Microsoft/Creative Labs "Plays For Sure..."

...Wait, no, try it again.
...OK, one more time.
...How about NOW????
...OK, Give it another shot.
...This time for sure.
...What other apps are you running?
...Do you have all the latest drivers?
...When was the last time you upgraded your motherboard?
...You're not using a KVM switch or something, are you?

Promotional literature for "Napster to Go" says:

(from http://www.napster.com/ntg.html)

"Now you can fill and refill your compatible MP3 Player without paying 99¢ per track.* Get all the music you want in a whole new way..."

"...* Napster To Go works with selected players from Creative, Dell, Gateway, iriver, Samsung and others."

Pardon my attitude, but this wording actually left me optimistic that "your MP3 player" might mean "my MP3 player," or at least one of the three or five MP3-capable devices I own. None of them was on that list, but having so many devices, I figured among them would be one of the "others," and it would work with Napster to Go. So I signed up.

Of course, after much experimenting I was disappointed to find that I had wasted my first couple of weeks of Napster To Go.

I toyed with the idea of pirating the music I'd downloaded from Napster, and then rationalizing the piracy by the fact that I had been paying the proper rate for making copies, I just wasn't able to make those copies. But I'm not so much the pirate as the Fake Cowboy.

So rather than fighting the system or bypassing the system, I decided to give in to the system. I bought a Zen Micro, the second unit listed on Napster's "featured Napster to Go-compatible players." I figured this was a sure bet. I had everything on the requirements list. But I did notice a little "firmware updates" link next to the Zen Micro on the "featured Napster to Go-compatible players" page.

(http://www.napster.com/compatible_devices/index.html)

You have to update your firmware first, so that it will run Microsoft's "Plays for Sure."

So I bought my Zen, and when it arrived I went to the "firmware updates" page.

(http://us.creative.com/local/1/firmware/zenmicro/eula.asp)

Where I found the following (bold) phrases (this is cut and pasted directly from their web page, the bolds were added by me):

"Creative Zen Micro PlaysForSure with Windows Media Player 10 Update
IMPORTANT: This is a beta (unfinished) version of this update. Before installing beta firmware, you should understand that a beta release does not have the stability of released Creative firmware. You could experience problems while using it."

Is it just me, or have I just now bought something very expensive that might not work, which uses in its marketing the phrase "Plays for Sure?"

It is to laugh.

I have heard that this is Microsoft's issue rather than Creative's. Maybe. Let's deal with saving Microsoft from their eternal damnation separately, it may require some work.

So, maybe Microsoft is at fault. BUT...Here's what I do know:

There is nothing forcing Creative to continue selling a product to me and you and our kids, based on claims that it will work with Napster, when that might not be true. I consider this akin to robbery.

If the Zen Micro firmware works with Napster, call it non-beta shipping software and remove the scary "lawyer-proofing" language from the website.

On the other hand, if the buyer "might experience problems," that's not a product that can be called compatible with Napster. Take that claim off of your website, Napster and Creative.

Grrrrrrrr.

Is it just ME???? My buddy Robert says that there are other hardware products that ship with beta software, and the "real" software never comes out. Whaddaya say?