The Microsoft Zune is marketed to a different brand of people than the average MP3 player user. Many people use and buy MP3 players that don’t use computers and aren’t particularly computer savvy. In fact the extent of many of those users proficiency will consist of moving songs on and off the MP3 player, checking their email and word processing.  That is not too say that using the Microsoft Zune requires a technical no how beyond that of the average user. It does not, in fact it is a very easy to use and straightforward device. But people who buy the Microsoft Zune are buying it from a more discerning point of view than some MP3 purchasers.

Many purchasers of MP3 players are buying them because of mass marketing campaigns have told them that they are the coolest or hippest MP3 player to have for that particular demographic. Go to any university campus on the planet and you will be awash in a sea of iPods.  Then there was a techno-cultural backlash against the iPod amongst computer users which people in the tech industry rode to the purchase of many creative Zen’s and other similar devices.

The Microsoft Zune has not marketed itself at any particular demographic. Not to say that the device hasn’t been marketed. Let’s face it, Microsoft is the giant machine of our times, and any product it makes is going to be known about far and wide. But the Zune isn’t the recquired tech toy of our time, but people are buying it. So why?

People buy the Microsoft Zune who know what they want in an MP3 player. They are looking for a durable, stylish and user friendly device. They are looking for a device with an intuitive interface. They want a device with a view screen for viewing video that at least is big enough to see the image you are trying to view. They want a device built by a company that has proven to be the single most influential force in technology in the last decades.

The Microsoft Zune does not need to be targeted with gimmick ad campaigns in order to recruit people to its use. It has two very sturdy legs to stand on without that. The first is the gigantic name brand recognition that being a Microsoft product brings to it. The second is that it is an excellent and well designed device.