Microsoft has announced that the Zune media player is officially dead:

We recently announced that, going forward, Windows Phone will be the focus of our mobile music and video strategy, and that we will no longer be producing Zune players.

So what does this mean for our current Zune users? Absolutely nothing. Your device will continue to work with Zune services just as it does today. And we will continue to honor the warranties of all devices for both current owners and those who buy our very last devices. Customer service has been, and will remain a top priority for us.

Was the Zune dead on arrival?

When it was introduced back in 2006, it was missing some key features, like attractive styling, podcast support and a sensible way to buy content. It was called the biggest flop of 2007 and a dismal failure, among other things.

And that’s not mentioning the whole squirting thing. Or the Zunepocolypse.

Microsoft did keep iterating the Zune – adding things like advanced podcast support – but it never made much of an impression with buyers because the company always tried to imitate the iPod, an established competitor with better hardware selection, more content, a broader ecosystem of peripherals and cross-platform support.

Microsoft put all their marketing efforts into introducing a product that was clearly imitative and clearly inferior, effectively establishing the Zune brand as a poor substitute for the iPod.

Technology from later Zune incarnations may live on in the Windows phone and in upcoming Windows OS’s. But it appears that, wisely, Microsoft is leaving the Zune brand behind.

What do you think of the Zune’s inglorious demise? And what do you think Microsoft should have done differently?

via engadget, WMPoweruser

The Zune has been the whipping boy of new media since the portable media player’s introduction, because Microsoft made the mistake of taking a iPod wannabee and throwing a bunch of marketing money at it.

The Zune has improved a lot, since then, but it still hasn’t made an impression with buyers. This is largely because Microsoft botched the brand introduction of the Zune, establishing the brand as the biggest tech failure of the last decade.

Now Microsoft has finally done something intelligent with their Zune marketing: they’re putting them on international United Airlines flights:

United Airlines has just given the media player a new lease on life thanks to a partnership that will place Zune HDs into the hands of patrons. Reportedly, United will host around 500 Zune players on extra-long flights between the U.S. and Australia and Hong Kong.

The deal will provide those Zune players with pre-loaded content that can’t be found anywhere else (think pre-release movies), but details beyond that have yet to be made public.

This isn’t a huge deal for Microsoft – but it’s a smart one.

Take a bored, captive audience and give them Zunes loaded with content and you’re going to get a lot of people giving the Zune an open mind.

The next thing Microsoft should do is send free Zunes to the top 100 podcasters in the Zune podcast directory, along with a cheat sheet on getting started with podcasts on the Zune.  If it gets 10 of them talking about the Zune, expand the program to the top 500 podcasters.

Then do the same thing with the top 100 new media blogs. Apple press ignores blogs, so it’s one place where it should be easy to one-up Apple.

Send another to the top 100 video bloggers on YouTube!

What do you think of the United Airlines Zune deal? And what do you think Microsoft needs to do to get people to give the current Zunes a chance?

Will Microsoft’s upcoming Windows Phone 7 smartphone be the next Zune?

Could be – based on the latest Windows Phone 7, InfoWorld says Microsoft should just kill the project now:

There’s no kind way to say it: Windows Phone 7 will be a failure.

Windows Phone 7 is a waste of time and money. It’s a platform that no carrier, device maker, developer, or user should bother with. Microsoft should kill it before it ships and admit that it’s out of the mobile game for good.

Windows Phone 7 is a pale imitation of the 2007-era iPhone. It’s as if Microsoft decided in summer 2007 to copy the iPhone and has shut its developers in a bunker ever since, so they don’t realize that several years have passed, that the iPhone has advanced, and that competitors such as Google Android and Palm WebOS have also pushed the needle forward. Microsoft is stuck in 2007, with a smartphone OS whose feature checklist might match that era’s iPhone but whose fit and finish would look like a Pinto next to a Maserati.

