Shut up, hippie and sell me my music!

My Zune should be arriving tonight...I couldn't be happier.

I've been suffering with iTunes¹ since I bought a Shuffle² earlier this year. While I'm guessing the crap software MicroSloth has created for managing the Zune is barely better...it must still be better.

All the carping and complaining about the Zune Marketplace vs. the iTunes store is amusing to me. I don't want to buy very much music from either place, as I like my music DRM-free. So while I might pick up the occasional track now and then, I'll mostly be sticking to mp3s that I rip or of podcasts. I don't care if Universal is in MS's pocket on this. I don't care if Apple has the biggest music store online. I just want a damn player for my music (and videos, I suppose.)

And finally, there's this. If I didn't already hate Steve Jobs more than I hate Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer combined,³ I now have all the reason in the world to stay away from iPods. From MacWorld, of course:

Perhaps the difference can best be summed up this way.

iTunes = Passionate record store employees a la High Fidelity.

Zune = Landlord of the property occupied by that record store.

Yah. That's who I wanna hang with. A patchouli-reeking wasteoid record store hippie.

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¹ This, seriously, must be just about the worst software on the planet. I can't move my iPod from computer to computer (block the DRM-protected software if you must, but let me copy my mp3s) without clearing it out; the storage of ripped files is flat in that why-would-you-want-to-create-hierarchical-folders? Apple-y way; and even the podcast interface is goofy.
² So, do Mac-heads think it's "normal" that when I put mp3s on my Shuffle they aren't always cued to the start? 'Cause where I come from, that's called a "bug".
³ Have you seen Ballmer? It looks like he ate Paul Allen and Woz. Combined with Gates that's a lot of mass and jackassery. Still better than the Tool Formerly Known As Jobs.