Microsoft Zune is better than the iPod. That might seem like a bold statement but this post from Jeff Blankenburg shows that it is true, at least in my opinion.
I’ve wanted a Zune for a long time and the reasons listed by Jeff just make me want one even more! I’ve got an iPod but I’ve not been 100% happy with it for some time and being something of a Microsoft “fanboy”-the Zune seems like the way to go if only they’d make them available here in the UK. I really don’t see why they’re restricted to the US and Canada…if anyone’s got any ideas or info-please let me know 🙂
There are numerous reasons over at Jeff’s blog but here are the ones that really impress me:
1) It comes with FM Radio. Now in itself this is pretty cool as it’s sometimes good to have the radio on rather than just mp3’s, but the thing that puts it above and beyond is the “Add to Cart” option. With this, if you hear a track on the radio that you want, press the button and it downloads it from the Zune Marketplace! I think this feature should be pushed much harder as it’s unlike anything else I’ve seen…many a time I mean to get a song of iTunes later but forget-this solves it! Or you hear a song on the radio but didn’t catch the title or artist name to search for it later?-this solves it!
2) The Zune Pass. This gives you subscription based access to the entire Zune Marketplace for $15 a month, so you can listen to any of the tracks as many times as you want in that month AND you can keep 10 songs a month permanently, making it great value. Making it AWESOME value is that you can use 1 Zune Pass to fill 3 Zunes so most households will need just the one! You’ll just have to share the 10 “For keeps” songs between you… 😉
I really wish that they were available over here. When I was in Texas earlier this year I was very tempted to pick one up then, but as far as I can see there are various parts that won’t work over here such as the Zune Marketplace and I guess the Download from Radio won’t be configured with UK data either. This means at the minute it isn’t really a viable choice for me…
Cloudy with a chance of Licensing 
I have a Zune and yes, Microsoft Should release it in the UK and also all over Europe. But Microsoft (France) did say there getting it in Generation 3. Which should be within a Year. Unsure.