Xbox Bets On Zune Media Tunes

Microsoft continues to seek ways in which to join the media delivery party. They have tried devices, mobile operating systems, apps, services and have had one notable success – the Xbox.

The Zune Media service was a flop and discontinued earlier this year along with the device. Microsoft then went on to help create Nook Media and before Nook has taken off, we now have the news that Xbox Music will be available on the Xbox 360 games console this week and available on Windows-based devices once Windows 8 is released later in the month.

With a database of some 30 million tracks, the Xbox Music catalogue claims to be larger than even that of Apple's iTunes, which only has a mere 26 million tracks. But is volume enough when we are talking of a greater depth of music than even the connoisseur would expect?

However, like Spotify before it, Zune Media will offer a free version of the service, enabling users to stream music, with adverts appearing every 15 minutes. This may not be what Xbox users expected but Microsoft have carried out research which claims that some 60% of Xbox owners time on their consoles is spent using entertainment services rather than playing video games. Does this therefore mean that the consoles could become a sort of media tablet or platform? After all if one has invested in the console why buy another device to do the same and if that is the case why not use Zune Media for music?

So the Xbox can support Netflix, BBC iPlayer and sports TV network ESPN and now Zune Media and the obvious question is how this fits with Nook Media and ebooks?

The challenge, maybe to not build on the Microsoft brand, but to redefine it cleanly around the Xbox itself. However, naming the new service after a 'dead duck' is not a good omen on a service which is clearly about collections that are meant to last even if they are on-demand. It also begs the strategy direction Microsoft aim to take with Nook Media?

Zune Today, Gone Tomorrow

Microsoft may have made history with the sales of their Xbox Kinect but it appears the writing is on the wall for their Zune media players.

In 2006 when MS CEO Steve Ballmer released the Zune, he predicted that Microsoft could one day overtake Apple. What a long time four year is in today’s technology.

An unnamed inside source has been cited by Bloomberg saying that MS is not going to extend the product further. The media player market has clearly moved on and Zune has failed to move with it. Today the smartphone is the media player and that is why MS have turned their attention to their Windows Phone 7 OS platform.

Zune Again?

Just when we though that Microsoft's digital music Zune player was to be laid to rest up it pops once again.
The touch-screen Zune HD will be able to download high-definition videos and with the help of a separate docking station, also be streamed to a television. The Zune is still currently only on sale in the US, at $220 (16 GB) and $290 ( 32 GB) and the Zune HD will feature wi-fi access for downloading as well as a web browser and also has a radio receiver for both analogue and digital radio. However, does a $10 lower price point give it any real opport6unity against the iPod/Touch? Earlier this month Microsoft announced that it would discontinue its earlier models of the Zune.
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Microsoft also now aim to release a number of free applications such as Facebook, Twitter and games. However do Microsoft really think that with a few apps they can compete with Apple’s 75,000 apps and that they have a winner when iPods have about 73% of the digital music player market and Zunes a miniscule 2%?

Sorry Microsoft you may have smart technology but you are too late and playing the wrong Zune.

No Hootenanny for Zunes

As the celebrations took place, corks popped, fireworks exploded, music rocked and people sang 'Auld Land Syne' the Zune machine quietly died in its cradle.

One would think that after the Millennium bug everyone would have thought about dates and time and avoided any sort of repeat but it appears that Microsoft didn’t learn. Around midnight Pacific time last night, 30GB Zune models began restarting and locking up at their boot screens. Apparently the problem occurred irrespective of whether the Zune was idle or playing music but only affected the 30GB model.

Microsoft has issued its official statement ‘there appears to be a bug in the 30GB Zune's internal clock driver related to the way the device handles a leap year. Microsoft recommends allowing affected Zunes to run down their batteries, and come noon GMT on January 1, 2009, it will be safe to plug in, restart, and once again rock out with the Zune.’

We think that this is the sort of bad publicity the Microsoft don’t want and rather than ‘rocking out with the Zune’ it just makes the Apple family stronger.

Zuned Out

A few years ago a New York publishers told us that 'last year we had a title that sold 2 million and was a failure.' 'How?' was our immediate reply. 'We printed 3 million.'

We now read about a device selling 2 million units and still be considered a flop? The answer is different but equally simple, its competitor reportedly averages 3,5 million units sales a month and the 2 million is over 18 months!

This latest story is about Microsoft’s attempt to capture the iPod space with its Zune. The Zune looked good, did much of the same as the iPod, but was last to the party, didn’t have the iconic design status and failed to capture the consumer ticket. Hands up how many consumers have even heard of it?

Should Microsoft just bury it and move on? Can Microsoft afford to back another loser? It may be down to how you define failure. If failure is not getting number one slot then its failed. If failure is not selling substaiul numbers, it may well be a success. The reality is that for some its top slot or nothing as top slot can dictate the direction and pace.

Some have suggested that the Zune become the ZunePhone, but lets be honest that would be like betting when the dice are stacked against you. Some now suggest that the Zune goes after Hollywood and bypasses the TV content for the richer and more lucrative Hollywood prize. If it acquired exclusive content it could become a must have, or at least a recognised brand. Others suggest that Zune Social will make the difference. Some even believe that Zune could rise from the ashes and become the new Xbox.

The reality is that Zune is not an iPod, nor is the brand sexy, iconic or going to win with today’s hand. We bet that Zune will just slip silently away to that grand mortuary in the sky where all technology failures end up.

