Zune Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

Be sure to register in our forums! Share your opinions, help others, and enter our contests.


Laptop Thoughts

Loading feed...

Windows Phone Thoughts

Loading feed...

Digital Home Thoughts

Loading feed...





All posts tagged "welcome"


Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Howdy Fellow Zunites!

Posted by Damion Chaplin in "Zune Thoughts Site Updates" @ 10:00 AM

Reverend Doctor Damion Chaplin here, though my friends call me Damion, and you should too. ;-) I'm currently a Contributing Editor over at Digital Media Thoughts, and now I've picked up a second hat over here at Zune Thoughts. I'll be bringing you all sorts of yummy Zune news, views, rants and raves just like you've come to expect from Thoughts Media sites. Now that the Zune is out, the news is flying wildly about, and we are of course working like madmen to bring you the very best. Be seeing you!


Monday, November 13, 2006

Microsoft Makes It Official: Welcome to the Social

Posted by Darius Wey in "Zune Events" @ 07:10 PM

"Celebrating the U.S. launch of the new Zune™ digital media player and music service, Microsoft Corp. has worked with a number of cutting-edge artists to stage free concerts in public parks and plazas in urban centers across the country. Today at Westlake Park in downtown Seattle at the first of these Zune concerts, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates took the stage to share his excitement for this next step Microsoft is taking in music and entertainment. Gates outlined the Zune vision to create new ways for people to connect, discover and share music and entertainment experiences. He was joined onstage by John Richards, morning show host of popular community radio station KEXP, to showcase the new Zune-to-Zune wireless sharing feature. Richards wirelessly sent the inaugural song to Gates, who then surprised the crowd by giving away his Zune device to a member of the audience. Building on the “Hello from Seattle” greeting printed on the back of every Zune device, Richards created a playlist to celebrate Seattle music in honor of the Zune launch. The complete KEXP “Hello from Seattle” playlist will be available on Zune Marketplace for consumers to download."

The official Zune launch is just a couple of hours away, and well, you know how it goes. Things don't feel official without some official PRs from the company itself. If you're interested in checking them out, hit PressPass for one about the launch and one about the "social". The second PR is very focused on the concept of "future-proofing". Microsoft wants you to know that despite some current limitations, the Zune will be upgradeable. We've seen this happen over the past year with the Xbox 360, and with the same team working on the Zune, I do believe that it'll be given the same sort of treatment.

So, folks, the Zune will be available from 30,000 US retailers. Tell us if you'll be picking up one (or two or three) tomorrow.


Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Welcome to Zune Thoughts - the Beta!

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Zune Thoughts Site Updates" @ 01:46 PM

I'd like to welcome everyone to Zune Thoughts, the most unfinished Thoughts Media site we've ever launched. As the post title indicates, this is a beta site: there's a line in Braveheart about "playing outlawed tunes on outlawed pipes". In the same way, Zune Thoughts is an unfinished site about an unreleased product, running atop an unfinished content management system layered over incomplete forums. Sounds a bit crazy doesn't it? Let me explain a bit further about why I'm doing this.

Why Zune Thoughts? From everything I've read about the Zune, it seems like it will be a great step for Microsoft to take. I don't own an iPod. While there are many things I respect about the iPod and what it's good at, I very strongly dislike the Apple way of "Do it our way or no way at all". I think there's a great opportunity for the iPod to have some serious competition, and in the end all consumers will benefit as every company in this market strives to make better products. I think Microsoft has the long-term vision and fortitude needed to succeed in this market. And in many ways, I think it's a step they need to take in order to stay relevant in the area of portable entertainment.

I've been involved in the Pocket PC/Smartphone world since 1997, and I've watched as Microsoft developed software, gave it to their OEM partners that do the hardware, and the end result was often less than impressive. That's not to say that all OEMs are incompetent or Microsoft is perfect in their execution (there are certainly software problems with Windows Mobile), but the idea is that when Microsoft leaves the "destiny" of a product up to an OEM, it doesn't always live up to its full potential. I'm an Xbox 360 owner (one of the crazies that waited in line on opening day), and have been extremely impressed with what Microsoft did with that product. The Zune team is at least partially made up of Xbox 360 team members, and functions under the same corporate umbrella within Microsoft as the Xbox 360 does. This tells me a lot about Microsoft's goals and visions for the Zune. I also happen to think that Microsoft has a good track record with hardware development (more on that later).

Why now? I've been asked why I'd launch a site about a product that I do not own, have never seen in person, and have very little information about (that's right, I don't have any special insider information). And contrary to what some have said, no, Microsoft is not paying me anything to launch this site. This is the first new Thoughts Media site launched since 2003, and many were expecting a different topic for the next site. There are two main reasons why Zune Thoughts makes sense right now: first, timing. In order for a online community to be successful, it's vital that the community is created at the right time. As of today, there are already around a dozen Zune sites already out there, and several with forums and growing new communities. Although cooperation with other communities is paramount to me, I want Zune Thoughts to be as successful (or more so) than Pocket PC Thoughts. I want Zune Thoughts to be the #1 Zune site on the Web; the destination for everything Zune. That means starting the community building aspects early, focusing on learning everything I can about the product, and being in place for the official release of the product.

The second reason why Zune Thoughts makes sense is the breadth of topic: Zune is a platform that incorporates hardware, software, content, and accessories. That's a good amount of topics to cover, but it's also not so broad that we'll lose focus or not be able to gain traction as a site. The difference in success I've seen with Pocket PC Thoughts and Smartphone Thoughts (both focused on a platform) compared to Digital Media Thoughts (focused on a concept or trend) has taught me many valuable lessons about the sweet spot of content and community focus.

I have some great team members from other sites helping out here, so over the next few days they'll introduce themselves and we can all get to know each other as we prepare for the launch of Zune. More to come later from me on many of the above topics, but for now let's start talking about Zune!

Tags: launch, zune, welcome

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Sponsored links