One iPod Reference Too Far
One accepts a certain amount of bias in journalism, especially areas that depend so heavily on the opinion and viewpoint of the journalist. Consider it an occupational hazard…reviewers have favorites, pundits have blind spots, analysts have pre-conceived ideas…it’s just human nature after all.
Normally I don’t really allow the persistent and kneejerk Anti-Microsoft/Pro-Apple bias that exists in almost all tech journalism to bother me overly much. When I note that even the mainstream press feels the need to note his negative reaction to MobileMe was the first Apple product that Walt Mossberg at the Times has panned since 1999, I roll my eyes. When it is reported that high profile reporters who favor Apple get preferential treatment in Cupertino and face time with Steve Jobs while any one who writes things Steve doesn’t like get ignored, I chuckle at the way the stories are tilted to make it seem like Jobs is just being endearingly puckish, like a 5th grader writing his best friends list. When endless tech forums fill up with blind adoration for any Apple product (“OMG, look at how WHITE the new earbuds ARE…WTFBBQ they are bootiful!!!”) and automatic hatred for anything produced by Microsoft (sorry, I mean Micro$oft) I shrug. I even laugh out loud as I watch the Apple fanboys turn their ire on Google over the Android phone, because, well, it isn’t made by Apple.
However, even I have my limits…even I can be pushed too far by the bias and poor reporting over the new iPod releases.
There is always a firestorm of Apple fanboy excitement connected to Apple product announcements. To give the devil his due, Steve Jobs may be the finest tech marketer of all time. No one can rally the faithful, attract the curious and charm the press the way that he can. Other companies with products to announce usually either stay as far away from Apple’s release dates as possible, or buck the odds by trying to borrow some of Apple’s thunder.
Microsoft choosing to announce new Zunes so close to new iPods was certainly a risk…either nervy or stupid depending on your point of view. Of course, true Apple fanboys (and many reporters) said it wouldn’t matter when pitiful Zunes are announced in the face of Apple’s dominating 75 percent of the MP3 market (note, Apple’s 75 percent share of MP3s is “glorious and unassailable”, Microsoft’s 75 percent share of the web browser market is “fading fast and probably illegal”).
Most all news stories about the new Zune models and software led off with talking about how great the iPods were. Sometimes Zunes were barely mentioned except for the title and a snarky comment or two, despite the fact that they were the topic of the article. It all was getting to be a bit much as the week rolled along. Even when a tech site like Gizmodo acknowledged that in some areas (such as WiFi and intelligent playlist generation) the Zunes were superior, they included enough snark in the story (and of course in the tidal wave of “So f&3kin what??? iPods rox 111oneoneone!!!” comments) that the praise was turned into another story about the iPods.
Then today at lunch I read the story that finally went over the line.
In a tiny little news brief on CNet News entitled Microsoft Zune Updates, Kara Tsuboi wrote the following (I have bolded the key point for easy reading):
At last week’s Apple event, CEO Steve Jobs informed the crowd that Apple holds roughly 73 percent of the MP3 market share. According to his numbers, Microsoft has a hold on a little more than 2 percent of the market. Given the ubiquity of the iPod versus the Zune, it’s not hard to believe those figures, even if it’s give or take a few percentage points.
On Tuesday, Microsoft released a new round of upgrades for its Zune, in hopes of making the gadget more competitive with the Apple offerings, and perhaps eating into that market dominance. On the Daily Debrief, CNET News senior writer Ina Fried shows off one of the new Zune versions, which looks–and is priced–suspiciously like Apple’s iPod Nano.
The biggest difference between the two is the Zune’s ability to connect to a handful of services via Wi-Fi. Ina explains some of the reasons why you’d want this capability on your MP3 player, but the question is, is this enough of an edge for Microsoft to increase its presence in the market?
Alright, ignore the fact she spends most of a story about the Zune talking iPods, that is so typical, as is the dismissive tone…but she clearly implies that the Zune’s ripped off the form factor of the new Nanos!!!
Actually, it was the other way around, in fact all of the rumor sites commented endlessly and sarcastically that the longer Nano form factor looked Zune like. Now the new Nano look is out for a week and the Zune design which has stayed pretty consistent since the Zune 1 was launched, is mimicking the iPods that have been out a few days?
