Zune is Here, But Just What Are MP3 Player Owners Doing?

Mark Mulligan | September 15, 2006, 04:52 AM

So Microsoft unveiled the Zune player and Zune Marketplace music store / service last night, hot on the heels of Apple’s revamped iPod range. For more details on both take a look at Michael’s blogs (Apple) (Microsoft).

By fortunate coincidence Jupiter just happened to publish a new report last night that examines the habits and behaviour of European iPod owners and also of European owners of other MP3 player. (If you are a Jupiter client click here to read it).

Microsoft should pay heed to one of the key findings of the report: the majority (80 percent) of MP3 player owners simply don’t buy digital music regularly. Even among MP3 player owners digital music purchasing is the (very) poor relation of free music consumption, both legal and otherwise. iPod owners actually demonstrate slightly more positive trends than other MP3 player owners, demonstrating the strength of the iPod/ITMS proposition, but only slightly.

So Microsoft, don’t rely too heavily on the Zune Marketplace ecosystem too heavily. It’s an important differentiator from the non-Apple competition, but most MP3 player owners still use their devices to rip CDs and store freely sourced content.