Zune Revealed

It's been an eventful week for audio players--first, Apple upgrades every iPod, and now Microsoft has released more details about Zune, its new family of devices and services which will include an iPod-like player. We now know that the first Zune player will have a 3-inch screen, a 30GB drive, built-in Wi-Fi, and an FM tuner, and will come in black, white, and...er, brown. (Brown?) And it'll be here for Christmas.

Price is yet to be announced, but with Apple's possibly-Zune-related price drop on the 30GB video iPod to $249, it's clear what Microoft's maximum asking price will be. The company has already announced that accessory manufacturers such as Griffin will be making Zune add-ons--smart on Microsoft's part, since the ecology of iPod-related products is a major reason for buying an Apple player.

As with any new music player, the inevitable temptation is to begin by obsessively comparing its specs with the iPod. It's got a bigger screen (3 inches versus 2.5), the FM tuner the iPod lacks (but which can be added as an external accessory), and wireless (more on that in a moment). There will be a Zune music store with both subscription and purchase options, and the device will come preloaded with some music. It apparently won't launch with full-blown video download capability, but will add it later.

For now, the Zune's most interesting distinguishing characteristic--brown model aside--is that Wi-Fi connection. Microsoft is pitching the Zune as a more community-oriented gadget than the iPod, and the Wi-Fi will let owners beam songs to other Zune owners, who will then be able to listen to them up to three times over three days before having to purchase them. Sounds pretty cool--if Zune gets enough critical mass that Zune owners end up with friends who have them too. (With millions of iPods out there, you gotta think that a similar sharing feature would be wildly popular if Apple were to offer it.)

A few more questions I still have about the Zune, which I haven't laid eyes upon in person yet:

How's the industrial design? Microsoft has showed the device to music bloggers, some of who have said that it's OK but a tad chunky and heavy compared to the iPod. (And hey, they seem to like the brown model.)

How's the user interface? Early word from those aforementioned bloggers seems to be reasonably favorable. Sounds like it's iPod-like in the broad strokes, with some twists. (There's a round control pad that looks like it works like the iPod's click wheel, but doesn't.)

What other stuff will the Wi-Fi be used for? Presumably, the sharing feature won't be the end of it. (At first, you won't be able to buy and download songs directly from the Zune, but it seems likely that feature is on its way in one form or another.)

Will the lack of TV and movie downloads coming out of the gate be perceived as an impediment? Hardware-wise, the device is ready, and Microsoft says it's working on them, and presumably it'll be able to strike lots of content deals if it so chooses. But even though you gotta think that even on video iPods, thousands of songs are listened to for every one video that's watched, it remains a signficant selling point that the iPod has and Zune doesn't yet.

What other Zune products are on the way? Microsoft is already talking about a phone.

Does preloading music make sense? There's almost nothing as personal as a person's taste in music. (I'm not yet clear on whether the music that'll come with the Zune targets a buyer with one particular set of musical interests, or whether it'll offer a variety of genres aimed at different kinds of listeners.)

What does this mean for PlaysForSure, etc.? Microsoft's last pass at taking on the iPod involved focusing on enabling music services such as Napster and Rhapsody to provide subscription services that worked on a variety of devices from different manufacturers. The Zune service, by contrast, is tied to the Zune hardware. Does that mean that Microsoft has given up on third-party music services going anywhere?

(Side note: Microsoft's marketing pitch for PlaysForSure involved telling the world that the Apple model--a closed system involving a device and a dedicated music service--couldn't match an open world of compatible devices and services. Having failed to knock off the iPod with Microsoftian openess, it's trying again with Apple-esque closedness.)

Can Zune get millions of people to buy into subscription services? So far, the music subscription model seems to be one that everyone likes...except for consumers.

Will Zune work? To me, this is in some ways the bottom line. I've tried a bunch of services and devicess that use various Microsoft music technologies, and their track record for simply working well enough that I can listen to music I've paid for is crummy. And I'm not the only one who's struggled with them. In other words, Microsoft's DRM still feels more like an obstacle than an enabler. I'm curious to see if Zune makes music enjoyment seamless. Which is one of the key things that the iPod does so well.

Like I said, it's impossible to avoid comparing the Zune to the iPod...

Like many a Microsoft product before it, Zune sounds attractive in theory. But as with many of those past Microsoft products, it's not a given that Microsoft's execution lives up to the concept. Zune comes from the folks behind the xBox 360, which is certainly one of Microsoft's most successful and successfully innovative products beyond the world of Windows and the PC, so there's reason for hope, at least.

Here, by the way, is a good analysis of what we know about Zune over at Stereogum.