When I heard Microsoft were creating a portable media player I was looking forward to seeing the end result. Many companies have tried to break Apple’s iPod stranglehold without success, but this is not unfamiliar territory to Microsoft. With the Xbox they entered a market dominated by Sony, produced a technically superior device, supplied a superb USP (Xbox Live), and became a real challenger - few people would discount Microsoft in the upcoming X360/PS3 generation. 

The Zune looked to be following a similar strategy to the Xbox. It had everything the iPod did, then threw in an FM tuner, a bigger screen, landscape orientation for videos, and, best of all, Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi! I had visions of a device that would allow me to subscribe and download netcasts. If the Zune Marketplace offered TV Shows, I’d be able to get the latest episodes show while on the go. And just maybe, with it’s improved video support, the Zune would function as a portable media center that could sync my recorded shows and playlists before leaving the house.

Sadly, none of these features exist.

The first warning was this video where Robert Scoble interviewed a member of the Zune team who demonstrated the product. Although the Zune looked nice, nothing earth shattering was shown. Like myself, Robert seemed to have imagined a featureset greater than that offered. The early reviews appear to back this up. Is the Zune a good product? Yes. Is it going to revolutionize the portable media market? No. Will the general public choose one over an iPod? Unlikely.

For me, one of the most disappointing aspects is the video support. No support for Xvid/DivX? Pah. At the very least I’d expect the Zune Software to be able to import and convert these formats, similar to how PSPVideo9 works. I can’t help but feel the lack of support is through choice rather than omission. I’m sure someone will come up with a way to do this, but that’s not really the point is it.

The general message seems to be ‘wait and see’, and that the Zune’s updateability will bring additional features in the future. This is similar to the Xbox strategy - Xbox Live launched a full year after the XBox (at Climax we developed the MotoGP pack-in demo for Live). The difference is that during that year Microsoft had exclusive, and often better looking, games to showcase the Xbox. It’s very hard to sell a device based on content when most of that content is supplied by the user!

I have no doubt that there are great things in the pipeline for Zune, but at the moment there’s little to convince me to purchase one. It looks like my PSP (and an extra battery) will again be my media-companion for the long Christmas flight back to the UK