Quote: "I've never heard of the MP3 sharing function but it certainly does sound interesting... Do you have more info on it?"
This is from the Zune site:
"Wireless Zune-to-Zune sharing.[2] Share full-length tracks of your favorite songs, albums, playlists, pictures and even audio podcasts. Listen to the full track of any song you receive up to three times, and even pass along songs you receive to other friends nearby who have a Zune. If you like a song you receive, you can easily add it to your wish list and then buy it from your PC the next time you sync."
I am sure the expirations on shared files is due to fear of lawsuits from the music industry, and not wanting to make the Zune look like the "perfect piracy machine". It is still a pretty nifty feature, though. I also heard that there is a hack for the Zune out there that removes the file deletion after the set amount of plays, although I have not checked on this because I don't really find myself in a lot of situations where it would be handy.
Quote: "Not saying the Zune is junk or anything, as I haven't tried one, but Apple seems to at least be making one thing right, and that's MP3 players. They don't sell more than any other brand just because of the name."
And I am not saying that the IPod is junk (as I have not used one much at all), but I can't be so sure that the massive sales are a pH test of the product quality. If there is one thing that the IPod is, it's an MP3 juggernaut. Once a product gets so saturated, it's sales
will continue based on name alone. When the less-so technically inclined begin calling any MP3 player "an IPod", you know you have a monster market share. This is similar to how a "Coke" can be any soda in certain regions of the USA. It was the first, it caught on like crazy and even though some sodas may be "better", it still outsells #2 3-to-1 (not a perfect analogy, I know, but it is close).
It will take an act of God to throw IPod off the mountain, even if they start releasing crappy product after product. They own it, and therefore, the sales will continue. Many people don't even know there is a real choice.
(At the end of the day, my opinion is that there is not enough difference to really care. I think about 90% of the "IPod vs. Zune" debate is fanboyism, just like ATI vs. NVidia. While it is smart consuming to do research to see which is better for you, when people start attacking the other side, that's all it is about. The biggest difference is the logo.)
