Creative accounting
Microsoft seems to be finally stepping up the marketing effort behind its Zune and in time honoured fashion, it's doing so with a TV ad criticising Apple.
Zune launched a subscription model through which you can download ‘unlimited' music at a cost of $14.99 per month last November. The catch is, however, that you only get to keep ten tracks each month.
With that in mind, the maths used in the video below seems a bit suspect. Apple's iTunes is labeled expensive at a cost of a dollar per track, but Zune Pass effectively charges $1.50 per track if you want to keep them.
The unlimited bit and, presumably the reason we would pay the $15 (Zune is still not available in the UK) is the ability to stream music directly to the music player via Wi-Fi. You can also then share the track with three other Zunes.
There are many obstacles to this concept taking off, such as Wi-Fi coverage and the appeal of downloading tracks you can't keep. A look at the Zune Pass site didn't do much to convince us either as we didn't think the deal was explained that well.
We'd like to hear what you think about the new ad and the Zune proposition. Is this something you will be interested in when it eventually hits the UK? Let us know in the HEXUS.community discussion forums.
