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Microsoft's bullheaded foray into the music-player market, despite Apple's complete domination, seems as silly a proposition as entering the seemingly impenetrable videogame console business in November 2001. The only problem is that the success of Microsoft's Xbox is a fluke which owes much to Sony's missteps and runaway sales of Halo. The Zune, in all its redesigned glory, has no such killer app — just the same music, more or less, as Apple's iPod. And the Zune's main selling point?

Wireless sharing of music, a feature that was intentionally crippled when Microsoft first introduced it, and now rendered irrelevant by the spread of DRM-free music downloads. A music store redesign and the launch of a social network are hardly compelling reasons to purchase a Zune. And what would be a true marketplace differentiator, a subscription plan the likes of which Apple CEO Steve Jobs has said he has no plans to offer on the iPod, is tied up in legalities. If we were to adopt the Zune as a global currency, it'd be about as worthless as a ruble in the '90s.