Zune

Zune is a discontinued brand of digital media products and services that was marketed by Microsoft from November 2006 until it was discontinued in June 2012. Zune consisted of a line of portable media players, featuring Zune Music Pass, a music subscription service, and Zune Marketplace for music, TV and movies, streaming services for the Xbox 360 game console, and the Zune software media player for Windows computers which also acted as desktop sync software for Windows Phone. Zune started and revolved around its line of portable media players (PMP) created in cooperation with Toshiba. Microsoft aimed to challenge and beat Apple, whose iPod line held an enormous market share. Three hard disk players ranging from 30 GB to 120 GB were released, alongside six flash players. However, its overall market share in the U.S. remained low, well below Apple and also lagged behind the SanDisk Sansa and Creative Zen. Microsoft discontinued all Zune hardware in October 2011. Zune digital content distribution continued until 2012, when it was replaced by the Xbox Music and Xbox Video brands.

Zune is a discontinued brand of digital media products and services that was marketed by Microsoft from November 2006 until it was discontinued in June 2012. Zune consisted of a line of portable media players, featuring Zune Music Pass, a music subscription service, and Zune Marketplace for music, TV and movies, streaming services for the Xbox 360 game console, and the Zune software media player for Windows computers which also acted as desktop sync software for Windows Phone. Zune started and revolved around its line of portable media players (PMP) created in cooperation with Toshiba. Microsoft aimed to challenge and beat Apple, whose iPod line held an enormous market share. Three hard disk players ranging from 30 GB to 120 GB were released, alongside six flash players. However, its overall market share in the U.S. remained low, well below Apple and also lagged behind the SanDisk Sansa and Creative Zen. Microsoft discontinued all Zune hardware in October 2011. Zune digital content distribution continued until 2012, when it was replaced by the Xbox Music and Xbox Video brands.

Third generation

The first wave of the third-generation (Zune HD 16 GB and 32 GB) released in September 2009¹. On the same day, the 4.0 software update of the desktop software was released to support the new devices. In addition, it became possible for Zune Pass subscribers to stream tracks through a computer's web browser. Zune 4.0 also supports internet radio streams but this feature is disabled by default and can only be enabled by a third-party patch. This device release marked the first time Zune firmware was released for the Zune line that did not provide new features for older models. These models were given a firmware update as version 3.2. The second and last wave of the third-generation (Zune HD 64 GB) released in April 2010¹. The same day, desktop and firmware updates introduced SmartDJ and codec features. The firmware update brought picks and improved the TV-out experience on the Zune HD. In a summer 2010, United Airlines started to offer Zune in-flight audio by means of 21 playlists that were similar to the Zune Channels offered on the Zune Marketplace. Each channel offered up to three hours of unique programming ranging from classic rock, contemporary pop, opera, electronica, piano jazz, and others.

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1378367327 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.