RSSMore Zune 2 Details Surface Ahead of Launch
By Ed Oswald | Published October 2, 2007, 6:26 PM
UPDATE: As expected, Microsoft has made the official announcement regarding the new Zunes
Although the news won't officially hit until midnight tonight, further details of the Zune players have leaked ahead of Microsoft's secret Tuesday night event for press and bloggers.
Sources have confirmed to BetaNews, as well as additional information from Zune news site Zunerama indicates that there will be two new Zune models, including a new 80GB HDD-based player, along with 4GB and 8GB flash based versions.
Every Zune will include the Wi-Fi wireless functionality that is central to the platform's allure, and would allow customers to sync and share content over the air. An FM tuner will be included as well.
Also for the first time, the Zune will be nearly equal to the iPod and iTunes in terms of content capabilities, with the software allowing for the organizing of music videos, pictures, and podcasts. Still missing is television shows and movies, sources say.
However, the second generation Zune will allow for those with Windows Media Center to transfer recorded content to the device for portable viewing, the source said.
The Zune Marketplace will receive a redesign as part of the launch, with 3 million tracks available. Possibly the most important announcement of all is up to a third of these tracks will also be available in MP3 format without copyright restrictions, which means they can be playable on any device including the iPod.
Clarifying last night's story and reports from other organizations following BetaNews' initial report last night, the actual launch event is being held Tuesday evening Pacific time. However, the actual public announcement is embargoed until Wednesday morning at midnight Eastern time.
BetaNews will continue to update this story as more details become available.
i've never seen a reason to drop my old school ipod (other than crappy sound quality), but if there is tight integration with Windows Media Center, then I might just have a look.
Score: 0
|What's a "Zune?" I've never seen one--except on store shelves.
Score: 0
|Yay, the continued use of hard buttons and controller. What a novel concept!
Apparently Steve "I don't like buttons" Jobs has never met any visually impaired people, or hell, even people who use their mp3 players inside their pockets or backpacks. Not everyone likes to dig out their players or can even see their players, in order to control them.
Score: 0
|you are far smarter than jobs obviously. your very clever point, however, is lost when looking at the ipod lineup and seeing that 80% of the ipods still have physical buttons. I look forward to more of these gems of wisdom you'll be dropping on us.
Score: 0
|New iPod Touches and iPhones? Really?
Jobs is clever because it really doesn't matter to him since the visually impaired is such a small percentage of potential consumers for his iPods. Why bother?
Score: 0
|Their tagline is
"You make it you"
Seriously... just.... wow....
Score: 0
|Not a lot of info - but there are pictures
http://www.zune.net/en-us/meetzune/holiday2007.htm
It says prices from $149 - $249 - and it mentions three units. A 4GB, 8GB and an 80GB. $249 for the 80GB is about on par for the iPod 80GB. MS should have dropped the price by at least $50. :)
Score: 0
|no 16gb flash model, no thanks. I'll be heading to the sansa view in January or so.
Score: 0
|comment deleted.
Zunerama.com was reporting 8 and 16gb models. source doesn't sound credible however...
Score: 0
|I think somebody thought the nanos came in 8/16gb now, and heard that the price/capacity points for zune mini were the same.
Score: 0
|I'm really hoping for a touch screen zune and not just a slimmed down version... because a slimmed down version would not be worthy of a "zune 2" kind of name.
Score: 0
|Zune 2 is *not* touchscreen.
Score: 0
|Summary of Zune 2....another failed attempt to copy Apples innovation.
yawn..... wake me up when M$ actually innovates instead of stealing/copying other peoples work.
Score: 0
|WHAT APPLE MADE A DEVICE THAT PLAYS MP3'S????!!! WHAT AN INNOVATION.
wake me up when you take Steve jobs genitalia out of your mouth.
Score: 0
|Why would anyone way to steal from a garbage products?
Apple never steal, they only make existing technology better. Yea, keep digging your head into your ass.
Score: 0
|I get hard when people say M$.
Score: -1
|Because Microsoft is the only company in the entire world that has ever copied an idea.
And everyone on BetaNews knows that you're beyond anti-Microsoft, so why would we confirm your conclusion?
Score: 0
|Yeah, it's a hard drive or flash drive, a cheap LCD screen, and a speaker... how much innovation can a company really come up with?
Score: 0
|Summary of any post from El Dingo:
M$ Blows, and you're all a bunch of M$ drones.
*yawn*
Wake me up when he comes up with something original or (and I know I'm asking the impossible here) useful.
Score: 0
|Give it up dingo, nobody wants a crappy iPod anymore. Maybe version 20 of the iPod will add FM support eh?
Score: 0
|That's funny, because Apple ripped off Konfabulator and Longhorn's sidebar and idiots like you lapped it up as if Apple was innovating.
Score: 0
|show me a posting where i did that.
Score: 0
|sure no one wants one. That is why it is outselling the Zune 25:1. LOL. What is the marketshare of the iPod?
Score: 0
|I could of sworn i responded to this message yesterday. Why do my messages keep disappearing?
Score: 0
|I fervently despised the first generation of Zune players, but look forward to reading some reviews about the Zune 2... especially the flash-based models.
Score: 0
|Yah, after reading about them, it sounds pretty darn good.
Score: 0
|what a horrible player...
Score: 0
|Cause you've used one, right?
Score: 0
|Since it has yet to be release, I think that remains to be seen.
Score: 0
|On the contrary, it plays music flawlessly in both MP3 and WMA format. On top of that, it even plays the FM radio stations in my area flawlessly, so I'd say it's a great player.
Marketplace isn't bad either aside from not being able to do TV shows and movies (yet). They need to get on the ball with that, however.
Score: 0
|Unicode, yes?
Score: 0
|MS is learning about Mp3's very quickly... This is a good move for them.
Score: 0
|woot!
props in advanced to the Zune Team if they manage to pull all this off, guess it was worth the wait I hope.
Score: 0
|Is that new software available now?
Score: 0
|As of 11:00pm Eastern US, no... I just checked for updates a moment ago to see.
Score: 0
|http://www.zunerama.com/...cs/new-gen2-zune-01.jpg
If that pic is real, I don't think they look half bad. The HDD model is Definitely slimmer than the last gen - a much needed improvement.
Score: 0
|Yes, that image is legit... it's been circulating for a while now on ZuneScene. The new control "dial" is called a squircle (square/circle hybrid).
The only big mystery for those of us interested is the software improvements and Marketplace improvements.
Score: 0
|