InfoWorld’s take on the Windows Phone 7 is scathing – but it mirrors the Zune’s failure to impress when it was introduced.

InfoWorld’s comments on Windows Phone 7 highlight how much Apple’s iPhone has transformed the wireless industry. The iPhone and Android platforms are now leading the way, after emerging from seemingly nowhere just a few years ago.

Microsoft apologists will suggest that this is because of Apple’s marketing. But Microsoft spends twice as much on advertising as Apple – and seems to get half the results.

Is there still hope for Windows Phone 7? Leave a comment with your thoughts!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Back in 2007, Microsoft brought wireless syncing to the Zune.

Something that Zune owners have been happy to point out for years.

Now UK developer Greg Hughes has created an app that brings wireless iTunes syncing to the Apple iPhone, and he’s released the YouTube video, above, to raise interest in the app:

Sneak preview of my upcoming app for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

For the first time ever, sync your device with iTunes over a wireless network – no USB cable required.

Coming soon to the App Store.

Will Apple let Hughes bring wireless iTunes syncing to the App Store?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Matt Akers, host of the Zune Insider Podcast, talks with Nate Muller, a PM from the Zune team, about the awesomeness that is the Zune HD firmware update.

Highlights include Smart DJ and using the Zune HD on a TV through a Zune HD dock.

We haven’t tried this – because we’re still chafing from our experience with the original brown Zune – but the Zune HD 4.5 update actually looks pretty swank-a-dank.

If you’ve tried it, let us know what you think!

New in Zune HD 4.5:

• Smart DJ
• Native AVI and XVID support
• Marketplace on TV-Out
• Picks on-device
• Artist view and now playing feature multiple artist background pictures, rather than just one.
• Performance increases. Faster thumbnail loading and smoother animations.
• Improved browser.
• You can rename your browser favorites. Press and hold a favorite then click “rename”.
• You can save pictures of a webpage to your device. Press and hold on any non-link part of a webpage to do so. You can do the same for individual images!
• It now warns you that deleting your browser history takes forever
• In artist view, you can now play all albums or songs, or add them to now playing.
• In the marketplace, you can see more than 3 of an artist’s top songs.
• Playlists now have a transparent background in Quickplay.
• You can now connect to wireless networks that don’t broadcast an SSID. They show up as “hidden network” on the device.
• Games no longer have ads in front of them.

via Zunited

Apple has updated its official recommendations on for how to submit your podcast to iTunes.

Here’s what they recommend:

Test Your Podcast Feed In iTunes:

You should first verify that you can successfully subscribe to your feed using the Advanced menu in iTunes:

1. Select Advanced, Subscribe To Podcast in iTunes;
2. Paste in the URL of your podcast feed and select “OK”;
3. Select the Podcast icon in the left navigation of iTunes. Verify that your podcast shows up as you expect it.

There’s still hope for the Microsoft Zune, based on a new teen survey on portable media players.

• 13% of the teens surveyed that plan to buy a portable media player plan to buy a Zune in the next 12 months, up from 0% a year ago.
• 73% plan to buy an iPod, down from 100% a year ago.

It’s clear that, a year ago, the Year Zunethousand fiasco had effectively killed the Zune’s buzz.

While we wrote earlier that Microsoft struck out with the Zune HD, many teens now have a different opinion.

Meanwhile, Microsoft’s uphill battle got steeper in the last year:

• Apple’s share of the portable media player market grew to 87 percent, up from 84 percent one year ago.
• 22 percent of the teens surveyed intend to purchase an iPhone in the next six months;

What’s not clear is whether teen interest in the iPhone is cannibalizing their interest iPods.

What do you think? Do you think that Microsoft’s prospects for the Zune are substantially better this year?

via AppleInsider

Microsoft today released the Zune HD touch-screen media player.

The Zune HD features an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) multitouch screen, an NVIDIA Tegra HD processor and HD Radio capabilities, with software advancements such as the new Quickplay menu and an advanced Web browser.

