Zune uses Winehouse death as a marketing opportunity

Presumbly, now there's a post mortem scheduled, Microsoft thought the official mourning period was over and it was okay to try and sell few downloads off the corpse. The Wall reports:

The @tweetbox360 Twitter account, which is run by the Microsoft UK PR team, tweeted this morning: “Remember Amy Winehouse by downloading the ground-breaking ‘Back to Black’ over at Zune”.

The account has since been inundated with complaints accusing it of being opportunistic, of feeding on Amy Winehouse’s corpse, of appalling taste, being a “scumbag” and of shocking marketing.

It should be pointed out that iTunes also pulled a similar stunt, and much more quickly, when it splashed Winehouse all over the store front on Saturday night. Arguably, acknowledging people would have been searching the store for her music anyway and making it easier to find is slightly less ghoulish than using her death to try and market your entire store as a way of "memorialising" Winehouse, but it's a slim distinction and neither Microsoft or Apple have come out of this with their dignity intact.

Click. Off. Zune.

Microsoft's belated attempt to have some of that iPod pie has been put out its misery, with the Zune ceasing to exist as a stand-alone music player.

Dead, and never launched in Europe. You've perhaps got to admire Microsoft's tenacity in keeping the product line alive through five long, lonely years; the name will live on - for now - as a store brand for selling music to the tiny Windows Phone market, and the more substantial Xbox community.

For now, though; It looks Redmond is planning to introduce another name for its multimedia services in the longer term. Ventura. For when offences against nature calls.

Poppa Zune flees Microsoft

Chris Stephenson, who has handled what's grandly being called "the global marketing" for Zune, has quit Microsoft for a role marketing at Universal Records.

Global marketing the Zune? That would be signing off the Canadian ads as well as the American ones, given that there's been no rush to increase the losses by launching the device overseas.

Interesting that someone is quitting a digital music service to join a record label. Either that's a tribute to the future of Universal, or just possibly an indication that there's not much future for the Zune division in its present form.

Zune: Where's the life, there's hope

There's still hope for the Zune brand... no, really, apparently a new chip will change the game for the never-released-outside-North-America Microsoft iPod:

Graphics chip giant Nvidia has announced that the next iteration of the Vole's player, the Zune HD, will be armed with a dual-core Tegra processor.

Based on blueprints from Brit chip shop ARM, one of the two processor cores will take care of the operating system, and graphics duties will be taken over by an Nvidia Geforce GPU.

Yes. That's what people say when they find themselves in the dark corner of the electronics shop, looking at the forlorn, working-example-free Zune stand: "if only it had a dual processor, that would really sweeten the deal for me."

The problem for Zune is not performance of the equipment - those who own one speak highly of what it does - but is one of making a product which really manages to shift the perception that it's a me-too poor person's iPod from the people who make your office computer. That's got nothing to do with the chipset. Which is a pity for Microsoft, as a chipset can be easily replaced.

Zune struggling on

Yesterday in Target, noticed that they're still proudly offering the Zune, albeit with a large, nearly empty glass case. Not that Microsoft is bothered, as it's pushing on with its money-burning music player:

Zune HD is the next iteration of the Zune device family and brings a new level of listening and viewing experiences to the portable media player category.

*Zune HD comes with a built-in HD Radio receiver so users can listen to higher-quality sound than traditional radio on the go. Users also will have access to the additional song and artist data broadcast by HD Radio stations as well as additional channels from their favorite stations multicasting in HD. If you don't like the song playing on your station's HD channel, switch to its HD2 or HD3 channels for additional programming.

Yes, they've effectively added a DAB tuner to the Zune. If they sold in the UK, that would seem a touching degree of faith in the format, but in the US, this really has the air of adding a thing for getting stones out of horses hooves. You're competing with web-enabled devices that have streaming music devices coming out of their touchscreens, and you have the big idea of giving access to stations using a broadcast format that barely registers? Seriously?

The other Zune annoucement is a slightly disingenuous attempt to try and make the brand a success by pretending it's something else:

Zune will be a premium partner in the Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace, bringing an exciting catalog of TV and film to the platform. Zune will occupy the first slot within the Xbox user interface in the Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace, exposing the Zune brand experience to millions of new consumers for the first time. At the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) next week, attendees will see firsthand how Zune integrates into Xbox LIVE to create a game-changing entertainment experience.

Well, they've spent all the money on the logo, but even so - wouldn't it make it more sense to call it XBox Entertainment or something less... tainted?

Mind you, Microsoft is rebranding its search as Bing. So perhaps things could be worse.

