Changes to the Zune Pass for U.S. subscribers coming October 3rd

Posted on Thu, 29 Sep 2011 12:35 pm EDT by Daniel Rubino
Filed Under: News 31

Good news and bad news for Zune Pass subscribers or potential new customers. On October 3rd, Microsoft will be making some changes to our beloved system and some of it makes sense, while other aspects are a little disappointing.

First off, the Zune Pass will effectively drop from $14.99 a month to $9.99 a month for new customers (or those wishing to 'downgrade'). As a trade off though, you're going to loose the ability keep those 10 MP3s every month, meaning they are going strictly streaming. Finally, you'll be able to only sync up to four devices (down from six) with 1 PC + any combination of PC, Zune device and Windows Phone. Xbox 360 and PC streaming of course do not count towards that four-device limit.

If you're already on the $14.99 a month plan, the good news is you can stay there and keep getting your MP3s. But new customers will be effectively cut-off from such a deal starting October 3rd, meaning if you want those features (and we're think they're pretty good), then you best sign up now--maybe even get a year pass and save $50.

One last change, which is a good one, is you'll soon be able to stream "tens of thousands" music videos to your Zune PC and Xbox 360 (this fall). Up till now, you had to actually pay for music videos, which always seemed just wrong. No word if Windows Phone will get the same feature.

Source

I actually think you are losing value with this new price range. The ability to keep 10 tracks was a good catch. That's like getting $10 back. To me, it's like paying mortgage for a house or renting. When you are renting, your money goes nowhere, but if you are paying mortgage, it's an investment. I like that feeling of getting something when all things are said and done. So now I have 3 days to decide if I want a full blown Zune Pass

I like the Zune service but I wish you could download songs from your WP7 to listen to.

??

You have the Zune marketplace on WP7 devices and it syncs purchases to your pc, so I'm confused as to what else you want.

I think he's talking about downloading mp3s from some OTHER source other than zune. WP7 doesn't let you freely download whatever you want.

No I mean look at songs while i'm on my WP7 and be able to download them using the Zune Pass for free on it....as it stands I have to download the songs I want from my laptop and then sync them to my Windows phone.