Zune

I'm a big believer in cloud-based music services. As wireless bandwidth increases, there's no reason that my collection of music (or other content, such as pictures) should be limited to the small hard drive that comes with my phone or MP3 player, or bound to various types of swappable memory sticks.

On-demand subscription services like Spotify, Rhapsody, and Thumbplay are one solution. But I'm also seeing more interest in the concept of the "music locker," which lets you back up your computer-based music collection into the cloud--Melodeo is working on an update to Nutsie that … Read more

The Zune HD is a strong music player. It's got a lot of features I wish Apple would add to its iPod and iPhone lineup, particularly wireless sync and queuing. But with the impending release of the Windows Phone 7 Series, which will include full Zune HD functionality in its "Music + Video" hub, I've begun to wonder if Microsoft will phase out the Zune as a standalone music player.

Here's one clue: Microsoft developer Michael Klucher on Tuesday put up a blog post about the upcoming XNA Game Studio 4.0. Thus far, XNA Game … Read more

At long last, the Zune Phone is here. Microsoft isn't calling it that--apparently it thought the name Windows Phone 7 Series rolled off the tongue a bit more easily--but the next generation of Microsoft's smartphone software not only features the entire Zune HD software and services experience (just like the iPod became a component of the iPhone), but the entire user interface itself bears a close resemblance to the Zune HD.

To be clear, Microsoft isn't building the hardware like it did with Zune--rather, partners like HTC, LG, and Samsung will do that work. But a lot of what the company learned from several iterations of Zune design has been rolled into its mobile platform.

Microsoft introduced Windows Phone 7 Series Monday morning at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and there's a lot to wrap your head around. I'll leave the full rundown to others at CNET, but one of the most interesting aspects is the way Microsoft seems to be trying to get rid of the notion of "apps," which have become the iPhone's calling card and are widely imitated by every other smart phone OS out there.

I don't mean that Windows Phone 7 Series phones won't support third-party applications--of course they will. But you won't interact with those applications by selecting a specific icon, opening an app, doing whatever you want to do, then closing it and moving on to something else. … Read more

The Zune forums are alive with complaints that a bunch of music has suddenly disappeared from Zune devices. The reason: it appears that Microsoft has pulled a bunch of music from the Zune Marketplace. If users downloaded this music to their devices via the subscription-based Zune Pass service, then it apparently disappeared when they synced their device. (I'm talking about subscription-based "tethered" downloads, of which users get an unlimited number per month. The Zune Pass also offers 10 permanent MP3 downloads per month, and those downloads have not been affected.)

I'm not a Zune Pass subscriber, … Read more

I was at Apple's iPad launch on Wednesday, and maybe it was just Steve Jobs' reality distortion field, but I don't quite understand why the haters are piling on. A lot of PC-centric commentators are dismissing the iPad as an overpriced gadget, wondering why it's lacking features that are standard on even the cheapest notebook computers, like Flash support, multitasking, USB inputs to connect peripherals, and video outputs (HDMI would be nice). These are legitimate complaints--for a notebook replacement. But the iPad isn't a notebook replacement, and I don't think users will carry it with … Read more

Microsoft enthusiast and blogger Long Zheng noticed something interesting in the Zune PC software update released Tuesday.

The software contains three new hardware identifiers, which are used to load the appropriate driver when a particular device is plugged in to a USB port on a Windows PC. Those identifiers all contain the cryptic string "Phone.Device." The identifiers for the original Zune devices are different, saying "Zune.Device."

This is the clearest evidence yet that Microsoft is planning some kind of Zune support for mobile phones. As I've been predicting for almost two years, this … Read more

Ahead of next month's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the rumor mill is swirling once again about Microsoft's Windows Mobile 7 operating system and a possible Zune phone based on it.

We've been here many times before. I first wrote about a Windows Mobile phone with Zune functionality back in February 2008, and thought the company might unveil it at CES 2009. It's more than a year later, and there's still no official word from the company on Windows Mobile 7. Meanwhile, Windows Mobile has lost market share, Android is coming on strong, and Apple and RIM aren't exactly laying back. What can Microsoft possibly do to regain ground?

The latest rumors center around a couple of stories that posted Monday on WMExperts and MobileCrunch. Financial analysts are also getting into the act with their own guesses.

The WMExperts story says there will be two Windows Mobile 7 OSes, one for businesses and one for consumers.

According to the story, the business version will continue along the same lines as the current Windows Mobile OS: it will be available for a wide range of hardware, and operators and handset makers will be allowed to customize it with their own user interfaces. The consumer one, or Media Edition, will be based on the Zune HD user interface, will include gaming and multimedia functions, and will be tightly locked to particular hardware specs.

The MobileCrunch story doesn't mention two editions, but claims that Windows Mobile 7 won't be backward-compatible with prior versions, and that developers will have to rewrite their apps.

I think both stories contain a germ of truth. So back to the question: what are we going to see from Microsoft at Mobile World Congress? Here are my predictions. (I haven't been briefed, so I'm free to speculate.) … Read more

The economy took its toll on digital audio in 2009, with CD sales continuing to decline (even as vinyl makes a resurgence), digital start-ups going bankrupt or disappearing after takeovers, and labels expressing dissatisfaction with would-be digital saviors like MySpace Music. Even so, there was actually quite a lot to cheer this year. The following five products aren't necessarily the best, but to me, they did the most to move the state of digital audio forward in 2009.

Windows 7. Microsoft appears to have recovered from Vista with a new OS that runs efficiently, looks good, and satisfies users. … Read more

I had a fascinating conversation with MediaNet CEO Alan McGlade on Friday morning. Unless you're deeply involved in online music, you probably don't know MediaNet, but it's the back end powering a lot of music services you might have used, including MOG's subscription service that launched earlier this week, as well as Microsoft's excellent Zune Pass subscription service and iLike's online music marketplace. (MySpace acquired iLike in August, and in November, links to iLike's service began appearing directly in music-related search results on Google.)

They've also got more history in online music … Read more