September 14th, 2006
Microsoft Officially Announces Zune
By Jimmy Daniels
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
It’s official, Microsoft announced the release of the Zune, Microsoft’s music and entertainment platform, and some accessories to go with it, like the The Zune Car Pack, The Zune Home A/V Pack and the Zune Travel Pack.
Available this holiday season in the United States, Zune includes a 30GB digital media player, the Zune Marketplace music service and a foundation for an online community that will enable music fans to discover new music. The Zune device features wireless technology, a built-in FM tuner and a bright, 3-inch screen that allows users to not only show off music, pictures and video, but also to customize the experience with personal pictures or themes to truly make the device their own. Zune comes in three colors: black, brown and white.
Every Zune device creates an opportunity for connection. Wireless Zune-to-Zune sharing lets consumers spontaneously share full-length sample tracks of select songs, homemade recordings, playlists or pictures with friends between Zune devices. Listen to the full track of any song you receive up to three times over three days. If you like a song you hear and want to buy it, you can flag it right on your device and easily purchase it from the Zune Marketplace.
Zune makes it easy to find music you love — whether it’s songs in your existing library or new music from the Zune Marketplace. Easily import your existing music, pictures and videos in many popular formats and browse millions of songs on Zune Marketplace, where you can choose to purchase tracks individually or to buy a Zune Pass subscription to download as many songs as you want for a flat fee. Source: Microsoft
We Say: Can’t wait to try one, wonder why no pricing information has been released yet?
Improbus says:
I have no interest in this product even if it’s free.
September 14th, 2006 at 3:28 pm
David Johnston says:
Yeah, it doesn’t sound too great to me. My brother has a Creative Zen Vision:M which is excellent in my opinion. I think the Zune focuses too much on tying you into using their music download service. It doesn’t seem to offer much to the person who isn’t interested in downloading DRM’d music.
September 14th, 2006 at 5:39 pm
Charles says:
It will allow you to transfer your non-DRM music files to it. I asumme through WMP 11. What more do yout want?
Also, does the iPod NOT focus too much on tying you into their music download service?
The Zune looks like an awesome player. Wireless syncing will be nice. The UI blows the iPod away.
September 15th, 2006 at 1:00 pm
Improbus says:
Charles are you part of Microsoft’s astroturf team? I don’t own an iPod. I have an Archos DAP. All I have to do is just hook it up to a USB port and drag and drop my mp3 files. I can also use my player as a portable hard drive. I won’t be tied down by iTunes or any crappy Microsoft software. Anyone using DRM can byte my shiney metal hiney.
September 15th, 2006 at 1:20 pm
David Johnston says:
Yes, wireless sharing but the shared songs become DRM-infected and expire after 3 days or 3 plays…even if the music is released under a creative commons license or the owner of the Zune is the owner of the copyright on the music.
September 15th, 2006 at 5:11 pm
Stephen says:
Has anyone seen whether this player will work with other Music Services using Plays for Sure? I don;t mind DRM as all I care about is being able to listen to the music. If I buy it online and it has DRM ..who cares…as long as you can listen on your player.
I also read where you have to download a Zune player as it won’t sync with MP11. This bites.
Another attempt to lock consumers into a proprietary location, device and software.
I hope it fails miserably.
September 18th, 2006 at 12:19 pm
Charles says:
Me? on the MS astroturf team? Not likely…
Improbus (?), who said anyone wants to use DRM? As far as I know, you can use Window Media Player to sync non-DRM music. I would be shocked if you couldn’t transfer any file type to the Zune.
I owned an iRiver flash player for quite some time and it was great. It’s just that I use a spare laptop to play all my music through the stereo, so a ‘drag-and-drop’ utility just ain’t going to cut it.
I have spent several 1+ hour visits in two different Apple stores to get my daughter’s iPod to work with a Dell laptop. Oh, and after less than a year it’s hosed again.
What’s wrong with Windows Media Player if it lets you do everything your ‘drag-and-drop’ utility does and more?
I spend 50+ hours a week working in MS Office so I’m well aware of the short-comings of MS. But contrary to popular belief, not everything they do is crap.
September 18th, 2006 at 5:02 pm
HT says:
Will it be “Drag n Drop”, cos everyone has windows media player anyway.
October 7th, 2006 at 3:41 pm
Happy 5th Birthday, iPod ~ Tech News Watch says:
[…] We Say: Apple is clearly the market leader, but it needs to continue innovating to keep the lead. As we all know, the Zune is due out soon, and while that most likely isn’t going to make much a dent short-term, Microsoft has one huge marketing machine. […]
October 23rd, 2006 at 7:44 pm
Unlimited Zune Downloads says:
Unlimited Zune Downloads…
Social networks provide their users with easy ways to share music and other media that defines their personalities. As more and more artists become active on MySpace and other social netowrks, I expect the number of people that use these sites to track…
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