Ah Doug Morris, unibrow baby to the digital music revolution. His hard-ball approach with Microsoft, fighting hard for a $1 cut of each Zune sold in exchange for allowing Microsoft to license Universal Music's stable of artists, won him a place on the enemies list of every music blogger from Anaheim to Zurich.
The grapevine says some at CES are being told Microsoft will no longer develop PlaysForSure, its proprietary DRM system, a move Microsoft swore up and down it would never make when the company failed to include PlaysForSure support in the Zune line.
According to PC Pro News,"Microsoft will concentrate exclusively on its Zune platform, which is not...
Aw, keep trying little buckaroo! C|Net reports that the Zune hasn't cracked the top ten portable music players, although it has captured a "decent slice" of the hard drive based player market in big box retail stores.
The overall top ten is overwhelmingly Apple, with 8 of the top ten slots occupied by fruit etched media devices, Sandisk's Sansa models round out the rest of the ten. For what it's worth,...
This year will see ecosystem changing digital music milestones, if Robert X. Cringely's crystal ball is working properly. In his 2007 predictions Cringely writes, "No one DRM technology emerges as the winner and the RIAA begins to back off as it loses a few legal cases. Still, no Internet-only song wins a Grammy or is even recognized as existing." He also turns his six-shooter of prognostication on Apple's unibrow baby wanna-be, "Zune...
With the holidays playing time burglar to my regular schedule of combing the web, I missed this gem which our sister Engadget jumped aboard. Linux is making its way on to the Zune, one baby step at a time. According to a forum post Mys Videl of Zune Boards has managed to build a boot-loader and compile a working Linux kernel for Microsoft's Zune, which eventually could open up a world of possibilities for the device.
If you weigh the anecdotal evidence, Microsoft's Zune didn't have a very merry Christmas. Failing to make Amazon's top sellers list at any point during the holiday season, the Zune trailed far behind Apple's iPod, several models of which held top spots at various points.
According to TechWeb "During the holiday season, Zune was seldom seen among the top 10 consumer electronics on Amazon. Microsoft, however, says sales have met its internal forecasts,...
Is it just me or have we entered bizarro world? Bill Gates (yes, that Bill Gates) says he's unhappy with the current state of DRM.
TechCrunch writes, "Gates said that no one is satisfied with the current state of DRM, which "causes too much pain for legitmate buyers" while trying to distinguish between legal and illegal uses. He says no one has done it right, yet. There are "huge problems" with DRM, he says, and "we...
Burton'esque Zune ad demonstrates sharing, as it should be
This totally cute new Zune ad does an admirable job of explaining the concept behind sharing music. Ok, so, the cookie doesn't lock itself from use after 3 days or 3 plays but, the idea presented is pretty noble.
Those early Zune sales numbers are slipping into less-than-average territory, having dropped to 5th overall behind Apple, Creative, Sandisk and even also-ran Memorex.
Bloomeberg reports, "Zune's market share declined as SanDisk Corp. boosted sales with a 50 percent price cut on its media players, taking a 39.3 percent share and knocking Microsoft from the No. 2 spot it occupied in its first week in the market. Redmond, Washington- based Microsoft...
Ah Doug Morris, 
The grapevine says some at CES are being told Microsoft will no longer develop PlaysForSure, its proprietary DRM system, a move Microsoft swore up and down it would never make when the company failed to include PlaysForSure support in the Zune line. 
Aw, keep trying little buckaroo! 
This year will see ecosystem changing digital music milestones, if Robert X. Cringely's crystal ball is working properly. In his 2007 predictions Cringely writes, "No one DRM technology emerges as the winner and the RIAA begins to back off as it loses a few legal cases. Still, no Internet-only song wins a Grammy or is even recognized as existing." He also turns his six-shooter of prognostication on Apple's unibrow baby wanna-be, "Zune... 
If you weigh the anecdotal evidence, Microsoft's Zune didn't have a very merry Christmas. Failing to make Amazon's top sellers list at any point during the holiday season, the Zune trailed far behind Apple's iPod, several models of which held top spots at various points. 
Is it just me or have we entered bizarro world? Bill Gates (yes, 
