View this article at: http://www.macnn.com/articles/06/11/03/ms.vs.ipod.indie.music/ Friday, Nov 03, 2006 11:55am MS takes on iPod via indie music Microsoft is turning to indie music fans as a potential means of dethroning Apple's iPod in the digital music industry. The company is preparing to ship its Zune portable media player on November 14th, and hopes to gain a large following from indie music lovers prior to that date. Bloomberg reports that the Redmond-based company recently invited six well-known individuals from the indie music scene to test drive its forthcoming Zune player, but responses from indie bloggers likely fell short of Microsoft's expectations. "It's really not anything that impressive," said blogger Craig Lile, an Indianapolis-based Web developer who was invited to Microsoft's preview of the Zune player. "They're going to do terribly, at least in the demographic that cares about indie music. Apple is so entrenched in the indie music community.'" Microsoft hopes to break Apple's digital music dominance by appealing to key Web reviewers like Lile, and by sponsoring band tours to attract indie music fans.