The Zune’s biggest fan, Steve Smith , aka the Zune tattoo guy, has given up on Microsoft’s portable media player.
“I am done, throwing in the towel due to a lazy offering by Microsoft,” says Smith.
To make it even worse PR for Microsoft, Smith’s bought a new portable media player. “Bought a new PMP today,” [...]

Bad news for Microsoft: its most passionate advocate - mszunefan, aka The Zune Guy - is “done with the Zune” and has vowed to get rid of his Zune tattoos:
“I am done.  I have had the Zune since day 1 and have noticed little improvement.
I have tried my best to support them every step of [...]

In this video, Alex Albrecht and Kevin Rose of Diggnation do a demo for Microsoft’s Zune digital media player.
Yeah - it’s an informercial. What makes it interesting, though, is that Microsoft is turning to video podcasters to help get the Zune some geek cred.
This wouldn’t work with all products, and this sort of product placement [...]

Earlier today, we highlighted the expansion of Apple’s iTunes U into K-12 education. Now it looks like Microsoft wants to get in on the educational portable media player market, too.
Microsoft is working with Fort Sumner High School in New Mexico and South Valley Junior High in Liberty, Missouri to see how students use audio and [...]

Is the Microsoft Zune the best portable media player for podcasts?
That’s the conclusion of CNet’s Jasmine France, who puts the Zune at the top of her list of the best MP3 players for podcasts:
1. Microsoft Zune: A fantastic podcast option, the Zune even ekes past the iPod for the top spot. The software is excellent [...]

Microsoft Zune podcast guru Rob Greenlee brought our attention to a little-known feature in the latest Zune firmware - wireless podcast sharing:

You can now send video podcast episodes to other Zune devices using its built-in WiFi radio. This means that if you have found a cool episode from the Best of YouTube podcast that you can send it to a fellow Zune user and then that user can watch that episode on their device and subscribe to it all in the Zune device software.

While the video podcast episode is playing - just click and hold the middle of the Zune touch pad until the subscribe screen pops up. Then click on “subscribe” and when you next sync your Zune it will add a new subscription to your “Collection” area.

Microsoft has announced that it is expanding its video offerings through the Zune Marketplace.
Here’s a list of what’s coming.

Microsoft is still struggling to come up with a Zune platform that competes with Apple’s iPod/iTunes juggernaut, reports Electronista:
Microsoft has revealed that it has sold two million of the music players since their launch in November 2006, revealing relatively flat growth for the device lineup.
The results leave Microsoft with just a fraction of Apple’s US [...]

Speculation is running wild on the Web about Microsoft possibly building a content censor into the Zune software.
It comes as a result of a New York Times article that looked at why NBC pulled its TV content from Apple’s iTunes store and is now distributing it for the Zune.
NYT’s Saul Hansell writes:
Late Tuesday afternoon I [...]

Microsoft today announced new Zune software and online features. Here’s the official info an the updates:
Zune Software Updates
Responding directly to customer feedback, Zune has updated and added features and functionality to address better integration between the software, the online music community and the store. In addition, the updates include frequently requested features such as the [...]