1 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:12,479 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 2 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:16,200 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host Jonathan Strickland. 3 00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:20,400 Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer with iHeartRadio. And how the tech 4 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:25,360 Speaker 1: are you? Well, I've got a story to tell. Once 5 00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:31,160 Speaker 1: upon a time, two companies like indignity, Apple and Microsoft 6 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:35,559 Speaker 1: were locked in a battle for the home computer market. 7 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:39,400 Speaker 1: Apple had started off with a few computer models named 8 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:41,479 Speaker 1: after the company itself, you know, the Apple and the 9 00:00:41,479 --> 00:00:44,279 Speaker 1: Apple two, and then Apple two E and so on 10 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:48,800 Speaker 1: and so forth. Microsoft when a different route. Microsoft gained 11 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:52,080 Speaker 1: rights to various pieces of software. It developed some, but 12 00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:56,720 Speaker 1: it essentially bought or from a certain point of view, 13 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:04,200 Speaker 1: maybe not stole, but it definitely hoodwinked some developers and 14 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:08,120 Speaker 1: ended up licensing out operating system software and things like that. 15 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:12,240 Speaker 1: So two very different approaches. So by the mid nineteen eighties, 16 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:16,920 Speaker 1: the struggle between Apple and Microsoft had intensified. Apple introduced 17 00:01:16,959 --> 00:01:22,240 Speaker 1: the Macintosh computer with a graphical user interface or GUI GUY. 18 00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:28,080 Speaker 1: In other words, Microsoft introduced Windows, its own Guy operating system, 19 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:32,440 Speaker 1: and while Microsoft wasn't making the hardware, the term Windows 20 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:37,080 Speaker 1: PC became shorthand it was almost as if Microsoft had 21 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:40,440 Speaker 1: been making the PCs itself. It wasn't it was just 22 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:42,880 Speaker 1: making the operating system on top of the PC. But 23 00:01:42,959 --> 00:01:46,600 Speaker 1: then the operating system was in many ways more important 24 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:50,880 Speaker 1: than whomever made the machine itself, because the operating system 25 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:53,960 Speaker 1: would determine what kind of software you could run on 26 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 1: the machine after all. Now, during the eighties and through 27 00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:01,920 Speaker 1: the nineties, Apple was on the ropes for a lot 28 00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:04,560 Speaker 1: of different reasons, which I've covered in other episodes of 29 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:08,200 Speaker 1: Tech Stuff. At one point, Apple co founder Steve Jobs 30 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:11,240 Speaker 1: left the company, with some versions of the story saying 31 00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:14,840 Speaker 1: he was essentially fired. Other versions say he was just 32 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:20,280 Speaker 1: strongly encouraged to leave. Apple hit some really really rough 33 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:22,720 Speaker 1: waters and at one point it was in danger of 34 00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:26,920 Speaker 1: going out of business. Then Apple actually brought Steve Jobs 35 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:30,080 Speaker 1: back kind of to act as a type of advisor. 36 00:02:30,639 --> 00:02:34,040 Speaker 1: But it wasn't too long before Jobs regained control of 37 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:36,520 Speaker 1: the company he had co founded. That's also a very 38 00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:40,200 Speaker 1: dramatic story. After that, Apple made a series of moves 39 00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:43,680 Speaker 1: that would really turn things around for the company and 40 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:48,120 Speaker 1: set it on its path to become a trillion dollar company. Now, 41 00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:52,760 Speaker 1: the interesting thing is, while Windows would retain a dominant 42 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:57,480 Speaker 1: hold on the business and home computer operating system markets. 43 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:01,760 Speaker 1: Apple would find new ways to become the company associated 44 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:07,520 Speaker 1: with entire technologies, and Apple wasn't inventing these technologies. Instead, 45 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:11,800 Speaker 1: the company was designing appealing products and then marketing the 46 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:15,240 Speaker 1: heck out of them. And one product that really helped 47 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:20,520 Speaker 1: turn Apple around was the iPod, Apple's digital music player, 48 00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:24,320 Speaker 1: so a standalone device on which you would store and 49 00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:28,040 Speaker 1: play music. Now, again, Apple did not invent the MP 50 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:30,560 Speaker 1: three player. It was not the first company to make one. 51 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:34,680 Speaker 1: They just made one that looked really nice, It worked well, 52 00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:39,880 Speaker 1: it had some really cool features, and it really benefited 53 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:44,160 Speaker 1: from the power of Steve Jobs's presentation at various marketing events, 54 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:47,800 Speaker 1: and Apple was able to forge some alliance with various 55 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:50,800 Speaker 1: music labels over the next couple of years, and that 56 00:03:50,920 --> 00:03:54,960 Speaker 1: helped create new opportunities, including the launch of the iTunes 57 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:58,240 Speaker 1: store in two thousand and three. So iTunes had been 58 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:02,640 Speaker 1: around before that, but iTunes first started out as software 59 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:05,640 Speaker 1: you would have on your computer and you would use 60 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:09,080 Speaker 1: iTunes to organize your music library, but you couldn't actually 61 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:13,360 Speaker 1: buy music from iTunes at first. Instead, you would buy 62 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:17,039 Speaker 1: a CD, a compact disc, put that in the optical 63 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:20,520 Speaker 1: drive of your Mac computer. And you would rip music 64 00:04:20,960 