Microsoft’s Zune sites are offline today to allow for maintenance.
According to a message at Zune.net:
Zune services will be down for scheduled maintenance starting Tuesday, June 16, at 12:01 a.m. PDT, for up to 24 hours.
During this time, you will not be able to access the Zune Social, Zune.net forums, or Zune Marketplace.
According to Microsoft’s Zune [...]

The iPod Wars are over, and if anybody should know, it’s SanDisk CEO Eli Harari.
The founder and CEO of SanDisk admits what just about everyone else has known for a long time: the iPod wars are over, and Apple won.
“You can’t out-iPod the iPod,” says Harari.
Harari’s facing the facts. In April, Piper Jaffrey reported that [...]

In its first press release since February, online music retailer eMusic announced on Monday that it had inked a deal with giant record label Sony Music Entertainment. eMusic, which offers music downloads by subscription (starting at 24 per month for $11.99), will have access to Sony’s immense music catalog — but only tunes that are [...]

We may have been unimpressed by the Zune HD, calling it “two years behind Apple’s iPhone/iPod touch platform” - but Gizmodo says that they would take one in a heartbeat:
The device is tighter and more physically beautiful than the iPod Touch and it’s got a better UI, the main menu’s scrolling so natural through the [...]

The National Association Of Broadcasters has asked Apple to change the design of iPods to incorporate an FM receiver.

Are broadcasters grabbing at straws to protect an industry that no longer has a monopoly on your ears?

Engadget has posted a set of pictures that it says are of a new Microsoft Zune HD.
Unfortunately for Microsoft, interest in the Zune is at an all-time low. It’s hard to imagine new hardware changing that, unless Microsoft can make a truly bold move with it’s concept for the Zune.
Do you think that an updated [...]

Piper Jaffray reports a rather surprising fact: there’s zero interest among teens for portable media players other than the iPod.
“Apple’s dominance in the PMP market remains largely unchecked, and it is clear to us that Apple has captured the ‘cool factor’ among high school students across America,” said Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster.
Credit has to go [...]

If you’re looking for a hosted blog platform, you may want to avoid Microsoft’s Windows Live Spaces.
According to figures released today by Royal Pingdom, Microsoft’s Windows Live Spaces is down more than 12 times as much as Wordpress, Blogger and TypePad.
Royal Pingdom checked nine major blogging services over a four month period to see how [...]

Rob Greenlee, Microsoft Zune podcast producer, has passed along information about the new Zune podcast directory:
“Podcast feed URL’s can now be submitted to the Zune digital media entertainment platform through the new Zune.net web-based podcast directory. This new podcast directory has over 12,000 podcast feeds online now and also accepts podcast reviews to be added [...]

CNet’s Ina Fried reports on Microsoft’s quiet reorganization of their Zune team:
The software and services portion of the Zune team–the bulk of its staff–will be added to the portfolio of Enrique Rodriguez, the vice president who currently runs Microsoft’s Mediaroom and Media Center TV businesses.
The hardware team, meanwhile, will now report to Tom Gibbons, who [...]