In like a lion out like a lamb

As soon as  this blog started as soon it ends. It has  been fun writing here, and I’ve gotten a few hits, but really. Why keep going halfheartedly when Inside the Circle is completely rocking it. I mean really. Go there. They’re awesome!

Hopefully I’ll be able to contribute to the cool MS lifestyle some other way. Comments at Inside the Circle will be my first step.

Stay classy, Microsoft!

The Creative Zen Mozaic is beautiful

Readers of the site will know I’m a huge Zune fan, but that’s not to say there aren’t a few great alternatives out there. The ZEN Mozaic for example. It’s beautiful and very affordable. The 16gb comes in at $135.

The Windows ecosystem has always been about choice and if you want to try something that’s a bit different, the Mozaic is a great tiny Zune alternative.

Vaio P series is stylish

In the great laptop wars it seems to me that the most stylish maker of them all often goes unnoticed. I’m talking of course about Sony Vaio, and their P Series which is THE coolest hippest laptop out there.

The 1.4 lbs 8″ notebook is tiny and looks gorgeous. So compact and available in a variety of colors this is without a doubt the most stylish laptop on the market right now.

Album recommendation

Check out Engineers latest album “Three Fact Fader”. It is brilliant dreamy pop and perfect to load on your Zune.

A Zune vs iPod story — are Mac users jealous?

I read this Inside the Circle post with a smile on my face because I have had a very similar experience myself.

A few weeks ago I was sitting at the bus, minding my own business, listening to my Zune. The guy next to me was listening to his iPhone when he turned around and asked “So. A Zune user huh?”. Now Zunes are pretty common around Seattle, so I pretty much just said “Yeah.” This he took as his cue to teach me a little lesson and he launched into a five minute rant about how much better he thought the iPhone was and how lousy the Zune was. I mean it was literally five minutes, which he ended with “And! The Zune doesn’t even work on a Mac!” I stayed quiet and calm like I had during his whole tirade, let a few seconds pass, then turned around and said “If the Zune is so bad, why do you want it to work on a Mac?”. At this point the bus pulled over, and the guy looked really flustered, reddened, and jumped off the bus mumbling something I couldn’t hear. I just laughed to myself and put on the last Justice album.

I have never gotten a straight answer from a Mac user on this. Why do they want Mac compatibility with a player they claim to hate? Honestly, I think the answer is simple. They’ve seen the Zune, they know its features, they know what it can do, and they understand what us Zune users already know. The Zune is better than their iPod when it comes to being a media player. It’s not a phone, but the Zune does what it does better than any other media player on the market. And it eats the Mac user up inside that they can’t use it.

Brilliant Microsoft blog post ondesign

Let’s face it: Microsoft has had an uphill battle when it comes to design, be it software (Windows XP, eugh) and hardware (the original Xbox). This has of course changed over the years. Windows 7 steamrolls any other operating system looks wise. The Xbox 360 is a marvel of modern design. And the new Zune HD? I’m still awestruck.

It’s interesting that Microsoft has posted a nice blog post here outlining the evolution of their design. And more interesting, they give credit to Apple for pushing Microsoft in the right direction. It’s a valid credit to give. Apple was doing beautiful design before Microsoft and often poked the bear, taunting Microsoft’s poor designs.

Can you imagine how badly Apple regrets that now when they see the Zune HD and Windows 7? Apparently the design apprentice (Microsoft) is now the master!

How to handle the Zune HD launch

My favorite cool Zune site Inside the Circle asked “How should Zune handle the launch of the Zune HD?”. It’s a great question, especially seeing while individual parts of earlier launches have been successful, the full picture has obviously not, commercially, been fulfilled. With my background in marketing, here are ten free tips for Microsoft:

