A special edition Gears of War II Zune 120 has been announced. The new Zune 3 device is being released along with the latest edition of the gory Xbox game. Gears of War fans who want to show their pride with a new mp3 player will be able to order the special edition Zunes online for a limited time.

Gears of War 2 canvasses special-edition Zune - Engadget

Microsoft couldn’t let the gory, highly-anticipated launch of Gears of War 2 (chainsaw duels! Rhhhahaararggg!) pass without bloodying a Zune or three in the process, Halo 3-style. Specifically, Microsoft has laser-etched that pesky little “Crimson Omen” onto a glossy black Zune 120, pre-loaded the device with 244 pieces of “Gears of War” media — the soundtrack, concept art, behind-the-scenes vids and so forth, nothing you won’t be able to find elsewhere — and squeezed it all into some “collectible” Gears packaging, featuring our testosterone-addled protagonist pondering the meaning of life.

Popularity: 12% [?]

It seems lots of people are asking about the value in purchasing songs from Zune MarketPlace that one hears over the FM radio transmitter that Zune players come with. Apple users are asking why they would download songs from FM radio but its because most of them do not have FM radio access on their portable music players.

Itunes is a powerful music store and they offer lots of free content in the way of podcasts in their directory but they do not offer access to FM stations like Zune does. I agree that purchasing songs over FM is probably not going to be a huge feature for Zune users but it does show Zune commitment to securing as much new content as possible for Zune owners.

Many people still listen to the radio and having the ability to grab a new song you hear over the FM radio on your Zune is a nice feature for those of us looking for new music from old sources.

New Zune feature: Download songs you hear on FM radio | Technology | Los Angeles Times

Among the new features, Zune will enable its users to download music wirelessly and to buy songs they hear on the built-in FM radio. A new crop of Zunes will come in 16 gigabytes and 120 gigabytes and in new colors — blue on silver and all black. And Zune will start offering recommendations based on the music users listen to.

Popularity: 17% [?]

OverDrive.com has become one of the easiest to use audio book sources for users of portable media players with supoprt no offered to media players as well as Creative and iPod.

This means Zune users can now purchase books at locations such as Borders.com and they can transfer there DRM-protected WMA audiobooks as well as DRM free mp3 audio books to there portable music devices.

Microsoft’s Zune(R) Now Compatible With OverDrive Audiobooks From Libraries - MarketWatch

OverDrive ( www.overdrive.com), a global digital distributor of download audiobooks, eBooks, and more to libraries, schools, and retailers, announced today digital audiobook support for Microsoft’s Zune(R) digital media player with the OverDrive Media Console v3.1 release. This makes OverDrive’s library download platform the only service compatible with Zune’s 3.0 firmware and virtually all MP3 players including iPod(R) and Creative devices. Millions of users from more than 8,500 OverDrive partner libraries, as well as shoppers at online retailers like Borders.com, can now transfer both DRM-protected OverDrive WMA Audiobooks and DRM-free OverDrive MP3 Audiobooks to their Zune players. OverDrive Media Console v3.1 can be downloaded for free at http://www.overdrive.com/software/omc/download.asp.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Keeping with our theme of holiday shopping and gift ideas I was hunting for a quick easy way to cover a bunch of people with a holiday message and I was going to try an e-card from one of the many online email card services out there but the trouble with those is that not everyone I know has an email account and the ones who do will most likely read an email once and delete it if they even read the whole thing.

I think mailing Holiday Cards would be a better idea and a far more personalized way to say hello for the holidays. These Holiday Cards can be mailed out weeks in advance and may end up being used as holiday decorations in someones home where it becomes much more useful than an email.

Cards can be sent toanyone and everyone you know or just to contact a select few of the people you know. You may use Holiday Cards to say hello to those friends not quite close enough to earn a Zune or maybe you will reserve a special card for those friends who are close and deserve a special mention this year.

Whatever your reason to send one a card for the holidays is a fast simple way to let people know you care.