With Zune HD, users now have the ability to store and play back 720p HD video files to an HDTV using the new Zune HD AV dock accessory. You can buy or rent HD content from the Zune Marketplace, sync that content to a Zune HD device, and take it with you to play back on a large-screen HDTV in the home or on the road.

Every Zune device currently includes a built-in FM tuner, and now the Zune HD device offers the first portable HD Radio receiver on a Wi-Fi-enabled device. With HD Radio, listeners get more than 2,000 stations in the U.S. and have access to more than 1,000 stations that simulcast content in a variety of formats, from adult contemporary to news talk. Zune HD users can also tag songs they hear on supported HD Radio stations for purchase immediately if in a Wi-Fi hot spot, or complete the purchase later when using the Zune PC software.

Zune HD also features new casual games and non-gaming functionality such as a calculator and an MSN Weather application. Later this year, Zune plans to release free applications such as Twitter for Zune and Facebook for Zune, in addition to fun 3-D games such as “Project Gotham Racing: Ferrari Edition,” “Vans Sk8: Pool Service,” and “Audiosurf Tilt. TM” Games can be added to Zune HD via Zune Marketplace over the Wi-Fi connection or when connected to the Zune PC software.

Zune HD is available from major retailers with a black 16GB version for $219.99 (estimated retail price) and a platinum 32GB version for $289.99 (ERP).

Zune is also refreshing its free Zune PC software with new discovery and recommendation features, such as Quickplay and Smart DJ, that help users find and play digital content. The Quickplay menu available on the device is also featured on the PC software, allowing favorite content to be displayed along with most recently played and added music, video and podcast content.

A new Zune software feature, Quickplay, offers one-touch or one-click access to recently added, played and favorite content on the home screen of Zune HD or PC.

The new Smart DJ feature showcases the power of the Zune software and services by creating endless playlists using any artist, album or song as the starting point. For Zune Pass subscribers, Smart DJ will queue song recommendations from both the customer’s collection and from more than 6 million tracks in the Zune Marketplace. Nonsubscribers will get Smart DJ recommendations from the user’s music collection. Movies make their way into the Zune PC software this fall for rental and purchase. Users can watch movies in the Zune PC software with a full-screen viewing mode or sync them to Zune HD for viewing on the go. Many titles are available in HD and standard definition, with additional titles making their way into the catalog in coming months.

Microsoft has confirmed details on the upcoming Zune HD portable media player and, based on their announcement, it’s time to put away the Zune player under the “three strikes you’re out” rule.

Here are the highlights of the new Zune HD:

• Zune HD comes with a built-in HD Radio receiver. Users also will have access to the additional song and artist data broadcast by HD Radio stations as well as additional channels from their favorite stations multicasting in HD.
• OLED touch screen interface (480×272 resolution)
• HD-compatible output
• Full-screen Internet browser optimized for multitouch functionality.
• Zune HD is Wi-Fi enabled, allowing for streaming to the device from the more than 5 million-track Zune music store.

We’re calling this a strike – because the Zune HD is two years behind Apple’s iPhone/iPod touch platform – and Microsoft has the liability of the Zune platform’s history. The one distinguishing feature, HD Radio, is a refinement of a feature that most people have shown zero interest in.

Zune On Xbox

Fortunately for Microsoft, though, they’ve got a plan B:

Zune will extend its video service to Xbox LIVE internationally this fall. This marks an important development in the Zune strategy and brings the Zune brand to more than 17 million international Xbox LIVE subscribers.

Zune will be a premium partner in the Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace, bringing an exciting catalog of TV and film to the platform. Zune will occupy the first slot within the Xbox user interface in the Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace, exposing the Zune brand experience to millions of new consumers for the first time.

In other words, they’re going to leverage the Xbox brand to push the Zune platform.

Only time will tell if this is a last-ditch effort to save the Zune brand or if Microsoft will find some real synergy between the Xbox and the Zune.