EXCLUSIVE: No New Features Before Spring for Zune

This week, we had a chance to cover some technical aspects of the Zune with David Caulton, a Microsoft Zune development team member.

Many of you know David from his blog (www.zunester.com). But prior to be a Zune blogger and a Zune team member, David worked on the Windows Media Player, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Project, and Microsoft Team Manager 97. He also worked has a researcher in Cognitive Neuroscience.

In this interview, we learned that we are not going to see new features for the 30Gb Zune player before spring. We might have a firmware update in January but only for small ajustments. At first, I was disappointed by that, but David explained that the Zune technical team wants to concentrate on future bugs that could show-up in the first months after the market introduction.  “We’re going to be responsive to any problems that crop up after mass deployment happens in November and December”, he said.

David also talked about the interactivity between the Zune, the PC and the community.  He said “This is a VERY strong focus, and you already see it in the shipping Zune.  We sync back ratings and playcounts from the Zune, and you can “earmark” songs on the Zune for later action on the PC”. He also added “I’d go further and look for us to add functionality that goes from Zune to PC to the service in the cloud and back again.  It’s really tri-directional.”

This interactivity is what made the blackberry so successful. Using the same kind of strategy, Microsoft could really make the Zune a more interesting player than the iPod. Knowing that a “Zune Phone” is the target, this is even more important.

We also asked David if he could confirm that Zune music will play on PlayForSure players. David said “Zune content can get out via Windows Media Player into playsforsure devices, but this scenario isn’t officially supported and may not be reliable.”

Here are the questions we asked David Caulton:

[CLICZUNE] What is the Zune operating system?

[DAVID] The “OS” is our own Zune-developed set of software and UI.

[CLICZUNE] How important was the involvement of the Toshiba team during the development process of the Zune? Have you done many hardware versions between the first and the released version of the Zune and what were the major improvements?

[DAVID] I will say that the Toshiba partnership was important in getting the hardware product done on time, and the partnership worked well for both sides.

My early Zune version is about 3 months old and is still working per spec with the final version of the firmware and software; the hardware locked down early and most improvements after that were software.

[CLICZUNE] Was the power management a big challenge in building the Zune with Wi-fi and 3” screen?

[DAVID] The team put a lot of effort into squeezing every possible bit of battery life given those features.  I’ve seen this in the radical improvements in battery life over the last 3 months, and you can see it in the stat that Wi-Fi only reduces audio playback time from 14 hours to 13.  I’m very impressed with the team’s work there.

[CLICZUNE] Are you going to release a SDK for the Zune? Is it going to be for internal applications like games? What about external applications that could talk to the Zune through the Wifi connection?

[DAVID] We don’t have an SDK for Zune out of the gate, and our top priorities for now are innovating and only opening up as it’s strategically beneficial and ads value to the experience.

The question around Wi-Fi “accessories” (software or hardware) is an interesting one that makes a lot of sense.  ;)

[CLICZUNE] We heard that the first firmware update would be in January. Can you confirm that? Any hints on what would be included in the first firmware update? New Wifi scenarios? Additional video codecs? Podcasts management? Bill Wittress (www.zuneguy.com) thinks the missing feature on the Zune at this point is the ability to delete a song directly on the Zune. Are you listening to his complaints?

[DAVID] Oh, if that were the only missing feature!  I have a nice list of things we’re looking forward to adding. 

I definitely have to listen to BillWitt since we carpool 3 days a week. 

I shouldn’t discuss future plans, but you’re barking up the right trees.  The timing you mention is probably a bit early for any major additional functionality, but of course we’re going to be responsive to any problems that crop up after mass deployment happens in November and December.

[CLICZUNE] Can you tell us more about the Zune-PC interactivity? Is it your goal to make it a bi-directional ecosystem? I mean that a user action on the Zune will have an impact on the PC like tagging, playlist building, deleting, etc…

[DAVID] This is a VERY strong focus, and you already see it in the shipping Zune.  We sync back ratings and playcounts from the Zune, and you can “earmark” songs on the Zune for later action on the PC.

