News Zune doesn't play for sure

[Da Dego]

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2006/09...play_for_sure/

[<A88>]

Microsoft need to stop 'starting fresh over' when they release new products and stick with initiatives for once. Sure, they're a big company and so creating complete coherence between different departments is difficult when you've got different teams being left to their own thing, but I think someone should have tapped the Zune guys on the shoulder and said 'by the way, we've kinda spent a lot of time and effort on this PFS thing so could you chuck that in too please?'. Still, won't put me off buying one as I don't have any music from download stores, but I don't see this as an incredibly good business move.

<A88>

[Herbicide]

Oh wow!

Just keep going guys, you're doing fine...

- H.

[Nexxo]

Read Endgadget's interview with J Allard, MS Corporate Vice President. If you thought politicians were good dancers, be impressed...

So up until this point Microsoft's digital music strategy has been largely to create an ecosystem and be a supplier of a DRM platform to manufacturers and online music stores. PlaysForSure was the thrust of Microsoft's strategy until the announcement of the Zune. How does PlaysForSure fit into Microsoft's strategy going forward? It doesn't appear that the Zune will be compatible with any PlaysForSure retailers. How does that affect Microsoft's current partners who rely on PlaysForSure?

I think there's two answers to the question. First answer is, this whole digital music revolution is really just starting. There's still a lot to be figured. We certainly don't think we have it all figured out, and we think there will be change. The second thing is that specifically when it comes to PlaysForSure, think about you might buy a Windows PC versus how my mother might buy a Windows PC. My mom calls up Dell and says, "I have seven hundred bucks, get me a computer. What's the best thing I can get?" She doesn't specify the keyboard, the monitor, the memory configuration. The conversation might get as specific as, "Do you think you want to burn DVDs?" Then she gets a product that shows up and it's all pre-installed.

There are other people that go to Fry's Electronics and hand pick the graphics card, the case for their computer, they build a Windows-based PC from the ground up. We have a solution for both of those things. We at Microsoft have a platform that is Windows, we have a solution for the crowd of consumers that are very deliberate about how they build their PC solution, and we also have a solution for people who just want turnkey. And I think that's how these two strategies complement each other. The PlaysForSure is still a program we're going to invest in, we still have a lot of partners there, and for a class of consumers who that want to have a hand-crafted media media experience and maximize their choice, we have an answer. There's another class of consumers that just want to get digital media, and they just want to be able to go to one store and have it all just plain, dead simple, and don't want to know what a codec is.

Wasn't that the point of PlaysForSure?

Well, it's like asking a question about Windows -- and the point of Windows was to bring personal computing to the world -- some people are going to pick their PCs, they're going to pick their monitor, they're going to pick their printer, they're going to pick their graphics card, and combine the things that they've chosen. Other people just a want a system that's end-to-end -- all compatible out of the gate -- and that's what Zune does. Zune says there is no choice; you get a Zune device, you hook it up to the Zune service, and it just works.

When PlaysForSure was introduced, the premise was, we make it simple so that you don't have to worry about whether your player works with the music you're purchasing...

That continues to be the premise for devices that are branded in that category, and we think that we've clearly done a lot in that program, where there's a lot of devices out there, there are a lot of services out there, there are a lot of partners, and there are a lot of satisfied customers. We like that program. We've also found that there's a category of customers that say, "Give me a brand experience, advertise it to me on television; I want to be part of the digital music revolution, and that solution [PlaysForSure] doesn't work for me." So they're two complementary solutions -- not everyones gonna want Zune and not everyone's gonna want PlaysForSure. They're different paths there, and we're okay with both of them.

Yeah, right.

Sounds to me like Microsoft has suddenly decided at the top, that rather than owning a piece of the action and farming the rest of their digital media market out to third parties, they want to grab control of the whole lot, from music to distributing software right to the players it is played on.

So I suspect that they are going to abandon the Plays for Sure strategy in favour of a closed market like Apple did with the iPod. The irony is that with this, MS is going into direct competition with third parties that they once signed up to the Plays for Sure deal. Way to recruit business partners, and then stab them in the back as you suddenly decide that they are not only obsolete, but even unwelcome competitors. Gotta love business...

[RTT]

My god, i've never seen questions dodged in such a way before

[mobius9]

well, sucks for the people who actually leave the DRM on their music

[DXR_13KE]

another reason not to buy from M$.

[Racehorse]

Originally Posted by Nexxo

Read Endgadget's interview with J Allard, MS Corporate Vice President. If you thought politicians were good dancers, be impressed...


Yeah, right.

Sounds to me like Microsoft has suddenly decided at the top, that rather than owning a piece of the action and farming the rest of their digital media market out to third parties, they want to grab control of the whole lot, from music to distributing software right to the players it is played on.

So I suspect that they are going to abandon the Plays for Sure strategy in favour of a closed market like Apple did with the iPod. The irony is that with this, MS is going into direct competition with third parties that they once signed up to the Plays for Sure deal. Way to recruit business partners, and then stab them in the back as you suddenly decide that they are not only obsolete, but even unwelcome competitors. Gotta love business...

