Note that this gallery works better if you’ve installed Microsoft Silverlight…, which is good because if you’re at this site you’ve got it riiiight?! So you can see our little featured section at the top?!
Ready to develop for your Zune HD? A downloadable Extensions pack for XNA 3.1 adds support for the Zune HD product line, including two brand new API’s for developers (touch input and accelerometer support, both features of the Zune HD), to tailor their games for Zune HD.
Unfortunately this release isn’t dedicated to Zune HD, it just adds support. So no new 3D graphics support, no AA on rotating sprites, basically nothing else new at all. Which is a shame, as the current XNA portable framework in no way lets us take full advantage of the power of Zune HD’s nVidia Tegra chip. Bring on the dedicated SDK guys.
Zune 4.0 Software is out, right now! Check it out at Zune.net. (I’ll post more about it later) Meanwhile, more importantly… I do what I always do and check out what news Zunes we’ve got hiding around inside the software. Nothing new for Scorpio/Draco/Keel, but the new Zune HD (Pavo) has a few little hidden variants.
“Atomic”
Red
Citron
Blue
Magenta
Purple
Pink
Also worth nothing that the “White” Zune 120s and flash Zunes are still in the software. Looks like there’s probably still life left in them.
At approximately 7AM GMT, Microsoft finally let loose the Zune 4.0 desktop software for us, with a host of new features.
We’ll have a full in-depth review with lots of pictures and a few videos up within the coming days, but for now, here are the juicy details, straight from the horses mouth:
Greater Access to and Control of Music and Videos
Quickplay, matching the menu available on the Zune HD device is featured on the PC software, allowing favourite content to be displayed along with most recently played and added music, video and podcast content.
Smart DJ feature showcases the power of the Zune software and services by creating endless playlists using any artist, album or song as the starting point. For Zune Pass subscribers, Smart DJ will queue song recommendations from both the customer’s collection and from more than 6 million tracks in the Zune Marketplace. Nonsubscribers will get Smart DJ recommendations from the user’s music collection. And what’s more, it does actually create very good playlists, which I’ve found better than any other automated playlist generator I’ve ever used!
Zune Marketplace has also been updated with a slightly tweaked layout (for the worse I reckon), but also now includes full Movie rentals in both HD & SD, though they can only be synced with Zune HD. There’s also now an apps section for downloading Microsoft made apps to the Zune HD.
There’s also a handy new Mini-Player, and a Taskbar toolbar, ala Windows Media Player 11.
Now as Zune Pass subscribers, not only can customers enjoy access to close to 6 million songs from the Zune Marketplace catalog for $14.99, the price of one CD a month, but they can also log into Zune.net and stream full albums and tracks through a computer’s browser. Customers will also find the Smart DJ feature on artist pages in Zune.net, which means they are one click away from starting an endless playlist to keep them rocking through the day.
Yep, there’s been a lot of Zune HD details slipping through recently (which I haven’t been quite keeping up-to-date here at the moment due to personal issues), but one which many of us have been wanting to know more about is gaming. It’s no secret that the Zune HD is going to include games, heck its even been in official promotional material for a few weeks now, but until today we haven’t actually seen what it’s going to look like. 2D, 3D? XNA? Native Code? Better than an iPod Touch?
While we can’t answer the latter questions, just let, looking at the image above shown in a recently released promotional video is footage of the rumoured Burnout game running in full 3D on the Zune HD, thanks to it’s powerful nVidia Tegra processing chip. Undoubtedly Zune HD has more power under it’s hood than the iPod Touch, and it does have a smaller screen resolution to cater for, so we should be looking forward to even more impressive games than on Apples device, although unfortunately it does suffer the same pitfall – no buttons. Not game breaking obviously, but there will be times when they are sorely missed. Still, one more reason to get excited. Just 4 days now.
Now, Microsoft have yet to announce that it will be released here (but news of it being released later on this year/next year is a huge possibility) a local UK site is allowing Pre-orders. The prices are a little higher than if you were to order from the states and then get it shipped over, but I think its a great opportunity. The prices are as follows:
16gb Black = £209.99
34gb Silver = £249.99
Although pre-orders start sending around the first week of October, which is nearly a full month AFTER the release in the states, I would still buy one of here, as it has less to travel and therefore would turn up at your door in a better quality. But hey, your choice! Lets hope that they release them properly soon, because then we get colours!!
So with Microsoft finally letting down the curtains on the Zune HD, many tech sites are getting round to previewing and showing off the device for your viewing pleasure. And just for you, here’s a collection of the best vids:
After months of rabbid speculation, Microsoft have finally gotten round to revealing all the launch details for Zune HD… though only for America. Yep, no details of an International launch yet, and not even of Canada. But hey for those in America here’s the juicy details, straight from Microsoft:
REDMOND, Wash. – Aug. 13, 2009 – Zune HD, the next generation of Microsoft Corp.’s portable digital media player, is available now for pre-order and is set to hit store shelves on Sept. 15. The player, available in 16GB and 32GB capacities, is the first touch-screen Zune and includes powerful playback technology to give you a different way to experience media on the go. Combined with unparalleled PC software and online services such as Zune Pass, Zune provides a rich and meaningful connection to music, videos, podcasts and more.
