Zune Music coming to Australia on 11/16

October 31st, 2011 admin

Microsoft announced on Tuesday that Australians will lastly get access to the Zune Music Marketplace and Zune Music Pass on November 16. This really is exciting news for Australian clients who’ve been waiting years to get their hands on music direct from Zune.

Australia’s Zune Music Pass will run subscribers $11.99 a month or $119.90 a year. It is going to contain all of the functions individuals have come to expect, such as unlimited streaming music videos, which was introduced earlier this month as portion of the service’s expansion into Canada. The aforementioned announcement also included a price drop from $14.99 to $9.99, but the conversion rate indicates Australian buyers will be paying a bit far more.

The Zune Music Marketplace has a library of “more than 11 million tracks available for obtain in MP3 format.” DRM-free tracks bought by way of the service are playable on just about every MP3-compatible device, though Zune Pass content may be streamed to Zune devices, Windows Telephone, Xbox 360, the Zune PC software client, and Zune.net. The service is also accessible by way of Bing’s Music section.

We’re extremely excited to determine the service begin playing in yet a different international market place. It’s been a lengthy time in coming, but the wait is going to be over in just three weeks.

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Microsoft Confirms Windows Phones Replace Zune MP3 Players

October 16th, 2011 admin

It’s official, Microsoft is no longer producing Zune MP3 players. The company is focusing its mobile music and video efforts on Windows Phones.

The plans to stop making Zune music player hardware first aired back in March, but they were attributed to an unnamed source in a Bloomberg story. At that time, Dave McLauchlan, a Microsoft program manager, reacted to the Bloomberg story by saying that Microsoft had not revealed any such plans. He claimed that Zune software running on Windows Phone 7 devices was the 2011 release of the Zune device.

Apparently, Microsoft’s plans were in flux — even as late as last week, when a product page disappeared from Microsoft’s Web site. It was later described as a mistake. Now, it appears there is no doubt: Zune hardware production has been killed by Microsoft.

Zune hardware apparently can still be purchased from some retail outlets. However, the form factor that once attempted to challenge Apple’s iPod will eventually disappear.

Zune software lives on, and can be installed on Windows Phone 7 devices and PCs, and can be used on Xbox consoles. Zune software is also a prerequisite installation to continue to get updates on Windows Phone 7 devices, such as the recently issued “Mango” Windows Phone 7.5 update.

The official end of Zune hardware production, although reported earlier this year, was confirmed last week when the following statement appeared on a Zune player support page on a Microsoft Web site: www.zune.com/www.zune.net

We recently announced that, going forward, Windows Phone will be the focus of our mobile music and video strategy, and that we will no longer be producing Zune players.

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Microsoft Zune isn’t dead?

October 11th, 2011 admin

We reported that Microsoft had officially announced that the Zune HD and hardware was dead and that Windows Phone was the new focus for the brand. That information and facts came directly from a page on Zune.net. Nicely, now Microsoft claims that it was all a massive mistake and that it wasn’t official inside the very first location.

Here’s what the @ZuneSupport team stated on Twitter: “We are still supporting the Zune HD hardware. No official info has been released stating hardware is being discontinued.”

Here’s what the message on the Zune.net internet site said yesterday: “We recently announced that, going forward, Windows Phone will likely be the focus of our mobile music and video method, and that we will no longer be producing Zune players. So what does this mean for our current Zune users? Certainly nothing. Your device will continue to work with Zune services just as it does today. And we will continue to honor the warranties of all devices for both current owners and those who acquire our incredibly last devices. Customer service has been, and will remain a best priority for us.”

Clearly, if Microsoft wrote this information on the internet site, developed a page for it, and removed all of the Zune HD pages (they’ve since returned), a plan is in place to kill the Zune HD. What benefit does Microsoft acquire from lying about it now? The word is out. Everyone getting a Zune in the last two years has had to know the day may well come when Microsoft discontinues the device. It just hasn’t taken off.

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Microsoft ends Zune media player

October 5th, 2011 admin

Microsoft Corp. hasn’t released a main update to the line in two years. Several of the look and functionality of the Zune has been moved over to Microsoft’s smartphone software program, which it says “will be the focus of our mobile music and video method.”

Microsoft says it is going to continue to support existing players.

Microsoft is discontinuing the Zune media player, which it launched five years ago in the hope of taking on the iPod.

The player was properly reviewed when it launched in 2006, and it grabbed as significantly as 10 percent of the market place for media players. But enthusiasm faded, and the Zune has become one of numerous failed iPod wannabes.

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Microsoft Adds Cheaper Zune Pass Selection in Canadian Expansion

October 2nd, 2011 admin

Microsoft said Thursday that it has added a more affordable Zune Pass alternative in the United States as it expands the service into Canada.

There is a smaller catch, though: even though Microsoft reduced the U.S. price with the Zune Pass from $14.99 to $9.99 per month, it also did away using the capacity to download 10 music tracks per month.

However, Microsoft also left the existing $14.99/mo program in place, so that users can download the ten tracks if they so decide on. But there is a catch, there, too: the $14.99/mo option is only readily available for existing, grandfathered subscribers, so it will essentially be removed for new users.

The songs that users cache on the PC may also be synced with as much as 4 other devices, such as any combination of PCs, the Zune HD, or a Windows Phone.

The changes to the pricing come as Microsoft pushes the Zune Pass into Canada, where a single service will likely be supplied for C$9.99 per month (or C$99.90 a year). Besides a Windows Phone, subscribers may also listen on a Xbox 360, Windows PC, Zune device, and Zune.net to the 14 million licensed tracks that Microsoft gives.

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