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: from the CD and store it digitally within iTunes. That 65 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:29,320 Speaker 1: would be your organization software essentially, and that's how you 66 00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:32,040 Speaker 1: would transfer music over to your iPod too. You would 67 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:34,560 Speaker 1: physically connect your iPod to your Mac and then you 68 00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:37,760 Speaker 1: would port music over from your library on your Mac 69 00:04:37,839 --> 00:04:42,719 Speaker 1: computer to your iPod. Now, with two years of negotiation, 70 00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:45,599 Speaker 1: Steve Jobs was actually able to convince music labels to 71 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:50,120 Speaker 1: offer up digital tracks for individual purchase within iTunes itself, 72 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:52,800 Speaker 1: and that was the creation of the iTunes store, where 73 00:04:52,839 --> 00:04:56,960 Speaker 1: instead of using it as just your means of organizing 74 00:04:56,960 --> 00:04:59,960 Speaker 1: your music, it also became the way you could purchase 75 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:03,520 Speaker 1: new music. That would really push Apple to new heights. 76 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:10,120 Speaker 1: Microsoft was way behind on the MP three player space. 77 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:14,360 Speaker 1: They did not jump into that market early on, and 78 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:21,280 Speaker 1: Apple was able to essentially define that market. Microsoft eventually 79 00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:24,479 Speaker 1: recognized that there was money to be made in the 80 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:29,080 Speaker 1: digital media player space, and the iPod had been out 81 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:33,880 Speaker 1: for several years, like five years, and then Microsoft decided 82 00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:36,520 Speaker 1: they were going to try and create their own digital 83 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:40,919 Speaker 1: music player. Maybe this one could have some really innovative 84 00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:44,040 Speaker 1: features that would set it apart. Designers could actually take 85 00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:47,839 Speaker 1: the opportunity to learn about what worked with the iPod 86 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:51,960 Speaker 1: and what didn't work, or what people wish the iPod 87 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:55,200 Speaker 1: could do. They could take that information and use that 88 00:05:55,279 --> 00:05:59,520 Speaker 1: to design a superior digital media player. They could have 89 00:05:59,560 --> 00:06:03,840 Speaker 1: done that. They didn't succeed in doing that. They tried 90 00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:06,080 Speaker 1: in some ways, but really it was a massive failure, 91 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:11,000 Speaker 1: and it's a shame because Apple's incredible success put aside. 92 00:06:11,279 --> 00:06:14,800 Speaker 1: There were people who had notes, not musical notes, but 93 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:18,600 Speaker 1: like critical notes for the iPod. For example, for folks 94 00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:23,240 Speaker 1: like myself, I did not own a mac computer. Now, initially, 95 00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:26,039 Speaker 1: if you wanted an iPod, it would only work with 96 00:06:26,120 --> 00:06:29,200 Speaker 1: Mac computers. You had to have a Macintosh in order 97 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:32,960 Speaker 1: to synchronize with an iPod. It did not work with 98 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:36,800 Speaker 1: Windows based machines. Later generations of the iPod and later 99 00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:40,760 Speaker 1: generations of iTunes would change that, but initially you just 100 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:45,120 Speaker 1: couldn't do it. And if you did want to use 101 00:06:45,160 --> 00:06:47,800 Speaker 1: a Windows based machine with an iPod that was compatible, 102 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:51,719 Speaker 1: you had to download iTunes. You had to install iTunes 103 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:59,080 Speaker 1: onto your Windows machine, and the Windows version of iTunes stunk, or, 104 00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:03,680 Speaker 1: at least in my opinionion it stunk. iTunes could do 105 00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:06,760 Speaker 1: some stuff that was legitimately useful. You know, it could 106 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:10,040 Speaker 1: detect when new tracks were added to your library, and 107 00:07:10,080 --> 00:07:14,160 Speaker 1: then transferred just those new tracks to your iPod when 108 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:16,800 Speaker 1: you next connected your iPod to your computer. But at 109 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:20,960 Speaker 1: least on PC's, iTunes was very slow. It was clunky, 110 00:07:21,040 --> 00:07:24,800 Speaker 1: It took up a ton of space on your computer, 111 00:07:24,840 --> 00:07:28,920 Speaker 1: and it required a lot of your computer's assets to run, 112 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:32,640 Speaker 1: so everything else slowed to a crawl. It seemed like 113 00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:35,040 Speaker 1: it was working great on Mac computers whenever I saw 114 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:37,800 Speaker 1: people in our interface with it, but my own experience 115 00:07:37,880 --> 00:07:42,080 Speaker 1: was totally different. I hated iTunes on Windows. I thought 116 00:07:42,120 --> 00:07:47,320 Speaker 1: of it as bloatwear or worse. And you couldn't interface 117 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:51,160 Speaker 1: with the iPod using any other kind of digital media 118 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:57,040 Speaker 1: organizational software. It had to be iTunes. So this meant 119 00:07:57,080 --> 00:08:00,200 Speaker 1: that Microsoft actually had an opportunity to perhaps design a 120 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:04,600 Speaker 1: player and a software package that would work more smoothly 121 00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:07,720 Speaker 1: for people who were Windows owners rather than Mac owners. 122 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:11,000 Speaker 1: That was a real opportunity for them. But even with 123 00:08:11,080 --> 00:08:14,480 Speaker 1: a really good product, Microsoft still would have faced a 124 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:18,280 Speaker 1: truly tough challenge. Apple had really defined the MP three 125 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:21,640 Speaker 1: player landscape for five years. At that point, they had 126 00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:30,239 Speaker 1: introduced an iPod capable of showing video. It had really 127 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:33,000 Speaker 1: great reviews. They had models that could hold up to 128 00:08:33,040 --> 00:08:39,160 Speaker 1: like eighty gigs of material. It could be a storage product, 129 00:08:39,320 --> 00:08:41,560 Speaker 1: so you could actually store files on your iPod, not 130 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:44,160 Speaker 1: just media files, but other types as well. There are 131 00:08:44,160 --> 00:08:48,480 Speaker 1: a lot of reasons why the iPod was seen as 132 00:08:48,520 --> 00:08:51,400 Speaker 1: a great product. I mean, heck, the iPod is why 133 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:56,079 Speaker 1: we call podcasts podcasts like we call it podcasts because 134 00:08:56,120 --> 00:09:01,480 Speaker 1: Apple created this product that defined an entire generation of technology, 135 00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:05,040 Speaker 1: so that brand was really entrenched in the minds of consumers. 