The title claims its dropped to $200, but then it states its going to $199. Well, which is it? Don't you realize that single dollar could be the factor that causes millions of people to decide one way or the other on purchasing this thing!

This will be the end of the iPod as we know it, as people flock to the Zune. The crappy MS interface will not keep them away now that it is such a deal.

R.I.P iPod

I have owned 7 iPods since the very first iPod... I can't ever recall a "wobbly" scroll wheel... or ever seeing one, for that matter.

Ha ha. It's more like dozens if even who might consider a device that is to quote the Zune review at engadget, "not very usable, and definitely bug-ridden".

It's thicker, heavier, and incompatible with even MS' own DRM! It'll just make MS bleed more money. Can you say, I burned billions of dollars on a fail product?

I think the best episode out of recent history to illuminate what is happening here is when the Zune came out at $299, in a hope of undercutting the iPod, Apple had already designed the next iPod at a lower price point, and ended up embarassing Microsoft. Would you rather have the market leader for $249, or the upstart for $299?

I've been trying to decide what that episode teaches us about this one, exactly. I think it comes down to two things:

First, Microsoft is trying to avoid being embarassed again. If there's a better iPod available for $249, the Zune loses at $249. If there's a comparable iPod available for $199, the Zune loses worse at $249.

I think MS will regret this move, though. Even if Apple releases a Zune-crushing model for $249, it's going to hit Zune sales pretty bad, even if the Zune is cheaper. I think a solid $249 iPod is really likely, and I also think that the new line-up will change the game of what features people expect.

The second lesson is probably about the Zune 2. If they are lowering the price on the Zune now, it's likely that they plan to keep the $199 price point for the base model Zune. To me, this and other reports suggest that they are going lighter, more service-based, with a small $100-$150 model, a regular $200 model, and a higher-capacity $250 model.

I think Apple is going to eat that for breakfast. The shuffle and Nano will undercut the miniZune with more features, the midrange iPod will have more features and appeal for $200-$250, and there will be a high-end iPod that MS doesn't even try to compete with.

last 2 words should be: failed product

And with that price, MS will be in the hole even more than before. It is my understanding that they were selling them for $250 (or $249) at about $50 loss. Now, for every Zune, they'll lose $100?? Having alegedly sold over a million so far, thus being $50 million in the hole, if MS ever reaches 2 million units, they'll be digging even bigger, $100 million hole. Now, we all know MS has cash to burn; however, between the x-Box, Zune and a few other money-losing products, how long are the shareholders going to take this bleeding before someone pulls the plug?

MS still has a lot of cash to burn, this is true. However they're not making as much money as they have in the past. Vista has been a disappointment, Office isn't doing so well in light of the decision yesterday to not adopt Open XML as the standard for documents and their most recent forays into the technology market are flops. Anybody can buy market share but at some point they have to show a profit. I don't care how much of the game market the XBox has captured-it's been on the market for several years and still isn't breaking even. The same is true for the Zune-it won't be a success until it turns a profit.

What ever happened to that Microrsoft Music Store thing? Oh, wait, their still developing the brand name on that too (which is why I can't remember it).

So what software does the Zune work with? It has something, doesn't it?

Dropping the price to $200 is a surprise. Especially after they gave so many away for free. I would call that raising the price to $200.

The very few people who are using this thing, have obviously not used anything but Microsoft software and like hardware in order to give this thing a 94% satisfaction rating. They are used to errata. It's totally normal to them.

As I said long before today, the new iPod device will come out just in time to crush the pretenders, the Zune would go the way of the DJ thing from Dell except for the probability of Microsoft throwing even more shareholders money at this thing (like they did the Xbox) until they force it to turn some sort of profit (which it might never do because they are combating Apple and not Sony). In the meantime, they'll lie about it.

Bring in your iPod proof of purchase and get a free Zune?

M$:" It's part of the normal product lifecycle, something we’ve had on the books for months. "

mm-hmm, it's right there in their marketing plan: "After a year, if we barely make a dent in the MP3 player market we can drop the price."

the MS Music Store is called, "Microsoft Marketplace", I think, and it works like this, last I heard:

You buy points with your money and use your points to purchase songs.

You get 400 points for $5.

A song costs 79 points.

So, basically, a song is the equivalent of ~99 cents only you have to do all these math gymnastics to figure that out. WTG Microsuck.

...you price it...a t*** is still a t***.

$200 for a 30GB Zune or $249 for a 80 GB iPod.. decisions, decisions!!!! :P

microcrap just amade another announcement !! they pay you 200 bux plus shipping if you get a zune within the next year.

...until MS announces the 80GB Zune for $200?

The Zune was already been discounted to $220 since forever with "instant" price drop and "instant rebate," but after a year+, all Ms will say is that 1 million Zunes were shipped and that sales exceed expectations which means even they are surprised they've sold several hundred thousand ... now with the touch and the different sizes ... Zune is even more dead even at $200 ... Zune is like New Coke - Ms will try and let it quietly fade away many years from now so hopefully no one will notice it's YET ANOTHER consumer failure (MSN, watch, Talking Barney's, Xbox ($16 billion in the hole is NOT a success) ...

the price to $50 and it still wouldn't sell.

...is that brick still out? Nighty-nite Zune. And please close the door behind you when you go.

Once again Apple has taken an idea previously presented and run with it. Microsoft bringing out Zune and giving it wi-fi should've been a great feature, but leave it up to them to botch it up. If you're gonna bring out wi-fi AND at the same time introduce a brand new Zune Store (or whatever the heck it's called), make good use of the wi-fi capabilities from the start by allowing it to connect to the store or your computer to wirelessly download music. And of course that's just what Apple did with it's new iPod touch. I think Apple is heading in the direction where soon you won't need wires to sync at all. Totally wireless syncing and downloading between your iPod and your computer will be coming very soon now while Zune owners can "squirt" a song or two with a friend (if you're lucky enough to find one with a Zune in squirt mode, HEH HEH).

I actually just *tried* to play with a Zune for the first time at CompUSA. The unit wouldn't power on. But I was struck by the form factor: how thick and heavy the thing was. I won't comment on usability, but the thing is damn ugly. The unit not powering up gave me warm fuzzies thinking about all of the times the Mac hardware sat forlornly, booted to an error screeen or something, or without a mouse, at my local BestBuy or Circuit City stores, before Apple launched the CompUSA store-within-a-store and their retail Apple Stores.