Are People Really Moving To ‘The Social’?

Yes, indeed they are. The Zune has been on shelves and in hands for two weeks now, and tech analysts have decided to pay Microsoft and its sales sheets a visit to see how things are going with ‘The Social’. While it’s been doing its thing near the top of the charts, it hasn’t been breaking any records either. David Ellis at CNN Money took a look at the scores so far.

Ellis let in on NPD’s director of industry’s telling of the stats. “It’s a very good first week showing… considering it is a new brand.” How does that translate? I think it was best summed up in Bill Gate’s declaration of the iPod as “phenomenal, unbelievable, fantastic,” while later musing on the Zune’s iffy presence amongst the standalone mover and shaker of the portable music player industry.

Over the last few years, digital downloads have taken a strong hold in music sales around the globe and helped halt the free fall Sony BMG, Universal and others were experiencing. Innovative services like iTunes and Rhapsody have accelerated the adoption of Web 2.0 essentials, like media distribution over the Internet, valuable recommendation engines, all-you-can-eat subscription plans, and more. Nearly all shows signs of growth; some on a record-breaking, year-over-year scale.

I think it’s fair to say the existence of such services will be instrumental in getting people to buy albums, singles, select tracks and pre-releases in larger and larger numbers in the seasons to come; 2007 is already forecasted to bring unprecedented revenue figures not only to Cupertino’s #1 campus, but the music industry, movie studios and the films they push out to consumers over broadband, and even independent artists flying across the digital divide solo, many of whom would never see success if MySpace remained a mere phantom.

Music, movie, and television delivery over copper and fiber is the next stage, and regardless of how old-fashioned studio execs have conducted their business decisions in the past, the only way they’ll survive – and how well – will be directly proportional to the speed and grace with which they drop tradition and tread new waters.

There’ll be a day when the iPod and Zune and all other PMPs (Personal Media Players) will no longer spot the same facades as they do today, but the mission behind the next generation of devices will remain the same: give people what they want.

The Zune might not be a phenomenon (it took 9 percent of the market in its first week in stores; 7 percent the second week), but it’ll surely have a hand in bringing more people to the Web 2.0 table, and right now the digital cuisine appears endless, so if you haven’t done so already, grab a “plate” and help yourself to the buffet.