Launch Day: November 13th, 2006

On November 13th, 2006, Microsoft in conjunction with Toshiba launched the first generation Microsoft Zune. To anti-Apple fanboys, the launch of Microsoft’s Zune media player was a fist pump of epic proportions — a middle finger in the air directed straight at Steve Jobs & Co. Where Apple’s simple, “we’re right” approach turned off many, Microsoft’s underdog image in the MP3 market certainly rallied the troops and gave them a rare chance to draw a loyal following more akin to a small start-up instead of a massive global tech giant.

On that autumn day back in 2006, Microsoft stood up to Apple with a dream of unseating the champion. Mind you, at this time Apple had already hit their peak in the MP3 player market. In fact, there wasn’t a “market”. There was the iPod and then everything else that wasn’t an iPod. The Zune was a breath of fresh air thanks to it’s admittingly quirky design and innovative new “Twist UI” that allowed users to scroll not only vertically, but horizontally through menues. Add to that a decent-sized 3″ QVGA display, a unique (at the time) WiFi music sharing — “squirting” — feature, and healthy codec support and you can see that the Zune was a decent 1st-gen player.

Among the Zunes many talking points was one odd point revolving around color choice. The white and black color options were normal for a PMP. The oddly tinted brown option with greenish hue seen on the edges was not, however. If anything, Microsoft got at least a B- for trying to be different. Over the course of the first-gen Zune’s life other colors such as the Product RED and pink Zunes popped up here and there for special events for one reason or another.

But it wasn’t perfect. First and foremost Microsoft chose to simply match the competition with the QVGA display rather than leapfrog. The quirky design also didn’t get many praises despite the very un-Apple like design. It was a risk to make a brick. And it was a risk that ultimately didn’t really pay off.

The final sour point — lack of storage. Microsoft made use of a 30 GB HDD in the original Zune 30 instead of a faster (though smaller in capacity) SSD. The decision to forego the new-age storage medium was two-fold: price and size concerns.

In the end, there aren’t too many 1st-gen products we can say were honestly built to last. If it weren’t for our own clumsiness (read: we lost our original 1st-gen Zune) we’d still have a Microsoft Zune.

Second Generation Zune 4, 8, & 80

Nearly a year to the day of the original Zune 30 GB Microsoft released the second generation Zune 4, 8, and 80 GB Zunes on November 13th, 2007. The two former devices made use of flash memory (a rare choice at the time) while the 80 GB Zune feature a much more capacious, traditional HDD as well as a bump in screen size from 3″ to 3.2″. Navigation on the Zune was also drastically changed. Instead of a circular d-button of sorts, Microsoft added a new touch sensitive “Zune Pad”.

The flash-based Zunes were powered by 399 MHz ARM Core Freescale i.MX31L processors and featured 64 MB of memory for the newly debuted Zune games. Screen size of the more pocketable media player came in at 1.8″ and featured 320 x 240 resolution.

Several new features that debuted with the new Zunes and Zune 2.0 desktop software was that of wireless syncing. For anti-Apple fans, this feature was a direct blow to Apple, whose own iPod users had long sought some time of wireless syncing of their own, especially with the recently launched iPod Touch also feature a large 3.5″ touchscreen and WiFi. Battery life was also something the second-gen Zune improved on, rising from a category almost sub-par average of 14 hours to a more respectable 24 hours.

The second-gen Zune took a good first-gen product and made it even better; many would still say to this day it was the day in which Microsoft finally launched a valid iPod competitor after many failed attempts by others over the years.

Third Generation Zune 16 and 120

On September 16th, 2008 Microsoft once again lobbied a serve into Apple’s court with the Zune 16 and 120 players. The numbers obviously signified the storage packed within — 16 GB and 120 GB — and were directly marketed at fighting Apple’s still potent (though beginning to decline in relevance compared to the iPod Touch) now renamed iPod Classic. Like the previous second-gen Zunes, the low capacity device used flash storage while the higher capacity still relied on HDDs. Outside of physical storage increases, the third-gen Zune hardware remained largely unchanged.

