violian

February 16, 2011 at 11:45am

I have a ZuneHD that I bought around its launch date. I haven't used the device in over a year since I got the new iPod Touch. I still have the Zune subscription though. I just use the subscription to play music at home, listen to albums on whether or not I like it before purchasing the actual CD at Best Buy, etc. The ZuneHD device also has noticeably better sound than my 4th gen iPod Touch - but it's not enough to warrant me carrying 2 MP3 devices. The iPod Touch can just do a lot more things than the ZuneHD can.

Slugbait

February 16, 2011 at 11:39am

The Zune brand and platform will continue. There is no doubt about that.

Early in the development of WP7, it was nicknamed by various websites as "the Zune phone"...although no one has referred to it as such since then, it really is a Zune phone, with a bunch of other features (Office, XBox, etc). But MS does not manufacturer the phones.

Other than input devices and the Xbox, MS hasn't had much success with selling hardware...ok, qualifying remark: they lose money on Xbox, but it's not the hardware, it's the games that make money. Zune was a good device, but there was no sprinting like how Apple does it. There are many different flavors of iPods, and they're smart and sexy (MS can seldom do smart and sexy, especially when it comes to product naming and branding...think about it, they called it "Windows Phone 7"...blech).

So it makes perfect sense that with the new Zune phone, it would be time to retire the Zune device.

And don't write in any suspicions regarding Nokia...that is a completely different monster that rules cell phone sales in a completely different part of the world where MS has not (or in some cases, cannot) secure music distribution rights. Until the sixteen-thousand-odd contracts have been signed, it is prudent not to talk about Zune on Nokia devices just yet.

So Paul's sources are either wrong, or were misquoted: the brand isn't going anywhere. The device itself, yeah, that's probably getting retired.

jtrpop

February 16, 2011 at 10:16am

I really like my Zune, but I find it dishardening that Microsoft omitted the word 'hardware' from, "We're not 'killing' any of the Zune services/features in any way,".  Also add to the fact that there have not been any new hardware features, any major updates in the software, and zero advertising of the platform.

Forte125

February 16, 2011 at 7:38am

As long as they keep the subscription music service they can call it whatever they want.  Probibly for the better if they kill the Zune branding because the word 'Zune' sound kinda dumb...