That was weirdly hostile.
-FrL-
Last I heard, there were certain artists you could not do this with, it was either buy the album or nothing. Of course, with iTunes, there are some artists you can only buy full albums and not individual tracks.
Everything I’ve heard about the Zune is that its a decent player. It doesn’t have quite the pizazz of some of the iPods, but the upside of that is you don’t have to worry about someone stealing it.
As for squirting, its a nifty feature, but given that only a handful of people own the Zune, kind of worthless.
The SDMB is all about fighting ignorance. Pardon me for giving it a bop on the head.
Never use a bop when a nudge will do.
With the “renting music” thing, if you do come across a song or albumn that you really do enjoy, do you have the option of buying or keeping the song permenantly or do you then have to remember what it was and go somewhere else to get it?
Yes, you can buy it. However, if you buy via the Zune store, its going to have DRM on it. If you can buy it from Amazon (assuming they have it available), it won’t have DRM. This is important if you buy a different brand of MP3 player later on, or if MS decides to stop supporting that particular kind of DRM (which can happen).
Sorry. I’m only contracted for bops. Couldn’t afford the nudge option.
I’m still curious to know whether this subscription music can be played on other players, PCs, burnt to cds, etc.
It only works on Zunes and the PCs they’re registered with.
I’ve had mine for over a year and I love it. And since version 3.0 of the firmware comes with games, it’s a convenient time-waster for when I have to wait.
Essentially, an iPod won’t do anything a Zune can’t do. Well, surf the Internet, maybe, but that’s why I have a laptop.
BTW, what the hell is “squirting?”
Robin
“Squirting” allows you to wirelessly send a song to someone (who is standing within a few feet of you). They are then able to listen to the song for a brief period of time (X number of plays in X number of days, it was originally 3 plays and 1 day, but they’ve increased that now). I don’t think they realized the connotations of the name when they called it “squirting.”
Personally, its just too restrictive. Like dehacker mentioned, there appear to be less restrictive services available to anyone interested. To each their own, I guess.
One nice thing about Microsoft and the Zune is that they release software upgrades for the older models that add new features.
Apple does not do this with the iPod. For instance, my 3G nano does not have the new Genius feature that’s in the 4G nano even though it’s just a software update.
I think they did think of the connotations. They just thought people would find it cool and hip.
I can’t see anything wildly wonderful about the Genius feature, though maybe that’s because I am an utter moron, or maybe just a Neanderthal* whose focus is mostly on Apple not screwing up a good thing with annoying and useless software changes.
Regarding the small market share for Zunes, I do feel horribly for poor Microsoft.
*this paleolithic attitude extends to paying indefinite rent on a music library or buying a subscription to satellite radio.
I can’t compare the Zune and iPod devices because I’ve never actually used a Zune. I can, however, comment on the music rental thing:
If I was a teenager again, with wildly fluctuating tastes in music and no investment in albums/CDs/tapes/whatever, I would find the music rental concept of the Zune very alluring. Pony up $15, and I’ve got every song in their library. So what if it goes away when I stop paying $15?
However, I’ve been collecting music for decades, and I have some rather eclectic tastes in music. I own thousands of songs, and a lot of the stuff from obscure bands or old bands isn’t available in Apple’s or Microsoft’s stores. I don’t have to pay any monthly fees to anybody, and I like it that way. I can load all of my old stuff into the iPod and it will still be there next week, next month, next year.
That has never been true (at least not since I got my first iPod about six years ago). It’s an old urban legend that gets debunked in just about every single iPod thread on the SDMB. You don’t need the iTunes software, and you don’t need to use the iTunes store.
It’s a really cool concept. I’m in the mood for some particular song, so I’ll have my computer or MP3 player pick me a bunch of other songs like it. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case. It picks some WEIRD stuff. Maybe it’s because I don’t listen to much mainstream music, and a lot of the stuff on my iPod isn’t in the Apple store. They base the Genius recommendations on commonality between your lists and other people’s lists. I’ll wait a few months and try again.
