1 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:12,360 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 2 00:00:12,360 --> 00:00:15,720 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Javin Strickland. 3 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:18,520 Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer with iHeart Podcasts and how the 4 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:23,080 Speaker 1: tech are you see, y'all. I'm currently on vacation at 5 00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:27,320 Speaker 1: the moment. I should be somewhere in the Caribbean, and 6 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:30,000 Speaker 1: that means that I'm not able to record a new 7 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:32,199 Speaker 1: episode for you today, So I thought I would bring 8 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:36,480 Speaker 1: an episode from last year, May twenty fourth, twenty twenty three, 9 00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:40,320 Speaker 1: to be exact. This episode is titled The Sad Tale 10 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:45,880 Speaker 1: of Microsoft Zoon. I mentioned the Zoon in a recent 11 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:48,320 Speaker 1: episode of tech Stuff, and it got me to thinking 12 00:00:48,400 --> 00:01:01,760 Speaker 1: back about this particular device. Hope you enjoy well. I 13 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:06,000 Speaker 1: had got a story to tell. Once upon a time, 14 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:12,039 Speaker 1: two companies like indignity, Apple and Microsoft were locked in 15 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:16,319 Speaker 1: a battle for the home computer market. Apple had started 16 00:01:16,319 --> 00:01:20,200 Speaker 1: off with a few computer models named after the company itself, 17 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:22,280 Speaker 1: you know, the Apple and the Apple two, and then 18 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:25,800 Speaker 1: Apple two E and so on and so forth. Microsoft 19 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:29,800 Speaker 1: when a different route. Microsoft gained rights to various pieces 20 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:34,280 Speaker 1: of software. It developed some but it essentially bought or 21 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:39,520 Speaker 1: from a certain point of view, maybe not stole, but 22 00:01:40,240 --> 00:01:46,200 Speaker 1: definitely hoodwinked some developers and ended up licensing out operating 23 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:49,520 Speaker 1: system software and things like that. So two very different approaches. 24 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 1: So by the mid nineteen eighties, the struggle between Apple 25 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:58,360 Speaker 1: and Microsoft had intensified. Apple introduced the Macintosh computer with 26 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:02,639 Speaker 1: a graphical user interface or GUI GUY in other words, 27 00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:08,880 Speaker 1: Microsoft introduced Windows its own guy operating system, and while 28 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:13,440 Speaker 1: Microsoft wasn't making the hardware, the term Windows PC became 29 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:17,320 Speaker 1: shorthand it was almost as if Microsoft had been making 30 00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 1: the PCs itself. It wasn't, It was just making the 31 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:23,560 Speaker 1: operating system on top of the PC. But then the 32 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:28,080 Speaker 1: operating system was in many ways more important than whomever 33 00:02:28,160 --> 00:02:31,200 Speaker 1: made the machine itself, because the operating system would determine 34 00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:34,160 Speaker 1: what kind of software you could run on the machine. 35 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:38,120 Speaker 1: After all. Now, during the eighties and through the nineties, 36 00:02:38,919 --> 00:02:42,359 Speaker 1: Apple was on the ropes for a lot of different reasons, 37 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:45,400 Speaker 1: which I've covered in other episodes of Tech Stuff. At 38 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:48,880 Speaker 1: one point, Apple co founders See Jobs left the company, 39 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:52,200 Speaker 1: with some versions of the story saying he was essentially fired. 40 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:56,880 Speaker 1: Other versions say he was just strongly encouraged to leave. 41 00:02:57,720 --> 00:03:00,840 Speaker 1: Apple hit some really really rough one and at one 42 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:03,280 Speaker 1: point it was in danger of going out of business. 43 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:07,760 Speaker 1: Then Apple actually brought Steve Jobs back kind of to 44 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:11,639 Speaker 1: act as a type of advisor. But it wasn't too 45 00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:14,560 Speaker 1: long before Jobs regained control of the company he had 46 00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:18,080 Speaker 1: co founded. That's also a very dramatic story. After that, 47 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 1: Apple made a series of moves that would really turn 48 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:24,040 Speaker 1: things around for the company and set it on its 49 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:28,320 Speaker 1: path to become a trillion dollar company. Now, the interesting 50 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:33,600 Speaker 1: thing is, while Windows would retain a dominant hold on 51 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:38,839 Speaker 1: the business and home computer operating system markets, Apple would 52 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 1: find new ways to become the company associated with entire technologies, 53 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:47,920 Speaker 1: and Apple wasn't inventing these technologies. Instead, the company was 54 00:03:48,280 --> 00:03:52,280 Speaker 1: designing appealing products and then marketing the heck out of them. 55 00:03:52,760 --> 00:03:56,800 Speaker 1: And one product that really helped turn Apple around was 56 00:03:56,880 --> 00:04:02,040 Speaker 1: the iPod, Apple's digital music play so a standalone device 57 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:05,800 Speaker 1: on which you would store and play music. Now, again, 58 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:08,640 Speaker 1: Apple did not invent the MP three player. It was 59 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:11,360 Speaker 1: not the first company to make one. They just made 60 00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:15,040 Speaker 1: one that looked really nice, it worked well, it had 61 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:20,000 Speaker 1: some really cool features, and it it really benefited from 62 00:04:20,080 --> 00:04:23,800 Speaker 1: the power of Steve Jobs's presentation at various marketing events, 63 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:27,440 Speaker 1: and Apple was able to forge some alliance with various 64 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:30,440 Speaker 1: music labels over the next couple of years, and that 65 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:34,600 Speaker 1: helped create new opportunities, including the launch of the iTunes 66 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:37,880 Speaker 1: Store in two thousand and three. So iTunes had been 67 