Microsoft's New Zune - Large Screens and Flash

Microsoft looks like it is going to have another go at the mp3 player market, and it looks like it is going to fall on its face again. The Zune, which initially turned out to be a rather pathetic me-too iPod rip off, capturing only a few percent of the market, is coming back, this time in a flash and possible large screen incarnation. There seems to be nothing spectacular about these new developments, though, leaving us to wonder why a company like Microsoft couldn't do better.

The Zune's initial problem was the lack of any originality. No great design, no great marketing ideas, just another line of hard drive mp3 players, just like those by Creative and Dell. Nothing to write home about at all. Microsoft's one innovation, the use of WIFI, which allowed Zune users to swap songs (for three days or three listening, which ever came first), proved to accomplish nothing but to raise the price, since there were too few Zune users for then to be able to be able to find their compatriots in order to share music. And, as it turned out, SanDisk came out with the Sansa Connect, which soundly beat the Zune with its WIFI capabilities, allowing the player to be connected to a computer without cables.

Now, however, Microsoft is trying to revive the Zune, planning to offer a smaller and cheaper flash mp3 player, according to a recent leak that left the company in quite a sour mood. The new plan, which was initially posted on the iLounge blog, involves creating a cheaper player, which would provide several gigabytes of flash storage, while taking a form roughly analogous to the iPod Nano. Based on what information we have, however, it appears that the flash Zune would be no competition for the Nano, being bigger, uglier, and not significantly cheaper than its Mac equivalent.

More interestingly, however, is the plan for a larger screened Zune, which would offer large amounts of hard drive storage, apparently hoping to capture users who would want to use the device to watch video. It is not exactly clear what Microsoft is playing at with this development, but it looks like it is heading for iPhone terretory, in another ill-advised Apple-copying maneuver.

It is baffling that Microsoft has done so poorly in the realm of mp3 players, although it is easy to see why it has happened. The Zune, despite its subscription service, was never anything spectacular, never did anything that the iPod couldn't do, and, more importantly, didn't do anything as well as the iPod did. Microsoft would do well to come up with a good idea before it starts marketing its next product.

Sources:

http://features.engadget.com/2007/05/09/new-zune-s-in-the-works-flash-larger-screen-may-be-on-the-way/