Today Microsoft is releasing their new portable MP3 player called Zune to compete with the music player powerhouse known as iPod. Personally I think Zune sounds like crap. And here is why I think so.

While the Zune will be sporting a bigger video display than the iPod, it is also twice the size. That’s the best thing about the iPod! I can stick it in pocket (even with my protective cover on it) and barely even know it’s there. The Zune, well heck who knows if you will even be able to buy a protective cover for it that isn’t stupid looking.

The music sharing capabilities of the Zune are just are stupid. While it will have integrated WiFi and you can transfer your favorite songs wirelessly to your buddies, your friends will only be able to listen to the songs 3 times before they are forced to buy the music. Frankly I think that’s retarded.

Microsoft thinks that another great feature of the Zune is that you can listen to FM radio on the beast as well as your MP3s. I think this is a brainless idea as well. Why would I want to tune in to a static-filled radio station with craploads of obnoxious commercials and a playlist with songs I don’t even want to hear when I have all the commercial free music I could ever want on the same device? Now if you could rip the songs from the radio that might be nice, but I seriously doubt that will be a feature, and even if it was, you would rip the sound of the universe (aka, static) along with the music you actually want and frankly, who really wants that?

The harddrive size on the Zune is also only 30 gig from what I hear. That’s half the size of my current iPod and they now have iPods you can buy with even more space for your songs, videos and other junk. So buy an iPod.

Finally I think a lot of people are just down right anti-Microsoft. It would appear, based off of the Zune website, that Microsoft is attempting to market this new device towards the artsie fartsie crowd. Guess what? Those people are already hooked on Apple and have been for years.

Ultimately I’m not going to buy myself a Zune. I don’t care if the new Windows Media Player will have integrated Zune support. Even more reason for me to not to buy one. Frankly I think Microsoft needs to get an original idea instead of copying other companies such as Nintendo and Apple. Maybe they should go back to developing software. In my opinion they still need to make up for that slop of an operating system they called Windows ME!