Why consumers are angry with Microsoft over Zune

Stan Beer
Monday, 27 November 2006 08:15

Opinion and Analysis

As for the Zune software download, well unlike iTunes 7 it took about 30 minutes, which included detecting all my non-DRM music and copying it over. What I got in the end was a fairly nice looking media player interface that looks remarkably like a less sophisticated version of Windows Media Player and equally remarkably is totally incompatible with Microsoft's own very good desktop media player. Is this like reinventing the wheel and doing a poorer job? Does it make me angry to know that I now have to have two very similar but incompatible media players from the same company on my desktop if I want to use Zune?

If I happened to be a customer of an online music store that uses Microsoft's DRM standard PlaysForSure which is integrated with my Windows Media Player, should I be upset if the Zune software didn't copy over the PlaysForSure content and will not play it? Do I really need to answer that one? As far as Microsoft is concerned, I have two choices - either have two players and two different media players (both from Microsoft) or hang your investment, just ditch what you've got and go with Zune.

Now on to the Zune Marketplace, Microsoft's new online music store. It has 2 million music tracks - a bit more than half of what iTunes has - no video and no podcasts. OK there's enough music there for most people but in order to buy something you have to use the store currency of points and there's a minimum purchase. Instead of the simple US 99c deduction from your credit card to buy a track, Microsoft wants to force you to spend a minimum of US$5 by purchasing blocks of 400 points (79 points = 99c US) - what you do with the spare 5 points after you buy 5 songs is anyone's guess. Wait, that's right if you spend US$80 you get one extra track for free!

I suppose I could go on about squirting tracks over to fellow Zune users that disappear after three days or three plays - even if they're not DRM protected. Or the inability of the Zune being able to wirelessly connect to your PC even though it's Wi-Fi capable. However, those are relatively minor things that Microsoft will no doubt address in time.

The point of all this is that Microsoft seems to have taken the one major thing that consumers don't like about iPod and iTunes - the DRM restricted closed system - and ignored all the good things. Instead of presenting Joe and Jane consumer with a viable alternative to iPod, Microsoft Zune has given consumers a poorer imitation of the same. That's why consumers are angry and Zune players, despite massive publicity are still sitting on store shelves.