Zune 30 GB Digital Media Player (Red)

Product Description

Zune is here. Designed around the principles of sharing, discovery and community, Zune will create new ways for people to connect and share entertainment experiences. The Zune experience centers around connection-- connection to your library, connection to friends, connection to community and connection to other devices.Zune starts with a 30GB digital media player and adds a twist. You can wirelessly share selected full-length sample tracks, playlists, pictures or your home-grown tracks directly from Zune to Zune. The Zune has arrived, sporting sharing features that may revolutionize the way we experience music. You can listen to the full-length songs that you receive up to three times in three days, flag the ones you like and easily buy them the next time you sync up. You can discover new music in the Zune Marketplace, and show off your favorite pictures and videos on the big, bright screen.Zune stores up to 7,500 songs, 25,000 pictures or 100 hours of video. You can make playlists on the go and watch a slide show while you're listening. Watching video in landscape mode gets the most out of the vivid display. Zune has all that and a built in FM tuner, too. Zune comes in black, brown, white, pink and red. Wireless Zune-to-Zune Sharing. Every Zune device creates an opportunity for connection. Wireless Zune-to-Zune sharing lets you spontaneously share full-length sample tracks of select songs, homemade recordings, playlists or pictures with friends between Zune devices. Listen to the full track of any song you receive up to three times over three days. If you like a song you hear and want to buy it, you can flag it right on your device and easily purchase it from the Zune Marketplace.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #308 in Consumer Electronics
• Color: Red
• Brand: Zune
• Model: JS8-00017
• Dimensions: 4.40" h x 2.40" w x .60" l, 3.00 pounds

Features

• 30GB digital media player stores up to 7,500 songs, 25,000 pictures or 100 hours of video
• Features wireless networking so you can share tracks and other media
• 3-inch color screen features a landscape mode for video viewing
• Compatible with Zune Marketplace for media downloads and subscriptions
• Automatically imports your existing music, pictures and videos from iTunes and Windows Media Player in a variety of formats

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Microsoft's Zune - Will it be Able to Compete with I-Pod

Finally Microsoft has declared that it will be going to launch its own music player named Zune. Confirming weeks of rumors, Microsoft revealed that it will launch music software and player under the Zune brand name.

According to Chris Stephenson general manager marketing, Microsoft is working on a new music and entertainment project called Zune and under Zune brand they will deliver an array of hardware and software products. He also confirmed that the first of the series will hit the market later this year.

The initial Zune device will have a wi-fi and use a hard drive to store music. Revealing further Stephenson said, “we see a great opportunity to bring technology and community to allow consumers to explore and discover music together’.

Competition reaction

Apple and RealNetworks representatives so far have declined to comment on Microsoft announcements.

On the other hand Napster spokeswoman said that the company isn’t worried about competing with Microsoft. “We have held our position as number tow service through launch of MSN and Urge and a host of others,” She said.

Experts in the industry are not convinced yet whether Microsoft will able to bring the integrated and seamless experience provided by the partnership of iTunes and I-Pod.

It is the first of many such announcements relating the product for music industry, where Apple has maintained its lead over both selling the music player and downloadable music business. It has sold over 58 million iPods and more than a billion songs.

Alan Scott is a geek, he follows technology across the globe and writes article featuring technological issues for write term papers. You can contact him for college term papers. Get the latest technology newsletter from write term papers

Zune vs iPod - Which Media Player Will You Buy

Apple’s ipod has been long dominating the digital media player market. And why not; ipod has been far superior in performance and features when compared to its rivals. But Microsoft is set to change this by coming out with their own media player named zune, which will debut to the world on November 14, 2006. The product will be available for exactly the same price $249 as the 30GB ipod.

Here I’ll list a few key differences between zune and ipod. Below are the list of features supported by zune and not Ipod.

1. Preloaded Audio and video

2. Built in FM tuner

3. Zune to Zune sharing by Wi-Fi wireless (social networking)

4. Custom background

5. Landscape video

With all the exciting and promising features, Microsoft will definitely take a big chunk of media player market form apple, but how much only time will tell.