The software on the other hand was the real reason to upgrade. The Zune 3.0 software update brought several new and innovative features that Apple’s iPod didn’t have, namely the ability to tag songs listend to on the FM radio — let alone it had an FM receiver to begin with — for purchase later when connected to a WiFi network. On that note, the act of purchasing songs via WiFi was a new feature for the Zune in and of itself. Other notable additions included a clock (surprisingly one of the most requested features throughout the first two generations of Zune), audiobook and games support, and last but certainly not least, a revamped quicklist feature.

Fourth Gen Zune HD

By this time Apple’s iPod Touch had completely revolutionized the stand-alone PMP market leaving Microsoft playing a bad game of catchup. Their HDD Zunes were good players certainly worthy of praise when compared to the iPod Classic, but when the iPod Touch was factored in there needed something completely new.

On September 15th, 2009 Microsoft responded with the Zune HD. Initially available in 16 GB and 32 GB capacities, the all-flash Zune HD broke the norms of screen technology at the time with it’s adoption of a 3.3″ 16:9 480×272 OLED display. Other hardware bragging rights came by way of the powerful Nvidia Tegra APX processor comprised of ARM11 and ARM7 processor cores + 6 other dedicated cores, 128 MB of RAM, WiFi, support for Microsoft’s XNA technology and 720p via HDMI-out and the optional Zune HD dock.

The biggest changes to the new Zune 4.0 software included a native web browser, the ability to stream Zune Pass music through a desktop computer browser, and support for (via 3rd party patch) streaming internet radio.

Seven months later on April 5th, 2010 Microsoft released firmware 4.5 which added on-device Smart DJ, Xvid support, and Marketplace support when used with the optional dock. Several days later on April 9th Microsoft released a higher capacity 64 GB Zune HD that was physically identical to the lower capacity Zune HDs while the lower capacity Zune HDs also received $20 shaved off each of their price tags.

The Future Of Zune: WP7

Earlier this year it was reported by Bloomberg that Microsoft would officially stop Zune hardware design and manufacturing, instead focusing on rolling the Zune software into the companies new Windows Phone 7 mobile platform. Denial aside, the writing was on the wall. With no new serious hardware upgrades since 2009, Microsoft’s Zune was a dinosaur in an age of robots (read: smartphones). Smartphones had largely replaced the need for a dedicated MP3 player. Apple figured this out way back in 2007. And much like Apple took the iPod and put it into a phone several years prior with the iPhone, Microsoft was moving forward to the next generation of portable audio.

Finally just today, October 3rd, it was revealed that all mentions of Zune hardware were removed from Microsoft’s website — Zune HD still accessible via direct link — perhaps finally signaling the true end of an era. Add to that a newish support page on Microsoft’s Zune website that pretty much spells it out: the Zune is dead.

It’s been a rather quick five years for the Zune considering the first iPod was released almost five years prior on November 1st, 2001, (Speaking of which, can you believe the iPod has been around for almost a decade?! Yeah, we feel old too.) But even though Microsoft was late to the game, their short stint was both memorable and honorable despite being the but of many jokes (and source of even worse tatoos).

So here’s to you Microsoft Zune, for five years of audio bliss.

• New Zune apps: Finger Paint, Calendar, Trash Throw, Slider Puzzle, ColorSpill, Splatter Bug, Vine Climb, Decoder Ring, and Tug-O-Wa

• Updated apps: Shuffle by Album, Zune Reader, Penalty! Flick Soccer, Email, and Echoes

A couple of weeks back we heard a couple of rumors claiming Microsoft was working on a new piece of Zune hardware. Those rumors have not been confirmed nor has any hardware been seen/heard of. But even if Microsoft really is done with pumping out new Zune hardware, it’s nice to see they still care about providing new apps and services to current Zune owners. Such a trend is rather rare in the tech sector these days.

Zune owners: Be sure to let us know what you think of the new/updated apps.

