Given the current holiday sale prices on Zune players, is it worthwhile to go with a high capacity player? Or does the small size of a flash Zune trump that?

How important are the capacity differences between a Zune 4, 8, and 16?

And, how does the new Zune Pass model affect your choice of player to give?

Each of my three daughters has a Zune player, so I asked them to weigh in. See this discussion in our forums for gift-giving advice.

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I became a naturalized US citizen five years ago, and have been a political junkie for longer than that. Believe me, politics are a lot easier to understand in the states compared to my native land, Canada.

I’m spellbound by this 2008 campaign. It’s a thrill to be on the brink of a truly historic moment in US history.

There’s a lot on the line – but let me confine myself to the scope of this blog. What’s at stake for Zune in this election?

More than you might think.

Let’s set aside Joe the Plumber for a moment (you’re welcome!) and consider Jane the Music-Lover. Zune’s fortunes depend highly on one factor: how much discretionary spending is available in Jane’s budget.

(Yes, I just implied that Zune is a discretionary purchase. My personal credo is that three Zune players are essential, and anything above that is discretionary. But I recognize that I may be an anomaly.)

Jane’s about to make her Christmas gift-giving list, and her personal wishlist. She knows that Zune players are at the high end of the digital player market. For this holiday season, and for the four years of the next administration, will Zune stay on those wishlists, or get crossed off because of financial worries?

The US president has only a limited influence on the discretionary spending power of American consumers. But it seems the economic policies of the next administration, and how they affect the majority of American families, is going to drive consumer electronics sales in general, and Zune sales in particular.

Jane, wherever your political beliefs may fall, I hope you’ll be with me in casting your vote in November. This is one dance you don’t want to sit out.

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With Version 3.0, Zune gives you personalized music recommendations, based on your listening history. These dynamic rec’s come to you via customized Zune channels, and ‘Picks’ for you in Zune Marketplace.

It’s a great concept, and I’ve personally found the track suggestions to be pretty sound. The trouble is, they’re not dynamic enough.

I’d like to see new recommendations appearing, instead of the (more or less) same set that I saw three weeks ago when 3.0 was released. (What has your experience been?)

Is this because of the playcount lag that has resulted from the increased demand on Zune servers? Or does the recommendations algorithm need work?

Either way, this feature will benefit from a tweak or two.

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This afternoon I am mulling over an intriguing post from Zunerama member WillysJeepMan. He notes how the 3.0 update offers significant enhancements for “connected” Zune users, but not so much for “standalone” users.

He offers 8 updates he’d like to see in Zune, including sleep timer, 5-star ratings, video playlists, and on-device picture rotation.

A post worth reading. See all eight suggestions, and the reasons for them, here.

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We love our toys, with all their buttons, settings, features, and firmware.

But let me offer this perspective: It’s just hardware.

It gets replaced every year.

Most player makers are hardware-oriented. Their strategy depends on buyers repeatedly making the choice to stay with their product, when the new lines are released each fall.

Part of Apple’s brilliance is their success in drawing an emotional attachment from their users, that compels them to return to iPod again and again when they’re at that decision point. (And, it doesn’t hurt that they make great products.)

Competitor products don’t have Apple’s cachet, so this strategy has worked extraordinarily well for Apple.

And each fall, Apple breaks new ground when it releases its updated players. It has to. Competitor offerings will catch up, and if you don’t give your users a new reason to stay, they’ll switch.

We’re seeing that now with iPod Classic. It has stagnated woefully, and my perception (anecdotal as it is) is that Zune hard drive players are filling the void with new features you can’t get in an Apple hard drive player.

It suggests that – other than your tiny investment in DRM’d content from iTunes Store – there are no real barriers preventing people from switching from Apple to competing products.

And that’s the downside of a hardware strategy.

So, contrast that with Zune’s approach. The notion of connecting people with music from other music lovers is part of Microsoft’s drive to redefine how people interact with digital media. This new ground has the potential to be as compelling as any “Web 2.0″ community phenomenon out there. It draws people in, and they in turn draw others in.

In this strategy, people become entrenched in the Zune environment, and their attachment grows as more users invest in and add to that environment.

It’s not transient like hardware. It doesn’t get discarded every fall with a replacement offering. People stay in – because going outside means leaving behind the investment and rewards of being part of that environment.

I don’t want to trivialize the importance of hardware, or the engineering genius behind great player hardware like we see from Apple. But I’m placing my long-term bets on Zune’s strategy.

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