[sinpolines]

Any new developments at adding Plays4Sure support on the Zune?

A large and rapidly-growing number of colleges (an ideal Zune clientele) are establishing campus-wide agreements with companies like Ruckus, CDigix and others to provide music to students, faculty/staff and alumni.

Thousands of these ideal customers are shopping for new Plays4Sure players!

Microsoft should take advantage that Apple cannot sell iPods in this space and gain some market share. College students .et al might not be avid Zune Marketplace customers right away, but they would at least have Zunes, thousands upon thousands of them.

The way I see it, Microsoft (more than Apple) cannot both play catch-up and get thousands of captive customers that will buy the player and the content, but make the Zune and the Zune Marketplace attractive on their own (as well as together) and you will grow a lot quicker.

Zune players selling for 20% or more cheaper than the iPods, plus Plays4Sure and all the other Zune functionality and quality will give iPods a read competition, even before the Zune slims down. Microsoft also needs a Nano-like flash-based Zunes.

In the mean time... releasing a Zune firmware upgrade that adds Plays4Sure would significantly make Zune a much more attractive MP3 player to purchase.

[sinpolines]

Any new developments at adding Plays4Sure support on the Zune?

A large and rapidly-growing number of colleges (an ideal Zune clientele) are establishing campus-wide agreements with companies like Ruckus, CDigix and others to provide music to students, faculty/staff and alumni.

Thousands of these ideal customers are shopping for new Plays4Sure players!

Microsoft should take advantage that Apple cannot sell iPods in this space and gain some market share. College students .et al might not be avid Zune Marketplace customers right away, but they would at least have Zunes, thousands upon thousands of them.

The way I see it, Microsoft (more than Apple) cannot both play catch-up and get thousands of captive customers that will buy the player and the content, but make the Zune and the Zune Marketplace attractive on their own (as well as together) and you will grow a lot quicker.

Zune players selling for 20% or more cheaper than the iPods, plus Plays4Sure and all the other Zune functionality and quality will give iPods a read competition, even before the Zune slims down. Microsoft also needs a Nano-like flash-based Zunes.

In the mean time... releasing a Zune firmware upgrade that adds Plays4Sure would significantly make Zune a much more attractive MP3 player to purchase.