One approach the company is using to battle Apple's market-dominating iPhone is to add more social value. Christ Stephenson, general manager of global marketing for Zune, said that “consumers want more than the traditional transactional model of an online music store plus portable device.” Instead, he said, they want a “new experience centered on music discovery,” which helps expose them to music they may not have tried and offers a variety of ways to buy.
Friends' Recommendations
According to a recent study commissioned by Microsoft, more than half of consumers said they didn't have enough time or didn't know where to look to find new music and, as a consequence, ended up wasting money on music they didn't really like. But 89 percent said they would trust a recommendation by a friend or a family member.
As part of the solution to this dilemma, Microsoft is adding more functionality to its Zune online music community. In the past, for instance, members have received a free, customizable Zune Card, which contains a brief listing of their favorite songs that they can share with friends.
In previous incarnations, the card has lived on the Web, but with newly released software updates the cards are now portable and can be more easily shared. With a Zune Pass subscription, for instance, users can now listen to their friends' favorites, with no commitment other than the monthly subscription fee of $14.99 monthly.
TV Show Downloads
New updates to the Zune online music community also include syncing Zune Cards to a Zune device, which allows them to get updates on what their friends are listening to. If Zune Pass has the song, the track is automatically available to a subscriber's device for listening. If the user is a nonsubscriber, only the album information and artwork is available. The track can then be purchased with one click.
Other updates allow users to add their name, location and biography to their profile in the Zune music community, rate and review artists and albums, add “badges” that show if they are really passionate about a song, and see what Windows Live Messenger contacts — who are also Zune users — are listening to. New features include automatic updating of playlists, browsing videos by genre and series, and editing album and track information.
On a related front, Microsoft is also updating the Zune online video store with downloads of popular TV shows from Comedy Center, MTV, NBCUniversal, Nickelodeon, Starz Media, and VH1. There are more than 800 episodes of TV shows available to download and watch on the portable device, including South Park, SpongeBob SquarePants, Battlestar Galactica, and Robot Chicken.
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