Microsoft officially launches the Zune

Brown is a bold move that will pay off to distinguish Zune from anything else. Love it or hate it, they got us to talk about it.

ZuneBrown.com

TUAW,
I think you guys are being a little bias by putting only the brown color zune. Scott McNulty, you need to have a picture showing the other colors, because someone obviously knew what the reaction would be from the readers. I know this is an Apple blog but please, try not to the equivalent of Fox with politics.

**yawn**

This is pathetic. The whole damn thing is pathetic. Congratulations, Microsoft, for introducing the world (again.... thanks Toshiba) to the Microsoft Bob of DAPs.

I'm not going to knock them for trying alternative colors (although that is quite the shade of brown) but this thing looks cheap, contrived, boring as hell. Add to that the inevitable "packs" available, and you have yet another MS monster no one really wants to have to suffer with. Is there a Zune Professional Edition? Zune NT?

I almost feel sorry for MS. Then I opened Word and waited for it to finish launching and that pretty much took care of my sympathy. =P

I wonder if there's a preference that flips the screen upside-down so that left-handed people can use this thing.

I think it sounds really cool. I'm ready to replace my old iPod and it's between a Zune and a new iPod. If there was a 80GB zune I'd be pretty much sold.

Zune is from the same guys at MS who made Xbox and Xbox Live, this is not the ordinary Microsoft we're talking about.

Subscription, FM Tuner, WiFi Sharing beats "songs without gaps in". Competition is great for the market and for us customers.

FM radio is cool, as it can provide content (music, news, whatever) beyond your own library. It's cheap, easy to implement, and I think it should become a standard in iPods, too.

WiFi is weird. I can't imagine of a really useful way for this to work. It will work only with friends (as it's unlikely to find Zuners on the street with an always-on WiFi, for you to join in) and you can only exchange 3-play-trials. How exciting can that be?

I'm sure Microsoft will find a way to make this better. If sales don't go very well, a hack may pop up from nowhere that removes the 3-play restriction. That would make the Zune a lot more attractive.

Anyway, I don't see the Zune as an iPod killer, unless it's priced for $100. The iPod still remains a desirable piece of art that happens to be a very good DAP, too.

I'm an iPod fanboy (on my 4th since the very first 5gb model) but I'm totally impressed by the Zune. While I probably won't be purchasing one of these (unless they work with iTunes), I don't have a problem with Microsoft entering the market - competition is always good. I think the competition to date has been focused purely on feature fodder that the public at large doesn't really care about (such as built in FM radios and voice recording) and not on innovation.

Zune's wifi sounded like more of the same, until they announced the sharing with friends feature. Something like this could totally change the way we find out about new music. It could end this music-nerd's often repeated frustration: the age-old story of being told by one of your friends about this 'cool new band' and either not being impressed by their description and not pursuing it, or trying to find the band but forgetting the name.

Wouldn't it be fantastic if ALL the manufacturers implemented this as a universal standard? Call it "Music-Share" - or something like that. Of course, manufacturer-specific DRM means this will never be the case. And most likely Apple will be too proud to implement a feature from their biggest competitior.

RE: The video on http://www.zuneworld.com/

i could be wrong but it looks like the video playing on the zune has all been applied in post to make it clearer..some movements dont match the hands movement and there seems to be fuzzies around the earphone jack...

probably my old tired eyes but the whole thing with its token focussing in and out... i dont buy it...

bit like the revamped 1984 ad with the lass wearing an ipod...movements just didnt quite maatch and the pod seemed a little to white..

wow. it's brown. i can't believe it's brown...