Zune HD getting magenta and purple flavors on December 1st
By Paul Miller 
posted November 28th 2009 6:55PM
posted November 28th 2009 6:55PM
Not enough variety in your Zune HD color palette? How about a friendly dab of magenta and purple to mix up the proceedings? Microsoft's Zune Store is now showing some grayed out selectors for purple and magenta color options for the player, which will apparently be available on December 1st -- just in time for something or other. No word on whether these will be available for both 16GB and 32GB versions, but pink already representing on the 32 gigger, we'd really hope Microsoft would spread the love down to the cash strapped.[Thanks, Jerel]
does it come with a painted tree by bob ross?!?!!
@the music major
No.
@the music major That needs to be a Zune Original.
@the music major
That would be EPIC. I'd have to buy it
On a totally unrelated note, does anyone remember that Bob Ross painting game that was supposed to come out when the Wii launched?
@RadBooley
No.
@RadBooley I think it was a joke and that it never really was a game in the first place :).
I would love a Bob Ross designed/painted Zune!
@EGOvoruhk
No.
@EGOvoruhk
You're several years too late. Sorry.
@EGOvoruhk I'm pretty sure there are already several Zune Orginals art pieces featuring happy trees. Maybe if they covered it in a black felt oil painting?
Not being from the USA anyone interested in being wikipedia for me?
The Zune HD was supposed to be the 2nd coming of portable media players. But there was little fanfare after launch.
This is Microsoft's power move?
@Michael Scrip
Oh. Shut the fuck up.
As we all know, Apple got lucky with their indie music and quirky commercials.
Not to mention that Apple had a massive head start.
Microsoft has created and excellent product and I know that Zune is definitely second in "mindshare" and "wantshare".
Believe me, if Microsoft went all out with commercials and flashing lights.
They'd be on top.
@Michael Scrip
12595 people were begging for one yesterday.
But you are right, nobody wants one, knows what they are, or (insert any of the other Apple fanboy talking points here).
@Michael Scrip
in case you didn't understand, just reread joaqdelx's first line. For a hundred times. And then multiply by 1000. If you ever feel the urge to comment again just keep repeating yourself that line until the urge fades.
@smartmouth
Oh yes, what great argument! But perhaps it would be most effective to take your own advice, eh?
@joaqdelx >> "Believe me, if Microsoft went all out with commercials and flashing lights. They'd be on top."
Then why didn't they? That was kinda my point. With the first Zune, Microsoft waited 5 years before making their first move. Then they got a second chance by waiting and evaluating the market before they launched the Zune HD.
You already admitted that Apple had a massive head start... do you really think they were gonna be anything but second place at this point?
There was sooo much blog talk about the Zune HD leading up to the launch of the Zune HD. Then... nothing.
@smartmouth
Good advice. But I'll keep making my comments at the top of the thread so everyone can read them.
Why should I shut up? Am I incorrect? Weren't there a large number of Zune HD articles on this website... and then suddenly no one talked about it anymore?
People always say Apple is a hype machine. But, the difference is... Apple happens to be the leader in this market segment.
The Zune HD was hyped to the hills, and then where did it go?
@Michael Scrip
Wow... I was down-ranked into oblivion.
If you look closely, and don't jump to conclusions, I meant that the Zune HD was all over Engadget in the weeks leading up to its launch... and then it quietly disappeared.
Remember... I didn't even mention Apple until "joaqdelx" brought it up.
@Michael Scrip
"and then suddenly no one talked about it anymore?"
"The Zune HD was hyped to the hills, and then where did it go?"
Just because Engadget does not report it, does not mean there was no news. The Microsoft introduced the Zune marketplace on the 360 with the new firmware, Engadget never reported that the update was available, even though I sent in a tip. (Actually, the last 2 major 360 updates were never announced here on Engadget, but every update of the PS3 is quickly put up).
Zune HD won the Popular Science PMP innovation of the year award. And even though I sent it in as a tip, Engadget never reported it.
There has been lots of other news, but just because web sites to not report it, it does not mean that there is not a lot happening.
Engadget, you missed the additional RED color coming December 1st too... its greyed out with the others.
@(Unverified)
No the red has been there since the start
@cruleworld Red is grayed out. I don't think it has been there from the start.
@(Unverified)
Actually, it was available for a little while and it is a pastel red. What about the atomic zune?
Bob Ross. Painting those happy little trees in heaven.
Paint on, brothers and sisters, paint on.
@Hafk
And remember, there's no mistakes, just happy coincidences.
Oh shit! They are gonna get sued by Deutsche Telekom now!
@Eternity LOL you beat me to it.
:)
Maybe they should spread the love to the rest of the world first.
I am down with the light urple.... a little hipster, but still nice.
@Blind Boy Grunt
+1 for light urple. "ima girl you know"
@Blind Boy Grunt all the skinny hipster bitches love my purple iPod nano 16GB.
Well, the top 11 bestselling mp3 players on Amazon are from Apple. The highest zune comes in at, wait for it, ...#19.
So much for providing Apple with some competition.
@Sy
On Amazon in the top 100 for servers, not one Mac Mini Server. So much for providing Microsoft with some competition.
Windows 7 sold more in 2 weeks than Snow Leopard sold in three months. And now Win7 marketshare has passed all versions of OSX marketshare. So much for providing Microsoft with some competition.
@NohOne1
iPods (any version) have sold more than Zune.
Windows (any version) has sold more than OSX.
To review... Apple sells the most MP3 players... Microsoft sells the most operating systems.
@NohOne1
I am sorry, I thought this thread was about zune and mp3 players.
@Michael Scrip
If somebody was to imply that OSX was crap because the marketshare does not match up to Windows, how long until the Apple signal would be displayed in the sky (like the Bat Signal) and a swarm of Apple fanboys would be attacking. We hear that the OSX market share is lower, but it is better. We hear that the OSX market share is lower, but Steve Jobs is not going for the huge marketshare (despite the commercials trying to sell more).
But a non-Apple product does not have the high marketshare of an Apple product, and it should be mocked, and the low market share implies that it is an inferrior product.
The thing is, Apple fanboys complain that PC users are locked into Windows, because they are not going to throw away their existing software, hardware, and buy something completely new. Some thing with the Zune - if you have 100s of dollars invested in iTunes, and accessories, why switch to the Zune? There are some switchers, just like there have been some Mac switchers, but it is hard to get the dominant product out of people's minds.
@NohOne1
I was just saying that the OS war and iPod/Zune war is different.
@Sy Oh. I'm sorry, what percent of Americans shop online? Ten? Apple idiots who are afraid of the unclean public?
@NohOne1 to understand the why of Windows and OS X market share one has to read some history. It's much simpler to understand the why of iPod and Zune digital music players. Basically, both Apple and Microsoft jumped in the game quite late.
The iPod was introduced after many years of dominance by other players but quickly became #1 because of its ease of use, friendly control/interface and fun factor. iTunes came much much later, long after iPod(s) became #1.
Microsoft decided to jump in the race too but didn't fare as well. The lack of experience in building hardware, specially with human-interfaces, unusual choice of certain features and incorrect business strategy led to poor sales. Eventually MS withdrew all existing Zune models off the market and replaced them with a single flash model, the Zune HD.
Apparently, the market in general still does not find the Zune an attractive choice.
@HighestRanked
Actually, you are wrong. Pocket PC 2000 was released April 19, 2000. The first iPod was released October 30, 2001. iTunes (bought from another company) was first released Jan 9, 2001, and the iPod used iTunes to transfer music with iTunes 2.0.
Why was Pocket PC 2000 significant? It included WMP, meaning that there were portable devices from MS supporting music playback before the iPod. In 2008 WinMo sold 20 million phones. As of Sept 1, 2009, MS sold 20 Million. According to Engadget (http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/11/whats-an-iphone-14-3m-windows-mobile-phones-sold-in-the-past-s/) the last half of 2007 MS sold 14.3 Million phones. So MS has sold 54.3 portable music devices in a 2 year span. Add in the number of Zunes sold, along with WinMo sales from 2000 through June 2007, and that ratio of Apple music capable devices compared to Microsoft music capable devices, and that "commanding" marketshare Apple owns shinks, significantly.
@HighestRanked
I also don't agree with about the market not find the Zune HD an attractive choice. The market just doesn't know about the the choice. I'm sure MS was aware of the impact the Zune HD would have.
@NohOne1 I'm not a fanboy, so please don't hate me. I'd just like to know where phones came into this. The article and the current thread of comments are about MP3 players. While phones may integrate music playback, it is an entirely different ball game. I'm just saying.
@Triscuit
If you ask a simple question, not trying to be antagonistic, etc. then I am not going to go after you as a fanboy, so don't worry.
Here is how it usually works around here:
It makes no difference what the article is about, some Apple fanboy will work an Apple product into the conversation. Article is about the Chevy Volt, Apple fanboy brings up the iPhone. If the article is about the Kindle - somehow the mythical iPad is brought up. There was one person who told me that Win7 was irrelevant because the iPhone runs OSX. There was even one person who would, in every singe article, post the word iPhone. Nothing more, just "iPhone" When that person was finally banned, there was outrage over the supposed "censorship" on this web site.
Now, in this article, somebody is talking about the huge marketshare lead Apple has with their music players over the Microsoft offerings. The Apple MP3 players include the iPod, iPod shuffle, iTouch, and iPhone (there is no difference between the iPhone and iTouch other than the radio stack). So I compare all the portable MP3 players that MS has on the market, and the MP3 players that Apple has on the market, and suddenly I am in the wrong. And that is the problem, Apple fanboys can be as broad as they want when making an argument, but then when you offer a counter argument they are upset because they now want to be specific. We have seen Apple fanboys compare the Zune 4/8/16/30/60/120 to the iTouch, saying those older versions of the Zune do not have a touch screen, do not have a web browser, etc. So when Zune supporters say that the older Zune is not comparable to the iTouch - they claim it is a MP3 player, the iTouch is an MP3 player, so they can be compared. Apple fanboys compare the Zune HD to the iPhone, mocking the HD because it is not a phone. But when I make comparisons to MS phones which offer MP3 playback to iPhone, I am wrong for going off topic.
And as for my comment about Amazon rankings, it was to show the absurdity of the OP comment. Besides, this article is about Zune HD colors, what does Amazon rankings have to do with color?
I will say that Apple fanboys have decent debating skills. Say whatever they want, then try to constrain the argument to fit into their specific view.
I was always amazed at how well and fast he used to draw trees.
I would have bought a Zune HD if it was OS X compatible. Oh well. It really is nicer looking and more modern than any other iPod and the Tegra performance is to die for.
@poematik14 I'm also a mac user but I couldn't resist and I'm just running Zune on bootcamp now. It's a hassle but totally worth it.
Less color, moar storage.
@BrentSchmidt - AMEN!! My 120GB is almost full. MS needs to up this sucker to 160gb!