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Zune to Expand Multiscreen Entertainment Services Into International Markets

Jul 102012

Zune to Expand Multiscreen Entertainment Services Into International Markets

Sept. 20, 2010

Major entertainment companies provide music and movie catalog to the U.K., France, Italy, Germany and Spain.

REDMOND, Wash. — Sep. 20, 2010 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the further international expansion of Zune, its digital entertainment service. This fall, Zune will expand its music and video footprint and bring the free Zune software, Zune Marketplace online store, Zune Pass1 music subscription service and enhanced features on Zune.net to new markets, providing a comprehensive entertainment experience on Windows-based PCs, on the go with Windows Phone 7 and in your living room through Xbox LIVE.2

“The integration between Zune, Windows Phone 7 and Xbox LIVE is an exciting expansion in our entertainment offerings,” said Craig Eisler, corporate vice president, Interactive Entertainment Business Group at Microsoft. “Zune enables users to access the entertainment they want, wherever they want it — and now, more people than ever will be able to enjoy the freedom and flexibility that the Zune service offers.”

Zune software has been upgraded with new features and functionality and will serve as the Windows Phone 7 synchronization client. The new software (version 4.7) will be available to download for free in more than 20 countries, including the U.K., France, Italy, Germany and Spain, to easily manage your personal collection of movies, music, podcasts and pictures. Zune software continues to set the standard for entertainment software, providing best-in-class experiences to organize, discover and enjoy digital media with a variety of exclusive features. For example, the Quickplay menu enables immediate access to recently played content and personal favorites, and Smart DJ 3 automatically creates playlists from your personal music collection and takes the extra step of mixing in suggested music from the Zune Marketplace. The updated Zune software will also enable instant streaming of high-definition movies, allowing you to watch some Zune Marketplace movies in HD, with no download time, directly on a Windows PC.

Zune Marketplace online store is accessible from within the Zune software and offers the ability to purchase millions of individual songs or albums from its catalog, all in MP3 format. Here, consumers can also subscribe to Zune Pass,4 which provides unlimited downloads and music streaming capabilities from the Zune music library, including content from major music labels such as Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Music and Warner Music Group, as well as thousands of independent labels. Zune Marketplace also has a large library of videos from major studios such as Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Digital Distribution for purchase or rental. Video purchases will be accessible through Xbox LIVE and Windows-based PCs, and can also be added to a Windows Phone 7. Simply buy your favorite video from Zune Marketplace and watch it on the screen of your choice.9

Zune.net is the perfect resource for consumers as it allows them to download the software and set up a Zune account with a new or existing Windows Live ID.5 Zune.net will also provide Web access to Zune Marketplace so you can purchase music or use a Zune Pass to stream music directly through an Internet browser,6 as well as purchase video content.7

Zune Expansion to New Markets

As Zune expands internationally, its music and video service will be tailored for each market. Genre experts will custom program Zune Marketplace and feature the top songs, videos, movies and unique promotions for each country.

The fall 2010 international expansion of the Zune music and video service includes the following:

Zune Marketplace will extend services to several markets in Europe and beyond.

Zune Pass (U.K., France, Italy and Spain). The monthly music subscription service will be available for 9.99 euros /8.99 pounds per month for unlimited download and streaming access to the Zune music catalog and will be accessible on Windows-based PCs, Windows Phone 7 and Xbox LIVE. The offer in the U.S. will remain at $14.99 per month for unlimited downloads and streaming access, with the ability to keep 10 MP3s per month.8
Music purchase (U.K., France, Italy, Spain and Germany). Expansion to these markets will enable consumers to purchase MP3s and listen on their Windows-based PC, Windows Phone 7 or any other device that supports MP3 format. Users will also be able to purchase music videos to enjoy on Windows-based PC, Windows Phone 7 and Zune on Xbox LIVE.
Video purchase (U.K., France, Germany, Canada, Australia and New Zealand).Consumers will now be able to purchase movies to download and watch anywhere — on the big screen in the living room with Xbox LIVE or their Windows-based PC as well as sync it to their Windows Phone 7 to enjoy on the go.9
Movie rental (U.K., France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands, Switzerland, Mexico, Canada, Australia and New Zealand). In addition to Zune video on Xbox LIVE, consumers in these countries will now be able to rent movies for viewing on their Windows-based PC or choose to sync the rental to their Windows Phone 7.

The global expansion of the service is the latest step in a series of milestones for Zune, including powering Bing music search results, the added ability to purchase music and video on Zune.net, and the forthcoming integration with Xbox LIVE and Kinect for Xbox 360. By continuing to integrate Zune across the most important screens to consumers, Zune provides an all-in-one music and video service for users to discover, enjoy and experience their entertainment wherever they want.

