Filed under: News | Portable Devices
New Microsoft Zune Players are official
Oct 3 2007, 1:08am CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr
Microsoft officially announced their next generation Zune digital music players.
Microsoft tries to dazzle us with the new Zune Pad navigation button, with its touch-sensitive surface.
You can flick your thumbs over the pad to fly through lists of songs or albums or to fast-forward through picture slide shows or videos.
The other big new feature is wireless sync. The feature allows Zune devices to automatically sync over your home wireless network when it is connected to an AC adaptor, in a dock or speaker dock accessory.
Existing Zune owners will automatically receive new software features, the redesigned PC and device software and access to the new Zune Marketplace when everything is released to the public in mid-November.
The new Zune players also support extended wireless sharing. Share select full-length songs, albums, playlists, pictures, and even audio podcasts from device to device. You can now listen to any song received up to three times with no time restrictions, and they can now also pass along songs to other friends who have a Zune.
The black Zune 80GB hard-drive model, which has a 3.2-inch screen and comes with premium headphones has a list price of $249.99. The Zune 4GB sells for $149.99 and Zune 8GB has a price of $199.99. Both Flash Zune players are available in pink, green, black and glossy red.
The pricing of the 80GB Zune is the same as Apple charges for the new 80GB iPod Classic. Because you get WiFi and FM Tuner and the new Zune is not much bigger it is actually a reasonable alternative.
With the pricing of the new Zune 4GB and 8GB flash players Microsoft missed a chance again to really turn up the heat on Apple and Sandisk. The pricing is the same as for the new iPod nano players. If Microsoft would price these at $99 (4GB) and $149 (8GB) the company would actually have a chance to gain a reasonable market share in the flash player segment with the offered feature set (Wifi) and style.
4GB and 8GB Zune Specificiations:
1.8 inch color screen with glass surface
WiFi connectivity for sharing and syncing
WMA, WMA-DRM, MP3 format support
FM Tuner
80GB Zune Player specifications:
3.2 inch color screen
WiFi connectivity for sharing and syncing
WMA, WMA-DRM, MP3 format support
FM Tuner
The new Zune players start shipping on November 13th. You can pre-order the new Zune players on Amazon.com:
Zune 8 GB Digital Media Player (Red)
Zune 8 GB Digital Media Player (Black)
Zune 8 GB Digital Media Player (Pink)
Zune 80 GB Digital Media Player (Black)
Zune 4 GB Digital Media Player (Black)
Zune 4 GB Digital Media Player (Red)
Zune 4 GB Digital Media Player (Pink)
See hi-res photos of the new Zune players here. Via the Microsoft Zune site.
where to buy
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Luigi Lugmayr
Luigi is the founding chief Editor of I4U News and brings over 15 years
experience in the technology field to the ever evolving and exciting
world of gadgets. He started I4U News back in 2000 and evolved it into
vibrant technology magazine.
Luigi can be contacted directly at ml@i4u.com. Luigi posts regularly on LuigiMe.com about his experience running I4U.
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