136 00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:08,839 Speaker 1: So even with a spectacular product, Microsoft was going to 137 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:13,679 Speaker 1: face uphill battle. But it wasn't a spectacular product, so 138 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:16,960 Speaker 1: the battle was even harder. The very first Microsoft Zoon 139 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:21,679 Speaker 1: was originally just called the Zoon, but later on Microsoft 140 00:09:21,760 --> 00:09:24,600 Speaker 1: called it the Zoon thirty, and the thirty in this 141 00:09:24,760 --> 00:09:27,880 Speaker 1: case references the amount of storage available on the device. 142 00:09:27,920 --> 00:09:31,680 Speaker 1: It had a thirty gigabyte hard drive. A company called 143 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:37,120 Speaker 1: Freescale made the processor that ran in the Zoom thirty. 144 00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:41,200 Speaker 1: It also made the processor for another digital player called 145 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:46,360 Speaker 1: the Tashiba Gigabeat S. In fact, the Zoon resembled the 146 00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:51,319 Speaker 1: Tashiba Gigabeat S in many many ways, like it almost 147 00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:54,880 Speaker 1: was as if the Zoon was essentially a Gigabeit s 148 00:09:54,960 --> 00:09:57,840 Speaker 1: from Tashiba that had gone through a little bit of 149 00:09:57,880 --> 00:10:02,200 Speaker 1: a redesign that changed the dimensions of the player and 150 00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:06,320 Speaker 1: maybe some some aesthetics, but otherwise it looked like it 151 00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:08,800 Speaker 1: was very similar to the Gigabeat s. And that's because 152 00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:13,160 Speaker 1: that's what it happened. Microsoft didn't really build the Zoon 153 00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:16,720 Speaker 1: to Shiba did. Microsoft made some changes to the design, 154 00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:22,640 Speaker 1: but they were mostly cosmetic in nature. So Freescale used 155 00:10:22,640 --> 00:10:26,240 Speaker 1: to be a division within Motorola until two thousand and 156 00:10:26,280 --> 00:10:29,800 Speaker 1: four when Motorola divested the division and it became Freescale. 157 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:33,240 Speaker 1: In twenty fifteen, Freescale would become absorbed into a company 158 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:37,640 Speaker 1: called NXP Semiconductors. So the Zoom came out in a 159 00:10:37,679 --> 00:10:41,000 Speaker 1: brief span of time where Freescale was its own company, 160 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:46,600 Speaker 1: And unfortunately, someone made a booboo with the drivers for 161 00:10:46,679 --> 00:10:49,960 Speaker 1: the Freescale processors that went into both the Zoom thirty 162 00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:53,200 Speaker 1: and the Gigabeat s. It was a booboo that wouldn't 163 00:10:53,240 --> 00:10:58,080 Speaker 1: become noticeable for a couple of years, which is foreshadowing. 164 00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:02,160 Speaker 1: We'll talk about it when we get there. Okay, before 165 00:11:02,160 --> 00:11:15,760 Speaker 1: we go any further. Let's take a quick break. Okay, 166 00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:20,600 Speaker 1: we're back. So when the Zoon thirty launched, initially you 167 00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:23,240 Speaker 1: could get it in one of three colors. There was 168 00:11:23,280 --> 00:11:27,680 Speaker 1: like a pearl white, there was black, and there was brown. 169 00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:34,120 Speaker 1: I have no idea what made Microsoft think that brown 170 00:11:34,640 --> 00:11:37,880 Speaker 1: would be a sought after color for an MP three player. 171 00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:41,240 Speaker 1: I don't know how they didn't anticipate that this was 172 00:11:41,280 --> 00:11:45,280 Speaker 1: going to create a whole bunch of jokes about the 173 00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:47,760 Speaker 1: nature of that MP three player. It's like they were 174 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:53,960 Speaker 1: setting themselves up to be hazed. Surely someone at Microsoft 175 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:55,760 Speaker 1: at some point said, guys, this might not be a 176 00:11:55,800 --> 00:11:59,040 Speaker 1: good idea, and yet they went with it. So the 177 00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:02,160 Speaker 1: original Zoon had a three inch screen and a four 178 00:12:02,360 --> 00:12:05,560 Speaker 1: x three aspect ratio, so taller than it was wide. 179 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:08,200 Speaker 1: This was a much larger screen than what you could 180 00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:11,760 Speaker 1: find on the iPod at the time. That was really impressive, right, 181 00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:15,160 Speaker 1: Like it was a bigger device than the iPod. It 182 00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:19,520 Speaker 1: was definitely thicker too, Like it was a chonky boy, 183 00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:23,280 Speaker 1: as they might say, And it was gonna be a 184 00:12:23,320 --> 00:12:26,960 Speaker 1: hefty piece of plastic that you were gonna hold in 185 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:29,280 Speaker 1: your pocket if you're going to walk around with one 186 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:32,320 Speaker 1: of these things. But the screen was very large, which 187 00:12:32,400 --> 00:12:36,640 Speaker 1: was impressive. The UI was pretty nice too, at least 188 00:12:36,640 --> 00:12:40,240 Speaker 1: on a surface level. It did turn out that the 189 00:12:40,280 --> 00:12:43,680 Speaker 1: resolution of that larger screen was actually the exact same 190 00:12:43,760 --> 00:12:50,240 Speaker 1: resolution as the smaller iPod screen, which means that images 191 00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:54,880 Speaker 1: shown on the iPod would appear sharper than those that 192 00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:56,800 Speaker 1: you would see on the Zoon because you had the 193 00:12:56,840 --> 00:13:00,440 Speaker 1: exact same resolution, but the Zoon had a larger screen, 194 00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:03,760 Speaker 1: so same resolution, but an in large screen means that 195 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:07,400 Speaker 1: the images on that screen are blurrier. It could play video, 196 00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:11,000 Speaker 1: but it was kind of immaterial because you couldn't just 197 00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:13,840 Speaker 1: use video from any source, and the Zoom marketplace didn't 198 00:13:13,880 --> 00:13:17,720 Speaker 1: have video on it, so you couldn't purchase video to 199 00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:20,800 Speaker 1: play on it. It could technically support it, but