We're biased in favor of Apple and the iPod. That much is clear. But ever since Microsoft announced the Zune media player and began shipping, critic after critic has come out and said Redmond's efforts are a dud. Instead of a hip, well thought-out device, the company issued a cheap copycat rife with limitations. In fact, the Chicago Sun Times says "Avoid the Loony Zune", calling it the experience "about as pleasant as having an airbag deploy in your face."

Ouch.

Well, what's wrong with it? It turns out from the installation to purchasing and playing songs, every little step is flawed. It doesn't integrate with other devices or other applications well. It doesn't even accept real money, but instead "points" that are credited to song purchases. Worst of all, Microsoft sold out to the record companies, who get a few bucks for every Zune sold, something they've no doubt hoped Apple would do for some time. This is because, in the words of one record executive, "These devices are just repositories for stolen music, and they all know it."

Bull. I've purchased every song I have in my iTunes, except for those that were free for download, at the artists' volition. I've purchased thousands from the Apple Music store, and have hundreds of CDs. Just check my closet, my credit cards, or ask my wife. We're tired of being treated like criminals, just because the music executives can't seem to figure out new media and new technology.

The good news is that the Zune won't break any sales records. On Amazon's list of top MP3 players, it's currently at #18 overall, behind a host of iPods and other brands. Meanwhile, the Chicago Sun Times says "The Zune will be dead and gone within six months." We can only hope.

Additional gnashings of teeth around Microsoft's DOA product are here:

MSFTextrememakover: Is this really the best you can do?
BusinessWeek: The Soul of a New Microsoft

Listening to ''High Storage'', by D-Factor (Play Count: 1)

Last week, due to some sort of conflict between our Motorola cable box and our TiVo, we ended up not managing to record the latest episode of "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit", instead getting a full sixty minutes of the local news. For some reason, the TiVo thought it was on NBC, but the cable box decided to watch a different channel. It'd be something resembling a minor disaster, were it not for the option to download the episode from the iTunes Store - which we did on Friday. But instead of saving this purchased episode to our iTunes library, as we have thousands of songs, when we were all done with it, the show was deleted.

When I look at the thousands of songs I have in my iTunes library, I can sometimes feel guilty that I've only listened to some of them 5 times, when others have been heard a few dozen times, or if I haven't played a particular track in the last six to twelve months. Deleting songs is almost unheard of, particularly if they were purchased off the iTunes Store instead of imported from a CD. But when it comes to television shows or feature-length films, I don't see myself watching them time and time again, which hits a bullseye on why the iPod was initially designed for music, and why there hasn't been a similarly successful device that plays video as its primary function.

I can easily think of some edge cases where it'd be nice to have portable video with me. I can fantasize about bringing my own movies onto plane rides and plugging in to the iPod Video as I catch up on House or Law and Order or a week's worth of Jon Stewart. I can even understand how parents of younger children would download the latest Disney movie and set it on loop for weeks on end. But outside of those edge cases, I'm simply not going to watch TV shows over and over again (the Simpsons potentially excluded) or see 3-hour movies a few dozen times. Compounding the issue, these rich media files could take hundreds of megabytes apiece on my hard drive, far more than the 5 to 10 megabytes needed for the common song.

Ignoring issues like digital rights management, bandwidth and price, I don't anticipate storing my own TV show and film library, either on my computer, or on the TiVo. Music inherently is designed to be played over and over again, until the beats and the words of each track are second nature. TV shows are meant to be seen once, with reruns being a dirty word. If I've seen it once, I've seen it enough times.

Listening to ''Trilogy'', by ATB (Play Count: 37)

Last week, TZ, the editor of Sactown Royalty, took time off with his family to head to Disneyland, and effectively handed the reins of the site to me. While this caught me somewhat by surprise, especially since I was in Tampa, Florida, more than 2,000 miles away from home base, I tried to make the best of it, posting frequently to the site, delivering news and updates, game previews and recaps - all the standard fare you can expect from Sactown Royalty, Athletics Nation and the many other sites that make up Sports Blogs Nation.

One of the pieces I posted, focusing on the NBA's need to support franchises that don't reside in the largest media markets, reached a lot more than the audience where it was originally intended. Unbeknownst to me, the opinion page editor of the Sacramento Bee, the Kings' hometown newspaper, scours local blogs for color additions to his paper, and the piece I had posted was to be considered. Put up against seven other proposals, the piece was deemed worthy of publishing, and was printed today as part of their Sunday paper, with a feature called "Blogwatch".

TZ, very effusive in his thanks, was quite congratulatory today, in a post he titled, "Louismg Lands Us in The Bee!".I'm glad he's happy, and I'm glad the mainstream media is finding the new media so interesting. We're just enjoying the Sports Blogs Nation family, and the ability to deliver real-time commentary on the world of sports with fans from around the globe.

Since the end of the season came all too soon, the A's have switched managers, seen a number of coaches leave, announced a future move to Fremont, and the building of Cisco Field. But as far as players go, we've seen Frank Thomas leave, and Barry Zito sure to follow, but no new pickups. Should the A's turn up the heat on the Hot Stove? We look in...


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