January 22, 2007
Zune Sighting
The other day I saw a Microsoft Zune music player for the first time. I think I probably see 20 or more iPods a day walking around the skyways in Minneapolis and riding on the bus, but a Zune? The Zune was a brown one, being used to watch a video of some sort by a guy on the bus. I have to admit, the Zune sighting surprised me a little. It just doesn’t seem like a device that makes any sense. OK, so the screen is a little bigger than a current generation iPod and the wireless “squirting” feature could theoretically be appealing if there were as many Zunes as their are iPods, but the downsides are currently so extreme that I can’t understand it. First, no support for Windows Media files. Even if you’re a Microsoft person already, your music collection will have to be reencoded or repurchased if it’s in Windows Media format. That’s just odd. Second, the absence of video for sale on the Zune store and the limited selection of music compared to iTunes… it’s just not a compelling device. Now, I don’t doubt that Microsoft will try to adapt to these issues and future Zunes will be improved (along with the Zune store), but why wouldn’t a person wait before going into this thing? The iPod will be updated again this year and the Zune will then look even further behind than it already does. Oh well.
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