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Supported audio formats will be MP3, unprotected WMA and unprotected AAC. Supported video formats will be MPEG-4, WMV and H.264.

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well the post doesn't mention anything about unprotected mp3 so if music you buy is in mp3 (whitch is most likely) you get DRM with it.

well this being a microsoft product anyone want to bet me that there will be a patch posted to their website prior to the release of of the product... if history tells us anything its that it will crash.. not that Im a fan of the Ipods its just that this is a consern that history will repeat it self. if this will only play windows dominate formates then arnt we just signing on for a nother proprity peace of equipment .. and how will it interfase with the macs....? if you want to have the latest and the greatest try a I-STATION from Digital Cube its sold in the UK and will be entering larger markets this year it plays DivX mp3 avi's and alot more it plays all the standers also it has a wi fi and sports a GPS system standered so why hasnt microsoft made some thing better or just a whole lot less exspencive because the consumers are willing to let them bye with out demanding more for your hard earned dollars.....on ebay people are selling Nano nockoffs for less the 75.00usd that are 4gb in size that work just fine so why are we all stuck on the IPOD name? maybe its us the buyers who need to open our eyes and relise that we are being ripped off.

i happen to agree, given microsofts track record with software and their latest consoles ,this just happens to be a product that in theory may seem nice. reality probably is this will face the same plagues that all microsoft products do and atleast this time maybe consumers will get a portable heater out of it......im just kidding, but a company as large as they are with as many resources that they have should be able to deliver topnotch products which IMO they haven't been doing for quite some time now.

*** Got it off http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/zune/docs/ZuneFS.doc


"This feature allows recipients to play full-length sample tracks up to three times in three days. Recipients cannot resend music that they have received via the sharing feature."


Ok so we cant share.. that's kinda lame..

Just imagine this: You have a selection of songs that your friend(s) wifi-ed to you. And since it's supposed to be 'sample tracks', after 3 days or 3 times it was played (whichever comes first); it 'erases' the tracks. But not before 'tagging' the track's signature. So the next attempt to have the same track wifi-ed over to you would be useless as the device would instantly recognise the track.

From where i stand, the only way to get around the problem is to re-encode to track yourself and change the ID tag. Cumbersome...

oofRome: yes i am. i've had my 60 gig zen nomad for over a year. it gets great battery life, is extremely durable, and was far less expensive than the competition. i don't need to carry photos and videos around with me..that's what a laptop's for (i hate small screens), but when i'm walking class to class on campus, or working out, or am away from my lappy or desktop, my lil nomad rocks my world. plus, it functions as an external hard drive quite easily. for my purposes, nothing from any other company compared, especially for the money...

but i will hold no biases; if a product proves itself in it's price range, i will try it and most likely recommend it.

Looks interesting, but I think these devices are a not worth the investment. I mean theres a huge selectoin of smartphones that can do much more then this, plus its a cellphone.

The way I see it, when this comes out it will be nothing more than a fancy MS crippled device. Give it about a year, and there will probaly be so much dev going on with it that you will probaly be able to do virtually anything with it. (Emulators, unlimited sending of any song with wifi ability, internet, etc.)

I already have a 30GB iPod Video, but I might consider this. In due time that is...

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"Wireless Zune-to-Zune sharing lets consumers spontaneously share full-length sample tracks of select songs, homemade recordings, playlists or pictures with friends between Zune devices. Listen to the full track of any song you receive up to three times over three days. If you like a song you hear and want to buy it, you can flag it right on your device and easily purchase it from the Zune Marketplace.

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It would suck if it got erased after 3 plays and plus, it is only going to be a sample track anyways. But being able to buy the track right then and there on your own Zune will be pretty neat.

My bad, I guess it will be a full track.

