Try a year old. I’m just surprised it took this long to make its way to the outside world.
edit: Guido’s correct; I worked on Zune devices. We got the news over a year ago that the HD was going to be our last device; by April 2010 the team had been basically dissolved. There were occasional rumors of plans to do a Mobile 7 based device that would amount to a Windows Phone without the phone (think iPod Touch), but nothing ever came of them.
That insider info is awesome to have, but as you point out, it just made it to the outside world. I guess it’s “hilarious” that MS kept it secret for that long.
Yeah that’s honestly more of what I meant. I’m genuinely shocked that this is news right now; I figured at some point the info would have gotten out.
So basically MS killed this product line over a year ago and didn’t tell anyone? That’s shitty. It would seem proper to warn people before they go out and buy a dead product.
The Beauty of the Web!
Well, the hardware part of it is dead. Zune lives on within Phone 7, Xbox, and the desktop software.
It was pretty much inevitable once J Allard left the company.
Yeah. They’re not abandoning support for the product line as far as I know - the desktop software & service are going to remain to support Phone 7.
I hope they add in support for other mp3 players in the desktop software. I actually like the desktop software and use it as my primary music/podcast manager.
Jeff, if you don’t mind my asking, what sort of work did you do on the Zune?
I worked on the device software. I was there for about three years. I got roped into manufacturing on the 2007 devices (the Zune 4/8/16 and the Zune 80). Later I worked on some of the marketplace connectivity work.
They’re not really doing anything with it, which is a shame - it’s one of my favourite MS technologies and gets a lot of use in my house, via the 360. I’ve a third-party app (DVBLink) that creates a virtual digital TV tuner on my PC, allowing WMC to access multicast streams provided by my network provider (I wish WMC could do this without requiring DVBLink). XBox 360 is in the playroom so when my son wants to watch Dora the Bleedin’ Explorer he can do so there and my sanity is saved.
Are you still at Microsoft, jeffd? Because if so, you may want to be cagier, as they are being very closed-mouthed about whether there will be future Zune hardware yet.
Nope, I left MS almost a year ago.
edit: needless to say that means I have no idea what current plans might be, nor frankly would I if I did. My perspective is strictly historical.
Zune was alive?
Awesome.
Eh… Sorry to be ignorant, but who is that?
About the Zune. I don’t think I ever saw it on sale anywhere in germany, so it never really appeared on my radar much. (Did it even reach other countries in Europe?) So basically I’m not really surprised it died, if they never managed to launch it far beyond the US. The ipod is just too powerful in the market…
sorry… double post! Qt3 was stalling and I thought my post hadn’t made it through…
As usual, everyone seemed to love the Zune HD except for the teams involved in marketing and distribution. The reason why you never saw it anywhere in Germany was because it never made it outside of North America. Heck, even beyond the US for the most part. It only very recently made it to Canada.
The guy in the huge picture is J Allard, the guy mostly involved in getting the entertainment stuff like Xbox and Zune started at Microsoft.
Thanks for the info!