Zune 2 in the wild, Wal-Mart style

Say what you will about Wal-Mart (you hippie, you) but they've really been coming through with the broken street dates of late. This time it's Microsoft's new and improved Zune "2" lineup making an appearance, almost two whole weeks before the supposed November 13th ship date. These were spotted in a Saint Louis Wal-Mart, and are reportedly for sale, though only the original-flavor 30GB model has the pricetag. Anybody else got a Wal-Mart friendly enough to share the goods?

[andy @ Nov 1st 2007 10:03AM]

What's with walmart deciding they're a CE heavyweight this week?

Zune2
Toshiba HDA2
350 laptop
etc.

[nih @ Nov 1st 2007 12:08PM]

Also, what's with the $199.94? Some cunning strategy to undercut all the $199.95 players?

[FrankTheCrank @ Nov 1st 2007 1:19PM]

"Zune 2 in the wild, Wal-Mart style"

zzz...zzz...zzz, huh?...Zune?...meh, zzz...zzz...zzz.

[Phil @ Nov 1st 2007 2:00PM]

I don't know about Walmart, but in some stores the last digit in the price is an indicator to the sales person on how much they are allowed to dicker with sticker price to make the sale. For example, the 4 might mean "don't offer this product for less, it has a low margin", or it might actually mean "old product, sell at any opportunity". I used to work at a store and when things were on sale and the price ended in a certain digit, it meant the item was discontinued and they want you to almost give it away so that it's not left in inventory. The special digit helps so that you don't always have to retreat to the computer and can make an offer on the spot.

[Ike Turner @ Nov 1st 2007 10:03AM]

Hot damn batman in a bikini!

[Craig @ Nov 1st 2007 10:10AM]

i sent engadget a similar display at target a few weeks ago.

[joe23521 @ Nov 1st 2007 10:15AM]

I saw those at Target too, but they were made of card board.

[Craig @ Nov 1st 2007 10:15AM]

might as well post them here...

http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m83/kreg37/img075.jpg

http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m83/kreg37/img076.jpg

http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m83/kreg37/img077.jpg

[Craig @ Nov 1st 2007 10:18AM]

the ones at wal-mart appear to be cardboard as well...

[Craig @ Nov 1st 2007 10:27AM]

also, the guy who posted this on his blog seems to be sensationalizing his story with "in the wild" and "for sale" when in fact it's just a cardboard display, and there's no evidence that they're on sale other than "a sales associate told me so." no pictures of price tags or zune boxes.

maybe this is what i needed to do to get my pictures posted...

[scott h @ Nov 1st 2007 10:39AM]

hey buddy, do you see the price tag below the 30 gb?? im not "sensationalizing" anything, im sorry your pictures didnt get posted

[Craig @ Nov 1st 2007 10:48AM]

the 30gb zune has a price tag because it's been on sale for almost a year...

i hope i'm not sounding bitter about my pictures getting posted (i'm not). i'm merely trying to point out that this is nothing more than a cardboard display case, no new zunes for sale. the engadget headline leads you to believe otherwise...

[Richard @ Nov 1st 2007 10:53AM]

@ Scott

The 30G is the Zune 1.

You lose.

[scott h @ Nov 1st 2007 10:57AM]

yep.

[scott hutcheson @ Nov 1st 2007 11:18AM]

this zune on display http://itsnotlikethat.com/wp-content/zune2two.jpg , doesnt look like the zune 1 http://itsnotlikethat.com/wp-content/zune1.gif

[Gary Combs @ Nov 1st 2007 11:21AM]

Craig, I did see your pictures posted on engadget. and Scott H. Selling the 30 gig zune 1 is not a zune 2, so its not "in the wild"

[Michael S @ Nov 1st 2007 11:27AM]

Actuall, Scott, they look exactly the same. Are you really that blind? The Zune 2 does not even include a 30GB model, which the price tag clearly mentions. There are only 4gb, 8gb, and 80gb models. If you get a Zune that has 30gb of storage it is a first generation device.

Notice how NONE of the other Zunes on display there have a price tag? That's because they're not for sale yet.

The new Zune line can be clearly seen on their website: http://www.zune.net and you can see that the middle navigation 'button' is much different from the fake wheel of the Zune 1s.

You can see a great comparison on Zune's website here: http://www.zune.net/en-US/meetzune/

That site also reflects the price drop of the 30gb Zunes to $199, which WalMart is advertising.

You = stupid.

[scott hutcheson @ Nov 1st 2007 11:33AM]

"You = stupid."

haha! thanks man.

[Rob @ Nov 1st 2007 10:13AM]

What's the difference between the original Zune and version 2. Other than storage increasing, of course. This is a question people. So, don't start bringing iPod nonsense or that the Zune sucks. I just want to know what advantage version 2 has over the original.

[Le Master @ Nov 1st 2007 10:15AM]

This will explain much better than I possibly could:

http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/02/microsofts-new-zunes-officially-in-80-8-and-4gb-sizes/

[Jaxim @ Nov 1st 2007 10:42AM]

In short they are thinner and have a button that is both touch sensitive and mechanical. (Basically, this is the way they should have made the Zune in the first place.)

[Sam Zebian @ Nov 1st 2007 3:58PM]

http://www.cliczune.com/2007/10/zune-30-vs-zune.html

[Le Master @ Nov 1st 2007 10:13AM]

Damn those are pretty.

[PG @ Nov 1st 2007 10:13AM]

Since when do non-working display units are considered "in the wild"? I wasn't aware that dummy hardware also has "street dates".

