Sign a two-year music contract and get a free Zune?

The thought of purchasing a Zune has never really crossed my mind. I've played with one a few times, but nothing about it has ever really grabbed my attention and made me want to purchase one. Now if I could get one for free, that might be another story.

That is exactly Microsoft's idea. We're not talking free as in beer, but free as in phone. Essentially they are considering a free Zune with a service contract of something like two years.

I think this is a great idea for two reasons. First, some people can't afford to dish our a couple hundred bucks for an mp3 player, but ask for $15 a month from them (a guess) and they'll likely be able to scrape up the cash for it. Second, there are plenty of people paying for monthly music subscriptions. If you told those people that they could pay the same amount and get a free Zune, they can hardly turn it down.

Future Zunes to be Free with Subscription? [via gizmodo]