As our site grows and our audience increases we have faced questions about what direction we want to go and what audience we should cater to. Are our blog readers and forum members adults or teens, male or female? Are they gamers, gadget heads or music lovers? In our case we have a huge mix with many adults reading the front page blog but some younger members in our forums discussing everything Zune. We have members from dozens of countries translating our pages into many different languages. Recent statistics show females dominate the gaming industry with a full 64% of all online gamers being women and we seem to have a strong following with the ladies as well. We have decided we’ll do Zune to the MAX and try to offer something for everyone.

We’ve wondered recently though who the real Zune users will be. Who will adopt the device and use it most? Will there be a certain type user or demographics that attaches to it and makes it theirs? The iPod began life as the must have device for a younger generation. Teens, tweens and twenty something’s jumped on the cool style and hip marketing and made the term iPod synonymous with portable music. Information released just this week by Solutions Research Group shows that trend may be shifting. According to an article published in Digital Media Wire, the biggest year over year increase in iPod ownership was for people between 30-49, who comprised 12% of iPod owners in 2005, and 33% in 2006.

Has the market really shifted for Apple? Have the younger generations abandoned the device or has the more mature market simply surged ahead temporarily? Some are beginning to wonder if the iPod has lost it’s cool altogether. A recent article in the Guardian Unlimited titled “Why the iPod is losing it’s cool” offers an opinion on the matter. The author, David Smith, writes “The iPod, the digital music player beloved of everyone from Coldplay’s Chris Martin to President George Bush, is in danger of losing its sheen. Sales are declining at an unprecedented rate. Industry experts talk of a ‘backlash’ and of the iPod ‘wilting away before our eyes’. Most disastrously, Apple’s signature pocket device with white earphones may simply have become too common to be cool.”

If correct then David and the research done by Solutions Research Group backs up our own thoughts on who will find the Zune most useful. We feel that the wireless music sharing features of the first generation Zune players as they come “out of the box” have been tailored to the teen or youth market. The heavy restrictions on the wireless features of the Zune player seem geared towards security purposes by limiting what can be shared with the devices as well as who users can share with. For widespread acceptance amongst parents as a safe device for their kids the Zune will have to offer limitations in sharing of files. Wireless internet access and wide open file sharing are probably not the safe way to market a device that children may be using in unsecured or public places.

Microsoft may see an opening to steal the wind from iPods sails. David writes in his article for Guardian Unlimited; “Analysts warn that the iPod has passed its peak. From its launch five years ago its sales graph showed a consistent upward curve, culminating in a period around last Christmas that saw a record 14 million sold. But sales fell to 8.5 million in the following quarter, and down to 8.1 million in the most recent three-month period. Wall Street is reportedly starting to worry that the bubble will burst.”

Has Microsoft targeted the Zune to take advantage of this slip at an opportune time? That could explain the apparent rush to market with what has been labeled nothing more than a hopped up Toshiba Gigabeat. Does Microsoft realize now was the perfect time to strike at Apple and their dominant position in the DAP market by courting their most powerful demographic with a new cool device?

The limitations placed on the number of partners and how users actually share files seems catered to controlled groups of younger users. Possible scenarios may include smaller gatherings in home settings such as after school, weekends or sleep overs for socializing and music sharing. Public access Zune hotspots such as kiosks or “filling stations” as Zune Guy likes to call them could be located in any mall or retailer and serve as a gathering point for Zune users interested in meeting new people and sharing digital content. Kinda like the game aisle at Walmart where you can try out the latest game against local users in small group settings for a short period of time but far better. At the local Zune hotspot, music lovers can sample music under the 3 day / 3 play DRM from the Zune Marketplace via kiosk or sponsoring retailer as well as from a community of users gathered at or near the location. Zune spots could be located in high traffic areas or tied to existing WiFi hotspots where similar or related groups may gather. Whether or not Microsoft see this opportunity or will be able to capitalize upon it remains to be seen.

Zune sharing also holds implications for use by many others such as DJ’s and podcasters for example. The wireless broadcasting features in the first generation device seem to be limited for such uses now but if the demand exists as it seems to the market will force Microsoft to offer updates which enable full broadcast or even streaming capabilities for the Zune. Musicians or DJ artists could broadcast 3 day / 3 play DRM sample tracks as promotional materials at local clubs or music events so that in the future you can take the party or concert home with you at the end of an evening. If you happen to enjoy a particular DJ or musician you can purchase the track from the Zune MarketPlace and continue to enjoy it.

Of course many Zune users will buy a music player and have no need to share music with friends much less the general public and new people. But Microsoft may realize that in order to beat Apple at their own game they need to change the game. The wireless sharing features of Zune are probably not for everyone but the possibilities it offers for social networking amongst the younger crowd are intriguing to say the least. If Microsoft is able to develop a popular device that offers services similar to that offered by Xbox Live then they may well have the right product and service at the right time to take the cool factor from Apple and sweep the market from them just like that. Yes Apple will fight back and may well innovate beyond Zune but ask yourself if they will be able to endure a long drawn out battle for the top spot with Microsoft when they face so many other competitors entering the market?

There may well be a method to the madness that is Microsoft. They did not become the largest software company by mistake or through incompetence but instead by swallowing up the competition in the blackhole of cash in their bank accounts.