Zune is upon us, and if you weren’t aware of it you are among the few that the Microsoft marketing machine has missed. Run a Google search on the name, and the first six results listed are all websites – or more accurately, domain names – produced by Microsoft and containing their promotional material.
Zune is the Microsoft MP3 player, available on the market for just a few weeks now. It has a thirty gigabyte hard drive, a three inch square video LCD and costs two hundred and fifty bucks. There are a couple of features that the iPod doesn’t have: the Zune has some “preloaded” music on it from contemporary artists; it also has wireless transfer capability so that one Zune can ship music or photos to another Zune over a short distance. Overall, however, it’s fair to say that, in its current format, the Zune does not represent a significant improvement over the iPod, or a compelling reason to pick it up if you already have an iPod.
Microsoft would have you see it a little differently. They are casting the Zune player as the first in a series of products to be released under its Zune brand. “Designed around the...