When I first saw the story about Microsoft claiming the iPod costs $30,000 to fill as opposed to a much cheaper Zune subscription, my first thought was "they're still making the Zune?" Then my second thought was "Microsoft has completely lost it."

Apple has in the past been a bit fuzzy and exaggerated with its claims about PCs, but this one is just ridiculous. Claiming that it costs $30,000 to fill an iPod is at worst a major distortion and at best a blatant insult to the intelligence of consumers.

The reasoning is that, to fill an iPod, users must buy 30,000 songs from the iTunes store, one at a time, for $1 a pop.

...anyone see one or two flaws in this reasoning?

Apparently, in spite of all the great music that came out of Seattle in the 90s, the concept of the CD never made it to Redmond. Either that, or everyone at Microsoft threw out their CDs five years ago.

Then even if you don't own a single CD to put on your player there's the concept that, well, you have to buy iTunes songs one at a time, and that you have to fill your iPod to capacity, and only fill it with music rather than, say video files or games. I'm no lawyer, but you have to see how Microsoft is only barely toeing the line of truth in advertising at this point.

If Apple's ads assume that iPod buyers and insecure and desperate to feel hip and look fashionable, then Microsoft must assume that Zune buyers are... well... stupid.

13 May 2009