Microsoft's Media Triumvirate
With Microsoft’s release of the Zune, the Mac internet is going nuts explaining why the Zune is a broken, inferior product to Apple’s iPod. And at first glance I have to agree with them. But my cynicism is tingling, and I don’t think that Microsoft intended the Zune to start out as a viable iPod competitor. Instead, the Zune is part of a strategic triumvirate intended to make the iPod irrelevant on Windows. This strategy is composed of Windows, the XBox, the Zune, and, playing the part of the One Ring: XBox Live Marketplace.