Zune HD confirmed

Hey Sylvie, Don't tell Charlie!
- this uses a Tegra chip from your friends at nVidia, right?

You know, even if you gold plate it, and polish it, a turd is still a turd.

Zune was never in the running, restrictive copyrighting system + sucky design does not make for an industry winner.

Not another iPod killer. Failure?

Apple fanboys can say what they like. But the fact is that, having used both, I thought that the Zune had a far superior interface to the ipod.

The only thing that let it down - in my opinion - was the fact that the product itself wasn't as sleek and attractive looking as the ipod.

This new zune seems to be aiming to correct that.

Maybe this is a new re-born MicroSoft. First they come up with Win7 which I have to say is pretty slick (I am using it right now). Now a new sleek zune. Go Vole!!

Looks lovely, i'll take one. I actually dislike Apple more than Microsoft so i'll finally have something to replace my 30GB Ipod.

Let's hope they add AM/FM radio as well. :-D

Whilst the Zune is a nice device and much bettter than the iPos in most respects, the included HD Radio will be useless on most of the planet.

The USA uses a non standard propriatary HD radio system that pretty no one else uses. Unlike most of the rest of the world that is moving to DAB and DAB+...

I've owned an iPod 80gb, I've owned a Creative Zen and I've owned a Zune.

The Zune and the Creative both shat all over the iPod in terms of sound quality. Personally I buy DAP's for listening to music not for posing around on street corners so looks are, frankly, unimportant.

The Zune has been my best DAP buy, aside from the terrible battery life its functionality, interface and, dare I say, the software are all to my liking.

I'll definitely ship one over from the states as it doesn't sound like they're planning on a UK release :-(

Meh. The first Zune was 5 years too late. This Zune comes out at a time the second generation of the iPod Touch is already in the works. As with other releases, only people who dislike Apple are even going to notice this piece of crap.

I'll second that 'Blogs Stillput'. I'm listening to my 80GB Zune atm, having imported one to Oz back in early 2008. I've owned 2 iPods before this and I'm stoked with it. It's never missed a beat, has a better interface (have the fanbois here even used a zune before?), a bigger screen and superior sound quality.

Gotta say the big let down is the Zune software though... It's balls. Slow and doesn't give you simple methods of editing ID3 tags, especially in group situations. Have to use MP3tag or the like.

Don't know about the 32GB limit of the HD. If they bring it out in a 80GB notebook drive version, I'll snap it up in a second.

I suspect most of these zune haters are retards who havent even used one and just dislike it based on it being made by Microsoft.

I've used both extensively and the Zune is a bit nicer than the iPod classic. The interface is better and the sound quality is far superior. The earphones with the Zune 80 are fantastic- most mp3 players require you to buy non-crappy earphones, but the 80's stock ones are great.

"only people who dislike Apple are even going to notice this piece of crap."

That would be most people so marketing shouldn't be an issue then.

I lolzer

If they market it correctly and give it really good integration into the xbox system. a lot xbox's owner will want one.

will it play games as well??

I bought my 80 gb Zune when they first came out with the custom designs on the back. And I have to say on a trip to Japan I could use it to listen to their radio as well as the one normally used in the states it has a setting for world wide radio settings.

Also the fact that 15 bucks a month to stream and download as much music as I want is fantastic and I get to keep 10 songs a month even after I cancel. I have officially told itunes to bugger off!

The reason the Zune is not an Ipod killer though it's better in every way is this, software integration, Itunes is made to take your money as quickly as possible, something Apple advertises as ease of use (they're not lying; count how many clicks it takes for you to purchase crappy sounding music through Itunes), and the masses consider it a consumer benefit (which is no actual benefit to the consumer).

Now, it seems M$ is trying that, integration with the Xbox install base, and we'll see how many button presses it takes for them to take your money.

A turd is still a turd, but advertise it as a stylish turd like Apple does, and a a fool and his money, are soon parted.

I have a Cowon D2, the sound quality is superb, plays uncompressed music, drag and drop, flash interface to pretty up the screen. But most important of all, no restrictions.

"...the Zune HD will sport a 3.3" 480x272 OLED touchscreen, capable of 720P..."

Sounds more like 272p to me... :P

I'm guessing you mean it can spit out 720p via the HDMI, but the writing could have used a bit of cleaning up...

It just wasnt pushed as a major feature back then. In fabt the Zune hardware in the Mk1 and Mk2 is so overspecced it could a lot more things. They just were not enabled.

I'm a big Zune fan but I think the inclusion of the HD radio (which is anything but HD and a battery killer) and the HD branding to boot is a bad thing. Its going to get criticised for not being that 'HD' in reality.

Plus how is that HD radio going to work if they decide to release it worldwide? We all have different standards (DAB etc). If this doesnt go worldwide then it proves Zune isnt a serious proposition by MS. Shame.

I just hope there is a HDD version and it can still do FM.

I wouldn't worry about HD radio not being available outside of the USA, neither has the Zune been so far!

Oh, and @Damage, how can you stand there with a straight face and accuse M$ of restrictive practises? The Lord Jobs is the king of this!

Zune is a better player than iPod. I suppose. Zune need to be more patient. And more lucky. Beating ipod is a tough job.
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