Clunky-looking Microsoft Zune player revealed in filing

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An obesely proportioned digital media player, confirmed to be Microsoft's upcoming Zune device, has turned up in photos and documentation filed with the FCC.

The filing, published on Thursday, was made by Toshiba Corp, suggesting that electronics and component maker will play an integral role in the manufacturing of the device.

According to a draft user manual accompanying the filing, Zune will include a 30GB 1.8-inch Toshiba hard drive, 3.0-inch low temperature polysilicone TFT LCD display, high qualify FM tuner with RDBS, headphone jack and USB 2.0 connectivity.

The user manual further indicates that Zune will be powered by a rechargeable Li-Ion battery, include mechanical switches for all control surfaces and feature a Wireless LAN module manufactured by Taiyo Yuden.


Apple Insider

Check out the above link for the whole article with more pictures of what the M$ Zune Player looks like.

[nesman]

Usually I like MS hardware. Their mice and whatnot are usually pretty good quality, and look decent. This just looks like a cheap knockoff.

[p2p-sharing-rules]

Zune’s Big Innovation: Viral DRM

While Zune users will be able share music with friends, there’s a catch. What Microsoft has created is a new form of viral DRM. Zune will intentionally infect your music with DRM before passing it along.
Medialoper

File sharing key feature of new Zune player

In terms of the anticipated wireless technology, the wireless Zune-to-Zune sharing feature allows consumers to spontaneously share full-length sample tracks of select songs, home-made recordings, playlists or pictures.
SiliconRepublic

[nesman]

There was an article on Slashdot about how the Zune player will violate your license agreement if you load any music with a creative commons license.

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/15/1627248

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What happens if someone tries to protect a CC-licensed work with digital rights management (DRM) tools?

If a person uses DRM tools to restrict any of the rights granted in the license, that person violates the license. All of our licenses prohibit licensees from “distributing the Work with any technological measures that control access or use of the Work in a manner inconsistent with the terms of this License Agreement.â€

[battye]

Looks like a ripoff of the iPod to me..

[nesman]

I hope that the Zune player has some feature that hunts down music on your machine, so that it ends up with some CC content that the user didn't place there. I think that'd be the only way to stop it from being the users fault.

Then again, if file sharing apps can be responsible for the content shared on them, I think the Zune should be responsible for breaking music on itself.

Lets see a judge say:
"I think the device is created specifically to break mp3 files, and has no use as an mp3 player."

[p2p-sharing-rules]

Then again, if file sharing apps can be responsible for the content shared on them, I think the Zune should be responsible for breaking music on itself.

Lets see a judge say:
"I think the device is created specifically to break mp3 files, and has no use as an mp3 player."

Are you sure you don't work for the RIAA?

You have to remove DRM software code the infects mp3's with DRM or remove Zune Player from the mp3 player market.

[moongirl]

Anti-DRM video contest for Oct 3 Day Against DRM

Enter FreeCulture.org's Down with DRM video contest for a chance to win a Neuros OSD - a portable digital VCR!

FreeCulture.org wants you to make your own anti-drm video and upload it to any video-sharing site. Please tag your videos with "downwithdrm" and "dbdoct3" and send us a link. We'll then choose the 5 best videos and award the creators of each one a Neuros OSD (a $230 value). Preference will be given to videos licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA, BY, PD, or the Free Art license.

DefectiveByDesign.org will then run select videos on their website during the week of October 3rd as part of their DRM protests.

http://www.boingboing.net/

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The Music Store in Your Pocket

The first big deal about digital music was that you could use the internet to get music. The second big deal about digital music could be that you won't need a computer to use an online store.

This is one of the things Microsoft got right with its new Zune digital music player, which bypasses the centralized store concept somewhat by letting you grab files wirelessly from other users (more on that below).
Wired News
Zune won't play PlaysForSure

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Zune vs. Creative Common

Take a pre-existing license adopted hundreds of thousands of times. Mix creators and activists with DRM (Digital Rights Management.) Throw in a little Microsoft Zune technology and pour it all into a mixing bowl. Stir well and serve to several hundred thousand captive audience members in cups of controversy. It certainly appears that a firestorm has emerged out of Zune's "viral DRM" and the DRM clause in the Creative Commons license. Is this a blatant attack on Creative Commons creators or is all of this nothing more then a cloud of smoke?
slyck

Microsoft's Zune Won't Play Protected Windows Media

In yesterday's announcement of the new Zune media player and Zune Marketplace, Microsoft (and many press reports) glossed over a remarkable misfeature that should demonstrate once and for all how DRM and the DMCA harm legitimate customers.
EFF

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Zune price posted by Wal-Mart

Although we still don't know when it's going to be out, Wal-Mart may have given us an idea of how much it will cost. In a product page posted yesterday in the Electronics section of its web site, the retailer listed a $284 price tag for the Zune.
Ars Technica
P2PNet - Wal-Mart leaks Zune price

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$1 per Zune Tune

2pnet.net News:- Following Wal-Mart's advertising faux pas when it announced Microsoft Zune music player would hit the shelves at $284, Bill and the Boyz say it'll go out at a loss-leading $250.

With the same amount of storage as the iPod, it'll sell for $1 more when it goes on sale November 14, "at a price matching Apple Computer Inc.'s market-leading iPod and, as a result, [will] lose money this holiday season," says Reuters.

Microsoft will try to hawk its DRM-loaded songs at the same rip-off amount as iTunes ----- $1 per ------ and will also be peddling a Zune Pass rental service, which'll "let" ( like Microsoft is doing its marks a favour) punters listen to any of about 2 million songs for $15 a month, says the Associated Press, adding:

"Microsoft is hoping to differentiate itself from the iPod by including wireless technology to let people share some of their favorite songs, playlists or pictures with other Zune users who are close by.

"The other users can then listen to the songs three times over three days before deciding whether to purchase the tune themselves."
P2PNet
Zune tunes to cost 99 cents each