- Zune stops playing current music during Wi-Fi, peer-to-peer music transfer, so you sit there in silence while waiting for the download.

This hefty list of problems shouldn't motivate anyone to write off Zune as a loser. All these problems can be corrected, and it's reasonable to expect that Microsoft will quickly fix many of them. Also, remember that Zune is a 1.0 release. Microsoft is in it for the long haul. It's only a question of which flaws Microsoft will choose to fix, and how long it will take to fix them.

But correcting every single issue on this list wouldn't turn the Zune into an "iPod killer." To do that, Microsoft needs a fundamental change of direction.

How to kill the iPod

The Apple iPod is beautiful, sleek and simple. Microsoft will never sell a media player that is more elegant than the iPod. That's just not going to happen, given the DNA of each company. What isn't inconceivable, however, is that Microsoft could create a Zune that's more desirable than the iPod. After all, the Mac is more elegant than Windows, but most people prefer Windows. And that's how Microsoft can kill the iPod: Make the Zune more like a Windows PC.