The Zune was supposed to be Microsoft's answer to the iPod, so it's fair to compare them. The article also isn't talking about the "poor adoption" of the Nook (which seems to have excellent sales) but the poor reviews (possibly caused by poor implementation). And the parallels drawn between the Nook and Zune did seem reasonable.

Of course, I understand where you're coming from. I feel the same way when people knock Windows Mobile.

Steve

Hmm, Dan's article reads like somebody who started with a conclusion and then drew up arguments to prove it, rather than the other way around. I have not touched or seen a Nook, but it seems that it has already sold faster than B&N expected - which is very unlike the original Zune - and it has entered a market that is far smaller (so has far more consumer targets out there) than the MP3 player market had when the Zune was released.

If B&N is aggressive about software updates to deal with performance issues with the LCD (I doubt that there is much that they can do about the e-ink display without doing what Amazon did - get the manufacturer to dial down contrast to improve page turning speed), can continue to improve the store, can get publishers to relax lending restrictions over time (which, remember, as limited as it is, it is at least there, unlike the Kindle) - it should have a better chance to compete with the Kindle.

Remember, by the time that the original Zune arrived, Apple had already sold 50 million-ish iPods, and were announcing the flash-based Nano, and then, when Microsoft upgraded the devices and matched the Nano with a flash-based model, Apple was announcing the Touch (and had sold 50 million-ish more iPods). Amazon has nowhere near that headstart; we'll see if they have some radical technological improvement in the near-future to make the Nook look like last year's Kindle.

"with many pundits that still believe the iPod and Zune are the same"

Huh? I think they view the original Zune as competitive to standard iPods, and the ZuneHD as competitive to the iPod Touch. So you view the Zune Pass as something revolutionary that makes it an entirely different device? The iPod can sync with Exchange and the Zune can't, and so on ... my point is that it is not unreasonable to view them as competitive devices even if they don't match features one-by-one.

The Zune-Nook comparison makes sense to an extent since they are seeing loads of promise but loads of issues with the Nook ... just like the original Zune. I agree that it is forcing a comparison for the sake of ... I dunno.