Is this just a woefully uninformed CNet intern churning out her required 10 posts a day who didn’t bother to check her sources, or a seasoned reporter who assumes that any hyperbole that is pro Apple and anti Microsoft will fly these days?
Does the endless bias drive anyone else slowly off their nut? Is it too much to ask for a little even-handedness in the tech press? Aren’t “News” and “Opinion” supposed to be handled differently? Have an opinion? Chime in now. Share the rant, I always say.
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Good post. I too am tired of the Ford and Chevy arguement. Oh we were talking about mp3 players.
It comes at no surprise to me really these days that anything Microsoft related is met with sarcasm and hate, even Microsoft themselves realized it when they decided to do the Mojave Experience … so many people’s bias is based on the wrong information, disinformation if you like, that is being churned out by so-called journalists who frankly don’t get half of their facts straight most of the time, and the rest of the time they simply copy what is already being mention on the internet .. and that is where the real problem lies : nowadays it is so easy to put out a rumor and have it “made a fact” by the end of the day, no one seems to screen the information anymore, the journalists are not doing a proper job.
Let ipod have their eye candy,let all the fools ply with their mp3’s. When it comes time to do the real work in the real world you need Microsoft.
I can not tell you how many times a designer or engineer will show up on my job site with the lateset ipod and not have the proper file or drawing. I on the other hand can remotley connect to my office and have full access to all my files, I can even create change orders, addendums and with my touch screen I can have them signed and forwarded to their office. Yes I say let them have their mp3’s
I am really tired of those iTarded reporters!
When the flash Zune came out with that design, it was the exact same form factor that the Nano had at the time it was designed. They may not have borrowed the current form factor, but they did borrow when it was first announced.
“Microsoft choosing to announce new Zunes so close to new iPods was certainly a risk…either nervy or stupid depending on your point of view.”
I think the timing of both the iPod and Zune announcements were dictated by the holiday shopping season more than anything else.
I was going to say that, too, doogald. The first-generation Nanos were much taller than they were wide, as were the second-generation Nanos. Only the third-generation Nanos had the “fatty” form factor, and it seems the fourth-generation Nanos are back to the original.
Zealot, are you referring to the hard disk Zunes or the flash-based ones? The original hard disk Zunes came out well after the iPod, and I thought the flash-based Zunes came out with the Zune 2, not the Zune 1.
Yes, the press has Apple tunnel vision at times, but I can’t believe that one passage led to this tirade — which doesn’t even seem correct.
Tunnel vision works both ways, I guess.
Steve
Finally, of course this post was not inspired by this news report alone. As I stated clearly, this jaust happened to be the one that was the last straw.
As to my comment about Zune design being pretty consistant, it has been through both the HD and Flash lines. There are slight differences but they are far more similar then say an iPod Nano, iPod Classic, iPod Shuffle and iPod Touch. Whether it is HD or Flash, a Zune always looks like a Zune.
OK, that makes sense. However, I think “looks suspiciously like” refers to the overall look, not just one feature, such as the orientation of the screen, but I could be wrong.
In fact, I didn’t even notice that the new Nano screen was portrait vs. landscape when I saw the picture. I just noticed that they had moved back to the older, more rectangular form factor.
Of course, I could argue that a lot of MP3 players look like the iPod, too. You copy what’s successful. Look how many Windows Mobile phones are looking more like the iPhone now.
Steve
P.S. Regarding “form factor”, I interpret a form factor as describing the shape and “topology” of the case of the device. It describes a quality, so I wouldn’t ever call it “quantifiable”.
So while “rectangular” may not be a very good description, it is a form factor (as opposed to “square” — which is also rectangular, but a special case — or “circular” or some other shape).
In the vacuum cleaner world, you have upright, canister and handheld form factors, for instance. (Please, no saying the analogy “sucks”, OK?)
In the mobile phone world, clamshell and candy bar are two form factors. They aren’t totally descriptive of the device, but give a gross characterization of what it looks like. So the 320×240 Motorola Q and older 176×220 Smartphones could both be referred to as candy bar form factors (although I would usually refine that to call the Q a QWERTYbar).
