3. Zune Marketplace

The first thing I noticed about the Zune marketplace was its lack of downloadable music. To describe this more, let's get back into advertising. In the marketplace, you can view the top-hit artists. One artist the marketplace advertised was Beyonce, and her newest song "Irresistible." I don't usually listen to Beyonce, but I figured I'd download the number-one song just to see what the fuss was all about. That was my biggest mistake. You see, even though Irresistible was advertised as being the number one hit, I wasn't able to download it. The marketplace simply told me it was unavailable. Now that's just flat out ridiculous. Further, if the Zune is trying to be hip and in-touch with a younger generation, I think the most important job for them is to make sure that the music their target audience listens to is available.

Navigation around the Marketplace is similar to iTunes, so it was easy to get adjusted to. I spent a ton of time downloading full CDs, but as I started searching for some of my favorite artists, I was told time and time again that their music was not available. The Red Hot Chili Peppers, not available. Bob Seger, not available. I contacted a Zune public relations representative about the issue, and all she could say was that there are a host of artists who have not given the marketplace permission to use their songs. I was able to find all of these artists on iTunes, without a hitch.

When you do find an artist you like, you can choose to download the song for typically 79 of the Zune marketplace points (Microsoft Points), which I believe are the same Microsoft points used with the X-BOX 360. It will cost you $5 dollars for 400 Microsoft points. An interesting feature was the option to subscribe to the marketplace, for $14.99 a month for unlimited downloads. If you unsubscribe, though, your music becomes unavailable until you re-subscribe.

Like I mentioned earlier, the Zune marketplace does not offer video downloads right now. Personally, I don't have too many .wmv clips on my computer, so the Zune video support proved basically useless. Although it was packaged with music videos, I couldn't find any others to download anywhere. Microsoft tries to protect artists by encouraging DRM, but at the same time, if you want music videos on your Zune, you'll most likely have to download them illegally. I chose not to.

From a "youth" point of view, "The Social" catchphrase is garbage. Zune commercials turned me on to the Zune. They gave the impression that if I purchased a Zune, I'd be a member of some underground social group. Okay, so I didn't really think that, but you catch my drift. When I first tooled around with the Zune, I liked the included skateboard video. But then, the sweet taste of skateboarding videos turned sour when I realized I couldn't find more anywhere. No use in watching a one-minute skateboard clip over and over again.

As a college student, I never once thought of recording my professor's lecture and sharing the file over my Zune to a lazy classmate. The Zune doesn't even have a recording device, and actually owning a recorder is, well as a college student, flirting with nerdy. I threw a few parties while owning my Zune. The idea of sending a party flier around to my nearby friends via the Zune's wireless capabilities seemed kind of cool, but it's about as "social" as whispering in the library. Let's face it, if you're standing within 30 feet of someone, it's much more "social" to simply yell to them, "hey man! Party at my place on Saturday." At least then some hottie in hearing distance might show up as well.

Don't get me wrong. I liked the Zune. It played videos and they looked great. With replacement ear-buds, the music quality was just fine. It works as expected for a media player. What hurts the Zune is its advertising. It simply does not live up to the way it's advertised. Popular music is unavailable, and videos are nowhere to be found. If I were in the market to buy a Zune, which I'm not, it would need to be competitively priced with an iPod taking the lack of available media into concern. Microsoft: drop the price $50 below an iPod and you may find more buyers willing to take the dive. Until then, it's simply impossible to recommend a Zune over an iPod.