some new zunes have been released - http://www.news.com/Microsoft-unveil...ml?tag=newsmap. i like the look of them, but i don't think they are sold here. and they don't work with macs.

im pretty interested in getting one now, are they still not going to be sold in europe?

Hmmm. thy look very nice. But mac compatibility is a must for me.
It's is strange really. Apple make their players compatible with windows, so why not vice-versa?

well, we mac users are a minority so whilst ipod needed to be pc compatible to be really successful (and at first they were mac only) zune does not need to be mac compatible as it's already compatible with the vast majority of computers. anyway, microsoft seem to be having enough trouble with zune in the pc market without worrying about the mac market. perhaps though mac compatibility will come later.

i see they've got rid of the brown zune. i liked that one even though everyone else seemed to laugh at it.

While I do like the new look Zune, they do remind me of last season's iPod nanos.

Having said that, they're a nice design and if they were Mac compatible too I'd probably consider one for my next purchase...

No to Europe.

Why a Zune when an iPod does more, is sold here and has a music store that sells doube the amount of songs 6 million compared to Zunes 3 million but also sells TV shows, movies and the like?

If I can get a screen without dead pixels or negative black effect I may be interested.

/curses 3rd faulty ipod touch

One reason - the Zune, or at least the old one, reportedly has extremely good sound quality, one of the best DAPs in that respect.

A massive library of WMA music maybe?

Why would you want that? WMA is a Microsoft owned format that they refuse t licence to Apple for example. If they had their way everything would be WMA and would only run on something running Windows.

iTunes on the other hand uses ACC MP4s, an industry open source standard.

Which they wrap up in their proprietry FairPlay locks, so no one else can play them. Not much different from MS.

And AAC isn't open source. It's proprietry to the MPEG consortium. By your logic WMA is also an industry open source standard.

If you want open source, go for FLAC or OGG.

I wouldn't. I use MP3. It's the most commonly supported, and therefore portable, format.

Some people use WMA though. Some music stores sell WMA music. Their choice.

Apple/iTunes is not the only source on the planet.

That's not at all true.

Microsoft will licence WMA to anybody that wants it, in fact iTunes for Windows is able to convert from WMA (unprotected) to any format that iTunes supports.

Microsoft has also released Windows Media Player for Mac which can play unprotected WMAs with no problems.

Ironically, the decoder chip in early iPod models (not sure if they still have the ability) was able to play WMA files but it was disabled by Apple.

AAC is a more "open" format, however Apple will not licence its FairPlay technology (to anybody) which effectively means you must use files purchased from the iTunes Store (excluding iTunes Plus) with iTunes, iPod, Apple TV and compatible mobile phones.