This is a response to the International Business Times’ report that the new soon-to-be-launched Microsoft Zune is going to hurt “Microsoft and partners more than Apple.”

Their take… there are two camps right now, one is Apple, and the other is Microsoft’s partners who sell music using MS’s WMA audio/DRM codec. Their belief is that the one who will hurt the most with the Zune is the partners, who are going to be squeezed out and it will just turn into a Microsoft vs. Apple battle.

My take… Yes, that is pretty much true, but do I see anything wrong with it? No, because would Microsoft be doing this had their partners actually competed with Apple? No. Right now Apple and it’s iPod hold a 72% market share of MP3 players while all of Microsoft’s partners combined carry the remaining 28%. To me, this is just Microsoft telling the little guys, “You had your chance, you failed, and now it is our turn.”

There is a reason Apple hasn’t put any innovative features into the iPod (I’m talking far beyond giving it a color screen and allowing it to play movies), because they haven’t needed to as none of the challengers had come up with anything innovative themselves. In it’s debut release, the Zune will alone have wireless capabilities, an FM tuner, & file sharing capabilities, things I don’t see the Apple introducing into the iPod anytime soon.

Don’t read this thinking I’m anti-Apple/iPod and pro-Microsoft, I’m just desperate for more competition to create more innovative products. When I was shopping for an MP3 player two years ago, I was really unimpressed with the offerings out there and eventually just settled a small Dell Axim PDA, not much bigger than an iPod, and that has given me far greater options and capabilities than a traditional MP3 player. Still, it’s limitations are enough to make me crave a true MP3 player, but I have nothing to settle that craving until someone offers something worth spending $250-$300 on.