More Corporate Thieving, Compliments of Microsoft.

Apple Matters | Zune Marketplace's Absurd Pricing Scheme

So, the Zune is out and making all kinds of waves. I checked it out myself and wasn't really interested for a variety of reasons, namely because I could give a f**k about sharing music that I'm not allowed to own with friends when that music will expire in three days (which is one of the 'great' unique features Zune boasts), etc, etc. I represent the kind of consumer that doesn't own an MP3 player so that I can use it as a 'magic key' to somebody's online music store- I just want to put music on the thing (music that I own, music that I can transfer to ANY device).

Now, I have to say that I do not take sides on the whole 'Apple vs. Microsoft' battle-royale. Personally, I dig the iPod- I use it, I love it, BUT I have never once used the iTunes Music Store- not once. I mean hey, let's face it, if I wanted to load up my 'Pod' with 20,000 songs from iTunes MS (at $.99 a song), it would cost me roughly $20,000, wouldn't it? So, I'm not really into online music stores as a rule anyway, no matter who's counting the cash. That being said, I have to dog on Microsoft's new online endeavor (that's linked to the new Zune media player) a little anyway.

I'm a little put out by something I read recently about Zune Marketplace's use of a 'points system' in place of currency for buying songs. This is supposed to be so that XBOX Live users can win points (and for a few other reasons that seem largely inconsequential to me), but the whole equation comes out very shifty because there isn't an exact 1:1 correlation between dollars (or cents) and points. Microsoft forces you to buy points at a minimum of $5 blocks ($5 = 400 points) and their songs (which are 79 points each) come out to be like 98.75 cents per song. This is great right? Cheaper than iTune's 99 cents per song right? Well, sort of, unless you take into account that you have to keep buying in $5 blocks if you hope to ever break even.

You see, Microsoft essentially gets to pocket the inevitable left-overs because it's not 'real' money there in your account- you bought 'points' not 'songs'- end of transaction. So, unless you make it your personal mission to use all your remaining points up, which entails buying more and more and more points at a minimum of $5 each purchase, you'll never get as much music as you actually paid for- so are you really saving money when you're forced to spend more to get your money's worth? Not only that, but until you spend up all your extra points (which is undoubtedly an endlessly futile thing to attempt), Microsoft gets to use your unspent change as an interest-free loan.

And, in case anyone is wondering about how much purchasing you'd have to do at Zune Marketplace to use up ALL the money that you paid in, the only way that you could break even (without actually losing money) is to buy music in increments of 31,600 points ($5 = 400 points, 79 points = 1 song, and 31,600 is the LCM of 79 and 400). That means to get back ALL of your money, you are forced to buy 400 songs, which will cost you $395.

What a deal!?!