From the Dark Side--Initial M$ Zune Sales are Tepid

According to a variety of reports, Microsoft's Zune hit the market yesterday with a thud. The MP3 player that is aimed at dethroning Apple's iPod was met with relatively slow sales (e.g. this CNET report). Although, at our publication time, Amazon.com listed the black Zune as 7th on its list of top 100 consumer electronics items. Numbers 2, 3, and 4 were iPods--the black 30GB iPod, silver 2GB iPod nano and black 80GB iPod. Then there were 7 more iPods before getting to #40, a brown Zune. After 2 more iPods and a large number of other MP3 players, the white Zune was #70. [Bill Fox]