Zune Hardware Officially Abandoned

October 4, 2011

Microsoft has officially abandoned Zune, admitting publicly for the first time that production of the hardware has ceased. RIP, iPod wannabe. Microsoft said that Windows Phone will be where it puts all its attention on in that space and that Zune will live on as a brand. The Zune brand will live on as the face of Microsoft’s content sales services. It remains a mainstay in the Entertainment section of the Xbox dashboard, for example.

"We recently announced that, going forward, Windows Phone will be the focus of our mobile music and video strategy, and that we will no longer be producing Zune players," an official statement read. "So what does this mean for our current Zune users? Absolutely nothing. Your device will continue to work with Zune services just as it does today. And we will continue to honor the warranties of all devices for both current owners and those who buy our very last devices. Customer service has been, and will remain a top priority for us."

When Microsoft launched the first Zune player in 2006 it had high hopes that it would be able to compete with Apple's iPod. After serial iterations of the hardware, it was clear that Zune just couldn't compete at the level Microsoft wanted it to compete at.

Source: MCV

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Comments

Re: Zune Hardware Officially Abandoned

Submitted by Neo_DrKefka on Tue, 10/04/2011 - 16:11.

The Price, the DRM and other problems why would one want a Zune? They tried to turn into video market place into a seperate Zune program on xbox to make it harder to get on. Windows 8 looks like crap Google is seriously getting into the PC buisness Microsoft is soon to be replaced

Re: Zune Hardware Officially Abandoned

Submitted by greevar on Tue, 10/04/2011 - 20:58.

I have a Zune, but I don't buy from their music store. I actually haven't bought any music for a while now. Not much appeals to me these days. I bought the Zune HD because the interface is so nice and it support multi-touch. It's also the only device I know of that has FM and HD FM capability.

-Greevar

"Paste superficially profound, but utterly meaningless quotation here."

Re: Zune Hardware Officially Abandoned

Submitted by hellfire7885 on Tue, 10/04/2011 - 18:23.

I ask the same questions about the Ipod. I prefer to get something less well known that I can put music I actually want on it and not have to re-buy it all if I commit the oh so grave error of changing computers.

Re: Zune Hardware Officially Abandoned

Submitted by State on Wed, 10/05/2011 - 10:17.

Well don't buy DRM music. I own an iPod and rip music off of CDs onto it. Why people pay to download poor quality compressed music I don't know.

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ZippyDSMlee: Something I did by hand on my convertiable laptop, http://zippydsmlee.deviantart.com/art/Cotlop-zelda-unfinished-sketch-WIP-finish-373937163 forgot if I posted it befor.06/19/2013 - 7:44pm

Conster: Also, I guess The War Z changed its name so they can scam some more people?06/19/2013 - 7:44pm

Conster: AE: when even HuffPo makes the same joke, it's not something you want to take credit for. :P06/19/2013 - 7:43pm

Andrew Eisen: Hey look! The War Z changed its name to Infestation: Survivor Stories. http://infestationmmo.com/06/19/2013 - 7:23pm

Andrew Eisen: You're going to have a lot of company in prison, RedMage. Most of the internet has stolen MY joke. Bastards!06/19/2013 - 7:06pm

RedMage: The cover art thing points to an industry trend of only wanting to appeal to teen boys despite the talk of "broadening the appealz"06/19/2013 - 6:17pm

RedMage: I'd like to turn myself in for unintentional theft of a joke. Ignorance of the law is no excuse :o06/19/2013 - 6:17pm

Andrew Eisen: Remember the fight to get Last of Us's Ellie on the game cover? Check this out: http://cheezburger.com/758618624006/19/2013 - 6:12pm

Andrew Eisen: RedMage - Thief! You stole my joke! You're a horrible, loathesome person! Or you simply had the same idea and didn't read my earlier shout!06/19/2013 - 5:35pm

RedMage: Maybe they're going to rename it the Xbox 18006/19/2013 - 5:26pm

IanC: Bet EA are pissed.06/19/2013 - 5:17pm

Andrew Eisen: Ah, James is just a little quicker on the keyboard than I!06/19/2013 - 5:07pm

Craig R.: Too little, too late.06/19/2013 - 4:52pm

DorthLous: PWAHAHAHAH, the MS spinning sound woke me up :)06/19/2013 - 4:27pm

Andrew Eisen: Microsoft's new console shall now be known as the Xbox One-Eighty.06/19/2013 - 4:17pm

Andrew Eisen: I imagine we were typing our respective shouts at the same time.06/19/2013 - 4:14pm

MaskedPixelante: So Andrew... is there going to be a new poll now? I mean, the one about the XBO DRM is kinda no longer relevant.06/19/2013 - 4:13pm

Andrew Eisen: In light of Xbox One's furious backpeddling on its DRM policies, I'm closing the poll for now. I'll probably write a new one later today or tomorrow.06/19/2013 - 4:11pm

IanC: Found three people whining about this so far. Saying that its because of cheapasses and that its going to be horrible online now. W T and indeed F.06/19/2013 - 4:09pm

Andrew Eisen: Technogeek - I agree but: "After a one-time system set-up with a new Xbox One, you can play any disc based game without ever connecting online again." Why do I need to connect online to set up a system I'm not going to use online?06/19/2013 - 4:07pm

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