Microsoft Zune

[BK 0]

wow... looks like im waiting for a new mp3 player.

Sorry about the title.. its "zune" Not zoon.

[LkptTiger 1]

Impressive, no doubt.

[mack 44]

Friggin' YouTube (and most sites) are blocked out here, anyone have any details/specs?

[Thockey17 1]

Friggin' YouTube (and most sites) are blocked out here, anyone have any details/specs?

30GB hard drive, built-in FM tuner, 3.0-inch screen, and 802.11 wireless. Come in three colors: black, brown and white.

It has wireless networking allowing you to connect to other Zunes to share full-length sample tracks, your recordings, playlists and pictures with others. You can listen to a track from another person for up to three days, after that you'll have to buy it from the Zune Marketplace store

[hockeymom 2]

Interesting bit of advertising. All these evil marketers trying soooo hard to capture YouTubes' large and free audience. Doubt anyone will find this exploitive or controversial.

[BK 0]

Its also fully customizable.. Wallpapers, programs and a slew of features are available.

[Chadd 916]

Is it still locked to only use protected music files?

[mack 44]

Brown? WTF. Never choose colours found in bodily functions.

[Fonya 0]

Im pretty sure ilounge has already got a hands on of it already, so you can find good info there.

[pat19 0]

i don't think it looks that great at all.

[tyler9 0]

Note: Zune software will import unprotected WMA, MP3, AAC file formats but is not compatible with protected songs purchased from download services like iTunes or Wal-Mart Music Downloads. Only downloaded songs purchased from the Zune Marketplace are compatible.

That cleared up my main concern about this so I think i'll be gettin one

[dieselbro 0]

It looks great but 30GB, for me thats just not enough. Oh, does anybody know the battery life for playing videos/music??

[LegoDoom 0]

Note: Zune software will import unprotected WMA, MP3, AAC file formats but is not compatible with protected songs purchased from download services like iTunes or Wal-Mart Music Downloads. Only downloaded songs purchased from the Zune Marketplace are compatible.

That cleared up my main concern about this so I think i'll be gettin one

It's not hard to strip off the protected information from an iTunes protected file.

[Project_2501 0]

/sigh Go ahead, support DRM.

"Oh, but it allows me to use my stuff."

Okay, but you're still supporting it...

[All Torhs Team 0]

Friggin' YouTube (and most sites) are blocked out here, anyone have any details/specs?

30GB hard drive, built-in FM tuner, 3.0-inch screen, and 802.11 wireless. Come in three colors: black, brown and white.

It has wireless networking allowing you to connect to other Zunes to share full-length sample tracks, your recordings, playlists and pictures with others. You can listen to a track from another person for up to three days, after that you'll have to buy it from the Zune Marketplace store

I heard on the radio that they come with 1G so I was like screw that, I need more. But now that I saw this and 30G is available, Im super pissed for just buying a new iPod.

[Muzza_77 0]

The Zune sucks in my opinion. The screen may appear bigger, but that resolution is just the same as the iPod screen, so the Zune has a fuzzy, pixelated look to it.

The widescreen movies are just the same as the ipod.

When the Zune is released it won't be able to play movies until later as Microsoft hasn't dealt with movies yet.

The wireless feature takes up way to much battery power to be effective

Lastly, Brown? come on.

Get an iPod.

[AnthonyJTa 0]

from what I've read, a lot of the functions show in demo videos, etc won't even be available on the Zune when it launches.. Microsoft says "it's a gradual process with the Zune functions"

my 60gb video iPod does all I need it to. haha

[Dante2004 0]

It's not hard to strip off the protected information from an iTunes protected file.

Does anyone know how to strip the DRM from Yahoo! music downloads? I downloaded songs to my laptop and then play them in the car...but you have to connect to the Internet every so often to "renew the license". Annoying...

Plus it would just be easier to put them on a CD. <_<

[Thockey17 1]

I could see if this was to be launched at the same time as the Ipod with video, but it seems too late for Microsoft. Im sure it will sell a decent amount, but i cant see it being direct ipod competition.

[LkptTiger 1]

I could see if this was to be launched at the same time as the Ipod with video, but it seems too late for Microsoft. Im sure it will sell a decent amount, but i cant see it being direct ipod competition.

Exactly. To me, the iPod has pretty well cemented it's place in today's popular (cult)ure, and isn't going to be overtaken anytime soon.

[Dante2004 0]

Typical of Microsoft.

Release a product that isn't yet capable of the claims you make in the marketing.

Work out the bugs over time as the consumer suffers with an unstable product.

In a year of two release the "new and improved" version which is simply just the corrected/stable version of the original.

[BK 0]

Hmmm..

Good read about the zune. I guess microsoft is going to "buy you out" of itunes by scanning your current itunes for purchased songs and letting you download them for free.

http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/21/zune-wh...d-dont-yet-know

[hockeyherb 1]

I think it's inevitable that one day all these players will just be commodities and we'll be more interested in who offers the best service to buy from. Until then it's just a big pain trying to figure out which hardware to get.

I got an iPod video for xmas last year and I barely use it. It annoys me to no end that you have to jump through 20 hoops and spend hours to get your own content (ie. movies) loaded if you don't want to buy them from iTunes. Even when I do spend the time to load one the screen is so small it's painful to watch video for any length of time.

I kinda think all of this stuff is still a fad and once the fascination of carrying around movies on a tiny player wears off what we'll use for hardware in a few years won't look anything like what we have now.

Of course, I could be totally wrong.

[mack 44]

The saddest thing I saw this weekend was some portable thing that you plugged your iPod video in so you could watch the videos on a "big" screen. The price was somewhere around $150 and right around the aisle they had portable DVD players for ~$75.

[--notorious 0]

The saddest thing I saw this weekend was some portable thing that you plugged your iPod video in so you could watch the videos on a "big" screen. The price was somewhere around $150 and right around the aisle they had portable DVD players for ~$75.

its cheaper just to download movies off shareaza or limewire. and burn if you have a burner that is. and if im not mistaken you can burn more than one movie on a disc is that right?