As pointed out by some others, it will be interesting to see what apple does to up the ante in the meantime.

The Zune is a great looking device.

In my opinion and the opinion of many others who have really used the Zune software (post-version 1.0), it is vastly superior to Itunes, especially when it comes to podcast support.

I hope this is a hit for Microsoft. I’ve had a Zune 80 for about 18 months now and it has been nothing but fantastic.

I don’t really care about the number of apps this thing will have. I looked through Itunes the other night and found very little that I would actually use. I very rarely play games so that rules out most of the popular applications I saw in the store. I want a superior music and podcast player and that’s what the Zune provides. I have no doubt that Microsoft will have applications in the Marketplace but if they don’t, I won’t really care.

Andreas: Sorry but you’re wrong. Microsoft is way more international than Apple. Not with the current Zune situation, but with operating systems and software there’s no comparison. Most of Apple’s market share is in the U.S. And saying that Microsoft “tries to be as big as Apple” is simply laughable.

Next time I buy a music player it will be Samsung’s P3. http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/detail/detail.do?group=audiovideo&type=mp3players&subtype=mp3players&model_cd=YP-P3JES/XAA

Samsung makes some of the best quality hardware I’ve ever seen. [Editor's note -- removed last few lines due to inappropriate language. kct]

And I would think its extremely likely that Apple will increase the memory on it’s touch’s so that $229 gets a 16GB Touch. If that’s the case then Zune is doomed to a small niche.

Subscription music has been touted as the future for 5 years, and still has a tiny share. So I hope MS is not counting on Zune Pass.

Microsoft’s mobile marketplace has already made it clear that it’s not going to be restrictive as Apple’s, and on top of that, it won’t require “jail-breaking” your device to get things. That alone makes it a winner in my book.

Still, the Zune software is better too, and will no doubt get an update (a fact overlooked in every article about it), and the Zune Pass subscription is almost a no-brainer when you realize that when you subtract out the 10 songs you get to keep each month, it really boils down to $6/month for unlimited music… even over a year it’s only $72, so it would take you years of subscribing to catch up with any competing solution.

If nothing else Microsoft is willing to keep trying to make inroads in a market. I do feel sad for the early partners (the play for sure group) more than anything I think that they are all doomed.