OPINION: Why do you expect the iPod nano to be anything else other than a music player?

A couple months ago when the sixth-generation iPod nano was released, people were up in arms about all the features that it lacked. Compared to the fifth-generation Nano, the new Nano lost video playback support, video recording, internal speakers, contacts and calendar support, etc. For the life of me, I could never understand why people were so mad about it. Why were they expecting a music player to do anything more than play music? I just didn’t get it and I still don’t.

I think we’ve all been spoiled. The fact is, we shouldn’t expect our music players to do anything more than play music. That’s what they are: Music players. All the extra features like video playback and cameras, pedometers, contacts and calendar support and games? They are extra features that companies like Apple can choose not to implement in later versions if they choose to do so like they did with the iPod nano. Don’t like it? Tough. Buy something else, like the iPod touch or a Zune, if you want all those features, but don’t expect it on a music player. 

I happen to like the iPod nano for what it does: Play my music/Podcast collection, view photos, listen to FM radio, act as a pedometer, and work as a fairly nice watch.

Do you get my point?

Microsoft Retail Store - 10/22/09

Thursday, October 22, 2009... The day Microsoft released their brand new retail store. Now I'm sure many of you have heard about this already, or seen short videos on it; but I have decided to let those of you who haven't heard. Well, Microsoft's retail store is currently located in two locations at the moment, Scottsdale, Arizona and Viejo, California. They are planning on making more locations in the future. The store contains Windows 7 products, Microsoft Mobile Phones, Zune Media Players, Xbox 360 and 'cloud' email and storage services for consumers. The store also includes a 'answer bar' were you can ask anyone of the Microsoft Retail Workers your questions and they will answer them. Another cool feature about this store is that the workers are dressed in different colored shirts based upon what product they are working with, i.e. Green for Xbox, Red for Zune, Blue for Windows 7 and so on so forth. On the opening date the stores were crowded with folks eager to find out what Microsoft has done.

In my own opinion, Microsoft has done an excellent job with the store and setting up different stations with different products for customers to review. I'm sure this will help them a lot. The store is very spacious. The former real estate chief for Apple (George Blankenship) was hired to consult on location and placement of the stores. As everyone eagerly rushed into the store to try out and look at all the Microsoft products, staff was very proud to say, "this is the new Microsoft Retail Store"

Zune HD Pricing Leaked

Call me crazy, but I think the most useful thing about Amazon is it's ability to leak important information to the public.  This is a screenshot provided by the lovely folks at Amazon showing Microsoft's Zune HD pricing.  Microsoft surprised me by making their Zunes significantly cheaper than iPods.  With September only a few weeks away, I wonder how Apple will respond to this.  I could only hope that they'd bring down the prices of the Touch models, but who knows.

Are these prices enough to make you consider buying one?  I hadn't planned on it, but $290 versus $399 seems very enticing to me.

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Thoughts on the Zune HD

The past few days there has been a lot of news regarding Microsoft's new Zune HD. I personally think the new Zune looks really nice, but I don't foresee it being the "iPod Killer" that Microsoft hopes it will be. What do you guys think? Will you be waiting in line to buy one of these?

Thanks!

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