there 200 00:13:20,880 --> 00:13:23,320 Speaker 1: wasn't really any way to get video onto it, at 201 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:27,240 Speaker 1: least initially. It ran a custom version of Microsoft's Portable 202 00:13:27,360 --> 00:13:33,200 Speaker 1: Media Center software. The user interface, the actual controls, well, 203 00:13:33,280 --> 00:13:36,800 Speaker 1: it had a circular dpad like It didn't look like 204 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:39,719 Speaker 1: a dpad. It looked like a click wheel like if 205 00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:42,480 Speaker 1: you think of the old iPods, they had a mechanical 206 00:13:42,559 --> 00:13:46,079 Speaker 1: wheel where you would put your thumb on this wheel, 207 00:13:46,160 --> 00:13:48,720 Speaker 1: and you would spin the wheel in order to navigate 208 00:13:48,760 --> 00:13:51,480 Speaker 1: through the menus. That's what this thing looked like. It had. 209 00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:53,920 Speaker 1: It looked like a very similar control mechanism, but no, 210 00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:57,240 Speaker 1: it was just a dpad in the form of a circle, 211 00:13:57,320 --> 00:14:00,640 Speaker 1: and then in the center of the circle was a 212 00:14:00,679 --> 00:14:03,960 Speaker 1: button that you could use to select stuff. So, like 213 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:07,200 Speaker 1: a dpad on a game controller, you would push up, down, left, 214 00:14:07,280 --> 00:14:10,080 Speaker 1: or right to navigate through menus and then use that 215 00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:14,120 Speaker 1: center button to make a selection. So, uh, kind of 216 00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:17,559 Speaker 1: a bummer because it looked like the control was meant 217 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:20,880 Speaker 1: to be more tactile and touch based, and it's not. 218 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:23,560 Speaker 1: It was just a dpad. The Zoom did have a 219 00:14:23,560 --> 00:14:26,560 Speaker 1: couple of neat features, however, it had Wi Fi capability. 220 00:14:26,680 --> 00:14:32,320 Speaker 1: The Zoon thirty had Wi Fi sort of, so you 221 00:14:32,360 --> 00:14:37,680 Speaker 1: could use the Zoon's Wi Fi to connect with another 222 00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:42,480 Speaker 1: Zoon that was in the same local space that you 223 00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:45,000 Speaker 1: were in, like the same room or whatever, and then 224 00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:49,640 Speaker 1: the two Zoon owners could share songs and even photos 225 00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:51,880 Speaker 1: between the two different Zoon devices. So if you had 226 00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:54,280 Speaker 1: a photo on your device, which by the way, there's 227 00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:56,280 Speaker 1: no camera on the Zoon, so you had to have 228 00:14:56,360 --> 00:15:00,400 Speaker 1: loaded this photo on from your computer. Or maybe you 229 00:15:00,480 --> 00:15:03,120 Speaker 1: have a music track you really liked and you wanted 230 00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:05,080 Speaker 1: to share it with your buddy who also happens to 231 00:15:05,080 --> 00:15:08,040 Speaker 1: have a Zoon. You could use this method and send 232 00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:11,840 Speaker 1: that music file over to your buddy. But if you 233 00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:14,600 Speaker 1: wanted to purchase a song and put it on your Zoom, 234 00:15:15,280 --> 00:15:17,440 Speaker 1: you couldn't do it wirelessly. You still had to do 235 00:15:17,480 --> 00:15:21,760 Speaker 1: the old tethered connection. You'd purchase the song through the 236 00:15:21,920 --> 00:15:25,800 Speaker 1: Zoom marketplace on your computer. You would tether your Zoom 237 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:28,040 Speaker 1: to the computer and then transfer the music that way. 238 00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:32,800 Speaker 1: Now let's say you did somehow find the other person 239 00:15:32,840 --> 00:15:35,600 Speaker 1: in your town who also owned a Zoom, and the 240 00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:38,520 Speaker 1: two of you decided that you wanted to exchange a song. 241 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:41,560 Speaker 1: You could do that. If you were close enough to them, 242 00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:43,920 Speaker 1: you could send them a track, but they would have 243 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:48,800 Speaker 1: just three days to access that track, and they can 244 00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:51,360 Speaker 1: play it a maximum of three times and then it 245 00:15:51,400 --> 00:15:55,240 Speaker 1: would just delete itself off their device, So after three 246 00:15:55,320 --> 00:15:59,640 Speaker 1: days or after three plays, that song would disappear. They 247 00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:02,480 Speaker 1: called this feature, and I can't believe it to this 248 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:04,880 Speaker 1: day that they did this. This is like the Brown 249 00:16:05,080 --> 00:16:10,200 Speaker 1: Zoon decision. They called this feature squirting. So you would 250 00:16:10,280 --> 00:16:13,960 Speaker 1: squirt a music track to another Zoom user. And I 251 00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:17,560 Speaker 1: know it sounds like I'm making a joke, I am not. 252 00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:23,960 Speaker 1: An actual company created a brown MP three player that 253 00:16:24,120 --> 00:16:28,480 Speaker 1: could squirt music at other MP three players, and yes, 254 00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:33,320 Speaker 1: everybody made fun of this. For ages, you couldn't listen 255 00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:37,040 Speaker 1: to a tech podcast, you couldn't read an article without 256 00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:42,040 Speaker 1: some commentary on the topic of squirting. This was the 257 00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:46,160 Speaker 1: extent of the Zoom thirties Wi Fi capabilities. Was just 258 00:16:46,560 --> 00:16:50,480 Speaker 1: sending these files a short distance to another Zoon. That 259 00:16:50,640 --> 00:16:55,520 Speaker 1: was it. And like Apple, Microsoft went with a proprietary 260 00:16:55,640 --> 00:16:58,400 Speaker 1: cable when it came to connecting to the zooon to 261 00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:02,640 Speaker 1: charge it or to transfer to the Zoon did have 262 00:17:02,680 --> 00:17:05,199 Speaker 1: one other thing that I thought was pretty cool. It 263 00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:08,160 Speaker 1: had an FM radio built into it, and I thought 264 00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:10,960 Speaker 1: that was kind of neat. So like Microsoft was trying 265 00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:14,760 Speaker 1: to position this as it's a music device, not just 266 00:17:14,840 --> 00:17:19,359 Speaker 1: for digital files but also to access radio. But Microsoft 267 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:23,600 Speaker 1: didn't really learn a whole lot about what people disliked 268 00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:27,000 Speaker 1: about the iPod because they made several of the same choices. 