Via: TechSpot

Since it’s XBox debut back in 2009, not much has been done with the service, but the sweet nothings that are being whispered are saying we’ll have the service updated to rival the likes of Netflix and Hulu Plus. If you aren’t familiar with the latter two, they are a subscription based internet streaming service used on your XBox, Wii, PS3, computer and even your cellphone. Zune has given us pay per view type services – which really limits how many people will use it. And if the specs are true, not many people did use it. Kind of like the Zune Media Player we had years ago, it seemed just like another failure that was under the Zune Umbrella. Well, 2011 and things might just get a little bit better for Microsoft and the Zune brand. With the rumored streaming subscriptions, I feel more people will use the service. I’m not sure how popular their TV Pass service is, but I would assume with the likes of Hulu Plus and Netflix they can’t be too impressive.

We’ve contacted Microsoft inquiring about what type of subscriptions they’ll offer, and if the rumors are even true. As soon as we learn more we’ll let you know. But you can bet this will might give Netflix a run for its money!

Source: CVG

From our quick jaunt around the web, it appears that this bare bones email app is merely half-baked. The inability to customize server settings, short list of supported email account types, and no contact syncing whatsoever have been voiced. However, the biggest flaw we’ve seen highlighted so far is that the app needs to re-download email every time the app is closed and re-opened. Still, having something is better than nothing wouldn’t you say?

Via: EnterConnected

Earlier this evening, Bloomberg published a report that Microsoft will discontinue Zune hardware development and new releases. Instead, the Zune team will refocus on bringing everything that made the Zune great (the software) to their Windows Phone 7 platform. It is here that Microsoft’s latest fight is currently waging against Apple. For the iPhone and its integrated iPod software are an extremely powerful 1-2 punch. While Windows Phone 7 already makes use of the Zune software, having the full Zune team focus solely on the WP7 platform ensures faster, more innovative updates and added features in the coming months and years (in theory).

So we have to ask old, famous Zune tattoo guy: Was it worth it in the end?

Via: Bloomberg

Image Credit: Cnet

What can they possibly do next? How about throwing Windows Phone 7 on it? It’s an intriguing idea and a good start. Though honestly, it needs to be done if Microsoft has any hope of remaining anywhere close to the iPod Touch in terms of relevance. I mean, the iPod Touch is running full blown iOS — a smartphone OS. The current Zune HD is running nothing more than a PMP OS that is quite limited. Seeing as how Windows Phone 7 pretty much packs the Zune interface within the music app, this rumor isn’t such a stretch.

I can see both sides to this story. On one hand, a more complex and versatile OS will really help the Zune branch out if Microsoft does so choose to go that route. At the same time, a simple PMP is what so many people crave and list it as one of the reasons they avoid the iPod Touch in particular. Though in the end, I’d imagine more people would gladly take a more well rounded, robust device instead of a single-use device these days.

What do you prefer: A more single-use PMP-only Zune or an iPod Touch-esque uber device?

Source:
Nexus

Whether or not you were left with a slightly bitter taste in your mouth back when Microsoft announced the Zune HD 16 and 32GB mp3 players, dropping the ball for audio aficionados in not offering a higher capacity 64GB option, it doesn’t matter anymore. At least it soon won’t matter. A slip up last night left a “64GB” link appearing nicely below the current 16 and 32GB Zune HD choices on the Zune HD webpage. Obviously Microsoft has a nice little bun in the oven, albeit grossly past it’s due date.

The link is now gone, but Google cache has left it’s presence in the modern world alive and well. Hopefully M get’s this thing out the door fairly quick as they’re already months behind schedule in the high capacity flash media player department. Having a 64GB Zune HD might be just the ticket to swaying a few potential iPod buyers in their direction. Does a 64GB Zune HD sound interesting to you? If it’s priced right (read: less than the 64GB iPod Touch’s $399) I’d be more than happy to give one a home. And the waiting game begins…

Daily Tech > Engadget

As much as I and I’m sure many of you like to drool over the highest quality smartphones, not everyone wants, needs, or can afford such lavish expenditures. For such individuals, more mid to lower-range smartphones with a basic web browser, full qwerty, and decent email support are enough. It looked as if the much lauded “Project Pink” handsets from Microsoft (dubbed the Pure and Turtle) were going to be quite the hot ticket item for lower-end smartphone sales — and then I read the spec sheet.

