I don't know why, but a 2 week old article on Yahoo got slashedotted today.

"Yahoo Tech is reporting that the Microsoft Zune, having been heavily discounted for the holiday season, 'is currently Amazon's top-selling music player, beating out the new iPod Nano and the 80GB iPod on the 'Bestsellers in Electronics' list.' An Associated Press report even indicates that the Zune's newfound popularity has left it in short supply, sold out in many locations. Is this a sign that a true competitor, from Microsoft no less, has finally broken into the Apple-dominated MP3 player market? And will this spell more success for Windows-media based music subscription services like Napster?"

The comments to follow are filled of Zune peltings and folks wondering why someone would say Zune was #1 at Amazon when it's not anymore. In fact it only was for a couple days.

Anyhow, I replied with my take... I had to.

1st off read the date of the article. The fact is that there was a point recently where the "heavily discounted" Zune 30 players were #1 on that Amazon list.

I personally prefer the Zune because it's not an iPod. I am someone that has more iPods than most of ipod adoring fans here combined. (maybe not most, but I have several)

There is nothing bad to say about the iPod and they are great players as most of you know. Just because Microsoft is making a player now doesn't automaticly make the Zune suck though. The 1st coming of the Zune was just an entry into the market and it wasn't a bad player at all. Sure, it was not an iPod, but it works and sounds great.

The biggest problems that the Zune has is a) it's not an iPod and the young people today cherish an iPod like a cultural icon. Sooner or later, Archos, Sandisk, and Microsoft will make the iPod seem like Britney Spears. She's still ok, but I never liked her... ya, know. b) Microsoft is a target in the 1st place.

My daughter just decided to turn her sexy green Nano in for a pink Zune. I was concerned for her well being at school and expected her to come home in tears with a kick me sign on her back. (not really, but...) Well, she didn't. She came home and told me that she had friends that were like, "cool, what is that?". Still, iPods are much more popular and the weird commercials from Microsoft aren't doing a great job reeling in mainstream youth.

One other little story about choice (and this is to combat the, "I asked for an iPod and my granny got me a Zune" scenarios):

I was at circuit city 3 days after launch looking for some accessories for my Zune 80 and getting Spiderman 3 for my son. I was chatting with an employee at the MP3 display. A mid 40's man walks up and asked where the iPods were. They were on the other side of the display we were at. Just then, a cute 15-16 year old blonde girl said, "this is the one I want". The man said, "I thought you wanted an iPod?". She said, I really like this one though. He asked the employee I was talking to how much the "Zoom" was. The employee said, "I am not sure, hold on a sec". I jumped in and said that it was $149 and she'd be better off with the 8gb for only $50 more. He ended up buying one.

The long and short of it all is "I" personally prefer the Zune for the same reasons that most prefer the "iPod"... Because it's an iPod. I am the same guy that can afford a BMW, but won't because of the implications that owning one tells others. (sure, some drive them because they are very nice, but a lot do for the status of having one)

Discloser: I run a Zune Blog, so my opinions are biased, but I also totally disclose my opinion in my Fanboy Disclaimer (http://tinyurl.com/2wtf34)

Sorry I am so long winded. :)