Has Microsoft underwhelmed with the Zune?
iLounge have an interesting piece looking at the known features of Microsoft’s forthcoming Zune player, and it’s not resoundingly brilliant. Have Microsoft created a lacklustre offering that has little chance of killing off the iPod?
They discuss ‘that wheel thing’ – the wheel lookalike on the front of the unit that is in fact not a wheel but a set of buttons. Why make it look like a wheel? Hmm…
They like some of the User Interface features, definitely usable but not perfect, particularly with the inevitable iPod comparison.
The wi-fi capability sounds cool but some of the music-sharing abilities may well be underused (first you have to find another Zune owner)
And overall, the unit is bigger than a 30Gb iPod, seems to be made entirely from plastic, and iLounge think it has little chance of taking people away from the cheaper iPod offerings.
And maybe, just maybe, Microsoft is never going to be cool enough to compete.
