The Amazing Descent Of Zune's Amazon Rank
After the Zune's launch hype and the initial not-so-great reviews (including Seattlest's hometown rag's hilarious evisceration: "I've spent a week setting this thing up and using it, and the overall experience is about as pleasant as having an airbag deploy in your face."), but ultimately it's a consumer electronics device and the proof is in the Amazon Sales Rank. A P-I blog noted that the Zune debuted in the second position behind only the mighty 30 GB iPod video Black, but from our vantage point it looks like it's holding steady at number 9...wait....10...12....19- Hell, the thing updates hourly. Right now it's at 19 on the mp3 player list at Amazon.
That means there are eighteen mp3 players that are selling better than the Zune. Twelve of those are some version of the iPod and a few are from SanDisk or Creative. One is unfortunately called the miJam Drummer and is made by Sharper Image, the same company that has been taking care of Seattlest's high-end executive desk toy and lumbar massaging chair needs for years, although, admittedly, it costs $19.95. Actually, upon further investigation the miJam gets funnier - It's not even an mp3 player. It's some kind of virtual drum set. Expanding the scope beyond mp3 players to include everything that Amazon considers "Electronics" we find that the iPod is still number one, but the Zune has dropped to a lackluster 70, outpaced by a bunch of cameras, some GPS navigation units and a couple of digital picture frames that cost nearly $200.
If you haven't finished Christmas shopping for Seattlest yet we're very happy with our Nano, but we would be tempted to throw it in the dead tech drawer if you got us the Daisy mp3 player kit, despite the problems Rocketboom anticipates getting it onto airplanes.
