Zune spoons UMG goons (and the Joe Board)

Brown earbuds at the ready, it's IT Blogwatch, in which we learn that Microsoft is paying Universal $1 per Zune and reviewers hate the device. Not to mention the Joe Board...

Yinka Adegoke had a go-ke at explaining it: [you're fired -Ed.]

Microsoft Corp. has agreed to pay Universal Music Group a fee for each new Zune digital music player it sells when the iPod rival is launched next week, the companies said today. The groundbreaking deal could redefine the digital music business pioneered by Apple Computer Inc. Rivals, including cell phone makers, could eventually pay for hardware sales as well as for the music itself, Universal said.

Microsoft is trying to break into an industry closely aligned with Apple, which is credited with nearly single-handedly building the legal Web music world with its iPod players and iTunes music store. But Apple does not give a cut of sales of iPods to music companies. It pays labels only for songs sold on its iTunes music store.
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The iPod has a nearly 80% share of digital media player sales, and Apple's iTunes music downloads site is the dominant online music store. That has given Apple founder Steve Jobs a strong hand in negotiations with the music industry to date.
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There have been calls for a so-called iPod tax in some countries including Canada, the Netherlands and the U.K. to help music companies that have lost sales to digital piracy, mainly through peer-to-peer file-sharing over the Internet.

Siddiq Bello confesses to being "conflicted":

On the one hand it seems like a great way for MS to guarantee itself access to content from one the music industries largest producers. Given Universal’s size and power its unlikely that other labels wont get in line to license their stuff to the ZUNE store and get a piece of Zune sales as a bonus. On the other hand it highlights just how desperate MS has become in its heavily lampooned bid to ruin the iParty that Apple has enjoyed for the last few years.

Love him or hate him, Andrew Orlowski is usually thought-provoking:

Universal has no leverage whatsoever over Microsoft ... Why did Microsoft volunteer a payment when it didn't need to? ... Microsoft never pays a penny more than it needs to. Especially not when this sets a costly precedent ... Optimists wondered if the UMG deal entitled Zune owners to do more with their Universal songs - for example, exchange them more freely between Zune owners
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The advantage for UMG would be that it would set the terms for subsequent licensing deals with Microsoft ... as Peter Jenner, the former manager of The Clash, explained here, UMG wants to ensure it gives as little away to songwriters as possible, because almost all of the rest goes straight to the bottom line. [But] if the music business wants to "shake down" anybody, it's the broadband operators ... There's clearly much more to this deal than meets the eye, and hopefully some of the questions will be answered on the 14th, when Zune is officially launched.

Om Malik sits on the fence:

What a bunch of crap! Any business that perceives its end customers as crooks and thieves should go the way of the a broken ice cream cone on a hot summer afternoon. The CDs I buy, I pay for, and I can do whatever with them ... In this battle of the monopolists, Microsoft blinked and decided to pay up ... Remember how Jobs stood up to these music industry bullies ... If music industry cannot sell one additional song to consumers (and has to blackmail for more money) then, you as a business, have lost grip over your core competency.

But what of the device itself? Scott McNulty reads the NYT and the WSJ:

There are two titans of technology writing: Walt Mossberg and David Pogue. These men can make or break a product and today they both share their thoughts on Microsoft's would be iPod, the Zune ... Pogue and Mossberg both agree that the screen on the Zune is great, and that the UI is comparable, or better than, the iPod in most cases. It also sounds just as good as the iPod, but that is where the praise ends. Pogue wonders why you can't use Windows Media Player to sync with your Zune (you must use a new software program called, oddly enough, Zune). Mossberg was disappointed in the battery life, and he thought the entire product felt more like a prototype than a final effort.

They both pan the wireless sharing, which is supposed to be one of the Zune's major selling points. You can share, via WiFi, songs from your Zune to another person's Zune. They can only play them 3 times in the next 3 days before they go poof (leaving behind a note of what the track was in case you want to buy it at the Zune Store). Though here's the rub, even if you only listen to 10 seconds of the song that counts as one 'play.'

Glenn Fleishman adds:

The Wi-Fi-equipped Zune launches next week, and the two most widely read mainstream technology journalists have their reviews out—they don’t much like it. I’ve been astounded that Microsoft would release a device with Wi-Fi that cannot sync via Wi-Fi to a computer (only via USB), and cannot connect to the Internet to download music. Pogue and Mossberg have broader critiques.
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Mossberg heaps particular scorn on the purchasing model for the online store, which is the same as Microsoft uses for its Xbox Live Marketplace. Microsoft Points are pegged at 80 points to the dollar: $5 buys you 400 points or 500 points costs $6.25. Mossberg was irritated that you have to buy buckets of points in at least $5 increments; you can’t just pay 99 cents via a credit card or other means to buy a 99-cent song, as you can with other stores. No, no, you have to pay $5 for 400 points and then use 79 points to purchase that song. I’m guessing Microsoft went with Points to tie in to an existing system that already supports worldwide purchase in local currency. The $15 per month subscription plan isn’t being pushed, even though it’s the gaping hole in Apple’s music offerings.

Mossberg explains, too, that songs bought for the Zune will not play on any other music devices, and that songs purchased for playback using Microsoft’s protected music format PlaysForSure will not play on the Zune. This latter fact came out months ago, but the former is worth noting as well, because it’s been one of Microsoft’s key talking points in critiquing the iPod/iTunes closed music format.
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Pogue ... spoke to a Zune product manager who essentially says that Microsoft’s protected music system, PlaysForSure, is broken, which is something people outside Microsoft ... have been saying for some time ... Pogue uncovers the fake scroll wheel, too, which isn’t a scroll wheel at all: it’s a round bezel that doesn’t spin and isn’t touch sensitive.

Evan Blass has at least some positives to report:

The device gets high marks for its smooth syncing, polished GUI, intuitive navigation, ability to dock with an Xbox 360, and solid build quality. The problem is, these niceties don't outweigh the missing or frustrating features -- so although it may be a decent player on its own merits, it falls far short in the inevitable comparisons to Apple's darling. Still, we're reminded once again that this is only the first generation of Microsoft's entry into portable audio hardware, and like so many other products from Redmond, it promises to only get better with time.

Todd Baur spots a different angle:

It seems Microsoft is ashamed to admit they are behind the product. Nowhere in the Zune ecosystem is a mention of the company. The back of the unit vaguely refers to Redmond, with the text “Hello from Seattle”. As a Machead, I have to laugh at this sad attempt from them. They know the Microsoft brand is so tarnished that they have to hide that fact in this product just to even come close to competing with Apple ... Keep trying Microsoft, I’m sure you’ll figure something out ten years after Apple has beat you to it again. Maybe someday Microsoft will be proud to put their name on that product, but for now it’s best they keep it a secret so consumers who don’t know can be duped into buying it under the assumption Zune is its own company.

Buffer overflow:

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Around Computerworld

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Previously in IT Blogwatch

• Skype brandishes better beta (and mad ninja pirate)
• E-voting stories rounded up (and palindromes)
• Office+Vista+Exchange = PARTY! (and sore horse)
• Novell+Microsoft pact facts (and gun+foot=tears)
• E-voting: paging Dr. DRE (and kiss my monkey)
• Older posts

And finally... The Joe Board --  how much whiteboard space can Joe's colleagues fill up with "Joeisms" before his contract is terminated?

Richi Jennings is an independent technology and marketing consultant, specializing in email, blogging, Linux, and computer security. A 20 year, cross-functional IT veteran, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. Contact Richi at blogwatch@richij.com.