Microsoft’s newly released MP3 player, called “Zune,” has not taken off as strongly as the company may have anticipated. Although it’s been on the market for a short time, there has hardly been any advertising on it.
Microsoft’s “Zune” is an MP3 player, which holds 30GB worth of music, pictures and video, incorporates a built-in FM radio, weighs about six ounces and is a little smaller then the biggest video version of the Ipod. The interesting feature that “Zune” offers, is “Zune to Zune Sharing,” which can occur if two people are within 30 feet of each other and want to share songs with each other.
A couple of questions you may want to ask yourself before purchasing the “Zune” are what kind of computer do you have? That is probably the most important question because “Zune” software is not compatible with the Mac; no exceptions. Another very important question is, what kind of PC are you running with? The “Zune” will run with Windows XP but not the Windows 2000 program.
A 26-year-old salesman at Best Buy in Philadelphia said he thought the “Zune” would not be in competition with the iPod. “No way, there’s not a chance in hell. Everyone already has iPods and even if someone did want to buy the ‘Zune,’ the only cool feature it has that the iPod doesn’t is that it can share music. But you’d have to wait for others to buy it before you use that feature. The ‘Zune’ is also more expensive than the iPod, it’s about $245.”
According to the “Zune” Web site published by Microsoft, they are not yet concerned that the “Zune” will not take off in markets. Their argument is that it took a few months for the iPod to take off, so they’re just waiting for everyone to get bored of what they have and want to try something new.
In a poll around campus, 20 people were asked if they would switch to the “Zune” from the iPod. 19 out of the 20 people said they would not for a few different reasons. The one person who said he didn’t know, said “I don’t even have an iPod. I think those things are garbage. What ever happened to good old CDs and tapes? This country is too into technology for me, so no, I wouldn’t buy the “Zune” or the iPod; ever.”
