Zune - SlashGear

Posts Tagged ‘Zune’

Microsoft ZenZui mobile UI now known as Zumobi

By James Allan Brady on Tuesday, Nov 13th 2007 1 Comment

zumobi vox “What is a name?” well in today’s consumer oriented market it means a lot, but a change from ZenZui to Zumobi, I don’t think consumers are going to care much. It’s a zooming user interface, I have no clue what that means, but it sounds like something else MS ripped off of the iPhone.

It will be available for WinMo 5 and 6 devices as well as a BlackBerry and J2ME version to be released later, like Q2 next year. the Windows Mobile versions will have a public beta dropping on December 14th if you are interested.

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Rumor: Microsoft looking to bring you OTA music purchases

By James Allan Brady on Monday, Nov 12th 2007 No Comments

musicwave Musiwave, a French company that offers AYCE (all you can eat) music services to cellular providers in Europe, might get purchased by Microsoft. If that were to happen, we might see that technology spread to Windows Live, WinMo, and maybe even the Zune.

God knows how long we’ve been waiting to see such a service available on the Windows Mobile platform, so that would be a blessing of its own. Then to see it spread to the Zune allowing you to connect to your favorite hotspot and download the tunes you just heard on the radio that would be awesome.

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Is the new 80GB Zune better than the comparable 80GB iPod Classic?

By James Allan Brady on Monday, Nov 12th 2007 No Comments

The answer appears to be yes. The guys at Giz took 6 reviews from other sites and did a Frankenreview with them, and all of the reviews are overwhelmingly positive. They all bring up several points where Microsoft is finally making moves.

zc3

The first is the wireless syncing, which is, and you have to admit it, an amazing feature. Next is the large screen and the shaved off bulk from its predecessor.

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The big ‘M’ with a bold new Zune

By Reece Bailey Schofield on Monday, Nov 12th 2007 No Comments

With so much hype around the new Zune, all eyes seem to be on Microsoft. They had big changes to make over their previous model, and the MP3 player market is so cutthroat at the moment. Of course when I speak of cutthroat I’m referring to the swift knife in Steve Jobs hand known as the iPod.

Zune family Continued »

Microsoft to excel past Apple with new Zune Originals

By James Allan Brady on Monday, Nov 12th 2007 11 Comments

zuneoriginals zune80 Everyone knows that if you order your iPod from Apple online you get the option to customize is with up to two lines of text across the back. Well Microsoft is taking it a step further with their new Zunes and offering up 4 lines of text and even the option to have an entire piece of art engraved on the back.

The new 4, 8, and 80GB Zunes that are dropping tomorrow will have this option of customization, but the real question is, will Microsoft be selling the customized Zunes or do they have a deal worked out with one of their third party retailers where they take care of it all? I think it would be nice to see Microsoft actually start selling something hardware wise themselves.

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Zunes old & new get fresh firmware November 13th: WiFi sync and mobile downloads

By Chris Davies on Thursday, Nov 8th 2007 No Comments

While I don’t think I’d actually buy a Zune, I do admire how Microsoft has committed to making the latest firmware for its Zune 2 PMP available for first-gen hardware too. Come November 13th those who took the non-iPod route in favour of Seattle’s finest will be able to install the new software, giving wireless synchronization and on-device access to the Zune Marketplace as well as the Online Community.

Zune updates coming November 13th for old and new PMPs

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Zune 2 advert potentially misleading with touchscreen indication?

By Chris Davies on Friday, Nov 2nd 2007 19 Comments

Colour me confused. Microsoft have kicked off their all-singing, all-dancing ad campaign for the Zune 2 – under the byline “You Make It You” – and as far as I can tell they’re suggesting that you have plans to fill your PMP with kangaroos and jellyfish. What’s more concerning than the odd menagerie is the fact that the advert indicates that the Zune 2 has a touch-sensitive screen.

Microsoft Zune 2 advert suggests touchscree

Check out the video for yourself, after the cut…

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Zune 2 already on sale

By James Allan Brady on Thursday, Nov 1st 2007 5 Comments

zune2two Apparently there are some Wal-Mart locations that are a bit over-zealous on their timeline for release of the Zune 2. So if you live in St. Louis or are able to get there, you might check out a certain Wal-Mart that has decided to start selling them about 12 days ahead of time.

I have an original Zune, and I consider it a serious mistake, especially after buying an iPod Touch, but I am going to wait till the new firmware with the new features is released, update it, and then see if that makes it any more worthy, but I doubt it. The Zune 2 is just this much closer to being worthy of the price they are asking, if they would just give it one truly unique and new feature, it would probably sell, but as it is, they are only giving it the capability to sync with your PC wirelessly, a capability it should have had with the first release.

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New Zune Car Package

By James Allan Brady on Sunday, Oct 7th 2007 4 Comments

zunefmmodulator Well it looks like Microsoft is at it again with the whole not letting anyone else touch the dock connector thing. As such they have released a new FM transmitter for the new Zunes that are coming in November.

The new FM transmitter can find the optimum stations (for example those without other stations broadcasting on them) automatically so you get the best audio playback through this device. There is also a grip pad so everything isn’t sliding around all willy nilly.

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Zune 2.0 – Microsoft makes it official

By Chris on Wednesday, Oct 3rd 2007 1 Comment

We’ve been hearing about the Zune 2.0 for a little while now. Rumors pegged it as being announced this week. Apparently someone was well-informed. Microsoft is indeed announcing the next-generation of Zunes.

Zune 2.0 and Flash Zune