About Zune

Zune is Microsoft’s music and video entertainment service that provides an integrated digital experience across Zune devices, Windows-based PCs, Xbox LIVE and Windows Phone 7. The Zune platform includes a line of portable digital media players, elegant software, the Zune Marketplace and Zune.net online stores, the Zune Social online music community created to help people discover music, and the ZuneOriginals.net online media player customization store. More information can be found online at http://www.zune.net/en-us/press.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

1 Zune Pass available in U.K., France, Italy and Spain.

2 Zune Pass on Xbox 360 requires an Xbox LIVE Gold membership and a Zune Pass subscription.

3 Only available with Zune Pass.

4 Zune Pass is a music subscription; some Zune Marketplace songs and content are not available via Zune Pass. Available content may vary over time.

5 For cross-screen functionality, the same Windows Live ID needs to be used on the Zune software, Windows Phone 7 and Xbox LIVE accounts.

6 Internet browser support for Silverlight required.

7 Service features may vary based on market availability.

8 Keep 10 MP3s per month feature available to U.S. Zune Pass subscribers only, on their PC or Windows Phone 7.

9 Content available for download on multiple devices may vary over time. Availability of content and video resolution will vary by device.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news.Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm and Zune Video on Xbox Live

Xbox No Responses »

Oct 262009

I was accepted to the new Xbox Live Preview which incorporates Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm and Zune Video to your gaming console. I was very excited about the possibilities that this holds and I was glad to install the new update as soon as it was available. I ran the setups for everything yesterday and was able to update my Twitter account from inside Xbox. I’m not big on Twitter but it all seems to function. I thought it was weird that you have to sign out of Twitter when you go back to game play and it would be cool if we could tweet inside game play but maybe thats a future upgrade to look forward to.

I have a Last.fm account but I did not get into this one very deep. I use my Zune for music playback and I save bandwidth for Xbox Live. No reason really to use the Last.fm service yet but I will check it out more later. What I really wanted was Facebook on Xbox and although it’s not exactly what I wanted it is a step in the right direction. I can access all of my Facebook features including friends, status updates, photos and even video but I could not find my Inbox there to reply to any messages. I found that strange but I suppose there is a a reason for it. All in all it’s pretty cool and somewhat useless to me. My PC lays about 3 feet from the Xbox and I can update my FB from there faster than I can from inside the Xbox interface. My biggest complaint is the lack of qwerty keyboard on my Xbox and the time it takes to flick around the screen with the Xbox joystick but there are hardware upgrades to deal with this and if I chose to stick with it I’ll need to buy the Xbox keyboard.

What improvements can be made? Oh let’s see how about Xbox Live video uploads? I would like to make a movie of my game play and then upload it to Facebook so I can show off my mad game skills and taunt my lame ass gamer friends. I would like my gameplay to update my FB status so my friends will know when I’m online and what game I’m playing. this way I can announce my gaming and maybe get some friends to join me online in Halo 3 ODST.

I purposely have not looked at Zune Video on Xbox Live yet because it takes so damn long to download videos that I would rather not deal with it. My Xbox downloads are significanlty slower than my PC downloads and I have no idea why. The network settings ae highly tweaked and should offer the same but it’s not. I think the Xbox lags it somehow.

Zune sales dragging down Microsoft Entertainment Division

Zune 3 Responses »

Oct 262009

Looks like Zune is dragging down the Microsoft Entertainment Division with poor sales of the portable media players putting a dent in the sales of Xbox and Windows Mobile Devices. The Zune hardware lineup is rather weak at the moment and it’s understandable that sales are flat when you have basically one player on the market.

The push towards Zune mobile services is going to take some time to play out in sales of Zune Pass or Zune video services and this may be the case for another year or more. The Zune mobile devices slated for release soon are not going to boost Zune sales unless Microsoft is able to turn these into subscriptions for their Premium Content Services.

How long this takes or whether or not it actually happens remains to be seen but I expect sales at Zune will remain weak until Holidays 2010.

Microsoft Mobile sales flat

The Entertainment and Devices division – which houses Windows Mobile as well as Xbox/ games, Zune and hardware accessories – saw flat revenue. This was bad for mobile – Xbox 360 and its games enjoyed increased sales, which meant the rest of the products were down. The Microsoft statement said: “Non-gaming revenue decreased $98m or 14%”, though it insisted that the worst performers were not Windows Mobile – whose share of the smartphone market fell from 12% to under 10% in the second calendar quarter – but PC hardware products like mice, Zune and embedded device platforms.

Welcome to the Zune video Preview!

Zune No Responses »

Oct 252009

Welcome to the Zune video Preview!

Zune video on Xbox LIVE powers your video entertainment experience on the Xbox 360. Get the selection of a video store, in the highest possible clarity, with the convenience of cable. Easily watch and enjoy the content you want, when you want it, with instant-on HD in full 1080p video and 5.1 surround sound.

