Zune Undoomed

Chances are you’ve seen the coverage of the Zune. The device has earned a lot press, most of the press has not been favorable. The reviews usually roll in as follows: It is trying really hard to be an iPod but it’s not there yet. On the other hand, all press is good press right? Put differently, indifference never sold a product but reviews, even bad ones, move things off the shelf.

As a device, the Zune is a decent competitor to the iPod, better than offerings by Sony. But the Zune isn’t just a device, the Zune is Microsoft’s attempt at a vertical market. The Zune, apparently, wants to be everything the iPod already is and the way the Zune is planning to do it is through blatant copying of the iPod model. The near naked aping of the iPod model draws a lot of ire from iPod fans but imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and only a fool would expect a company not to attempt to copy a competitor that had a successful business model. Microsoft is in it for the cash, not for warm fuzzies generated by not implementing the ideas of other companies.

The most upsetting, to Apple fans, part of the Zune thing noted and dismissed we can move on to legitimate complaints about the Zune. The list isn’t short and, on the surface, some of Microsoft’s decisions don’t make any sense at all. Yet, by carefully looking at issues with the Zune, we’ll soon see the Zune isn’t meant to be an iPod killer or even a legitimate placeholder. The Zune is there to get Microsoft’s presence in the market for the “Next Big Thing.”

Zune’s absurd song pricing

James Stoup recently covered the pricing of downloads for the Zune admirably. For the link averse, the gist of the article goes something like this: To buy a song from Microsoft you have to use points which are sold only in $5 and up denominations. Getting every thing to even out is like trying to buy the same number of hot dogs and buns, you can do it but the math would give Einstein a nosebleed. Apple allows you to purchase just the song without the annoying points system. In more concrete terms, buying music for the Zune is as if you could only pay at McDonalds with gift certificates.

Since Zune is supposedly trying to be an iPod and the Zune store is trying to be iTunes one has to wonder about the discrepancy. As long as one is copying the iPod why not get the pricing the same? The answer is pretty simple and it isn’t as nefarious as Microsoft wants to make money off the float (though we can be certain the company won’t miss that trick). Microsoft is basing the Zune pricing system off the Xbox pricing system. Further, Microsoft doesn’t want to sell individual songs, it wants to sell subscriptions. Selling songs might be profitable, but subscription money rolling in every month is something the accounting department has a mad passionate love affair with.

The Zune isn’t as sleek as an iPod

The Zune is a repackaged Toshiba Gigabeat. Microsoft can put together some decent hardware when they want to but they chose not to with the Zune. The quick conclusion that the company couldn’t have made something as slick as the iPod smacks of smug superiority on the part of Microsoft bashers, Microsoft could have made something every bit as sleek as the iPod. The reality is that the Zune was hurried to the market, sleekness and such can be put off until rev 2, 3 and 4. If you doubt that the Zune was rushed remember what Steve Ballmer said a few days ago: In the future the Zune would be able to transfer videos as well as photos and songs. If telling customers that a product that hasn’t officially shipped is already due for feature upgrades isn’t an admission that it was rushed to the market it is hard to imagine how Ballmer could say “We just wanted something on the shelves in time for Christmas” any clearer.

The Zune doesn’t play “Plays for Sure” music

Many see this as the ultimate slap against other DAP manufacturers and the eight people who use Plays for Sure. Both parties put their trust in Microsoft and were rewarded by a stomping of epic proportions. Of course, there is a reason or Microsoft gave the digital equivalent of the bastinado to those who opted for Plays for Sure technology and it doesn’t have a thing to do with immediate profits.

Microsoft’s usual plan of controlling the software while vendors made the hardware was obviously failing. If Microsoft did the obvious thing and made the Zune backwards compatible with the hundred or so songs sold with Plays for sure Technology Apple could license FairPlay to all comers. Suddenly the market for the Zune is no better than the market for the Sony Bean. By controlling the DRM and the source of the music the user experience is assured (one way or another) and it forces Zune users to familiarize themselves with the machinations of the Xbox points system.

The Social, squirting and no Microsoft logo to be found

Microsoft seems to be trying very hard to make the Zune achingly hip. “The social” “Squirting” and the lack of a Microsoft logo all point to this fact. Thing is, when a company of Microsoft’s size tries to be cool it usually doesn’t work out. It is a lot like the over tanned 45 year old with a beer gut hanging over his speedo standing on the prow of a massively over powered speed boat with a ropey gold chain hanging around his neck. Restated in Zune speak: Microsoft is not anyone. Welcome to “the goofy”.

In the end, all the Zune’s flaws add up to one thing: it is not there to take out the iPod, yet. We see a strong attachment to the Xbox, a concerted effort to appeal the young, and an absolute abandonment of the old ways of Microsoft. What the Zune is there to do is be a place holder until the next big thing rolls around. Watch as the Zune slowly morphs from a Music movie player into a handle held version of the Xbox, witness the Zune become a virtual hub for the digital lifestyle that Steve Jobs had been promoting for years. Gaze in awe as more and more computing features are added to the Zune. Or perhaps none of these things will come to pass, sooner or later there will be a next big thing and Microsoft will be ready to pounce with the Zune.