Zune 2: DRM-Free Tunes & A Social Website October 03, 2007
Read more Digital Audio , Gadgets , Gizmodo UK , MP3 , Movies , Music , Zune , iPod
OK, the Zune hardware’s been extended with new models and put on a diet, but there’s a lot of things happening with the Zune universe too.
Zune Marketplace
Zune Marketplace – Microsoft’s iTunes – has been revamped, with a new look and feel and a better search engine. It also sees the arrival of 1 million DRM-free tunes – similar to what’s happening on other music download sites – which can be played on the Zune or other players. Marketplace will also offer thousands of videos for sale and more than 1,000 free audio and video podcasts. It will continue to offer unlimited downloads for $14.99 a month via Zune Pass.
Zune Social
This is the name for a new Zune online community site. It’s in beta to start, but Zune Social is setting itself up as a meeting place for Zune owners, where they can share their music tastes and views with other Zuneites. Users can create a Zune Card that contains information on your musical tastes and updates automatically to show what you’re listening right now, each time you sync. Friends can play samples from each others Cards. Microsoft is planning – later - to allow the Cards to be placed on key social networking sites like MySpace etc.
Even old Zune users aren’t being left out in the cold – check back in a while to find out why?-Martin Lynch
Editor and Contributor | Martin Lynch
Contributor | Tamlin Magee
Comments
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I explored the difficulties MS will have with its ongoing Zune strategy (with links, videos and background) at:
In the shadow of the iPod: Microsoft Zuning out of the Social
http://counternotions.com/2007/11/06/zune-no-longer-social/
"...Zune has no compelling advantage over the iPod, other than being not-the-iPod. With the possible exception of Sony (that apparently cannot write software if its life depended on it), there’s really no other company better positioned to challenge Apple’s digital music hegemony than Microsoft. But is Microsoft being delusional here or is Zune 2 just a bridge to Zune 3 that’ll crush the iPod?"
"So what does Microsoft do for Zune 2? Double the ad budget ($17 million for the next six months), change the ad agency (McCann-Erickson’s new T.A.G. unit in San Francisco) and drop the “Welcome to the Social” strategy."