[TruckinGeek]

One of the main reasons I chose the Zune over the Ipod was the Zune Pass subscription. I waited over a year for Itunes to offer something like this, and I wasn't too confident of Rhapsody providing a good user experience. Being a long haul driver, I listen to audio content at least 10 hours a day. There is a limit to the amount of interesting podcasts you can find, and even XM starts repeating songs after awhile.

I signed up for Zune Pass almost immediately after receiving my Zune30 (got it used, at a pretty good deal!). I'm running at about 80% availability right now, though I'm just catching up on old music for now. It's surprising how the same songs they blacklist on the artists' own albums are available on a compilation. And then you have folks like Metallica who restrict ALL of their music - for them, they won't get my money. For the amount of music I DO find on ZunePass, the ones that are missing are not much of a problem; however, I doubt I'll be making up the difference by buying the missing tracks. Have I been infected by the horrid "sense of entitlement"? Well, you could say I'm paying for that sense of entitlement, so there you go!

Paying for the same amount of music via individual purchases would quickly smother my wallet, and I would be forced to restrict my choices. With the subscription, even with the blocked tracks, I'm still coming out ahead in the game.

It's funny that some of the old-style artists like Wayne Hancok (mis-spelled I know, but the proper spelling of the gentleman's last name gets edited - go figure) are restricted. It seems they'd be the ones that would benefit the most from a subscription market, where one can try out older or lesser known artists without the risks that an Itunes-like market brings.