Or, as my Social status read:

"then unto the Zun3 Card came music from all faces & places"

On Thursday 8/7, I purchased Zune Pass for the first time. Zune Pass is one component of a multi-faceted Zune ecosystem. Zune Pass allows you to download an unlimited number of songs for a flat rate of $14.99 per month from the Zune Marketplace. Currently, the Zune Marketplace contains around 3.5 million songs. For perspective, the size of the Zune Marketplace catalog is roughly comparable to the offerings of Amazon.com's MP3 Store and the Rhapsody music service. Using Zune Pass, you are able to download music on up to three computers and three Zune devices. Overall, the premise is similar to the subscription-based services previously described. Yet, at the same time, considering what I have read about Zune Pass (I do my homework as an informed consumer), I think it will prove to be so much more. You can learn more about Zune Pass here.

I managed to get my family onboard with the idea. There are two other Zunes in our house. I think we will be putting Zune Pass to good use. For me this À la carte/subscription method is only a partial novelty. I am a college student whose college also pays for a campus-wide Ruckus subscription. Ruckus is a subscription service similar to Rhapsody and Napster, catered to US college students. However, I have never owned a Plays For Sure Device. So between the Ruckus and Zune Pass, I can only speak about the website/software integration. For the rest of my family this is a new way to consume music and they are open to the concept of listening to all the music they can for one flat rate.

I made some initial notes. I am curious about how much I will come to like this content delivery system by the end of the month. Pre Zune Pass, my total plays stood at around 9812. Among other things, I want to see how much music (in terms of total plays) I listen to over the course of this month.

Below are some of my initial reactions:

• Setup was quick, three browser screens in total I think.
• Canceling even quicker, one browser screen, one button.
• Connecting an unlinked Zune will cause the plays to associate with the Zune Pass account, or perhaps this will happen with any account that is signed into the Zune software at the time of syncing an unlinked Zune device.
• I didn't have to close the software, redo my DRM folder, or restart my PC to start using Zune Pass. It just worked.
• In downloading the Dance-Rock Workout Playlist (<-- Zune Deep Link), I recuperated my initial investment. This is assuming I put the same $14.99 towards buying the tracks in the playlist.
• Streaming from the software rocks! Having the plays count on my Zune Card?Even better.
• I encountered more artists in one night (my first night) than I have all summer.

Stay tuned for part two in roughly one month...