gizmodo <3 Zune
Can someone please tell me why Gizmodo is getting so gushy about the Zune? The coverage doesn’t read as authentic at all. Seems reactionary and “pseudo” love rather than real promotion. Almost… desperate. With what went down at Valleywag and the turn that blog’s taken, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was postorials.
So they can keep raking in the Bill Gates interviews, perhaps?
I thought maybe it was just me, but I had been thinking the same thing. I have a “gadgets” feed category, and I kept finding myself thinking, “Hmmmm…A vaguely positive Zune review; who’s it by? Huh, Gizmodo.”
Looking back at that category, there are 4 posts at Engadget, fairly objective seeming, and Gizmodo is at 8, including one that sets 12 decision factors (“You want a movie and TV store: iPod”), and picks the Zune for 7 out of 12. Eventually, one of the Gizmodo editors finally chimes in with.,, “There, someone who doesn’t think the Zune is the Savior of Man.”
Worth noting that innovation (in this case technical) makes me excited. In the end, we decided that we’d wait for v.2. Good feedback, though. And you weren’t alone. Brought us back from the edge. I believe that Zune is a serious player, so we decided to cover it. Exhaustively. And Exhaustingly. Obviously, we weren’t paid for anything — We just think its cool that someone is going head to head wiht the iPod in a serious way. Remember how no one thought xbox would go anywhere against sony? It’s kind of a big deal for the gadget microcosm, whether or not you’re sick of hearing about it.
I agree that innovation is good. However, your coverage seemed to loose objectivity in its underlying sense of a desire for Apple to take it up the ass. It seemed more anti-iPod hegemony (which I can understand, trust me) than pro-Zune.
That didn’t seem very genuine.
My objection to the Zune is that it DOES NOT seem like innovation. It seems like catchup with diminished returns because it is not addressing fundemental problems with digital music in general.