It surprised no one that the new Microsoft media player (“Zune”) is incompatible with music purchased from Apple’s iTunes Music Store. Apple won’t license others to unlock their files, and they have little reason to — with 80%+ of the player market and an online store that currently ranks FIFTH of all music retailers, digital or otherwise (just behind Amazon), Apple would gain little by letting even someone like Creative play their files; playing nice with a serious competitor like Microsoft would be stupid.

So already, Redmond is entering a market with a significant disadvantage about which they can do little. Still, they’ve got bags and bags of cash, so as long as they’re smart they can succeed here, right?

Well, we’ll never now, as they’ve opted for Stupid. It turns out that the Zune will be incompatible with music protected with Microsoft’s “PlaysForSure” DRM scheme, which they developed in partnership with several online music vendors in an effort to compete with iTMS.

Outside of Zune’s own store, it looks like the only stuff you’ll be able to put on a Zune will come from unprotected digital files like ripped CDs or tracks purchased from vendors who don’t do DRM, like eMusic. Zune will represent a parallel music ecosystem in the Microsoft world; if you bought protected Windows Media music at Rhapsody, there’s no way to unlock the files to put ’em on your Zune. Sorry. Buy it again.

Wow.