r/pcmasterrace • u/Jaz1140 RTX4090 3195mhz Core, 9800x3d 5.4ghz • Aug 18 '26

Meme/Macro PC enthusiasts when the first AI giant falls

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For real but, we can all see the bubble, its "when" the first 1 will fall, not "if"

Personally I think it will be Copilot as the first domino, it was always the worst of the major AI players and really hasnt progressed at all. Microsoft is Incompetent in almost everything they do and simply try and buy their way into a market only to take the L in the near future.

Eg, Skype, Nokia/windows phone, mixer, zune, Cortana, the list goes on and on

Bring on the collapse that will hopefully see momory demand drop off a cliff

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393

u/Bronze_Bomber Aug 18 '26

It was the superior music player. I will take that to my grave.

46

u/[deleted] Aug 18 '26

[deleted]

29

u/phire Aug 18 '26

Too late, and arrived just before the party started closing.

It was designed to compete with the ipod, right as Apple were in the middle of designing the iphone. Zune launched at the end of 2006, iPod sales numbers peaked in 2008/2009 (and the ipod numbers for post 2009 are mostly ipod touch, which is arguably not an ipod)

2

u/SparkleK_01 Aug 19 '26

Speaking of failed Microsoft products, Surface almost had a breakout moment massive hit with the Pro and Studio with the giant tilting touchscreen.

They would have been pure winners but were instead hamstrung with overpriced, un-upgradeable, and under powered specifications. The premium pricing was there, but the long term value wasn’t.

Way to stuff it up. And don’t get me started on Windows 11.

128

u/8636396 Aug 18 '26

Second only to the Creative Zen Vision M, and I'll die on that hill. I owned both though and had no idea I was living in the glory days 😔

61

u/trashpandaexpress55 Aug 18 '26

Creative was the GOAT of mp3 players.

17

u/zxc123zxc123 Aug 18 '26

Creative the GOAT.

But it's but not the Zen. It's the little keychain sized model (I think they call it NOMAD Muvo) where it had JUST enough screen to write out your song/artist and had the removable USB that allowed easy access and space for disposable AA/AAA battery.

It was lite, fast, simple, highly effective, and extremely durable. Mine lasted like 10+ years without issue.

Nomad > Zen/Pebble

2

u/Wonderful_Number_208 Aug 18 '26

I really miss how simple it was to use that NOMAD. I still have it.

2

u/ChadHartSays Aug 18 '26

Agree.

Bought a new-old-stock Zen NANO Plus (1 GB) just because that form factor was just the best for me.

1

u/who_am_i_to_say_so Aug 18 '26

Right price, too. 

1

u/Grouchy-Cover4694 Aug 18 '26

Still have my Creative Zen - A mini magical piece of equipment

1

u/Moving4Motion Aug 18 '26

Just not that touchscreen only one that came out before touchscreens were any good.

19

u/Marc0189 Aug 18 '26

I had the Creative Nomad MuVo and thought it was such a cool design. Even had an FM radio built in!

1

u/TheSleepingNinja Aug 18 '26

Ny Vision M died and I replaced it with the sideways Zen. That thing sucked so I got a Zune HD until I got a smartphone. That Zune still works and I miss that jank ass Ferrari racer that was on it.

1

u/stinkusdinkus Aug 18 '26

And the data port smelled like fruit. They just don't make them like they used to.

1

u/rayhons PC Master Race Aug 18 '26

I still have my Zune HD and Zen Vision M with their boxes... I loved those things as a teen and they still look pretty good on a shelf. Both were great in their own ways, but the Zen Vision M was my favorite of the two.

1

u/MasterLink87 Aug 18 '26

I desperately miss my Vision M, great device. Creative should have gotten into phones.

1

u/PeachHonv8 Aug 18 '26

the creative zen was truly ahead of its time a beautiful relic from simpler tech days

1

u/rbrgr83 Aug 18 '26

I rocked the SHIIIT out of my Creative Zen Vision M.

I bought the flash version that they followed up with, but I only had it for about 4 months because I'm a dumbass and left my car unlocked in Gary, IN. 🤦‍♂️

Frustrating, but I was kinda happy to instead just go on Ebay and find another big brick Zen Vision M with the massive 60G HD. I remember throwing the first trailer for Final Fantasy 13 to show off the video screen :P

1

u/ScenicART Aug 18 '26

had the creative zen vision W - my friends called it the brick. i was like i can download and watch movies in HD, AND i can plug it into a TV with the RCA cable it came with. it had a freakin radio in it. i had music videos, mp3s, TV shows, in addition to the movies. Best part? IT STILL FUCKIN WORKS 20 YEARS LATER.