269 00:17:27,359 --> 00:17:29,480 Speaker 1: So one of the big drawbacks of the original Zoon 270 00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:32,840 Speaker 1: was that it would only work with files that had 271 00:17:32,880 --> 00:17:37,080 Speaker 1: a certain kind of DRM attached to them. DRM stands 272 00:17:37,119 --> 00:17:41,120 Speaker 1: for Digital Rights Management, and the whole purpose of DRM 273 00:17:41,680 --> 00:17:44,199 Speaker 1: is to prevent people from being able to pirate stuff, 274 00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:47,600 Speaker 1: to steal things, or to download stuff without permission. But 275 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:52,720 Speaker 1: even DRM that Microsoft itself had designed before the Zoon 276 00:17:52,840 --> 00:17:56,320 Speaker 1: came out wouldn't work on the Zoon itself. It wasn't 277 00:17:56,320 --> 00:18:02,320 Speaker 1: backwards compatible with Microsoft's own DRM history, and that's because 278 00:18:02,359 --> 00:18:06,240 Speaker 1: Microsoft introduced a new kind of DRM around the same 279 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:09,080 Speaker 1: time that they launched the Zoom, and the Zoom would 280 00:18:09,119 --> 00:18:13,840 Speaker 1: only be compatible with that version forward. And that meant 281 00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:16,119 Speaker 1: that if you happened to already have a bunch of 282 00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:20,639 Speaker 1: music tracks that had the earlier version of Microsoft's DRM 283 00:18:20,720 --> 00:18:23,439 Speaker 1: on them, they would not work with your Zoom. So 284 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:26,840 Speaker 1: this was very discouraging, right if you already had a 285 00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:30,119 Speaker 1: sizeable digital library and you were just excited about getting 286 00:18:30,119 --> 00:18:32,600 Speaker 1: a player where you could put the library on the player, 287 00:18:33,320 --> 00:18:35,520 Speaker 1: it would be very upsetting to find out, Oh, you can't, 288 00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:39,879 Speaker 1: because that has the wrong DRM on it. Like in 289 00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:44,919 Speaker 1: the history of technology, DRM I think has long proven 290 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:48,600 Speaker 1: to be more of a frustration for legitimate users than 291 00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:51,920 Speaker 1: it has been a deterrent for piracy pirates. Figure out 292 00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:56,199 Speaker 1: ways around DRM, which means DRM ultimately just becomes a 293 00:18:56,200 --> 00:19:00,879 Speaker 1: frustrating experience for people who legitimately purchased the item. So 294 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:05,480 Speaker 1: DRM is bad, is what I'm saying. Like it doesn't 295 00:19:05,480 --> 00:19:07,840 Speaker 1: do what it's supposed to do, and then it does 296 00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:11,240 Speaker 1: do stuff it's not supposed to do. That's the definition 297 00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:17,560 Speaker 1: of a bad product. Anyway. Microsoft also did something supremely 298 00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:22,119 Speaker 1: stupid in my opinion, that it had previously done with 299 00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:26,960 Speaker 1: its Xbox Marketplace, which is, instead of having Zoom users 300 00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:32,120 Speaker 1: buy tracks with you know, real money, you first had 301 00:19:32,119 --> 00:19:36,320 Speaker 1: to go through this process of purchasing Microsoft points and 302 00:19:36,359 --> 00:19:40,119 Speaker 1: then using the Microsoft points to get tracks so you 303 00:19:40,119 --> 00:19:43,639 Speaker 1: would redeem points for tracks. So there was this middle 304 00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:47,160 Speaker 1: step that was really frustrating. Part of this was to 305 00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:51,120 Speaker 1: obfuscate how expensive a track was, right because they didn't 306 00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:53,360 Speaker 1: have a dollar amount associated with it, just a number 307 00:19:53,440 --> 00:19:55,040 Speaker 1: of points, and you would have to do the math 308 00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:57,800 Speaker 1: in your head to figure out, okay, well, how many 309 00:19:57,840 --> 00:20:01,400 Speaker 1: points is equivalent to a dollar, right, But you never 310 00:20:01,400 --> 00:20:03,720 Speaker 1: could buy them in increments of a dollar. It would 311 00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:06,440 Speaker 1: always be like five dollars or more. So that also 312 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:08,120 Speaker 1: meant that if all you wanted to do was buy 313 00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:10,399 Speaker 1: one track, you actually had to spend five bucks to 314 00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:13,280 Speaker 1: do it, not a dollar, but five dollars just to 315 00:20:13,280 --> 00:20:15,800 Speaker 1: get the points, and then you would end up with 316 00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:19,320 Speaker 1: this bank of Microsoft points just sitting in your account 317 00:20:19,359 --> 00:20:23,600 Speaker 1: doing nothing. So this Microsoft was not the only company 318 00:20:23,640 --> 00:20:26,400 Speaker 1: to ever do this. I mean Disney did this at 319 00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:29,800 Speaker 1: their parks. They had something called Disney dollars, and they 320 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:33,680 Speaker 1: were encouraging people to spend their real money to buy 321 00:20:34,240 --> 00:20:37,640 Speaker 1: theme park currency, where you couldn't use that currency anywhere 322 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:41,280 Speaker 1: else but inside those theme parks. Knowing that at least 323 00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:43,080 Speaker 1: some of your money was just going to be wasted 324 00:20:43,119 --> 00:20:45,640 Speaker 1: on this currency. You wouldn't be able to redeem all 325 00:20:45,640 --> 00:20:48,119 Speaker 1: of it, so you would actually spend more money at 326 00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:51,280 Speaker 1: the parks, but you wouldn't get value out of all 327 00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:53,359 Speaker 1: the money you spent because some of it would just 328 00:20:53,400 --> 00:20:55,920 Speaker 1: be caught up in this fake currency and you don't 329 00:20:55,920 --> 00:20:58,840 Speaker 1: have enough of it to do anything useful. Microsoft Points 330 00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:02,560 Speaker 1: were the same way. Ultimately, Microsoft would back off of 331 00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:05,960 Speaker 1: the system on the Xbox marketplace, but they were still 332 00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:09,320 Speaker 1: going strong with it when the Zoon launched. Okay, we're 333 00:21:09,320 --> 00:21:11,360 Speaker 1: going to take another quick break. I've got some more 334 00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:13,640 Speaker 1: things to say about the Zoo before we wrap up. 335 00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:27,520 Speaker 1: All right, we're back. I'm not done slagging off on 336 00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:31,600 Speaker 1: the Zoon yet. Unlike the original iPod, the Zoon could 337 00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:35,520 Speaker 1: not be used as a storage device for other files. Right. 338 00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:37,240 Speaker 1: Like I had mentioned that that was one of the 339 00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:39,200 Speaker 1: things you could use an iPod for. You could store 340 00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:41,200 Speaker 1: files on it, you could use it like an external 341 00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:43,760 Speaker 1: hard drive. You could not do that with the Zooon. 