iPod-Ready Automobiles and Microsoft's Zune

The Washington Post reported today that Apple iPods will be compatible with 70% of the automobiles released by GM, Ford Motors, and Mazda in 2007. It's a move that's probably got Microsoft thinking, "How did we drop the ball on this?"

Well, the Microsoft project to compete with Apple's iTunes and iPod is called Zune, and it will be a behemoth undertaking, costing several hundred millions dollars over the next few years. Sci-Tech-Today's article explores Microsoft's answer to the iPod, which will be released in the U.S. this fall. Zune is meant to be compatible with PC desktops and XBox 360, its newest gaming system and will offer its own music program, most likely in the same vein as iTunes.

Early predictions indicate that the early expectations are low. "This is something that's going to be a three-, four-, five-year investment," Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices Division, said. Zune is predicted to be released in October or earlier.

The iPod already holds 75% of the portable audio market, the Washington Post article states, and with this new move, the device's reach can only get greater. The iPod is like the pet rock of this generation*! Even Jesus has a Nano**!

And the truth is, they're only getting better. Now, more than songs, you can download videos, podcasts, files, tv shows, Metallica songs, this, that, the thing over there. It's getting ridiculous. By the time Microsoft jumps into the water, the Apple monster will have ravaged some other part of the techno-jungle.

As a side note, the title of the Washington Post article reminded me of the South Park episode Trapper Keeper.

*Not Really.

**Not technically blasphemy.