Zune Officially Announced - First Look

Today, Microsoft officially announced the Zune brand and the first Zune device, a 30GB digital media player. The Zune features a built-in FM tuner that displays the name of the song being played, a 3-inch screen, preloaded content from various record labels. But probably its most interesting feature is its abilitily to perform wireless Zune to Zune file sharing.

The world's largest software maker revealed that the Zune media player, which will be built by Toshiba, will be available this holiday season in the United States together with an iTunes competitor: The Zune Marketplace, which works with the Microsoft Points program so Zune owners can purchase music online without a credit card.

Microsoft also revealed that rather than paying for individual songs, the Zune Marketplace will also let consumers download as many tracks as they want for a flat fee.

In the movie below at the source, you can see the Zune media player in action for the first time. Also a bunch of pictures of the device in its three color variants: black, white and brown.

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The Snake6448d ago

This may be cool. I wonder what kind of connectivity it will offer with the 360 if any. 30 GB may be a bit small considering Apple just released an 80 gig iPod, which I'm pretty sure has a larger, brighter screen than the ones that came before. Of course, I've got between 150 and 200 albums and several videos on my 30 gig iPod and it's just past 1/3 full, so maybe all that extra space on the new iPod doesn't matter. Music sharing sounds cool, but how many people will actually take advantage of it? I would like to know how much this Zune costs. Also, why brown?

WaCkY_MuNkY6448d ago (Edited 6448d ago )

To me the release of the 80gig ipod is a waste of space i too have a 30gig ipod and it is not half full so 80 would be a waste 30 seems to be just fine. I think that this will be an instant hit and finally put the ipod to rest. also with a set flat rate for music that will surely draw attention away from itunes. I cant wait to get one buy how much does it cost? i just saw the video. take a look at the battery at the start of the video then look at it towards the end it went down to half in that little time hope the battery will be able to beat that of the 80 gig ipod 20hours music 6.5 hours video

Bill Gates I Am6448d ago

I do like the look of this.

Any idea when it's coming out in the UK?

GRUNT6448d ago

I wonder if it will have its own software with it, like the ipod?

tom15956448d ago

i would imagine that it will use some new feature that will be in media player 10. i have an ipod and use itunes... media player seems complicated. itunes is nice and simple.

GRUNT6447d ago

I see what you mean you'll have Windows Media Player Sync with the Zune most likely in a Windows type audio/video (AVI?)format

beans6448d ago

This caught my attention yesterday! It looks pretty cool and has some pretty nice features! Any word on the price yet anyone?

omansteveo6447d ago

I was talking to my reginal manger at work and he told me a few weeks ago that we would be carrying this and the cost would be 250$

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70°

Former Dragon Age lead writer David Gaider pours scorn on EA's AI dreams.

"They want you to believe the devs under them are super stoked to work generative AI into their processes," continued Gaider, "but I assure you what they took as excitement was really a veiled wail of despair not unlike the time that team was informed of their new 'really cool' live service mandate.".

LordoftheCritics13h ago

Publishers see gaming as another stock market.

isarai11h ago

I think anyone with some common sense knew this, im glad i don't support their games anymore, what a sh!t company.

110°

Phil Spencer and the Battle for Xbox’s Soul

Has the rapid growth of Xbox made the ship too heavy? Following the closures of Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin, and Roundhouse, we explore what the future of Xbox could look like.

LG_Fox_Brazil17h ago

This ship was never meant to sail, this ship was made from the get go to sink as fast as possible. It almost feels that they want to lower the standards of quality in the industry so that they can fit in

Hedstrom2h ago

Phil wants Xbox to be as soulless as him!

Tacoboto1h ago(Edited 1h ago)

Xbox has no soul and Phil has no confidence, and it's impossible to say either do when they killed Tango and Arkane Austin.

Everything they've said since has only made them look worse to a point that they're actually less competent than Embracer.

Markdn1h ago(Edited 1h ago)

Whe you release something like the series S and expect it not to hurt your business model, and developers have to have parity with games. Then you know Microsoft don't care. Series s is the final nail that broke developers,

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70°

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anast11h ago

Nothing. It's up to the gamers to stop consuming content from companies that they don't agree with.

1nsomniac2h ago

Get rid of the suits in the industry and job done!!