I’ve never had or used a Zune, but I’ll offer this caveat for what it’s worth.
I’ve got a few little flash devices that will play the microsoft-DRM-subscription stuff, mostly sandisk sansas. It sounds like a great deal, especially for trying out a lot of music, and then maybe buying the stuff you like most.
However, when the microsoft DRM database on your computer gets ‘corrupted’, then it pretty much took everything with it, and I needed to get another copy of everything that I’d downloaded.
I’m steering clear of it now, in favor of the itunes store canada, emusic.com, and good old fashioned CDs! 
I just have one complaint about my Zune–no Asian-character support. All of my music is ripped from CD (I just haven’t gotten into the mp3 buying thing, and probably won’t anytime soon) so in that regard it didn’t really matter to me which device I went for. And being able to plug it into my 360 is nice, so I have access to my video and audio collection in the living room.
I partly went for it just to not have an iPod.
Just bought a Zune 120gb model a couple of weeks ago to replace my Creative Zen Touch 40gb. I like the built in wireless feature not so much for the ability to send or share music with someone else in the room with a zune but for being able to sync the device at home with my wireless network, or being able to go to the zune marketplace at a hotspot and buy/download a song I like without having to do it at home. I also like the FM radio tuner and for stations that push out digital data if there is a song I like and don’t know the artist and title, it will display and if I like it I can add it to my cart and make a choice later to buy/download it or just keep it there so I remeber to look for it next time I am at the store and buy the CD. None of these features are available on the Ipods save for maybe the touch.
I also like the “social” features of the zune software being able to share what I am listening too and see what my friends are listening too, if they have similar tastes as me they might find a gem that I would like too. I haven’t heard that the Ipod has a similar community focus.
And as for accesories, Microsoft is starting to catch up. There are more aftermarket accesories available for the Zune than any other non Apple MP3 player, I think Altec lansing now has a base speaker unit with remote and I think Kicker has one comming out soon. There is much more promise on this device then the other non Ipod on the market.
Just my 2 cents.
oh and my Zune Social along with my Xbox Gamertag is boatbuoy
I haven’t used a Zune, but have been an iPod guy for 4 or 5 years. I can see the appeal of a “rental” service for music, especially on a “try before you buy” model, but I really am a fan of “owning” my music. Perhaps even something of a packrat. (as an aside here, I have been trying and really likeing lala. com, where you can stream any song in its entirely once, pay .10 for unlimited streaming, and .89 to download DRM free mp3…this might be the most unique and forward thinking service yet)
The DRM sceme as described sounds too limiting. As much as an anti-DRM guy as I am, I have never had a problem with the iTunes method…you can listen on 5 authorized computers, sync to any number of ipods, and burn to CD (which removes the DRM completely). I have never run into a problem with this…
Another way the ipod seems, in my opinion, superior to the Zune is if you have multiple apple products. I drank the kool-aid and have macbook, ipod, iphone, and appleTV, and everything just works extrememly well together. This is one area where Microsoft could take a lesson from apple. When I had a PC, i spent hours trying to get it to play videos on the XBox like its supposed to, not to mention trying to get a WinMobile phone to join the party. The machines were terrible about interconnectivity. And it may have changed, but the Zune and Xbox marketplaces weren’t compatible, and both required some form of “microsoft points” for purchases. So, at the risk of sounding like an apple fanboy, this is an area where microsoft needs to take a long hard look at improving the “play togetherness” of its products before they approach the same level of usefullness (to me at least).
As an aside, even the hardcore Microsoft types hate WinMobile phones. Paul Thurott, who’s a tech reporter that’s written a couple of books about the inner workings of Windows (so he also knows the engineering side of things, not just the “news” side) has said that he’d love to take his iPhone and show it to the WinMobile people at Microsoft and say, “Have you guys looked at this thing? Why they hell can’t you make something that works like this?” He doesn’t do it because he’s afraid he’ll piss 'em off.