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:42,279 Speaker 1: around before that, but iTunes first started out as software 68 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:45,279 Speaker 1: you would have on your computer and you would use 69 00:04:45,320 --> 00:04:48,760 Speaker 1: iTunes to organize your music library, but you couldn't actually 70 00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:53,000 Speaker 1: buy music from iTunes at first. Instead, you would buy 71 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:56,680 Speaker 1: a CD, a compact disc, put that in the optical 72 00:04:56,760 --> 00:05:00,160 Speaker 1: drive of your Mac computer, and you would rip music 73 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:04,960 Speaker 1: from the CD and store it digitally within iTunes. That 74 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:08,960 Speaker 1: would be your organization software essentially, and that's how you 75 00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:11,680 Speaker 1: would transfer music over to your iPod too. You would 76 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:14,200 Speaker 1: physically connect your iPod to your Mac and then you 77 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:17,360 Speaker 1: would port music over from your library on your Mac 78 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:22,360 Speaker 1: computer to your iPod. Now, with two years of negotiation, 79 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:25,240 Speaker 1: Steve Jobs was actually able to convince music labels to 80 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:29,760 Speaker 1: offer up digital tracks for individual purchase within iTunes itself, 81 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:32,440 Speaker 1: and that was the creation of the iTunes store, where 82 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:36,600 Speaker 1: instead of using it as just your means of organizing 83 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:39,679 Speaker 1: your music, it also became the way you could purchase 84 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:42,880 Speaker 1: new music. That would really push Apple to new heights. 85 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:49,760 Speaker 1: Microsoft was way behind on the MP three players space. 86 00:05:49,839 --> 00:05:54,000 Speaker 1: They did not jump into that market early on, and 87 00:05:54,760 --> 00:06:00,920 Speaker 1: Apple was able to essentially define that market. Microsoft eventually 88 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:04,120 Speaker 1: recognized that there was money to be made in the 89 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:08,720 Speaker 1: digital media player space, and the iPod had been out 90 00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:13,520 Speaker 1: for several years, like five years, and then Microsoft decided 91 00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:16,160 Speaker 1: they were going to try and create their own digital 92 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:20,560 Speaker 1: music player. Maybe this one could have some really innovative 93 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:23,680 Speaker 1: features that would set it apart. Designers could actually take 94 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:27,480 Speaker 1: the opportunity to learn about what worked with the iPod 95 00:06:27,600 --> 00:06:31,600 Speaker 1: and what didn't work, or what people wish the iPod 96 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:34,839 Speaker 1: could do. They could take that information and use that 97 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:39,159 Speaker 1: to design a superior digital media player. They could have 98 00:06:39,240 --> 00:06:43,480 Speaker 1: done that. They didn't succeed in doing that. They tried 99 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:45,719 Speaker 1: in some ways, but really it was a massive failure, 100 00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:50,640 Speaker 1: and it's a shame because Apple's incredible success put aside. 101 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:54,400 Speaker 1: There were people who had notes, not musical notes, but 102 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:58,240 Speaker 1: like critical notes for the iPod. For example, for folks 103 00:06:58,279 --> 00:07:02,880 Speaker 1: like myself, I did not own a mac computer. Now, initially, 104 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:05,720 Speaker 1: if you want an iPod, it would only work with 105 00:07:05,720 --> 00:07:08,880 Speaker 1: Mac computers. You had to have a Macintosh in order 106 00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:12,600 Speaker 1: to synchronize with an iPod. It did not work with 107 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:16,440 Speaker 1: Windows based machines. Later generations of the iPod and later 108 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:20,400 Speaker 1: generations of iTunes would change that, but initially you just 109 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:24,760 Speaker 1: couldn't do it. And if you did want to use 110 00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:27,440 Speaker 1: a Windows based machine with an iPod that was compatible, 111 00:07:28,040 --> 00:07:31,360 Speaker 1: you had to download iTunes. You had to install iTunes 112 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:37,880 Speaker 1: onto your Windows machine, and the Windows version of iTunes stunk, 113 00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:43,240 Speaker 1: or at least in my opinion, it stunk. iTunes could 114 00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:46,160 Speaker 1: do some stuff that was legitimately useful. You know, it 115 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:49,120 Speaker 1: could detect when new tracks were added to your library 116 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:53,520 Speaker 1: and then transfer just those new tracks to your iPod 117 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:56,280 Speaker 1: when you next connected your iPod to your computer, But 118 00:07:56,360 --> 00:08:00,560 Speaker 1: at least on PC's iTunes was very slow. It was clunky, 119 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:04,440 Speaker 1: It took up a ton of space on your computer, 120 00:08:04,480 --> 00:08:08,559 Speaker 1: and it required a lot of your computer's assets to run, 121 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:12,280 Speaker 1: so everything else slowed to a crawl. It seemed like 122 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:14,680 Speaker 1: it was working great on Mac computers whenever I saw 123 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:17,600 Speaker 1: people in interface with it, but my own experience was 124 00:08:17,720 --> 00:08:21,800 Speaker 1: totally different. I hated iTunes on Windows. I thought of 125 00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:27,080 Speaker 1: it as bloatwear or worse, and you couldn't interface with 126 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:33,040 Speaker 1: the iPod using any other kind of digital media organizational software. 127 00:08:33,160 --> 00:08:37,439 Speaker 1: It had to be iTunes. So this meant that Microsoft 128 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:40,280 Speaker 1: actually had an opportunity to perhaps design a player and 129 00:08:40,280 --> 00:08:44,720 Speaker 1: a software package that would work more smoothly for people 130 00:08:44,760 --> 00:08:48,240 Speaker 1: who were Windows owners rather than Mac owners. That was 131 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:51,080 Speaker 1: a real opportunity for them. But even with a really 132 00:08:51,080 --> 00:08:55,319 Speaker 1: good product, Microsoft still would have faced a truly tough challenge. 