In a pretty surprising development, Microsoft has agreed to pay Universal Music a fee for each of their Zune players. For each machine sold, the company will be paying $1 to Universal Music on the assumption that the player will be used to host music that has not been paid for. According to David Geffen:

Each of these devices is used to store unpaid-for material. This way, on top of the material people do pay for, the record companies are getting paid on the devices storing the copied music.

The end result is that even if your Zune player only has independent music or legally purchased or ripped music, you will be paying Universal regardless.

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