After non-stop criticism throughout the Internet of Microsoft's entry into the portable media player market, the Zune has attracted the attention of males in a couple of age categories.

Men aged 18-24 and 45-54 have demonstrated more interest in searching for information on the Zune than the iPod.



We would guess this could be attributable to the newness of the the Zune coupled with the general male curiosity about new gadgets, since the iPod has been on the market for some time now. That's just how guys are, really.



When it comes to search and the two portable media players, there is very little contest. Hitwise analyst LeeAnn Prescott blogged that the week ending December 9th showed the difference:

A chart of search volume for 'ipod' and 'zune' shows that the share of searches for 'ipod' was 3X greater than the share of searches for 'zune' for the week ending 12/9/06. Not bad for a product that's only been on shelves for three weeks.

Another report Prescott referenced, Hitwise Search Term Suggestion, related how people have been searching for Zune or iPod along with other terms. That report noted some 9,062 terms observed along with iPod; longtime Microsoft observers won't be surprised that 666 terms accompanied Zune.



"It makes sense that young males would be checking out the Zune, but what about 45-54 year olds? Are they older geeks (early adopters too), or parents of teens?" Prescott asked in her post. Nah. Like we said above, it's a guy thing. Wherever you find an elaborately designed miniature railroad operating in someone's backyard, you'll find a middle-aged guy wearing an engineer's hat.



As for the younger audience interest, who knows? Maybe Microsoft's marketing is working?



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Tag: Zune



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