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Zune 80
Zune Pass monthly subscription service now available

Microsoft announced a new update for its Zune portable media player today that adds new software features and new content to the Zune online store. Microsoft hasn’t exactly been burning up the sales charts with its line of music players, but it hopes that steady software update will give the Zune a strong platform to work with.

The Zune video store is getting a boost with new downloads for TV shows like “South Park”, “Afro Samurai”, “Witchblade”, “The Office”, “The Hills”, “Heroes”, “Battlestar Galactica” and many more. In all, the updated store offers over 800 episodes that will each sell for 160 Microsoft Points per episode or about $1.99 at launch.

Microsoft says with the new update that its Zune Store now has more than 3.5 million tracks with two-thirds of them in MP3 format. The Zune Store still has a way to go to beat iTunes which is the largest music retailer around. Zune users have had access to a free customizable Zune Card in the past that is a sort of snapshot of their favorite tracks and other music played on their Zune.

The update makes the Zune Card more portable and allows subscribers with a Zune Pass to take a friend’s Zune Card and listen to what their friends and family like the most.

Chris Stephenson, general manager of Global Marketing for Zune at Microsoft said in a statement, “Consumers want more than the traditional transactional model of an online music store plus portable device. Zune is putting the strong combination of an online music community together with subscription to deliver a new experience centered on music discovery that’s good for consumers, artists and the industry. This approach exposes consumers to music they might not have otherwise tried, keeps them coming back, and gives them purchasing options that suit their preferences.”

Key updates to the Zune Community include the syncing of Zune Cards to a device, enhanced friends search, instant friends, album and artists reviews, reputation badges, and Windows Live connections. Key updates to the Zune device include auto playlists, browsing videos, editing album and track information, organizing collections, gapless playback, syncing groups, and Zune reminders.

Comments     Threshold


Plethora of what???
By msheredy on 5/6/2008 5:38:21 PM , Rating: 1
Did I miss something(s)?




RE: Plethora of what???
By Brandon Hill (blog) on 5/6/2008 5:46:04 PM , Rating: 5
I don't know about you, but gapless playback was one of THE most requested features for the Zune. I don't understand why they didn't include it in the first place.

It was one of the reasons why I got rid of my 30GB Zune after numerous updates for the Zune came out with no sign of gapless playback.


RE: Plethora of what???
By AlphaVirus on 5/6/2008 5:55:27 PM , Rating: 2
When I burn cds I always take out the gaps, for some reason those 2-4 seconds pause becomes an irritant.

Its like geeze! play the next song already!


RE: Plethora of what???
By Brandon Hill (blog) on 5/6/2008 5:58:05 PM , Rating: 3
It sucked bad (my Zune that is) when I was playing live albums. You'd have one song leading into another than 1-2 second pause, then the next song would begin. I absolutely hated that.


RE: Plethora of what???
By RamarC on 5/6/2008 8:23:46 PM , Rating: 3
gapless playback was the main feature thatni coveted from my wife's creative zens. i got her a 30gb xtra way back (3+ years ago) for her car. when it wigged out (cooked in the florida heat i guess) i got her a new zen and, though they screwed up the auto-mode (it used to start playing automatically when power was restored), it still had the no-gap playback between tracks. (a bunch of our music is mixes/compilations.)

i have a mazda with an mp3 deck but it takes nearly a second to start the next track. my old jvc mp3 deck did the same. and my sansa e240 has a brief gap also. my rio carbon was pretty seamless. unfortunately, my new 8gb flash based zen has just enough a delay to be noticeable (to me). i can't believe these manufacturers can't use a friggin' read-ahead buffer!

sigh... i'm still searching for the perfect player!


RE: Plethora of what???
By splint on 5/6/2008 11:34:54 PM , Rating: 1
Call me when it plays OGG and looks like a hard disk when plugged in to my PC. Till then, not interested...


RE: Plethora of what???
By lexluthermiester on 5/7/2008 12:09:03 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
Call me when it plays OGG and looks like a hard disk when plugged in to my PC.


Don't you mean WORKS like a hard drive? Zune has nothing on my Zen.


RE: Plethora of what???
By Omega215D on 5/7/2008 1:04:41 AM , Rating: 2
Various players can do this and sound great compared to the iPod and Zune. iRIver, iAudio/ COWON, Creative Zen (OGG with ROCKBOX should it be finished). and I think Meizu. iAudio has some gapless playback problems but I haven't had many gaps if any when playing music on my D2.

Always goes to show that the little guys usually are better for the enthusiast.


