Zune reaction in Cornwall

After a restful vacation in Cornwall, England, near Goonhilly Downs, we are back ready to report on new Zune news. Thankfully, Microsoft has had the decency to wait until we got back before starting the launch process off.

Whilst we were in Cornwall, mixing with stressed families, eco-warriors and surfer dudes, we tried a small informal survey, asking people if they had heard of Zune at all. Nor surprsignly, no-one had, but it's early days yet. But once we explained that it would be Microsoft's new iPod type device, we got almost universal laughter. "No way - they'll never catch the iPod".

Interestingly, once we explained that Microsoft might actually pay for new version sof all tracks downloaded from iTunes, some ears pricked up, potentially making this offer a deal maker.

Of course, the other thing for Microsoft to worry about is the fact that many people have spent money on variuous iPod attachments, such as docking stations and (in our case) car connections. As these things can cost $300+, then it's obviously something that buyers need to consider. Once thing that would solve that is a small dongle that would plug inline and convert a Zune data/power socket to an iPod data/power socket... hmmm.