Zune: Microsoft catching up to Apple?

November 20, 2007

Disclaimer: I have 3 ipods, 1 Mac Powerbook (Leopard), 3 laptops running XP.

A few weeks ago I gambled and purchased a brown zune for $80 from my favorite etailer, woot.com. 30 gigs, wifi, FM tuner. The new Zunes are out, so I guess the current retail channel needed some liquidating.

On Nov 13th, Microsoft updated their Zune offering; new marketplace with podcast support, new community site, and new user interface, wireless syncing, and custom laser etched Zunes. Previous to this update, the zune marketplace was a user-interface disaster. Since the update, I’m impressed at how microsoft has closed the gap with Itunes and the ipod. My favorite part of the Zune experience thus far is the Zune Pass. An all-you-can-eat pass to download as much music as fits on your computer for $15/month. Quite a tasty offering if you spend $15 for 15 songs on the iTunes music store and never burn CDs. With the Zune Pass you don’t get burn rights, but that isn’t something I care much about, so it’s a nice change, and opens the door to new music I’d rather not gamble on for $1+ a song with iTunes music store.

to be continued …

Posted in music, pop culture