Is It Too Zune?


The news business isn't the place for crazy, forward-thinking pronouncements. Blogs, though, are.

So, here goes: The Zune will be the technology industry's version of the Edsel.

It may, of course, be way too early to say that, but we're already in the teeth of the holiday shopping season, and Microsoft's new player has already dropped off the Amazon map. What happened?

After a lot of searching, I finally got my hands on a Zune (which may be part of the problem .. reporters generally get test models of new gadgets quickly. Microsoft promised us one, then never sent it, and we had to scramble to find a test model). It's really not that bad. Good video, lots of music storage, even an easy to use radio station finder.

But .. and this is hard to quantify .. it's just not hip.

To find out what hip is, see the iPod. Again, it's not that easy to tell why, but iPods have hit it huge, especially with the young hip crowd. So much so, some tech-watchers say Apple had better come out with something new, or else the iPod will get stale. I've no doubt Steve Jobs has heard those warnings loud and clear.

But, back to the Zune. Yes, it's kind of clunky, and the color brown is really uninspiring. It's thicker than iPods, and feels less slick. It's funny, the Zune will actually resist scratches better than the iPod .. I'm guessing most shoppers won't notice.

The bottom line is, shoppers have spoken. Like the movie that opens to shallow box office, the Zune is getting bad reviews. The iPod, on the other hand, has been a blockbuster. Wall Street has also voted, boosting Apple stock 750 percent in the last 5 years.

Will the Zune survive? Too soon to tell. But if it's a success, it will be a great comeback.

Stay Zuned.