Today Microsoft released the first version of its PMP (Portable Media Player), the Zune. Supposedly M$’s “iPod Killer,” the Zune costs $250 and comes in 3 “colors”: Black, White, and (get this) Brown. Those are some colors there, yup…I could make a whole freakin’ rainbow of Zunes. It comes equipped with WiFi, but (for some reason, most likely legal) you cannot use it to transmit music to it from your computer, and you cannot use it to buy music from M$’s online music store.
What can you use it for? Trading music from other Zunes (The 3/3 deal though: you can either listen to the song 3 times or keep it for 3 days before it deletes itself, whichever happens first), trade pictures from other Zunes, or synch it with your 360 (score keeping, friends’ statuses from Live, etc). It’s one of the largest wastes of money I’ve seen so far. Why bother making customers pay more for a Zune with WiFi, when the WiFi doesn’t even do anything useful yet? I would release a cheaper, smaller Zune (which maybe costs less than the iPod, its rival, and therefore sell more?) that has the same features as the iPod Video (plus the larger screen, more customization features, and sadly yes, larger color selection…), while they worked on developing that WiFi a bit more so it could do PC syncing and wireless music purchasing. But that’s most likely a problem with the RIAA, not M$. Stupid RIAA.
But for all the good things about the Zune, its software looks horrible. Check out Engadget’s review for more information on that front. I don’t plan on buying one any time soon ever.
Oh and I should mention the Zune ad campaign, most of which sucks (“Welcome to the social” is not English, folks!), but this site has many of the TV ads and posters (or maybe they’re just concepts? I’m not sure) that are actually good. Watch the one with the robot and the two birds one, as they are the best.
