AfterDawn: Tech news

Microsoft Zune hits 2 million sold

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 09 May 2008 1:58 User comments (19)

Microsoft Zune hits 2 million sold Microsoft has revealed that its popular Zune media player has hit 2 million units sold since its launch in November 2006. What the figure also reveals however is low or flat growth for the device, especially compared to sales of the Apple iPod.
The company originally promised it would hit one million sales before June 2007 and it did so but since then has kept quiet on sales for its player or any predictions on it.

Despite the flat growth the sales still helped Microsoft move up a percentage point in overall US marketshare, from 3 to 4 percent. Those figures are courtesy of the NPD Group.

It seems, for now at least, that there is fragmentation in sales after the launch of the second generation of Zune players. The original million sales were from the original 30GB model but since November 2007, Microsoft has been selling two cheaper flash-based Zunes as well as two HDD-based players.



The slowdown in sales could possibly have nothing to do with Microsoft at all. The current US economic recession has staggered spending all across the board and non-necessities such as MP3 players are sure to see a hit. MP3 players are also approaching saturation in the market and there are fewer first time purchases being made, regardless of brand.

Apple continues to flourish however with their iPod lineup and still control the market handily. In the last quarter 10.6 million iPods were sold, over 5 times the amount of Zunes sold in almost 2 years.


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19 user comments

19.5.2008 15:13

Is the Zune in Canada? I've never seen one ever.

29.5.2008 15:19

And M$ wants to put big time DRM on ZUNE. Way to go M$, you're gonna get killed.

39.5.2008 15:22
v965hdss
Inactive

Sold where? never seen one in UK, should have been called Lune

49.5.2008 15:46

???

59.5.2008 16:25

Microsoft's plans to secretly install super-DRM with future Zune software updates that will block copyrighted material is no surprise. Remember that they kowtowed to Universal Music by giving them $1 for every Zune sold on the presumption that Zune buyers are all thieves.

610.5.2008 13:22

Vr0cK: According to a microsoft press release the Zune will be available June 13th.
The priceing will be:
Zune 80 $250 CDN (RED, BLACK)
Zune 8 $190 CDN (RED, BLACK, OR PINK)
Zune 4 $140 CDN (RED, BLACK, OR PINK)

The software is already available for download at http://www.zune.net/en-ca

711.5.2008 09:20

v965hdss:

Well i'd imagine sold in the US as it's the only place it is sold until it goes on sale in Canada soon.

You can buy them from importers in the UK though but registering it online messes up your LIVE profile in my experience (as it assumes you must be in the US)

I can't see how the Zune filtering drm crap would possibly work for many reasons. Even if it 'worked' what would stop people downgrading the firmware like they have done before?
MS looks keen to kill off the Zune adding rubbish like this lol.

I love my 30GB Zune it's great, looks great, great firmware... but the software is USELESS. How about instead of adding more DRM and 'features' MS concentrates on fixing the software?
Why is syncing so unreliable, why is it so damn picky on ID3 tags and rename tracks without asking or replace album covers with the wrong ones and whilst this is all going on using 80% of my PC resources. Why on earth can't it just be supported through Media Player? an application which is already on every damn Windows PC.

It's about time someone created a 3rd party software package :-(

811.5.2008 13:15

Originally posted by OFI:
v965hdss:

Well i'd imagine sold in the US as it's the only place it is sold until it goes on sale in Canada soon.

You can buy them from importers in the UK though but registering it online messes up your LIVE profile in my experience (as it assumes you must be in the US)

I can't see how the Zune filtering drm crap would possibly work for many reasons. Even if it 'worked' what would stop people downgrading the firmware like they have done before?
MS looks keen to kill off the Zune adding rubbish like this lol.

I love my 30GB Zune it's great, looks great, great firmware... but the software is USELESS. How about instead of adding more DRM and 'features' MS concentrates on fixing the software?
Why is syncing so unreliable, why is it so damn picky on ID3 tags and rename tracks without asking or replace album covers with the wrong ones and whilst this is all going on using 80% of my PC resources. Why on earth can't it just be supported through Media Player? an application which is already on every damn Windows PC.

It's about time someone created a 3rd party software package :-(
agree'd

911.5.2008 14:24

there are 3rd party softwares for syncing, I have not tried them, but I know a couple that have. If you do a google search you can come up with a few sites. Read the forums and fallow the links.
Like I said I can't say how good they are but some people like them

1011.5.2008 18:26

The 3rd party software I have seen available is useless, it still requires you to open the Zune software to validate the connection which pretty much defies the point.

1111.5.2008 21:00

Just a thought, with M$ putting on new super duper DRM on new Zune's, Apple Ipods never had such good free advertising, or had it so good as matter of fact.

