Zune round-up: unboxing gallery, leaked units locked 'till launch, and customizable casing rumors

Ahead of the official launch of the updated Zune range on Tuesday, there's been a deluge of new information about the device and its new features. First up we have the inevitable unboxing photos, although there's an interesting surprise in store if you manage to get one before the official availability date: Microsoft has required that you go to a website to "activate" your new Zune, and that website ain't up yet. Bummer. If you do manage to pick one up before Tuesday like these unboxers, you can look forward to a $25 gift card with your purchase at Target. We're getting to like this Zune + discount habit.

There's also rumors that Microsoft is planning to enable online purchasers of the Zune 80 to choose different case colors and four lines of text engraving. That's unconfirmed for now, but pretty good news if true. Microsoft kinda messed up the coloring deal last time around. Also, and straight from the horse's mouth, comes the news that the Zune's software won't require you to delete all your music if you want to sync to a second computer. How nice of them.

Read - Zune 80 customizable casing? (ZuneScene) [Thanks, Kevin P. and Michael]
Read - Zune v2 features rundown (ZuneBoards) [Thanks, Mike]
Read - $25 gift card with Zune purchase [Thanks, Ryan]

[Thanks to Ed S. for the unboxing photos]

Gallery: Zune round-up: unboxing gallery, leaked units locked 'till launch, and customizable casing rumors

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

[enzo @ Nov 10th 2007 5:13PM]

cross my fingers that I get one for Christmas!

[thef1re @ Nov 10th 2007 5:44PM]

i dont care what you guys think, but these new Zunes are definitely hot.
I want one.

[Constable Odo @ Nov 10th 2007 9:14PM]

I'm sure you will. Santa always delivers a lump of coal to naughty boys. The good boys get an iPod Touch.

[enzo @ Nov 11th 2007 12:32AM]

Haha, I'm pretty sure santa doesn't have to check any lists twice to know kiddies everywhere want Zune 80s over crippled 16gb iphones

[Constable Odo @ Nov 11th 2007 9:47AM]

Even a lowly elf in Santa's workshop knows that the kiddies want usability and cachet over capacity. Little Jimmy will be really disappointed on Christmas morning and finds out his parents got him a Zune 80 instead of an iPod Touch.

Lucky for little Jimmy the exchange window will be open early Christmas Day. Then again, maybe not so lucky when he finds out all the iPod Touches have been sold out.

[dj-kenpo @ Nov 11th 2007 6:30PM]

what's with being a douche bag odo?

i have a touch, I like it, but I'm not going to compare an 8gb device to an 80gb one. they do different things ok? it's ok that they do different things.

not eveyrone wants the SAME THING. I know in apples world where every fucking laptop looks the same it's hard to understand.. but there, i said it. poeple might not want what YOU want and that doesn't devalue YOUR purchase and it also doesn't devalue theirs.

I want a delete button for idiots.

[John @ Nov 10th 2007 5:15PM]

I think it's pretty amusing that they correctly anticipated that retailers would screw up and sell them too soon, but god help them if you have to actually DO something on this mystery website. Once I buy a product, you aren't going to make me personally tell you I bought it.

[rTwelve @ Nov 10th 2007 7:14PM]

Well, we were trying to put them up for display today, without breaking a street date, and I was sad because the update to turn on the social menu in our demo 4GBs was not yet functional. :(


:( :( :(

(PS the little zunes are really, um, how do you say it.... cute.)

[L.M.L.Y.P @ Nov 11th 2007 1:46AM]

i saw one in at work! in the mp3 case! (circuit city)
also saw that we have leather cases for the zune 4 / 8 for 30 clams
and the new usb cables... at least new packaging :)
cant wait to use that $250 gift card from work that i won last month on my new zune 80 :)

[Adoniteking @ Nov 10th 2007 5:17PM]

Wow! eXtreme makeover: zune special!

[bradwjensen @ Nov 10th 2007 5:18PM]

Does it sync with Linux apps and/or play Ogg?

[UKNigel @ Nov 10th 2007 5:42PM]

I highly doubt that it'll play Ogg, but I'm also willing to bet that there'll be a community solution to syncing with Linux.

[Mark @ Nov 11th 2007 1:01AM]

haven't tried it but wine might work to sync it with

[AlexP @ Nov 11th 2007 1:43AM]

Why was this guy downvoted? He was asking a simple question.

[freakmarket @ Nov 11th 2007 2:51AM]

Nope ... it's designed to work with normal stuff ... windows o/s, mp3, wma, wmv, mpg4 ... etc ... gotta keep it aimed at 85% of the public ... gives microsoft a broader customer base. Can't worry about the less than 1% of Linuxers.

