Microsoft sets price for Zune and its Marketplace

It seems Microsoft wants to get their hands in every pie. From being a software maker primarily, they moved onto hardware, gaming peripherals, game consoles, and many other gadgets. While this is unexpected for big companies, it does pose a question of how much these guys are ready to spend just to get into every market. The presses had been speculating about the Zune long before it was released. And while the product itself was pretty good, the pricing was still up in the air. Well, Microsoft has finally revealed the prices.

The 30GB version of the Zune will be sold for $ 249.99 when it goes for sale on November 14th. The pricing of the music is again in two choices: You can either buy a monthly pass for .99 which will give you hearing access to all the songs in the Zune marketplace. The catch is that you won’t be able to listen to songs once the pass has expired. If you want to permanently buy any song, you can make it yours for 79 Microsoft Points. These points, by the way, can already be used on the Xbox 360, and you can buy 80 points for a buck.

“We had to look at what was in the market and offer a competitive price. We’re not going to be profitable this holiday but the Zune project is a multi-year strategy”, said Scott Erickson, Microsoft’s senior director of product marketing for Zune. The Zune marketplace won’t be offering videos at first.

People looking at this might put off their Zune deals since it’s on par with the price of a 30GB iPod and doesn’t offer any clear advantage. Well, let me tell you otherwise. Firstly, Microsoft is in the process of building a huge online service, Live. If Microsoft has their way, it will probably cover every device they can get access to. Secondly, you only have to look at the game console market to see the similarities.

When the Xbox came out, the PS2 had pretty much beaten the whole field and was merry on its way to being one of the largest sold consoles of all time. People didn’t give Microsoft a chance. And why would they? After all, Sony had been the darling of game console makers for the last 8-10 years. And yet, even though the console didn’t beat the PS2, it did sell a lot. Part of the reason was the curiosity of the gamers towards Microsoft’s console. And the console wasn’t bad after all, which meant that it kept selling.

Likewise, even though the Zune might not beat the iPod within its first generation, I’m sure Microsoft has a lot of money to keep it up for long enough. And who knows? It might just sell!

It seems Microsoft wants to get their hands in every pie. From being a software maker primarily, they moved onto hardware, gaming peripherals, game consoles, and many other gadgets. While this is unexpected for big companies, it does pose a question of how much these guys are ready to spend just to get into every market. The presses had been speculating about the Zune long before it was released. And while the product itself was pretty good, the pricing was still up in the air. Well, Microsoft has finally revealed the prices.

The 30GB version of the Zune will be sold for $ 249.99 when it goes for sale on November 14th. The pricing of the music is again in two choices: You can either buy a monthly pass for .99 which will give you hearing access to all the songs in the Zune marketplace. The catch is that you won’t be able to listen to songs once the pass has expired. If you want to permanently buy any song, you can make it yours for 79 Microsoft Points. These points, by the way, can already be used on the Xbox 360, and you can buy 80 points for a buck.

“We had to look at what was in the market and offer a competitive price. We’re not going to be profitable this holiday but the Zune project is a multi-year strategy”, said Scott Erickson, Microsoft’s senior director of product marketing for Zune. The Zune marketplace won’t be offering videos at first.

People looking at this might put off their Zune deals since it’s on par with the price of a 30GB iPod and doesn’t offer any clear advantage. Well, let me tell you otherwise. Firstly, Microsoft is in the process of building a huge online service, Live. If Microsoft has their way, it will probably cover every device they can get access to. Secondly, you only have to look at the game console market to see the similarities.

When the Xbox came out, the PS2 had pretty much beaten the whole field and was merry on its way to being one of the largest sold consoles of all time. People didn’t give Microsoft a chance. And why would they? After all, Sony had been the darling of game console makers for the last 8-10 years. And yet, even though the console didn’t beat the PS2, it did sell a lot. Part of the reason was the curiosity of the gamers towards Microsoft’s console. And the console wasn’t bad after all, which meant that it kept selling.

Likewise, even though the Zune might not beat the iPod within its first generation, I’m sure Microsoft has a lot of money to keep it up for long enough. And who knows? It might just sell!