Hardware, Firmware, and Software
Here’s a quick technology vocabulary lesson for you. Hardware is the actual, physical device that you can hold (e.g. a Zune). Firmware is what actually runs on that device to make it work (e.g. what you see on the Zune’s screen). Finally, software is a program that you install on your computer (e.g. the Zune program based off of Windows Media Player). The Zune does very well in the first two of these three categories. In the latter, it fails miserably.
I’ll probably stick with managing my music through iTunes because of the AAC support and just use the Zune software to sync my music onto my Zune, at least until a newer version of the software comes out. Microsoft went for the iPod/iTunes integration level with the Zune and it’s software, and the player itself has me impressed. Really all the software needs is a few more management/editing features and I probably would be content with it, but as of now, it’s in desperate need of something more.