Microsoft revamps Zune Pass: keep ten tracks per month forever and ever
By Darren Murph 
posted Nov 19th 2008 11:35PM
posted Nov 19th 2008 11:35PM
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This is great news. I've had the Zune Pass for the past 4 months and I didn't think it could get any better. Now if only they'd let me keep the 7,000 songs that I've already gotten forever for free.
Wowowow!! Was waiting for unification of the XBLM and Zune Marketplace, but this is unbeatable! My Zune 80 is gonna go from 50 gig left to 0 in about an hour...
That's 120 tracks a year!
(someone check my math please. I'm a victem of the edumaction system)
This sounds really great, but I've got to play the devil's advocate here:
For people like me who only download 6~7 songs a month, this is actually more expensive than buying the DRM-ridden stuff in iTunes.
Still, this probably would have made me switch to Zune if I hadn't gotten a new iPod for my birthday. :(
If you only get 6 or 7 songs a month then you still have the option of buying songs/albums individually. The Zune Pass is a second way to get music for those who really like to get a lot. It's nice for me as I give a lot of albums a listen to now and find a lot of music that I typically wouldn't have purchased before and I don't ever get buyer's remorse.
Is Zune Pass any different from a regular subscription service? I use Rhapsody and rip songs in audacity. It's not a huge pain, but it'd definitely be convenient and the audio quality would be (marginally) better, even if I can only transfer my collection 0.2% every month.
41 years, 9 months isn't that long a wait. :)
Seems like a good deal to me, basically $1 a song and $5 a month for all-you-can-eat music for existing customers. Gonna stick with my iPod and iTunes though, at least they're Mac compatible...
Give us flac, divx, xvid, mkv with multi audio track support and subtitles, and podcast titles through wi-fi and I'm all in...
And drop the price and build them from titanium and add a 2.4ghz Core 2 Duo too! Yeah!
and rocket boosters and let it run windows 95 in emulation mode
Well now you're just being silly.
Nah, silly would be having the power to convert clak.
The unlimited downloads with the Zune is a major selling point for me, and even though it may not be as attractive as an iPod of any sort it has a good solid feel and the look and feel has grown on me.
I agree. The Zune pass is amazing, and would be amazing to have, and it just got better. However, I am a little disappointed that Microsoft updated the Zune Pass while still keeping it all to themselves down in the states, leaving us Canadians up here to *ahem*, less proper methods of obtaining music.
Anyone got an American credit card I could borrow? ;)
I borderline sune 80,ipod touch and this certainly isn't helping the touch.
I only have about 200 songs. but could i buy songs with a regular zune card at the same time?
(I only want the 80 for the screen)
finally they fixed my avatar status!!! engadget listened!!
Too bad they can't fix that '1' key that obviously keeps sticking.
I wonder what format the download is in, and if it has DRM and all. (maybe I should have put that in the form of a question)
I am still looking for a good deal on a Zune this holiday season and expect to have a flash-based on by the end of the year, this does make me more interested in their monthly deal.
The Zune Pass songs are all WMV and they are DRM protected. I'm not sure if the 10 that you get to keep are the same or not. You can purchase drm-free MP3's from the store.
the music is wma video wmv:)
oh and if you buy by track its still wma.not mp3
http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/25/fairuse4wm-strips-windows-media-drm/
Search for the latest version.
Actually, along with the new announcement, they also announced that (all?) the other majors have signed on for MP3. 90% (their number) of the tracks can be owned in MP3
You can select from over 4 million of their DRM-less MP3 selection for your ten tracks.
If you get songs from the Zune Pass, it's going to be WMA. If you buy videos from the marketplace, the format will be .WMV .
Also if you buy the songs they will be 100 Percent Free of DRM and majority of the songs are MP3 Format.
"Zune Pass subscribers will have the added benefit of retaining digital rights management (DRM)-free MP3 tracks from Sony BMG and UMG, in addition to MP3 tracks from EMI Music, Warner Music Group and a large portion of the independent music labels. With the addition of tracks from UMG and Sony BMG, Zune will soon offer over 90 percent of its music in the MP3 format."
WTF. Just read the short article.
