Microsoft takes on the iPod again, fails again

Microsoft has revamped the Zune line of portable digital media players and is mounting yet another assault on Apple's iPod. Once again, this will fail because Microsoft is again a good arm's reach away from being sexy enough to make Apple sweat.

The Zune 2.0 is what the Zune 1.0 should have beenI know that I should, in the interests of fairness at least, be rooting for the Zune because it's the underdog of portable media players, but I just can't do it. The problem is that the entire Zune range is just boring. I just can't find a single thing to get excited about. The entire specification, apart from the price, screams mediocrity. Even the built-in FM tuner fails to get me animated because the only time I listen to the radio is when I'm in the car, and I've got an FM tuner there. If it had an FM transmitter, that would have been interesting, but it doesn't. The Zune 2.0 is what the Zune 1.0 should have been.

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The WiFi sync is nothing short of a gimmick, and this whole issue of the syncing happening while the Zune is in a dock just tells me that WiFi is a big power hog. The wireless sharing feature is worse that a gimmick and even if I was interested in sharing music with others, I don't know anyone with a Zune to share songs with. Pointless, utterly pointless. This kind of feature could have waited until the Zune had achieved a significant user base. As for recorded TV on the go ... a lot depends on how smoothly this all works. We'll have to wait and see.

Where are the really cool features? Where's the web browse? Where's the email client? Where's the Outlook integration? The Zune could be so much more, and could incorporate features that would put some pressure on Apple.

I still think that your money is better spent on an iPod.

Thoughts?