Apple’s unveiling of the Macintosh nearly a quarter century ago heralded a new era of computing.
The Mac was the first computer to use a graphical user interface and a mouse. It was the computer for the masses that didn’t want to bother with command line interfaces and balky hardware.
The computer was finally a completely self-contained package, and as an added benefit was an attractive piece of hardware, even when it wasn’t turned on.
Few can doubt that personal computing would have charted a different future without the Macintosh. Yet, as things turned out, within six years the Mac would see a steady decline in sales following the introduction of Windows 3.0 and the desire among computer users to work outside of the Mac’s confinements.
Where once consumers found the Mac’s turnkey simplicity reassuring, they now hungered for additional hardware which, quite literally, didn’t fit inside the box Apple provided. This luxury was standard on the competing IBM-compatible platform, allowing users to add their own hardware and software with ease.
As a trailblazer, the Macintosh was a milestone in the development of home computing, and by extension, the Internet. The Mac also earned a pedestal in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art for its design aesthetic. The sustaining elements of the computing revolution weren’t unique to Apple–the company merely made those elements more attractive.
Nearly a generation later, Apple is once again trying to create a totally controlled, self-contained environment–this time not for computers, but for music and entertainment. However, the market served with Apple’s iPod devices is far more digitally sophisticated than those early computer users. And today’s legions of tech-savvy music listeners are not likely to accept the company’s shackles for long.
Despite popular conception, Apple did not invent the digital portable music player. What Apple did was take a product that was slowly working itself into the hands of willing consumers and make it sexy. In addition to making the product attractive to consumers, Apple was able to sell the concept of portable digital music, just as it had with home computing decades earlier.
But even as consumers have purchased Apple’s devices in droves, they’ve come to realize that there’s more to digital music than what’s contained in the little white box. Other, arguably superior devices are now on the market; more are being introduced regularly. These players offer features that will become the sustaining elements of the digital entertainment revolution–they will be smart devices with IP connectivity and increased onboard storage.
We’re already beginning to see this paradigm shift. Consider the following industry changes, which have occurred in the last several years:
- Traditional audio manufacturers–Denon, Yamaha, Bose–are bringing to market equipment boasting super storage, connectivity and the ability to play multiple audio formats.
- TiVo and other set-tops are tapping their storage and processing abilities for more than time-shifting TV shows.
- All the major cell phone manufacturers have phones with increased storage, processing power, connectivity and use of different audio and video formats in their five-year design plans. This year alone we’ve seen a significant increase in the number of new music phones and a clear shift in the marketing to consumers.
The greatest objective for today’s music listeners–what they regard as their inalienable right–is absolute portability: music that can be accessed anywhere, at anytime. Today’s consumers want their music immediately available at home, in their car, at work, on their phones, at a party, or while working out at the gym, without the hassle of using multiple devices that are each tethered to different services.
In such an open-source world of unfettered digital entertainment, the device is a means, not an end, to set listeners free. Why then, in the long term, would anyone accept the limitations of the proprietary lockout of the iPod and iTunes? Once the digital revolution stabilizes, we’ll be left with a wide range of devices that can play music seamlessly. Everything from car dashboards and cell phones to stereo consoles at home or work will give us access to our entertainment.
In the not-so-distant future, Apple will again be acknowledged for introducing consumers to new technology and marketing the first truly successful line of digital music players–products that the masses lusted after, but eventually moved beyond.
The technological aesthetic created by Apple has earned it a rightful place in design history. However, a new generation of device makers and consumers is writing the next chapter in digital music history.
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Microsoft has unveiled the second generation of Zune digital music players and will offer consumers 1 million unprotected songs on its online music store.
Microsoft announced on Tuesday that it will offer three new models of the Zune in November, including two equipped with flash memory. The 4GB and 8GB versions are iPod Nano look-alikes that will sell for a suggested retail price of $149 and $199 respectively. An 80GB player equipped with a hard drive will sell for $249. The pricing scheme for the devices exactly mirrors that of Apple’s iPods.
Some of the other changes include a complete overhaul of the device’s software and a redesign of Marketplace, Zune’s music store. Other interesting features include wireless syncing and the new Zune Pad, a touch-sensitive technology that enables users to slide their finger across the main navigation button instead of always having to click.
