Two days ago Microsoft announced price cuts on Zune players and accessories so that the 4G player (the smallest capacity) now retails for $99. There’s a new batch of updates for the players, including new free games and improvements to software and firmware, as well as Zune Social.
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Two days ago Microsoft announced price cuts on Zune players and accessories so that the 4G player (the smallest capacity) now retails for $99. There’s a new batch of updates for the players, including new free games and improvements to software and firmware, as well as Zune Social. In case that isn’t enough, today they’ve altered the format of the Zune Pass subscription service. Previously, subscribers got unlimited access to the millions of songs in the Zune catalog for their $14.99 a month. However, the songs were only playable on a Zune device and like all other subscription services, only available with the subscription. Now, however, subscribers are allowed to keep 10 songs per month permanently. And if the decision of which songs to download is too daunting, each genre will feature a list of ‘perfect 10s,’ the must-have songs in that genre. A list of ‘fresh picks’ will also appear each week, highlighting the best of the new releases.
In order to make the DRM-free MP3s available, Zune had to renegotiate its licensing agreements. Currently the catalogs of all four majors and indie-aggregates The Orchard and IODA are available. Zune says about 90 percent of the Zune Marketplace catalog is available now. Presumably the rest will be soon, as deals with an assortment of indies are being worked out. What remains to be seen is if any of these efforts will encourage people to give Zunes instead of iPods this holiday season, given that Apple has over 70 percent of the market share. Is the thought of a Zune Player in your stocking more or less appealing than another device?
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