Zune users, welcome to the anti-social

Let's say that you were a high school student, full of excitement and youthful vigor (what doctors normally call "hormones"). Now let's say that your school invited you to a social and it was hyped up to be one heck of an event--way better than the shindig going on at nearby Cupertino high. Now let's say that you walked into the social only to find that 50 percent of the boys and 50 percent of the girls had firmly attached themselves to opposite walls of the gymnasium, choosing a staring contest as their only intramural activity of the night. Would you be dissapointed? Of course not, you're a geek: you would simply take your place in the lineup of losers and pass the time by sipping on punch. Okay, bad example.

At any rate, it has been revealed that about 40-60 percent of the songs sold through Microsoft's Zune Marketplace will not allow sharing over the Zune's WiFi connection, at the behest of the consumer's best friend, major record labels. So let's see, Microsoft has been touting the Zune's "social" aspect as the device's primary advantage over the iPod and now we find out that the "thee days or three plays" sharing feature is even more crippled than the company initially revealed? If you ditched your old Plays For Sure tracks, purchased a Zune, bought all new tracks from the Zune Marketplace, tracked down another Zune user and attempted to finally experience "the social"--only to have your hopes dashed--well, that would have to sting more than a slap in the face from the head cheerleader.

For the latest proof that the Zune is destined to fail:
- see this Engadget post