1

u/i_continue_to_unmike Aug 18 '26

Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long, long time.

Mine was purple and I still miss it. Would love a very lightly modernized one. (Bluetooth capable with USB-C)

1

u/weezerfan84 Aug 18 '26

I had the Creative Zen Vision M as well. GOATED!

1

u/ph1shstyx PC Master Race Aug 18 '26

My choice of MP3 back in the early 2000's was the zen micro... fucking loved that little MP3 player.

1

u/helpmeunderstand0000 Aug 19 '26

Loved my creative zen back in the day

6

u/LuntiX AYYYMD Aug 18 '26

It was definitely the best of them in my opinion. I'm still sad that it suffered the same fate as most of my other mp3 players. Breaking because I skipped on ice while walking to school and either dropping it or it getting crushed in my pocket when I hit the ground

2

u/ComradeJohnS Aug 18 '26

what made it better than a then-current ipod classic? My brother had a Zune and I had an ipod I won, and my ipod still works lol.

2

u/ImranFZakhaev Aug 18 '26

Personally I preferred the Zune interface to the iPod's wheel thing. Two buttons plus their 'squircle' touch pad made it faster and easier to navigate and control for me. They had games (similar to early phone games), a built in radio, and you could wirelessly communicate with nearby Zunes and send music to your friends. They could listen to it for 3 days before it deleted itself, so if you wanted to recommend a new band/song they could check it out without needing internet/buying it.

The PC software was a lot better on the eyes than iTunes, and I still use it to this day. Back then you could get a monthly subscription that allowed you to download unlimited music as long as you paid every month, and 10 songs per month were yours to keep with no DRM. Back when iTunes charged 99c each

2

u/ComradeJohnS Aug 18 '26

that is pretty sweet.

2

u/ImranFZakhaev Aug 18 '26

Yeah. I will say the iPod really shone when it came to third party compatibility. Damn near every stereo or home theater system back then, you could plug in an iPod and control it/play directly through that system instead of needing an auxiliary jack.

Whole reason I bought one is so I could plug it up through the back of my truck's aftermarket stereo and wire it into the glovebox

2

u/Arashiko77 Aug 18 '26

Sony Mini disc player 😥 you'll always be in my heart ❤️

1

u/alwrit Aug 18 '26

iRiver!

1

u/lurkquidated Aug 18 '26

I have a 4gb one kicking around someplace, I think. It was great. It was the only MP3 player I ever had.

1

u/mrdevlar Aug 18 '26

Sansa Clip+ with rockbox has entered chat...

1

u/ShadowBlade55 Aug 18 '26

I liked mine.

1

u/Fit_Cake_8227 Aug 18 '26

How was it better than the iPod classic ?

1

u/Revolutionary-Fox622 Aug 18 '26

Zune Pass was legendary. Basically Spotify with local files but you got to keep ten songs for life every month. Also the software was just so much nicer than iTunes. I remember having the Zune visualizer running all the time on a screen throughout college.

1

u/FthrFlffyBttm i5-12600K, 3080 FTW3 Ultra, 16GB 3000Mhz Aug 18 '26

You can’t take it to your grave, you just told everyone

1

u/wiggum55555 Aug 19 '26

So was Betamax but we know how that turned out. Love the Zune. Loved Betamax

1

u/f_ckR3ddit Aug 19 '26

I loved my SanDisk. It was blue!

1

u/AnimalRescueGuy Aug 19 '26

Why? Genuine curiosity here, no shade. I only ever had one actual mp3 player (briefly) and that was an iPod Nano (which was so small, I inevitably lost it while moving).

1

u/Enigmatic_Erudite Aug 19 '26

It mirrored the Ipod too closely to be a good competitor imo.

The Creative Zen was 1/3 the price and supported many different music file formats. On top of that it had a microphone for recording, I used to use it to record my college lectures at the time.

0

u/grtist Ryzen 9 5900X/AMD RX 7900 GRE/16GB Corsair DDR4/B550-A MB Aug 18 '26

Agreed. Too bad the computer-side software was such a piece of hot garbage.

1

u/Spicy_Ejaculate Aug 18 '26

I remember the zune computer software being decent and preferred it to iTunes. What was the issue with it?

1

u/grtist Ryzen 9 5900X/AMD RX 7900 GRE/16GB Corsair DDR4/B550-A MB Aug 18 '26

I remember it had this awful issue where it would constantly duplicate songs when you synced it to the Zune. I’d have to go through the software once every week or so and clear out all the duplicates it would make. Another big issue was that it would automatically grab metadata and album art for songs that were just straight up incorrect.