Actually, I think they really did just screw up and Allard is trying to make it sound like they did it on purpose. I would bet in a few weeks or months they'll come out with a firmware update or something enabling PFS.

[mattyt]

They'll come out with firmware in a few weeks... that's putting the cart before the horse! I'm not even sure we're going to see this player on the market before the holiday season, is there a release date set?

[perplekks45]

It was MS that had this little program removing DRM from your MP3s being thrown off of the web after it had been reviewed on a tech-site, wasn't it? So why? They could've just bought the company.

[customh]

haha, apple faux pas on itunes 7, microsoft must match it.

[DLoney]

Stop starting over microsoft! WTF... use WMP 11 (its kickass) and make the device Play for sure. Add the Zune marketplace to WMP 11. Not make it its own program...

[wafflesomd]

I wanna see rockbox on the Zune.

[Tyinsar]

ok, may day started with a joke on the radio (So I'm standing in line at the grocery store and this pirate walks up behind me. I see that he's got a basket swinging from the hook where his hand used to be. The thing is, as the basket swings it's banging into the steering wheel in his pants. I can't help myself, I just have to ask: "Isn't that steering wheel in your pants kinda uncomfortable? To which the pirate answers, "Ahrrr matey, it's drivn' me nuts")

Now I'm about to go to bed and I read this about the "Zune" and quite frankly I find that even funnier. (Is there something wrong with me?)

[Tyinsar]

Originally Posted by <A88>

...Sure, they're a big company and so creating complete coherence between different departments is difficult when you've got different teams being left to their own thing, but I think someone should have tapped the Zune guys on the shoulder and said 'by the way, we've kinda spent a lot of time and effort on this PFS thing so could you chuck that in too please?'....

Quoted for truth

Microsft (/Macro$loth) has done some great things and some like this. It's either an incredibly boneheaded move or a nasty move to ditch (/backstab) their "partners" and take on iTunes. Then again, maybe this will soon go the way of several of thier other adventures (joysticks, network hardware,...) Or maybe they're hoping Apple will stumble in this market just like Sony is stumbling with the PS3 (amoung other things). Or maybe I should just go to bed.

[stephen2002]

Originally Posted by DLoney

Stop starting over microsoft! WTF... use WMP 11 (its kickass) and make the device Play for sure. Add the Zune marketplace to WMP 11. Not make it its own program...

I totally agree with this. I think that Microsoft is making some pretty poor descisions with the Zune, but I guess they figured it would be pointless to go and create yet another PFS store and yet another PFS device, so they decided to go ahead and make an entire closed system all in the name of better branding and even more control.

[Nexxo]

Originally Posted by Racehorse

Actually, I think they really did just screw up and Allard is trying to make it sound like they did it on purpose. I would bet in a few weeks or months they'll come out with a firmware update or something enabling PFS.

That's the alternative theory. MS is a big shop, and one department may have just been working on a closed-system Apple competitor while completely forgetting that another department has been working on the Plays for Sure initiative. That is not entirely unlikely, given that the Zune Marketplace player is a totally different thing from WMP 11 a.k.a. Urge (which is integral to Vista). Where does Urge fit in the picture now we have Zune Marketplace?

However, you'd expect, as <A88> says, that someone would have sent them a memo, considering how easy it would be to just incorportate Plays for Sure into the Zune. But I think that they deliberately did not. I think that Allard was being truthful in saying:

First answer is, this whole digital music revolution is really just starting. There's still a lot to be figured. We certainly don't think we have it all figured out, and we think there will be change.

MS has simply done some thinking about where digital music/video is going, and has decided that Plays for Sure isn't it. Why? Because it is not a comprehensive system/strategy. There is no distinct, coherent brand identity, no seamless integration and MS does not control most of it. it's just a bunch of bits and pieces with the vague promise that it will work together somehow.

Whereas the Apple iPod has a very strong brand identity and an integrated, seamless service/experience from end to end, no technical know-how required. It's a toaster: plug and play. As such, it stands out in the marketplace as an easily identifiable, distinct, complete, quality product, not a bunch of bits and pieces from different manufacturers, of variable quality, that creates the image of requiring a geek to make them play nice together.

Plays for Sure was MS' haphazard attempt to maintain a foothold in a market in the absence of (or while awaiting) their own distinct product (not a new strategy: think Windows Millenium). Now they have one, Plays for Sure is obsolete. They just don't want to piss off their business partners by admitting that they got them to sign up to, and invest in something that never had a future, hence the whole "hey, it's really a complementary strategy" BS. But their partners know like MS knows and we know that they got "zunked" (again not a new move: think Smart Display). Within one year, no-one will ever breathe a word about Plays for Sure again.

Except that MS will have one embarrassment left to deal with, and it's a big one, branded like a scarlet "A" on the next generation of its OS: Vista's "Urge"...

[DRON IN RUSSIA]

И что ? Sorry... I have PSP > Zune i dont buy!!!

[Risky]

I'm not wildly interested in DRM content. I still buy CDs and rip then when I want something, but then my player just shows up as a hard drive in windows so life is somewhat simpler.

[DRON IN RUSSIA]

I dont buy Zune , because i buy PSP . I play game , watch video , read book in PSP .