I had the OG white Zune. It was the same price as an iPod ~$250. The reason I chose Zune was the Zune Pass. A precursor to Spotify. Plus growing up in the Seattle area, I knew other people who had them and we would trade songs.

I completely forgot you could "squirt" songs to other Zune owners. What a time!

(Brown launch model here.)

100% - the iPod wasn't just good enough, it was more than enough for almost everyone. The Zune was firmly in the diminishing returns category by the time it came out.

Yep. To overcome an incumbent that sells a very good product and has momentum, it is almost never enough to be somewhat better. You have to be "knock my socks off" better.

The Zune may have been somewhat better (until the nano and iphone), but it wasn't enough better to overcome the ecosystem switching costs.

Not much difference between storing as many songs you can listen to in a lifetime, or storing twice as many songs as you can listen to in a lifetime.

me still thinking about the iRiver H320 I was lusting after...

My Zune 30's still kicking! Ipods aren't.