But the real question is which device is right for YOU? Let’s look at the specs of the system, the features and services we know about. We’re going to be comparing the 30GB iPod to the 30GB Zune, since they are closest in price, storage, and battery life.

OS Support - Winner: iPod
Zune only supports Windows. iPod, on the other hand, supports both Windows and Mac.

WiFi Connectivity - Winner: Zune
The current iPod features no Wi-fi connectivity whatsoever, Zune, however, is 802.11g Wifi enabled, and features a slew of sharing and broadcasting features.

Content - Winner: N/A
Right now the iPod, through iTunes, has thousands of songs, hundreds of TV shows, dozens of movies, and a handful of games to download for the device. As of this writing we still don’t know what all the Zune Marketplace will hold for Zune owners. But as we know, iPod has some preloaded music and videos.

Storage - Winner: iPod
iPod has 30GB, 60GB, 80GB, while at present Zune has only 30GB product.

Screen - Winner: Zune
iPod features a 2.5 inch diagonal screen, while the Zune has a slightly larger 3.0 inch diagonal screen.

FM Radio Capability - Winner: Zune
Zune comes with a built-in FM tuner. If you want to listen to radio on your iPod, you have to buy an accessory.

Music purchasing - Winner: Zune
With iTunes, if you want to buy music, it will cost you .99 cents per song, or you can purchase by the album. But with Zune Marketplace, You could subscribe to the marketplace for $14.99 a month with unlimited downloads for that month. You can also go for individual downloads. Purchase up to 50 songs (4000 Microsoft Points) with $50. Once you purchase Points, you can browse and purchase songs or albums through the Zune Marketplace for 79 Microsoft Points per track (roughly 99 cents). Microsoft Points, the coin for the Zune Marketplace realm, is a universal system that works across borders, including Xbox Live Marketplace and other Microsoft properties.

Does that mean the Zune is your best buy this holiday season?

That depends. If the Zune wireless music sharing is appealing to you, and you’re a Windows user, then Zune is probably your best choice. If you’re not interested in the Wifi and FM tuner, you will definetly want to look at the iPod.

More iPod and Zune comparison information: www.dvdtozune.com This article may be reproduced in a website, e-zine, CD-ROM, book, magazine, etc. so long as the bio information is included in full, including the link back to this website.

3 Reasons Why Zune Could Beat the iPod

There is a lot of hype around the release of the Zune player. Microsoft claims that their portable media device is a real iPod killer. But the reality may not be that easy. There are 3 reasons though that makes us believe that the Zune can succeed. Two of them are already announced but the third one is more on our wish list for now.

Wi-fi connectivity

With the introduction of the zune in November, Microsoft brings the portable media players on new grounds. The Wi-fi feature will enable users to socialize within their music universe. The social web as took all the attention on the internet in the last year or so. With the Zune, a part of that trend becomes “portable”. Exchanging a song or a video may look boring but doing it with the Zune and at the speed of a Wi-fi network will be very attractive for young people. On a negative note, the drm feature (Digital Rights Management) could eventually generate frustration among Zune users.

Integrated Marketplace

The subscription base Zune Marketplace could be a real skyrocket feature. Being able to access an online database of new music without having to download it first to your computer will make the Zune a real and first “portable media device”. The other important aspect of the Zune Marketplace is the ability to download as many songs as you want for a flat fee. If we can access the Zune Marketplace thru a public wi-fi network it will be a real technology and music orgasm!

VoIp Phone

This feature as not been announced by Microsoft (yet!) but it would be like a cherry on a sundae to have it. Imagine if your Wi-fi portable device could connect thru internet to access a VoIp network. This feature should not be very difficult to develop because most of the required hardware is already there (besides the microphone). A VoIp phone would be a lot easier to release compared to a real mobile phone which requires a lot more integration work and approvals.

Stephane Dion cumulates 15 years of experience in technology development and writes about emerging consumer technologies. Find other articles on Blu-ray, HD DVD and Zune