Thursday, January 25, 2007

Is Zune Gaining Favor?

No, I still haven't purchased my Zune, so I haven't had the opportunity to explore it firsthand. But I have been keeping up with all of the Zune blogs (ZuneScene, ZuneThoughts, Zunerama, and my favorite, ZuneInsider) as well as the various reviews of the device.

It seems to me that after the initial hate-filled garbage was written at the time of the Zune launch, some of the criticism is starting to die down, and more favorable reviews are surfacing.

I theorize that this is because folks are beginning to realize that the Zune of November 2006 is nothing like what the Zune of summer 2007 will be. Microsoft is working hard on the product and updates are coming. It's already been leaked that a flash version is coming, and that MSFT is working on building Podcasts into the Zune Marketplace.

And there was news that a meeting between MSFT and the record companies may ease the sharing restrictions, which seem to be the biggest gripe of Zune haters.

I still believe that one day the Wi-Fi capability will be huge on Zune. Not only for song sharing, but for also downloading new music while on the go (like when you walk into a Starbucks, for instance).

Yes, Microsoft probably did rush the product to get it in stores for Christmas, so they didn't have the "killer-app" features ready for prime time. But I've been around the Redmond folks long enough to know that they will eventually get it right, and it will be a killer product.

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