Print - Microsoft Touts Zune Successes

Coming on the heels of Apple's quarterly results, during which the computer and consumer electronics firm announced that it had sold 10.5 million iPod digital media players, the following information is going to seen as somewhat lackluster by comparison: Microsoft announced late Wednesday that its Zune digital media player is "holding steady" and continues to be the number two selling hard drive-based portable media player.

According to NPD data cited by Microsoft, the Zune controlled 9.1 percent of the hard drive-based portable media player market in March, second only to Apple's iPod, which presumably controlled most of the other 90 percent. To bolster sales, Microsoft is adding a "baby pink" Zune model alongside the previous black, white, and brown models. The pink Zune will become widely available in May, Microsoft says.

Microsoft also touted other Zune-related advances. The company will soon launch a new "more pragmatic" advertising campaign that focuses on Zune features like its integrated FM tuner, large screen, and wireless networking functionality. And the Zune Marketplace has added over 500,000 tracks since going online in November 2006, the company says.

Not only will the Zune have an ugly death it will also have an even uglier life.

Ahhh. Now I see why. bdk and lotsa, there are some spots available here for you guys.

The only thing uglier is Waethorn's mother. But unlike the Zune's songs, you can share her with more than 3 people.

stevejobs, please take your puerile jokes somewhere else. When did this site degenerate into a forum for teenagers to express their sexual fantasies?

"What's a post like this doing in a place like this?" The Zune is a Windows-only Microsoft product. The tagline for this site is "News About Windows and Microsoft". Therefore, it is news that belongs on this site. As to the merits (or lack therof) of the Zune, it would seem to me that Microsoft will never admit defeat in this arena. Unlike DELL, who wisely saw the writing on the wall and discontinued, the pathetic "DJ" line, Microsoft will likely continue throwing cash at this cow of a product for the forseeable future. Might as well. After all, Bill can only give so much of his fortune away. May as well pi$$ the rest of it down this rabbit hole along with the $21 billion spent on the xBox. The shareholders don't seem to mind, so why should anyone else care? ----- @yahoo: "stevejobs, please take your puerile jokes somewhere else." Agreed.

"As to the merits (or lack therof) of the Zune, it would seem to me that Microsoft will never admit defeat in this arena." Do you remember when Paul said he'd be surprised if Microsoft sold even 50,000 Zunes? You also quoted some guy who said they wouldn't even manage to sell 50. Later, Paul realized that his long-time friend, Dave Caulton worked in the Zune team and did a flip-flop and wrote a story about how Microsoft's goal was to sell 1 mn. Zunes by the end of June '07 and how that was a reasonable estimate. Well, Microsoft never claimed it would drive iPods out of the market within 5 months and so far, inspite of all the negative reviews and the fact that the product is half-baked, the Zune seems to be doing a reasonable job in the market and there's no indication that Microsoft won't achieve its initial goal.

I doubt Zune will die. 1 out of every 10 owners of 'premium' music players are packing a Zune, and that's after 5 months. Heck, 1 out of 50 computer owners in the world have a Mac, and that's after over 15 years. Mac users say that's victory. Zune could lose 1% market share every year for almost a decade, and it would still be doing better than Macs in the personal computing arena. But sure, Zune is dead, and by God, Macbook is going to rule the world. I could see their point if there wasn't that 8ft thick wall of incomprehensible blather built up around it.

But when are they going to announce the 2.0 feature-set? I like the Zune but the GigaBeat S still has it beat.

"by God, Macbook is going to rule the world." what??! you mean this isn't the "year of Linux" afterall??? XP

"what??! you mean this isn't the "year of Linux" afterall???" Ubuntu 7 is a mean devil. Feisty Fawn is the best free deal you can get.