Popularity: unranked [?]

I love this picture of a Zune player accessing the Zune MarketPlace online from the WiFi setup at an Apple Store.

Ina Fried of Cnet has a review of the available wireless hotspots in San Francisco and she seems to have had fun with it anyway.

Apple Store outside image - Photos: Searching for Zune-friendly Wi-Fi - CNET News

Ironically, one of the best bets for Zune-friendly Wi-Fi is the perpetually wired Apple Store. It’s no problem getting access at the downtown store on Stockton Street.

Popularity: 18% [?]

Review: Microsoft Zune vs Apple iPod - Indiatimes Infotech

The Zune has a long way to go to become a threat to the iPod. But it is getting closer. With updated Zunes and new iPods hitting the market recently, I spent some time with each: a black-on-black version of Microsoft Corp’s music and video player and a bright red model of Apple Inc’s iPod Nano.

And it became clear that there are a few things Apple can learn from the Zune — though not surprisingly, Microsoft might want to take some notes as well.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Seems Zune originals is the only place you can get Blue, Green, Pink and Red Zune players. Along with the custom engraved Zune players you can buy from Microsoft their online store is the only place to get any other color besides black which is what is being released to stores for the holidays.

What color Zune do you want?

Zune updates Originals store with new designs | Crave, the gadget blog - CNET

It may be worth it, however, since Microsoft is stating that the only way for customers to currently get their hands on red, green, pink, and blue versions of the new 16GB Zune is to order directly through the Zune Originals online storefront. Brick and mortar stores will only be seeing the black versions of the new 16GB and 120GB third-generation Zunes (at least, for now).

Technorati Tags: zune, zune original, red zune, blue zune, pink zune, green zune

Popularity: unranked [?]

Matt Miller from ZDNet.com installed the Zune 3.0 firmware on his Zune 80 and is enjoying the manual sync mode it now features. In the past Zune owners complained about having issues with syncing a Zune device on multiple computers and losing content in the process because the Zune software would remove files not found on other computers when logged in as guest for example.

The new manual sync mode allows you to select exactly what you want to sycn so you can avoid those large movie files you don;t really want or the personal picture folder you ahve that you don;t really want the kids to see but Zune won’t miss

Another problem I came across was in having to large a harddrive on my laptopo and too much content for my Zune to sync. I had to remove some of my music folders on the sync settings because I had issues syncing on my laptop. Manual sync should help with all of those issues now and it’s a welcome addition for sure.

Zune manual sync mode lets you control your content | The Mobile Gadgeteer | ZDNet.com

I upgraded one of my Zunes to the latest 3.0 software and was very pleased to read the latest news that manual sync capability is now a part of the Zune desktop software.

Technorati Tags: zune, zune sync, zune 3, zune firmware

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So as many of you know I have had a 20 plus year love affair with Madonna. It started from the first time I saw the Like A Virgin video and its been consistent like her career ever since. I have never had the pleasure to see her in concert as I have never been able to score Madonna Tickets but should the chance ever happen I am hoping to catch her one day soon.

The woman has been able to remain on top of an industry full of new faces and styles. No other performer has been able to reinvent themselves as many times as she has and it seems she’s been able to stay on the cutting edge of style and music for decades now. More impressive has been the trend setting she has done and there is no doubt her influence on music and popular culture since the mid 80’s up until today.

If I had the money for Madonna Tickets I would go just to see what kind of crowd she still pulls but I think it would have been better to have caught her at her peak in the 90’s. Her most recent shows have become politicized and although I agree with her position I disagree with using an entertainment venue to spew your views on the world if it’s not a part of the music you sing normally.

Let the music play and go see a Madonna Concert when you get the chance.

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Here is a Zune 3.0 software walkthrough from Ina Fried and Cnet News.

