* The people in the ads using the Zune generally don’t strike me, at least, as “cool”. They tend to be rather unattractive, un-hip, and kind of trailer park-ish. I neither relate to them, nor wish to emulate them.

Probably because people who love Microshit (and defend it all the time) are trailer trashes?

It adds DRM to EVERY song you put on it, even ones you created yourself.

Songs that you send to another Zune (assuming you can FIND one to send songs to) automatically self-destruct after 3 days, and can NEVER be sent to that other Zune again. And, that other Zune is unable to send those songs to anyone else. So much for the ‘social networking’ aspect.

The Zune can be told to restrict your access to its music files, or erase them altogether, without your knowledge or consent, completely at Microsoft’s discretion. And seeing how easily they’ve bent over for the recording industry so far…

Plus, this same industry now gets a cut of the money from every Zune sold. Why continue to give money to people who openly despise you? That’s about like being gangraped and simply saying “Thank you sir may I have another”

Honestly, I was just having a little fun at the Zune’s expense: As you can tell from all the links, most of the points weren’t even mine to start with. I am a croggled at just how easy poking fun at the Zune and its marketing campaign has been; there are more “what were they thinking?” moments than with any recent product launch I can think of. This doesn’t mean the Zune is a bad product (I’ve never used one), or that it won’t be successful (who knows?), just that there’s amusement to be had here, and by gum I’m going to have some.

If you’re looking for someone who really rips into the Zune, try Andy Ihnatko’s article for the Chicago Sun-Times.

Observations:

* The people in the ads using the Zune generally don’t strike me, at least, as “cool”. They tend to be rather unattractive, un-hip, and kind of trailer park-ish. I neither relate to them, nor wish to emulate them.

* I see lots of break-dancing and people looking very hardcore hip-hop or skater-ish in the background. But the music playing sounds more like something a baby boomer might listen to while wearing an L.L. Bean outfit with a knit sweater tied around their neck.

* You hardly see anyone actually using a Zune, and when you do, it seems like one of those ads for potato chips or some other similar product where people on the street are asked at random to check out a new product. They don’t seem particularly impressed either.

* The only ad that came close to being effective was the “snow” video because a) it actually shows some cool people who I might wish to hang with and b) they aren’t at any sort of music-related event where it’s painfully obvious that the music playing in the ad doesn’t match the style of music likely playing at the event.

I am impressed at Microsoft’s ability to release the lamest product ever in conjunction with the lamest marketing campaign, ever.

Yet another reason to hate Microsoft. Zune sucks. I’ve essentially been MS-free for five years with no adverse effects. If I could find a decent spreadsheet for OS X, I’d be completely Microsoft free. …