Zune Will be Released Nov 14 for $249.99

According to a press release from Microsoft.com, the Zune digital media player will be released on November 14, just in time for Christmas, at a price of $249.99 for the 30gb player. For that price, users will get all kinds of great stuff, including,

30GB digital media player will come equipped with wireless functionality for Zune-to-Zune sharing of music, pictures and home recordings; a bright, three-inch LCD video screen that works in portrait or landscape mode to view pictures and videos; and a built-in FM tuner. The device will be available in three colors: black, brown and white.

A selection of preloaded content including songs, music videos and film shorts are installed on the device’s hard drive to help consumers discover new artists and entertainment.

The preloaded content is as follows:

1. Audio Tracks
   • Band of Horses, Wicked Gil (Sub Pop Records)
   • Bitter:Sweet, The Mating Game (Quango Music Group)
   • CSS, Alala (Microsoft edit) (Sub Pop Records)
   • Darkel, At The End of The Sky (Astralwerks)
   • Every Move a Picture, Signs of Life (V2)
   • Small Sins, Stay (Astralwerks)
   • The Adored, Tell Me Tell Me (V2)
   • The Rakes, Open Book (V2)
   • The Thermals, A Pillar of Salt (Sub Pop Records)
2. Music Video
   • 30 Seconds to Mars, The Kill (Virgin Records)
   • BT, 1.618 (DTS Entertainment)
   • Chad VanGaalen, Red Hot Drops (Sub Pop Records)
   • Coldcut featuring Roots Manuva, True Skool (Ninja Tune)
   • CSS, Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above (Sub Pop Records)
   • Fruit Bats, Live: The Wind That Blew My Heart Away (Sub Pop Records)
   • Grandaddy, Elevate Myself (V2)
   • Hot Chip, Over and Over (Astralwerks Records)
   • Kraak & Smaak featuring Dez., Keep Me Home (Quango Music Group)
   • Kinski, Live: The Snowy Parts of Scandinavia (Sub Pop Records)
   • Paul Oakenfold, Faster Kill Pussycat (Featuring Brittany Murphy) (Maverick Records)
   • Serena-Maneesh, Drain Cosmetics (Playlouderecordings)
3. Film Shorts
   • 5 Boro: A New York Skateboarding Minute (Skateboarding)
   • Radical Films: Kranked Progression (Mountain Biking)
   • TGRTV The North Face (Skiing/Snowboarding)
4. Images
   • A variety of images to personalize a Zune device, including 12 classic rock posters from Art of Modern Rock

Looks interesting, wonder if the artists paid to have their stuff listed or if someone at Microsoft just went looking for some cool free stuff. Users will be able to buy songs for 99 cents or they can but them using Microsoft points, a stored value system that can be redeemed at more and more online stores, including the Xbox Live marketplace. A Zune pass subscription is available for $14.99 a month and gives users access to millions of songs.

2 Comments »

1. [...] Added More info available here and from the Microsoft press release. Share and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]

   Pingback by Microsoft Sets Price on the Zune and the Songs @ Alice Hill’s Real Tech News - Independent Tech — September 28, 2006 @ 2:59 pm

2. Microsoft Sets Price On The Zune And The Songs…

   Jimmy Daniels of RealTechNews writes: Microsoft announced the pricing on the Zune media player today, as well as how much the songs from its service will cost. It is going to take a loss on selling the device, saying it’s not going to be profitable th…

   Trackback by Lockergnome's Tech News Watch — September 28, 2006 @ 9:32 pm

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