RE: Plethora of what???
By noirsoft on 5/7/2008 10:47:15 PM , Rating: 2
No, the Zen does not have true gapless playback, nor does any other portable player that I've heard. They reduce the gap to maybe 1/10 of a second, but it's still a gap, which is annoying if the album is continuous as in the aforementioned classical, techno and also a ton of progressive rock and metal. I'd say about 50% of the albums I listen to have at least one pair of tracks that blend together, and even a fraction of a second is annoying.


RE: Plethora of what???
By lexluthermiester on 5/7/2008 12:15:39 AM , Rating: 5
Ok in a live album that might be mildly annoying, but come on, is it enough to get all bunched up over? There are better things to to complain to Microsoft about...


RE: Plethora of what???
By lexluthermiester on 5/7/08, Rating: 0
RE: Plethora of what???
By darthwhit on 5/7/2008 12:45:40 AM , Rating: 2
What about classical. The break doesn't seperate one song from another. You aren't going to a new song, you all of a sudden have a random 2 second gap within your song. I don't think that is so much to ask for since PC playback has incorporated it since, I don't know, at least as far back as 1996 with musicmatch. The same thing can be said for techno music where each track is meant to be seemless and the entire CD is essentialy one seemless track.


RE: Plethora of what???
By mikefarinha on 5/6/2008 6:20:43 PM , Rating: 4
In case you missed the 3 Amigo's reference :-)

quote:

Jefe: I have put many beautiful pinatas in the storeroom, each of them filled with little suprises.
El Guapo: Many pinatas?
Jefe: Oh yes, many!
El Guapo: Would you say I have a plethora of pinatas?
Jefe: A what?
El Guapo: A *plethora*.
Jefe: Oh yes, you have a plethora.
El Guapo: Jefe, what is a plethora?
Jefe: Why, El Guapo?
El Guapo: Well, you told me I have a plethora. And I just would like to know if you know what a plethora is. I would not like to think that a person would tell someone he has a plethora, and then find out that that person has *no idea* what it means to have a plethora.
Jefe: Forgive me, El Guapo. I know that I, Jefe, do not have your superior intellect and education. But could it be that once again, you are angry at something else, and are looking to take it out on me?


Not buying
By darkpaw on 5/6/2008 5:33:42 PM , Rating: 2
$1.99 pre episode is still insane, and I for one won't be paying to watch any TV.

I'd love to be able to download shows to watch on my way to work, but not at that price. Who in their right mind would pay that per episode for low res TV when full seasons on DVD can often be bought for $20 or less?

Why don't they just throw some commercials in and make the episodes free?

Gah, oh well. Only reason I even own a Zune is because it was impossible to beat $80 for a 30gb full video player.




RE: Not buying
By AlphaVirus on 5/6/2008 5:50:13 PM , Rating: 3
The selection available does sound good but I agree, $2 per episode is not a lot but its too much for a low res version.
Actually, I might accept the deal if they had $20 per season or similar style packages. Or "Buy all for $500".

I am not a fan of the Buy-1-watch-1 scheme, which is why I am not a big fan of iTunes.

I'd rather buy in bulk or in clusters and get some form of discount for doing such.


RE: Not buying
By aftlizard on 5/6/2008 6:38:12 PM , Rating: 2
What sucks is that I have the Zune pass and I still have to purchase them, pretty irritating. Oh well it is an mp3 player first and foremost.


RE: Not buying
By Locutus465 on 5/7/2008 1:02:54 AM , Rating: 2
Actually, they do allow you to buy in bulk though I can't say if it gets you a discount. Season 3 of BSG costs ~$38. To accomplish you click the "buy now" button above the first episode in the season, it'll have a rather large point tally.


RE: Not buying
By Locutus465 on 5/7/2008 1:05:07 AM , Rating: 2
Ok, so I did some quick math and no discount what so ever for buying a season... That kind of sucks, hopefully they'll work one in. I also want to see HD content with 5.1 surround (at least BSG is lacking here). At anyrate, I'm going to have to step on it fixing up the DRM on my desktop... That's the only thing that went awry after switching out motherboards amazingly enough.


RE: Not buying
By AlphaVirus on 5/7/2008 2:32:46 PM , Rating: 2
Yeah and thats the main thing I would like is some form of discount. I am not cheap just want to feel like I am getting a deal for buying so much of the sellers products.

Retail outlets always have buy 2 get 1 free on stuff, I want to do the same with music and video content.


RE: Not buying
By Locutus465 on 5/7/2008 11:54:54 PM , Rating: 2
No I completely understand your position and find it odd that microsoft offers no season discount. In particular since you can get these cheaper on DVD off of amazon. I certainly hope that microsoft reconsiders their position on this one, and starts offering HD content.