Zune is a discontinued line of digital media products and services marketed by Microsoft from November 2006 until its discontinuation in June 2012. Zune consisted of a line of portable media players, digital media player software for Windows PCs, a music subscription service known as a "Zune Music Pass", music and video streaming services for the Xbox 360 game console via the Zune Software, music, TV and movie sales, and desktop sync software for Windows Phone. Zune was also the provider of music streaming for United Airlines in-flight, after a partnership in 2010.
ZuneHD type music player app in the works
On March 15, 2011, Microsoft announced that no new Zune hardware players would be developed, although existing models would remain for sale. The Zune had failed to capture significant market share after five years against the Apple iPod, and a recent study by NPD Group indicated that the Zune did not make the list of the five best-selling portable music players in the U.S. The iPod has been more successful because of simplicity and had better ratings. It has also been suggested that there is a much larger trend that standalone music players were giving way to smartphones with personalized, app-driven music.[33]
Microsoft announced and released new versions of the Zune devices once a year until 2010. In March 2011, Bloomberg.com published an article[40] claiming that Microsoft would stop introducing new versions of the Zune music and video player. The article has been widely quoted over the Internet and by news agencies. However, a Microsoft representative for Zune business development denied this rumor saying that the Windows Phone platform introduction should be considered to be the annual Zune update for 2010.[41]
The Zune 30, the original Zune music player, has a 30GB hard drive, 3 inch screen, and a simple directional pad for menu navigation. The second generation of Zune devices includes the Zune 4, 8, 16, 80 and 120. The Zune 4, 8, and 16 are smaller in size and have 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB of flash memory respectively. All second generation Zunes have a Zune Pad instead of the original directional pad that was included on the Zune 30. Microsoft released an upgrade to the software/firmware for all Zune models, including the Zune 30.
Business consultant Simon Sinek discusses the Zune in his 2019 book The Infinite Game, describing the Zune as a triumph of design but a failure of long-term strategic thinking. Microsoft was focused on beating Apple's portable music player, while Apple was behind the scenes focused on the iPhone that was introduced a year after the Zune's debut and, to a large extent, rendered obsolete handheld MP3 players by popularizing smart phones.[101]
If you've read How iPods Work, you know all about the device. In short, the latest version of the iPod is a digital media player that can handle music, photos, podcasts, video, apps, games and with the flip of a setting, any file type at all in its portable-hard-drive mode. Its form factor is unfathomably compact, third-party programmers have developed all sorts of sweet hacks to expand and change its functionality, it's seamlessly integrated with the most popular media-download store in the world, and it works with Mac OS X and Windows XP/2000 or later.
Microsoft's Zune holds its own in the media-player world. But iPod is the product of Apple's single-minded dedication, and it shows. It looks sleeker, it's lighter, slimmer and smaller. The iPod is taller and wider than the Zune HD but it's more than 1.5 millimeters thinner than Microsoft's mp3 player. The iPod supports Windows, but Zune doesn't support Mac OS X. Apple's FairPlay DRM scheme, while far from perfect and arguably not all that fair, is play-oriented, not time-oriented, which most people see as a more logical way to track and limit usage. The Zune Pass is a time-oriented digital rights management (DRM) scheme, while Apple abandoned the FairPlay DRM strategy in favor of DRM-free music.
@janetDid you press pause, not the stop button on the top of the device, but pause like you would pause music. To completely power off the device, you just push the top button. Otherwise it just thinks you are trying to avoid the screen saver. The only way to know for sure is to pause your playback first. No media device that I have used really works exactly like the other ones, but both zunes I have 80gb and Zune HD have been by far the easiest out of the box to use for me. That said, for the flickering problem, it may be something else entirely. I will look at my home pc and see if my player affects anything else.