342 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:49,200 Speaker 1: It also didn't support lossless file formats like wave files 343 00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:54,000 Speaker 1: or wave files if you preferred WAV. Lossless means that 344 00:21:54,119 --> 00:21:59,200 Speaker 1: when you create that digital file, you haven't lost any 345 00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:02,679 Speaker 1: of the information contained within that file. So when you 346 00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:07,200 Speaker 1: convert music into a digital file, a lossless form factor 347 00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:12,600 Speaker 1: means everything that was in that recording is there. Blossy 348 00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:16,520 Speaker 1: means that the process of making that file will actually 349 00:22:16,600 --> 00:22:21,280 Speaker 1: eliminate some information. Ideally, it's information that wouldn't affect your 350 00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:26,520 Speaker 1: experience listening to the audio file, but the quality typically 351 00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:30,960 Speaker 1: takes a hit, whereas lossless, y're getting the highest quality 352 00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:35,040 Speaker 1: possible based upon whatever recording procedure was used. So reviews 353 00:22:35,080 --> 00:22:38,320 Speaker 1: said that Zoon's playback quality was good despite the lack 354 00:22:38,359 --> 00:22:42,000 Speaker 1: of support for lossless audio, but it also said like 355 00:22:42,160 --> 00:22:45,480 Speaker 1: album art despite being shown on a larger screen than 356 00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:48,320 Speaker 1: the iPod didn't look very good. And again it's because 357 00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:53,480 Speaker 1: of those resolution issues. So Microsoft pushes out the first 358 00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:56,639 Speaker 1: Zoon in two thousand and six. That's unfortunate wording. I 359 00:22:56,720 --> 00:22:59,840 Speaker 1: probably should have said something else. Anyway, that year to 360 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:04,000 Speaker 1: two thousand and six, Apple sold nearly thirty nine and 361 00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:09,160 Speaker 1: a half million iPods. Now that was impressive because up 362 00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:14,680 Speaker 1: until two thousand and six, collectively, across every single generation 363 00:23:14,760 --> 00:23:18,600 Speaker 1: of iPod, Apple had sold around forty million units, and 364 00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:21,840 Speaker 1: in two thousand and six they sold nearly as many 365 00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:24,240 Speaker 1: just in that one year. So in other words, like 366 00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:27,240 Speaker 1: in one year, they doubled the number of iPods they 367 00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:31,320 Speaker 1: had sold throughout the history of the product. So Apple 368 00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:35,520 Speaker 1: really was in the dominant position for the digital media 369 00:23:35,560 --> 00:23:38,520 Speaker 1: player space. So how did the Zoom do well the 370 00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:42,399 Speaker 1: first couple of weeks? It did okay. Initially sales were slow, 371 00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:45,200 Speaker 1: but CNN reported at the end of the second week 372 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:47,719 Speaker 1: that had moved into the number two spot for digital 373 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:50,919 Speaker 1: media players. That does kind of ignore the fact that 374 00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:53,959 Speaker 1: the number one spot was light years ahead of it, 375 00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:58,080 Speaker 1: Like it wasn't even close, And being one and two 376 00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:01,840 Speaker 1: doesn't mean so much. If if number one is like 377 00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:06,440 Speaker 1: fifty miles ahead of you in a foot race. Microsoft, 378 00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:08,520 Speaker 1: in a rush to try and make up for five 379 00:24:08,600 --> 00:24:11,760 Speaker 1: years of lost time, had launched a bit of a flop. 380 00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:16,720 Speaker 1: It was received fairly well critically. The critics didn't hate it. 381 00:24:16,760 --> 00:24:20,000 Speaker 1: They did point out some of the downsides and the 382 00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:23,800 Speaker 1: ways that the Zoon failed to live up to the 383 00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:25,800 Speaker 1: standard of the iPod, as well as some of the 384 00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:29,119 Speaker 1: things that were really interesting that Microsoft had done. But 385 00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:33,520 Speaker 1: there were a lot of things to criticize. So Microsoft 386 00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:35,840 Speaker 1: gets back to work and gets to work on the 387 00:24:35,840 --> 00:24:39,959 Speaker 1: second generation of the Zoon. This generation would actually ditch 388 00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:46,080 Speaker 1: that circular dpad and instead use a touch sensitive little surface. 389 00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:49,440 Speaker 1: It was a quasi square, and I say quasi because 390 00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:54,400 Speaker 1: it had rounded corners. It didn't have actual angular corners, 391 00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:58,040 Speaker 1: but it was a surface where you could use touch 392 00:24:58,119 --> 00:25:02,200 Speaker 1: commands to navigate through the UI, so different from a dpad. 393 00:25:02,359 --> 00:25:04,840 Speaker 1: It also had some features that I think were pretty neat. 394 00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:07,959 Speaker 1: Like say that you were listening to your FM radio 395 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:10,760 Speaker 1: on your Zoom and let's say a new song comes 396 00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:13,720 Speaker 1: on and you really dig it, You've never heard it before, 397 00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:16,600 Speaker 1: you really dig this song. You could actually flag the 398 00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:19,440 Speaker 1: song on your Zoom and then when you connected to 399 00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:22,240 Speaker 1: your Zoom to your computer, you could find that song 400 00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:24,960 Speaker 1: in the Zoom marketplace and then purchase it. It made 401 00:25:25,320 --> 00:25:29,160 Speaker 1: song discovery really interesting. I thought that legitimately was awesome. 402 00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:32,639 Speaker 1: You can also download some games to the device. The 403 00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:35,919 Speaker 1: user interface and the screen resolution were both improved with 404 00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:41,520 Speaker 1: the second generation. But this generation of the Zoom launched 405 00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:44,280 Speaker 1: in two thousand and seven. Two thousand and seven was 406 00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:47,359 Speaker 1: also the year that Apple launched a pair of devices 407 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:51,760 Speaker 1: that ensured it would continue to dominate the mobile space. 