OGG is not widely used yet. Just by users mostly who hate DRM or microsoft.

Linux? I'm sure some 35 y/o living in his mom's basement will hack the Zune for the 6 Linux users on the planet.

[Jeff Lewis @ Nov 11th 2007 4:41AM]

@AlexP

Odds are it was a harmless question, but a lot of Mac and Linux people show up in Microsoft product posts ragging on MS products and generally being churlish. It's left the pro-MS side a little apprehensive.

For example (and this doesn't apply in this specific case, but it's indicitive of the kind of responses I'm talking about), you'll see a lot of 'it's not the iPod, so it's crap' or 'if it doesn't work on a Mac/Linux it's garbage' posts.

I suspect it's the latter that people are thinking he's implying, although in truth, it's more likely he just wanted to know, as you suggest.

[bradwjensen @ Nov 11th 2007 5:43AM]

I really did just want to know the truth...

I own an iPod but its not big enough for my music collection anymore and i've moved to Linux not long ago.. I wouldn't mind having a player that worked better in the Linux environment and played these nice free open formats. Not to mention i've been testing Ogg vs. AAC and its actually way nicer. Lower file size at the same bitrate and they sound the exact same (to me).

Anyone have a nice iPod replacement suggestion which has a nice interface for about the same price as an iPod classic but holds atleast 60GB's -- Also works in Linux and plays FLAC and/or Ogg?

[Wayde @ Nov 11th 2007 8:58AM]

Hi, have you heard of a company called Cowon? (http://www.cowonglobal.com/)
Check out there HDD players, they support loads of formats and Linux/Mac as well. Not too sure about the design, but great battery life.

[bradwjensen @ Nov 11th 2007 4:22PM]

Wayde

Great suggestion! I'll have to keep watching this company.
Their players are not big enough for my music collection though :-/

[Abuzar @ Nov 11th 2007 6:15PM]

Seems like a pain but I keep an installation of windows for games anyway, so you can sync with that. Dual booting can come in handy, and I believe one should have a windows installation just in case.

[darren @ Nov 10th 2007 5:24PM]

Sounds pretty good already! I think Apple is in for some serious competition this time around.

[nate @ Nov 10th 2007 5:37PM]

no zune 80 unboxing? =(

[Tony @ Nov 10th 2007 5:39PM]

YEAH.. Apple is REAAALLLY scared now! LOL!!

[jamma @ Nov 10th 2007 6:14PM]

YEAH.. And Apple fanboys are REAAALLLY funny now! LOL!!

[CaptHowdy @ Nov 10th 2007 6:04PM]

I dont really like it. Looks really bland. What with the huge blank button. Its deffenatly a step up from the first version though.

[404error @ Nov 10th 2007 6:05PM]

Yuck, what's with the black border around the screen on the Zune 4/8? Makes them look kind of cheap.

[holycow @ Nov 10th 2007 6:34PM]

need the support for GLASS u know.. and NOT the cheap plastic.. ;)

[Kit @ Nov 11th 2007 5:54AM]

Do you mean the new iMac look cheap as well...

[The Grand Master @ Nov 10th 2007 6:09PM]

So what exactly do you do to the 'Squircle' (sp?) to make it do stuff?

[michael @ Nov 10th 2007 7:22PM]

Based on what I've seen and heard:

It's like a laptop's mousepad. You just move your fingers across the pad to go up,down,left,right, and maybe even more on the screen. If you want to select something, I think you just push down or maybe some other action.

I find this approach more better than an all-touchscreen device, and the old Zune's controls. It feels nice to have something tactile, yet at the same time be able to glide your fingers on something. Kind of like the best of both worlds, if you get what I mean.

[rTwelve @ Nov 10th 2007 9:59PM]

Yeah, by default you can use the sliding mechanism or also physically press down on the direction buttons to move. Pressing the center button selects things.

If you find the touch thing super annoying, you can go into settings > touch and turn it off, leaving you with a Zune 1.0 d-pad.

[ednelson @ Nov 10th 2007 6:16PM]

Definitely asking for ones of these for Christmas. I have a Zune 30 right now and I like it, but these are so much thinner and better looking, I must have one!

[holycow @ Nov 10th 2007 6:30PM]

F this.. MS shouldve released it in Canada the same day as in US (i want one soooo bad!).. Zune 1 never got to canada.. and this who knows if it'll or no.. stupid strategy (if there is one)!

