Although after last week's announcement, many were the voices heard saying that Microsoft's Zune is a little more than an also-ran device, which offers little that an iPod does not have, at the beginning of this week, commentators are a bit more optimistic.

While many are in agreement that on the audio side of things, Zune has little chance of actually being a threat to iTunes, there are those who feel that the game has just begun, and that there is more to digital content than just music. Granted, there is more to digital content than music, there is also video, however, this matters little in the case of Zune.

The fact that Apple's own movie service is still very young and that there are other rival services out there that offer a lot more content might seem like a key differentiating factor, until you read the fine print.

Microsoft has released a Zune fact sheet, and if one bothers reading it, they will notice that Microsoft clearly states that "Zune software can import audio files in unprotected WMA, MP3, AAC; photos in JPEG; and videos in WMV, MPEG-4, H.264."

All the movie and music services out there make no difference, because, unless they are offering their content without any DRM, Zune is incapable of playing any of that content. The only DRM content that you can buy and use on the Zune is from the Zune Marketplace.

In the light of this, switching to Zune seems an even more unlikely turn of events, as that would mean having to give up on all the content you may have already bought. Of course, at one time, word was that Microsoft would be giving everyone that had a Zune and had previously bought music, compatible equivalents from their own store, but there hasn't been word of that lately.