408 00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:55,760 Speaker 1: The first was the iPhone, and ultimately the iPhone would 409 00:25:55,840 --> 00:25:58,520 Speaker 1: lead the way to the decline of standalone digital media 410 00:25:58,560 --> 00:26:03,280 Speaker 1: players in general, including Apple's own media players. The other 411 00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:06,960 Speaker 1: device was the iPod Touch, which was like an iPhone 412 00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:12,560 Speaker 1: without the phone part. And when you stack the iPhone, 413 00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:16,480 Speaker 1: or rather the iPod Touch against the second generation Zoon, 414 00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:20,040 Speaker 1: there was just no comparison, Like the iPod Touch was 415 00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:23,679 Speaker 1: like a sexy Lamborghini and the second generation Zoon was 416 00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:27,719 Speaker 1: like a decent car. And you have to remember Apple 417 00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:32,800 Speaker 1: still dominated the iTunes space, like almost all downloads of 418 00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:39,000 Speaker 1: purchase music were through iTunes, so Apple had just this 419 00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:43,040 Speaker 1: almost a monopoly like hold on the whole ecosystem of 420 00:26:43,119 --> 00:26:47,760 Speaker 1: digital music at this point. Now we're also chronologically getting 421 00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:50,399 Speaker 1: to the point where another problem with the original zoon 422 00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:53,720 Speaker 1: cropped up. I had hinted at it before with the 423 00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:57,600 Speaker 1: foreshadowing comment, So you remember I said someone at Freescale 424 00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:02,080 Speaker 1: made a booboo when designing the driver for the processor 425 00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:04,879 Speaker 1: that was found both in the Zoom thirty and the 426 00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:09,119 Speaker 1: Tashiba gigabeat s. Well, that booboo failed to account for 427 00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:11,800 Speaker 1: the fact that two thousand and eight was a leap year. 428 00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:16,359 Speaker 1: So at midnight Pacific Standard time on December thirty first, 429 00:27:16,760 --> 00:27:19,040 Speaker 1: two thousand and eight, as the West coast of the 430 00:27:19,119 --> 00:27:22,119 Speaker 1: United States prepared to ring in the new year, Zoom 431 00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:27,640 Speaker 1: thirties stopped working. They froze. The gigabeat s devices out 432 00:27:27,680 --> 00:27:32,360 Speaker 1: there also froze. They were frozen or bricked, at least temporarily, 433 00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:34,960 Speaker 1: and it took a little bit for folks to figure 434 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:37,760 Speaker 1: out what had happened. And it was again because of 435 00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:41,280 Speaker 1: the failure to account for a leap year. It saw 436 00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:44,600 Speaker 1: that there were three hundred and sixty six days in 437 00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:46,879 Speaker 1: the year, and it didn't know what to do, and 438 00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:49,720 Speaker 1: it got caught in a kind of loop that meant 439 00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:52,720 Speaker 1: that the device was frozen. Now, the fix was actually 440 00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:56,440 Speaker 1: pretty simple. All users had to do was keep their 441 00:27:56,480 --> 00:28:00,400 Speaker 1: frozen Zoom thirties and as well as you know, Gigabeat's 442 00:28:01,280 --> 00:28:05,240 Speaker 1: on and just let the battery drain completely. Once the 443 00:28:05,280 --> 00:28:08,679 Speaker 1: battery was completely drained, they would just hold off on 444 00:28:08,840 --> 00:28:14,280 Speaker 1: recharging their device until it was after noon on January 445 00:28:14,320 --> 00:28:18,080 Speaker 1: first of two thousand and nine. Once that time had passed, 446 00:28:18,119 --> 00:28:20,040 Speaker 1: they could charge it back up and the device would 447 00:28:20,119 --> 00:28:23,399 Speaker 1: reset and it would work again. But this was another 448 00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:27,320 Speaker 1: embarrassing misstep for the original Zoom. Microsoft did take one 449 00:28:27,359 --> 00:28:30,840 Speaker 1: more swing with the third generation of the Zoo in 450 00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:33,600 Speaker 1: two thousand and nine. This would be the Zoon HD. 451 00:28:34,119 --> 00:28:37,199 Speaker 1: It was an answer to Apple's iPod Touch. So, like 452 00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:40,479 Speaker 1: the iPod Touch, it had a display that was a 453 00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:43,360 Speaker 1: touch display. It got rid of all the little physical 454 00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:45,680 Speaker 1: buttons and stuff for you to navigate through. Everything was 455 00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:51,560 Speaker 1: touch oriented. And the problem was the Zoon HD came 456 00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:54,320 Speaker 1: out in two thousand and nine. The iPod Touch had 457 00:28:54,320 --> 00:28:56,640 Speaker 1: come out in two thousand and seven, so again Apple 458 00:28:56,680 --> 00:29:00,239 Speaker 1: had had a couple of years had start, Plus there 459 00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:02,400 Speaker 1: were some other things going on now. The Zoo HD 460 00:29:03,120 --> 00:29:07,560 Speaker 1: introduced some cool features like wireless synchronization as well as 461 00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:09,960 Speaker 1: wireless web access, so you could use it as a 462 00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:14,160 Speaker 1: wireless mobile device, but you could do that with the 463 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:18,240 Speaker 1: iPod Touch as well. And at this time the writing 464 00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:20,640 Speaker 1: was starting to show up on the wall for the 465 00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:24,880 Speaker 1: standalone media playing device, whether it was a Zoom or 466 00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:30,120 Speaker 1: an iPod or anything else, because people were starting to 467 00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:35,120 Speaker 1: use their smartphones to play media instead of having a 468 00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:38,320 Speaker 1: standalone device dedicated to it. Why would you carry two 469 00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:42,840 Speaker 1: devices around if one can do the trick. So consumer 470 00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:48,760 Speaker 1: opinions were starting to shift toward accepting streaming as a 471 00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:53,120 Speaker 1: music delivery service. So early on people were not really 472 00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:55,320 Speaker 1: keen on the idea of streaming. They wanted to be 473 00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:59,120 Speaker 1: able to own the tracks they loved and not rely 474 00:29:59,200 --> 00:30:01,960 Speaker 1: on a service to continue to offer the tracks they 475 00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:05,800 Speaker 1: loved in perpetuity, which you know these days when you 476 00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:10,200 Speaker 1: look at different streaming platforms, specifically like streaming video platforms, 477 00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:14,080 Speaker 1: you see cases where a platform loses the rights to 478 00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:17,920 Speaker 1: a particular type of media and then you can't access 479 00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:22,560 Speaker 1: it anymore on that platform. That's a real problem, right. 