Have You Been "Zuned" Yet?

By Dennis D. McDonald

If you have not been following this story, the BBC has a good overview:  Microsoft's iPod killer, the soon to be released Zune, uses DRM (digital rights management) technology that is not compatible with Microsoft's own PlayForSure technology.

That's right. Apple iTunes competitors (AOL, Yahoo, etc.) who have licensed Microsoft's old DRM technology now find themselves in the position of potentially having the tunes they sell not being compatible with Microsoft's new DRM standard. (I'm using the term "potentially" since I still find it hard to believe that Microsoft is doing something as bone-headed as this; it reminds me of the bad old days when PowerPoint slides and Excel files were not always compatible across different versions of software upgrades.)

So what, you say? Well, if the BBC report is accurate, and you have purchased music from these other sources that used PlayForSure DRM technology from Microsoft, and you want to play them on the new Zune player from Microsoft ... you have to re-purchase the music from the official Zune source ... assuming it's available in the new format.

Now you understand why I stopped buying from iTunes. What guarantee do you have any more that digital music purchased from any one source will be usable on multiple media in your home without having to repurchase or re-license it some time in the future?

Having grown up collecting phonograph records that could be played on any "record player" from any manufacturer, there was a time when I was outraged by this situation. I stopped being outraged months ago when I got it into my thick skull that the media companies are not interested in protecting copyright or artistic expression. Their commercial interests have less to do with combating piracy than with creating and monopolizing distribution channels on behalf of their stockholders. When the interests of companies and customers coincide, that's a good thing, but when national legislatures craft laws to artificially protect monopolies, that's bad.

Have you been "Zuned" yet? 

Update on Thursday, November 9, 2006 at 11:09AM by Dennis D. McDonald

I finally saw a "Zune" commercial for the first time last night -- at the movie theater where a friend and I went to see THE DEPARTED. The commercial looked like a watered down version of the giant underground rave in the final MATRIX movie but without the cool music, people, clothes, moisture, or dance moves.

Update on Wednesday, November 15, 2006 at 02:34PM by Dennis D. McDonald

One of the blogs I read had screen shots of the Zune software install process. I must say that, even though my base computer is a Windows XP computer, the process looked daunting. What made me laugh out loud, though, were the graphics that illustrated all the happy people during the install. I have to believe that this product is being targeted at people who don't spend a lot of time using computers (which is NOT intended as a put-down).

Comments

[Jack Vinson]

It's interesting to see the negative press, much of it seemingly deserved. Has Microsoft responded to any of this? I see that Scoble got a couple free Zunes. I wonder what he will have to say, and whether Microsoft will respond.

My other reason for commenting is to recommend www.eMusic.com, which sells legitamate music from a wide range of independent record labels. You won't get Madonna or Kanye, but you will get all sorts of great stuff, including a lot of back-catalog that is hard to find elsewhere. Why do I recommend eMusic? Once you buy the music, they let you do whatever you want to do with it, as many times as you like. (And they even remember what you've bought in case you lose it.)

[Dennis D. McDonald]

Jack, thanks for the tip. I haven't really been following the Zune intro with a lot of attention -- I haven't heard a lot of bad things, and there appears to be an "iPod vs. Zune" rivalry. I do appreciate the info about eMusic.com -- I took a cursory look at their catalog and I just might check it out. Buying something that might not be usable in the future because someone decided to change the platform requirements just doesn't appeal to me.

[Tom]

I think what seems to grind most with the zune is that Microsoft is up to their old marketplace tricks. By giving a cut of each zune sold to the record companies, they hope that a flood of other similarly minded content owners will do likewise, abandoning Apple's DRM in favor of their more draconian flavor.

Apple leaves the ethics of music piracy up to the users. Microsoft is echoing with this player, the wishes of a consummately greedy music industry. As Apple was the only game on the block in terms of distribution, the music companies had to cave. This all favored the consumer. The zune model most certainly not consumer friendly. In fact you cannot even share-permanently- the music you create yourself! Don't get me started on their WTF points purchasing scheme.

I sincerely hope the zune flops and a better competitor emerges to spur the folks at Apple to improve their ubiquitous iPods. Competition is good, but that is not what Microsoft wants. Also, if any company knows how the tides of fortune can change, it would be Apple. I'd say they're pretty competitive all things considered.

If my teen is any measure of how well zune is going to sell, I'd expect Microsoft to throw in the towel in about a year or so. What product could do well if the largest portion of their demographic would be embarrassed to own one.