Pre-order Zune HD in 16GB Black and 32GB Platinum through http://www.zune.net/zunehd from Amazon.com, Best Buy, Walmart and Microsoft. Beginning Sept. 15, at http://www.ZuneOriginals.net, both 16GB and 32GB capacities of Zune HD will be available in five different colours with the option to customize your player with one of 10 new engravings designed by guest artists.
PRICING: Zune HD 16GB: $219.99 (estimated retail price); Zune HD 32GB: $289.99 (estimated retail price)
WHEN: Pre-order starting Thursday, Aug. 13. Purchase in stores on Tuesday, Sept. 15.
WHERE IN STORE: Place a pre-order in person at Best Buy beginning Aug. 16. If you want a sneak peek, visit select stores in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. areas on Aug. 22 and 23.
It should come as no surprise now that the Zune HD is a pretty powerful beast, after all it boast the industry leading Nvidia Tegra chip at its core. So, what can us audio & video fanatics expect? We’ve already been told that the Zune HD will support 720p video out using a new AV dock (what about an Xbox 360?).
But, we can also find out a little more by looking at the latest release of Microsoft Expression Encoder, Microsoft’s leading professional quality video encoding product. It’s latest release boasts two Zune HD profiles, tucked away in it’s devices section, one optimized for device playback, and one optimized for AV dock playback. (Along with Windows Live Movie Maker, these are the only two officially approved Zune encoding programs, not that that matters much).
On the left here, you can see the encoding profile for the Zune HD AV Dock. 720p video? Check. Interestingly, the video bitrate goes upto 12,000 Kpbs (just under 12Mbps, which is some seriously high quality video right there)!
Of course, the news here is with the audio encoding: Allowing 5.1 channels, more commonly known as Surround Sound! Obviously this can’t be achieved through headphones, there being only two speakers there, but through the AV dock you can connect your Zune to your home AV system, an enjoy full 720p, 5.1 surround movies, for the perfect entertainment experience. Now let’s just hope there’s enough storage on these devices to handle all this potential.
Microsoft recently released the third version of their web application framework, Silverlight, which enables web developers to create fully featured rich internet experiences for web sites (For those still confused, think of it as a better version of Flash). Along side the Silverlight 3 launch came the launch of Expression Blend 3, the development tool for creating these Silverlight experiences, and inside it comes a few nice little demo applications.
One of them just happens to be a Zune Originals demo app, allowing users to rotate their Zune in 3D, whilst fully customizing it with designs, colours and personalised text. It’s a cool little experiment, and just for you guys to get a taste of it, I’ve uploaded it here for you to check out! (Requires Silverlight 3, obviously! Note that you’ll need as big a window as possible for it to work properly, no netbooks here!)
Also, slightly less news worthy is the fact that I’ve decided to take advantage of Silverlight, and if you’ve been on the site the last few days you’ll have noticed our new features box at the top of the page, with 3D transitions and such. I’ve written it from the ground up in about 3 hours following the Silverlight 3 launch, so there are still a couple of quirks I have it work out, but by and large its usable, and looks kinda nice!! Depending on what you guys think, I may transfer more meaning parts of the site into Silverlight as well to create a far more interactive user experience.
Seems it’s been quite the few days for Zune rumours, with both Gizmodo and Neowin leaking us some juicy new information.
First up, Gizmodo reports that their tipster, who leaked them some internal Microsoft documents, claims that Zune HD will be launching stateside 8 September 2009, in both 16 & 32 GB, as well as being handed the marketing image above. Seems to be then that the 16GB will be available in black, whilst the 32GB will be in “Platinum”, though we’ll have to wait for official confirmation first. Still though, it now appears the Black Zune HD will reach retail channels at launch.
Neowin’s source also confirms this information in a short but sweet interview. Upon being asked whether movie downloads will be hitting the Zune Marketplace, he replied
“The Zune team is working hard to get all the licensing agreements in order.”
Of course, with Zune branding succeeding Xbox Live’s Movie Marketplace, it’s really only a matter of time before movies make it to the Zune desktop marketplace. Also noteworthy for those of us worried about the price,
“The prices are not set in stone yet, but the 16GB will be somewhere in the range of $249 -$280”
So, more than the 120GB Zune then, and in the UK you’d be looking at around £200 for the 16GB unit, maybe more. I’m not really sure how I feel about that. No word on the 32GB unit, but rest assured it’s probably going to be pricey.
Other than that, there is an interesting feature to note that isn’t in the leaked documentation, but the leaking image above. Note the artist photos in the now playing screen? It seems the Zune firmware is following suit of the Zune Desktop software’s now playing screen introduced in 3.0, displaying high quality press shots of the artist. And I’ll be damned if it doesn’t look nice.
Posted by Johnny on 25 Jun 2009 in HD, Rumors, Zune
Engadget got another chance to have a quick play around with the Zune HD, albeit one devoid of nearly any content. Unfortunately they don’t bother checking it out much, like scrolling down the menu to see what’s there, or even clicking on “internet” to see the interface, the type of things that die hard Zune fanboys are dying to see! In case you haven’t guessed then, there’s now an “internet” option in the menu, presumably to launch the built-in web browser. After all, where would you expect the browser to launch from? Anywho check out the rather brief showing below.
Posted by Johnny on 24 Jun 2009 in HD, Media, Zune
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On the left here, you can see the encoding profile for the Zune HD AV Dock. 720p video? Check. Interestingly, the video bitrate goes upto 12,000 Kpbs (just under 12Mbps, which is some seriously high quality video right there)!
