SlashGear Japan
Oh dear oh dear. Remember when I said that the success of Zune hinged on how straitlaced Microsoft decided to be when it came to its potentially killer-feature, built in WiFi? Well it looks like they’ve decided to go with the “lock it up so tight that it can’t even squeak, never mind roar”, according to the latest information from David Caulton, a member of the Zune team. Read on for the (sparse) good news and (overwhelming) bad…
According to David, with Zune:
You can:
- Search for and find other Zunes nearby.
- Send songs / albums for the 3 x 3 trial. Songs past the three days / listens are deleted at next sync, but catalogued on your PC for record-keeping should you want to purchase them later.
- Send and receive image files for “unlimited viewing.”
You can’t:
- Connect to the internet.
- Download songs directly from the Zune store via WiFi.
- Sync to your computer via WiFi.
Two words: let down. While nobody expects Microsoft to say, obliquely or otherwise, that music sharing is fine and give people the open tools to do so, to prevent direct internet connections and PC-free downloads is, frankly, short-sighted of them. And as for wireless syncing not being an option, why on earth not? There are going to be a whole lot of people who’ve just put their credit cards back into their wallets – or, worse for Microsoft, taken them to their nearest Apple store and bought a new iPod.
6 Responses to “Zune Wireless a total letdown”
BA Barracus October 2, 2006
A-DUUUUUUUUUH! You didn’t really think MS was going to give you any sort of freedom, did you? There’s no technical reason why they can’t do all those things; they’ve just decided you don’t deserve to be able to do them.
Wireless synching would be pretty freakin’ sweet, too, but I’ve a feeling it’d kill the battery dead faster than you can say, “Hello! My name is Inigo Montoya! You keeled my father! Prepare to die!”
NeutralVincent Nguyen October 2, 2006
Leave it to the hackers…where there’s a will there’s a way. Obviously, M$ isn’t going to “allow” such features out of the box. That’s where the hackers come in, they’ll figure it for the rest of the world who want or need these features.
NeutralMe October 2, 2006
None the less WiFi is still a great idea… although the few restraints are a little irritating, it’s still better than iPod.
NeutralZune-Online.com October 3, 2006
Hi slashgear,
The 3 days or 3 plays restriction applies only if the song has been bought by a friend of yours from the Zune marketplace and he decides to send it to you to listen. You can listen to it 3 times, or keep it no more than 3 days. After that you Zune device still remembers it, but now you have to buy it to listen again.
BUT if a friend of yours sends you an MP3 or any other non-DRM song, you can keep it FOREVER. I think this is not clear in your posting.
– Zune-Online.com
NeutralZune-Online.com October 4, 2006
Just a misunderstanding. Forget my above comment. 3 days 3 plays applies also to non-DRM music files.
NeutralJohn June 30, 2008
u can sync wirelessly with the computer…i do it all the time
Neutral