Zune Thoughts: Mobile Tech Review Looks at Zune

"We didn't expect to be at all impressed by Microsoft's first effort at an iPod competitor. Boy, were we pleasantly surprised! The device is well made (OK, that we expected), is packaged very austerely and attractively (shocker) and is superbly easy to use (pick us up off the floor). It's fun to use, easy to use and sounds great... Overall, an excellent first attempt at jumping into a mature market."

Here's a pro-Zune review from Mobile Tech Review, although in the end they do give the iPod a slight edge mostly due to size and wider variety (video, podcast) of content currently available though iTunes. I found their initial reactions to Zune (quoted above) quite humorous. What I found most interesting (but not surprising in the least) was the reviewer's account of their purchasing experience. The electronics associate, after finally understanding that the reviewer was looking for a Zune, kindly explained why the Zune is a poor purchase because they learned that it doesn't allow you to play your own music, including CDs you rip yourself. After the reviewer correct the associate, the reaction was that they still didn’t' like it because they hated Microsoft. Takes me back to when I purchased my video iPod at Walmart, and was told I was making a mistake because iPods won't play MP3s.