Joy Division Zune hands-on

So we dropped by our old friend Peter Rojas's place (you know, the guy who started this site) -- turns out that since he's a music executive and stuff now, he got himself hooked up with a prototype limited edition Joy Division Zune. (Yeah, the irony in that isn't lost on us.) From the absurdly elaborate pivoting, platform-raising box, to the black fabric wrap (which looked blue to our camera), to the faux-LP liner, to Peter Saville's signature etched in foam, they clearly did Joy Division justice on this one. Which they damn well should have, because in case you couldn't already tell, we're all Joy Division fans around these parts -- which means we'd have the music to load this Zune up, being that the only thing it doesn't have is the back-catalog.

[Thanks, Peter!]

Joy Division Zune hands-on

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 26th 2008 2:11PM]

MBA and ATV are very successful products. In fact they perform exceptionally well as they are very high quality products. From fit and finish to the OS that drives these products. To compare it to the Zune is like comparing an Ameba (Zune) to you (human) for measuring intelligence. Yes I'm being generous by applying you as an example of a fairly normal homosapien.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 26th 2008 2:14PM]

@ Jubei

Did you use the powerful spell checker on your Mac to come up with Ameba?

[F orrest Posted Jun 26th 2008 2:29PM]

The Zune is a very successful product. In fact it performs exceptionally well as it is a very high quality product. From fit and finish to the software that drives this product.

c wut I did thar?

By the way, if you're going to be 'generous' about 'applying' someone as an example of a member of our species, you might want to make sure you are in fact a member of our species. The last time I checked, a douchebag was not human.

[Im an idiot Posted Jun 26th 2008 3:39PM]

My my my, some angry Apple-haters on here. For crying out loud, just buy a damn iPod touch, don't tell anyone, and calm down. Hey man, we've read about the Zune, we feel your pain.

Tell you what, you by yourself that iPod (or ask you Mom for one for Christmas), and you can still come on here and yell about Mac's and Apple fanboys. Deal?

[F orrest Posted Jun 26th 2008 4:51PM]

Hehe, 'Apple Hater'. I don't hate Apple's products. They're quality, they're well designed, and they do what they're supposed to do. They don't meet my needs, though, so I don't use them.

What I 'hate' is when misinformed ass-tards spew garbage about products they have never seen or used. It can turn people away from new gadgets that they might otherwise try out and love.

And why the hell would I want an iPod touch? I barely have any music, and yet it would still nearly fill one of those things. Videos? Forget it. iTunes? I really don't care for that software, especially now that it tries to push Safari on me.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 26th 2008 1:46PM]

I'd hang myself to get one of these!!

Oohhh, too soon?

[scolen2 Posted Jun 26th 2008 1:51PM]

I have yet to see one of these "popular" microsoft machines in public.... FAIL

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 26th 2008 2:01PM]

Well unless you have been deemed the holy god of tech statistics, why on Earth is you lack of seeing any product of any relevance to how many people own it or not?

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 26th 2008 2:33PM]

And I have yet to see a significant number of post zune ipods compared to zunes were I live.

Fail.

[scolen2 Posted Jun 26th 2008 2:45PM]

Matter of fact I did graduate from the University of Reality with a major in Holy God of Tech Statistics back in 2002. Our mascot was a White Elephant, and our cheer was. Seriously, WTF? Ah, the good ol days.

So the Zune has sold over 2 mill so far, and i have yet to see one in the hands of the public. Litterally. Not joking. I've seen them at Toys R Us, i've seen them at Target, but not on the streets. In the first week of iPhone sales I saw them EVERYWHERE ( sorry, my caps keep got stuck ). So where are these things being sold Indonesia? I swear bill must be selling them to china as land fill.

Now, to help my post rating I will just like to take this opportunity to say " I love Microsoft" and "Bill Gates is awesome!".

[cheadrou Posted Jun 26th 2008 2:53PM]

Well, I mean clearly he is in all places at all times, eyes roving and hands counting off the visible marketshare of each tech device.

