@Daniel and Aaron
Basically, it's a switchboard and it goes in a control room at a TV station, and it's how things get on the air. Buttons pick the source, and it puts out whats on that monitor. That's what it does.

@everyone else
why not have the speed controller be a T-Shift for transitions and not device speed?

oh, my. Just don't let him near a chair...

Here's my take on this. Who here has heard of the Kleenex brand of facial tissue? It's a pretty big brand. That said, Puffs Plus, I've found, is softer and less irritable to the skin, especially when they added the lotion feature. And yet, people still say, "go out and get me a box of Kleenex", even though it is not as soft. Why? That's a matter mostly of longevity, and in some ways, marketing. This is similar. Zune (Puffs) has a great feature set, ad has since day 1. So has iPod, but it wasn't quite as stellar, but people talk about iPods whether they are iPods or Sansas. It's not a matter of which is better that attributes to market share, but what they are more familiar with. Microsoft's offering is a great one, but they certainly need to put themselves out there a lot more, especially with teens. That's just my take.

BTW, I have an iMac and a home-built PC (on PC right now). I don't side with either company.

Me? Obsessive of Zune? naw
*downloading*

@steve
It is JVC, The Japanese Victor Company. In the US, they go by JVC, but in their home country, they call themselves Victor. If you have a JVC electronic laying around, look at it's FCC label. It'll probably either say Japanese Victor Company or Victor Company of Japan.

Grant I'm a longtime Zune customer, so I'm a little biased, I think the Zune will definitely have a few things over the iPod. First off, Zune Marketplace on the device, which is wonderful if you have a subscription or credit card tied to your account. HD radio will certainly be nice, especially where I live (Atlanta) because Cumulus Radio offers a lot of HD radio, and it's browser (i assume) will have flash lite given its a windows device. If it doesn't, I'm betting a Skyfire hack will come out quickly after release to replace IE. Also, it'll be lighter, smaller and brighter. Another redeeming factor is the Zune desktop software, which certainly shoots Windows Media Player out of the water, and is a fairly wonderful alternative to iTunes. Another thing I would like to point out, every time Zune launches a new device, they put out the firmware for older devices. This means (hopefully), all zunes will get IE and the other features, with exception of what the hardware forbids, of course.

@Bandigolo
What Apple will probably do have the Apple Store staff wear a shirt that says: "Zune: you have to install every feature by hand, and iPod works out of the box" or some false slander such as that. Sorry, I'm a bit bitter at them right now.

ironically, thats the Microsoft Silverlight ad on it's screen right now...

@Chris
You're right in saying that the average user, and certainly the below average user (The type that prefers "AOL's internet" over "Internet Explorer's internet" because "it has more websites and googles") are definitely not going to use this feature, but there is always a case where a user who works from home on a Home Premium (I assume that's the name, correct me if I'm wrong) may need the feature. Aside from that, I believe they're saying its BYOXP, which is 95% or more of the space anyway, so it's not a big deal. Then again, I may be wrong on some of this.

Skyfire anyone?

Because Apple told them it was. I'm not an Apple device hater by any means (I run an Xserve and a MacBook Pro), but I think that the iPod is soft of like Kleenex. It's the most popular, but it's not the softest or the strongest, thus not the best.I'm not saying iPod is the worst, but it's certainly not the best. Besides, Zune has some good solutions that it brings to the table. For instance, it's more personalizable with a background and Zune Originals, has online music services across the entire line, and is (in the case or rev 2 and 3) very well designed. Perhaps devices should be judged on merit instead of how many apple logos are on it.