I spent 45 minutes installing the Zune store this morning. First it did not detect the OS through Firefox properly. Then it did not through IE. Then it did. Then it took 15 minutes to install, before prompting to restart. When we started the player, you had to register before you do anything. To buy a track you have to get “points” redeemed from money.
We spent the whole time smacking our foreheads wondering “WHY??????”
iTunes install process on OSX:
……
There is no install process!
No registering until you want to actually BUY from the store. No stupid points system. It just works.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again:
The best Apple commercial is someone trying to make a Microsoft product work.
UPDATE: I now have a Zune. I shall test using Parallels and see what this is like. So far the device feels as retro as an Atari. Its clunky, ugly and that much vaunted screen is about as sexy as the LCD on my microwave.
[…] Ethan’s Zune experience reminds me of watching users test software that fails them at every step. Truly a digital Língchí. Leave a Reply […]
yah seriously, just experienced the same thing.
[…] Zune doesn’t work with Microsoft’s much touted new Vista operating system. Hypebot Warner Music Group technology guru Ethan Kaplan joined the chorus and gave the Zune store a lukewarm review on his personal blog. (blackrimglasses) First day sales are slow. (Reuters) Indie Retail Reacts To Zune: “What A Joke.” All the above come via Hypebot […]
What protocol does it use for transferring music? Is it actually MTP or something new?
[…] another zune related story … So Zune Me … and again issues with the install process. the software for the zune seems to be still in beta-land. interestingly also the comments about the otherwise much praised design and screen of the zune: So far the device feels as retro as an Atari. Its clunky, ugly and that much vaunted screen is about as sexy as the LCD on my microwave. […]
[…] So Zune Me Microsoft in user-unfriendly product shocker. The Zune gets a sound kicking from Ethan Kaplan (chief techie at Warner Bros and the man behind Murmers.com. It’s a bit naff to name your website after an REM record, don’t you think?). […]
OSX install may be easy, but we all don’t actually want an apple. THERE, I SAID IT. Also, I may be a sheep for buying a M$ Product, but I am not an apple sheep for buying a iPlop. Sad, but either way I can be judged, but let me be judged for choosing a player that does what i want. It works on my PC (which I love), and I can sync in wirelessly (we got this BEFORE iCraps did), and it isn’t so proprietary that I wanna commit arson after “experiencing” it the matte white way. It is not the popular player, but I love it. and YES I have owned a pod.
Here's what I am:
- Ethan Kaplan
- 29 years old
- VP of Technology at Warner Bros. Records
- Married to Amy Haber Kaplan
- Resident of Toluca Lake, CA
- Master of Fine Arts in Conceptual Art, UCSB, 2005
- Short
- If you want to know more
View Ethan Kaplan's profile
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duh
[From Music Industry Gurus' Five Point Plan to Save their Business | Listening Post from Wired.com]- #
Rauschenberg is one of my ultimate favorite artists and his passing is terribly sad
[From Robert Rauschenberg, American Artist, Dies at 82 - New York Times]- #
this is fucking crazy.
[From Swiss man soars above Alps with jet-powered wing - Yahoo! News]- #
Funny thing is, with smart people, these are not challenges. With smart partners, they are open opportunities.
[From hypebot: Top 10 Issues Facing Music 2.0]- #
seriously: awesome news if this is true. I hope they provide API hooks through XMPP payloads as well, as some good ole stateful API programs would be every nice indeed. Death to HTTP polling! FBML pushes through XMPP for the win!
[From Breaking: Facebook to Launch Jabber/XMPP Support for Chat - The Unofficial Facebook Blog]- #
This is an incredible story that I didn't know much about, but every jew and non-jew should read and be inspired by.
[From Irena Sendler, 98; member of resistance saved lives of 2,500 Polish Jews - Los Angeles Times]- #
The ultimate twitter revenue is the use of premium SMS to provide for "fanclub" type feeds for some individuals. These would be exclusive feeds with some public messages and some private. For instance, imagine a band X that had a 1 dollar a month Twitter feed. The private 1 dollar a month feed included exclusive information, links to songs, etc. Also another twitter revenue source that can't happen if they don't fix their infrastructure: reselling the infrastructure! Getting good economies of scale with their SMS gateway and reuse from the HTTP and XMPP API's. The premium SMS one I've been hounding Ev and Biz about for a year now. I want it!
- #The Ultimate Twitter Revenue Model - ReadWriteWeb
]
I feel like Anne Sullivan: "IT HAS A NAME!" Well thank goodness for that, because after all this time I thought I was working on just Technology!
[From New Music Economy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]- #
water finds its level
[From The State of the Facebook Platform | 20bits]- #
Finally a nice use of Core Animation. Groovy and tactile.
[From Acrylic | Times]- #
- Music Industry Gurus’ Five Point Plan to Save their Business | Listening Post from Wired.com
- Robert Rauschenberg, American Artist, Dies at 82 - New York Times
- Swiss man soars above Alps with jet-powered wing - Yahoo! News
- Cocoa Touch Developers
- hypebot: Top 10 Issues Facing Music 2.0
- Breaking: Facebook to Launch Jabber/XMPP Support for Chat - The Unofficial Facebook Blog
- Irena Sendler, 98; member of resistance saved lives of 2,500 Polish Jews - Los Angeles Times
- twitter revenue
- XMPP, Spread, Daemons, Python… aka a fun day being a geek.
- New Music Economy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Well there’s your problem!
- The State of the Facebook Platform | 20bits
- Acrylic | Times
- Postcards From Yo Momma
- twistori
- SanFran MusicTech Summit
- Interns needed at WBR
- New: Video Comments On All TechCrunch Blogs
- A VC: Something Important Is On The Horizon In The Music Business
- spleak