Microsoft Zune has now been officially launched and the rumors and leaked information that have appeared have been pretty much dead on. Zune is simply Microsoft’s first portable media player and it is pretty rare to see Microsoft launch a whole new platform, not just software but also hardware. But with Zune it’s made an exception and there is no doubt Microsoft is putting the pedal to the metal from day one. The media player Zune is launched, but also services and other accessories have been presented by Microsoft. But first of all we will take a closer look at the player itself.
Zune will offer a storage capacity of 30GB, integrated FM-Radio, a 3″ QVGA display (320x240px) and its biggest and most unique feature, WiFi support – 802.11 wireless network. The WiFi support is according to Microsoft the biggest and most important part of Zune as it hopes to change the use of portable msuci players and the spread of music.
“Designed around the principles of sharing, discovery and community, Zune will create new ways for consumers to connect and share entertainment experiences. The Zune experience centers around connection — connection to your library, connection to friends, connection to community and connection to other devices.”
Over at Engadget they’ve published an interview with the man responsible for both the development of Zune and Xbox 360; J Allard, and not surprisingly it seems that MS is borrowing a lot from the Xbox Live service to create a Zune community. We will most likely hear more about this soon.
If we look at the hardware Zune will be launched in three different colors; black, white and brown. With a high-res 3″ display it’s not just the music playback which is on top but also video;
Sound formats: WMA, MP3, AAC
Video formats: WMV, MPEG-4, H.264
Picture format: JPEG
Microsoft has also presented three different accessory packs for Zune; Zune Car Pack, Zune Home A/V Pack and Zune Travel Pack. The names of the packs pretty much says it all and Microsoft has also announced that it will work with third party developers to further expand the accessory assortment, something Apple has been doing very well with the iPod family.
We will offfer you more Zune information the coming weeks to see if Microsoft’s first portable media player has what it takes to take down Apple and iPod. Microsoft has announced that Zune will be launched in the USA during the holidays, but no specific date or price. We are really looking forward to hearing more about this, but until then we have som enice pictures of Zune.
