Axehole

The release of the Microsoft Zune portable media player is turning out to be a huge fiasco for the company.

Despite months of Internet buzz, Microsoft’s attempt at an iPod-killer has gotten terrible reviews, its share of the portable media market has been sinking like a rock. Microsoft is now faced with not only fixing the Zune’s problems, but rehabilitating the Zune brand.

10 Ways Microsoft Botched The Zune Release

• The Zune release was boring. Microsoft released the details of the Zune well before its release. At the time, many people pointed out potential problems with the player, and many figured these problems would be addressed before the player was released. Instead, Microsoft released a player with no surprises, making the actual release seem like a let-down.
• Microsoft got the wrong domain name for the Zune. Zune.com was registered by a UK company, Gate Market Research, in 1998. Microsoft settled on Zune.net instead. As a result, people going to Zune.com get what looks like an error page.
• Lack of podcasting support - podcasting is one of the hottest trends in Internet media, and it appears to be missing in action with the Zune and the rest of Microsoft’s media technologies.
• The brown Zune - Apple is offering a variety of sexy high-tech styles for its iPods. Where did Microsoft come up with the idea that muddy brown was a good idea? Gizmodo said the brown Zune looks like it’s made of swamp water jello.
• The Zune is clunky. Popular Mechanics calls the Zune “the husky, ugly cousin of the iPod”. The Zune is bigger and fatter than comparable iPods.
• The Zune’s wireless features are useless to most users. The device’s wireless feature can’t be used to sync, purchase music or download podcasts.
• The Zune uses an arcane point system for digital music purchases. According to Microsoft, Zune users can “purchase songs individually using Microsoft Points for 79 points per track. Similar to a pre-paid phone card, Microsoft Points is a stored value system that can be redeemed at a growing number of online stores, including the Xbox Live Marketplace.” Or you could just spend your $.99 at iTunes.
• The Zune Tax - every Zune purchase includes a cut for the Universal Music Group. To many music fans, this seemed like an ominous pact with the devil.
• The Zune is incompatible with everything. Microsoft wanted to create a closed, controlled digital music system like Apple has created. In doing this, the company made the Zune incompatible with Microsoft’s PlaysForSure technology. This means you can’t buy tracks from the Zune from Apple or just about any other major music service.
• Microsoft released the Zune before it was ready.As a result, reviews have been scathing, ranging from Engadget saying that “Installing the Zune sucked,” to a New York Times review, that said that the list of things that iPods do that Zunes don’t could stretch to Steve Ballmer’s house and back 10 times, to Business Week calling the Zune “a dismal failure“.

Given Microsoft’s resources, it’s amazing that the company didn’t come up with a more compelling alternative to the iPod than the Zune. Instead of an iPod-killer, Microsoft’s failures have made the Zune the butt of late-night talk show jokes: