To coincide with the launch of its Windows Phone 7 next month, Microsoft is offering a yearlong Zune subscription for $150. The yearly pass allows users to stream an unlimited amount of music and includes 10 song downloads each month on your new Windows phone, which comes with built-in Zune functionality.
Find out what else is included after the break.
Ouch! Microsoft's iPod competitor, the Zune has undergone a lot of ridicule since its inception, and one of the biggest offenders? Prime time TV. Check out the shows that have hoisted the Zune Player up as comic fodder.
On last night's Weeds Nancy's youngest son Shane jacks an assortment of oddball items from his teacher after the teacher fails to pay for a giant stash of illegal green stuff. Amid the pirated booty is a Theremin, an electronic instrument that dates back to the '20s, and a Microsoft Zune (note: it looks more like an iPod Nano onscreen, but I'll stick with the script). The Zune has long struggled to make it in the iPod-obsessed world, but it was still a shock to see Nancy drop the swiped device into a creamy cup of frozen yogurt without any hesitation. Hopefully someone in the house knows the old rice trick.
To watch the hilarious clip of the Zune being submerged in yogurt, read more
Zune fans rejoice! The multitouch Zune HD has just been announced by Microsoft and is said to be coming to store shelves this Fall. This new portable media device will sport a 3.3-inch, OLED touchscreen display, be able to play high-def videos, and will feature a built-in HD receiver so you can listen to HD radio. It will also come with WiFi, Xbox integration, and include a customizable Internet Explorer web browser. Microsoft has also revealed that they will showcase how the Zune works with Xbox LIVE at E3 next week, which should be interesting. Unfortunately details like price, colors, etc., weren't announced.
I had a good guffaw this morning with my co-workers over the old Columbia House deal from back in the day when you'd get 10 CDs for a penny, and agreed to buy a certain amount of CDs for a certain amount of time. At 14, the deal seemed like I was getting away with something crazy, but I realized later that I was in my first music subscription. It was also my last music subscription.
One of the cool things about the Zune is its subscription service — but for me, I like to own my music, not rent it, and sometimes I just don't keep up enough to make sure I'm getting my money's worth. That's how I feel about a subscription service in general, and not just the Zune's, which I have been thinking about since Microsoft tried to make it seem like having an iPod was a financial drain.
Not only that, Napster is offering a $5 a month deal for access to their entire music collection, and rumors of an iTunes subscription plan still persist.
Personally, the only thing I like to subscribe to are my Netflix discs and my magazines — other than that, I prefer to just pay once for what I'm getting and be done with it. What about you?
For those of you who prefer products that don't begin with an "A" and end in "pple," then 2009 may be a good year to switch phones. Rumor has it that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will be announcing a Zune-like phone at CES.
Said to be coming with the Zune's sleek style, it will also be pulling features from other popular phones, like a fold out keyboard (a la the G1), as well as some iPhone style goodies like an accelerometer. The potential price for the "Zunephone" has yet to be leaked, but I'm guessing that detail will be a minor one for some Microsoft fans come January.
I've always been an iPod sort of girl, but when a friend of mine whipped out his Zune at a recent barbecue, I felt a twinge of jealousy. A 3.2-inch screen? Wireless syncing? Awesome wallpapers? I was a little speechless. This realization made me wonder if there was a superior device of the two. Could a Zune really KO my iPod ?
I thought I should compare both the 80GB iPod classic and the 80GB Zune for this post, trying to level the playing field as much as I could. To see the pros and cons of each device, just read more
The recently opened Zune Marketplace store is set to add more than 400 new episodes of popular television shows to its online line-up — with 19 popular titles coming this week. Shows like The Colbert Report, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Lipstick Jungle (woot!), are all set to make their Zune Marketplace debut.
Each show is said to be 160 Microsoft Points per episode (approximately $1.99).
GameStop has announced that it will stop carrying Microsoft's Zune because of shabby sales — a blow to the heart of the device that was hoped would be a worthy opponent to Apple's iPod. I feel a tiny bit for the little guy, who's an underdog fighting the good fight of consumer competition.
But in my own personal microcosm, I don't actually know anyone who owns or has owned the Zune, while I have had many iPods (and my iPhone) and most of my friends have also owned multiple iPods. I struggle to even think if I know anyone with a non-iPod. But I want to know — do any of you own an MP3 player that Apple didn't make?
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