In all seriousness, you probably don't see a lot of Zunes in the wild because the player's in our pockets or our bags, and our headphones (either stock or replacement) are a standard black. I would spend most of my day with the iPod in hand, changing ratings or adjusting the volume or whatever.With the manual feedback control, I don't have to pull the player out of my pocket everytime I want to adjust the volume or scan through a podcast.Smaller marketshare aside, you don't see as many Zunes out there because we simply don't need to pull them out as often.

I've had a 30 for a while, and while this would be the kind of SE device I'd be interested in, I'm going to wait for the new generation of hardware.

[cheadrou Posted Jun 26th 2008 3:18PM]

Well, I mean clearly he is in all places at all times, eyes roving and hands counting off the visible marketshare of each tech device.

In all seriousness, you probably don't see a lot of Zunes in the wild because the player's in our pockets or our bags, and our headphones (either stock or replacement) are a standard black. I would spend most of my day with the iPod in hand, changing ratings or adjusting the volume or whatever.With the manual feedback control, I don't have to pull the player out of my pocket everytime I want to adjust the volume or scan through a podcast.Smaller marketshare aside, you don't see as many Zunes out there because we simply don't need to pull them out as often.

I've had a 30 for a while, and while this would be the kind of SE device I'd be interested in, I'm going to wait for the new generation of hardware.

[OfflinePK Posted Jun 26th 2008 2:42PM]

I have a first gen zune bought it the week it came out. Other than the fact that the shuffle algorithm was crap for the first few months and the new version of the software got off to a bumpy start I have been totally happy with it.

Now all this band themed music device crap is just a gimmick and mp3 player commercials are totally lame as well. Ironic that despite their awesome video and audio editing software Apple still makes a shitty music video commercial.

[scolen2 Posted Jun 26th 2008 2:46PM]

Matter of fact I did graduate from the University of Reality with a major in Holy God of Tech Statistics back in 2002. Our mascot was a White Elephant, and our cheer was. Seriously, WTF? Ah, the good ol days.

So the Zune has sold over 2 mill so far, and i have yet to see one in the hands of the public. Litterally. Not joking. I've seen them at Toys R Us, i've seen them at Target, but not on the streets. In the first week of iPhone sales I saw them EVERYWHERE ( sorry, my caps keep got stuck ). So where are these things being sold Indonesia? I swear bill must be selling them to china as land fill.

Now, to help my post rating I will just like to take this opportunity to say " I love Microsoft" and "Bill Gates is awesome!".

[scolen2 Posted Jun 26th 2008 2:49PM]

Oops "Tee Hee"!

[F orrest Posted Jun 26th 2008 4:42PM]

Maybe you didn't read what Steve said above...I guess I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

You don't see Zunes because they don't need to be seen to be operational. It's not like an iPhone where you're always browsing the web or talking (or showing off). It's not like an iPod where you might have to take the thing out of your pocket or backpack to see WTF you're doing (or to show how cool you are because you have an iPod). The headphones aren't 'Apple White', so people assume we aren't 'cool' or 'hip' (because we aren't using an iPod).

When I travel I *always* have my Zune with me, yet rarely does it leave my pocket. That makes me happy.

[Quikboy Posted Jun 26th 2008 5:17PM]

I'll be honest, by saying I've at least seen 6 other people in my area (besides myself) carry Zunes before. I know these people somewhat from my high school, and I didn't even persuade them to buy one. Some were the old ones, some were new. I was curious at what got them to purchase a Zune. Here were some reasons I recall asking:

1. The quality is better than most other typical non-iPod players.
2. The bigger screen (great for videos)
3. They were more affordable, and seemed to give more bang for it's buck
4. They were tired of iPods breaking down from time to time (a lot of people do)
5. They had absolutely no problems with not going with the general "norm" in buying an iPod just like every other person.

Of course, the iPod to Zune ratio is much larger at my HS, just like anywhere else.

I myself, keep my Zune around. 50% of the times in my pocket, 50% out.

