Soon we’ll be able to drop our dedicated devices and focus on having one device that does everything, email, Zune pass, an actual web browser that doesn’t sometimes act like it was coded at an Amway rally, you know the works. What we haven’t heard yet is the exact feature list for what these devices might have. Let’s take the Windows Phone minimum requirements for example. Although makers are required to include FM radio they aren’t required to include HD radio. That doesn’t seem like a big deal until you remember what the “Buy From FM” feature using standard radio was like. Without HD radio most users won’t be able to get the correct metadata that the service needs to successfully identify the track you are trying to download. In essence rendering a core function of the Zune firmware somewhat useless.
I’m interested in trying to understand how you, normal Zune users identify as the Zune experience? What is essential to the way you would use the service on other non-Zune devices? What’s core to your Zune that isn’t you just can’t live without?