i dont think the Zune was ever released in australia. Dont blame them nearly everyone has an iphone or ipod

It isn't like every computer has the Zune software. If a friend of yours brought you a CD or has some songs in his laptop you cannot put that stuff inside your Zune and play it on the go because you would have to download that software to his laptop.

My sister's ex used to have an mp3 player that allowed him to insert the device to any computer where it would appear as a Removable Disk to which you could put anything. It even played Avi videos and it cost less than $60.

If you prefer some fancy graphics of interfaces over features, connectivity and accesibility, well power to you. I need my players to play my songs and videos, not look cute.

yeah down here is apple freaking centric. It is absolutely insane, our dick smith is about to expand and get the apple portion and im excited even though i hate apple. Apple means many many sales guaranteed.

It doesnt matter that you dont have zune software. That is the drivers for all zune devices/ win7 devices, it is very easy to get. I had an iphone and it frustrated me that you could only have one main hub.

Its crazy that Apple is the most expensive and there laptops are considerably less powerful but far more expensive then more powerful laptops at an lower price. Unless there excellent battery is the biggest cost consumer apple have mastered the ability to fool the mass market into spending more for less. 

http://www.ehow.com/how_5124534_sync-zune-windows-media-player.html

Don't tell me your friggin friend doesn't have Windows Media Player either...

Well I do care about features hence why I got a zune. Nothing had the features for the price that Zune hD had in 2009 when it came out.

Connectivity and accessibility Zune offers is also fine. Drag and drop would be great too but I see what the software offers and I am more than able to wait till I get to a zune installed computer to sync.

I'd love to see an PMP sold today that you think is better than Zune HD or Itouch.  Back in the day all of them were had basic design and drag and drop, but these days you won't find many (outside Chinatown) that don't require proprietary software to sync.

Me no like it nosoft. Me like it sohard

Future Zune Hardware might be dead... and  they have said it before that this might be the last revision of the Zune player.

Many people have wondered what the point is of having a Zune Player when all Windows Phone 7s have Zune built in. Why not just get a Windows Phone 7? I too have wondered that when the Windows Phone 7s came out, but I prefer having a standalone Zune player due to battery life and any type of notification interuptions that may come up during my music sessions at work might mess up my groove.. (girlfriend buggin) ¬_¬

On a side note: the whole Windows Phone 7 interface has fucked up my Zune HD interface skills. I try to navigate like i'm on Windows Phone 7 on my Zune HD and it pisses me off so much that I want to kick someone in the balls.. 

So it seems to me that M$ is  going to concentrate on Zune as a software rather than a device and license it out to hardware manufacturers and whatnot...

Zune hardware biz developer: "I'll be going to work tomorrow"

Microsoft has responded to the "Zune (hardware) is dead" meme that has taken off like a hurricane ever since the Bloomberg article the other day:

“We have nothing to announce about another Zune device -- but most recently have introduced Zune HD to Canada via the Zune Originals store and remain committed to supporting our devices in North America,” the company said in an e-mailed statement. “We are thrilled by the consumer excitement for Zune across many new platforms, including Windows Phone 7 and Xbox 360. Our long-term strategy focuses on the strength of the entire Zune ecosystem across Microsoft platforms.”

That sure doesn't sound like a denial, lending more credence to the Bloomberg claim from "sources familiar". Now, Dave McLauchlan, who does business development at Microsoft for the Zune HD, has now responded in the Anything But Ipod forums, where he's been a member since 2006. While not revealing anything too specific, it sure sounds as if the story is more...complicated...than Bloomberg has made it out to be. We'll just quote the meaty parts of his post:

"I've had tweets, emails, PMs and phone calls. People offering condolences, checking in on me, etc... etc... Stop, stop, stop!

The Bloomberg article is NOT an official statement from Microsoft (apart from the quote above). The headline is purportedly from a "person familiar with the matter" - which of course tells you nothing.

Here's what you should know - ALL consumer electronics products have a lifespan, and the Zune HD is 18mo old. We were completely frank about this year's Zune hardware being the WP7 phones, and we continue to both sell and fully support the Zune HD line of products. And as I've promised - we continue to bring new apps and games to the platform. More of those are in the works, I promise you.

I manage business development for Zune hardware, and I still have that job. Our PR folks released a statement today that included the text: "We’ll share more information about the evolution of the Zune entertainment service and Zune hardware as future plans develop."

To be 100% clear - NO information about our future plans, no matter what the incarnation, has been shared. Until then treat with healthy skepticism anything you read. That's probably a good general rule actually.

So for those who tweeted or emailed asking what I'm "going to do now" - I'll be going to work tomorrow, working on Zune hardware bizdev. And when Microsoft announces news that is actually news, you'll hear it from us directly, and I'll be sure to pass it on immediately. Only then should you take it as gospel."

Cheers, Dave.

We're not 100% sure what to make of this outside he still has a job working on Zune hardware and evidently it's not as black and white as everyone seems to be thinking it is. Of course if Zune hardware is dead, it forces the question of why Microsoft, and now McLauchlan, are pushing backing looking to clarify the matter. Like we said, we think there may be more to this story than what we know so far.

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