Microsoft: Ah, you've got to love them for trying, haven't you

Microsoft haven't quite given up on the Zune yet. Not quite. Look, they've made an advert with someone who got fired on the US Apprentice:



Ah yes. Rather than pay an entirely notional $30,000 to fill up an iPod, instead, make an open-ended commitment to pay Redmond fifteen real bucks a month until they finally get bored pouring millions away each year on the Zune and axe the product. Deal!

[via Engadget]

UK Zune soon?

Probably not, but that's not stopped everyone getting excited by the prospect of a new look Zune (or, more accurately, a Zune that desperately wants to be an iPod Touch), and even more rumours that it might actually be sold in places other than America and Canada. These rumours, of course, clash with the other rumours of an imminent demise of Zune as a brand. It wouldn't be entirely impossible for Microsoft's Zune division to be pushing ahead with expansion plans even as another part of the corporation is drawing up plans for liquidation, so you could quite happily choose to believe both of these claims.

Zune finally overhauls "other" mp3 players

What, exactly, are the millions Microsoft has poured into Zune getting it? Besides snarky headlines when they discover they can't cope with leap years?

Well, according to Piper Jaffray's biannual Teen Survey, not very much. The US teens surveyed reported Zune ownership at 4% which is, admittedly, up a percentage point on this time last year. But the iPod is at 86%, as high as it was this time last year - and, with a terrible symmetry, 4% higher than it was when the Zune launched.

In other words: Apple has increased its market share amongst teens at the same rate as Microsoft.

The real sting, though? 100% of the teens who intend to buy a new player this year say they're thinking of getting an iPod. Sure, some of those who go the store might be swayed by getting the same sort of thing in a Zune-shaped package for a little less (if they find them in the store), but to know that nobody thinks of your device as a default wish-list item must be a little disappointing.

[The survey only interviewed 600 teenagers; 19% said they intended to buy a new player in the next twelve months. Story via The Licensing Plate]

Zune falling behind

The awkward Zune New Year's Eve fail was bad, but as embarrassments go, that was mild compared with the latest set of figures from Microsoft: Coolfer is reporting that Zune revenues fell 54% in the last quarter of 2008 compared with the final quarter of 2007. Admittedly, the economy is looking a little sickly, but it won't be lost on Microsoft that the iPod continued a period of growth. Cue more mutterings about the long-term future for a device which is still lagging behind SanDisk, never mind Apple.

The Zune will go on

Microsoft? Thinking of dropping the Zune? Why, nothing could be further from the truth, apparently:

"Basically, what happened last week, Steve [Ballmer] said a couple of things about the category," said Adam Sohn, head of Microsoft's Zune marketing division, causing speculation that Microsoft would stop making Zunes. However, he clarified, "we're not getting out of the hardware business at all," adding that Microsoft is "deeply committed" to continuing to its Zune hardware strategy.

So, you've got Steve Ballmer, who runs the show, suggesting that Microsoft might be less interested in making Zune players; you've got the guy who runs the bit of the company that sells Zunes insisting that the Zune player has a happy and rosy future, and certainly you shouldn't not think about buying one. Oh no.

."The other thing Steve said, which is spot on with our strategy -- and unfortunately I think a lot of people we haven't talk to sort of took it and ran in the wrong direction -- is that we do think the Zune device is not the only place you will access the Zune experience," said Sohn. "A lot of people jumped to an 'either/or,' when in fact it's a 'both/and' situation."

Microsoft's first order of business is to deliver the Zune music service to Xbox and Windows Media Center. "We would be thinking about nailing experiences in our own platforms concurrently with, if not before we're thinking about going beyond that," said Sohn. The mobile space represents a particularly interesting opportunity for Microsoft, since it could involve developing apps for competitors like Apple and Google.

Talk of a Zune experience - and especially nailing those experiences - does at least leave you in no doubt that Sohn is a marketing guy. The question he doesn't address, but which hangs in the air, is if "the Zune experience" is about interacting Zunely with tunes through a Zune interface, then why would Microsoft continue to pour money down the drain on a loss-making hardware strategy?

Zune be done: Ballmer signals that Microsoft is thinking of axing player

Lost a little in the excitement over Windows 7 at the CES (and, hey, what could possibly be more exciting than a new Microsoft Operating System?) was the cold wind that Steve Ballmer wafted round the loss-making Zune division:

He said that, with the market for dedicated portable media players in decline, the future lay in more “general purpose” devices – such as Apple’s iPhone and touch.

Asked if Microsoft would counter with a “Zune Phone”, Mr Ballmer said: “You should not anticipate that.” He added that the company would stick to its strategy of developing software to support a range of mobile devices. That suggests that, if there is a future for Zune, it lies in planting the software and online service linked to the player in other devices.

