Over the last five years or so, iPods have been quietly sneaking their way into our list of mainstream necessities. It would be utterly impossible to walk from Humanities to Van Hise (hell, probably Vilas and Grainger) between classes without passing at least 20 people with those unmistakable white buds in their ears. And, like the television or the toaster, we now take our iPods for granted—as if they've always been around and always will be. This may be true, but Microsoft is doing everything it can to assure this will change. Tuesday, Nov. 14, Microsoft is unveiling their answer to the iPod problem: the Zune.
Thus far in portable digital music history, Apple hasn't really had any competitors. You might remember the Zen a couple of years back—Apple kicked that thing's behind from here to next Tuesday and then did it again. But Microsoft means business. They are the juggernaut corporation behind Windows and Xbox and Internet Explorer: They practically run the world's computers.
So when they say they've got a competitor, we can guess it is probably not an updated Walkman: It is going to be something fairly impressive.
Right?
Well, maybe and maybe not. Because the Zune is coming out today, I obviously haven't been able to see/touch/use one, so it's hard for me to make any kind of empirical judgment. However, the www.zune.net is full of information and pictures. So here's the scoop on the new digital toy: First, it looks very similar to the iPod. It's a little taller, and the screen is half-an-inch bigger vertically.
The Zune has a touch wheel, like the iPod, but also two buttons on either side of the wheel: a Pause/Play and a ""back"" (like the Menu button on an iPod). Microsoft is also offering Zune in white, black and brown, whereas the iPod (30 GB and up) is only available in black or white.
But the cosmetics aren't what Microsoft is banking on moving these things. The Zune can do everything an iPod does—it holds music, television shows, movies, etc. But the Zune has something that Apple has never had the insight or brilliance or, perhaps, technical ability to add to its iPods: a built in FM radio. No, I'm just kidding.
The Zune does have this feature, but in truth the big selling point is the ""Zune to Zune Sharing."" Basically, all Zunes come with Wi-Fi ability, which means if I own a Zune and you own a Zune, we can connect to each other; or if you're in a lecture hall you can connect to every Zune in the room to share files. I can send you ""Hey Jude,"" and in return you can send me pictures of you passed out in the punchbowl at your sister's open bar wedding.
Kind of.
The downside to this P2P phenomenon is that, at least when it comes to music, you don't really ""keep"" the files. You can access them three times over a three-day period and then, according the website, ""if you like it, you can flag the song and order it from the Zune Marketplace."" So, basically, you're getting a free trial of the song, and then it's for sale via Microsoft's version of the iTunes Music Store.
The other obvious flaw in the system is that there have to be other Zunes around in the first place—if the product doesn't take off that way Microsoft hopes, the odds that two Zune users are in 30 feet of each other are pretty slim. The Zune offers other features, too: It integrates with the Xbox 360, and the LCD screen plays in landscape or portrait modes. It also can import all your music from iTunes, just in case you had doubts about switching over from Apple to Microsoft.
So, will the Zune conquer the iPod? Personally I doubt it, but the answer lies in your hands. Or, more accurately, your wallets: A 30 GB Zune costs $250, just around the price of Apple's 30 GB iPod.
