It seems to be your life's work to complain about the stories on MacNN not being Mac enough for you. If you can't see how this kind of Zune news relates to Apple, iPod, iPhone and even Mac, then there's really no hope for you. Why don't you just ignore the stories you don't want to read, and save yourself all that extra stress?

And Macworld does indeed post stories about the Zune - in fact, they had a full review of the latest models when they came out.

As if I needed another reason not to buy a Zune, here it is!

"they earn a coupon for a free bag of Doritos chips with map directions to nearby stores that sell the chips."

Continuing the fun and engaging "game" aspect of the interaction, the user must then visit the various stores until they find the 1.367 oz bag of chips that is reimbursed by the coupon. Once in the "nearby" store, the user must display the coupon on the screen of their Zune and give the device to the cashier to be returned once the merchant receives reimbursement. When the Zune is sent in for coupon reimbursement, they now know that you have an interest in Doritios, an exaustive Spice Girls collection, and a penchant for photos of bikini-clad cheese sculptures. Within two weeks you receive your new refurbished Zune loaded with valuable coupons and offers for related goods based upon your interests.

Targeted marketing at its best.

None of you seem to realize that there is a greater benefit bestowed on the user than free doritos. Advertising leads to cheaper products/music. Why not offer an ad based subscription service for users that want to pay less? and allow users to opt out of receiving adds by paying the normal price?

You guys just cant fathom a world where people don't want to get ripped off, eh? God forbid someone can't afford to download all the songs they want, and is looking for a method to get it cheaper.

Gee, you are right, I really do hate my Gmail account. And I really should terminate the free hosting I use for my web site.

I think people do realize that they can get things cheaper, on some occasions, when advertising is involved but it does not always work. Acceptance of advertising depends on the degree to which it is a barrier to performance. If I need to watch an ad before I can get something free, the something had better be compelling. If I am in a hurry, I am less likely to want to see an ad.

I am a very cheap person and I do like free things, but I have seen this done the wrong way many times. For example, free PCs with advertisements slowing the machine and taking up bandwidth from the free dial up. I have experienced free song downloads of questionable quality.

For the Zune, it is not an iPhone or a cellphone or any similar type of device where I would expect advertisements to appear over a relatively high bandwidth, connected device. If we are compare apples to apples, I would not want my classic iPod to start prompting me with advertisements, I just want to listen to my music. It might make sense for the Zune website to offer these extras where I have access to printers for coupons, space for downloads in an organized environment, and am more willing to explore and experiment. They would just need to differentiate between all of the other similar banner advertisements and games for free stuff that is already on the internet.

The right place, the right time, the right device, a compelling model. What is described is not compelling and sounds about as useful as the Zune's temporary song sharing which we all know has done so well so far [sarcasm].

Cheaper is not the point. The potential annoyance factor is.

The only way I could see that model possibly working is if Microsoft was giving Zunes away for free. Who is going to want to pay for a device that comes with advertising?