Windows 6 CE? CE?! Eck. Granted, the UI will most likely be heavily skinned, power will be rather impressive thanks to an Nvidia Tegra chip stuffed inside, and if a decent SDK were released for these little phones, gaming wouldn’t be half bad. In that light, they don’t seem half bad.

But I can’t help the constant flashbacks I keep getting of the old mobile POS systems that I used to deal with in retail. Ya, that was a nightmare. But again, CE is just the base of the OS (still that’s unfortunate) with every trace of the aged system being replaced with more “Zune-like” appearance.

Let’s hope Microsoft doesn’t spend all of it’s time and resources just making Windows Phone 7 all it can be. You have to look out for the little guys too. Anyone anxious to pick up a Windows CE phone?

Electronista > WM Experts

We value our long-standing relationship with Microsoft across Motorola and look forward to their next generation of Windows Mobile platform software for potential integration on future mobile devices. As we have continued to focus our investment on differentiated end-user experiences, that investment at this point remains largely focused on Android.

I’m sure Motorola has at least a couple developers tinkering with Windows Phone 7 inside some cold, dark laboratory. Is their decision to stay solely Android for now a good decision? Hey, when you’re hot, you’re hot — and Motorola is striking gold once again with the various Android sets they’ve been and are going to be pumping out.

A few weeks ago I would have said stay far and away from Microsoft’s mobile OS at all costs. After today’s events however, Windows Phone 7 does look mighty nice is now an honest contender in the mobile wars once again.

Thoughts?

AlleyInsider

**Update: Microsoft pushed out an update for the Zune Twitter app. It’s f****** fucking great. Get it while it’s hot!

Oh joy. Don’t you love it when some company, software developer, or hardware manufacturer decides what is and isn’t suitable for your senses to consume? I know I sure do. Mmmmm censorship and net nannies how I love thee.
/sarcasm

Blatant sarcasm aside, having the Zune team tackle the whole net nanny is rather disappointing. Kids may see vulgar content in live, user generated content. That’s life. Get over it. Censoring the world won’t stop such things from reaching children. They just become annoyances to the rest of civilization and reasons not to buy a particular product. The obvious option would have been to install a password (read: parent controlled) on/off feature that would block/censor vulgar content. An all out *** buffet is stupid. Oh well, maybe ver. 2.0….

Besides the hand holding, the app actually looks pretty good visually speaking though users in various Zune forums are offering up their own two cents. According to them, the app is just “ok” as bugs currently persist. But as is usual with all 1st gen/ver. 1.0 products, bugs are expected. By the time the next version is pushed out I’m sure Microsoft will have gotten around to fixing them.

Any Zune users currently having their socks rocked? Or are your socks more like knee highs reaching towards those sky-thigh-high running shorts? We’ve just gotta know.

Mashable

**Update: Microsoft’s pet unicorn works wonders as they announce that “most, if not all” customer data lost during the great Sidekick slaying of ’09 is restored or soon to be. Whew! So, conspiracy or simply mechanical failure mixed with a pinch of human error?

**Update 2: A word from a TechCrunch via Microsoft:

We have determined that the outage was caused by a system failure that created data loss in the core database and the back-up. We rebuilt the system component by component, recovering data along the way. This careful process has taken a significant amount of time, but was necessary to preserve the integrity of the data.

So there you have it. No crazy sabotage plans (though they were highly believable) or world ending tales. Simple hardware failure. Remember however that this hardware failure was one of the worst to date for a major company such as Microsoft and will no doubt stay in the general publics’ minds for months possibly years to come. Move along folks…the excitement here is over.