1. Commercials: The iPhone/Touch adds are, admittedly, excellent. They show what the phone /iPod can do very clearly, while showing off the form factor. The Zune HD, which design wise trumps any Apple player, should be shown off in a similar way, without ripping off Apple’s ads or even mention Apple. HD radio, HD movies, browser, music player, best GUI on the market… Show it all off! Don’t fall in the trap of making this like the current laptop hunters ads. The Zune HD’s core market will be young hip people. Don’t alienate them by trying to make the Zune HD “family friendly”.
2. Show the commercials off. I mean how many Zune ads do you see on TV? Put them on during the Daily Show, on VH1, during Family Guy. Reach your audience with what they watch.
3. Put the Zune in TV shows. Currently it has been a joke on Chuck. Pay the TV channel and have Chuck become a Zune guy in the next season. Why not? If Chuck can be changed it might put the player in a positive light.
4. Have city billboards. APple has done it. Beat them on their own game by making the billboards even more eyecatching.
5. Have regional launch parties. Not just in LA, NYC and Seattle. Do it in smaller cities too. Most cities have at least one hip club. Show off the player there by inviting local DJs.
6. Talk up the Xbox 360 integration. The 360 is huge. Have the Zune ride on it.
7. Guerilla marketing is important. Have hip young people use their Zunes at Starbucks or in bars. Have them make it a conversation starter.
8. Talk up the Zune Pass. The online Zune Pass ad is great. Show it off!
9. Change the Zune Insider blog to be more Stereogum like. Don’t make it an apparent dull marketing blog. Have cool people talk about cool music and a cool life around the Zune.
10. Do like they did the first time. Invite cool music blogs to go check out the Zune before tech blogs. Zune should reach an audience that isn’t necessarily tech savvy.

Some Zune HD tidbits

I promised to post more didn’t I? Well I promise to live up to that promise starting right now. What better way than give you some news and information and speculations about the finally announced Zune HD?

1. In terms of size I fully expect these to come in 16gb to 32gb. That will be the size of the new iPhones and it’d make no sense to make the Zune’s smaller. 8gb will from now on be for smaller players only.
2. The cheapest iPod Touch (8gb) is currently selling for $229. I fully expect the 16gb Zune HD to sell for the same, or possibly even as low as $199. Expect the larger model to go for somewhere between $250-$300.
3. Pre loaded media: Expect the Zune HD to also come bundled with an HD movie this time, not just music. What kind of movie? It’s hard to say, but as the Zune has always been an edgy device, something the music choice has reflected, I expect the movie to be something along the same lines. Probably an indie movie, or, perhaps, a concert movie?
4. Expect similar, smaller Zune HDs to appear. The fact is that smaller devices sell better. I expect an 8gb mini Zune HD to appear just in time for the Xmas 2009 season, with identical features to its big brother.

For your iPod loving friends

Zune has launched a new Zune Pass campaign which you can see right here. The content should surprise no Zune users, but might be a much needed wake up call for your Zune owning friends. Have them try the calculator and they will be shocked! If your friend has say 90 gb of music (like I do) he or she would have spent $22,000 on it on iTune. With the Zune pass you would of course only have spent less than $15 a month!

Video: Zune-Capacity

These kind of ads are marvelous and really show one of the many reasons the Zune is better than the iPod!

ZuneHD — oh yeah!

Hey, Apple, it is on! Or it will be soon. Microsoft is playing it smart. Very smart. On one end they’re prepping Windows Mobile 7 with Zune software integration. This software will be used by dozens of  cell phone makers, meaning Windows Mobile 7 will be attacking the iPhone from multiple angles. And more importantly, it will in all likelyhood mean the Zune will be the dominant cell phone media player out there.

But it doesn’t end there. Microsoft smartly realizes what Apple hasn’t: many probably most don’t want one device for both music and phone. We want one standalone media player AND a phone. And that’s why Microsoft will bomb Apple’s abysmal media player market with ZuneHD (the name might change) which will be the ultimate portable entertainment device. The thing is gorgeous. So beyond what Apple has ever designed. Can you imagine sitting in Starbucks the first few days after that thing is out? Apple fans will come inside, look around, and then run out in embarresment when they look at their iPhone or iPod “classic”.

Microsoft is a very very clever company and we didn’t understand how smartly they were playing this game. It wasn’t just about the device. The Zune is a platform. And with the kinks having being worked out, they will attack both the cell phone media market and the personal player market with different devices powered through the same media platform. The Zune.