Microsoft announced Thursday that its new portable media player, Zune,
is expected to be released for the 2006 holiday season. The device,
which rivals the market-dominant Apple iPod, is aiming to gain popularity
by including features that the iPod lacks.
Full story available here.
There are more mp3 players than you can shake a stick at and along come MS a day late and a dollar short so to speak, hoping to get a piece of the action.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v190/bob3160/ShellFTP/Cowon.gif
The same people that make JetAudio actually make a few very nice ones:
http://www.cowonamerica.com/
They look good if they are as flexible as the Jet Audio program they will be a match or better than many players.
Actually I like the feature Set of Zune, especially the larger screen than the iPod.
So here is My Pro/Con List
Pros:
- nice big Screen
- Wireless built in
Cons
- price is unknown
- battery life unknown
Kyle, those two are not Cons… those are still just two unknown points. When they tell us more about them, then we can decide if they sound Pro or Con.
For example… if they say price is higher than iPod, then we can say it’s a con. ;D
Also, if battery life sucks, then we can say it’s a con too. ;D
More about Zune here:
http://www.zunescene.com
and here:
http://www.zunechargers.com (also something about the battery life… 12 hours between charges)
Edit: Hahahahahaha ;D ;D ;D I just peed my pants, lol !!! This is incredible… another Apple anti-Microsoft conspiracy story:
[b]Apple: There is no Zune.[/b]An Apple spokesman has come forth with information on the existence of ZMD or Zune of Microsoft Design. He states “there never was, never will be ZMD”. Highly paid intelligence agents have drawn cartoon pictures of modified busses hauling tons of ZMD across Seattle. He comments “the market share is under our conrtrol, dont believe anything on CNN.”
Why would he say that ? What’s next ? Aliens inside the Xbox 360 ? ;D ;D ;D
hey all…just saw this site and thought it would help a-bit ???
http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/09/14/zune-is-here/
* 4.4 x 2.4 x 0.58-inch footprint (vs 30GB iPod's 4.1 x 2.4 x 0.43-inches, and 80GB iPod's 0.55-inch thickness -- trust us, on a device like this a tenth of an inch is a huge difference)
* 5.6 ounces (vs iPod's 4.8 and 5.5 ounces for the 30 and 80GB models)
* WiFi is 802.11b/g, photo is JPEG only (right now)
* Zunes and their users will have names -- Zunetags -- building off the phenomenal success of Xbox Live model.
* Faster charge time than an iPod, but still no quoted battery life. It will not be user replaceable.
* Nope, no price or release on the device or anything Marketplace related -- which they told us yesterday they wouldn't be releasing (yet).
This is a quote from the link I posted in my previous reply ( http://www.zunechargers.com )
Zune Battery Specs [b]The Zune will come with a replaceable Li-Ion battery that is said to run 12 hours between charges[/b]. It should be a fast charge battery but we're unsure exactly what Microsoft Zune battery life will be at this time. The Zune may have shorter run times in broadcast or DJ mode. The WiFi connection is able to be shut off to conserve battery drain. Tests are being run to see how long it can DJ on one charge and we'll get back to you soon.
if its only 12 hours then thats no where near the new iPod battery life
That’s Zune’s standard battery Kyle. I am sure we will see those third party giga-capacity batteries pretty soon.
Mac, you’re a bit too much into Mac/iPod/iMac stuff and you look at the hole thing from negative side all along (at least thats what i see from your posts). Just let the thing be released to public and judge it then.
You also have to understand that with bigger screen, bigger power consumtion and some also may need(prefer) bigger screen over power capacity or any other feature. Size? Hell you have 3x the screen of iPod, it’s not really odd to have a bit bigger dimensions. So just leave it be released and we’ll see then.
Rejzor, yes I am biased toward the company I work for 
We will see if it sells
I’m’ not a fan of the Zune really or Microsoft for that matter. As for chocolate colour; what the?! Don’t mistake it for chocolate that’s all I can say! 
Who am I to stop everyone’s fun?! I love my iPod Nano 2GB and I DON’T think that the Zune will be an “iPod Killer”. I am sticking with my iPod that I bought with my first wages in March after working hard for a landscape gardener; in which I nearly killed myself!
Apple if I remember has always been ahead of Microsoft. I don’t know this because of my young, tender age, but I read up about it some where. My Dad also told me how Apple got its logo from Babbage who took a bit out of an apple he injected with cyanide.
That’s let off some steam for me about good old Microsoft…
This forum isn’t for bashing any company. Microsoft, Apple or any other compamy.
H there
I AM NOT “bashing” any company: I am just saying MY opinion; OK?
Can I please say something hear? I wish to be removed if people are going to “gang” up on me: I am not a violent young hooligan; I am a polite, well-mannered person and I do have family issues in which my Dad is severally ill AND depressed.
That’s all
I wish to be removed if people are going to "gang" up on meWho's doing that???? ???
Dave, please calm down. No one will remove your posts because there is no reason at all. I am sure Bob said it just because we had some cases in the past, and we’re really trying to keep these forums “clean” and free of agressive fanboys, whether it is Firefox, IE, Microsoft, Apple or any other product or company. We all get along very nicely and we respect each other’s opinions. Even we can dive into some deep, and not so pleasant discussions sometimes, but hey… that’s human race. Anyway, we have a lot of Microsoft lovers here, a lot of anti-Microsoft individuals, few Apple addicts, many Firefox lovers, but we all respect each other’s opinions and choices. World is full of differences of any kind and we all need to learn to live with them best we can.
We are here to help each other not to make everything more difficult for everyone.
WELCOME to forums and please do not be angry or sad 
You are welcome to ask questions, and to help every time you feel you can contribute somehow to this community. No one is going to gang up against you, that’s for sure. Also, I am very sorry to hear about your dad’s illness… all I can say is that I hope he’s gonna get better and your family will be happy. No one deserved to go through those things, but life is difficult sometimes and it’s not picky at all… it can be you, it can be your dad, it can be me or anyone out there… that’s the saddest part. Chin up and everything will be fine !
Cheers and please stay here with us !
Edit: as a small welcome present, I just created a forum avatar for you. 100% custom and Dave Maynard unique. I hope you’ll like it Dave
would also like to welcome you to the forum dave and what SZC says is true…if you ever need help there is a bunch of knowledge people to help you here no matter how large or small the question or problem is
like your new avatar SZC…i didn’t know you had an apple-i use one at work-home have windows-i guess the best of both worlds
have a good one avast!world 8)
Apple looks to maximize its profits on flash-based iPods
No still no Apple, but I have OSX86 installed on one of my partitions on my PC. In case you didn’t know, it can be installed on Intel machines and even not just on Intel, but on AMD machines too.
See this thread and my reply in there:
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=23604.msg194643#msg194643 (you’ll find two movies I posted on YouTube showing OSX86 working perfectly on my Intel Pentium 4 HT (Hyperthreading Technology) machine. I have a friend who runs everything perfectly on AMD machine.
Cheers !