My Sony mp3 players just broke. All my music is installed on Windows Media Player. Ipods are real expensive. I was looking at the creative zen moziaic for 69.00 at amazon and I know this will accept windows media player or should I pay a little more and get the zune. Does anyone know if Zune lets you use the WMP. Thanks
(AP) -- Microsoft Corp. said Thursday a new generation of its Zune music player will go on sale Sept. 15, but eager customers can pre-order the gadget online now. googletag.cmd.push(function() googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1449240174198-2'); ); The Zune HD has a touch screen, built-in Wi-Fi and a Web browser, much like Apple Inc.'s iPod Touch. Zune users can stream and download music from Microsoft's Zune Marketplace.Unlike Apple's device, the Zune HD also has a built-in HD radio receiver.Zune HD is the company's third line of the media player, but so far the Zune has attracted only a tiny slice of a digital media player market dominated by iPods.A 16-gigabyte model will sell for $220, and a 32-gigabyte Zune HD will be $290. A docking station for sending high-definition video from the gadget to an HD television will be sold separately.Microsoft is taking pre-orders now at . Starting Monday, Best Buy Inc. stores will also take pre-orders.2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Citation:Microsoft taking pre-orders for next-gen Zune HD (2009, August 13)retrieved 9 February 2023from -08-microsoft-pre-orders-next-gen-zune-hd.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only. Explore further
The audio experience on the Zune HD is a lot like with an iPod in that it's not terribly customizable. You get EQ presets, but there's no user-adjustable EQ like on the excellent-sounding, touch-screen Sony Walkman X Series. The best new music feature on the Zune is the ability to purchase tunes wirelessly. As always, the speed of downloads will have more to do with the strength of your wireless signal than anything else, but searching for music using the excellent virtual keyboard is a snap, and if you have tastes that skew towards the popular, the main marketplace page on the player is divided into Top Albums, New Releases, and other scrollable lists of what's hot at the moment.
The Zune Marketplace makes it easy to browse for music on the player or on your PC, but the Apps section is well, practically non-existent, offering only a smattering of games (Space Battle 2, Sudoku, for example), a weather app, and a calculator—seven (!) apps total. Hardly a match for the iPod touch's tens of thousands. For the full scoop, check out our Zune Marketplace review.
Music tops the Zune HD's main menu for good reason. More than anything else, the Zune HD is a portable music machine designed for curious fans with large appetites for new music. The audio player supports MP3, AAC, WMA, and WMA Lossless formats, as well as audio book files from Audible or OverDrive. Like most MP3 players, the music you sync the Zune HD with can be quickly sorted by artist, album, song, genre, and playlist, but the Zune HD's unique strengths as a music player are revealed once you dig down to a particular artist or song. For example, when you select an artist to play, you'll get a list of their albums set against a background photo of the musician or band, along with tabs that offer biographical information, additional photos, and a list of related artists (all of which is pulled offline from the Zune software). If the Zune HD is connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi, album listings will show an artist's entire album catalog and let you preview and download additional songs, or explore the music catalog of similar artists. Armed with Microsoft's Zune Pass subscription music plan, you can easily leverage the Zune HD's similar artist listings and extended album views to explore and download unlimited quantities of music at a flat monthly rate ($14.99 per month). Without the Zune Pass plan, the Zune HD's similar artist feature still connects you to Zune Marketplace, but previews are limited to 30 seconds and downloads are sold individually, much like the built-in iTunes store on the iPod Touch.
A long story short is the Zune HD--more than anything--is a music fan's dream machine. However, when it comes to video, the results are more mixed. As far as the Zune's evolution goes, the Zune HD is the most video-friendly model yet, boasting a gorgeous 3.3-inch screen (480x272-pixel resolution), support for movie rentals, and an OLED display technology with color saturation and contrast advantages that leave competitors in the dust (with the exception of the equally stunning Sony X-Series Walkman). Unfortunately, no matter how pretty your screen is, when it comes to portable video players and the video junkies who seek them out, format support is crucial. Unless your video meets the MP4/H.264 video podcast standard or Microsoft's own WMV format, you'll need to jump through some video conversion hoops to load up AVI, DivX, MOV, or other files. Granted, the iPod Touch is equally restrictive when it comes to video format support, but the larger selection in the iTunes video catalog, along with its over-the-air downloads and dozens of options for streaming Internet video make it a better overall choice for video fans. 2ff7e9595c
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