[Andrew @ Nov 1st 2007 10:14AM]

which wal-mart? i'll totally hit it up.

[makishima @ Nov 1st 2007 10:16AM]

And the 5 whole people planning on getting one just bought tickets to Saint Louis. Ya know if Wal-Mart keeps selling things way before they are supposed to like this they're gonna get into trouble at some point.

[The Aggie CEO%u2122 @ Nov 1st 2007 10:21AM]

whats funny is they sell stuff before street dates, yet they wanna get all whiny and bitchy if their Black Friday ad is released BEFORE Nov. 19........damn if that aint the most hypocritical shite I've heard in my life

[Justin @ Nov 1st 2007 11:19AM]

A) You lose points big time for making yet another asinine "the whole 2/3/5 people planning on getting one" joke. It's tired, leave it alone. And no, I'm not a MS fanboy; I'd rather get a new, larger-capacity replacement for the Vision:M or a high-capacity Archos that won't break my bank than a Zune 2, but beggars, choosers, and so on. It's all about the sound quality.

B) Get in trouble with whom? The manufacturers? They all know that Wal-Mart's too big to boycott, and in the capitalist world of dollars and cents that they live in, might makes right.

[Phreak511 @ Nov 1st 2007 12:02PM]

Makishima;

Your comments bore me. You bore me.

[scott h @ Nov 1st 2007 10:20AM]

they are ultra thin. not sure if you have ever had your hands on the first zune, but it was fat, obnoxiously thick! and apparently it supposed to have fixed the skipping problem. sharper screen, higher res album art..a bunch of fixes i think that could have been resolved with a new firmware..but you have to love the size of the new one.

[The Aggie CEO%u2122 @ Nov 1st 2007 10:22AM]

they werent THAT bad...........unless you were trying to run around with it in your little pants pocket.......lol

[daaper @ Nov 1st 2007 10:24AM]

The new firmware for this one can be used on the original. So you don't have to buy a whole new product if you just want the software fixes. What a novel idea...

[Ben @ Nov 1st 2007 10:21AM]

Oh Microsoft.... please stop....

[Craig @ Nov 1st 2007 10:22AM]

ultra-thin because they're cardboard

[tonybullard @ Nov 1st 2007 8:20PM]

Yeah, competition sucks. Stop giving your competitors reasons to improve their product. Please help the market become a stagnant, non-innovative place, where I can only buy one type of player, that will never be improved upon sue to lack of competition.

[jessy @ Nov 1st 2007 2:49PM]

worried your precious ipod is being over shadowed by a better product?

[MarvinK @ Nov 1st 2007 10:23AM]

The main benefits are capacity, ergonomics and slightly larger glass screen (vs plastic). The software is supposed to be substantially improved, but first-gen owners are supposed to get the software upgrade.

[Jaymez @ Nov 1st 2007 10:29AM]

Hopefully Woot! will have another deal on the 30GB ones again real soon.

[Ryan P @ Nov 1st 2007 3:27PM]

Yeah, I hit that but my zune came in DOA and will take another couple weeks to get replaced.

[bob e @ Nov 1st 2007 10:41AM]

It is certainly an eye catching display. I have 3 Zune's on pre-order at Amazon... wonder why they didn't just drop the old case style altogether and add a 30 GB drive into the Zune 80 casing ???


I think Microsoft will sell millions this holiday season !

[TK @ Nov 1st 2007 10:48AM]

Sell all the old 30's first, then move it into a new case

[The Aggie CEO%u2122 @ Nov 1st 2007 10:43AM]

because they will prolly phase out the current 30s first......

I know I'm getting the 80 because the 30 isnt enough......I hate having to delete movies and add new ones all the time because I dont have room

[HUKI365 @ Nov 1st 2007 10:45AM]

That red one looks awful brown.

[Mark @ Nov 1st 2007 11:04AM]

Even if a sales associate told you the new Zunes are for sale, the register will still have a sales restriction placed on the item. Only a manager could override a restriction and I'd doubt they would do so.

I work for Wal-Mart in electronics, maybe I should just send it every random piece of info I receive? For one I know every Wal-Mart has at least 4 Wii in stock waiting for their ad date to drop.

[scott h @ Nov 1st 2007 11:21AM]

"Only a manager could override a restriction and I'd doubt they would do so"

I used to work for Wal-Mart ISD(information systems division), and we got notifications every week of managers overriding restrictions on pre-sales, mostly on cd's, dvd's, and books, but every once in a while they would come through on devices that werent supposed to be for sale yet, or new games..so it happens frequently.

[Mark @ Nov 1st 2007 11:45AM]

I said "doubt", there is always a chance you could get sold one, but for 99.9% of the population it's not going to happen.

[Bob Brown @ Nov 1st 2007 11:15AM]

I saw these in WalMart yesterday. There weren't any units for sale and the display units were fakes under glass.

I would like to actually pick one up to see if the feel is better.

[jordyhoyt @ Nov 1st 2007 4:52PM]

it is! i got to go to the Seattle Zune preview and the matte finish on the Zune 4/8 feels great! they're real light and thin and the video quality is suprisingly good. they just feel high quality and sturdy when you hold it in your hard. also, the touch pad is awesome!

[Greg @ Nov 1st 2007 11:39AM]

Define "improved".
;)

[Chris @ Nov 1st 2007 12:15PM]

I'm waiting for the Zune 2 software to become available so I can have a fiddle...