1212.5.2008 08:42

Ok I'm a zune owner. After hearing about the DRM thing I started hunting and trying to finger out the truth behind all this. Last night after about 3 hours worth of work and news report reading, and 2 virus attacks I have "heard" from a zune insider that there will NOT be a DRM police on a zune update. Intial reports did say that is what NBC wanted, but so far zune is saying no. When I get back home tonight I will see if I can post some of the info I found. I know this topic isn't as popular as some of the others but I hate people messing with stuff I own (NBC/Zune) Sorry, but last night I was to tired, and virus' were bugging me. Hopefully tonight though I will be able to update all of you on my findings.(depends how happy hour goes if I get it posted tonight or not)
LD

1312.5.2008 13:51

I've got the 30gb zune & have no complaints. the software isn't the best but after i put all my music on it i don't really interact w/ the software much except to synch new songs. I also love that it has an FM receiver. In general i'm not a big fan of M$ but then again i never liked apple's practices much either.

1412.5.2008 13:54

Ok here is what I have been able to gather from web sites.
NBC left apple because they wanted more money for their shows they put on itunes and apple did not want to release a bigger piece of the pie to them.
Now some are saying they also left because of the fact that people could just download it off of a torents site and get it for free. But that is not the primary reason.
From what I have been able to gather the deal is done with zune. Some people are saying that microsoft did say they would "work" on a way to prevent "free" shows from being viewed.
But with a little more digging I have found that alot of websites have come back to that article and added an update stateing that microsoft came out and said it will not be adding the desired drm that everybody is up in arms about.
So inconclusion..........Who knows so far it looks like nbc is soon to be available for zune. And zune will not be adding the drm police in a future update.
Just for FYI NBC is comody central, MTV, and a slew of others.

1513.5.2008 12:52

Originally posted by lawndog:
Ok here is what I have been able to gather from web sites.
NBC left apple because they wanted more money for their shows they put on itunes and apple did not want to release a bigger piece of the pie to them.
Now some are saying they also left because of the fact that people could just download it off of a torents site and get it for free. But that is not the primary reason.
From what I have been able to gather the deal is done with zune. Some people are saying that microsoft did say they would "work" on a way to prevent "free" shows from being viewed.
But with a little more digging I have found that alot of websites have come back to that article and added an update stateing that microsoft came out and said it will not be adding the desired drm that everybody is up in arms about.
So inconclusion..........Who knows so far it looks like nbc is soon to be available for zune. And zune will not be adding the drm police in a future update.
Just for FYI NBC is comody central, MTV, and a slew of others.
Finally someone who knows what they're talking about.

Yes, Microsoft may add DRM to the NBC-related downloads re-activating SOME of the DRM protection that came on the Zune at launch, (which was mostly disabled in a subsequent firmware update) just to prevent sharing and ripping of the NBC shows (which as most of us hardware junkies know is a stupid DRM that is VERY easy to crack, and intentionally made so). All music from the Zune marketplace has been DRM-free for $14.99/month unlimited downloads, as has most of the movies.

Microsoft would NEVER add any MORE protection to a Zune, as their official stand on "intrusive DRM" is that it is anti-consumer. Like the activation security on Vista, it's easy to break and just put there so that those who don't know how to crack it, don't; and those who do... are still using Microsoft's freakin' merchandise. Also, they want to maintain cross-compatibility between the Zune and the Xbox360, which would be lost with a new DRM update.


P.S. If you are going to bash something, then you should know what you're talking about. (Right now you're just coming off sounding stupid)
This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 13 May 2008 @ 12:55

1613.5.2008 14:41

"they want to maintain cross-compatibility between the Zune and the Xbox360, which would be lost with a new DRM update."

LOL after 2 or three tracks the Zune drops its connection to the 360!

1713.5.2008 16:12

again, you should know what you're talking about before you shoot your mouth off. It makes you look incredibly stupid. This issue was fixed two media updates ago, when they added additional playback support for the chipset.



stupidity should be painful...

1813.5.2008 18:33

Feel free to explain to an owner of BOTH a Zune and a 360 why it STILL doesn't work then.

I do know what i'm talking about as I use both on an almost daily basis.

1913.5.2008 19:18

ok I reseached your problem OFI. Seems like there are actually alot of people that have had this problem.(Hay most people agree the zune is good, just not the software) I'm at my office right now on a POS comp, but I will try to get on tongiht to look again. If you get a chance though, make sure your 360 is up to date. Sign onto your live account (FYI every 360 has a free silver version for free to those who didn't know)
If I find them tonight, I will post some links.
Well, let me ask this first..... Am I allowed to post links to other forums???
I try to be careful not to tick off the mods, some can be testy, not gonna metion names though :)

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