What “outdated $15-per-month subscription fee?” I use my Zune day-in, day-out, and have never purchased anything from their store. It’s really an excellent player. I will say I have been tempted by the Zunepass, if only because it allows you to keep (forever!) 10 tunes a month. That makes it not “outdated,” but trail-blazing.

enjoy…

Maybe now Microcrap can dump more money into the ‘Mojave Experiment.’ Ugh. Dump the Zune and maybe you can save some jobs. No pun intended.

So now subscription services are considered trail-blazing? 10 whole tunes a month for $15? Wow. Given Amazon’s daily mp3 deal, $15 can buy you 4 or 5 ALBUMS.

George — show me any other subscription model that allows you to download all you want and keep 10 songs a month. I buy from Amazon all the time and no way will $15 buy 4 or 5 albums. DA

@douglaslive:

Did you not know, and how could you not know, that your vaunted subscription plan comes with DRM restrictions? Restrctions that, only recently, Apple convince the record companies to drop on the iPods and iPhones.

Yes. It’s time to shut down the store on the Zune, if only because Microsoft has demontrated an historical capacity to fail at such endeavors. Just look at their stock price of independent confirmation.

In recent history, Microsoft has made several attempts to re-invent itself as both a hardware company and a software company. And, regardless of what Microsoft apoligists write — seemingly everywhere on the Internet — not only has Microsoft not only thrived in this regard, they’ve produced abysmal failures that only deteriorate their plunging reputation further.

Windows Vista: A bomb from the beginning despite Microsoft bloggers who continue to strain to have us believe that this is the best thing since sliced bread. It isn’t. Even Microsoft’s CEO admitted that it was a failure. Thus, Windows 7 placed in the fast lane for release. Their Seinfeld ads, to the tune of at least 10 million dollars, carried the stench of desperation.

Xbox: Yeah. Most users love it. But there aren’t enough of them to make it profitable and, being long in the tooth, the light at the end of the tunnel burned out long ago.

Zune: This is the hardest part. Zune owners seem to love what they have. That having been said, there are very few people who own a Zune, and far less who want one. Get rid of it.

Microsoft needs to get back to its roots. It needs to start making an attractive and functional operating system. It needs to not have to fend off competition from people like Apple and Linux.

This is all a hard pill to swallow for Microsoft and their apostles, but sometimes you have to eat your vegetables.

Outdated? Are you serious? I suppose Netflix is an outdated movie rental model too? When iTunes or Amazon comes out with a service that lets me put every album I’ve ever wanted on my music player, maybe I’ll ditch my Zune. I don’t see how that concept so hard to understand.

awwww, i like my zune

I have never been much of a Microsoft fan (how could a company that wealthy produce such poor OS software?), but one reason I am an Apple fan is that I am not a fan of monopolies. The iPod (and increasingly iPhone) is nearly as much a monopoly as Windows once was. Keep the Zune alive so that Apple has some well-funded competition. We consumers can only benefit and Microsoft can afford it. The Japanese learned long ago that you should commit to a market for the long term to have success, and look at ‘em now.

It’s a great model. I download albums on a daily basis. Podcasts, video and a excellent software interface make this thing hard to beat. Unless you own one, I think you have zero credibility to comment. It’s amazing to me that anyone would even care to comment on a product they don’t own. Hey, the Ipod/Touch are nice pieces of hardware. I simply don’t see how the ITunes format is cheaper. With Zune, if I don’t like the music, I can flush it off the player having spent just the monthly fee. And come on, DRM? Everyone knows there are many little apps that can get around that curveball, if you absolutely have some spiritual problem with it. I see no incentive to try, however. I also know that at least the artists who participate are getting a piece of the pie, versus the illegal download method.

I have an Ipod and a Zune. The Ipod is good for running and I can plug in the headphones and pretend I can’t hear my boss, in her button down oxford shirts blazer, which is always fun. But the Zune is wireless, which can’t be beat.

Outdated? Are you kidding me? I suppose the itunes model of paying $1 / song (or the *gasp* variable pricing) is an innovative and progressive model. The only innovation in this space is being done by the Zune and articles like this spreading FUD are the biggest problem. I have 2 iPods and 2 Zunes and I take the Zune hands down. Problem is, ipod sales are driven by the illegal downloading of music. A trend that is unlikely to be reversed.

@SkateNY:

Seriously? Living in the past? Xbox IS turning profits now. Cross platform games for Xbox sell double as compared to the PS3.

TEva89

Wow, all 5 people who own Zunes also read Rolling Stone. Too bad they can’t read the writing on the wall.