Microsoft's Funky New Math Doesn't Add Up

How much are you really paying for that stylish iPod? Microsoft has some thoughts to share on the subject.

Geek.com blogger Christian Zibreg writes:

Microsoft is clearly focusing its anti-Apple advertising campaign solemnly on pricing issues alone, hoping the tactic would strike a chord with consumers who see their wallets shrink in this recession. . .

That said, I had to scratch my head hard over the latest Zune advertising.

The ad . . . has “certified financial planner” Wes Moss pointing out that, at a buck a song, filling a 120GB iPod with à la carte tracks from the iTunes Store would set you back a whopping $30,000. The ad concludes with the argument that it only takes $14,99 a month ($179,88 a year) to get the same amount of songs (”and millions more”) with Microsoft’s all-you-can-eat subscription service dubbed Zune Pass, first unveiled mid-November 2008.

Zibreg, however, isn't sure Microsoft's math adds up:

Adopting Microsoft’s school of thinking, I could as well argue that it would take 250 years and $44,970 to fill a 120GB Zune with songs that would remain mine once I stop paying monthly subscription fees. Here’s how.

At $14,99 a month, Zune Pass subscription service lets you download any song you like, as long as you keep paying a monthly fee, but you can also keep forever ten songs you get to choose each month. Stop paying and you lose all songs you subscribed to, except a growing selection of ten songs you chose each month. These rules of the game mean it takes 250 years to gradually fill the capacity of a 120GB Zune with songs that you actually own, not rent - or $44,970 in monthly subscription
fees.

Unlike Microsoft, Zibreg admits his numbers game doesn't play very well in the real world. People fill their music players with content from all kinds of sources. Mostly, however, they fill them with tracks ripped from their own CD libraries or acquired from...ahem...unsanctioned online outlets.

The biggest problem here, however, is Microsoft's willingness to compare iPod apples with Zuni lemons. Those a la carte iTunes tracks download DRM-free; they're yours to keep, and you can play them anywhere, on any device.

As Zibreg points out, most of those Zuni tracks are DRM-protected and tied to a monthly subscription fee. Miss a payment, and your music library turns into a digital pumpkin patch.

Microsoft's advertising assumes you don't care whether the tracks you "buy" come shackled with DRM. Or maybe it simply assumes you don't know the difference. Either way, it's another reason why the Zuni is still a product that can't even play second fiddle to the iPod, much less call the tune.