Now before you go and discount the ‘ol “inside job” claim, stick with me for a minutes. There’s some real meat to this story. First, we’ll start off with be simply highlighting that over a week after Sidekick services went down, no one, not Microsoft nor T-Mobile have come forward giving us any explanation. Don’t you find that a bit strange? Usually they’ll say the simple “hardware failure”, “software glitch”, etc. Also, with the sheer number of users these companies support, you know they have back up servers and back up servers for the back up servers and then some. Everything has multiple copies. So why hasn’t at least one back server been launched or at least some functionality been brought back up? Could it really be sabotage and “dogfooding”.

I guess a small side note is appropriate right about now — Ever since Microsoft acquired Danger, the relationship hasn’t been exactly rosey. Microsoft loves taking smaller companies, eating them alive, poaching their talent, and then replacing all of the old companies technologies with their own. The problems are many, though the few that really stick out are (1) Danger was a small, close nit team that operated much more freely than your typical big corporate environment. Many people had access to all sorts of levels and data that would normally be limited to a select few in a larger company. (2) Danger’s servers ran Oracle Real Application Cluster, something Microsoft employees aren’t exactly taught during orientation or their first week on the job. (3) It’s no secret Microsoft is working on their own phone line — Pink — that was to use Danger/Sidekick team members to further Microsoft’s Project Pink. Not to mention, Sidekick technology was also supposed to be filtered (or “Dogfooding” to Microsoft employees) through Windows Phone and “Zune Phone” lines. Though previous contracts with T-Mobile and the Sidekick name have so far prevented that. This “dogfooding” is just a new verb created by those within Big M that describes Microsoft’s approach to quickly eradicate any foreign technology from within.

Coming back to the accusation above, the fact that so much back stabbing and high school drama has been going on behind closed doors, is it really so hard to believe that an angry, disgruntled employee wanted to “finish the job”? Quoting one of AppleInsider’s sources:

…The very long outage of core functionality, followed by an incapacity to recover any data, both point to the possibility that “someone with access to the servers at the datacenter must have inserted a time bomb to wipe out not just all of the data, but also all of the backup tapes, and finally, I suspect, reformatting the server hard drives so that the service itself could not be restarted with a simple reboot (and to erase any traces of the time bomb itself)

While some may discount this as simple fear mongering and stupid rumor, looking back at some of Microsoft’s other failed attempts at migrating acquisitions over to their own technologies (HoTMaiL and WebTV), one can ask themselves why they would try a third time on an environment they have little knowledge of? This so called sabotage could in fact be very real. With the servers and hard drives wiped out, the Oracle environment has to be re-installed on all of the servers. With the countless name changes and people moving that has gone on the last few months within Danger could very well mean their aren’t very many people left qualified enough to do such a monumental task.

Sadly, T-Mobile comes out the worst in all of this. Most consumers who won’t take it upon themselves to read into this issue will immediately blame the carrier, not to mention, the Sidekick name has been tightly woven into T-Mobile’s name. However, as we all know, Microsoft is the real person running the Sidekick ship with T-Mobile merely selling the device and providing service. T-Mobile will ultimately lose countless customers because of false beliefs that they are the reason for the problems while Microsoft escapes largely unharmed, reputation maybe tainted slightly, and the general consumer not even realizing who really destroyed their Sidekick. Sad isn’t it?

If you can only take one thing away from here, let it be this: that Microsoft, the money hungry beast that they are essentially destroyed (even before the now infamous data outage) Danger/Sidekick. The once great and rock solid service and hardware will probably sputter into irrelevance at the hands of the incompetent retards that head Microsoft. This problem isn’t going to go away anytime soon so I suggest following this as it develops. Quite interesting and eye raising to say the least.