What an excellent idea - instead of trying to make money on an mp3 player, Microsoft could bring its know-how to providing a service for other manufacturer's devices. Exactly like the PlaysForSure strategy which MS killed off when it launched the Zune. It's not clear why manufacturers who've already been burnt once by Microsoft would be keen to work with them on a revival of PlaysForSure, though.

Old Zunes struggle to make it into 2009

You really have to hand it to Microsoft: it might not have managed to make the Zune as popular as the iPod, but it's certainly managed to make it as reliable as Windows. Every 30G model of Zune has stopped working. The reason?

It doesn't believe that today exists:

On Wednesday evening Microsoft said it had traced the problem to a software bug “related to the way the device handles a leap year.” Apparently the Zune was expecting 2008 to have 365 days, not 366.

So, hey, it's only a problem which is going to occur every four years, so where's the drama?

The company said the internal clock on the players should automatically reset by noon Greenwich Mean Time on Thursday (7 a.m. Eastern time). Microsoft is advising Zune owners to allow the player’s battery to fully drain and then turn the devices back on on Thursday.

In other words: Your Zune won't work on the 366th day of a year, so wait until the year ticks back over to day one.

I try not to use Zune as a punchline, I really do. But a music player that won't work on New Year's Eve? It's like it wants to be laughed at.

Obama: Is there no rift he can't heal?

At last, an American president who will stand up for the downtrodden. Not only has Barack Obama extended a hand of friendship to the opposition, both within and without his own party, but he has now embraced one of the forgotten outcasts of American society by being seen in public with a Zune. The new America is for everyone - even people with Zunes. Truly, a new dawn.

Mind you, we'll really know he's inclusive when he turns up at the gym touting a PlaysForSure mp3 device. But it's early days.

Zune: your subscription is also a purchase

The price cut might have looked kind of desperate, but the attempt to raise interest in the Zune subscription by allowing some songs to be kept 'forever' is a much more interesting move by Microsoft.

I'm not entirely convinced, though, that the idea will work. Buying songs to keep forever is simple to explain. Renting songs you can listen to while you keep your subscription current is a clear proposition. Renting all the songs to listen to while you keep your subscription current, except for ten each month which you can keep even after your subscription lapses might be innovative, but it isn't easy to understand and will probably do as much harm as good - it stresses "most of your music will vanish if you stop paying" as much as "a handful of songs are yours forever".

Then there's the vexed question of how you actually keep the songs forever - ten a month from your bucket of songs introduces an admin task every four weeks. The Terms and Conditions explains:

You will also receive song credits for up to ten (10) downloads of audio sound recordings from Zune Marketplace during each month of your Zune Pass subscription, at no additional cost to you. Content purchased with these song credits may be used under the terms listed above in Section 14.1 and will not expire when your subscription ends. These song credits are non-transferable. Any unredeemed song credits will expire at the end of each monthly period and will not rollover to subsequent monthly periods.

It's not entirely clear from that if you have to buy with special magic credits at the outset, or if you can apply the credit to a tune you have already downloaded under your usual subscription, or if you have to go to the store and re-download the track all over again, this time with the golden pass.

PaidContent's Staci Kramer - who is a happy Zune user - wasn't any clearer:

Signing into Zune just now required accepting a new terms of service in an unnecessarily complicated multi-screen process. So far, I can't tell how I would know this option is supposed to be available—and I can't figure out how to make it work. For instance, when I add a song to the cart, then look at the cart, it's empty. Another variation brings up an error message. I'll try again in the morning.

A difficult sell with a complicated process attached? It's the great smell of Microsoft. Still, at least they're trying to fix the fundamental flaw of subscription services - why pay for something you can never own?

Zune: Deep pockets drive deep discounts

With still no sign of a Zune launch being rolled out in the wider world, Microsoft has announced price cuts across the range of players for the US. The guys in legal did stop them from rebranding the Zune as ValueIpod, though.

Common still shooting for the Zune

Yahoo tech news gets cautiously excited about Common's tie-up with Zune, although not too excited:

A video for the title track on hip-hop veteran Common's forthcoming album, "Universal Mind Control," begins with a digital music player pulsing to the beat. The viewer is pulled through the screen into the gadget's guts, where the cool, collected rapper lets loose an easy stream of lyrics.

It takes hitting rewind a few times to notice that the music player isn't one of Apple's slim new iPods. It's a Zune, and it's made by Microsoft Corp.

Perhaps Microsoft will feel flattered that you have to look closely to realise it's not an iPod, but a Zune. On the other hand, they could feel a bit deflated that unless you watch carefully and repeatedly, the average viewer is going to assume they're seeing the guts of an iPod.