Wow, what a great way to get the people who were hung up on "owning" music into the service. Personally I could care less if I own or rent-- being able to download whatever I want whenever I want makes owning music irrelevant-- but I know several people who have balked at subscription services for that reason. There's simply no excuse anymore!
I tend to agree with you. If the Zune were more useful outside of the music realm (i.e. could do everything my iTouch does), I'd sign up for something like this in a second.
Taking notes, Apple?
My problem isn't owning (over subscribing) so much as, what if I get tired of Zune and go on to another service, or what if cash gets tight and I decide I don't want to pay the $15 a month anymore. Then I have to start all over at zero, collecting music.
Being able to keep the 10 songs a month is a great selling point because now I'll be able to keep my favorites no matter what.
This is attractive to me for one major reason; I can't burn Zune Pass tracks to a cd for my car. I don't have a way to listen to my mp3 player in my car, so when I do buy digital albums, I burn a CDr for the road. The Zune is just looking better and better.
shanoboy,
There's about a dozen monthly expenses I'd do without before I canceled my Zune Pass subscription. Like hot water.
I agree. Since subscription came along, I listen to much more music.
Changing services, however, can be a PITA along with finding good compatible devices (Rhapsody).
Zune may have roped me in with this. I just hope MS doesn't bail on this like they did with the URGE service and the PlaysForSure format.
THIS MAKES FOR A NICE LOOPHOLE!
Track that are not availible to download with the Zune Pass can be purchased with the free credits.
I haven't been able to have Just Fine by Mary J. Blige because it was the one song on the album that you couldn't download with the Zune Pass but I was now able to get if for free with my credits.
This is too GRAND!
Forever until the DRM servers go down or forever forever?
DRM free, right?
If you bothered to read the press release, you would see that 90% of the music in the marketplace is available as DRM-free MP3 and these MP3 tracks can be your 10.
Free and clear. No DRM, no servers, can use them anywhere.
"DRM free, right?"
Right. There's absolutely no worries about loosing your ten tracks if you choose from their MP3 selection, all of them are DRM free.
DRM free, clown
From Cesar at zuneinsider.com:
" The week just keep getting better for Zune owners: today we’re announcing some amazing enhancements for Zune Pass (link to zunepass description on .net).
Starting today at about 11:00PM pacific time, everyone with a Zune Pass gets to keep 10 tracks from Zune Marketplace each month. These 10 tracks will be yours to keep, forever. Each month that you keep your Zune Pass current, you’ll get another 10 tracks credited to your account. All this for the same price as your Zune Pass today: 14.99/month, or about the price of one CD per month. So each month as you discover and download new music in Zune Marketplace, you’ll be able to keep 10 of your favorite tracks. One quick note: there is no roll-over, so make sure you collect your 10 tracks each month.
Which brings up the second bit of good news: now approximately (90%) of the 4+ million tracks in Zune Marketplace are available as DRM-free MP3s. We’ve got MP3s from , Sony BMG, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group, as well as indie distributors IODA and The Orchard.
And to help you decide which of the millions of tracks to keep, the Zune Marketplace team now offers a collection called “perfect 10s” – 10 must-have tracks in each of the most popular genres. And each week, you’ll see “fresh picks” – ten tracks from the best new releases each week."
So basically you can download unlimited music and based on what you discover you love, you get to keep 10 of those tracks a month, which you can select from over 4 million DRM free MP3 tracks free and clear. Pretty cool.
OK, I don't have a Zune (as it's not Mac-compatible) but that just made this whole subscription thing pretty badass!!!
@Tubes
If you have an Intel Mac there is always boot camp. If there are around 10 tracks to a cd at around $13-15 a piece. It would take a little as 6 months to recoup the cost of an oem Vista Basic license. On top of that you get all you can listen music for those 6 months. Our you can wait around and see if iTunes offers a similar service.
@ Tubes
Bootcamp that, baby and get on Windows. Dont listen to the naysayers
I may be the only person with an iMac and a Zune. It's a pain, but a good choice I must say. Me and iPods didn't fit.
Dangit.........