133 00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:59,199 Speaker 1: Apple had really defined the MP three player landscape for 134 00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:04,560 Speaker 1: five years. At that point. They had introduced an iPod 135 00:09:04,679 --> 00:09:11,240 Speaker 1: capable of showing video. It had really great reviews. They had, 136 00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:13,120 Speaker 1: you know, models that could hold up to like eighty 137 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:19,040 Speaker 1: gigs of material. It could be a storage product, so 138 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:21,400 Speaker 1: you could actually store files on your iPod, not just 139 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:23,839 Speaker 1: media files, but other types as well. There are a 140 00:09:23,840 --> 00:09:28,199 Speaker 1: lot of reasons why the iPod was seen as a 141 00:09:28,240 --> 00:09:31,240 Speaker 1: great product. I mean, heck, the iPod is why we 142 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:36,080 Speaker 1: call podcasts podcasts like we call it podcasts because Apple 143 00:09:36,120 --> 00:09:41,120 Speaker 1: created this product that defined an entire generation of technology, 144 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:44,679 Speaker 1: so that brand was really entrenched in the minds of consumers. 145 00:09:44,679 --> 00:09:48,480 Speaker 1: So even with a spectacular product, Microsoft was going to 146 00:09:48,520 --> 00:09:53,320 Speaker 1: face uphill battle. But it wasn't a spectacular product, so 147 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:56,600 Speaker 1: the battle was even harder. The very first Microsoft Zoon 148 00:09:57,600 --> 00:10:01,319 Speaker 1: was originally just called the Zoon, but later on Microsoft 149 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:04,240 Speaker 1: called it the Zoon thirty, and the thirty in this 150 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:07,520 Speaker 1: case references the amount of storage available on the device. 151 00:10:07,559 --> 00:10:11,320 Speaker 1: It had a thirty gigabyte hard drive. A company called 152 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:16,760 Speaker 1: Freescale made the processor that ran in the Zoom thirty. 153 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:20,840 Speaker 1: It also made the processor for another digital player called 154 00:10:20,840 --> 00:10:26,000 Speaker 1: the Tashiba gigabeat S. In fact, the Zoon resembled the 155 00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:30,959 Speaker 1: Tashiba gigabeat S in many many ways, like it almost 156 00:10:31,080 --> 00:10:34,520 Speaker 1: was as if the Zoon was essentially a Gigabeit s 157 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:37,480 Speaker 1: from Tashiba that had gone through a little bit of 158 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:41,840 Speaker 1: a redesign that changed the dimensions of the player and 159 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:45,920 Speaker 1: maybe some some aesthetics, but otherwise it looked like it 160 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:48,640 Speaker 1: was very similar to the Gigabeats. And that's because that's 161 00:10:48,640 --> 00:10:53,880 Speaker 1: what it happened. Microsoft didn't really build the Zoon. Tashiba did. 162 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:57,840 Speaker 1: Microsoft made some changes to the design, but they were 163 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:02,600 Speaker 1: mostly cosmetic in nature. So Freescale used to be a 164 00:11:02,640 --> 00:11:06,800 Speaker 1: division within Motorola until two thousand and four, when Motorola 165 00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:10,520 Speaker 1: divested the division and it became Freescale. In twenty fifteen, 166 00:11:10,559 --> 00:11:14,599 Speaker 1: Freescale would become absorbed into a company called NXP Semiconductors. 167 00:11:15,120 --> 00:11:18,080 Speaker 1: So the Zoom came out in a brief span of 168 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:23,119 Speaker 1: time where Freescale was its own company, and unfortunately, someone 169 00:11:23,679 --> 00:11:27,760 Speaker 1: made a booboo with the drivers for the Freescale processors 170 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:30,720 Speaker 1: that went into both the Zoom thirty and the gigabeit s. 171 00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:34,240 Speaker 1: It was a booboo that wouldn't become noticeable for a 172 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:39,040 Speaker 1: couple of years, which is foreshadowing. We'll talk about it 173 00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:42,680 Speaker 1: when we get there. Okay, before we go any further, 174 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:57,480 Speaker 1: let's take a quick break. Okay, we're back. So when 175 00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:00,960 Speaker 1: the Zoon thirty launched initial you could get it in 176 00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:04,040 Speaker 1: one of three colors. There was like a pearl white, 177 00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:10,760 Speaker 1: there was black, and there was brown. I have no 178 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:14,880 Speaker 1: idea what made Microsoft think that brown would be a 179 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:18,800 Speaker 1: sought after color for an MP three player. I don't 180 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:21,240 Speaker 1: know how they didn't anticipate that this was going to 181 00:12:21,280 --> 00:12:25,640 Speaker 1: create a whole bunch of jokes about the nature of 182 00:12:25,679 --> 00:12:28,479 Speaker 1: that MP three player. It's like they were setting themselves 183 00:12:28,679 --> 00:12:33,840 Speaker 1: up to be hazed. Surely someone at Microsoft at some 184 00:12:33,880 --> 00:12:36,040 Speaker 1: point said, guys, this might not be a good idea, 185 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:39,560 Speaker 1: and yet they went with it. So the original Zooon 186 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:42,400 Speaker 1: had a three inch screen and a four x three 187 00:12:42,559 --> 00:12:46,160 Speaker 1: aspect ratio, so taller than it was wide. This was 188 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:48,319 Speaker 1: a much larger screen than what you could find on 189 00:12:48,360 --> 00:12:51,400 Speaker 1: the iPod at the time. That was really impressive, right, 190 00:12:51,559 --> 00:12:54,760 Speaker 1: Like it was a bigger device than the iPod. It 191 00:12:54,840 --> 00:12:59,160 Speaker 1: was definitely thicker too, like it was a chonky boy 192 00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:02,760 Speaker 1: as they might say, and it was going to be 193 00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:06,199 Speaker 1: a hefty piece of plastic that you were going to 194 00:13:06,280 --> 00:13:08,720 Speaker 1: hold in your pocket if you're going to walk around 195 00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:11,600 Speaker 1: with one of these things. But the screen was very large, 196 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:15,960 Speaker 1: which was impressive. The UI was pretty nice too, at 197 00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:18,920 Speaker 1: least on a surface level. It did turn out that 198 00:13:19,040 --> 00:13:23,040 Speaker 1: the resolution of that larger screen was actually the exact 199 00:13:23,080 --> 00:13:29,280 Speaker 1: same resolution as the smaller iPod screen, which means that 200 00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:34,400 Speaker 1: images shown on the iPod would appear sharper than those 201 00:13:34,440 --> 00:13:36,360 Speaker 1: that you would see on the Zoon because you had 202 00:13:36,360 --> 00:13:40,040 Speaker 1: the exact same resolution, but the Zoon had a larger screen, 203 00:13:40,559 --> 00:13:43,400 Speaker 1: so same resolution, but an in large screen means that 204 00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:47,040 Speaker 1: the images on that screen