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In yet another misstep Microsoft was forced to confirm details of the recently leaked Zune 120 harddrive player and the Zune 3.0 software. It seems they can’t hold onto many secrets at Zune headquarters because almost everything Zune has ever done has been leaked.

The Zune 120 will replace the Zune 80 at the same price point and the Zune 4 gb player has been dropped and the Zune 8 is now joined by the Zune 16.

Microsoft confirms Zune details | Beyond Binary - A blog by Ina Fried - CNET NewsInWith most of its news already leaked out there, Microsoft on Monday confirmed the details of its fall Zune lineup.

On the hardware side, Microsoft will beef up Zune’s capacity, expanding the hard drive-based model to 120GB and the flash-based player to 16GB.

More significant are the software and service improvements. Most notably, as is the case with the iPod Touch, Zune owners will now be able to use the device’s built-in Wi-Fi to download songs.

Also new, the updated Zune will make recommendations based on the songs someone is listening to and there will also be new Zune “channels” programmed by experts and along themes like “work-out” music.

Zune will also come with two games–Hexic and Texas Hold ‘em–and adds support for audio books in the Audible format.

Popularity: 30% [?]

Asus has announced a new Touchscreen Smartphone using Windows Mobile 6.1 that could reveal quite a bit about what a Zune Touch would be like.

They could also incorporate the Zune Software and make it a touch screen media player as well? So what are they waiting on?

Asus Rolls Out Windows Mobile Touchscreen Smartphone — Smartphone — InformationWeek

Computer maker Asus on Monday announced a touchscreen smartphone that should make mobile professionals more productive.

The company’s latest handset — the Asus P552w — uses a Marvell Tavor 624 MHz processor to run Window Mobile Professional 6.1, and it’s capable of many productive mobile applications. The handset’s can send and receive e-mail and instant messaging, and it can view and edit Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files.

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The smartphone lacks a physical keypad, as all of the input is done through the phone’s 2.8-inch touch screen. Some have found Windows Mobile to be a cumbersome to use on a touchscreen device, so Asus has implemented a custom user interface it has dubbed Glide.

With Glide, a user can perform navigational functions like zooming, selecting, and scrolling with flicks of the finger. The interface can also be used with integrate applications for functions like reading news, viewing slideshows, and checking the weather.

Popularity: 31% [?]

Third generation Zune pictures leak: 120GB and 16GB flavors — Electronics NEWS - about-electronics.eu

The third generation of Microsoft’s Zune portable media player product line has been talked about and speculated for quite a while now, but very little has managed to leak out of Redmond, until now.

A Canadian has supposedly somehow gotten his hands on both 16GB and 120GB flavors of the Zune, both of which are expected to be released under Zune 3.0 (recall that the original Zune 30GB is considered first generation and that the Zune 4, Zune 8, and Zune 80 are considered second generation).

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Looks like Apple may be releasing some cheaper iPods for the holidays. Lets hope Microsoft does the same and we get a slew of new players for the holiday season.

Apple Could ‘Rock’ Cheaper iPods - Forbes.com

Steve Jobs isn’t even bothering to hide it this time. Apple has invited the press to a “special event” on Sept. 9. And while the tech giant isn’t saying, exactly, what it will announce, any journalist who hasn’t figured it out by now had one too many jars of stupid sauce over the Labor Day weekend.

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Looks like Microsoft is trying to bring some new exclusive content to the Zune MarketPlace. Seems MS executives have been hitting talent agencies and production companies in search of new video content for Zune.

I hope they score some cool video clips that can be sent from Zune to Zune for a viral marketing thing. Of course it will require a firmware update to share video and unleash the WLAN chip on my 30GB player and all those spaking new Zune 2 and Zune 3 device to be sold.

I hope its not the end of Zune too.

This Is Definitely Not the End of Zune

It appears that Microsoft has been sending executives to talent agencies and production companies in Hollywood over the last few months seeking ideas for video programming for the Zune, its media player. The content may either appear on the Zune platform only, or will move elsewhere with Zune branding.

