Microsoft Is Making a What?

Microsoft's product lineup at this point is incredible: Software add-ons, operating systems, applications, games, game consoles, game hardware, computer peripherals and now, portable music players. Yet with each new entry the user response is the same. I like to call it The Five Stages of Microsoft Product Acceptance.

There's no way apple can compete with their flimsy, over-priced chick toys.

Really, if Microsoft is willing to lose money on this, they'll win. Why? Because Jobs refuses to pander to Sony et al's demand to raise the price on downloaded songs, which has caused them to pull away from the service. But since every other music service sucks far more than iTunes, things are still going well for Apple.

But, if Microsoft still charges a buck per song with Xtunes and pays more overhead to Sony in order to bring them back into the digital distrubution fold, they'll have more songs on offer right at launch. After that, they'll be able to gradually raise prices to recoup their initial loss to the record companies after they run off their competition.

But it could all be moot if the thing doesn't at least match the iPod's features. Damn, that thing is svelt.

Joe:
svelt

We'r all doomed!!!:D I wonder if Microsoft have any job openings.

Actually, "svelt" is Icelandic for "starved" (specifically, the feminine conjugation) as in "Hún var svelt" literally meaning "She was starved".

"Svelte", meaning "Attractively thin; gracefully slender" is derived from the Italian word "svelto", meaning "stretched out"
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/svelte

I doubt Micro$oft can compete in a marketplace as crowded as music players. They only seem to do well when they are competing with 0-2 others like in consoles, operating systems and office suites.