The launch of Microsoft's Zune was preceded by certain portents of lameness, and has increasingly inspired omens of failure. Now, Wired News is saying that the Zune's restrictions on sharing songs with other users will make the device pretty unhelpful to rising musicians trying to build word of mouth. Now a lawyer for Creative Commons is saying that "The Zune … does not violate the letter of the CC license but it certainly violates the spirit of the license and of free culture generally."
That's because the Zune allows users to play shared songs only three times within three days of grabbing them. Even if an artist has agreed, through a Creative Commons license, to let people pass his work around freely, Zune users can't really do that. In other words, Microsoft's efforts to keep record labels happy won't really aid much of the sharing-fueled hype that often precedes record deals.