[Jeff @ Nov 10th 2007 7:21PM]

With the Loonie worth more than the Dollar?

You almost get a 15 dollar discount if you just import it from the U.S..

[wetworker @ Nov 10th 2007 7:41PM]

Order it on eBay, I sent my friend the loot when the Zune 30 was launched, I got it in 2 days, aside from not being able to buy music and use my free 14 day trial, the software works great.
This time around I hope MS have it available in Canada, although that won’t stop me from getting a Zune 80. Right now I’m waiting a bit, I want to see if there are more colours coming out for the holidays.
Check this site out the Canadian dollar is doing great right now, perfect time to get a one.

http://www.xe.com/

[josh @ Nov 11th 2007 10:48AM]

What delays foreign release is negotiating all of the licensing deals with respective foreign rights holders for the zune music store. At best there is one rights body for a region, but most often it is per country, hence why the iTunes store rolled out slowly across Europe. It generally benifits the content industry at the expense of everyone else.

MS isn't going to release the zune without the zune store, and they can't release the zune store until they have secured the same level of rights for as they have for the US. Considering how much push back they got for their sharing feature here, and the fact that compared to some countries our music industry is actually considered "consumer friendly" (In england playing a radio too loud can be considered re-broadcasting) I don't envy the legal meetings they must be going through.

[ugg.tryptophan @ Nov 10th 2007 6:41PM]

10 bucks says the zune guy just pee'd his pants... or released "other" fluids

[Dragod @ Nov 11th 2007 12:13AM]

The name's Zune. Microsoft Zune...

[energyvortex @ Nov 10th 2007 6:44PM]

@holycow
Blame your countries import and sales laws for the delays, not the retailer.
Tinfoil hatters have long said that canada stalled on allowing the zune 1.0 import/sales rights to the point where the manufacturer said 'forget it' because of apple's lining of the political pockets but who knows.

[Jeff Lewis @ Nov 11th 2007 4:57AM]

Excuse me?

"canada stalled on allowing the zune 1.0 import/sales rights"

Canada doesn't have some magical elf who decides who can and cannot bring products into the country. There's nothing stopping Microsoft from bringing them here.

However, they would have to negotiate with the Canadian equivalents to RIAA (SOCAN up here) and MPAA to arrange licensing to sell music and movies and Microsoft's made it clear that they're not ready to move into other countries until they get that.

Hell, APPLE tooks years to move out of the US for the same reason, and with Apple's hulking dominance in this market, it's hard for Microsoft to get much headway.

It's the same crap that stops us from having things like the Samsung UMPCs - Samsung Canada decided not to sell any computers in Canada because they felt there wasn't a big enough market - and since they have an agreement with Samsung USA not to sell to Canada (and thus compete with themselves) - we don't get them - nor do we get access to the US market either.

It has NOTHING to do with the government.

Don't go looking for conspiracy when it's really just business as usual.

[Jose @ Nov 10th 2007 6:45PM]

it doesn't look that good, looks like designed in China (PRC),and made in China(PRC). and remember! NO VIDEO OUT SUPPORTED FOR ZUNnnnnnEs of 4GB and 8GB! better to get an nano from Apple..

[Nathan @ Nov 10th 2007 6:50PM]

are you 8 years old?

[Twenty5 @ Nov 10th 2007 6:56PM]

yea....

i dont have anything that was made in China

Good call!

[jamma @ Nov 10th 2007 6:59PM]

Apple iPod Nano: designed in California, ASSEMBLED IN CHINA

get used to it, more and more things are being built there

[Jose @ Nov 10th 2007 7:00PM]

I mean DESIGNED in China(PRC)

[bw @ Nov 10th 2007 7:16PM]

Better than designed in mexico. Damn, this thing would've looked like a burrito instead of mickey mouse ;)

[Simon @ Nov 10th 2007 6:49PM]

can anyone else foresee hundreds of eager zune fans rushing to this website only to find that MS has screwed up and they can't get it up for a month?

OK, so many things wrong with that sentence, for starters, "hundreds"? Maybe "tens". Secondly, "get it up"? "Microsoft"? What is this, subliminal advertising for viagra?

[Silverton45 @ Nov 10th 2007 7:02PM]

what's this about a preloaded virus? RavMonE-6.0.exe

[Jeff @ Nov 10th 2007 7:21PM]

Mostly just your sorry attempt at pushing a made up story.

[Silverton45 @ Nov 10th 2007 7:52PM]

Jeff:
The story is so fake that apple posted it on their website:
http://www.apple.com/support/windowsvirus/