The 4GB and 8GB models represent Zune’s first foray into flash-based players and they will be offered in a palette of red, pink, black and green. The 80GB features a 3.2-inch screen and will be smaller and thinner than the original Zune 30GB player. The software upgrades will also replace the software in the 30GB models.
Zune devices will automatically sync when connected over home wireless networks. The feature is designed to ensure that owners always leave home with the latest content, such as podcasts.
The move to provide unprotected MP3 music on the Zune music store is unprecedented for Microsoft but does not come as a surprise. Not only is the company one of the major providers of digital rights management software, but executives there slammed Apple and its CEO Steve Jobs last February when he called on the music industry to abandon DRM.
Microsoft then reversed itself in April, saying it would eventually sell unprotected songs on Marketplace.
While 1 million songs may sound like a lot, Microsoft isn’t saying just how much of that music is coming from the four major music labels. Already, eMusic offers more than 2 million unprotected tracks from mostly independent labels. In May, Apple announced it had partnered with record company EMI to sell DRM-free music on iTunes. Apple hasn’t said how many unprotected tracks on iTunes are available.
Susan Kevorkian, an analyst with IDC, said that Microsoft is more interested in selling music players than it is with providing DRM software. She said that Microsoft began scaling back its DRM efforts last year in order to throw more resources at improving the Zune.
But are the new products enough to reel in Apple? The newest Zunes are a step up, but Microsoft watchers don’t think they offer anything better than the iPod.
“I would say they are holding their own,” Van Baker, a research vice president with Gartner, said of Microsoft’s venture into the music category. “Within that group (vying for the approximate 30 percent market share that Apple doesn’t own), I’d say they are a contender. Are they gaining on Apple or making up ground? I don’t think so.”
What’s new with Zune?
The problem is that the newest Zune models don’t offer anything demonstrably better than the iPod, the analysts said.
More than a year has passed since Microsoft began developing the music player and the company is still without a comparable video store to iTunes. Zune’s Marketplace will begin offering music videos, but it is still without TV shows. While Microsoft crowed about its new touch-sensitive navigation button, the new iPods come equipped with touch-sensitive screens.
And the new iPods now offer Wi-Fi–a feature that was supposed to set the Zune apart.
Kevorkian said her company last year had anticipated “a quicker refresh” to the Zune. She said that some of the reasons that may have slowed Zune efforts may have been some key departures in the unit’s management and that it was forced to rush the launch of its debut models.
“What we are seeing now are important incremental changes,” Kevorkian said. “What we’re waiting to see is more revolutionary changes, such as the ability to access the Zune music service via Wi-Fi. We think Microsoft will be a strong player in the portable flash player category. They have diversified their player platform and undertaken a major overhaul of their software, which is important way to development. There are people looking for an alternative to Apple, and Microsoft is likely going to win market share from other Windows-based media players. They are just behind right now.”
Microsoft has always said that the Zune was a long-term project, predicting in 2006 that it could take years and hundreds of millions of dollars to go toe-to-toe with Apple. The company surpassed its initial sales goal by selling more than 1 million Zunes by June.
“What we’ve done in the past year is establish the Zune brand,” said Jason Reindorp, marketing director for Zune. “It’s starting to mean something to people. That isn’t easy to do. Microsoft had a very realistic view of what it would take to get into the marketplace and differentiate itself and be successful. We look at these things in terms of years, not months.”
Interestingly, Microsoft usually likes to compare its efforts with Zune to that of the company’s foray into the video game sector. With the Xbox, Microsoft seized market share from Sony and Nintendo very early. Are there any similarities between Xbox’s early efforts and Zune’s?
“No, absolutely not,” Baker said. “Xbox had Halo. If it wasn’t for Halo, Xbox probably wouldn’t exist. But that’s the game industry, where one incredible franchise can drive an entire platform. Against Apple, Microsoft is up against a dominate service worldwide and it’s going to be tough to knock them down if Microsoft doesn’t bring something uniquely different to market. If Microsoft can’t do that, they can only compete on price and that only buys so much time.”
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