are blurrier. It could play video, 205 00:13:47,559 --> 00:13:50,599 Speaker 1: but it was kind of immaterial because you couldn't just 206 00:13:50,679 --> 00:13:53,480 Speaker 1: use video from any source, and the Zoon marketplace didn't 207 00:13:53,520 --> 00:13:57,360 Speaker 1: have video on it, so you couldn't purchase video to 208 00:13:57,360 --> 00:14:00,480 Speaker 1: play on it. It could technically support it, but there 209 00:14:00,520 --> 00:14:02,960 Speaker 1: wasn't really any way to get video onto it, at 210 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:06,880 Speaker 1: least initially. It ran a custom version of Microsoft's Portable 211 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:12,840 Speaker 1: Media Center software. The user interface, the actual controls, well, 212 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:16,400 Speaker 1: it had a circular dpad like it didn't look like 213 00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:19,360 Speaker 1: a dpad. It looked like a click wheel like if 214 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:22,120 Speaker 1: you think of the old iPods, they had a mechanical 215 00:14:22,200 --> 00:14:25,720 Speaker 1: wheel where you would put your thumb on this wheel 216 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:28,360 Speaker 1: and you would spin the wheel in order to navigate 217 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:31,120 Speaker 1: through the menus. That's what this thing looked like. It had. 218 00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:33,560 Speaker 1: It looked like a very similar control mechanism, but no, 219 00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:36,880 Speaker 1: it was just a dpad in the form of a circle, 220 00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:40,280 Speaker 1: and then in the center of the circle was a 221 00:14:40,320 --> 00:14:43,600 Speaker 1: button that you could use to select stuff. So like 222 00:14:43,640 --> 00:14:46,840 Speaker 1: a dpad on a game controller, you would push up, down, left, 223 00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:49,720 Speaker 1: or right to navigate through menus and then use that 224 00:14:49,760 --> 00:14:53,840 Speaker 1: center button to make a selection. So kind of a 225 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:57,280 Speaker 1: bummer because it looked like the control was meant to 226 00:14:57,800 --> 00:15:00,680 Speaker 1: be more tactile and touch based, and it's not. It 227 00:15:00,720 --> 00:15:03,400 Speaker 1: was just a dpad. The Zoom did have a couple 228 00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:06,360 Speaker 1: of neat features. However, it had Wi Fi capability. The 229 00:15:06,480 --> 00:15:13,040 Speaker 1: Zoon thirty had WiFi sort of, so you could use 230 00:15:13,280 --> 00:15:18,760 Speaker 1: the zoon's Wi Fi to connect with another Zoon that 231 00:15:18,880 --> 00:15:22,480 Speaker 1: was in the same local space that you were in, 232 00:15:22,520 --> 00:15:25,000 Speaker 1: like the same room or whatever, and then the two 233 00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:29,760 Speaker 1: Zoon owners could share songs and even photos between the 234 00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:31,880 Speaker 1: two different Zoon devices. So if you had a photo 235 00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:34,440 Speaker 1: on your device, which by the way, there's no camera 236 00:15:34,480 --> 00:15:36,520 Speaker 1: on the Zoon, so you had to have loaded this 237 00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:40,600 Speaker 1: photo on from your computer. Or maybe you have a 238 00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:43,040 Speaker 1: music track you really liked and you wanted to share 239 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:45,120 Speaker 1: it with your buddy who also happens to have a Zoon. 240 00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:48,720 Speaker 1: You could use this method and send that music file 241 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:51,840 Speaker 1: over to your buddy. But uh, if you wanted to 242 00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:55,000 Speaker 1: purchase a song and put it on your Zooon, you 243 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:57,200 Speaker 1: couldn't do it wirelessly. You still had to do the 244 00:15:57,240 --> 00:16:01,800 Speaker 1: old tethered connection. You'd purchase the song through the zooon 245 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:05,640 Speaker 1: marketplace on your computer. You would tether your Zoom to 246 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:08,520 Speaker 1: the computer and then transfer the music that way. Now, 247 00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:12,600 Speaker 1: let's say you did somehow find the other person in 248 00:16:12,640 --> 00:16:15,440 Speaker 1: your town who also owned a Zoom, and the two 249 00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:18,160 Speaker 1: of you decided that you wanted to exchange a song. 250 00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:21,200 Speaker 1: You could do that if you were close enough to them, 251 00:16:21,240 --> 00:16:23,560 Speaker 1: you could send them a track, but they would have 252 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:28,440 Speaker 1: just three days to access that track, and they can 253 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:31,040 Speaker 1: play it a maximum of three times, and then it 254 00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:34,880 Speaker 1: would just delete itself off their device, so after three 255 00:16:34,960 --> 00:16:39,280 Speaker 1: days or after three plays, that song would disappear. They 256 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:42,080 Speaker 1: called this feature, and I can't believe it to this 257 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:44,520 Speaker 1: day that they did this. This is like the Brown 258 00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:49,840 Speaker 1: Zoom decision. They called this feature squirting, so you would 259 00:16:49,920 --> 00:16:53,600 Speaker 1: squirt a music track to another Zoom user. And I 260 00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:57,200 Speaker 1: know it sounds like I'm making a joke, I am not. 261 00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:03,600 Speaker 1: An actual company created a Brown MP three player that 262 00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:08,120 Speaker 1: could squirt music at other MP three players, and yes, 263 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:12,960 Speaker 1: everybody made fun of this. For ages. You couldn't listen 264 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:16,680 Speaker 1: to a tech podcast, you couldn't read an article without 265 00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:21,680 Speaker 1: some commentary on the topic of squirting. This was the 266 00:17:21,720 --> 00:17:25,800 Speaker 1: extent of the Zoom thirties Wi Fi capabilities. Was just 267 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:30,119 Speaker 1: sending these files a short distance to another Zoon. That 268 00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:35,160 Speaker 1: was it. And like Apple, Microsoft went with a proprietary 269 00:17:35,280 --> 00:17:38,040 Speaker 1: cable when it came to connecting to the zooon to 270 00:17:38,320 --> 00:17:41,320 Speaker 1: charge it or to transfer files to it. The zoon 271 00:17:41,800 --> 00:17:44,600 Speaker 1: did have one other thing that I thought was pretty cool. 272 00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:47,560 Speaker 1: It had an FM radio built into it, and I 273 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:50,320 Speaker 1: thought that was kind of neat. So like Microsoft was 274 00:17:50,359 --> 00:17:54,080 Speaker 1: trying to position this as it's a music device, not 275 00:17:54,280 --> 00:17:58,280 Speaker 1: just for digital files but also to access radio. But 276 00:17:58,400 --> 00:18:02,400 Speaker 1: Microsoft didn't really learn learn a whole lot about what 277 00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:05,119 Speaker 1: people disliked about the iPod because they made several of 278 00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:08,280 Speaker 1: the same choices. So one of the big drawbacks of 279 00:18:08,280 --> 00:18:11,600 Speaker 1: the original Zoon was that they would only work with 280 00:18:11,640 --> 00:18:15,440 Speaker 1: files that had a certain kind of DRM attached to them. 281 00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:20,119 Speaker 1: DRM stands for Digital Rights Management, and the whole purpose 282 00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:22,960 Speaker 1: of DRM is to prevent people from being able to 283 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:26,760 Speaker 1: pirate stuff, to steal things, or to download stuff without permission. 