Zune Is Dead

Megalith

Megalith

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Wait, it was still alive? I did like mine when I had one back in 2006, though.

Zune players just never managed to fight off the iPod, and with smartphones taking on the role of music player in addition to everything else, it didn’t take long for Microsoft's player to become surplus to requirements. Microsoft is not learning from history, though; the company continues to try its hand at music with Groove.
 
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3096659 said:
However, Zune devices will still function as music players and any MP3 content that you own on the Zune device will remain there. You’ll also be able to transfer music to and from your Zune player.
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Oh thank God. Here I thought they would just stop working and try to kill you like what was suppose to happen when Y2K occurred.
 
Mine is still alive and well. Massive battery life, can put any music on it... love that thing.
 
the one good consumer device MS had and let it die on the vine just like Windows Mobile after the mid-2000's.

it's also the only decide where Metro ever actually made sense. Should've left it at that.
 
The Zune was a fantastic device. I still have mine lying somewhere. Interface was much better than the iPod's, and the storage, for a while, was also a plus. Had a very nice screen, too. MSFT never seemed to push it for some odd reason. The few people I showed it to loved it, but also weren't that aware about it either.
 
My 30 gig zune is still kicking. I use it quite frequently. I'm amazed how the battery still has any ability to charge and keep a good charge at that.
 
Never had a Zune mp3 player, but I always thought MS could have leveraged the Zune branding into launching a decent windows phone to compete against the iPhones. Of course MS could never get a grip on a solid vision for a device, nor hang onto talent long enough to see a project through to completion and long term support.
 
I still have my Zune subscription. I like the free 10 tracks a month. This is the first I've heard of this. Not a big fan of the Groove software. Might be looking for another music service after almost a decade.
 
It's not just the hardware, the Zune music software still has no equal on Windows. It organizes and syncs your Zune data and rips CDs. Groove can't do that. There are other ways on Windows to do those things but none as nicely integrated.
 
My Mk1 black Zune is still around! Great bit of kit. Might get round to upgrading it to 60GB sometime.
 
cjcox said:
It's not just the hardware, the Zune music software still has no equal on Windows. It organizes and syncs your Zune data and rips CDs. Groove can't do that. There are other ways on Windows to do those things but none as nicely integrated.
Click to expand...

A lot of people thought that the Zune client should have replaced Windows Media Player as the default media client. Never understood why Microsoft didn't do that.

Still have a Zune 80 GB and 32 GB Zune HD. The HD is siting in its dock right now. Haven't really used it years.
 
I'm still using my ZuneHD. We'll see how much this really affects how I use my zune. Like, will podcasts still download and transfer? How long will the software be supported. I still want to transfer different things to and from my Zune.
 
I'm not a Microsoft fan, the Zune is my daughter's, she has the 120GB one. She still loves it. My job is to make sure the aging and old Zune software still works for her (e.g. Windows 10).
 
Zune was a true iPod killer for its time but MS didn't do enough to make that happen. RIP my old Zune HD. I wish it still worked but I beat it into the ground during my time in the USAF.
 
I submitted this story with MS's email last month. They are killing the service. Although Groove still cites zune in it's error logs they are killing accounts (like mine) that were the grandfathered $15 month accounts with 10 free downloads. Mine has already been changed. I won't be able to stream or download marketplace music soon (or now). When that happens I'm going to kill my account, I have a Google early all music pass at $8 a month. Their catalog is bigger and it gives me the youtube red stuff as well.


It's a shame. I do like the device and music. For a friend it's a real bummer now as he cannot get just a player, as he does not like using his phone as a music player.
 
mine still works just fine I use it for roadtrips. I wish they would unlock them and make them present as mass storage devices
 
The Zune HD was a fantastic device and the UI was amazing. The thing even handled playing some really good looking games. The software was great and the player had awesome visuals. Then they went and swapped everything to Xbox Music. From there I just gave up and switched to my phone and used Google Music. Too much of an identity crisis with Microsoft.
 
MS really shot themselves in the foot when they neutered the Zune to Zune file sharing feature before release. A marginally higher quality device wasn't enough to make people stray from their iPods. In the days before widespread broadband, being able to share tracks directly might have been enough.
 
Sold my 8GB Zune in a garage sale last year, hadn't really used the thing for a couple of years.
 
