Coming Real Zune Now?Coming Real Zune Now?

Microsoft, which obviously didn't learn any lessons at all from the failures of the "buzz marketing" that sank its Origami "ultra mobile PC" gizmo, has unleashed a strange (as in odd . . . very, very odd) Web site that may sink Zune, the media player it confirmed it will unleash on a breathlessly awaiting world later this . . . uh, should I say "year" here, or the way things have been going with Microsoft lately, would "decade" be safer?The Zune jokes have already started flying thick and fast ("Microsoft to release media player Zuner or later"), but the Zune site at http://comingzune.com may be the best joke of all. It should not be described. (In fact, perhaps it should not be mentioned at all, but what the heck, it's a slow news day.) It should be experienced.

It features a brief but pointless animation of a man perhaps drawn to resemble a sex offender petting a rabbit, with a soundtrack credited as "Us" by Regina Spektor. I had not previously heard of Ms. Spektor, and I can only hope that "Us" is not the best introduction to her work. She does have a new album out, coincidentally, called "Begin To Hope." If you would like to form your own opinion you can watch a video of Ms. Spektor here. For some reason my PC played the video, but not the audio. Perhaps it's just as well.