The month of November is an exciting time for many gadget freaks. In the gaming front, both the Nintendo Wii and the Sony PlayStation 3 will officially be released to the public this month ending years of anticipation for these next generation consoles.In the portable media camp, another highly anticipated release is also being prepared. This is for Microsoft’s Zune digital music player, which will also be released this November. A lot of buzz is being generated around the Zune as it is being touted as an iPod killer what with its WiFi feature that would allow Zune owners to exchange songs wirelessly.
But Microsoft is also stirring things in a different manner when it announced that it will be paying the Universal Music Group for every Zune player that it sells. This move has the potential to change the way business is done with regards to online music.
This could be Microsoft’s attempt to try to break the stranglehold Apple has on music companies when it single handedly built online music trade with iPod and iTunes.
If Microsoft’s move becomes successful it could prompt other companies – cell phone manufacturers for example, to also start sharing a piece of the hardware sales alongside that of the sales of online music.
This is one precedent making move and one that needs to be followed closely.
[tags]Microsoft, Zune, iPod, Apple, Universal Music Group, Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation 3[/tags]