too, minus a few usability annoyances.

Griever• 15 years ago

In regards to the client software, I must say that iTunes is an absolutely atrocious piece of software (at least on Windows). I think the Zune app really got it right for managing large amounts of music in a simple-to-use interface. It really is too bad that it will most likely be getting the can soon enough.

nigelsampson• 15 years ago

Agreed, I started used the Zune software when I purchased a WP7 and really enjoy the software, especially when compared to itunes.

Great products but unfortunately failed for other reasons.

uvTwitch• 15 years ago

I think Windows Phone 7 really suffers from the lack of unique branding. It doesn't have a unique product name like Android or iPhone; even 'Zune Mobile' would have been better, Windows Phone 7 doesn't evoke anything and just sounds like a technical specification.

qq66• 15 years ago

90% of the phones sold this year in the US were dumbphones. For the people who bought those phones, Android and iPhone are not very strong brands yet, iPhone perhaps on par with "Windows" (what they use at work and at home).

Windows is still a very familiar brand to everyone, even though it doesn't have any cachet.

thought_alarm2• 15 years ago

Zune is a great name! Very catchy, and they spent a pile of money to get it out there.

But that's also the problem. Zune has been reduced to a punchline in popular media. That's what happens when the product doesn't match up to its marketing. Fair or not, it's become an embarrassment for the company. And the same thing happened with Vista.

So I think going forward Microsoft will rely on the Windows brand for their underdog products. It's difficult to write a catchy punchline about, say, "Windows Music Device 7".

Or, they could just call it Windows Xzyxxz. You can't write any jokes about a product that can't be pronounced.

chops• 15 years ago

As a longtime Zune user and appreciator, I'm hoping that the Zune-Pass will be rolled into something else and that existing devices won't suddenly lose access to the Zune-pass service songs ($15/mo for unlimited (DRMed) songs and 10 MP3 Downloads was generally great).

Further, if the Zune software becomes the "WP7" software, I won't really care so long as it still works with my existing devices.

If, on the other hand, my existing Zune stuff is ultimately gone and no longer supported, I guess it's back to Amazon MP3 for me.

I love my Zune, even when it came out I would say things like "Microsoft products generally suck, except the Zune is a pretty sweet device - they did that right". My opinion of MS has changed for the better since then, and it started with the Zune.

checoivan• 15 years ago

Similar here. I used Zune pass since I loved the fact of getting an album, literally in 1 click. But I was tied into a zune, and windows, 3 physical machines top to be exactly. Then some albums starting dissapearing, and when I tried to setup an account for my dad,I couldn't since it was outside the US. In short I wish it was given a bigger push.

I'm using rdio now. Works on any computer with a browser, good album selection, cheaper, and I can get the songs on my iPhone.

zmonkeyz• 15 years ago

I really dig Zune as well. I originally wanted to get the HD model but held out for WP7. The subscription idea suits me better then the iTunes model.

barista• 15 years ago

I think this is just some rebranding going on. The Pass is awesome and I'm sure will live on.

foresterh• 15 years ago

How was it better than Rhapsody? That's only $10/month, and you can, as far as I know, download whatever you want to listen to offline (though I may be wrong... I listen to most stuff online)

darthg0d• 15 years ago

Other than the unlimited songs which have DRM on it, you get to own 10 songs every month (in MP3).

imaverickk• 15 years ago

http://www.facebook.com/Zune/posts/183517868352402

larsberg• 15 years ago

I, too, hope it's just rebranding.

Zune Pass is Netflix for music, and I think people on other platforms (including me, back when I was on iPhone+Mac) are really missing out.

jey• 15 years ago

Damn, I'll miss the self-mockingly absurdist tagline "Join the Social".

spoiledtechie• 15 years ago

I hope they don't get rid of the player. That desktop player is by far the best one I have ever used except for maybe Winamp before AOL. Its too feature rich to get rid of. Yes, even better than iTunes.

