[This post is written by GameNerd Sam Machkovech.]
Good news for Microsoft: People seem to like the Zune HD, the company’s latest portable MP3/video doohickey (and first to truly catch up to Apple’s offerings). Three years after the original version, who’da thunk MS would finally get the hint and add some sex appeal to the thing?
Lookit the screen, for starters. It’s a slight bit smaller than the iPod Touch and iPhone, but the color/saturation quality is a marked improvement from Apple’s wonder. That makes for better palm-sized movies, and it doesn’t hurt that the Zune HD’s default menus look cool with those big chunks of text. Plus, the Zune menu can finally be manipulated with a touch-screen rather than the old Zunes’ dinky buttons, as can the Zune HD’s bookmarking system of “pins,” a slick take on the iPhone’s icons that simplify things like digging through your listening history.
Zunes past focused on features nobody wanted, most notably wireless song-sharing (which didn’t really work). No such worries here. The FM tuner picks up HD radio signals and lists radio song info on the screen, allowing you to save the info for later purchases. Perhaps more importantly, the Zune HD is the first to fully integrates a music subscription service, delivering a cache of “recommended if you’d like” tips and downloads. Music subscription services have yet to win over our nation of freeloaders, but combining the smarts of an iTunes genius with a limitless library of legal-to-download indie & mainstream songs might do the trick.
Biggest problem so far? Good luck finding “an app for that.” In spite of having the same power and functionality as an iPhone, MS has locked down its app selection, allowing only MS-released fare as of today. The result, currently, is less than a dozen widgets. No Pandora. No Google Maps. Even the company’s promised Twitter and Facebook integration isn’t on the device; Microsoft says those two, along with things like full-fledged games, will hit the device soon–and all for free. (Currently, the only games for the Zune HD are loaded with full-video advertisements, and those dinky games are not worth the ad suffering.)
MS has stated this is all intentional because they don’t want to confuse the market. Windows Mobile, their cellular-specific group, will stand as their platform for apps:
“We’re trying to get out of the business of building similar things in the company that don’t work together, and the Windows Mobile team is tackling the challenge of a mobile apps marketplace right now,” Seitz said.
Um, guys? The Zune HD would be a really, really good place to start building an apps library–and, more importantly, a reputation that is distinct from Apple’s. (Please re-read that bit I mentioned about sex appeal.) Why not set a few app standards that transfer from Zune HDs to Windows Mobile phones and vice versa? Why can’t you people “build similar things in the company” that DO work together?
That sort of MS red tape could prove to be a death knell, but the company has a sleeve-ace. The Xbox 360′s burgeoning “indie games” toolset now has ties to the Zune HD. And the 360′s popularity as a gaming powerhouse is a quantity Microsoft will be wise to leverage by releasing Zune-sized versions of 360 hits (Halo, anyone?). Of course, until any of that comes to fruition, the iPod Touch and iPhone already have lots of games. And apps. And songs, and movies, and catchy ads, and users. That’s a goddamned mountain. At least MS has prepped for that climb with a unique device this time.