The problem with the Zune was that it purely a market tester. It only went on sale in the US and possibly Canada iirc. It was a pet project. I remember having a heated discussion on the Zune forum with one of the developers saying that the Zune would be purely a test platform for a new phone setup in a year or two. He denied it. Then the HD came out and a few months later a very similar setup appeared on Windows phones. He quit the Zune project a few weeks later.

I think the one lesson you can learn from Zune was...never release a product in dog turd brown if you want to be taken seriously.
 
I've had numerous zunes over the years, and loved them all.
Touchpad went bad on my zune 80 so I got a zune 120. Thing worked like a champ the whole time I had it. It was stolen when some douchebag broke into my car.
Zunes are pricey now, but i got another 120 that rocks my car daily.
My collection is pushing 68Gb and I like to have the whole thing with me, never know what you'll be in the mood for. I refuse to go apple and finding anything big enough to hold all my stuff is difficult anymore.
 
I bought a Zune to check out the Oled screen which ended up causing me eyestrain.
 
Ha, I opted for a MP3 player based on a jump drive. You just plug you USB thumb drive into it and boom; it played the MP3 on it. Seemed like a cool idea at the time. Just pull out the stick and drag files over from the PC. It took 2 AAA batteries that lasted a long time. Problem was it would lock up after playing for about 30 minutes.
I bought it for long plane flights and listening to audio books. What a piece of crap. It was by Lexar.
This was it:
lexar-jumpgear-mp3-digital-player.jpg


Ended up tossing it in the trash.
 
I only wish I could drag and drop and the Zune software didn't try to take over file associations.

Still use mine. Lil 8GB and it's still kicking like a champ.
 
I think also a bit of confusion on this is that most don't differientate between the player, the software and the service.

What's happening is the software is no longer being allowed to work with the service, as of right now I'm I can stream. I'll see after noon in say CA, time. They have pulled access a few times since October only to restore it a bit later. The only thing it has going over Google is a desktop actual software. Heck, if there was a exe I could find that just ran a browser and used google music, plus added use of keyboard media keys, it would be the bees knees.
 
This comment makes me wanna barf LOL:

The Zune product may now be dead meanwhile, its visual design influence is still very present.
All major software makers have embraced portions of this visual language in the last years, changing the user experience for millions of people. - TheCyberKnight
 
Kaitian said:
I still love the Zune HD.
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cjcox said:
It's not just the hardware, the Zune music software still has no equal on Windows. It organizes and syncs your Zune data and rips CDs. Groove can't do that. There are other ways on Windows to do those things but none as nicely integrated.
Click to expand...

heatlesssun said:
A lot of people thought that the Zune client should have replaced Windows Media Player as the default media client. Never understood why Microsoft didn't do that.

Still have a Zune 80 GB and 32 GB Zune HD. The HD is siting in its dock right now. Haven't really used it years.
Click to expand...

NickJames said:
The Zune HD was a fantastic device and the UI was amazing. The thing even handled playing some really good looking games. The software was great and the player had awesome visuals. Then they went and swapped everything to Xbox Music. From there I just gave up and switched to my phone and used Google Music. Too much of an identity crisis with Microsoft.
Click to expand...

All these comments about the Zune HD warm my heart. I have mine still, and still think it's the best damn dedicated music player ever made. The software was reliable, the tagging system was excellent, and the player itself was amazing. I wish MS still made them, and continued with the development of the Zune HD.
 
Man I really loved my 8gb Zune. Beef was that software they forced you to use.
 
Viper16 said:
Man I really loved my 8gb Zune. Beef was that software they forced you to use.
Click to expand...

The software got better. Now it's infinitely better than iTunes, which has somehow gotten worse with every version. Now it's like the worst piece of bloatware that's also a webpage without adblock. Barf.
 
ZodaEX said:
8gb? Lol my 5 year old cell phone can hold 4 times that much music.
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I pulled it back out...it was a 30gb the Zune 30. I believe it was a 1st gen. competed with the fifth or sixth gen Ipod's...it was legit.
 
To me the Zune reminds me a lot of BlackBerry. Awesome hardware, great OS and software and user experience...really some of the best out there. But that horrible marketing. It can bring the best products to their knees (or make the worse the most popular e.g. Beats).

Such a shame. MS could have really had a winner on their hands if they had just stuck with it. I had both the original 30GB Zune and the 80 or 120GB newer model and loved them both. But again, instead of actually putting the effort to push the product and market it properly they just decide to let it die like as if it deserved it.
 
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