Richard Winn, director of entertainment development at Zune told Reuters: “What we would be looking to do with any form of original content is the added component that Zune could provide that iTunes or any competing service couldn’t.”

Popularity: unranked [?]

Just about everyone has need for office supplies of some kinds. Whether you be a student or an office manager or just a regular person with a job and apartment most everyone of us has need for paper, pencils and other office materials and of course all of us can use a good deal online.

Shopping on the web has become a difficult experience with a glut of new websites offering the latest and greatest gadgets and gear online for heavy discounts. Sadly not all of these sites are the actual service provider and most are simply affilaite sites offering links to products they don’t even stock. These middlemen sites get in the way and stop you from getting the things you need at the prices you want to pay. Check that the shopping site you are surfing actually offers the product for sale or find one that does. What looks like a deal may not always be the case and shopping at places like Ebay can be outright scams or dangerous. The holiday season is the best time for scam auctions and other online scams and complaints spike towards the end of the year.

Lots of the major sites like Amazon and Shopping.com have in store deal but what can really help you save on your shoippping are online coupons from sites like OfficeDeals.info which offer deals on major stores like Office Depot and Office Max. Get a Newegg free shipping promo code or save on ink from InkGrabber with this easy to use coupin site that can save you up to 60% on your next shopping spree.

What I like about this site is the fact that you can still shop the major stores which will with some hope take care of your customer service and ordering properly and you still get the discounted rates the coupon site offers without the hassle of working through a middle man website or auction brokerage.

Popularity: unranked [?]

I was hopeful that this Holiday Season would see the release of a new Zune player, the Zune 3 as it would be, but even if we do see a fancy new portable media player from Zune this year it won’t make much of a difference to the struggling new grouo under the Entertainment Division of the Microsoft umbrella of companies.

Zune is having a tougher time getting into the PMP market then Xbox had with gaming and the third Zune will not be as big as the third Xbox or playstation I’m sure. As a matter of fact the Zune 3 may in fact be a software roll out over the Nokia line of phones as has been reported in the media recently. I think Zune may also have to dfear the tough economic times American and the rest of the world are facing right now.

It’s not going to be a very Merry Christmas for lots of folks this year and I think Zune may see a tough shopping season because of it. I think this holiday we’ll see more smaller gifts and people sticking to things they know. Apple will sell lots of Nano players but many of the other manufacturers should plan on weak sales as buyers stick to things they know. none of this is good for Zune in my opinion but maybe they have a new idea. Maybe Zune 3 will retail for under $50 and be a smash hit this season.

There are some bright spots in the economy and maybe things will pick up before December. I understand there are some great opportunities available in things like real estate in maryland or maybe real estate in virgina where I understand things are good for some like those buying up foreclosed homes for investment and new home owners taking advantage of some great deals available on newly constructed homes discounted by builders. Websites DROdio.com offer great advice and articles like How to Buy Auction & Foreclosure Homes that may help someone looking to capitalize on the market conditions.

So, it will not be a good holiday for Zune but maybe some of you will have a decent enough year to make enough money to buy a Zune for yourself and a friend. Then you’ll have someone to use the WiFi sharing with

Popularity: 32% [?]

Here is an interwesting read on the new Dell MP3 players and what that might mean to Apple. I’m doubtful Dell will have much success against Apple buyt Zune may have some things to worry about.

Dell’s MP3 Player Move: How to Beat Apple - Talk Back by Digital Trends

Last week the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that Dell was again looking at the MP3 business and that I was involved in the effort. I’ve been fascinated with the success of the iPod for some time now and the fact that even though it is very clear how Apple took the market, there has yet to emerge a truly serious competitor to Apple’s leadership. This is primarily because no one wanted to match Apple on all aspects of their program initially, and now that Apple is dominant, matching alone won’t do it anyway.

