Zune Groove

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.

Toshiba release Nano size Gigabeat; New Zune to Follow?

JonnyDrama — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 18:45:29 +0000

Wired are reporting that Toshiba's announcement of a flash-based Gigabeat U jibes interestingly with rumors of an upcoming flash-based Zune. The original Zune was based on Toshiba's hard-drive-based Gigabeat, so it stands to reason that the upcoming flash Zune will be a remake of the Gigabeat U. If Microsoft tries again, it should allow over-Wi-Fi downloads, robust internet radio, and all of the other wireless features that should have been included the first time around (some of which are also missing from the iPhone ).

ZUNE offers Velvet Revolver exclusive track

JonnyDrama — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 18:38:40 +0000

Not only have super-group (ex GnR guys) Velvet Revolver survived three years of mishmash, they have released a new album and partnered with Zune to release Gas & A Dollar Laugh - an Exclusive track. It'll be interesting to see how many copies get downloaded and if we see more music coming exclusively to the Zune Marketplace. BTW, the reviews for VR's new album have been pretty positive...