At this point you're probably one of two parties: those sick of hearing about the Zune (may we suggest the following reading material?), and those who still want more information on what's going down with Microsoft's big launch. Now that the dust has settled a little, here's what we got.Further specs on the device [Much via Zune Thoughts' interview with Chris Stephensen]:
- 4.4 x 2.4 x 0.58-inch footprint (vs 30GB iPod's 4.1 x 2.4 x 0.43-inches, and 80GB iPod's 0.55-inch thickness -- trust us, on a device like this a tenth of an inch is a huge difference)
- 5.6 ounces (vs iPod's 4.8 and 5.5 ounces for the 30 and 80GB models)
- WiFi is 802.11b/g, photo is JPEG only (right now)
- Zunes and their users will have names -- Zunetags -- building off the phenomenal success of Xbox Live model.
- Faster charge time than an iPod, but still no quoted battery life. It will not be user replaceable.
- Nope, no price or release on the device or anything Marketplace related -- which they told us yesterday they wouldn't be releasing (yet).
- CNET thinks that bit about Zune buying you out of iTunes is false, according to a statement issued by Microsoft. Could well be so, but it's not like they've announced everything Zune-related, so we'll have more to discuss in the coming weeks, assuredly.
- Zune supposedly won't be taking advantage of the device's video capabiilties by selling TV shows this year, nor will it play Media Center video files (DVR-MS files, we take that to mean).
- Microsoft went with brown on one of the three Zunes because "artists would and musicians would." We're not going to lie, some of us around here like it (key word: some).
- Zune will be backing concerts and shows, and is really working the music influencer angle (ya think?).
- The 3x3 DRM layer (share a song for three plays over three days) will supposedly wrap files of any supported type (MP3, AAC, etc.) in DRM during the transfer. Medialoper poses a very interesting question: what happens to Creative Commons licensed media when shared? Because adding DRM to CC media violates the license, you know. [Via Slashdot]
Zune interface demo - QVGA [H.264, 3.7MB], VGA [H.264, 15.1MB]
Zune sharing demo - QVGA [H.264, 2.5MB], VGA [H.264, 8.7MB]
So, are we missing anything? Oh, there's more after the jump.
