Coming Zune, as in today

Yep, we know the Zune's coming today (though we can't say when), and yep, we know that comingzune.com updated this morning with a fun little video about a drab bird shedding its boring plumage when it's visited by the Phoenix. Heavy, man. Stick close, this is gonna get interesting.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

[marlow @ Sep 14th 2006 11:16AM]

i hope it kick's the ipods A**E!

[mr salty @ Sep 14th 2006 11:18AM]

Strangest thing is that the second video with the rabbit is in .mov format??? huh, this would be so crazy if this is actually an Apple product... HAHA, the irony in this, haha!!!!

[mr salty @ Sep 14th 2006 11:19AM]

https://www.comingzune.com/video/zune02.mov

https://www.comingzune.com/video/zune01.mov

QUICKTIME????????? APPLE????? WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON???

[Brandon @ Sep 14th 2006 11:21AM]

There will be a third video on the site, as noticed when viewing the source.

[brodkil @ Sep 14th 2006 11:22AM]

It's going to be just like the xbox 360 or Windows Media Center. It will probably only play certain media unless it is streaming. We'll be lucky if it plays AAC or non-DRM media. I can tell you now it won't play divx, xvid, ogg, or mkv's. I wish M$ would stop building measures in their OS's to tie users to only their products!

[Z @ Sep 14th 2006 11:23AM]

Great animation, let's hope the product is as good as it wants to be.

[Joe V @ Sep 14th 2006 11:26AM]

Yeah, I noticed that too.

Reminds me of the "Start Something" ads MS did. Turns out all the pretty graphics and animation in the campaign (which ostensibly showed how creative you could be with Windows) were made by an Agency using Macs, as someone discovered through meta tags.

[Joe V @ Sep 14th 2006 11:32AM]

And for the love of Pete, can we give up the "reflected" text & graphic effect, or at least use it in some degree of moderation?

[Rick @ Sep 14th 2006 11:33AM]

In a related article, Korea Airline bans exploding Zunes.

[Jeremy Meachem @ Sep 14th 2006 11:35AM]

Really like the music to the second video. Anyone know what it is?

[Michael @ Sep 14th 2006 11:36AM]

It's supposed to be released today? I thought it was supposed to be released in October or November or something.
Two days after the new iPods, hmm.

[Z @ Sep 14th 2006 11:36AM]

And what if Apple merged with MS and Toshiba to create the Zune?

[Owen @ Sep 14th 2006 11:39AM]

what does everything think about the idea that Apple lowered the price of the iPods out of fear of losing market share to Zune? when you could have a 30GB iPod for $50 less than the same size zune, who is gonna pick the zune?

[greenfly360 @ Sep 14th 2006 11:42AM]

I want one. Wish it would come out a bit sooner so I can have one for my b-day.lol

[Rajkumar @ Sep 14th 2006 11:42AM]

it a number called "us" from regina spektor from the album soviet kitsch.....and its a very good number.

its like the preview of whats microsoft is doing with the zune ..... bundling music and videos of upcoming artist....

waiting for the M$FT show.....

[mr salty @ Sep 14th 2006 11:43AM]

The second song with the rabbit... is um, can't remember, something like...Me or We I think it's something Reeba Speaker or something.

[greenfly360 @ Sep 14th 2006 11:43AM]

The songs names are on the website hover over the music symble. lol

[zune @ Sep 14th 2006 11:45AM]

It appears from the video that Sony will supply the zune batteries.

[bud.. @ Sep 14th 2006 11:45AM]

That's a great animation. I loved the tune.

I am keeping an eye on Zune, but they must come down in price before I jump in.

What draws me in is Zune's focus on artists and community... unfortunutely many people would forgo that element only to concentrate on style and status. I'm really curious about the social networking aspect that Zune allegedely has.

Interesting times.

[Daniel @ Sep 14th 2006 11:47AM]

You can view source, and see there's a 3rd video. The video file is not on the server yet, but the thumbnail is... https://www.comingzune.com/images/th_video03_out.jpg

Comes in white and black, apparently...

[mr salty @ Sep 14th 2006 11:48AM]

"""It appears from the video that Sony will supply the zune batteries"""

HAHA... love it

[dave95 @ Sep 14th 2006 11:48AM]

Apple is being very aggressive on the pricing. They are now answering the competition, with longer battery on video (Zen VM) and lower prices etc. Even borrowing some cool ideas like when scrolling you sees the huge letter on the UI. If MS is really serious this time (unlike Origami), we are in for a good fight, where the consumers win.

[psxp @ Sep 14th 2006 11:52AM]

The mainstream media have been showing pictures of the new ipods, there are Apple stores in many locations, the nike accessories - all this is great exposure for Apple's products.. MS Zune will most likely be mixed in with all the other mp3 players at stores such as BestBuy.
Part of the thing that makes Ipod successful is people can go into the Apple Shop or BestBuy and USE the actual device. The Gibabeats, Arcos and Creative devices are usually the Dummy Shells on display.

[Matt @ Sep 14th 2006 11:55AM]

I really liked that animation.

[jim @ Sep 14th 2006 11:57AM]

@dave95: I like how you say apple is borrowing (WMP Huge UI scrolling letter)ideas ! But when microsoft 'borrows' ideas from other companies (apple inparticular) all the apple fan boys shout 'copycat' and even apple puts up banners in exhibition halls with the wording 'redmond get your copiers ready!' It's pathetic. everyone needs to grow up and realise that if something is working, others will follow! grow up everyone just grow up its like your in a school yard "copycat copycat blah blah blah". GROW UP!

