Aw, keep trying little buckaroo! C|Net reports that the Zune hasn't cracked the top ten portable music players, although it has captured a "decent slice" of the hard drive based player market in big box retail stores.

The overall top ten is overwhelmingly Apple, with 8 of the top ten slots occupied by fruit etched media devices, Sandisk's Sansa models round out the rest of the ten. For what it's worth, Santa (also known as a stand-up comic and brit-pop trivia nutjob) recently delivered a Sansa to my doorstep, and I couldn't be happier.

Analysts are saying that Microsoft is "doing well for a newcomer" and reminding us that the Zune is a "multiyear haul" but, what is it going to take to wedge Apple out of the driver's seat and substitute a Microsoft product in its place? The Zune's marketing, though really pretty, is incredibly conceptual and artsy and, frankly, the American consumer isn't exactly known for their ability to "get" high-brow concepts. Coupled with the closed eco-system of Zune's "Marketplace", and the relative complexity of the whole Zune experience, MS has a very long way to go to win this little war they've started.