At the other end of the telescope, there's a broader question of just how Common - a man paid by Microsoft to endorse their product - magically came up with a video which showcases, however ineffectually, a Microsoft product. Perhaps - let's be generous - Common decided on a video featuring a Fantastic Voyage into an MP3 player, and the Zune just happened to fit the vision.

On the other hand, did Microsoft ask him to make a video featuring a Zune somehow in return for their marketing cash. Which, of course, is not illegal but feels a whole less moral. If Common is selling his 'cool' and, by implication, his audience, then at the very least the deal should be made explicit.

In other words: Is Yahoo writing this puff piece because Common thinks the Zune is so cool, he built a video around it? Or is Yahoo writing the puff because Microsoft thinks Common is cool they gave him money?

iTunes still miles ahead in digital music world

Another twelve months of launches of iTunes killing services in, and how is iTunes looking?

Pretty good actually. Tempo have just delivered their latest survey of consumer awareness of the digital market and while Amazon and Rhapsody have both grown a little in terms of awareness and people choosing them as the 'best' service, iTunes has also continued to grow and the prevailing wisdom of twelve months ago - that other services are fighting over small slices of second-place pie - seems just as solid today.

The 'some other' choice [pdf] as best service (excluding those three, Yahoo, Napster, WalMart and Napster) has declined over twelve months from 20% to just 9%, suggesting that small services are suffering if not an absolute decline, then at least an ability to keep pace with the big names.

The have you ever heard of... [pdf] question has some interesting results, too. Naturally, iTunes is out in front here, but Napster retains a second place position in both aided and unprompted recall and is the only brand other than Apple's to make it into double-digit unaided memory. That, presumably, is what Best Buy was paying for.

Zune is struggling - without someone saying 'have you heard of Zune', only 1% of respondents thought of it when asked about online music stores - amusingly, exactly the same proportion of respondents who offered MSN when asked. CBS might be slightly worried to discover that Last FM has fixed itself in nobody's minds at all, and even with coaxing only 6% of the survey went "oh, yeah, Last FM."

Rupert Murdoch, meanwhile, will be stroking his white cat with glee - MySpace might only have got one out of a hundred people thinking of it as a music destination - but when prompted, the brand recognition shot up to 63%. Third place.

The battle for that second place pie is getting interesting - although obviously in this context the eventual winner will be whoever pours enough money into marketing.

No mention of spiralfrog, oddly.

The Zune goes minibreaking

There's something stirring over at Microsoft, who have announced that the online Zune space is going to be closed for 48 hours from today.

Zuneheads got this email:

The Zune service will be down for scheduled maintenance on Monday, September 29, 2008 from 12:01am Pacific Time, for up to 48 hours. During the downtime, Zune Social, the forums on Zune.net, and all of Zune Marketplace will be offline.

We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause you.

Please check back soon. We look forward to sharing our picks, plays, and recommendations with you in the Zune Social and in Zune Marketplace shortly!

Sincerely,

Your Friends at Zune

It might well be something astonishing is about to happen to Zune, but in the meantime - taking everything offline for 48 hours? Even the equivalent of the iTunes store? Isn't that incredibly slapdash? And if Zune was that important to Microsoft, would they not have found a way of keeping the service up during the "scheduled maintenance"?

Want free Zune tunes? You might want to order a Supersize Meal

Paid Content has tried that free McDonalds/Zune tie-up. The verdict? It's very, very simple, but very, very slow.

Zune served up with Happy Meals

The perception of the Zune as being like an eighteen month old iPod might be unfair, but isn't entirely helped when Microsoft ape last year's Apple moves.

For example, just as in 2007 Apple came up with a headline deal which allowed iPod owners to suck music down for free while they were in a Starbucks, Zune owners will be able to download tracks to their Zunes in particpating branches of US McDonalds:

“Wayport is pleased to be working with Microsoft to make it easier for Zune users to access music on the go,” said Dan Lowden, vice president of business development and marketing for Wayport. “Our ability to enable and manage applications and devices over converged networks creates exciting new opportunities for our clients to attract new customers whose digital lifestyle extends beyond their home and office.”

"Their digital lifestyle extends beyond their home and office" meaning "they take their mp3 player to the burger bar."

It's a smart move for Microsoft in terms of reach - it's going to have access to customers in about 10,000 stores - but given that most McDonalds are designed to get customers out as quickly as possible, it's interesting they've signed a deal that would encourage people to buy a small coffee and hang about for hours. It's almost like they're not exactly expecting that many people to take them up on it.