Is that 1 Million Zunes Shipped or Sold?

Bach should know. He's president of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices division. But did he perhaps mean to say "shipped?"

Stephen Baker, NPD's vice president of industry analysis, says he believes that Microsoft could have shipped 1 million Zunes. "They have not sold 1 million players through nor do I believe they will by the end of June," he said. "That number is likely to be around 750,000."

Microsoft's modest sales goal—at least compared to more than 100 million iPods—may or may not be in sight, depending on whether that number is shipped or sold.

It's easy to write off Zune, because of iPod's massive momentum. Plenty of people love iPod. My wife has a green iPod nano that she uses three to four times a day—at least.. She's used MP3 players for more than five years and never one model this much. It's the design that works for her: Lightweight music player hanging from her neck attached to Apple earbuds.

I like Zune, by the way, and it's not a point of marital contention.

Still, Microsoft presses forward, with new Zune limited colors—pink and red. There has been other progress, with Zune jumping to No. 2 in retail market share for hard-disk music players, according to NPD. However, Zune trails far behind iPod, in a category that, according to NPD, only accounts for about one-third of the entire portable music player category.

Maybe Microsoft should win over some of its own employees to Zune by offering a real iPod amnesty. For anyone missing the buzz at the end of last week, Rex Sorgatz's iPod amnesty bin Flickr pic generated lots of blog chatter. Microsoft couldn't—or I presume didn't—pay for publicity like this.

Apparently, the iPod amnesty bin has been a fixture at Microsoft's Zune headquarters for several months. It was more moral-boosting gimmick than real deal. There is no iPod amnesty—official or unofficial—at Microsoft.

But maybe there should be, with free Zunes to replace those old iPods. Some Microsoft employees might be willing to go Zune, if they didn't have to pay to replace an existing model. Surely, Microsoft could add the few thousand units to the number sold; each one is one closer to 1 million.

I suppose it would be bad form to extend any amnesty to PlaysForSure devices from Microsoft hardware partners.

As of Friday, in the heat of publicity, Microsoft had made no decision to remove the iPod amnesty bin. There should be no reason to do away with it, just because of a Flick pic and a little buzz. Keep the bin, Microsoft, even if there might never be a real amnesty.

Related Posts:

• McCartney: Zune Scores, iTuns Misses?, Microsoft Watch, May 22, 2007
• Zune: It's Not a Fire Sale, Yet, Microsoft Watch, April 30, 2007
• What Apple DRM-Free Means to Microsoft, Microsoft Watch, April 2, 2007
• Jobs Calls for DRM Freedom, Microsoft Watch, Feb. 6, 2007
• Allchin's Windows Media Device Lament, Microsoft Watch, Jan. 21, 2007
• Where's the 'You' in iPhone?, Microsoft Watch, Jan. 10, 2007
• Microsoft's Connect Lifestyle, Microsoft Watch, Jan. 7, 2007
• Whoa, Zune Is Social, Microsoft Watch, Jan. 1, 2007
• Welcome to My Social, Microsoft Watch, Dec. 25, 2006
• Zune Chips Away at iPod, Microsoft Watch, Dec. 18, 2006
• Microsoft's Music Madness, Microsoft Watch, Nov. 27, 2006
• Zune Goes to War, Microsoft Watch, Nov. 14, 2006