[kevan @ Sep 14th 2006 11:58AM]

According to http://www.zunescene.com/


"Microsoft to release official details 9 PT today, Sept 14." or 12:00est

[RJR @ Sep 14th 2006 12:01PM]

@bud..

What exactly is "Zune's focus on artists and community"? Did I miss something? How does it differ from any other mp3 player?

[Dolomite @ Sep 14th 2006 12:02PM]

With the recent bad press exploding laptops have been generating for companies such as Dell, I wonder why they decided associating their electronic player with spontaneous combustion was a good thing? When I saw that clip al I could wonder was, is this thing going to explode in my pocket???? I guess marketing has never been a strong point for the beleagured software giant.

[Chris @ Sep 14th 2006 12:06PM]

umm hate to say this... the downloads are WMV not MOV's ... http://216.182.82.46/video/zune02.wmv for instance

[Chris @ Sep 14th 2006 12:10PM]

That videos sick what are you talking to... dont you get the video?

The phoenix is zune and the regular bird is an ipod user... the phoenix taps the ipod user and BOOM its a flaming phoenix too muhahaha AKA stealing ipod users and turning them into zune users lol (phoenix's)

[RJR @ Sep 14th 2006 12:10PM]

@jim

Actually, WMP's huge UI scrolling letter is simply a pop-up marker that shows what the first letter of the song/artist/title is that you're looking at. The letters on Apple are shortcuts to the song/artist/title. They're completely different. WMP's is a reference point, Apple's is a utility.

[andre @ Sep 14th 2006 12:11PM]

press release:


http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/zune/default.mspx

[DrThaddeusVenture @ Sep 14th 2006 12:13PM]

I was a bit unenthused by the Zune but the more I hear it trashed by the "my Ipod gives me a stiffy" crowd the more I want one.

And if it has drag & drop instead of some wonked up piece of sh..., er... software for loading it maybe it'll give me a stiffy.

[Matthew Clapp @ Sep 14th 2006 12:24PM]

The Zune press kit is available now:

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/zune/default.mspx

[hchute @ Sep 14th 2006 12:25PM]

From the Zune press release, released this hour:

Wireless Zune-to-Zune sharing lets consumers spontaneously share full-length sample tracks of select songs, homemade recordings, playlists or pictures with friends between Zune devices.
Listen to the full track of any song you receive up to three times over three days.
If you like a song you hear and want to buy it, you can flag it for purchase from the Zune Marketplace.

At Zune Marketplace you can choose to purchase tracks individually or to buy a Zune Pass subscription to download as many songs as you want for a flat fee.

It's looking bright.

http://www.Zunerama.com

[DrThaddeusVenture @ Sep 14th 2006 12:25PM]

Note: If you check the source for the webpage the videos are in both .mov & .wmv.

As far as the meaning of the burning bird setting the other on fire I thought 'song sharing' when I saw it. In other words passing the song to the other bird. But hey, it only has meaning if you give it one.

I'm totally buying one now. I'm going to put on a black turtleneck and run down market street screaming ZUNE YEAH YEAH ZUNE BAYYAYBY.

[jesse @ Sep 14th 2006 12:27PM]

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/zune/default.mspx

anyone see the brown color? who the hell wants a brown music player? that is just ugly. The black looks good though.

[glacia @ Sep 14th 2006 12:37PM]

"who the hell wants a brown music player?"

Same people who like those brown phones I guess. At any rate I'm there if d&d is a feature. I've been reluctant to buy a new DAP waiting for one that doesn't force me into their particular software.

See you on Market St. Doc. You are going to wear more than a turtleneck, right?

[Brain @ Sep 14th 2006 12:43PM]

That phonex ad is awesome.
It's a nice change from shadowed people dancing.
and dancing
and dancing
and dancing...

They did a blip with the Zune on CNBC, saying that Apple ownes 75% of the market, but because of the music service (mostly).
If MS can get this player to become attractive, and create a top notch music service, I think they can bring down the Apple empire, or at least put a large dent in it's pretty image.
As a side note, they also showed the sneaky sandisk e200 taking a bite of the pie, gaining a small %
I've been in between on the e280, and the Zune, so let's see how it plays out.

[tom @ Sep 14th 2006 12:56PM]

my initial concern was that the wireless would kill the battery. but it looks like microsoft took that into consideration and MADE IT THE SIZE OF A CINDERBLOCK

[Dave Zatz @ Sep 14th 2006 1:38PM]

Two words: Music Gremlin

Or maybe it's just one word: MusicGremlin

[asurroca @ Sep 14th 2006 2:46PM]

The second ad is slick. If this is a hint (as I assume it is) as to the advertising direction, it should at least force Apple's ad agency fo finally come up with something better than those stupid dancing silhouettes.

Wow, Sony's got it so rough they even get made fun of in posts that have nothing to do with them now :-D

[solomalee @ Sep 15th 2006 2:50AM]

A funny thing occurred to me with the bird video...This is how I see the story...

The big bird is an iPod...the little one a Zune. The little one comes along and burns up the big old iPod. Then the big old iPod rises like a phoenix and burns up the little zune bird.

Hmmm

[nryder @ Sep 19th 2006 5:14PM]

here are the other two videos in wmv.
http://216.182.82.46/video/zune01.wmv
http://216.182.82.46/video/zune03.wmv