zune has blown it by not doing this first

[ACE]

Actually, if you ask me, I would say Apple is the one playing the "me too" role in this situation. It wasn't until Zune came along, did the whole idea of a 'social' media world come into play. Apple was content with their solitary devices and media software. Zune and, in part, things like Myspace really turned heads and got Apple to change their paradigm.

Sure, there were platforms out there where music is shared (old style Napster, and Limewire) but Apple still kept iTunes pretty much a solitary media store; you listen to your music and ftw what others thought.

Agreed, this is something Zune shoulda thought of or shoulda come out with first, but I think Microsoft has got even better ideas on the way (I truly believe the Zune Marketplace will be opened up to have profiles, playlist sharing - almost like Myspace meets Zune). Apple may have beat Zune to the punch on this one, but it's an attempt to get in on the 'social' fad in a different way. Who the hell runs widgets anyways? They're on vista, but I'm not sure if most people would even know this is a feature on iTunes... does it even work on windows?

Apple is playing catch-up in the situation IMHO....

[dead jim]

i agree that the zune is what most likely, at least in large part, gave apple the idea to do this with itunes, although the success of last.fm, ilike, mog, and others, i'm sure, contributed. but itunes still had this first.

i think you're dead on about zune marketplace or zune.net getting opened up for profiles and the like, but, for some reason, it's not there yet, and that's really a bad move.

that said, i, like everyone else, am eagerly awaiting zune 2 to see what happens.