I know you’ve got some opinions in your head. Let them fly…

Apple Insider

Image Source

If you recently rushed out to be one of the first with the latest generation in Zune goodness you may want to sit up and pay attention. Reports of OLED funkiness have been cropping up on those shiny new Zune HD’s. While it isn’t a widespread problem…yet…as more people pick up Microsoft’s latest the issue could grow troublesome. The video clearly shows that while the touchscreen controls are in fact still functioning, something goes horribly awry once the white mask kicks in. As can be seen above, one the white mask of doom kicks in roughly 28 seconds into the clip, the display bites it and becomes a nasty, blinding display of awfulness. Currently, Microsoft is mum on the issue (though we have contacted them) meaning any insight as to whether this is hardware or software related is pure speculation for now. Regardless, if this happens to you, take it back and get a new one. Anyone else experiencing these issues?

Gizmodo

However you have to remember that it costs money to develop apps, if you can recoup a small portion of that development by selling some ad space more power to ya. It’s when ads get out of control and inhibit enjoyment of the task at hand. Moving back to the Zune, the apps aren’t all 30 seconds in length or full screen. Some are your traditional smaller ads placed strategically throughout the app during live game play while some are the full screen ads that display while a game is loading. It’s also worth mentioning that not all the free apps have ads. The weather app for instance is ad free.

So the question comes up of which is better and for who? Would you rather have a small ad(s) placed throughout your screen during game play or have one large, longer add during game loading? Heck, those seconds lost during loading are useless anyway aren’t they? My vote is during loading time. I’d much rather have my gaming sessions make use of as many pixels as possible. Feel the same?

Source: Slashdot, Ars Technica

Love it or hate it, mock it or praise it, the Microsoft Zune is here for at least a little longer with the upcoming release of the Zune HD. While the older 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, 80GB, and 120GB models will be getting a digital dirt nap, Microsoft is pushing onward with their little player that still hasn’t bringing to market a more formidable challenger to the PMP market. But, is it too little too late? While I am actually quite impressed with the Zune HD and wouldn’t mind purchasing one, save for the Nvidia Tegra graphics inside, it is basically the same technology that was on iPod Touches two years ago. I’ll forget the fact that Microsoft took so long to bring a legitimate touchscreen, jack of all trades device to market, but why did they stop there? Why didn’t they bring some new technology or feature that would truly push those fence sitters over the edge or even better, win back a few iPod users in the process? What exactly is Microsoft’s strategy with the Zune?

Another particularly puzzling decision by Microsoft is the fact that for now, the Zune HD will be a U.S. only release. Surely more countries are eager to get their hands on the Zune HD. It isn’t hard to imaging really. Competition and choice are welcomed no matter what country you are in. While it may not be the most popular device here, that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be the “iPod of Ukraine”. I understand that with the first Zune device Microsoft held of on a global release as it was a new market for them and they wanted to test out the devices success before pursuing other markets. If that was the case, the Zune would be dead by now as uptake in the super saturated MP3/PMP player market is reaching its limit. Still the Zune lives on.

One would think that by now Microsoft has to be eager to expand the Zune’s reach globally. Other countries are seeking it out. Why ignore them? Of course, Microsoft could just be holding off a global release announcement for reasons unknown to me. Though, that doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense. In order for the Zune to become more popular and gain a cult following like the iPod did, Microsoft needs to push the Zune HD hard…in multiple countries across the globe, not just a half assed attempt by “going global” (a.k.a. Canada).

Even though it may be against the norm, I want the Zune to succeed. I want Microsoft to wow me and force other manufacturers to keep up their game. Unfortunately, I feel the Zune merely playing catch up. And with Microsoft’s rather weak marketing attempts and lackluster support for future Zune products/involvement, leaves me with little hope. Feeling ignored?

Source: Gear Log, Ars Technica

The Microsoft Zune may be the ugly, finally getting prettier step child that many love to hate and few actually love. But I can say that it has finally started turning into a device I would actually want to own. With the latest updates to the physical design as well as internal features, Microsoft’s Zune is becoming quite the little media player/mobile web browser…even if it is a year or two late to the game. CNet whom gave the new Zune glowing initial reviews and opinions has finally posted some pics of the much sought after browser based on IE and designed by the IE team. Pics of said browser can be found right after the click.

Pictures property of Cnet