Thoughts on Zune

Well Microsoft just formally announced their already well-known Zune portable media player.  They held a press event where they invited music bloggers and other associated media to have some hands on time with the device and share their thoughts.
Coolfer - likes the interface and sees potential in the wireless connectivity.  However, he's never owned an iPod before so he doesn't use that as a point of reference for ease of use, which is strange since it's by far the definitive standard.

Stereogum - has an extensive writeup on the ins and outs of the Zune, from the software and interface to the hardware itself.  A key quote: "long on ideas, but may be short on time"

My Thoughts
At first I totally shrugged off the entire thing, coming just 2 days after Apple's event it was going to take a lot to attract my attention.  Lately I've just been really impressed by what Apple has accomplished with the iPod and everytime I hold one I can't get my hands off of it. 

However, now that I've had time to think and digest these announcements I'm starting to see what Microsoft is trying to pull here.  It's a total Xbox strategy.  The first device out of the gate isn't going to a blockbuster revolution or anything, but it'll come out at the same price, offer features that should be standard (wireless), and do about the same thing.  What they're doing is building the brand.  I've read that these current incarnations are simply rebadged Toshiba Gigabeats, which is fine since the Gigabeats are pretty good players on their own.  So by using off-the-shelf hardware MS can quickly enter the market with low R&D costs and get the machines out into people's hands.  This gives them exposure, but more importantly it gives them experience and a far deeper insight into how people are using the machine.

All of this information and exposure they gain in version one goes into making version 2, whatever it may be, the REAL device that starts to seriously compete with the established market leader.  I guess that's why you always here that Microsoft wins at version 3.

Not even thinking about the future right now though, but about the current device itself, it's nice but right now I'm not sold on the wireless connectivity.  Sharing music between your friends is nifty, but until the thing becomes as ubiquitous as the iPod, the sharing feature is going to be pretty useless.  I'm more excited about what other possibilities the integrated wireless gets.  A lot of places have wireless hotspots, with the entire city of Toronto being wireless, so if Microsoft provides a way to access Internet applications, or media such as tv and video through wireless, then the Zune could be a pretty sweet location free player.

I like the sharing music aspect, but I find the 3 days or 3 plays thing kind of weird. It makes sense in the grand scheme of things, but if I had a song on my player, I would totally feel weighed down thinking it was soon going to self-destruct.

Can the Zune play video?

Yup, it can play video.  A few more formats than the iPod can play, but people are still most likely going to have to convert most of those movies they download from torrentspy.  But really, video playback isn't a huge selling point with these portable media players.  It's cool, and very useful in certain situations, but music will always have a bigger impact than video when it comes to portability.

I really want one!