A close friend of mine was in a computer store on Black Friday and while there decided to take a look at media players for their mother. They asked the store clerk about the various brands other than the iPod given they already have and love the iPod and wanted to know what else was available.

The clerk was making a pretty concerted effort to talk up the Zune apparently. Even went as far as claiming that the Zune was better than the iPod and the next generation of media players.

Apparently my friend just laughed, said “We’ll see about that” and walked away. There are plenty of brands on the market right now, not just the Zune or the iPod, so the fact that this computer retailer, and not a small one I might add, was pushing the Zune so heavily goes a long way to mention how hard Microsoft is trying to push this new toy of theirs.

But then you start to hear reports like this one from the Chicago Sun-Times.

The Zune is a complete, humiliating failure. Toshiba’s Gigabeat player, for example, is far more versatile, it has none of the Zune’s limitations, and Amazon sells the 30-gig model for 40 bucks less.

Throw in the Zune’s tail-wagging relationship with music publishers, and it almost becomes important that you encourage people not to buy one.

The iPod owns 85 percent of the market because it deserves to. Apple consistently makes decisions that benefit the company, the users and the media publishers — and they continue to innovatively expand the device’s capabilities without sacrificing its simplicity.

Companies such as Toshiba and Sandisk (with its wonderful Nano-like Sansa e200 series) compete effectively with the iPod by asking themselves, “What are the things that users want and Apple refuses to provide?”

Microsoft’s colossal blunder was to knock the user out of that question and put the music industry in its place.

Result: The Zune will be dead and gone within six months. Good riddance.

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Andy Ihnatko :: Avoid the loony Zune

Heh, so while the geeks are also ripping shreds from the Zune, now the mainstream media is doing it.

The Zune will never make it out of the US. Microsoft will realise they’ve screwed up big time and give up on the whole concept of it. Not only have they screwed their previous customers that bought Music through the old Microsoft Music Store, but I bet we’ll see something similar happen in the near future with the Zune Store.

Poor MS. They really were hoping to go at Apple with this product. Apple has only ever laughed at everything Microsoft has said about it. Now its starting to become obvious that the Zune is just a complete waste of money.

As the article says, the biggest thing you can do for your friends and family is advise them not to buy the Zune.

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