What has this to do with book publishing? The answers is very little, other than it proves that like Microsoft did, it is easy to believe ones own rhetoric. The real test is on the streets. Some would argue that the ebook and the current batch of wannabee readers are providing just the initial skirmish and its hard to see these current offers being the decisive blow and its more likely that the winner is not even here yet.

The question is whether selling 240,000 units is a success, a failure and who's judging?

TV To Go

Television is rapidly changing and the uptake of services such as the BBC iPlayer are redefining our viewing habits. The move away from real time viewing to offline viewing has been happening for some time and the iPlayer has just taken the model one step further. What is significant is the quality of the presentation and although the sound can be limiting sometimes the pictures are not.

Microsoft have now announced that it will follow Apple’s initiative and be offering television shows on its Zune portable media device from NBC Universal. NCB shows such as ‘The Office’ and ‘Heroes’ will available for playback and the service will also include Comedy Central's "South Park" and MTV's "The Hills" available at a pre paid cost of $1.99.

But the Zune will not be alone in this space with NBC also appearing on Amazon.com’s Unbox service and News Corp.'s Fox Hulu service. The question remains whether the iPod and Zune devices can beat the mobile phone players in the portable market and other online services in the home online market?

A Year in Digital Music is a Long Time

When iTunes started to dominate the music download market it looked a forgone conclusion that their position would be sustainable and that combined with the iPod the market was sorted. A year is a long time in this digital age and now many are starting to question iTunes position with some very interesting new services which do not replicate but shift the business model in different directions. What was its strengths – the combined channel and player, plus defined price point, may yet prove its weakness.

First we had the pretenders to the iTunes crown- Sony’s Connect, MTV's Rhapsody America and Microsoft’s ‘me too’ Zune service. Interestingly these are all suffering and irrespective of their high profile backers are not matching their expectation. Perhaps merely copying a good idea is not the key?

One of the biggest shifts came from the artists who started to take control and redefine their own value chain. Prince exploded into the Mail on Sunday with Planet Earth and introduced both a new channel and new model ‘free with paper’. Radiohead told the record companies where to go, released themselves and started with an honesty box price approach. McCartney and Mitchell went to Starbucks and sold well through a new label plus retail format. Madonna bought herself out of her record company for £50 million and aligned herself with her merchandising and tour values and is now rumoured to be soon followed by Robbie Williams leaving EMI. Who would be a record company today?

Then came the rights management-free MP3s from EMI Music, Universal Music Group and a handful of independent labels. After years of fighting Napster, Kazza, and even the public, the music industry finally realised that perhaps restrictive DRM was not the answer. Something many consumers could have told them years ago and the record companies then lurched from DRM to non DRM in a heartbeat. Amazon stepped up offering DRM free, Jobs claimed it was his idea all along and the likes of Amazon jumped from nowhere to the third largest download retailer behind iTunes and emusic. It interesting to note that Amazon’s entry and achievement is without Sony BMG and Warner Music Group catalogues -who still weirdly, think that they control the music business.

Then there was the ad supported business model and the service we have written much of and admired from its concept – Spiralfrog. After much delay it finally launched in the US with all major labels and many independents onboard. The question is whether it took too long and in fact lost its own momentum? Others have now jumped on the same bandwagon and its questionable whether that delayed launch is going to be a wait too long? Slacker has jumped in and stolen much ground not only moving fast but starting its free, ad-supported customizable online radio service and following this with a portable device that uses Wi-Fi to update channels, and a subscription service tier that offers users more functionality for a monthly fee.

Now we have the likes of Nokia launching a free download model based on restricted models and service subscriptions. They certainly have the market clout and pressence and will give the iPhone and interesting race. The question in this area is where the mobile carriers or the mobile makers will prevail?

The latest service to turn our heads is IMEEM. They started effectively on one side of the fence by letting users stream free music, then when the record labels initiated legal action against the service, Imeem implemented filtering technology and an advertising system from Snocap to reward the companies every time a user played one of its songs. Interestingly it is a music centric experience and offers a different social interaction that others don’t. Will it succeed? We think so but there again the New Year beckons and 2008 is likely to see as much change as did 2007.

Zune Revamp

Microsoft is ramping up its ‘iTunes and Apple competitor’ Zune offer. The question are whether it is merely following in the shadows and whether it has something new and special to offer?

They have unveiled two new Zunes with redesigned ‘Zune Pad’ controllers and styling.They are offering a $250 enhanced version of the old model, with a 80GB hard drive and a smaller, lighter flash memory-based model with 4-GB for $150 or 8-GB for $200. The Zune's wireless networking can sync a Zune wirelessly to a PC, and if you send a song to another Zune owner, the song will not now automatically vanish from the other Zune after three days. The recipient can also send this song on to still other Zune owners,but can still only play it three times.

The Zune Marketplace will now sell DRM-free MP3 files, stock music videos, but will still not have TV shows or movies and a new online-community site called Zune Social will also enable file sharing.

Microsoft claim to have shipped 1.2 million units last year but these have little visibility and are far outnumbered by Apple’s growing iWorld. They even had to roll out Bill to support these announcements.

Instead of fighting the market on an open and multi entertainment platform they have continued their proprietary route, even to the point of being incompatible with their own ‘PlaysForSure’ format for purchased audio and video downloads, and have retained their own ‘Microsoft Points’ payment system.

So what’s special? Not a lot unless you can find another Zune user within sight to share files with and although a great feature not one to build a product around. Zune social doesn’t present that ‘must join’ factor and there are too many competitors who have better offers or stronger communities. Sorry the Zune lacks a USP and we can’t see being high on the Christmas list to Santa this year.