Features:

* Instant On HD in full 1080p – Transform your TV into a virtual theater. With Zune on Xbox LIVE you can enjoy all your favorite films and TV shows in vivid-color with 1080p picture quality.
* Smooth Streaming – Immediately access select movies and TV shows you want to watch with smooth streaming technology.
* Party – With Video Party you can catch the latest movies and share the experience with up to 7 of your friends — even if you’re miles apart.
* Simple Search – With new enhanced search functions, get easy access to your favorite movies and TV shows with the touch of a button
* Buy Once Play on Multiple Screens (US Only) – Entertainment is now connected. With your LIVE ID, you can now purchase content and watch it from your Zune HD device, PC or on your Xbox 360 Console

Movie Night:

Welcome to the first Zune movie night. Throughout the program we will ask you to join us for a movie night. These nights will usually take place on Saturday and Sunday night. We would like to ask you to watch the streamed HD version of the movie. If you encounter problems, complete this survey to tell us about your experience.

Scenarios to Try

* Stream movies and TV using Zune video
o Rent or purchase your favorite movies and TV shows and choose Stream to watch instantly in 1080p High Definition
* Use Party to watch videos with your friends while your avatars hang out in a virtual theater
* Buy once, play anywhere! Content purchased on Zune PC Client can be also be accessed through Xbox LIVE
* Browse through content or Search to find exactly what you’re looking for
* Download videos instead of streaming

Games for Zune Video

Zune Games No Responses »

May 092008

Here is a first look at Games for Zune on video. The Zune makes a great game playuer and moving around even on my old school Zune 30 is pretty smooth. I understand games are much better on the squircle for the Zune 80 and with that much space you can really stuff some musioc and new games on Zune.

Video: XNA Game Running on a Zune

Microsoft denies putting ‘copyright cop’ in Zune

Microsoft No Responses »

May 082008

Microsoft is in denial. They deny that Zune will become a “copyright cop” but Zune has the toughest DRM of any player and Microsoft is only stating that they have no agreements in place. This does not mean that at some time in the future they cannot change their mind and implement some kind of filter to at the minimum disable play of the offending track but may go as far as to disable a Zune player “infected” with unlicensed content.

That would suck cause I have a nice personalized collection of music I just found here and there. People leave music in the strangest places and over the last ten years I have found it all over the place. Kinda like you might find a cassette tape laying out on the sidewalk I keep running into mp3 files of my favorite tunes that someone just dropped on the internets. I keep saving them cause I may find the guy that owns them and if he can identify them as his I’ll give them back. If not its finders keepers right? I hate to think my Zune won’t play cause I found some free music online.

Microsoft has already signaled a willingness to secure content on the desktop and now Zune and I’m sure this all means they’ll have plans but at some other time when they see fit.

Microsoft denies putting ‘copyright cop’ in Zune | Beyond Binary – A blog by Ina Fried – CNET News.com

The New York Times suggested Wednesday that future versions of the Zune might come with a tiny cop capable of catching digital lawbreakers.

And no, I’m not talking about some sort of bundled action flick.

In a blog, the Times’ Saul Hansell said that, as part of Microsoft’s deal to get NBC TV shows, it had agreed to look into the possibility of adding technology into the MP3 player that would scan a user’s collection for unauthorized content.

The blog cites Microsoft spokesman Adam Sohn as saying that the software maker is exploring antipiracy measures with NBC. Microsoft issued a statement on Wednesday denying that there was any agreement to filter content.

“Microsoft has no plans or commitments to implement content filtering features in the Zune family of devices as part of our content distribution deal with NBC,” the software maker said in a statement.

Sohn echoed the sentiment. “We’ve agreed to work with these guys on a number of issues, but we have no plans or commitment to put filtering technology as part of this arrangement with NBC,” he told CNET News.com.

Microsoft launched its Zune video store this week with about 800 TV show episodes, including content from NBC, which earlier pulled its content from iTunes in a dispute over pricing and other issues. Despite the apparent coup with NBC, Microsoft is still lagging Apple badly on the sales front.

Zune struggles to find the right pitch

The Zune No Responses »

May 082008

Zune struggles to find the right pitch | Beyond Binary – A blog by Ina Fried – CNET News.com

After a decent freshman year, the Zune appears to be having a bit of a sophomore slump.

In its first year on the market, Microsoft shipped 1.2 million Zunes, reaching about 3 percent of the U.S. market for MP3 players by the first quarter of 2007. A year later, the company’s market share stands at about 4 percent, but that slight gain comes as Microsoft has expanded from one hard-drive model into a family of products that includes both flash-based and hard drive-based units.

As part of its announcement of a Zune video store this week, Microsoft noted that it has now sold more than 2 million Zunes. That would appear to show that business is not growing much despite the expansion of the product line. (And, to get a sense of where the competition is, Apple sold more than 10 million iPods in just the non-holiday January to March quarter).

For their part, Microsoft Zune officials say they’re pleased with where things stand, reiterating that they see their effort to form a serious rival to the iPod as a years-long project.

Zune Video – Zune Wars

The Zune, Video, Zune No Responses »

Feb 122007

This is a pretty cool Zune video on YouTube. The credits are far to long but the animation is cool

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