Angus Kidman05 January 2007, 6:24 PM
While there are plenty of vendors trying to suck some dollars out of iPod consumers with accessories and add-ons galore, evidence of a similar ecosystem for Microsoft's Zune is somewhat thin on the ground. Which companies are brave enough to even try?
The parallel between a natural ecosystem and the crowd of hangers-on selling iPod-specific accessories is actually pretty slight, but that hasn't stopped the notion of an "iPod ecosystem" entering the popular vernacular. While Apple itself prefers to use the phrase "iPod economy" (look at the dollar signs glisten!), the ecosystem nomenclature has been widespread ever since being popularised by the New York Times in February last year.
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Apple itself once went to the trouble of issuing a press release boasting about how many iPod accessories were available (and it didn't include the raft of unbadged products flowing from China). Clearly, having lots of armbands, swimming cases and bizarre charging mechanisms is one measure of how successful a digital music player has been. And on that measure, Microsoft's Zune looks just about as unhealthy as it does on most others.
While there are dozens of companies showing off iPod accessories at CES (a show Apple itself has traditionally eschewed), you can more or less count on one hand the number of exhibitors prepared to boast ahead of the show that they are producing Zune-specific add-ons. A handful of companies include "Zune compatibility" as a feature of otherwise bog-standard hi-fi equipment, but since that doesn't amount to anything more than being able to accept audio input, it hardly counts.
Memorex is showing off its range of Zune-specific protective cases, available in silicon, leather and plain old black. Obviously, any of these would be an improvement on brown. If, on the other hand, you think that having a brown music player is the best thing since sliced bread, then V-RODA is launching a set of high-quality audiophile earphones in the exact shade of the Zune, which it picturesquely describes as La Mocha.
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Logitech's new X-240 PC speakers, also debuting at CES, include a specialised cradle for the Zune. In a clear case of bet-hedging, however, it also has a similar feature for the iPod -- you choose by installing a customised tray into the cradle. Anyone want to take bets on which one gets thrown out by most people?
Beyond that, it's slim pickings. Corel is offering Zune compatible output from its InterVideo video and burning software, and Focus Enhancements is boasting that the Zune features its TV-out encoder technology. Frankly, this isn't an ecosystem, it's an eco-disaster.