284 00:18:27,160 --> 00:18:32,000 Speaker 1: But even DRM that Microsoft itself had designed before the 285 00:18:32,119 --> 00:18:35,639 Speaker 1: Zoon came out wouldn't work on the Zoon itself. It 286 00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:41,600 Speaker 1: wasn't backwards compatible with Microsoft's own DRM history, and that's 287 00:18:41,600 --> 00:18:45,639 Speaker 1: because Microsoft introduced a new kind of DRM around the 288 00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:48,440 Speaker 1: same time that they launched the Zoon, and the Zoon 289 00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:53,159 Speaker 1: would only be compatible with that version forward. And that 290 00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:55,640 Speaker 1: meant that if you happened to already have a bunch 291 00:18:55,720 --> 00:18:59,800 Speaker 1: of music tracks that had the earlier version of Microsoft's 292 00:18:59,840 --> 00:19:02,680 Speaker 1: d on them, they would not work with your Zoom. 293 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:06,240 Speaker 1: So this was very discouraging. Right if you already had 294 00:19:06,359 --> 00:19:09,480 Speaker 1: a sizeable digital library and you were just excited about 295 00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:11,760 Speaker 1: getting a player where you could put the library on 296 00:19:11,800 --> 00:19:14,639 Speaker 1: the player, it would be very upsetting to find out, oh, 297 00:19:14,680 --> 00:19:18,080 Speaker 1: you can't because that has the wrong DRM on it. 298 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:23,680 Speaker 1: Like in the history of technology, DRM I think has 299 00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:27,560 Speaker 1: long proven to be more of a frustration for legitimate 300 00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:31,080 Speaker 1: users than it has been a deterrent for piracy pirates 301 00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:35,080 Speaker 1: figure out ways around DRM, which means DRM ultimately just 302 00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:40,080 Speaker 1: becomes a frustrating experience for people who legitimately purchased the item. 303 00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:44,800 Speaker 1: So DRM is bad, is what I'm saying. Like it 304 00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:47,119 Speaker 1: doesn't do what it's supposed to do, and then it 305 00:19:47,240 --> 00:19:50,360 Speaker 1: does do stuff it's not supposed to do. That's the 306 00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:55,560 Speaker 1: definition of a bad product. Anyway. Microsoft also did something 307 00:19:56,040 --> 00:20:01,560 Speaker 1: supremely stupid in my opinion, that it had previously done 308 00:20:01,640 --> 00:20:06,000 Speaker 1: with its Xbox marketplace, which is, instead of having Zoom 309 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:11,560 Speaker 1: users buy tracks with you know, real money, you first 310 00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:15,760 Speaker 1: had to go through this process of purchasing Microsoft points 311 00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:19,679 Speaker 1: and then using the Microsoft points to get tracks, so 312 00:20:19,720 --> 00:20:22,120 Speaker 1: you would redeem points for tracks. So there was this 313 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:26,600 Speaker 1: middle step that was really frustrating. Part of this was 314 00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:30,479 Speaker 1: to obfuscate how expensive a track was, right because they 315 00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:32,720 Speaker 1: didn't have a dollar amount associated with it, just a 316 00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:34,439 Speaker 1: number of points, and you would have to do the 317 00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:37,160 Speaker 1: math in your head to figure out, okay, well, how 318 00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:40,760 Speaker 1: many points is equivalent to a dollar? Right? But you 319 00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:43,119 Speaker 1: never could buy them in increments of a dollar. It 320 00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:45,760 Speaker 1: would always be like five dollars or more. So that 321 00:20:45,840 --> 00:20:47,520 Speaker 1: also meant that if all you wanted to do was 322 00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:49,919 Speaker 1: buy one track, you actually had to spend five bucks 323 00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:52,800 Speaker 1: to do it, not a dollar, but five dollars just 324 00:20:52,840 --> 00:20:55,359 Speaker 1: to get the points, and then you would end up 325 00:20:55,359 --> 00:20:58,439 Speaker 1: with this bank of Microsoft points just sitting in your 326 00:20:58,480 --> 00:21:02,680 Speaker 1: account doing nothing. So this Microsoft was not the only 327 00:21:02,880 --> 00:21:05,520 Speaker 1: company to ever do this. I mean Disney did this 328 00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:09,240 Speaker 1: at their parks. They had something called Disney dollars, and 329 00:21:09,280 --> 00:21:12,959 Speaker 1: they were encouraging people to spend their real money to 330 00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:16,640 Speaker 1: buy theme park currency where you couldn't use that currency 331 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:20,679 Speaker 1: anywhere else but inside those theme parks. Knowing that at 332 00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:22,240 Speaker 1: least some of your money was just going to be 333 00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:24,920 Speaker 1: wasted on this currency, you wouldn't be able to redeem 334 00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:27,680 Speaker 1: all of it, so you would actually spend more money 335 00:21:27,680 --> 00:21:30,800 Speaker 1: at the parks, but you wouldn't get value out of 336 00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:32,920 Speaker 1: all the money you spent because some of it would 337 00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:35,320 Speaker 1: just be caught up in this fake currency and you 338 00:21:35,359 --> 00:21:38,200 Speaker 1: don't have enough of it to do anything useful. Microsoft 339 00:21:38,240 --> 00:21:42,040 Speaker 1: points were the same way. Ultimately, Microsoft would back off 340 00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:45,320 Speaker 1: of the system on the Xbox marketplace, but they were 341 00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:48,760 Speaker 1: still going strong with it when the Zooon launched. Okay, 342 00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:50,800 Speaker 1: we're going to take another quick break. I've got some 343 00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:53,280 Speaker 1: more things to say about the Zoon before we wrap up. 344 00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:07,159 Speaker 1: All right, we're back. I'm not done slagging off on 345 