Can Someone Explain Why Zune....

[Saidas]

doesn't have an audio out? With many other DAP's you can use a standard jack/RCA to play into a home or car stereo. There coudn't be much if any cost difference.

Why Zune is not a mass storage device? Drag 'n drop would eleviate the need for a lot of the hassle involved with just basic Zune use.

Why does MS, the largest software company in the known universe with enormous resources, make such simple use software that is so bad that everyone hates it and many won't use it while just a few indie developers like Rockbox make near perfect, full featured software?

And why with it's incredible intellectual bank and enormous resources to hire the best developers and marketers on Planet Earth who have had a few years now to come up with an "iPod Killer" come out with a product that with just a few simple and inexpensive changes could be just that? I have MS engineer friends who work on incredibly complex things and believe me, Zune firmware/hardware is baby food!

[Man.]

Originally Posted by Saidas

doesn't have an audio out? With many other DAP's you can use a standard jack/RCA to play into a home or car stereo. There coudn't be much if any cost difference.

It does because thats the way I use it.

[Gregory]

It has audio out, its the headphone jack. It is a media device, not portable storage. Not everyone hates the software. The firmware will get better over time, Zune is still new compared to iPod.

[AppleHater]

Originally Posted by Saidas

doesn't have an audio out? With many other DAP's you can use a standard jack/RCA to play into a home or car stereo. There coudn't be much if any cost difference.

Why Zune is not a mass storage device? Drag 'n drop would eleviate the need for a lot of the hassle involved with just basic Zune use.

Why does MS, the largest software company in the known universe with enormous resources, make such simple use software that is so bad that everyone hates it and many won't use it while just a few indie developers like Rockbox make near perfect, full featured software?

And why with it's incredible intellectual bank and enormous resources to hire the best developers and marketers on Planet Earth who have had a few years now to come up with an "iPod Killer" come out with a product that with just a few simple and inexpensive changes could be just that? I have MS engineer friends who work on incredibly complex things and believe me, Zune firmware/hardware is baby food!

First off, The software is great if you know how to use it, but some people dont take the time to learn it, and then they just ****ing complain that it doesnt work. Well if you would take the time to learn the software then it might actually work :P. 2nd. If drag and drop were featured in the Zune then MS wouldnt be making any money. You have to stop and think before going and making posts like this because you just made a huge ass out of yourself. And finally the zune firmware is great, its simple, elegant, and easy to use. Its a media device NOT a portable game system like RockBox tries to make everything to be! and also the headphone jack is a standard jack/RCA do some research before flaming boards.

[Zuune]

I personally like the zune software. Yes, I think it should have a little more features but, I still have wmp11 to do the things zune can't.

[captainlag]

I am confused?? wouldn't the headphone jack also be the audio out?? Isn't that how other DAP's do it also? What I find to be impressive is that the same jack can be used for video out!! I just wish microsoft included the necessary cable in the box as well.

Having the zune be a mass storage device would be a neat little trick. If I have a quick doc, I can just drag and drop it, instead of emailing it to myself. It would be cool if I could drag and drop wireless-ly. However, since I have a little usb flash drive, that is not a big deal. Plus, I don't always carry my sync cable with me.

I find that the actual zune device is really easy to use. I like the zune pad. My major gripes are with the zune desktop software. I like how podcasts are handled. Everything else is awful. I am not a huge fan of itunes, but at least there you can drag and drop items directly into your ipod. I dislike how the zune suite will sync, and delete and move things as it pleases. Also, since the marketplace video store is non existent, it would be nice if the software would rip and encode my dvd's.

[Saidas]

Technically ,the headphone is an audio jack. My former DAP (iRiver H120) had three audio outs: one for headphone, one for small jack/RCA (r&w) so you could plug into a home or car stereo, and one optical out which gives the best audio sound possible. It also had an audio in for recording. It also worked as a mass storage drive with standard USB cables and used exactly the same folder/file system that Windows uses. This means you could just plug it into any pc with a standard USB cable (no software needed) and it pops up as external drive. You just drag your folders or files into it and your done! And it's not even an MS product.

You couldn't, however, do more advanced applications like gapless, clock, playlists, etc. Rockbox makes outstanding free software that does everything you would want except if you use WMA because it is a closed sourse.

It would have been very easy and at little cost for MS to make this THE DAP and definitely an iPod killer. I think MS should be emabarrased that the Zune software is so crappy (check out rockbox.com if you think otherwise). Don't get me wrong, I'm not an MS hater by any means...I have Vista Premium, Office '07, use WMA, WMP11 (at least for now) and a Zune obviously.

[charmed61]

drag and drop is never gonna be possible... at least i think. cause then people can just program something then drag it into the zune. open it in zune and it'll just hack the firmware.