Flexibility vs. Simplicity

Apple and EMI made their big announcement yesterday about DRM-free music and premium downloads. It certainly is a big deal, as those who care a lot about technology and music, have been fighting for a wider range of DRM-free music for a long time.

The announcement is really wonderful and begins the slippery-slope of DRM changes that consumers have been demanding. There are a few things that haven't been discussed in the Q&A session that I found interesting.

First, EMI's CEO, Eric Nicoli, made the statement that EMI had known about Steve Job's feelings about DRM far before his well-known open letter about DRM. It seems that this letter was more of a rebuttal to attacks on Apple's iPod and iTunes in Europe than an attack on the music companies. It was as if Jobs was letting the nay-sayers know that he has been in favor of DRM-free music all along, but it was the music companies holding everyone back. Kind of like saying, "I told the big boys already, but their not listening, so stop blaming me and my company." Passing the buck a bit.

Anyway, the really interesting comment to me was from Steve Jobs on choices (Timestamp 41:02): "Life is a balance between total freedom and simplicity. We try to strike the local maximums… where we can give people what they tell us… and what we think they want… and yet keep it very simple."

I connected to this statement, because it Jobs articulates the struggle of design very well. As designers you want to create something that will satisfy the consumer's problem (i.e. I want to buy music easily and securely form the Internet), be flexible (i.e. I want to buy only one song, or a song at a better quality, or without dirty words), and yet keep it simple (integrate the store within the player, make backing-up the music integrated, and give me album artwork automatically, etc.).

To me companies like Microsoft and Sony have always been scoring really high in the total freedom category. Their products can be "modded" and third-party applications abound for them. They allow a person to do virtually anything related to their products.

Companies like Apple and Google have done well with simplicity. Here's one white page with a dialog box, one image, and two buttons. Apple for years had only a one-button mouse ship with it's computers.

To me the race is now on for that balance that Jobs mentions. Google's front page is actually a bit more complex now, including a personalized home page, and customizable widgets. Apple has embraced a mouse with four buttons and a click-wheel. Microsoft is simplifying it's interface to resemble the more user friendly OS X.

Google's Adwords is a terrific example of the two extremes of simplicity and freedom. There are two ways to use Google's Adwords: a Starter Edition and a Standard Edition. The Starter Edition is on the simplicity side of the extreme and the Standard Edition is all about Freedom. Starter has one campaign, one defined area, one set of keywords, etc. Standard has the ability to create multiple campaigns over many specific areas with various keywords. It includes analytics and reports. You have a virtually infinite array of choices.

Jumping from a Starter Edition to a Standard Edition is overwhelming, and I wish now that I could jump back for my NJ Mac Help campaigns. If you have ever "graduated" from Starter to Standard like me, then you perhaps know what I mean. There is no middle ground for Adwords.

Apple, I think has been doing a great job of opening itself up to more flexibility, while still safeguarding it's simplicity. Boot camp, the Intel switch, iTunes/iPods working with PC's: these were all flexibility moves. So, as we see Apple become more balanced or hit those "local maximums," I wonder how many people will seek to reap their benefits.

Zune, zune, zune

So it's been a few days since Microsoft brought to market their own mp3 player, Zune. It' pretty clear where my loyalty lies in the Microsoft/Apple battle, but when Zune came out I wanted to try to take an objective look at it, because it's a unique situation. Apple has constantly been playing second fiddle to Microsoft's dominance, and for once, Microsoft is now playing catch up in the music market. So, it is to Apple's advantage to look at this with seriousness, as they really haven't been in this position of #1 before.

So, I went to my local Target in order to see the device for myself, and see how I thought it could fare. Here's what I thought.

First off, I couldn't find it. The Target I went to has avery clearly marked electronics department filled with TVs and cameras and video games. There are end caps of aisles devoted to iPod accessories and PlayStation consoles, even musical instruments now. But I had to ask in order to find the Zune display. I thought that they might not actually have it in stock. It turned out that I had buzzed right by it, because the display was capping none other than the diaper aisle immediately preceding the electronics department.

There was so much established stuff in the electronics department that the Zune display had been pushed to a nearby, but not integrated aisle. These speaks volumes to the problem faces Microsoft. They have been out of the music game for so long that they are going to have to survive on the cusp of it for a long while before they are seen as a real player. (no pun initially intended)

So, once finding the darn thing, I took it through the paces (as much as I could because it was bolted down better than a field goal post). The first thing I noticed was the use of a click-wheel. It seems that Apple's click wheel user input has been so popular that Microsoft could not ignore it. They had to have one in order for Zune to look like it was an mp3 player.

The problem is that the click wheel is not a click wheel. It doesn't scroll with your touch, in fact it's simply a four way navigational button, with a select button in the middle. The first thing I tried to do was use it to scroll through a menu like a click wheel. When I brought Dee to the display, I saw her try to do the same thing. It doesn't work that way, however.

In addition to the non-wheel, click circle, there are two buttons to either side of it. One is "play/pause" and the other is "back." The thing that was terrific about iPod's click wheel design was that it eliminated the need for multiple buttons, by including all the functions of the iPod in the click wheel. (Early iPods had four buttons to control the music play back, when the wheel was strictly used for scrolling, but we're past that now.) This Zune design is not terrible, but...

one of the great things about the zune is that it uses it's screen in both portrait and landscape modes. If you're listening to music the Zune is held vertically, and if you are viewing photos or watching a movie, the screen can be turned horizontally allowing for a widescreen display. The problem is that your interface also turns, and those side buttons are now not that intuitive. What does an arrow pointing downward mean? What does a rotated play/pause button mean?

I have no idea how heavy the Zune really is in comparison to the iPod (again it was practically welded to the display), but the box that I was able to hold felt significantly heavier than an iPod box. The price is $250 which is only dead even with the iPod's price. The songs bought through Zune's music store can't be played on an iPod and vice versa.

It seems to me that you are going to have to be in one camp or the other, and I'm afraid for Microsoft that the iPod camp is far too big and the motivations for switching not great enough. (People want to cite the ability to share songs wirelessly as a great reason to switch, but honestly I can think of less than a handful of situations when this would happen for me and the shared music only plays three times.)

I know that there are people who have attacked the iPod over issues regarding the battery or scratches or price... but I just don't see people rushing to buy a Zune based on these reasons. I think they will catch some Windows users who still don't have an iPod and want to stay in the Windows world. I think they will get a few people who just want to try what's new... but I think the majority of people who already own iPods or have had an iPod experience will be disappointed in Zune and will either choose an iPod or no player at all.

Sorry, Microsoft, but I think Apple is still going to soundly beat you here, and as referenced earlier, keep you in the aisle where you and your brown colored player belong: with the diapers.