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:11,240 Speaker 1: the Zoon yet. Unlike the original iPod, the Zoon could 346 00:22:11,280 --> 00:22:15,160 Speaker 1: not be used as a storage device for other files. Right, 347 00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:16,879 Speaker 1: Like I had mentioned that that was one of the 348 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:18,840 Speaker 1: things you could use an iPod for. You could store 349 00:22:18,880 --> 00:22:20,840 Speaker 1: files on it, you could use it like an external 350 00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:23,360 Speaker 1: hard drive. You could not do that with the Zoon. 351 00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:28,800 Speaker 1: It also didn't support lossless file formats like wave files 352 00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:33,640 Speaker 1: or wave files if you preferred WAV. Lossless means that 353 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:38,800 Speaker 1: when you create that digital file, you haven't lost any 354 00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:42,320 Speaker 1: of the information contained within that file. So when you 355 00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:46,840 Speaker 1: convert music into a digital file, a lossless form factor 356 00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:52,240 Speaker 1: means everything that was in that recording is there. Loossy 357 00:22:52,359 --> 00:22:56,160 Speaker 1: means that the process of making that file will actually 358 00:22:56,240 --> 00:23:00,920 Speaker 1: eliminate some information. Ideally it's information that wouldn't affect your 359 00:23:01,119 --> 00:23:06,160 Speaker 1: experience listening to the audio file, but the quality typically 360 00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:10,600 Speaker 1: takes a hit, whereas lossless year getting the highest quality 361 00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:14,680 Speaker 1: possible based upon whatever recording procedure was used. So reviews 362 00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:17,960 Speaker 1: said that Zoon's playback quality was good despite the lack 363 00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:21,639 Speaker 1: of support for lossless audio, but it also said like 364 00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:25,080 Speaker 1: album art, despite being shown on a larger screen than 365 00:23:25,119 --> 00:23:27,959 Speaker 1: the iPod, didn't look very good. And again it's because 366 00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:33,119 Speaker 1: of those resolution issues. So Microsoft pushes out the first 367 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:36,280 Speaker 1: Zoom in two thousand and six. That's unfortunate wording. I 368 00:23:36,359 --> 00:23:39,680 Speaker 1: probably should have said something else. Anyway, that year, two 369 00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:43,680 Speaker 1: thousand and six, Apple sold nearly thirty nine and a 370 00:23:43,800 --> 00:23:49,480 Speaker 1: half million iPods. Now that was impressive because up until 371 00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:54,880 Speaker 1: two thousand and six, collectively, across every single generation of iPod, 372 00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:58,560 Speaker 1: Apple had sold around forty million units, and in two 373 00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:02,159 Speaker 1: thousand and six they saw nearly as many just in 374 00:24:02,160 --> 00:24:04,960 Speaker 1: that one year. So, in other words, like in one year, 375 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:07,720 Speaker 1: they doubled the number of iPods they had sold throughout 376 00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:12,280 Speaker 1: the history of the product, So Apple really was in 377 00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:16,320 Speaker 1: the dominant position for the digital media player space. So 378 00:24:16,359 --> 00:24:19,119 Speaker 1: how did the Zoom do well the first couple of weeks? 379 00:24:19,119 --> 00:24:23,679 Speaker 1: It did okay. Initially sales were slow, but CNN reported 380 00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:25,440 Speaker 1: at the end of the second week that had moved 381 00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:28,880 Speaker 1: into the number two spot for digital media players. That 382 00:24:29,119 --> 00:24:31,200 Speaker 1: does kind of ignore the fact that the number one 383 00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:34,680 Speaker 1: spot was light years ahead of it, Like it wasn't 384 00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:38,760 Speaker 1: even close, and being one and two doesn't mean so 385 00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:42,720 Speaker 1: much if number one is like fifty miles ahead of 386 00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:46,879 Speaker 1: you in a foot race. Microsoft, in a rush to 387 00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:49,120 Speaker 1: try and make up for five years of lost time, 388 00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:53,680 Speaker 1: had launched a bit of a flop. It was received 389 00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:56,720 Speaker 1: fairly well critically. The critics didn't hate it. They did 390 00:24:56,720 --> 00:25:00,280 Speaker 1: point out some of the downsides and the ways that 391 00:25:00,359 --> 00:25:03,960 Speaker 1: the Zoon failed to live up to the standard of 392 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:05,800 Speaker 1: the iPod, as well as some of the things that 393 00:25:05,840 --> 00:25:09,959 Speaker 1: were really interesting that Microsoft had done. But there were 394 00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:13,600 Speaker 1: a lot of things to criticize. So Microsoft gets back 395 00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:16,320 Speaker 1: to work and gets to work on the second generation 396 00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:20,760 Speaker 1: of the Zoon. This generation would actually ditch that circular 397 00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:26,280 Speaker 1: dpad and instead use a touch sensitive little surface. It 398 00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:29,760 Speaker 1: was a quasi square and I say Quasi because it 399 00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:34,600 Speaker 1: had rounded corners. It didn't have actual angular corners, but 400 00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:38,280 Speaker 1: it was a surface where you could use touch commands 401 00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:41,800 Speaker 1: to navigate through the UI, so different from a dpad. 402 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:44,480 Speaker 1: It also had some features that I think were pretty neat. 403 00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:47,520 Speaker 1: Like say that you were listening to your FM radio 404 00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:50,399 Speaker 1: on your Zoom and let's say a new song comes 405 00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:53,360 Speaker 1: on and you really dig it. You've never heard it before, 406 00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:56,280 Speaker 1: you really dig this song. You could actually flag the 407 00:25:56,440 --> 00:25:59,080 Speaker 1: song on your Zoom and then when you connected to 408 00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:01,400 Speaker 1: your Zoom to your computer or you could find that 409 00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:04,359 Speaker 1: song in the Zoom marketplace and then purchase it. It 410 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:08,800 Speaker 1: made song discovery really interesting. I thought that legitimately was awesome. 