Maybe, just maybe, the reason it took so long for MS to cum out with its own version of mp3 player, was that it wanted to do it right. Create something that would actually compete with Ipod. Of course there r players out there that r better than the Ipod, but people have there heads so far up there bungholes that they don't notice. The zunes probably will have problems, WHAT electronic device that is mass produced doesn't? We have 2 ipods in our household, and although we haven't had any problems with them, they r not worth the money. Small capacity, no special features like fm tuner, the add ons cost more than the Ipod's. I wood had never oked 2 by them if it wasn't 4 the fact that females will not be caught dead in public without the latest fad in fear of being laughed at. I want quality plus quanity. What is the point of paying 300 bucks for a mp3 player so I can watch a 2 inch video or 150 bucks 4 a player that only holds enough music 4 a 2 day stretch. If it wasn't for Ipod the mp3 players with be at a more reasonable price. But since Ipod owns the market they can dictate the market. Hopefully zune will help change that. My point being, How much do u think a new ford truck would cost if chevy quit making them, or vice versa. Btw, is there a price yet 4 zune?

I have an RCA lyra that plays all my protected and un protected music, wma or mp3 and I am not interested in watching itty bitty movies and videos I spent a fortune on a Home theatre and 37inch lcd HDTV why oh why would I want to watch a pocket video. The only other place I watch video is when traveling I take my laptop download Movielink videos to take along with all the adapter cords to plug into the hotel tv or watch on the plain from my laptop. I think all this mini tv stuff is a fad and waste of money. Yet the two Steve's continue to find ways to make thier companies rich thats Ballmer and Jobs at work for ya!!!

The biggest problem that Microsoft is going to have with this player is the MP3 market is so flooded with products already. I'm surprised that they would even spend the time, let alone the money, it cost to create this thing. Do they not make enough off of the products that they already produce and that they feel that they have to get involved in this part of the market also? LOL!!!

I guess i can see why MS design the device in such a way. Look at ipod for instance. Its simple design had people from all over went googoogaagaa. With minimal buttons and simple GUI. (Now we all know infringed creative's design.) So MS is banking on that simple idea. But wat i would like to see are these:

1) Minimum of 24hrs battery life for continuous video playback.
2) Video output sockets.
3) No AVL.
4) Touch screen.
5) Include AVI format for video playback. Or go one better, the ability to install video codecs. (MP4's fine for small screen, but i dun think i wanna watch it if it gets to the big screen.)
6) Downloadable 3rd party softwares.

Any thing to do with microsoft sucks. All they want to do is dominate the market and make loads of money. They don't have a great track record of invention/inovation, they just buy up the competition.
I'm afraid that they will now screw-up the MP3 player market, and now that dreaded blue screen on a MP3 player!!!!

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All they want to do is dominate the market and make loads of money.

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Doesn''t every company want this to happen?

The exact wording in the press document for audio file support is:

Zune software can import audio files in unprotected WMA, MP3, AAC; photos in JPEG; and videos in WMV, MPEG-4, H.264

I love my iPOD but looking at Zune it looks badass,is a beautiful design.Did you guys see that in one of the pictures the brown Zune is lay down in one side?looks like if can be seen videos in that way too..???ps:what is the price for this piece of technology,30Gigs Zune?

The high res shots look great... the UI is looking alot nicer aswell... Looks like a winner.

I'm still not gonna buy one.

Why we can't share with Zune?

because bill gates always wanted to be the husband in prison, and that's why he has his company treat the customers the way he does.

Really beautiful but in that way i will never buy it.I think that people will stay with Ipod.

or do the smart thing and go third-party XD

.....i think that a software will make posssible to rip whatever you want.

All I am going to say is that there will be a new firmware, most likely linux-based, released within three months after launch. This new firmware will be able to accept any sort of wi-fi transfers, up to infinity, and DRM will not work like it is supposed to.

History DOES always repeat itself with microsoft products. We started putting linux on our pcs, and then our Xboxes. the 360 is only a matter of time.

ZUNE to TV!

Is there a way to play zune video files on your TV through RCA or S-video? I think this would be cool to have a full DVD5 DVD on your Zune and then hook it up to a TV to watch anywhere.

Does any 1 know if you can do this?