“Let ipod have their eye candy,let all the fools ply with their mp3’s. When it comes time to do the real work in the real world you need Microsoft.”
This comment pretty much sums it up for me. I haven’t used zune much but this holds true for the iPhone compared to windows mobile. WM phones don’t have much eye candy to offer but they sure are work horses.
Somehow I feel so liberated and validated when I read the posts here. I am a Clinical Social Worker and I sit through endless hours in clinical meetings where the Dietitian and the Doctor rave about their iphones and ipods and all I can think is IIIII, while, I, personally have enjoyed for many years the features they rave about. I think about my Zune which is more than music alone, I think about all the power and possibilities of my Axim (an old x50 at that) and I want to say arrrrruuuugh. Microsoft may have its own flaws as a company, but the products have staying and growing power. It is not just what they tell you your toy can do, it’s far superior for you to figure out what you want it to do, and find software and application to do what you want. I talk to family and close friends and don’t really know what to say to explain my frustration. Here I don’t even have to post much, I just come in for a few minutes each day and say ahhhhhhhhhh, they understand.
Mslibery
Nice article which summarizes my thoughts as well. I am sick of just about every article I read on the tech sites constantly praising Apple, and constantly knocking Microsoft. On some supposedly generic gadget sites, everything Apple is innovative, the best in class, and of course, Apple was the first to implement a feature or design. Doesn’t matter that other devices may have offered a design, or feature before Apple, Apple is automatically credited with the innovation, and the company that implemented it first, is now the copycat.
Apple devices are automatically given king of the hill status that all competing devices are compared to, and of course, the non-Apple devices are always inferior in some way. Funny, missing features, and poor implementations by Apple are usually easily forgiven, but if Microsoft or other vendor makes a small snafu, it is like the world ended.
Some of the Apple products are nice, but they are not necessarily the best in class. I have read too many articles on general gadget sites that mentioned Apple or an Apple product more times than the product, or vendor they were supposedly reviewing.
I wish I had a dollar for every article on the gadget sites that knocked Windows Mobile, and of course, slobbered over the iPhone, or iPod touch. Although nice devices, the iPhone, and touch are very feature deficient for some users, and as a previous poster stated, Windows Mobile is the workhorse that allows you to do just about anything you want but impress the Starbuck’s crowd.
Every mainstream review I have seen about mobile Safari praises it as the best mobile browser ever. Did they every use NetFront, or Opera Mobile which have rendered full web pages fine long before the iPhone existed? Although not as slick as Safari, NetFront, Opera Mobile, and Opera Mini render full pages as well as Safari, and older single column web pages far better than mobile Safari. Safari is an excellent browser for multiple column pages, but has serious problems with some single column pages, and some generic mobile sites. Unless a viewport meta-tag has been added to the site by the web developer, mobile Safari renders some single column pages with too small a font to comfortably read even in landscape mode. You have a choice of reading some sites with about an 8 point font, or using the pinch zoom to enlarge the text to a readable size. Problem with pinch zoom is the text does not reflow, and you have to horizontally scroll to read each line. Although panning, and scrolling a full desktop page looks cool in a demo, it gets old very quickly, hence the proliferation of new mobile sites. Unless the mobile site is specifically designed for the iPhone/touch, mobile Safari may require horizontal scrolling for each line. Do the mainstream reviewers every browse a page other than the demo pages by Apple’s CEO? Although not a mobile site, one of the sites mobile Safari has a problem displaying at a comfortable reading level is Craigslist, one of the top 10 English language websites.
Great comments and posts by all. I’ve been arguing the same points to anyone willing to listen (not many). It’s like I’m chompin’ on crazy pills over here. Don’t get me started on the $0.99/song MP3 download pricing model. I think the country has been brainwashed into thinking that one is a fair deal. “Sure Ticketmaster, here’s $7 a ticket and thanks for the convienece!”
I love my Zune, but I loved it more when wma/MP3 players were open file storage devices. Once a company gobbles up 80% of the market, the others have to follow the money machine.$$$$$$$
At least I have a Zune Pass for now…I’m sure it’ll be gone soon…