411 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:12,280 Speaker 1: You can also download some games to the device. The 412 00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:15,560 Speaker 1: user interface and the screen resolution were both improved with 413 00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:21,160 Speaker 1: the second generation, but this generation of the Zooon launched 414 00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:23,920 Speaker 1: in two thousand and seven. Two thousand and seven was 415 00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:27,000 Speaker 1: also the year that Apple launched a pair of devices 416 00:26:27,720 --> 00:26:31,400 Speaker 1: that ensured it would continue to dominate the mobile space. 417 00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:35,400 Speaker 1: The first was the iPhone, and ultimately the iPhone would 418 00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:38,160 Speaker 1: lead the way to the decline of standalone digital media 419 00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:42,920 Speaker 1: players in general, including Apple's own media players. The other 420 00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:46,600 Speaker 1: device was the iPod Touch, which was like an iPhone 421 00:26:47,119 --> 00:26:52,199 Speaker 1: without the phone part, And when you stack the iPhone, 422 00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:56,119 Speaker 1: or rather the iPod Touch against the second generation Zoon, 423 00:26:56,800 --> 00:26:59,679 Speaker 1: there was just no comparison, Like the iPod Touch was 424 00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:03,320 Speaker 1: like a sexy Lamborghini and the second generation Zoon was 425 00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:07,359 Speaker 1: like a decent car. And you have to remember Apple 426 00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:12,440 Speaker 1: still dominated the iTunes space, like almost all downloads of 427 00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:18,680 Speaker 1: purchase music were through iTunes, So Apple had just this 428 00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:22,679 Speaker 1: almost a monopoly like hold on the whole ecosystem of 429 00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:27,399 Speaker 1: digital music at this point. Now we're also chronologically getting 430 00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:30,000 Speaker 1: to the point where another problem with the original Zoon 431 00:27:30,119 --> 00:27:33,359 Speaker 1: cropped up. I had hinted at it before with the 432 00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:37,240 Speaker 1: foreshadowing comment, So you remember I said someone at Freescale 433 00:27:37,840 --> 00:27:41,720 Speaker 1: made a booboo when designing the driver for the processor 434 00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:44,520 Speaker 1: that was found both in the Zoom thirty and the 435 00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:48,760 Speaker 1: Tashiba Gigabeat. S well, that booboo failed to account for 436 00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:51,440 Speaker 1: the fact that two thousand and eight was a leap year. 437 00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:56,000 Speaker 1: So at midnight Pacific Standard time on December thirty first, 438 00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:58,679 Speaker 1: two thousand and eight, as the West coast of the 439 00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:01,680 Speaker 1: United States prepared to ring in the new year, Zoo 440 00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:07,280 Speaker 1: thirties stopped working. They froze. The gigabeat s devices out 441 00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:12,000 Speaker 1: there also froze. They were frozen or bricked, at least temporarily, 442 00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:14,639 Speaker 1: and it took a little bit for folks to figure 443 00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:17,399 Speaker 1: out what had happened. And it was again because of 444 00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:20,880 Speaker 1: the failure to account for a leap year. It saw 445 00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:24,240 Speaker 1: that there were three hundred and sixty six days in 446 00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:26,520 Speaker 1: the year, and it didn't know what to do, and 447 00:28:26,560 --> 00:28:29,359 Speaker 1: it got caught in a kind of loop that meant 448 00:28:29,359 --> 00:28:32,359 Speaker 1: that the device was frozen. Now, the fix was actually 449 00:28:32,359 --> 00:28:36,080 Speaker 1: pretty simple. All users had to do was keep their 450 00:28:36,119 --> 00:28:39,600 Speaker 1: frozen Zoom thirties and as well as you know, gigabeat 451 00:28:39,760 --> 00:28:44,800 Speaker 1: s's on and just let the battery drain completely. Once 452 00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:48,160 Speaker 1: the battery was completely drained, they would just hold off 453 00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:52,920 Speaker 1: on recharging their device until it was after like noon 454 00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:56,680 Speaker 1: on January first of two thousand and nine. Once that 455 00:28:56,680 --> 00:28:58,880 Speaker 1: that time had passed, they could charge it back up 456 00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:01,760 Speaker 1: and the device would reset and it would work again. 457 00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:05,320 Speaker 1: But this was another embarrassing misstep for the original Zoom. 458 00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:09,280 Speaker 1: Microsoft did take one more swing with the third generation 459 00:29:09,360 --> 00:29:12,080 Speaker 1: of the Zoo in two thousand and nine. This would 460 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:15,480 Speaker 1: be the Zoon HD. It was an answer to Apple's 461 00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:19,120 Speaker 1: iPod Touch. So like the iPod Touch, it had a 462 00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:22,160 Speaker 1: display that was a touch display. It got rid of 463 00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:24,040 Speaker 1: all the little physical buttons and stuff for you to 464 00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:29,320 Speaker 1: navigate through. Everything was touch oriented. And the problem was 465 00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:32,440 Speaker 1: the Zoo HD came out in two thousand and nine. 466 00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:35,400 Speaker 1: The iPod Touch had come out in two thousand and seven, 467 00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:38,000 Speaker 1: so again Apple had had a couple of years had start, 468 00:29:38,560 --> 00:29:41,480 Speaker 1: plus there were some other things going on now. The 469 00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:46,840 Speaker 1: Zoo HD introduced some cool features like wireless synchronization as 470 00:29:46,880 --> 00:29:49,320 Speaker 1: well as wireless web access, so you could use it 471 00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:53,360 Speaker 1: as a wireless, you know, mobile device, but you could 472 00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:55,640 Speaker 1: do that with the iPod Touch as well. And at 473 00:29:55,640 --> 00:29:59,000 Speaker 1: this time, the writing was starting to show up on 474 00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:03,239 Speaker 1: the wall for the standalone media playing device, whether it 475 00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:07,560 Speaker 1: was a Zoom or an iPod or anything else, because 476 00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:13,720 Speaker 1: people were starting to use their smartphones to play media 477 00:30:13,760 --> 00:30:16,920 Speaker 1: instead of having a standalone device dedicated to it. Why 478 00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:20,280 Speaker 1: would you carry two devices around if one can do 479 