Zune Groove

Go Red, Go Green, Go Political Zune!

Zune Master — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:00:40 +0000

Microsoft's Zune boys have just released politically themed Zunes! The company put some partisan stickers on the back of their 4GB music players and has begun handing them out to convention delegates. The Democratic Zune is green and the Republican is red. Both tout a MS-sponsored message of environmental harmony. Hmm, maybe we should have headed down to Denver!

Zune 120GB Set to hit the market

Zune Master — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:54:48 +0000

An filing with the FCC has revealed that Microsoft’s latest, next-generation Zune update will come with 120GB worth of storage space for all your movies and videos, but other than the added capacity, the hybrid touch and directional pad will remain the same. No word yet on when the bigger player will be released, but it could follow the fall launch [...]

Zune Going Canadien, Eh.

Zune Master — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 04:21:49 +0000

Microsoft have announced that the Zune will officially be a hockey playing, moose loving, beer drinker. The Zune team has made the official annoucement at CES 2008.

US Album Sales Decline Further: Digital Sales Up 45%

JonnyDrama — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 17:09:54 +0000

U.S. album sales died another 9.5 percent in 2007 according to figures released recently. A total of 500.5 million albums sold as CDs, cassettes(do people still have cassette players?), LPs (wow!) and other formats (8 track anyone?) were purchased last year, down 15 percent from 2006's unit total, said Nielsen SoundScan. About 850 million digital tracks sold in 2007 from places such as iTunes, Zune.Net, Amazon.com and Emusic, compared to 588 million in 2006, and digital album sales accounting for 10 percent of total album purchases. Last year, iTunes became the third-largest music retailer in the U.S - behind Wal*Mart and Best Buy.

Will Zune Benefit from Death of DRM?

JonnyDrama — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 16:43:48 +0000

News that Sony BMG is moving to DRM-free downloads means all the major record labels have removed copyright-protection from their downloads - but what does this mean for Zune.Net and iTunes? Industry analysts have said Apple probably will lose market share in digital downloads as the majors gravitate away from DRM, the resulting increase in online music sales outlets will likely create a larger market in general.

Universal Music Takes on iTunes with Free Music

JonnyDrama — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 02:27:46 +0000

Earlier this year, Universal Music Group big-cheese Doug Morris opted against a new 2-year contract with iTunes, and instead has a rolling month-to-month contract with Apple. According to a report today in BusinessWeek, the UMG is gearing up to launch an iTunes competing service of their own to be named “Total Music”. BMG Music have also thrown their name into the program and is having talks with Warner Music Group. Together the three companies music giants would have control of over 70% of all the music sold in the U.S., with Apple iTunes currently holding control of over 70% of the music sold online in the U.S.

Zune 2 - Ready to Kick some iPod Ass

JonnyDrama — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 02:20:29 +0000

Microsoft are not taking the launch of the new iPods lightly. Bill Gates glossed about the new Zune 2 and the launch date of November 2007 in a widespread video interview recently. If you're not in the know, Zune 2 will be avabilabe 80Gig hard-drive, 8Gig and 4Gig flash editions.

Could We See a Zune Phone Soon?

JonnyDrama — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 05:11:28 +0000

A hot chick with a cute name from Microsoft said on Tuesday that it's "not unreasonable" for the company to sell a mobile phone with the features of a Zune built in to compete with Apple's iPhone. In light of Apple's relative success with the iPhone, there may be a huge market for phones with integrated mobile media players, but that doesn't necessarily mean a Zune based device would be a success. To date, the Zune hasn't had anything resembling the success of the iPod, so there's no reason to assume it would be a strong selling point for other devices.

Microsoft drops Zune price by $50

JonnyDrama — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 05:05:06 +0000

Microsoft have official dropped the price of the Zune from $249 to $199 in hopes of stirring up some sales against the mighty iPod. With the announcement from Apple coming tomorrow, I'm not sure a quick $50 off the price will do to much at the moment, but whatever, $50 off means you can buy some decent headphones or quite a nice pile of songs.

New iPod - Will Microsoft Respond with Enhanced Zune?

JonnyDrama — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 02:17:28 +0000

On Wednesday morning Apple is expected to announce the latest iPod. Being characteristically mum in advance of the announcement, the invitation sent to the media dogs last week didn't give much away, however, it did show a silhouette holding an iPod. The invite was in the style of Apple's "Cover Flow" iTunes and iPhone browsing feature. "The beat goes on," it said.