Some people say I'm a Microsoft fanboy (I sure the hell am not an Apple fanboy!), but truth be told, I'm not. There are many thing I don't like about Microsoft - there are many things I have to say about some software it distributes or the way it conducts business at times - but at the same time, I say Microsoft is great. It has some great, great products and the world would be lost without it. And I think, that if you are ever talking about whether or not a company is great, if there is another company out there that is in close competition that the other company must me mentioned in the same sentence - much like Canon and Nikon. So Apple is that other company. I don't hate Apple. Sure, I don't like them, the products, but Apple as a company is great. Great advertising, knows how to make things that people will want to buy, knows how to create loyal (and snobby) followers. But personally, everything that Apple makes is a waste - to a point. Everything that Apple has made has either competed with others making the competition better, or created something new that the competitors tried, and tries, to make better. The best example of this is of course the famous iPod. iPod is everything! The term that we have created for streaming audio clips over the Internet, podcasting, will forever be associated with iPod, even if (very unlikely) it dies away. While iPod didn't start it all, it sure did lead the way. It took so much MP3 player market share that the other guys were so lost; they could not find their way into people's shopping carts remotely as fast. But that's a good thing. Why? Competition.

Competition is what makes this world so great. We would be nowhere without competition, especially in the gadget world. The best companies (to bring up Microsoft and Apple again) were started because they wanted to be the best. It's natural. So, it's natural that if a company was the best in everyone else's eyes, that other companies would want to overthrow them. Naturally. Many tried to overthrow iPod of course. Oh so many. Sansas, Archoses, ZENs, irivers, iAUDIOs, Yepps, Walkmans. The list goes on and on. But none of them could, of course. But why couldn't they? Was it because those products weren't as amazing as the amazing iPod? Or was it because the other companies weren't as well-known? I think the latter. Some ZENs and irivers were way more ahead of their time than iPods (and still are somewhat)! But, those products did not prevail. The name of Apple, its image, is what kept its product alive. The flaws that the iPod had were overlooked. The deteriorating battery life overtime, the constant, constant scratches; the iTunes music store, the inability to change the battery on your own. The iPod fans ignored these faults, so too did the to-be iPod fans. The Apple name is what kept them alive.

And then another name came out. Microsoft. It had already taken over the gaming field - Nintendo at one point was on top with the N64, and then the PS2 from Sony came out and somewhat threw that off its thrown, and then the Xbox came over and took it all over; now the 360 is the best guy up there - and now it would try to take over the portable audio field. But how could it? It was more than half a decade too late! iPods were in more than half of the MP3 player kids' pockets! Could it take over? Well, it had to try. And so it did. It released the Zune in November of 2006. It boasted a much larger screen, much better color quality, much better OS, and a much better online downloading service. It also added this other thing. Wi-Fi. We all use Wi-Fi on an almost day-to-day basis, but not in the same way the Zune does. Granted the Wi-Fi wasn't used to it full potential, limiting the Wi-Fi to only connect to others to send files, but even that was amazing - the idea of connecting to another player. But somehow, having a well known name of Microsoft somewhat backfired. Ironic. The Apple fanboys were still on top. But that didn't mean that Zunes were pushed away, it did manage to steal about ten percent of the market by letting others into their social; it isn't second place, but it's a close third behind SanDisk. Yet, the technology that the Zune brought to the market had a great effect than the actual product did. The larger screens and that new thing in MP3 players called Wi-Fi was a big jump. It meant that the iPod was starting to kind of fall behind. They hadn't really released anything really good, anything really new and amazing like they were known for. So they went back to the drawing boards. We all know what happened next (and most recently), the release of that iPhone and then the release of the iPod touch, an iPhone without a phone. That iPhone without a phone also had Wi-Fi like the Zune, and it added a touch screen (which may or may not make a lot more people complain about scratches and smudges). Competition at its finest.

But the Zune did not die. Oh no! It's down, but it ain't out. There were some leaks in Microsoft that led to ZuneScene obtaining info on the new Zune, but prices, specs, and photos. It's now all over the web. Alright, now for the details. The guy at Microsoft told ZuneScene yesterday that there are three new Zunes coming out. Two Flash-based Zunes (codename Draco) and one new hard drive based Zunes (codename Scorpio). Sized 4GB, 8GB, and 80GB, respectively. He also said that the screens were amazing and that they did away with the circle navigation. They're adding a squircle. Now, I didn't know what that was either, but I found out it's a real shape that is a mix between a circle and a square (not a Pokémon), so basically a square with rounded edges (much like half of this site's layout!). This will be the player's navigation. Pink, Red, Black, and (army) Green were mentioned as colors, but only shown for the flash-based Zunes. The 80GB Zune only has black listed, but who knows. Pricing will be the same as the new iPods, $149, $199, and $249, respectively. And launch date? Next month. October 16th. That means you get to play Halo 3 for a few weeks and then buy one (or all three!) of these guys. But, there's still no word on battery life nor Wi-Fi. We know that the iPod touch has a music store and Internet via Wi-Fi, but no word on that for the new Zunes. But let's be honest, I want to listen to music and watch videos on my Zune, not browse the web. I have a phone for that. All-in-one devices suck (a la iPhone). So what does this all mean? Apple has the next move? Well, it just released the new iPods last week. And who knows, this Zune may not be that great; or you know what, it might be a hit. I think that Apple was really smart to bring back the "classic" iPod because I know there are a lot of people out there who do not want to be touching their screens the whole time while listening to their music. But on Microsoft's end, it needs something really great to bring in a lot more customers. Either something banging that the guys haven't let slip, or make those old things more banging and work a lot better, or of course the new iPods could just not be as cool because they are stealing their designs from other products under the same companies and then Zunes rule all. Who knows. We won't find out for a month or two. I'm buying the new Zune though, Insha Allah, right when it hits. That's how I roll. Okay, that's all folks, I gotta get to class. Take care everyone. see u.