00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:25,920 Speaker 1: the trick. So consumer opinions were starting to shift toward 480 00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:30,960 Speaker 1: accepting streaming as a music delivery service. So early on, 481 00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:34,360 Speaker 1: people were not really keen on the idea of streaming 482 00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:37,280 Speaker 1: They wanted to be able to own the tracks they 483 00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:40,240 Speaker 1: loved and not rely on a service to continue to 484 00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:44,400 Speaker 1: offer the tracks they loved in perpetuity, which you know 485 00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:47,920 Speaker 1: these days when you look at different streaming platforms, specifically 486 00:30:47,960 --> 00:30:52,280 Speaker 1: like streaming video platforms, you see cases where a platform 487 00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:55,800 Speaker 1: loses the rights to a particular type of media and 488 00:30:55,880 --> 00:30:59,920 Speaker 1: then you can't access it anymore on that platform. That's 489 00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:03,840 Speaker 1: a real problem, right. It's a problem that you avoid 490 00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:07,479 Speaker 1: if you purchase the media and you have it in 491 00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:10,040 Speaker 1: a format that you can still access no matter what 492 00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:13,800 Speaker 1: happens to the platform. That's different, and that's what people 493 00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:17,040 Speaker 1: really were worried about back in when they were buying 494 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:21,640 Speaker 1: digital tracks rather than streaming. But eventually streaming went out 495 00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:24,960 Speaker 1: and it became a more acceptable delivery system. Apple was 496 00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:28,560 Speaker 1: still miles ahead at this point, so Microsoft decided to 497 00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:32,280 Speaker 1: call it quits in twenty eleven, having never made a 498 00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:35,080 Speaker 1: huge debt in the market. So the Zoon launched in 499 00:31:35,120 --> 00:31:39,480 Speaker 1: two thousand and six, Microsoft discontinued it five years later. 500 00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:43,000 Speaker 1: So Zoom launched five years too late and only lasted 501 00:31:43,040 --> 00:31:45,480 Speaker 1: five years. This would not be the only time Microsoft 502 00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:48,600 Speaker 1: would have to admit defeat in the hardware space. But 503 00:31:48,760 --> 00:31:52,800 Speaker 1: we'll talk about the Windows Phone debacle another day. Today, 504 00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:56,760 Speaker 1: the Zoon is remembered primarily as a joke. In fact, 505 00:31:57,040 --> 00:31:59,280 Speaker 1: it was used as a joke in the Guardians of 506 00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:04,800 Speaker 1: the Galaxy movie. The product itself wasn't necessarily bad. It 507 00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:08,640 Speaker 1: was just introduced far too late and without the features 508 00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:12,160 Speaker 1: needed to set it apart from the standard defining iPod. 509 00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:15,520 Speaker 1: But I think we can all agree the marketing around 510 00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:20,760 Speaker 1: it was truly terrible. And that is the down and 511 00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:25,040 Speaker 1: dirty story of the Zoom. If you had one, I'd 512 00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:27,000 Speaker 1: be curious to hear from you. You can always tweet 513 00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:30,800 Speaker 1: at me on Twitter. It's tech stuff, HSW I too 514 00:32:30,840 --> 00:32:33,080 Speaker 1: need to get another way for people to reach out, 515 00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:36,280 Speaker 1: because I can totally understand folks not wanting to go 516 00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:39,400 Speaker 1: to Twitter. But yeah, I'm curious for the zoon owners 517 00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:41,680 Speaker 1: out there at what they thought of the device. Did 518 00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:45,000 Speaker 1: they like it? What features did they really love? Were 519 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:47,720 Speaker 1: there any things that really irritated them about the Zoon? 520 00:32:48,920 --> 00:32:52,560 Speaker 1: I mean, I'm speaking as someone My first MP three 521 00:32:52,560 --> 00:32:55,600 Speaker 1: player was not an iPod. I had a creative Zen 522 00:32:55,880 --> 00:33:00,680 Speaker 1: MP three player, and golly, I loved that thing. It 523 00:33:01,320 --> 00:33:03,840 Speaker 1: was not perfect by a long stretch. It had a 524 00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:07,080 Speaker 1: lot of issues, but it worked for what I needed 525 00:33:07,120 --> 00:33:09,640 Speaker 1: it to do, and I didn't have to use iTunes 526 00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:12,840 Speaker 1: to access it, so that was a big bonus. But 527 00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:16,200 Speaker 1: I'm curious what Zoom owners thought about their devices. And 528 00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:20,560 Speaker 1: it's a shame really that Microsoft wasn't able to compete 529 00:33:20,640 --> 00:33:23,400 Speaker 1: more in the space. And I say that because when 530 00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:28,160 Speaker 1: you have competition, it really pushes companies to try and 531 00:33:28,360 --> 00:33:34,360 Speaker 1: outperform each other. Apple was going hard anyway, they had 532 00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:38,560 Speaker 1: the lead spot, and they just kept going hard. They 533 00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:40,400 Speaker 1: probably didn't need to go as hard as they did, 534 00:33:40,480 --> 00:33:42,480 Speaker 1: but we ended up with really good devices as a 535 00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:44,920 Speaker 1: result of that. But you can't always count on that, right. 536 00:33:44,960 --> 00:33:48,880 Speaker 1: If a company dominates a market, they don't necessarily need 537 00:33:48,920 --> 00:33:55,120 Speaker 1: to try to maintain their market position, whereas when there's competition, 538 00:33:55,280 --> 00:33:58,720 Speaker 1: companies do have to try in order to win over customers. 539 00:33:59,040 --> 00:34:03,760 Speaker 1: So that's kind of why I'm always bombed when something fails. 540 00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:08,720 Speaker 1: It might have been a complete ridiculous show from beginning 541 00:34:08,719 --> 00:34:12,520 Speaker 1: to end because of silly decisions. But I don't want 542 00:34:12,520 --> 00:34:15,160 Speaker 1: to see failures because I want to see competition so 543 00:34:15,200 --> 00:34:17,600 Speaker 1: that we get even better stuff on the other end 544 00:34:17,640 --> 00:34:20,279 Speaker 1: of it. That's it for this episode. I hope you 545 00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:23,000 Speaker 1: enjoyed it. I hope you are all well, and I'll 546 00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:32,480 Speaker 1: talk to you again really soon. Tech Stuff is an 547 00:34:32,480 --> 00:34:38,000 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 548 00:34:38,160 --> 00:34:45,080 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.