James Yencken

Is this the one you bought richard? http://www.dse.co.nz/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/en/product/XH8273

I wonder how much money will be extracted from the Publishers (and hence the developers) to license this branding from Microsoft?

I'm an iPod fanboy (on my 4th since the very first 5gb model) but I'm totally impressed by the Zune. While I probably won't be purchasing one of these (unless they work with iTunes), I don't have a problem with Microsoft entering the market - competition is always good. I think the competition to date has been focused purely on feature fodder that the public at large doesn't really care about (such as built in FM radios and voice recording) and not on innovation.

Zune's wifi sounded like more of the same, until they announced the sharing with friends feature. Something like this could totally change the way we find out about new music. It could end this music-nerd's often repeated frustration: the age-old story of being told by one of your friends about this 'cool new band' and either not being impressed by their description and not pursuing it, or trying to find the band but forgetting the name.

Wouldn't it be fantastic if ALL the manufacturers implemented this as a universal standard? Call it "Music-Share" - or something like that. Of course, manufacturer-specific DRM means this will never be the case. And most likely Apple will be too proud to implement a feature from their biggest competitior.

I'd be interested in seeing a similar article that rounds up the marketing hyperbole for all 3 consoles. Everything from Nintendo's hints at a "revolution" to Sony's hilarious claims for the cell processor. While in recent months all 3 marketing departments have exercised a little more restraint, there must be a opulence of overstatement in their back catalogues.

"And if you tell anyone that bush is there, I will come to your house...

AND I WILL CUT YOU!"

Jesus, that was absolutely painfully stupid to watch. While there was a nice collection of funny Microsoft clips, the voiceover was absolutely over the top. Plus they missed out on the classic Bill Gates guest-star appearance in Doom: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1690609421579845295

I've heard unconfirmed reports that the "One More Thing" event will actually be a public apology to die-hard mac zealots for the Mighty Mouse. Xenophobic mac-addicts were so terrified by the prospect of a multi-buttoned mouse that they lobbied Jobs in a continuous harassment campaign of abusive emails and unwanted pizza deliveries. Steve eventually submitted to their demands and so tomorrow will be announcing a new one buttoned mouse. The mighty mouse will be quietly put to rest. It seems mac rumor sites were mis-directed by the "One More Thing" invitation's movie curtains, when they should have been concentrating on the word "One".