“What are you in line for?” asked one ignorant passerby the hundreds of people in front of the Apple store in Palo Alto. “Zunes!” someone yelled back and the crowd broke out in laughter. Is the Zune really only a joke? Microsoft is still working hard to uncover an innovative business model for its struggling music handheld. Now ZuneScene, a fan site devoted to Microsoft's portable music player, is again reporting (Engadget already rumored back in November) that Microsoft has filed a patent for a system to compensate Zune users for sharing music wirelessly.
It would allow you to share a song within a certain limited period of time (3 days), regardless of its source (own CD collection, a file-sharing network, or a Zune Marketplace download) with other Zune users. The person receiving the file could use it three times, then be forced to pay for the song. If s/he decides to purchase the song from the Zune Marketplace, you get a small commission, for example points good for buying other songs from the Marketplace.
Combining the social with the monetary - an interesting idea that would allow Microsoft and content owners to monetize the huge traffic of free files on file-sharing sites and elsewhere. ZuneScene comments: "The system would essentially convert illegal music into legal music. It would also give a strong retail presence to Zune by creating 1 million traveling salesmen of all ages. "
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