Zune Diehards
motherboard.vice.com
motherboard.vice.com
Not everyone lives under your paradigm of brand-tribalism, and of those who do, not all subscribe to your particular tribe.
> To my surprise, my inbox was soon filled with emails from people who claim to still use, and love, their Zunes.
Of course you were surprised. How can there be so many painfully unhip people in this world? I bet they don't even live in a hip city. Couldn't tell the difference between a cortado and a flat white, am I right?
I understand ad hominems are generally not cool, but seeing as the author's contributions to this article are, in typical Vice fashion, devoid of anything other than breathless, sneering, self-important cultural 'commentary', I find it harder to take the high road.
The writer could be calling them out just the same. Because a lot of people use Apple and the mainstream 'tribe' subscribes to the mass brand appeal, the writer seems conscious enough of the way they operate the business.
The authors contribution to the article is just that... the article. The author sought these people out and got them to share their thoughts on the Zune.
Also, what you call breathless, sneering self-importance (at least in this instance) I call a sense of humour.
I never understood why the Zune never succeeded. It was a great little player.
[0] https://www.amazon.com/Zune-Digital-Media-Player-Black/dp/B0...
I think it was primarily due to three things: (1) it didn't get released until 5 years after the iPod; (2) while many people loathe iTunes it was widely used and liked by everyday people, and it was introduced 8.5 months before the iPod released; (3) Microsoft wasn't viewed as a "cool" consumer brand.
I also had one after only using cheaper Sansa Clip type mp3 players prior to that. I believe it was on sale and was a more affordable alternative to an iPod when I wanted to try something that could hold a lot of music, do podcasts, had an FM radio, and essentially avoid iTunes (which I'd tried and disliked).
Sadly, it was stolen after a few months and I gave up on the idea. I still have an old Sansa Clip in a drawer somewhere for occasional use. Otherwise, even back in the Zune days I often just streamed Shoutcast stations on my old Treos and PPCs before moving on to more modern smartphones which are more likely to be used now. I load up a USB stick to keep connected in the car for specific things I want to listen to. Otherwise it's just Youtube Music or (still) streaming Shoutcast stations.
I had a brown zune and it was great at the time.
Also, I can just place it in the dock and use it at home (or even for watching videos, up to 720p)
My LG V20 blows it away in audio quality and power plus I can do pro-level recording. I have a $250 portable recorder and my phone has replaced it.
If all my(2-4?) 6-10 year old cheap mp3 players had a decent UI like the Zune and didn't break... I don't see a reason why I wouldn't still use them.
Shouldn't it be the inverse? Why the need for another device, if you're already carrying the smartphone?
Like how is "the music player battery lasts for 5 days, and phone battery lasts 1.5 days" a pro-music-player argument: it means the options are "charge every day" and "charge every day, and additionally a second thing every 5 days", right?
My phones never last 1.5 days of use if they have to play music all the time as well, at least not once the battery is a year old. With my current one, having to balance usage to make sure it'll be available when I need it is getting annoying and includes "no music now".
At least in the past storage in phones was needlessly expensive and scarce, this has gotten better, and you can still get enough phones with microSD slots, despite the best attempts of some manufacturers to get rid of them.
Bluetooth also has gotten more reliable, that helps, but at least among the devices I've tried that's really a recent development, and still not perfect.
I totally get that other people will evaluate this differently (and/or buy better phones than me), but I don't see it as an obvious answer.
A modern phone compared to a Zune?
> I use a USB stick music player. It's essentially like a usb drive with a headphone jack.
This specific point clearly doesn't apply to a Zune, so we can assume remaining Zune users have other individual reasons why they like what they have.
It's not such a question for the parent though, as they said that: "I never use my smartphone for music, I don't see the need" -- which implies they ALSO have/carry a smartphone.
> Why the need to use the smartphone FOR MUSIC (and look into and accept the compromises coming with that) when you already own a device made perfectly for the task of playing music?
My Sansa Clip years ago was a far better device for music and survived the washing machine a couple of times.
I tried getting a cheap "mp3 stick" of aliexpress but it came without memory. I'd rather not waste electronics a second time.
Or hopefully the Arduino and Raspberry type of hardware gets small enough that I can build my own (with which I will probably never be allowed on an airplane).
But if you want a music player, why carry and charge a second device if you already have a phone?
I have one of those Sansa Clip players running Rockbox that I use for sport and bike commute. It costs nothing, it is virtually indestructible, has more space for music than anyone ever needs and I can operate it without ever taking it out of the pocket its in. Simple physical button presses to start, shutdown, resume last playback position, adjust volume and move forward and backwards between songs and folders.
Yes! That's something so innate to my usage that I forgot to mention it.
Don't phones tend to have an inline control on the headphones that you can operate by feel? Certainly mine does.
> I loathe iTunes with the passion of every sun in the known universe
> If my Zune breaks, definitely look for another Zune first.
> I found out that they stopped making [the Zune], so I had to go to eBay
> I vastly prefer the Zune device user interface
> I'll probably see if I can get a replacement Zune online
Imagine being the diehard Zune fan who felt his best option for a replacement was going all in with Windows Phone.
It could be worst, they could be rocking the Dell Ditty.
(Yeah, someone in 2015 thought this could be answer to the iPod: https://www.cnet.com/products/dell-dj-ditty-512mb/review/ )
> The thing is, with your phone, if you download an app like Spotify, they're asking for access to data on your phone, it's connected to the internet, and they track your location, which they sell to third-party vendors. But the Zune isn't connected to the internet at all, and what I like about the Zune is the privacy element.
Having just checked, Spotify has no location permissions on iOS.
They seem spot on
At a Microsoft event this year Apple said they plan to have a more streamlined iTunes in the Windows Store late this year/early next year (to target Windows 10 S users especially), and surely that is a fascinating sign of the times if ever there was one.
I am glad Swissmicros is out there!
Now I just use he iPhone to play music