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Zune Brings Powerful New Entertainment Features to Every Zune Portable Media Player With Software Release | |
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| Time: 10:18 EST/15:18 GMT | News Source: Microsoft Press Release | Posted By: Jonathan Tigner | ||
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Zune, Microsoft Corp.’s end-to-end music and entertainment service, today released its much anticipated free software update that will bring new features to every Zune portable media player. Revealed last week, the new software will allow Zune users to wirelessly stream and download music from the Zune Marketplace store on the go; tag and purchase songs directly from the built-in FM radio; and tap into new, personalized music recommendations and programming. To allow customers to take full advantage of the new wireless functionality, Zune today announced that it is working with high-speed Internet access provider Wayport Inc. to deliver Zune users free, wireless access to the Zune Marketplace from more than 9,800 participating McDonald’s®restaurants across the U.S. |
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Read Only Comments Return to News |
Displaying Comments 1 through 5 of 5 |
This is an archived static copy of ActiveWin.com. |
| #1 By 21705 (142.213.176.140) at Tuesday, September 16, 2008 11:00:39 AM |
| Buy a Zune and get SuperSized! |
| #2 By 28801 (65.90.202.10) at Tuesday, September 16, 2008 11:08:35 AM |
| Some people enjoy carrying around a brick in their pants. |
| #3 By 23275 (68.186.182.236) at Tuesday, September 16, 2008 11:31:52 AM |
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The new 3.0 SW is a pretty good update. It adds quite a lot and discovering new things is what it appears to be all about.
#2, While the 3.0 update works all the way back to 1.0 30 GB Zunes for free, the Zune II and II hardware in the 4, 8, and 16 GB models are very thin and lightweight. Apparently the design is solid, as Apple went back to it with their 4G Nano, but they did not do nearly as good a job. For example, the Zune's touchpad changes orientation with the device - so up and down volume are always logically up and down. Apple's dated click-wheel does not change orientation with the orientation of playback on the device - so it is more cumbersome to use in landscape mode. The Zune's interface is just a lot easier to use. It makes the truly innovative click-wheel seem quite dated and past its time. Some other cool things that people don't speak to are integration of a user's collection through Windows Media Center Extenders and Xbox 360 - again, wirelessly. This is good stuff and it extends its value and ease of integration. Finally, Zune's subscription price allows parents to support three devices and three computers for as many users and manage them centrally. It's a good value when used that way - all you can consume for three users for one price. It has saved us a lot of money. |
| #4 By 20505 (216.102.144.11) at Tuesday, September 16, 2008 07:23:32 PM |
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#3
Zune still doesn't have a built in sound equalizer. This is a huge oversight, and in my opinion a deal breaker. With the huge variation in the quality of sound from various headphones, some equalization is absolutely necessary to get a good experience when using a portable player. Notice I did not say "sound quality". There are excellent headphone whose aural qualities vary from very flat to very bass heavy. An MP3 player really needs some way to compensate for this variation. BTW - Apple's products are only marginally better in this regard with a menu of various canned EQ settings. |
| #5 By 23275 (68.186.182.236) at Tuesday, September 16, 2008 10:43:42 PM |
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#4, The original Zune did have a rudimentary EQ function, but it was removed when the new software/firmware shipped in V2. No real good reason was offered. One note I read said that the decision was based upon customer feedback. I really think that Zune's market was thought to be young teens. I mean, audible book support was only added and only as a separate app outside the Marketplace and Zune SW. Again, MS said it was based upon their intended market - pretty much said to me that the market they went for was very young.
Perhaps they will expand it and add a full EQ back to the platform. |