I’d go further and look for us to add functionality that goes from Zune to PC to the service in the cloud and back again.  It’s really tri-directional.

[CLICZUNE] Can we download videos and movies rented from the Live Video Marketplace into the Zune?

[DAVID] For now, there’s no sync story from Xbox to the Zune.  There’s nothing technical that prevents us from doing that in the future, we just didn’t get to it for launch.

[CLICZUNE] We heard that the Zune would be equipped with a TV out connection. Can you confirm if it does have it?

[DAVID] Yes, Zune has TV out.  Actually, two TV outs.  The headphone jack is also a video out if you have a standard TV adapter cable.  The accessory jack on the bottom has one too so folks can make video docks and other accessories.

[CLICZUNE] Microsoft made it clear that the PlayForSure content won’t ever play on the Zune. But in a recent interview, a Microsoft spokesperson said to the BBC that the Zune Music could play on PlayForSure players. Can you tell us more about that compatibility?

[DAVID] There’s been a lot of confusion about this, so thanks for asking.   The facts:

• Zune content can get out via Windows Media Player into playsforsure devices, but this scenario isn’t officially supported and may not be reliable.
• Playsforsure service content can’t get into the Zune library for sync to Zune devices.

[CLICZUNE] Are you working closely with the Xbox team?

[DAVID] For sure.  The Zune team’s “core” is made up of a lot of Xboxers, starting with J Allard and Bryan Lee.  We report up through Robbie Bach, who led the Xbox project.  Many of the functional team members (hardware, software, etc…) are from Xbox and a lot of the service elements share resources from the Xbox live team.  I meet with a lot of these folks daily, and it’s been a great part of the experience for me to work with a very different group of people from my past jobs (in Windows and Office).

[CLICZUNE]  In you craziest dreams, where the do you see the Zune platform in 5 years from now?

[DAVID] 60% market share? (rimshot)

A while back J Allard gave an interview and referred to the iPod as the “Model T of mp3 players”.  This was misunderstood as trashing the iPod, which wasn’t his intent.  The Model T was the state of the art in technology when it shipped and changed the world.  Same with the iPod.

But it’s only the beginning.  MP3 players and other connected devices are going to revolutionize entertainment.  Think about the combination of mp3 players, Web 2.0 communities, and collaborative filtering. 

In 5 years, Zune will have succeeded by shipping a suite of devices that make the vision of “connected entertainment” happen.  That would mean (among other things) devices that talk to other devices, connect to the cloud without a PC, music and video recommendations that really work, a community of millions of users sharing their content and tastes with one another. 


[CLICZUNE] Thanks a lot David! I’m sure our readers will appreciate the crispy technical details about the Zune!

Comments

[charlie]

I think zune should focus on making a waterproof version for fitness. also a mini for comfort. I have a site,http://www.fitnesssongs.com, that mp3 users buy music from and they workout to the files. mp3 users email me about sweat in there mp3 players. waterproofing would be a nice marketing feature.

[ioDi]

Thanks for the tip ClicZune. :) Great interview indeed.

I'm sure that the firmware will be updated within a few weeks/months, but didn't know that any major features were going to be added.

Hopefully, that'll come within the next several months through a firmware.

- ioDi
http://www.wiredzune.com

[Steve]

Excellent interview. I also agree that their will be a firmware upgrade sooner than later...probably before Christmas time.

-Steve
http://zunemediaplayer.blogspot.com/

[Ames Tiedeman]

I am a skeptic. I am not sure the Zune is going to be a big hit. The ability so send a song to a friend seems nice, but can Zune really compete with the I-Pod? Why was MSFT so slow in getting on board?
Gates and Co. should have been thinking this up over 5 years ago. I have already posted about the name, Zune, but I will say again that they should have called the thing the "M" Microsoft could have had an entire marketing campaign with huge billboards all over the USA with a giant M's. Calling it "M" is far better than Zune.

[Ames Tiedeman]

This blog is all but dead.

ZUNE is inferior to the ipod.

MSFT had better come to realize that they are not a creative nor inventive company...They are not AAPL and they never will be.