It's the kind or advertising campaign that money just can't buy. A, shall we say, slightly-overweight American, enamoured with a product and covered with Tattoos to highlight the fact, is a manufacturer's dream come true.
That is exactly the situation facing Microsoft and it's Zune media player. Microsoft fan, and lover of all things Zune, Steven Smith, carries not one, not two, but three Zune tattoos. On the interweb, he's commonly known by his other name, Zune Guy. Here he is showing all his Zune-glory:
Back in his hay-day, Zune Guy was all the rage and in November 2007, he announced the inevitable plans to legally change his name to Microsoft Zune. Seriously, we couldn't make this up. Fortunately for us, and the rest of the sane-world, he was put off the idea when told that a name change could cost around $500. Well, you know, he could buy more Zunes for that amount, right?
We thought we'd seen the end of his name changing plans, but last week, he posted on the ZuneScene forums and said:
"This morning I thought I might call the Court House Clerk and find out myself. She stated that it would only cost around $150 in total to change my name legally!
$150 is all?"
"So needless to say this idea is back on schedule and hopefully by the end of the month I will have the paperwork filed. It takes a full 30 days after the paperwork is filed to find out the Judge's decision. Then I have to send his decision (if its a yes) to my birth state of Idaho to get my Birth Certificate changed over. And then off to the DMV to get my license changed over."
Mr Smith's first point of call was to get in touch with Microsoft Zune's technical support, and politely ask for permission for his proposed name change. Here's the complete recording of how that conversation went:
What else is there to say? If he gets permission, he'll be known as Microsoft Zune and he'll want to be signing his name as the Zune logo. If he doesn't get permission, he'll be changing his name to something else resembling Zune. His poll on the ZuneScene forums currently places Mike Zune as the leading alternative name.
In a way, we're now thankful that the Zune hasn't yet made its way to Europe. Only in America...
