BERLIN: With a 75 percent share of the U.S. market for portable digital music players and an 85 percent share of paid-for music downloads, Apple's iPod-iTunes combination seems to have a lock on the business.

That is why Steve Wilson, a consumer electronics analyst, was so surprised this month when he read the results of a survey by ABI Research of 1,725 randomly chosen owners of digital media players. To Wilson's shock, 58 percent of iPod owners told ABI they were likely to buy a Zune, the new player Microsoft plans to start selling in the U.S. market on Tuesday, and in 2007 in Europe.

"The idea you get from Apple is that everybody loves iPod and iTunes and that they've got the market sewn up," said Wilson, an ABI analyst in Boston. "But this shows that iPod users aren't very loyal and the market is up for grabs."

"On its face, I don't think the first incarnation of Zune will have much of an impact," said Jason Armitage, an analyst with International Data Corp. in London. "They still have a lot of catching up to do with Apple, and their first go round will probably not send the competition running."

But some analysts say that Microsoft will tap its vast resources to eventually turn Zune into a contender.

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In related news, 75% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

I don't know about the statistics, but one of the things that I like about my iPod is iTunes. I like the fact that I have a one-stop-shop to purchase music, burn music CDs, rip CDs, listen to music, and listen to my music. I don't have to use5 different programs in order to do what I want to do. My understanding is that that this is not really possible with the Zune

I wonder if you will hear about the scratches on these ?? That really upset me with my iPod. I had it for a week and the amount of scratches that were on it made it look like it was a year old ..

Yeah I agree Apple needs to drastically improve the quality of the coating. Although then all the millions made on iPod cases would be lost...