Refringe2• 15 years ago

I can't stand iTunes as a media player. I'm still using an old version of Winamp.

agazso• 15 years ago

Try Foobar2000! It is open-source, actively developed, has tons of features and plugins but still lightweight, plays numerous formats and the best, works out-of-the box.

http://www.foobar2000.org/

I also changed from Winamp, when it became adware.

rbanffy3• 15 years ago

> Yes, even better than iTunes.

Beating iTunes is not exactly hard.

thought_alarm2• 15 years ago

Well, it was no surprise to most people that Microsoft could release a well-designed MP3 player well after the problem of the MP3 player had been solved. (Although, the Zune Desktop software was way too underpowered for my needs.)

It was also no surprise that it had little impact on the market. They have been 3 steps behind their competition for the entire time. Few differentiating features beyond music subscriptions; a useful feature for some, but clearly most music fans would rather collect music than rent it. And with no connection to their mobile smartphone strategy, the Zune HD was always a dead-end platform.

So the Zune brand is now toxic and worthless. They only way it's mentioned in popular culture is as a punchline to a joke. Microsoft has no choice but to trash it.

But Microsoft will regroup, rename and redesign their desktop music software (again) and release an iPod Touch-like device based on their WP7 platform. I wonder what they'll call it?

ptomato• 15 years ago

Judging from what they call that, they'll probably call it the Windows Media Device 7 Windows Windows Media Device Windows 7 Windows Device Device 7.

smbwrs• 15 years ago

I kept reading the name and it never got not-funny.

(Should I get the Home Edition, Premium Edition, Professional Edition, Gold Premium Edition Plus, or the Home Platinum Professional Office Extra Plus Edition?)

leif• 15 years ago

You know, as a guy that uses free software whenever possible, I never liked a Microsoft product until I gave the Zune a shot (got it for free, so...). It still pisses me off, having to run a virtual machine just to load up my music, and I've never used an iPod, but I honestly like the device and the firmware a lot. It's one of the best offerings they've put out.

I hope the product design and engineering talent in the Zune team continue to do great things for WP7, even if I'll probably never use one.

narodick• 15 years ago

RIP squirting you friends! Sigh...

shaggyfrog• 15 years ago

"I want to squirt you a picture of my kids. You want to squirt me back a video of your vacation. That's a software experience. The truth is, though, if it makes money, it will be built into the gross margin on the hardware. We'll figure out how to make money on the community perhaps later though advertising or other means."

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Balmer-Talks-About-Zune-And-T...

I guess they decided that figuring out the "making money" part was second to getting squirting exactly right.

c141charlie• 15 years ago

The Zune desktop software is stunning. The design and layout of the application is vastly superior to iTunes and Windows Media Player. The Zune pass, and artist bios are excellent people who love to discover new music. Each time I use Zune I think to myself, "I need to write software this beautiful and functional."

Zune integration with Windows Phone 7 was the candle that flickered my last hope for Microsoft to compete with iOS and Android. Microsoft's inability to work with carriers to push out WP7 updates, and now the death of the Zune brand, puts that candle out. What a tragedy.

raganwald• 15 years ago

Dear author:

boasting features like song-sharing that Apple still hasn’t managed to catch up to.

Don't be silly. Apple hasn't "caught up," because it was never behind in some kind of race to add song-sharing. Apple chose not to implement that feature, as it has chosen not to add a great many other features.

If you think it's a benefit, it's appropriate to praise Microsoft for adding it, but you shouldn't imply that Apple is staffed by hapless engineers that are somehow incapable of figuring out how to implement this feature, or that Jobs sends out a weekly email asking when this feature will be ready.

wot• 15 years ago

You're right. However, it's not fair for you to say that they just chose not to implement it. You don't know that. (unless you have some insider info)

While yeah it's not like they lack the ability to add the feature, it's entirely possible that they have been focusing their attention elsewhere and possibly just haven't gotten around to it.

gamble2• 15 years ago

It's hard to say whether Apple could even negotiate a deal to offer song sharing. The media companies are so frightened of extending iTunes near-monopoly to other areas that I tend to assume that they'd rather not cut any deals with Apple than let them become dominant in new services.

RIP Microsoft Zune brand

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