SKIRMISHER

The only good thing you’ll find so far on the official Zune site is the clip of a wonderful song by Regina Spektor, New York’s current “Queen of Cool.” Who knew that something like Microsoft would end up indirectly convincing me to check out Regina’s new Begin to Hope album.

The empty site, however, has a funny edge to it: the track, titled “Us” somehow doesn’t fit what Zune is about. Anybody who knows the song and its lyrics will realize that Microsoft or whoever created the site cleverly cuts the music right when the song reaches a certain part that seems too “rankling” for Microsoft’s taste.

The following lines are the opening part of the “Us” lyrics on the Zune site:

“They made a statue of us
And it put it on a mountain top
Now tourists come and stare at us
Blow bubbles with their gum
Take photographs for fun, for fun”

But the site fades out the music so you won’t hear the next stanza:

“We’re living in a den of thieves
Rummaging for answers in the pages
We’re living in a den of thieves
And it’s contagious”

I can understand why Microsoft wouldn’t want to be caught saying things like “den of thieves.” But maybe to be on the really safe side, instead of Regina’s “Us,” what Microsoft should have used is Metallica’s “Seek and Destroy”; that would have been fitting in the context of Microsoft’s gentle, empathic principle of flattening out the competition.

As for Zune, I’m witholding my love for the mean time; much of the noise, anyway, resembles the usual pap Microsoft feeds its spin machine. I think I’ll wait first for something that doesn’t point me to vaporware.

Stumble it!