Zune

well, not to that scale (captain obvious over here!). that was (from what i remember) a umpc/tablet device…which is a far cry from a nano/ipod-sized device. plus, i want to say that the leaked video shows a true scroll wheel. if anything, i think they’d do a touchtype/grafitti-system (with stylus) similar to what they had on the old pocket pc devices. why? because if they are trying to tap into wireless chatting, gaming and include myspace integration, they need a way to input text. why they aren’t copying the nintendo ds design is beyond me. the only thing i can figure is that they felt it would be too big (but it’s not like the sony psp is all that pocket friendly…oh wait, that is a disaster of a product too). personally, i think they’re trying to do too much (at least based on all of the rumored crap that engadget is saying is being added to the zune). and let’s be honest, most multipurpose devices are not stellar at anything (think moto q, blackberries, etc.) it’s also ironic that all the msft fanboys criticized apple for the ipod’s vertical integration and new media format – and then msft goes and 1) creates a propietary os/software, 2) creates a new media format, 3) creates their own media store and 4) sticks it to all the msft-friendly companies who bought into plays for sure (pfs will supposedly not be supported). i think this, along with msft’s lousy windows media player interface and the proprietary nature of the media files makes this doa as a mass market device. i’m sure it will sell to the portion of the xbox360/myspace crowd that has money to burn (or their parents money to burn), but i won’t buy it. the 30gb model will supposedly cost as much as a 60gb ipod (brilliant) and i don’t want to convert almost 40gb of music to their file type. i don’t want to have the additional hd space devoted to said files, and i’m skeptical to how well it will stand the test of time *cough* sony atrac *cough* and user-friendly/crash proof *cough* pocket pc devices *cough*. in the end, this will probably be like vista – promising a lot and then not delivering.