Microsoft launched their Zune HD today, the first touch-screen version of Microsoft’s multimedia player. Zune HD features a 3.3-inch OLED touch-screen, HD Radio, 720p video, and offers music-recommendation software, called Smart DJ. It is available from major retailers with a black 16GB version for $219.99 and a platinum 32GB version for $289.99.
Microsoft is positioning Zune as an entertainment platform that allows people to watch video or listen to music on their Zune HD, their PC, or their TV and seamlessly transition among them, says the company.
It features a HD video output to television, HD radio and a touch screen as well as a touch keyboard. The HD’s Internet Explorer browser supports multitouch so you can pinch to zoom into a page. It uses a Nvidia Tegra ARM processor. Comes with Wi-Fi. No camera or SD storage. Here are the specs.
Zune-to-Zune wireless sharing has been abandoned. Earlier Zune models could use the built-in Wi-Fi to send a full song to another Zune device nearby, for as many as three playbacks. The “squirting” feature has been replaced by the ability to email a link to a song or song clip from one Zune to another over the Internet, using the built-in Wi-Fi on the device.
Zune 4.0 software delivers Zune downloads to a PC, where users can organize music or download new songs from the Zune Marketplace. Users can also sign up for Zune.net, for $14.99 a month, and instantly start playing their favorite music from any PC. Like Zunes before it, the Zune HD can also stream music directly from the Zune music store, via Wi-Fi, with an unlimited monthly music pass
Zune HD’s FM radio delivers broadcast digital sound and allows stations to broadcast additional channels with different programming. The single-chip HD Radio receiver chip is integrated with RF radio, demodulator, memory and two embedded CPUs based on ARC’s 32-bit CPU cores.It also supports 720p video, so you can play videos via the HDMI docking station (separately sold; $80). Microsoft improved the Zune HD’s menu for TV viewing so you can navigate the player on your TV.
Zune service will expand to the nearly 20 million users of Xbox 360 LIVE starting this fall. That means Xbox 360 users soon will be able to buy or rent movies for the console using the Zune service, later downloading the files onto their Zune device or Windows PC for no extra fee.
Jose Pinero, director of public relations for the Microsoft TV, Video and Music Business, says it will place consumers at the center of their entertainment. “Putting it all in front of the consumer and making it seamless — Microsoft is the only company that can do that,” Pinero says. “Letting people enjoy their entertainment on any device is our winning strategy.”
Microsoft is promising to come out with Facebook and Twitter applications for the Zune HD by the end of the year, in addition to new games for the device. The company is not, however, launching a full, open third-party application marketplace for the Zune, contrary to speculation.
There’s plenty of skepticism that the Zune can close the gap on Apple, notes C/Net. Additional coverage is available from ArsTechnica, PC World, RadioWorld, EE Times, the Washington Post and ZDNet.
