01 October 2006

Coming this November 14th (just before my birthday and Christmas...) the Zune by Microsoft will hit shelves and begin it's battle against the iPod - which at one point held over 90% of the digital music market share.

The majority of my friends have iPods and I utilize iTunes to manage my music library - so you'd think it would make sense for me to buy one as well. But for some reason I've held off - hoping something comparable would come along without the shameless proprietary element and music with digital formatting/signatures to ensure exclusivity with iTunes and iPod. (Recent news: Apple creates buzz for small unknown company by suggesting that using the word "pod" in any form is infringement on their brand. Talk about creating a negative buzz for your own brand!)

Now I know the Zune isn't even available yet and I haven't read any reviews by people that have used it for a good amount of time. But I am hopeful. With Internal FM tuner and wireless capability it sounds like the coolest thing since...well...since the iPod!