What do you do if you’re an independent artist/designer with legitimate DIY/non-corporate street cred and suddenly Microsoft wants to pay for your work? Create a beautiful piece that speaks to everything that you respect about the project – music, connectivity, community, independence – slip in a few hidden messages (not because you have any culture jamming illusions, but just to make yourself smile), then hold your head up high and put the cash into your amazingly productive artist’s residency and publishing house – Islands Fold. While the Zune Originals series is not the most groundbreaking of marketing schemes, using those big budgets to support emerging talent is a move in the right direction. As Luke puts it, “I’m not a huge fan of countless technological products being thrown in the dump everyday, but I am a fan of music and art fusing together. I hope that when someone’s Zune eventually kicks the dust, they’ll like the engraved art enough to keep it on their shelf.”