Microsoft’s new music player, Zune, has been unveiled and here are significant points. More than just a music player, it has a social networking component too, with a Marketplace to share music with friends. This could create some excitement in Silicon Valley, creating a cottage industry of suppliers like the one around the iPod.
Here are the basics, as being reported by Engaget and other places:
–Three-inch screen, which is larger than the largest iPod screen of 2.5 inches.
–30 GB Zune will have a built-in FM tuner and wireless 802.11 technology for sharing songs with your friends on their Zune devices, something lacking in the iPod. The shared songs will last three days or three plays, which ever comes first.
–The sharing will take place via Microsoft’s Zune Marketplace store (picture from Engaget) will have a library of “millions of songs” in undisclosed formats, and which you can interact with via your PC.
–The Marketplace will accept “Microsoft Points” so you can purchase without the use of a credit card.
–The Zune software will be able to import both iTunes and Windows Media Player files
–pricing will be “in coming weeks.”
6 Comments
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RK said:
Hi,
This looks like a PocketPC with WIN CE on it, just happens to play music!
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URBANTECH said:
I am glad to see something on the market for content owners to use for distribution. I am happy Apple has help create the marketplace, but they make no tools, or API’s available to developers to create stores which use the Apple DRM to sell “Secure” content to IPOD devices without Apple having thier greedy fingers in the middle. It reminds me of the mobile carriers startegy with all these walled gradens they have up. Now they wont even let you send wap push to mobiles without paying the fu@#en toll fee. When will this stop.
Arghh, like I said Im happy to see some device which uses the WM DRM, atleast we can sell our content direct to users with no toll fees.
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zune said:
I think the zune is destined for success because it’s well priced (probably sells without profit)
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Raplhing Therapy said:
Your post is on target. Keep it up.
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online community said:
good and useful information
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will said:
If anyone is interested in winning a free Zune I am helping to spread the word about a sweepstakes going on at MSN right now.
People who make MSN their homepage have the opportunity to win a free Zune. The promotion can be found at http://homepage.msn.com/zune
They are giving away 50 Zunes, and the contest closes on Feb 28, with random drawing of all 50 winners on or about March 14.
