# R.I.P. Zune **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 17, 2011, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-zune/574988 "2011-03-17T01:09:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-zune/574988/1 "2011-03-17T01:09:44Z")
[http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/gaming.gadgets/03/15/microsoft.zune.rip/index.html?hpt=Sbin](http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/gaming.gadgets/03/15/microsoft.zune.rip/index.html?hpt=Sbin) Damn. I’ve been using Zune players since the first 30GB version. I’ve had every one of them and, for purely MP3 playback, they are superior in every way to the iPod IMHO. (I’ve also had every type of iPod as well so I’m a fair judge). I never understood the MS plan for Zune. They hardly ever pushed it, even when they released the phenomenol Zune HD. It seemed like they just kept coming out with new ones and not advertising them AT ALL. Like they didn’t want them to sell or something. I’m a huge fan of the Zune Pass as you get unlimited music to download with 10 songs to keep each month for only $15/mo. The iPod Touch has the app store which killed Zune but for an MP3 player the thing just can’t be beat. Oh well, I’ll still use my 120GB Zune till it dies. RIP Zune. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-zune/574988/2 "2011-03-17T01:59:25Z")
How’s the betamax player holding up? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-zune/574988/3 "2011-03-17T02:13:42Z")
I think what killed it was the perception that iPod was letting you buy music while Zune was only letting you rent it. ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-zune/574988/4 "2011-03-17T02:25:18Z")
Out of curiosity, how did you manage to own every single Zune and every iPod? Are you a collector or something? I have this mental image of you using an mp3 player for a few days then throwing it away as if it was disposable. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-zune/574988/5 "2011-03-17T02:37:48Z")
> [@multimediac17](#): > > Out of curiosity, how did you manage to own every single Zune and every iPod? Are you a collector or something? I have this mental image of you using an mp3 player for a few days then throwing it away as if it was disposable. 🙂 I was going to ask if he matched them with his outfits? Wiki lists 22 models of ipod since they were released, so thats two a year. ---
**Author:** ![fubbleskag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fubbleskag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fubbleskag)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-zune/574988/6 "2011-03-17T02:47:52Z")
Good riddance. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-zune/574988/7 "2011-03-17T02:49:34Z")
He said every type, not every model. AFAIK, there’s only three types of iPods: Classic/Video, Nano, Shuffle. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-zune/574988/8 "2011-03-17T03:31:30Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I think what killed it was the perception that iPod was letting you buy music while Zune was only letting you rent it. Thats too bad, the Zune looked like a great player. For me, MS made the mistake of not supporting their own PlaysForSure standard on the Zune. I was using Creative Zens as my MP3 player because they supported Rhapsody through PlaysForSure. If the Zune would have supported Rhapsody, I would have bought one.When my last Zen died, I was set to buy another until I found out that the iPod Touch had a Rhapsody app. I’m not interested in buying music to keep (I have about 400 CDs that I rarely listen to anymore, so the subscription model works very well for me), so iPod without Rhapsody was useless to me. Now that it has the app, I bought a 32G Touch and like it very much. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-zune/574988/9 "2011-03-17T03:38:14Z")
Did you even read the article? The Zune isn’t dead. It has just been folded and integrated into new hardware. That’s actually a smart move and an eye towards the future. Ipods are eventually going to go the way of the walkman, replaced by the all purpose communicator and entertainment pad. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-zune/574988/10 "2011-03-17T04:35:39Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I think what killed it was the perception that iPod was letting you buy music while Zune was only letting you rent it. Yeah. That perception was 100% wrong though as you can buy tunes on Zune exactly the same as iTunes but you also have the OPTION of subscribing to unlimited music and still keeping any 10 tracks each month for only $15. It’s much better deal than iTunes ever was. Essentially unlimited music selection for $5/mo after you Take out the 10 keepers. Just terrible marketing all the way around. The only misstep hardware wise in my opinion was going to oled on the hd. Yeah it looks great indoors but was virtually unusable outside. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-zune/574988/11 "2011-03-17T13:11:39Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > He said every type, not every model. AFAIK, there’s only three types of iPods: Classic/Video, Nano, Shuffle. Mini! Don’t forget the Mini! ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-zune/574988/12 "2011-03-17T13:24:38Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Mini! Don’t forget the Mini! Meh, the Mini was more or less the Nano under a different name. I did forget the Touch however. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-zune/574988/13 "2011-03-17T14:40:15Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > Ipods are eventually going to go the way of the walkman, replaced by the all purpose communicator and entertainment pad. Yup, iPods were obsolete the day that the first iPhone was released. Except for the fact that Apple uses some sort of GIGANTIC memory that only lets them put tiny amounts in the phones and pads. :rolleyes: I’m both an iPhone and iPad owner and I still don’t understand why they can put 160gb in an iPod and only squeeze a fraction of that into the other devices. Or allow them to run Flash…but I digress. The Zune looked like a nifty player, but it suffers from the same problem that most Microsoft stuff does: They can’t do flashy and sexy like Apple can. Apple’s products are their own advertisements since their stuff all looks like it’s from the future. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-zune/574988/14 "2011-03-17T14:47:46Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > I’m both an iPhone and iPad owner and I still don’t understand why they can put 160gb in an iPod and only squeeze a fraction of that into the other devices. Well, for one thing, that 160gb iPod contains an actual hard drive. The iPhone and iPad use solid-state flash RAM. Hard drives are dirt cheap, flash memory is still pretty spendy by comparison. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-zune/574988/15 "2011-03-17T15:31:13Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > Yup, iPods were obsolete the day that the first iPhone was released. Except for the fact that Apple uses some sort of GIGANTIC memory that only lets them put tiny amounts in the phones and pads. :rolleyes: > > I’m both an iPhone and iPad owner and I still don’t understand why they can put 160gb in an iPod and only squeeze a fraction of that into the other devices. Or allow them to run Flash…but I digress. The Zune looked like a nifty player, but it suffers from the same problem that most Microsoft stuff does: They can’t do flashy and sexy like Apple can. Apple’s products are their own advertisements since their stuff all looks like it’s from the future. I have a Zune HD that replaced a Zune Classic. The software is much easier to use than iTunes because the interface is much cleaner and easier to keep music organized. So what if it’s not sexy and flashy? It does a handful of things, and it does them well, which is all I ask of any device. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-zune/574988/16 "2011-03-17T15:38:11Z")
With the last big system update, Microsoft put a sort of Zune-like “skin” over the video/audio sections of the Xbox interface; wonder if they’re going to strip that off. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-zune/574988/17 "2011-03-17T15:43:41Z")
My Creative Zen Vision M is still going strong. I’ll be extremely sad when it finally dies. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-zune/574988/18 "2011-03-17T17:44:55Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > Well, for one thing, that 160gb iPod contains an actual hard drive. The iPhone and iPad use solid-state flash RAM. Hard drives are dirt cheap, flash memory is still pretty spendy by comparison. Okay, that’s understandable. But the iPod Touch comes in a 64Gb model, while the maximum amount available in an iPhone is only 32. Whenever Apple comes out with a 64Gb iPhone, I’m all over that baby. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-zune/574988/19 "2011-03-17T19:48:36Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > Yup, iPods were obsolete the day that the first iPhone was released. I’m going to have to disagree with this. I have an iPod touch and I much prefer it to an iPhone, because I don’t have the need to pay a monthly fee to access the internet on a cell phone. ---
**Author:** ![Silophant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Silophant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silophant)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-zune/574988/20 "2011-03-17T19:54:11Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > With the last big system update, Microsoft put a sort of Zune-like “skin” over the video/audio sections of the Xbox interface; wonder if they’re going to strip that off. Nope. They’re not killing off the Zune brand, that’ll still be their media brand. They’re just stopping development on the independent Zune devices, instead focusing on Windows Phone 7 devices. Too bad. I love my Zune 120, and I’ll use it until it dies. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-zune/574988.md?page=2)