Zune Pass Pricing Is Insanely Cheap
|
Product Comparison. Microsoft has effectively dropped the price of Zune all-you-can-download subscriptions to $5.09 a month. |
[Editor's Note: In a departure from form, I will mostly blog shorter posts today so that I can post more to Apple Watch and Microsoft Watch. It's a stylistic experiment; please offer feedback in comments or by e-mail.]
That's how I'm viewing the new Zune Pass pricing, where subscribers keep 10 songs a month. Forever. That's $9.90, figuring 99 cents a song. Subtract from the monthly $14.99 subscription fee and you've got a net cost of $5.09 a month. Cheap. Dirt cheap.
I've long said that subscription pricing is where Microsoft has got something big over Apple. For the value conscious, which should be everybody during this recession, Zune is a compelling alternative to iTunes/iPod price. Pull out your calculators, holiday shoppers, and let's do some figuring.
Yesterday, Microsoft cut flash-based Zune pricing. So let's start there. Microsoft's cheapest Zune is $99.99 compared to Apple's entry flash-based iPod nano at $149. Kaching! That 50 bucks savings is three months of Zune Pass, including 30 free songs.
Our hapless teens have eclectic musical tastes. Jacko got a Zune and Junie the nano. Here's what the kiddies want first:
- Twilight Soundtrack; $11.99
- "Want," by 3OH!3; $9.99
- "Safe Trip Home," by Dido; $11.99
- "We Started Nothing," by the Ting Tings; $7.99
- "Oracular Spectacular," by MGMT; $7.99
- "Haarp," by Muse; $12.99
- "The Glass Passenger," Jack's Mannequin; $12.99
- "Infinity on High," Fall Out Boy; $11.99
- "A Hundred Million Suns," Snow Patrol; $9.99
- "The Death of Adam," 88-Keys; $9.99
The prices are those for iTunes, where our girl spent $107.90 in albums and another $29.70 for 30 singles for a total $137.60. Well that's what Junie would have spent. Instead, she used LimeWire and BitTorrent. For the trouble stealing the music, Junie got three viruses and a Trojan Horse that stole daddy's work log-in. But, sssh, he doesn't know—and neither does Junie.
Jacko spent $14.99 for a Zune pass, or he would have. His mom was so excited by the savings from buying albums, she agreed to pay for the first three months. So, like Junie, Jacko's out-of-pocket cost was zero. And like her, he could choose unlimited downloads—but unlike her, all nicely organized, all legal, all with fine audio fidelity and with no risk of malware infection. Plus, he keeps 10 songs.
Let's assume that both teen's parents paid for everything as part of the holiday giving. Jacko's mom and dad spent $99.99 for the Zune (online with no tax and free shipping) plus $44.97 for three months of Zune pass, for which Jacko keeps 30 songs. They paid $144.96, although the 30 songs have $29.70 value. Jacko downloaded 1,376 songs under unlimited download subscription pricing.
Meanwhile, Junie's parents paid $149 (no tax because they live in New Hampshire) for the iPod nano and another $137.60 for just the music Junie wanted in the first month. They spent $286.60, and Junie is already asking for more music.
Many people may think that Zune isn't as cool as iPod/iTunes, but I disagree. For value, in this scenario anyway, Zune easily is the better choice.
[Please send your tips or rumors to watchtips at live.com].
Comments (20)
I think the size of the music catalog is a key Zune vs iPod purchase decision factor. Zune is still way behind.
Zune Markeplace has 4 million songs.
iTunes Store has 8 million songs.
Posted by Gary R | November 21, 2008 12:44 AM
Wow, the Zune team keeps surprising me... I might just get a Zune for the holidays.
Posted by Junior M | November 21, 2008 1:39 AM
Good comparative analysis. And you probably positioned it more effectively that MS will :-)
Posted by Paul | November 21, 2008 1:49 AM
As much as I love the Zune Pass (I do love it BTW and have been a subscriber for years now), I have to point out that many kids don't care about viruses that they don't know about and will care about $15.00 a month going from their bank accounts. iTunes is not a *great* success when it comes to songs per ipod, for the same reasons, piracy is free forever.
However if we ever find a way around piracy, MS has a fantastic position.
Posted by northerngeek | November 21, 2008 2:52 AM
I just wish the Zune was supported over here. Living in the UK, I've had a play with other people's, but I can't buy my own or use the music store. I guess I'll just have to wait for them to get moved over here.
In the meantime, I'll stick with my trusty Creative mp3 player. I bought it back in the early days, where buying an ipod of the equivalent memory would have taken a huge chunk out of my student loan. It's served me well, despite me dropping it multiple times. It's a bit battered now, but it still plays music as well as ever.