I even showed my Zune before to iPod owners, and guess what? They didn't laugh at me, make rude comments, or any such retort. They were interested in seeing what the Zune could do, and what reason I got one instead of an iPod. I told them some more other reasons, and they were pretty impressed. I remember a girl who was interested in buying one ask me, and she even said she really might actually buy one sometime soon.

So people can really buzz off, about the Zune not being seen anywhere. I'm thinking most of these people who claim this live in California. Where the Apple culture seems more prominent, and the more Apple products you own, the "higher your social status". I could be wrong of course, but judging by things I've known, I wouldn't be surprised if it were true. I live in Houston, TX, and we're more laid back here.

I don't see a lot of Macs in most places, except on TV and in movies (product placement?). So does that mean Macs are inferior as well? No. Macs are great computers, just like several PC's can make the claim to be great.

Why do people care so much anyway? It's just a gadget. :)

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 26th 2008 7:39PM]

"Why do people care so much anyway? It's just a gadget. :)"

Because it is a gadget born out of arrogance and designed to disrupt the market in order to dominate another industry. A product designed to stab their own partners. What other purpose would this abomination of a players real reason to exist?

[DeadRebel Posted Jun 26th 2008 3:54PM]

Zune = Awesome.

Naysayers are nothing more than Apple fanboys and/or Microsoft haters. It's a free market, and everyone is free to spend their money however they damn well please. Don't like it? Go spend your own money on something else. Fuck you if you got a problem with the purchases I make. It's my money, what's it to you?

I got no problem with Mac's, Ipods, Iphones, or even the Itoilet. But fanboys gotta be the most annoying little shits to troll the internet. Go ahead and flame me and lay down 5 million excuses on how Apple pwnz my face and MS should burn in hell, yadda yadda yadda. In the end, I purchased a device that meets my needs for $100 less than an Ipod and I couldn't be happier. :)

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 26th 2008 5:06PM]

If I was ever gonna buy a Zune (and I'm not), this would be it.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 27th 2008 1:58AM]

Having gotten a JD Zune myself, I'm interested to know what other serial numbers people got. 3/500 here, but I didn't order until after a long day at work.

More tragic about the documentary: you can't even read the damn text on the Zune screen.

[keithwwalker Posted Jun 27th 2008 2:20AM]

That limited edition artwork would be even better if the big 'Assembled in China' labeling was somewhere else - you stay classy Zune!

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 27th 2008 10:08AM]

39/500 here, Araeris.

Hook the Zune up to an Xbox and you will have high quality playback of the documentary if you have either RGB or HDMI connections out of the xbox.

Happy with my JD edition.

Despite the worries of all of those people out there that I must be suffering because it's a Zune, I am fine, and happy to see a product that does homage to the band.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 15th 2008 6:58PM]

Zune Marketplace Launches Exclusive Joy Division Content

In follow up to the release of a custom Zune digital media player commemorating the ‘Joy Division’ documentary DVD, Zune Marketplace is now featuring exclusive Joy Division content including a 3-part video podcast that is available for free download. In an exclusive interview, the band’s former bassist Peter Hook talks about Joy Division’s tremendous influence on modern music and youth movements in addition to offering some very personal reflections about moving on without Ian Curtis.

As companion elements to the video podcasts, Zune Marketplace is also featuring the full Joy Division catalogue, as well as two unique Peter Hook curated Guestlist features. The Guestlists contain music handpicked by Peter himself, and reveal songs that inspired the original Joy Division recordings as well as modern music that inspires him today from bands like LCD Soundsystem, Perry Farrell's Satellite Party, and Peter Bjorn and John.

To check out the Exclusive Peter Hook Interview, click here:
http://social.zune.net/my/ContentRedirect.ashx?mtype=Podcast&mid=11a6c3e9-1fa4-4ea9-9621-0d7ee6156cc4

For the Peter Hook Guest Lists, click here:
http://social.zune.net/my/ContentRedirect.ashx?mtype=Playlist&mid=3a747351-6135-4b64-abd1-d87209b58a84
http://social.zune.net/my/ContentRedirect.ashx?mtype=Playlist&mid=d3983301-5b4f-4d78-ac29-8692821366c4