While the article doesn't mention the tobacco lobby being behind it, it would be incredibly easy to see.

After all, the companies that are being hit primarily make non-brand pods for Juul. Of course Altria (for example) would want to shut that down.

the tobacco lobby has been VERY active over recent years at a national level trying to get the FDA to crack down on vaping, so that only things like Juul and other "buy at the convenience store disposable" brands are available... the market which is pretty much completely dominated by the big four companies.

They would love to to get rid of off brands and local mom and pop shops.

I don't know about the rest of the country, but since I'm currently sitting in the EPB market that was one of the two area submitted to the FCC I'll have to disagree with you.

Our entire local service area is (more or less) fiber ready, with full speed access available from office complexes down to lower-income residential areas. The sections that initially rolled out weren't "Come to our city" showplaces, but instead established areas both commercial and residential.

At my home (in an average suburban neighborhood) I pay _I believe_ $70/mo for gigabit access (which btw is bidirectional... I test out at around 930mbps both upstream and downstream to the EPB central servers).

And since this is Chattanooga, there are plenty of backwoods trailers and rural houses that are really enjoying their new high speed access without having to be in a "highly profitable" section of town.

And believe me, the areas here and there that don't have access yet are pretty much champing at the bit to get it and be able to drop Comcast like a hot potato. (Which might I add, you should see the Comcast ads around here. They almost seem desperate, but that might just be personal bias) ;)

It discusses:
- MS Zune's does not work with MS Windows Vista
- MS Zune's incompatibility with (even) MSN Music Format (you have to rebuild your music collection)
- 4 registration's before buying music from the Zune music store (when player installs, MS passport, Music Store Website, Tag registration)
- Zune points for buying music, to mislead consumers on the price of music (1 Zune point > 1 dollar, thus 0.79 ZunePoint looks cheaper)
- Zune player WiFi music share expires songs shared after 3 times listening or 3 days (whichever comes first)

Hilarious!

You know, this is the same basic list I see over and over of people complaining about the Zune... mostly by people who have never owned or even used one.

I have two of the things, actually. I originally started with a Rio Karma, and got a 4gig Nano to use while exercising. When my Karma died (I felt like someone had shot my puppy) I was in the market for a new player. After using the Nano for a year or so I knew that an iPod wouldn't be a good choice for me.

I ended up getting my wife a Zune for an Xmas present (Had a lot of 'Customer Reward' certificates built up, and got the thing for next to free. Figured 'Why not give it a shot?' Got her the brown one) While I was loading up music that I ripped from her CDs so that when she opened the box on Christmas it'd be preloaded, I really liked the thing so I went out and got myself one.

She loves hers, and the interface was super easy for her to use (her first player) and she raved about the color. She loves being able to put her own pictures as backgrounds, watch videos in the car, and whatnot. She gets me to load music, so it's no biggie to her.

As far as I'm concerned, I think it's a great player. Easy to use, great sound and video quality, etc. Sure you use the Zune software to load music, but I had to use the Rio software for the Karma, and for all intents and purposes you really need to use the iTunes software for the iPod. (I know you can use MSC, but if you do then you lose so many of the 'bells and whistles'. And is it really that much of a pain to drag and drop onto a progam instead of into a folder?)

So that's my background. Now then, that list.

1) The thing works fine with Vista. And it has since about 2 weeks after its launch. A-Ok. Not a problem at all. And when you consider that at the time the business version of Vista had only shipped a few days before the patch was released, does that slight delay matter? Ok, it's a 'ha-ha' point, but that's all.

2-4) These are all points about the Zune software, not the player. And since you can use the software for just about any player out there (it's not actually Zune player specific), it doesn't have any bearing on the player. And since I worked at a music store for waaay too long, that %40 discount I used to get (and leave me broke)I really don't give a darn what they do with the store. I've got a couple of thousand legally purchased CDs worth of ripped music to listen to.

5) The 3x3 thing is really an issue with people? Of course M$ will try to limit people giving out free copies of everyone within 50 feet of the player. I would too. And how in the heck is the player supposed to know whether you're trying to share a new track by your brother garage band or some top 40 hit? "Really, that Creative Commons bit on that track is valid... reeeaalllyy..." I can understand them doing it that way, and in all honesty if someone wants to listen to it more than that just email 'em the thing.

Hmm... other complaints....

Battery life is crap - Well, I'm getting about 12 or so hours of playback under normal conditions. That's with a decent volume, pausing quite frequently as annoying co-workers seem to not want me to finish a freaking song. Oh, and with a 1min backlight and the wireless turned off. (I have no desire to squirt at work)

It's freaking ginormous - Doesn't seem that big to me. Comfortably fits in my hand, or in a pocket. Might be big for an armband, but then again anything larger than a Nano is. Plus with the case material it doesn't seem anywhere near as prone to scratches as the iPods tend to be.

No games - Is this actually a problem for people? Well, the Zune'll have 'em in 2008 if so. Personally I think that's just silly sniping.

Most of the other complaints I've seen revolve around two things. 1) The Zune software and 2) M$ rolling over and taking it from the RIAA. The software doesn't bother me (and at least it doesn't completely bork my entire computer the way iTunes 7.0 did) and I couldn't care less about the DRM put on the store purchases since I'm not using it anyway.

Once you actually use one of the players, you'll see it's an impressive first outing. Sure the thing has some rough edges, and some things I'd like to see (that yes the iPods have, most of which I saw them steal from the Karma (gapless playback for one)) but all in all I'm very happy with mine, and looking forward to see what M$ will do with the hardware with future firmware updates. (we've had ... err... 2 (?) so far... maybe 3)