Posted by Jess Meats | November 21, 2008 4:08 AM
Joe, good value != cool.... That will always be something Microsoft (and you obviously) do not understand.
Posted by billybob | November 21, 2008 6:45 AM
The key issue with Zune Service is you have to have Zune. What if I already have a player I am happy with? Whats so special about Zune that it needs yet another format.
I would subscribe to the Zune service if it gave me greater device independence. For now Napster and Rhapsody are the only multiplatform all you can eat services.
Posted by Josh | November 21, 2008 10:46 AM
Zune is expected to be baked into Win Mobile 7.
If so then expect to see a spike in Zune Pass subscriptions when the new Win Mobile 7 devices roll out next year.
Posted by Gary R | November 21, 2008 12:26 PM
So at the end of 3 months you've got 30 songs($30) for which you've paid $45. Where are the other 1,346 songs? Poof. Gone.
Posted by Mike W | November 21, 2008 1:24 PM
the subscriptions you can't own these songs permanently.. If you cancel subscriptions, these songs will be gone for good.. Most of us want to keep these songs therefore the purchasing is best choice... It may be expensive but worth it.
I won't go for the subscriptions....
Posted by pwr | November 21, 2008 2:05 PM
This smacks of desperation, not innovation. When all the B.S. is boiled out, you get to buy ten songs a month for $1.50 a pop - BFD.
When Ballmer goes and a new CEO steps in, the Zune will be history 30 minutes later.
Posted by Johnny | November 21, 2008 5:01 PM
Johnny :wrote
"When Ballmer goes and a new CEO steps in, the Zune will be history 30 minutes later."
-----------------------------------------------------
As far as "when Ballmer goes"...he could always get a job at Red Hat or Canonical.
Re "Zune will be history"... kinda like when they abandoned "plays for sure" and ended up shutting those DRM servers down?
Posted by Ralph | November 21, 2008 5:27 PM
Hey Johnny youre an iPod user aren't you, no really tell the truth. Do you even own a Zune if you do, your point adds nothing to the conversation and if you aren't... then your point still adds nothing to the conversation. Pipe down and stop trying to compensate for the fact that it's actually a good idea, one more innovative then the other subscription services have made in a long time. Your the guy who pays to get into a seminar then heckles the speaker. Go take that haterade somewhere else.
Posted by Travis | November 21, 2008 8:18 PM
"Forever" until they decide to shut down their DRM servers. You've been burned by this sort of bullshit before, people, why do you keep falling for the same old scam?
Posted by Lawrence D'Oliveiro | November 22, 2008 3:28 AM
@Josh: Songs downloaded from Zune Marketplace are compatible with most PlaysForSure players. You don't have to have a Zune player to listen to it.
@Lawrence: most of the songs you download are DRM-free. Try that with iTunes.
Posted by Adam K | November 22, 2008 11:32 PM
I already have a service where I can listen to all the music I want, and it's 100% free and legal. It's called "radio." None of the songs have any DRM and I can easily switch from classical to jazz to CW to contemporary to alternative to rock and many other styles. And you want me to pay HOW MUCH per month to listen to what I already get for free?
Posted by Don | November 23, 2008 11:51 AM
I'm in the same boat as Jess. No Zunes in Australia, but I still like the software - works a lot better than iTunes on my system. Also shares nicely with my xbox 360. Portably, I'm still using my Walkman thumbdrive with SonicStage. Yuck.
Posted by Robguy | November 27, 2008 12:20 AM
Great deals on the zune can be found at http://www.ZuneCheap.com
Posted by steve | December 5, 2008 5:12 AM
The zune is the best thing to happen in a long time and it better than the rest that lousy bullshit that cost an arm and a leg fuck that shit ill take a zune any dayy ipod aka ishit.
Posted by jane | December 10, 2008 7:33 PM
Zune lets you play everything you download as long as you keep up the subscription. Or until Zune changes its policy, is bought by another company or just plain folds. Remember all that "unlimited" usage promised by ISPs until customers started taking them at their word? Think Zune will be around in 10 years? 15? Hey, what happened to my music collection?
Music piracy is an option, but it can get you in trouble with the law, you waste hours scouring the net for bittorrents that could be spend actually living and if it doesn't leave you with a yucky feeling inside your karma's actually in worse shape than if it does.
The Live Music Archive at archive.org hosts legal, live shows for download with the permission of the bands that play them, from the famous to the utterly obscure. Ditto for torrent sites that scrupulously torrent legal music only. Exciting, but if you want that favorite studio album you're out of luck.
OR, there are these places called stores where you can buy these things called albums. Every town has them. You go, buy a CD, take it home and listen to it. You remember that pre-internet adage "you can't have everything" and nod in appreciation, enjoying what you have.
Posted by bill | July 16, 2009 12:38 AM