Quotes of the Day

Microsoft has been the dominant force in computer software for so long, so it's had a really hard time with Apple's supremacy in the digital music space. Microsoft first tried to go after the iPod/iTunes juggernaut by providing the backbone software for a coalition of digital media companies: Creative, iriver, Samsung and others on the hardware side; Napster and even competitors such as Yahoo! and RealNetworks on the software side. It teamed with music muscle MTV Networks to build the smartest service of them all, Urge. But marketing never followed Urge's soft launch, and it's still foundering. Unable to lead an ever-changing band of ornery partners, Microsoft finally decided that the only way to go after Apple was to go it alone.

Microsoft conceived the Zune as an answer to iPod, with attractive similarities as well as key features that the iPod lacks. It is very much like an iPod — at $250, the 30GB music and video player is the same price as an iPod, only a little larger in size. And, like iTunes, the Zune software combines a media organizer and an Internet music download store. The so-called "iPod killer" additions are wireless connectivity for Zune-to-Zune sharing of music samples, a movie-friendly wide screen, and an "all you can eat" monthly music download plan.

The Zune follows in the footsteps of the successful Xbox, but unlike the videogame business, where there are only a few companies capable of launching a platform at any given time, the Zune enters a field already littered with MP3 players. Nearly every MP3 player that's not an iPod can connect to a monthly subscription service: any new flash player from Samsung, iriver, SanDisk or Creative will synch with Napster, RealNetworks' Rhapsody, Yahoo's Y! Unlimited or MTV Urge. In fact, even Samsung's newest Cingular phone, appropriately dubbed the Sync, can do this.

So the question isn't what can the Zune do that the iPod can't do, but what can the Zune do that all the other non-iPods can't? Microsoft's answer is wireless connectivity. It's not a bad idea: You're listening to a song and think, hey, I should send this track to my friend. You click on the song's name, then select "Send." Nearby Zunes are quickly listed, and you select your friend, who then clicks OK to permit the download. In seconds, the entire song is transferred. Your friend has three days to listen to it up to three times before the song turns into a pumpkin, albeit a pumpkin your friend can then go and buy at the Zune Marketplace.

I'm not opposed to turning youth into little guerrilla marketers. It beats thievery and is more honest than many other marketing ploys. It's just that it's a chicken-and-egg proposition: it might take a long time before there are enough Zunes around for this to be more than a once-in-a-blue-moon situation. There are also some issues that will, hopefully, be resolved in time. For instance, if you want to share the song you're listening to, or even any other song while you're listening, your tune will stop playing for the transfer. Also, even if both Zune users have all-you-can-eat monthly plans, the three-day, three-play rule remains in effect. And even songs with no rights-management, ones you ripped from storebought CDs, are slapped with the limitation as well. However, like an iPod, you can synch your Zune to your friend's PC and download as many songs as you like.

The wireless feature is well implemented — it reminds me of the wireless networking found in the Nintendo DS. But Microsoft has been maligned for not doing more with the wireless technology, and I half agree with the critics. If a small startup called MusicGremlin can make devices that not only share music with one another but let users download songs without a PC, why can't mighty Microsoft make it so?

As a player, the Zune has some technical failings. Its built-in radio is too staticky, no match for the radios found in iriver and Samsung MP3 players. It can't record radio streams, and there isn't even a way to program station presets. And unlike those competing devices, it doesn't have a built-in voice recorder. Also, while I found most of the interface to be pleasant, I did run into some strange starting and stopping issues. For instance, say you're listening to a song and browsing through your music when you're suddenly interrupted by someone. You hit the Play/Pause button and your music stops. But when you hit Play/Pause again, it will start playing whatever song you're currently highlighting, not what you were listening to. On the iPod, this is handled by having separate buttons to select highlighted songs and to play and pause what's "now playing."

While the Zune Marketplace is fairly similar to the iTunes Store, at least for music, Microsoft has introduced Microsoft Points in lieu of dollars and cents. As I understand it, this is a way to guarantee credit-card transactions of $5 or more — the minimum amount of points you can buy is 400, at that price. The trouble is, because there's an exchange rate of 80 points to the dollar, it's easy to think you're paying less than you really are: Tenacious D's new album lists for 1,200 points. That's $15 to you and me. (It's currently $10 on iTunes, with digital booklet.)

I've got mixed feelings about Zune. I know that the wireless connectivity will not sway me, but I'm not sure it won't be a selling point for younger people who are more often surrounded by crowds of peers. I just don't understand why Microsoft chose to launch a 30GB hard-drive-based player when the kids these days want cheaper, cuter flash players — not just the iPod nano but the SanDisk Sansa and many others. Today's hard drive business is all about video playback, and the Zune certainly offers that, but Apple's movie and TV store will keep them ahead of Zune's music-only retailer. (Microsoft's new movie and TV store for Xbox is incompatible, though ironically it will use the same Microsoft Points currency for transactions.)

At this point, the Zune isn't an iPod killer, though it may be an Urge killer, a Napster killer and a Rhapsody killer – none of these services work with the Zune, and none of their compatible players work with Zune Marketplace. For the time being, people will still decide between Apple and "other." Zune will be just another choice to be made once someone dares to be different, and says "no" to Apple.

• WILSON ROTHMAN
• Rather than being something truly special, the anti-Apple initiative is just another non-iPod