Now I need a ZunePhone.
in winmo 6.5/7 zue support will be added
I love the Zune pass! I bought into it prior to this 10 song download thing. I try to budget everything I can;I have netflix so I know exactly what I am spending $10 on movie rentals each month (score xbox 360 netflix streaming), the zune pass so I know I am spending $15 on music each month, Xbox live, Cable, Internet, Phone, Cell, man these thing keep adding up, newspaper, gas, car, mortgage. But atleast I know exactly what I am spending each month on these thing and I can adjust the rest of my life accordingly. Now if we could only convince the electric company, grocery store, and big oil to do an all you can eat plan we'd be good to go. LOL
My electric company offers "budget billing" where they divide your yearly electric billing into 12 equal monthly payments. Mine's always $70 a month (for the last 2 years).
One down, 10 to go.
This is actually really awesome. I might just do that. Oh wait, I can't. Microsoft, please bring the Zune to Macs. kthx
Apple's already done that for you. Boot camp ftw if you want to take advantage of the Zune side of things.
Not everyone can afford a copy of Windows and a Zune. I'm a poor college dude, man.
I love the arguments that Mac users have when it comes to bootcamp/ running windows (not you, obviously):
Zune: ZUNE SUCKS OMG, I CAN'T EVEN RUN IT ON MY MAC BECOZ M$ R EVIL EMPIRE!!!!11
Games: STFU M$ FANBOIS, MACS CAN RUN GAMES BECOZ WE CAN RUN WINDOZE!!11
Could've saved money by buying a similarly specced PC.
Sheesh, there are FREE and LEGAL ways to get it to work on a Mac.
Just download the free VM of XP from Microsoft here.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=21EABB90-958F-4B64-B5F1-73D0A413C8EF&displaylang=en
Then get the Mac version of VMWare Player. Install the Zune software inside the virtual machine and there you go. Granted it's a pain to go through, but it is possible. You can get away without syncing very often anyway since you can download the music directly to the Zune.
I don't understand why Microsoft doesn't market this feature more. The ability to download directly to the player with an all you can eat music service was what made me rush out the minute I heard about the Sansa Connect and buy it. With the collapse of Yahoo music I've been missing out on this hugely undervalued combo for a while. The 10 downloads a month just seals the deal even tighter that I'm getting a Zune.
Zune Pass? A perfect tag for this "me too" player. Yes by all means. Consumers see the Zune, consumers Pass on it. MS has finally revealed their last desperate attempt to increase Zune sales for the holiday. These latest announcements will generate massive sales for the Zune. With Canada now selling this brick of a player, I expect at least another dozen or so Zune "me too" silly players will sell. There will be several corporate celebrations at MS. Memos will fly with many congratulations to the Zune team.
Jubei, seriously, you need to get your facts straight.
Zunes are MP3/Media players, not Silly Players. I don't think '.Silly' is even a format that is supported by Zune, or many other players, including things like Sansas and iPods. Something about the incredibly high load times, low bitrate, and the fact that after a song is converted, it plays back at a much higher speed, pitch, and for some reason, with ukelele music synthesised into the background.
Hey...click Jubei's name...every single one of his comments include the words 'me too'.
I would write a response to you, Jubei, but my girlfriend needs to sync the Touch I bought her for Christmas last year. She would use her MacBook to do it, but since she is running Jaguar she can't install a version of iTunes that will sync her Touch, so she uses my Windows laptop to do it. Windows and Zune just works. Windows and Touch/iPhone just works. OS X and Touch/iPhone, not so much.
Jubei, thank you for showing me the error of my ways. I will immediately cancel my Zune order and get an iPod Classic instead.
Now, could you please tell me where I can get my 10 tracks to keep each month with my subscription in iTunes?
...
There's no keeping the tracks? Okay, I'll just do the subscrip--that's not there either? Well, what the hell does iTunes have?
@nohone
Your copy of Windows has to be validated by MS before Zune software will even install.
XP has to have SP2 installed. What about users of Windows 2000.
Your computer has to have 64megs of video ram.
It doesn't seem like Zune and Windows just works to me.
"Me Too"
..... i just wanted to see if it did something special by typing it in. I thought maybe Jubei was onto an Engadget easter egg or something.
Why is your girlfriend running Jaguar on a Macbook anyway? The first Macbook on the market came with Tiger anyway, did you purposefully downgrade or something? Seems kind of backwards.
