There's The iPod, And Then There's Everyone Else

Anybody who reads this blog knows I'm a fan of Apple products.

It's a strange place to be in the technology world. From a theoretical standpoint, Apple is the underdog, yet they have the public perception as being front-runners and elitists. It's the equivalent of the Pittsburgh Pirates being treated as if they were the New York Yankees.

One thing you can't take away from Apple is the iPod. There's the iPod and then there's everyone else, and now, as Apple looks to begin taking the brand into clear multiple directions (Shuffle for workouts, Nano for on-the-go music/amateur video, Touch for gaming, Classic for your car), we'll see if the competition can at least make it interesting.

And with Apple having already sold 220 million iPods (and counting), it will certainly be an uphill climb.

That's why today is so important.

Today, the Zune HD is available (16 GB, $220/32 GB, $289) for purchase. And normally I'd complete that sentence with something like, "at a Microsoft store location," but since that doesn't exist (yet), I'll just give the link for the Zune store.

Normally I'd also say that the Zune HD is clearly aimed at taking down the iPod, but that would mean it has to catch up to it first.

I look forward to playing with one, but for now, I'll rely on reviews to forge my opinion. And there's a bunch of good ones out there:

-Wired Review of Zune HD

-Gizmodo Looks at Zune HD (The full review should be available today)

-Cnet Review of Zune HD

-Zune HD disassembly by AnythingButiPod (with a really great story behind the Zune HD dedication)

From what I've read so far, I still don't see why I'd want to switch to a Zune, which will be a big problem for Microsoft going forward.

Plus, a few of the features highlighted as "new" to the Zune are features that Apple either already has in their iPods, or even worse, invented.

I still feel that there is only one power play move all the companies out there, Microsoft included, can make if they want to make money in the mp3 player game (although even that window may have passed):

Pay Apple to make the App Store multi-platform.

Obviously I say this without knowing if Apple would even sniff something like that--basically outsourcing their marketplace--or have the resources to pull it off, but for now, it seems like the only way to make it back into the mp3 player market.

Besides, you know, developing something--new.

There's just too much ground to make up at this point.

And that's with taking the Zune HD, available today, into account.


More soon,

JS