Buy Zune

We mentioned on this blog, awhile back, when the rumors were fresh that Zune was coming to Canada. This has still not come to pass. The only place to pick up Zune if you are in Canada is to buy it off of eBay.ca. Anyway, there is some good news because there are reports that a job listing on Vancouver Craigslist has just popped up for a Microsoft Zune Program Coordinator for helping the launch of Zune in the Canadian market.

There is another report though, that shows that there is going to be a slightly different lineup for Canada than there is for America. Personally, I don't see this as a big surpsirse, ususally America is the guinea pig for many products, the ones that really do well get exported elsewhere, the ones that don't die out. Anyway, it looks like that Zune 30 and the green flash Zunes are not going to be avaiable to the Canadian public. Maybe they are going to be discontinued here as well?

As gadgets move into the realm of fashion with pink iPods and gold plated Nokias, we will see more and more tie-ups. The latest is Reebok and Microsoft tie-up for a pair of Iversons in black and blue with Zune logos on the midfoot, an 8GB Zune with an Allen Iverson etching, and a Zune Reebok bag. The Zune comes preloaded with Allen Iverson content like commercials, inverviews, and a playlist by the man himself.

Unfortunately, for all the Iverson/Zune fans out there, this is going to be in VERY limited quantity. There are only going to be a total of 60 pairs released in stores in DC, Virgina, Denver, Atlanta, and NYC. Of course, you could just wait until they hit eBay and pay and arm and leg for one. If you really want them, start lining up for one...

If you were one of the early birds that downloaded music from MSN Music in the early days then you will want to transfer the music onto the five devices that you are allowed to transfer it to because Microsoft is going to shut down the DRM servers that were used with the service. Without the servers up and working any further transfers will cause the song to not play.

Personally, I think the whole DRM issue is a rather weak attempt by the record labels to try to squeeze the last cent out of the consumer. At one point there was a DRM model that was pay-for-play. In other words, you would have to pay each time you played a song on your MP3 player. Of course, that didn't go down too well with the focus groups that it was first tested on. MSN Music was doomed from the get-go because of its onerous DRM issues that the record labels required download services to have.

Are you a fan of audiobooks? If so, there is some good news. Audible and Microsoft have made Zune AudibleReady. Audible.com is a website that provides audiobooks for download. You can signup for a monthly subscription and download audiobooks based on your plan. Audible has a cult following of fans who listen to their audiobooks on their MP3 players. Well, if you are an Audible fan or if you have a Zune and want to try out Audible then soon you will be able to do so.

Microsoft has not yet announced when the Zune will officially be AudibleReady. There are a lot of different things going on currently in the online music and audio space, so Microsoft may be waiting for some other deals to come through and then announce everything together. Personally, I have found audiobooks to be a great resource, you can listen to them while driving or excercising and they save time. If you haven't ever listened to an audiobook you should try it, it may be something you like.

Back in November 2007, an important figure in Microsoft was interviewed. In the interview he mentioned that there were plans of putting together the Zune and Xbox Marketplaces so that customers would have one place to buy all their music, video, audio, games, etc. However, there are now signs that these plans have been abandoned.

Personally, I don't believe they should have two Marketplaces, but at the same time there should not be exactly one. In otherwords, if people log on to a shared Marketplace and they are using a Zune, they should be shown slightly different things than if they are logging on via an Xbox. This is similar to how sites are shown differently based on what browser you are using.

So the rumor mills are spinning again. The little hamsters that make this mills spin never seem to get tired. Anyway, rumor has it, assuming Microsoft gets its bid for Yahoo! finalized, that there will be a device that will be a phone and incorporate the MP3 features of the Zune, run Windows Mobile 6, and run with the online services of Yahoo!.

Personally, I think it is very possible. Microsoft will not have to go to too much effort to pull this off, plus if they actually put it together in a way that provides an edge over the iPhone, say by making the social aspect of the Zune/ZunePhone better then maybe they might be able to carve a nice niche for themselves in the market.

If you are interested in Latin music there is nowhere else to go but Zune Marketplace. Microsoft's Zune team announced a collaboration with MSN Latino and a partnership with Remezcla.com. Zune will be the exclusive music sponsor on each site. They will be launching a new co-branded platform on the 15th of April. This arrangement will also give Zune the chance to rebrand MSN Latino's music channel as Zune Musica. Online MSN Latino Zune Muscia will contain all the editorials, graphics, photos, etc that you would expect at a high end music portal.

This arranagement is a boon to Latin music lovers as there was not yet a way to really get the latest music in a legit fashion online. Of course, MSN and Zune are both owned by Microsoft so there is no surprise that they are working together, but with Microsoft reeling in Remezcla.com as well it means that this platform will be something decent.

A Zune fan has designed a Zune and Xbox 360 portable device that looks a lot like Sony's popular Mylo media player. According to the concept, the Xune 360 will have the normal buttons that Xbox 360 users are accostomed to, like the "A, B, X, Y" buttons and the "L" and "R" shoulder buttons as well. The directional pad will double as the player buttons with "Menu" as "Up", "Next Track" as "Right", "Previous Track" as "Left", and "Play/Pause" as "Down".

Overall, I believe the idea is great. Despite what many people were saying, Microsoft has shown that it can truly compete in fields other than software, as the Xbox 360 and Zune have shown. So, it makes logical sense that the next step for Microsoft is to go into mobile gaming devices, afterall they are already an established player in the console world and through their OS, in the PC gaming world as well. So, why not in the mobile gaming world too?

Microsoft's new chief of Windows Mobile, Andy Lees has been quoted as saying that Windows Mobile will start working closely with other Microsoft divisions such as Xbox, Zune, etc. Baisically it seems that Microsoft will develop a version of Windows Mobile to cater to the needs of media intensive applications, like Zune and Xbox. This will also lead to Microsoft launching something similar to Zune Phone.

Another possibility is that Microsoft is trying to position itself as the operating system of choice for iPhone clones on the market. Microsoft is primarily a software firm, they will probably try to stay away from hardware as much as they can, however in all reality if they wanted to throw money at it, they easily could. We have seen the example of the Xbox, they managed to compete in a rather saturated niche somewhat respectively. Anyway, stay tuned for more information on the world of Windows Mobile.

There are murmers that Microsoft is getting ready to launch Zune 3 in the 2009 holiday season. Zune 2 was a drastic improvement over the first generation Zunes and so the Zune 3 is highly anticipated. Currently Microsoft is looking to expand worldwide, they have a tentative launch in Canada and they are looking to launch Zune in Europe with the Zune 3 during the holiday season of 2009.

Francois Ruault of Microsoft France has been quoted saying that Zune 3 will be launched at the same time as it will be released in North America. Other news with the Zune 3 is that it will be accompanied with an updated version of Zune Marketplace taht works for mobile platforms. Of course, this will lead to other speculation saying that by mobile platforms Microsoft is looking to expand its offering of devices into maybe a ZunePhone and expand its availibility to Windows Mobile devices.