Zune: Will It Fly?

As much as I don't like Apple one must admit that the Ipod truly revolutionized the world of mp3 players and shunned the now post-mortem walkman/cd-player era.

So I too got an Ipod while the fad was going around and even though I still like my shiny green music-joy device, using it together with iTunes proved to be not only an exercise in frustration but also made me hate Apple just that little bit more.

Followers did come. Some were similar devices with a different, often awful, design (take the Creative Labs attempt, for example, which looks like an 80's pager with oversized VCR buttons glued onto it). Others came up with more fully-featured devices, including Sony's new walkman generation which is a hybrid of an Ipod and a radio, although it doesn't seem to achieve neither functionality very successfully. All have had mediocre reception in the market though and the Ipod still reigns supreme. At least for now.

Enters Apple's foe: Microsoft. For a long while there has been debates over whether Microsoft was secretly concocting its own contender in the anti-Ipod effort and it turns out whoever cast their votes on yay were correct.

Zune is the Microsoft Ipod and even though there is not much information out yet it is already causing a commotion. If you can move past the unfunny wacky-viral wannabee marketing flop (https://www.comingzune.com/) (yes that is officially by Microsoft), you will see that there is plenty about the Zune to be excited about.

Althought nothing is properly confirmed yet, in true Microsoft fashion, it seems like the Zune will gather the best of what is already out there and make it its own by combining it all into one nifty and, hopefully, well-designed device.

The Zune apparently will contain FM radio although some speculate it might have XM (internet radio) as well. That alone is a strong selling point agaist the Ipod. How many people can say that they are never tired ot the songs on their Ipod and they could do with some random unexpected music selection every now and then?

Another feature the Zune will have is wireless connectivitiy. Not much is known yet of what the possibilities are, but at the very least, it is said that you will be able to share your files between Zunes using the wireless port.

The most recent speculation is that the Zune will indeed play videos as well, but, as with the rest of the specs, nothing has been confirmed yet.

There are some alleged pictures of the Zune all over the net, but it's really hard to trust any of them at this point since no official images have been released yet (however, recently gizmode has published this picture http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/top/exclusive-microsoft-zune-picture--zune-in-the-wild-194877.php which is very likely to be accurate). About the only thing that is certain is that the Zune should be launched in time to entice Christmas shoppers, at least in America and Europe.

One of the downsides is that most likely it will only work with Windows. Then again, as much as Apple hates to admit it, that shouldn't be a problem for something like 95% of the home desktop market consumers.

Hopefully the Zune will be a solid product which will send the Imop's clock ticking and chop another slice of the orchard.