480 00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:25,360 Speaker 1: It's a problem that you avoid if you purchase the 481 00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:28,959 Speaker 1: media and you have it in a format that you 482 00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:31,520 Speaker 1: can still access no matter what happens to the platform. 483 00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:35,240 Speaker 1: That's different, and that's what people really were worried about 484 00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:38,600 Speaker 1: back in when they were, you know, buying digital tracks 485 00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:42,360 Speaker 1: rather than streaming. But eventually streaming went out and it 486 00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:46,200 Speaker 1: became a more acceptable delivery system. Apple was still miles 487 00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:49,280 Speaker 1: ahead at this point, so Microsoft decided to call it 488 00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:53,280 Speaker 1: quits in twenty eleven, having never made a huge debt 489 00:30:53,320 --> 00:30:55,960 Speaker 1: in the market, so the Zoom launched in two thousand 490 00:30:56,000 --> 00:31:01,000 Speaker 1: and six, Microsoft discontinued it five years later. So Zoom 491 00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:04,000 Speaker 1: launched five years too late and only lasted five years. 492 00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:06,240 Speaker 1: This would not be the only time Microsoft would have 493 00:31:06,240 --> 00:31:09,640 Speaker 1: to admit defeat in the hardware space, but we'll talk 494 00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:14,000 Speaker 1: about the Windows Phone debacle another day. Today, the Zoon 495 00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:17,640 Speaker 1: is remembered primarily as a joke. In fact, it was 496 00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:20,600 Speaker 1: used as a joke in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. 497 00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:26,120 Speaker 1: The product itself wasn't necessarily bad. It was just introduced 498 00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:29,680 Speaker 1: far too late and without the features needed to set 499 00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:34,080 Speaker 1: it apart from the standard defining iPod. But I think 500 00:31:34,120 --> 00:31:38,720 Speaker 1: we can all agree the marketing around it was truly terrible, 501 00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:43,760 Speaker 1: and that is the down and dirty story of the Zoom. 502 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:46,520 Speaker 1: If you had one, I'd be curious to hear from you. 503 00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:49,880 Speaker 1: You can always tweet at me on Twitter. It's tech stuff, 504 00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:52,920 Speaker 1: hsw I too need to get another way for people 505 00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:56,200 Speaker 1: to reach out because I can totally understand folks not 506 00:31:56,240 --> 00:31:58,880 Speaker 1: wanting to go to Twitter. But yeah, I'm curious for 507 00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:01,880 Speaker 1: the zoon owners out there what they thought of the device. 508 00:32:01,920 --> 00:32:04,480 Speaker 1: Did they like it? What features did they really love? 509 00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:08,080 Speaker 1: Were there any things that really irritated them about the Zoo? 510 00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:12,920 Speaker 1: I mean, I'm speaking as someone. My first MP three 511 00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:15,960 Speaker 1: player was not an iPod. I had a creative Zen 512 00:32:16,240 --> 00:32:21,040 Speaker 1: MP three player, and golly, I loved that thing. It 513 00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:24,200 Speaker 1: was not perfect by a long stretch. It had a 514 00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:27,440 Speaker 1: lot of issues, but it worked for what I needed 515 00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:30,000 Speaker 1: it to do. And I didn't have to use iTunes 516 00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:33,200 Speaker 1: to access it, so that was a big bonus. But 517 00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:36,560 Speaker 1: I'm curious what Zoo owners thought about their devices. And 518 00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:40,920 Speaker 1: it's a shame really that Microsoft wasn't able to compete 519 00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:43,760 Speaker 1: more in the space. And I say that because when 520 00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:48,520 Speaker 1: you have competition, it really pushes companies to try and 521 00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:54,720 Speaker 1: outperform each other. Apple was going hard anyway, They had 522 00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:58,920 Speaker 1: the lead spot and they just kept going hard. They 523 00:32:58,960 --> 00:33:00,760 Speaker 1: probably didn't need to go as hard as they did, 524 00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:02,880 Speaker 1: but we ended up with really good devices as a 525 00:33:02,880 --> 00:33:05,280 Speaker 1: result of that. But you can't always count on that, right. 526 00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:09,240 Speaker 1: If a company dominates a market, they don't necessarily need 527 00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:15,480 Speaker 1: to try to maintain their market position, Whereas when there's competition, 528 00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:19,080 Speaker 1: companies do have to try in order to win over customers. 529 00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:24,160 Speaker 1: So that's kind of why I'm always bombed when something fails. 530 00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:29,080 Speaker 1: It might have been a complete ridiculous show from beginning 531 00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:32,840 Speaker 1: to end because of silly decisions. But I don't want 532 00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:35,520 Speaker 1: to see failures because I want to see competition so 533 00:33:35,560 --> 00:33:37,959 Speaker 1: that we get even better stuff on the other end 534 00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:40,640 Speaker 1: of it. That's it for this episode. I hope you 535 00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:43,360 Speaker 1: enjoyed it. I hope you are all well, and I'll 536 00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:52,840 Speaker 1: talk to you again really soon. Tech Stuff is an 537 00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:58,400 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 538 00:33:58,520 --> 00:34:01,680 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.