November 14th is upon us, and soon Zune will be too so music can, presumably, be "the way it wants to be."
(Am I the only one who hates that ad's tagline? "Music the way it wants to be?" Does that mean I've been doing it wrong all these years? I guess Microsoft's not used to being in second place; you have to walk a fine line between trash-talking the leader and insulting their customer).
Anyway, Engadget and Gizmodo are revving their engines for the big day. Engadgtd leads with their experience installing the Zune software which, well, sucked. Gizmodo spent a good part of yesterday unboxing their Zunes and stuffing them in their pants. Gizmodo got lucky with a smooth install, and the Zune software imported all their non-DRMed tracks from their iTunes library, which is a nice touch.
Even Steve "Uncle Fester" Ballmer got overexcited, promising video sharing (probably just for user-created content) and a Zune phone in the future in this Bloomberg story.
Ballmer pointed to Zune's wireless connection, currently used for music sharing, as an advantage over Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod, which has 75 percent of U.S. sales. New features will help Microsoft keep pace with Apple, he said.
“The race is on,'' he said. “I'm confident we can keep up. They have brand and image going for them, and we have some innovative ideas.''
Brand, image, and about an 80-million unit (and 70 marketshare point) head start, Steve-o.
Game on!
Tags: Zune, video, phone, Steve Ballmer