On the other hand, just like Apple moved around the companies who dominated the MP3 player market before Apple entered, so too (in theory) could another firm. But, it will be harder this time because Apple has already captured many of the likely early adopters with either the iPod or iPhone product lines (you can check out our Apple iPhone 3G review).

Popularity: 45% [?]

ZuneMAX.com has had a bumpy life and there have been some issues with this site over its lifetime. When I first built this site I never expected how fast it would grow and we had some serious downtime issues because of the volume oif traffic and users reading articles here in the Zune blog and also people talking about the new media player from Microsoft in the Zune forums. When the Zune was released in November 2006 the site crashed and we lost a lot of users and data.

The site came back to life when I moved it to a new dedicated servers hosting account and the site had its own server. I thought that would be enough but not so as my luck would have it that I would have more than one popular website on the same server at the same time and then this site became the target of a coordinated spam blast and denial of service attack where we were being pinged by a zillion topsite scrapers looking for free links from a link exchange script we ran on this site. We also had some sql injection hacks taking place in the forums with all sorts of spam posts and ghost accounts screwing things up.

The repeated hack attempts eventually took the old servers down and had to find a new more powerful website server that could handle the larger size and multiple scripts being run on my network of sites. We still get some of the spam junk in the forums and its been kinda slow since we had so many troubles but its still around and on a new dedicated hosting account with an established hosting provider like you can find at RapidSwitch.com or any of the other large scale hosting providers online. RapidSwitch offers competitive pricing on dedicated servers and web hosting support.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Dell computers is taking another run at the portable media player market after the beating they took on the DJ. It seems they bought a company that manufactures a wireless media player, not Zune but Zing, that may help them with a new shot at the market.

People are calling it another shot at Apple of an “iPod Killer” but thats the sheeple following the pack. There is never to be an “iPod killer” unless Apple decides to kill it. No other company is going to design or develop something so radical it overtakes iPod as the dominant PMP. They were the first to mass market the devices and they will remain on top forever.

What this new Dell device may be is not an “iPod Killer” but a “Zune Killer”. Lets face facts Zune is not burning things up and Microsoft has had more fumbles than successes thus far and Dell must realize just how badly Microsoft has screwed Zune with the DRM crap and horrible marketing approach and what Dell saw was just how fast and easy Microsoft took the #2 slot with Zune players regardless of how poorly Zune was introduced to market and they decided to try again.

I think its too late for Dell to take #2 because Microsoft would rather lose more cash and build a better Zune then to be pushed out of the market by Dell but they probably realize they can do well in the #3 spot and maybe thats good enough for Dell.

Byte of the Apple Here Comes Dell To Compete With The iPod, Again - BusinessWeek

Looks like Dell is going to make another run at the music player business. All I can say is “here we go again.” Perhaps you’ll remember its ill-fated attempt to compete with Apple’s iPod. It lasted all of three years.

What’s different this time around? Well last year Dell acquired a little music software outfit called Zing which in 2006 was demonstrating a concept design that essentially put Wi-Fi streaming inside a portable player, thus giving it the ability to, among other things, play Sirius streams.
Sound familiar? Well yeah, actually. My very favorite thing to do with the iPod touch is to listen to streams from Pandora and Last.fm. Okay, Sirius and XM aren’t on the iTunes App Store, but if they know what’s good for them, they’ll offer their subscribers who like to listen via the Web (ahem) an iPhone/iPod touch application that will work via Wi-Fi and/or 3G, but I digress.

Dell’s player might include streaming capabilities, and could also work with Rhapsody, which isn’t a bad service at all, or it might launch its own music service. And hey, if it supports MP3 music files, as it presumably would, it would support music sold on Rhapsody, Amazon, eMusic and whoever else has decided to go the MP3 route. The problem, will of course, come down to marketing and positioning aganst Apple, and we all know how that tends to work out. Its closest rival in the U.S. is SanDisk, which has a market share of about 11%, though it has tended to be a profitable share profitable share.

Popularity: 42% [?]