| When we all first heard about Microsoft's Zune -- it | | | | days. |
| sounded like a decent contender for an Apple iPod | | | | Now, If it was me. I would have even allowed Zune |
| competitor. Big screen, video, pictures, wireless sharing | | | | music to be shared with no restrictions. But I am a |
| of music plus rewards for people sharing music. It | | | | communist. |
| sounded like it was to good to be true (or to good to | | | | I am also a realist. Microsoft needed to keep the |
| be Microsoft). It sounded like a big fat powerful idea. | | | | record labels happy. However, they could have easily |
| But reality and corporate trenches are a bitch. Here is | | | | done this by restricting the sharing of Zune purchased |
| only some of what went wrong. | | | | music and allowing a free for all with any other media. |
| Pay Per Sale to Universal | | | | I think Microsoft knew this all along, but failed at the |
| Despite what most thing, the decision to pay Universal | | | | negotiations table. |
| for each unit sold was a relatively good strategic | | | | Setting the Price to High |
| move. This will force iTunes to renegotiate with | | | | If I was Microsoft (what I believe to be a smart |
| potentially different terms with the Major labels. ("If | | | | modern organization), I would have the knowledge that |
| Microsoft did it, then so can you"). | | | | traditional marketing is dead. All the money they spent |
| However, take special note that giving Universal a | | | | on TV advertising campaigns and branding could have |
| piece of the pie indicated that both sides are in | | | | been much better spent. |
| agreement that there is a relatively large amount of | | | | They did something right with paying bloggers to speak |
| piracy that happens on these devices. Therefore, the | | | | Zune and promote/critique it. (This, is not a paid post). |
| payment is basically a levy in MP3 players which goes | | | | They should have passed the marketing savings onto |
| right into the labels pocket. | | | | the customers. I would have priced it quite below iPod |
| Wireless | | | | ($50 dollars seems like a doable number minus a multi |
| Seth Godin has clearly demonstrated, in his book The | | | | million dollar advertising campaign). |
| Purple Cow that for a product to be popular, it must be | | | | Combined with wicked sharing functionality, this would |
| remarkable in some way. The wireless feature was it | | | | have been a low market disruption that could have |
| for Microsoft, but here is where they botched the job. | | | | changed the world. |
| Here is what they should have done, since they | | | | Sadly, many MP3's from SanDisk and creative seem |
| already agreed to pay for the piracy subsidy. It should | | | | to be on par with this initial Zune. |
| have been a free for all. Let people share everything | | | | No Podcast Support |
| that wasn't purchased from the Zune store. Let them | | | | Podcasting is essential. I use my iPod to stay updated |
| trade video, audio, text, ebooks, cracks, patches, | | | | with News and the going-ons of Silicon Valley. I plug in |
| everything. Publish an API and let people build | | | | my iPod, it updates my podcasts automagically, and I |
| applications on it. Make it every nerds dream. | | | | listen to them at the gym. I won't buy a Zune because |
| But they didn't did they? The reality is, they basically | | | | of the inconvenience of this lack of a feature. |
| made the wireless connection useless. Every file that | | | | There inability to have a backbone at the negotiations |
| you desire to share, regardless of whether it came | | | | table, the pointless advertising campaign, the high cost, |
| from the Zune store, or your own CDs is wrapped in a | | | | and the under utilization of the wireless functionality will |
| very restrictive DRM which limits three plays or three | | | | be the death of the first iteration of the Zune. |