Zune Exposes Microsoft's iPod Envy

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Microsoft is so jealous of the iPod's success that Tuesday it introduced Zune and Zune marketplace that is an unabashed copy of Apple's .

The amazing part is that this is Microsoft's second attempt to kill the iPod. Following the tread Companies like Dell, Samsung and Creative made the players; companies like Yahoo, Rhapsody, Napster and MTV built the music stores. All of its components together stole only market-share crumbs from Apple. The interaction of player, software and store was balky and complex.

So now Microsoft is starting over. Never mind the companies who now find themselves competing with their former leader. It was bad enough when there were two incompatible copy-protection standards, iTunes and PlaysForSure. Now there will be three. Also, Microsoft's proprietary, closed system abandons one potential audience: Those who would have chosen an iPod competitor just to show their resentment for Apple's proprietary, closed system.

To make matters worse, you cannot use Windows Media Player to load the Zune with music; you have to install a similar but less powerful Windows program just for the Zune. It is a ridiculous duplication of effort by Microsoft, and a double learning curve for you.

Zune is still great

As it turns out, the player is excellent. It cannot touch the iPod's looks or coolness, but it sounds just as good and is certainly more practical. It is coated in slightly rubberized plastic, available in white, black or brown. It will not turn heads, but it will not get fingerprinty and scratched, either. The Zune matches the price -- US$250 -- and capacity of the 30 GB iPod. However, it is noticeably thicker, taller and heavier. Battery life is the same for music playback -- 14 hours -- and slightly better for video (4 hours versus 3.5). The 3-inch, or 7.5-centimeter, screen has the same 320-by-240-pixel resolution, but it is larger than the iPod's 2.5-inch display, so movies and slide shows feel more expansive.

What looks like an iPod scroll wheel, though, is a fake-out. It does not turn, and it is not touch-sensitive. Instead, it is just four buttons hidden under the compass points of a plastic ring.

Scrolling accelerates as you press the top or bottom button, but the iPod's wheel is much more efficient. On the other hand, the Zune's left and right buttons jump between menus -- for example, Album, Artist, Genre -- with less backtracking. The software design is beautiful, simple and graced by brief, classy animations. The Zune's screen is longer than it is wide, unlike the iPod's, so you can see more of your lists without scrolling. It's all wrong for photos and videos, however, so when videos or photos play, the screen image rotates. That is fine, except that you have to turn the player 90 degrees. Also, just as on the iPod, portrait-oriented photos are now shrunken, crammed the wrong way on the horizontal screen.

The Zune receives FM radio, and even shows the name of the current song, if the station broadcasts it. Reception is fairly weak, though, and you cannot make recordings. The big Zune news, however, is wireless sharing. The Zune has a built-in WiFi antenna that costs you one hour of battery life when turned on. During the playback of any photo or song, you can view a list of other Zunes within 30 feet, or 9 meters, of your own. Sending a song to another Zune takes about 15 seconds, a photo 2 seconds; you cannot send videos. Your recipient can accept or decline your offering, and, if you have terrible taste, can block your Zune permanently.

It all works well enough, but it is just so weird that Zunes can connect only to each other. What is the point of a WiFi device that cannot connect to a wireless network to sync with your PC, for example? Nor to an Internet hot spot, to download music directly?