Most of the reviews and press I’ve read to date about Microsoft’s Zune player have been negative, mostly comparing it to Apple iPod which is now in its fifth generation. This hasn’t quelled my interest in going to the store today to check the Zune out on launch day (today).

Will I buy one? I’d say it’s still a 50/50 chance but I’m starting to wonder if that might be the only gadget this week I’ll be able to buy. I’m not hopeful at all for the PS3 on Friday and I’m worried about the Wii availability on Sunday after reading how Wii sports was getting nearly non-stop play at the recent Seattle Mind Camp.

Yesterday Microsoft had several Zune launch parties¹ around the country including one in Seattle at noon today at Westlake in Seattle.

Just a taste of the media and blog coverage
[video] CNET discussion around whether the Zune makes Microsoft “cool” or not
Applematters.com argues against the logic of using Microsoft Points (1.25 points = $.01 USD)
Bloomberg: “Microsoft Corp. plans to add a video-sharing feature to its Zune player and will eventually sell a model that combines the device with a phone, Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer said.”
White, brown or black? Gizmodo analyzes the different Zune launch colors.

Enough procrastination, Walmart on the hill is open 24 hours
Ok, the launch day excitement is calling, back later …

1. 11/25/08 3:20pm PST: original link: zune.net/en-us/social/launchparty.htm is 404. The original link pointed to a list of launch events. Wayback Machine cache [↩]

Did this post make you go hmm?

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