"Zune Pass subscribers will have the added benefit of retaining digital rights management (DRM)-free MP3 tracks from Sony BMG and UMG, in addition to MP3 tracks from EMI Music, Warner Music Group and a large portion of the independent music labels. With the addition of tracks from UMG and Sony BMG, Zune will soon offer over 90 percent of its music in the MP3 format."
The music becomes DRM free if the label allows it, sweet
This is great news!
That's a pretty sweet deal.
Good, but not close to enough.
for 15$ I'll go out every month and buy a CD online or a few in the second hand shops, when they will move to 50 tracks a month then i'll register happily.
50 tracks a month? The recording companies would never let this happen... That would be far under the 85 cents a track they take from downloaded songs (I think, correct me if I'm wrong).
I have to say, I think I just might get a pass now. Irritating getting crap bitrate downloads half the time.
To be fair, I think it's slightly different to buying a CD.
When I go buy media, I want to know exactly what I'm getting, because it's hard to send back. Subscriptions, on the other hand (especially All-you-can-eat ones) give me a chance to listen to songs, find new artists, and generally have a easier time finding great new music instead of the old 'oh, this album cover looks kinda cool' approach.
And the free 10 songs? Well, that's just a bonus, because if I DO find something worth keeping, at least I'll have a reference if I actually do want to buy or download the CD/More songs.
Now all I need is the Zune to come to Australia.
Yeah Microsoft? Hi how's it going. This is Canada. You think we could get something going up here so we could partake in this level of awesome..
Thanks,
Zune 120 owner
Canada?
At least you can buy Zune's.
I bought a Zune 80 whilst in the USA (a week before they released the 120 Grrrr) but Europe does exist Mr Ballmer.
"Ballmer doesn't care about European people."
Europe is crying right now, Microsoft, I so want that...
I think MS tried to sell the Zune in Europe, but the EU was trying to make them unbundle the screen
Whoops! This may have just pushed me over the edge to get a Zune Pass. I took a trial and liked it, but I got to see how quickly your music disappears without it. They have truely created a discover and keep model that works.
Yo not to be off the record, has anyone noticed the option in zune 3.1, for touch feature in the game checkers, i believe zune touch is in development guys,
You must have a Zune 30.
In the other Zune's the dpad is touch sensitive, so the games have the option to turn it off.
the touch option is to turn the tuchpad off.
As a Zune pass subscriber, this a MAJOR big deal. I don't mind paying $15 per month to "rent" music, but to essentially have a free CD thrown in to the mix really sweetens the deal. Great job MS!
At least that makes the idea of subscriptions a little (very little) more interesting. The first big question that pops up to me is what happens if the 10 free tracks you want are all on one 12 track album? Do you pay the difference based on a per track price? Or can you only spend the 10 free on 10 individual tracks?
At least youre getting it > MS announced Zune coming to EU in 09, but sucks that you guys have to wait. Quick, South Park hibernate mode!
I love my Zune 80, especially now that it has true wi-fi & games on it! But, paying $15 a month for this service just seems a waste to me. I find plenty of new music through pandora, last fm & the like & if I want to own it I can easily buy it form Amazon or other legal cheaper web sites. Drop the price another $5-10 then maybe I'll be interested. Overcharging just like they do for XBL Gold.
it also includes unlimited music downloads as long as you keep the subscription..the 10 tracks just stick with you even after you cancel your subscription. you could discover your music on pandora then download every song you wanted with a zune pass.
I'm glad that Zune's doing this. The only thing I would like them to do would be the option of 10 songs or a 1 full album incase the album is more than 10 tracks...
I do wish it's DRM free and MP3 format so I can easily stream it to my PS3 and 360.
The 360 can stream Zune Pass songs witht he DRM intact from your computer or from a Zune connected to the USB port.
The 10 songs you get for free can be DRM free MP3 (the marketplace defaults to this option if they are available)
So this actually makes my Zune Pass about $5 a month! Sweet!
i think its cool theyre letting u keep 10 tracks no drm free...ive had the zune pass for a while and i love it . it allows me to listen to new music and explore new genres and also download old time favorites. its a great way to expand your music horizons
I would sell my iPod, buy a Zune and subscribe to this service if they offered it in Canada.