Even more evidence the zune HD is real: www.zunehd.net

Update: Well, lets not be too sure now... after reading some comments, and checking out the source code.. this looks a bit suspicious. The site was created April 9th, just before the initial leaked images, and apparently is registered with GoDaddy. It might not be the real deal, we'll just have to wait and see.

Updatex2: As far as a domain whois, look at this: http://www.networksolutions.com/whois-search/zunehd.net The site is registered to Robert Altman of California.

Rumored to be the "zune hd" these photos have leaked, and turned up on engadget. Their are numerous promotion looking pictures, but only one actually features the zune. Here it is:

The question is... is it real? What do you think?

Source: Engadget

Microsoft has just posted two very revealing job descriptions, providing extremely solid evidence that zune will in fact be going overseas. Not only that, but there is more talk about bringing zune to the tv. Check them out:

The first refers to zunes expansion out of the US/CA:

It’s about music and video. It’s about listening to music with friends and finding new tunes. It’s about enabling a music experience beyond just the home. It’s about changing an industry. It’s Zune and you can be a part of it.

We’re Zune Services and today we’re selling over five million music tracks, music videos and television episodes to customers across the United States. Moreover, we provide rich reviews on more than twelve million music tracks and biographies on almost a million artists. And we do it all with a small team of very passionate people. However, we need to grow. We have big plans that extend around the world. We have fierce competition. Are you up to the challenge? Is music a part of your life? Does the thought of taking on an industry leader excite you? Do you know better ways to introduce music to your friends; how about to the world? Are you ready to write systems that can scale to the millions and beyond? Are you ready to see your ideas come to market in months versus years?

If so then you may be ready to join our cutting edge team in the Zune Marketplace. We’re rapidly expanding in the areas of video, international and recommendation systems. Do you like working without artificial barriers? We work in an open office environment where asking questions is as easy as standing up.

The second talks about zune coming to the TV:

Help shape the future of entertainment in the living room. The Zune team is looking for a qualified software development engineer to help deliver great digital entertainment features into the living room, including on demand music and video.

Primary responsibilities include development of innovative user interfaces for delivering a rich, deep interactive media consumption experience in a living room environment. Experience with online services API development is a must, product will provide a rich online media experience delivering music and video from the cloud. A passion for UX and digital media is a must.

Qualifications include a minimum of 3+ years of software development experience in C++ and/or C#. Online services experience. A BS/MS degree or equivalent in Computer Science or related technical disciplines is preferred. The applicant should have strong debugging and object-oriented design skills, demonstrated work experience in the full ship cycle of commercial software products, and the ability to effectively communicate in written form.

These fairly obviously prove these previous rumors to be true, and although It's hard to tell exactly what the zune team's plans are with zune on tv, it's good to know zune is in fact expanding overseas.

Anyone in the market for zune accessories? Incipio is currently holding a massive sale on zune accessories.

All Zune items are 50% discounted, with free shipping to top it off.

Check it out here

Many of these items have been previously reviewed here at GotZune, such as the:

Dermashot

Metal Slider

Orion

Duke

Kickstand Folio

Flip

My friend Marques Lyons just Tweeted me some information on the L.A. Live Zune Meetup and here is the information to share about the event with details.

When: Saturday, April 4, 2009 *the day after Marques' birthday*
Where: L.A. Live Entertainment Center (Downtown Los Angeles)
Who: Bring you and your Zune
Time: That depends, please see the schedule below

11:45am - Meet in front of the Grammy Museum

• Be prepared to pay $15 per person to enter the Grammy Museum (if necessary, you may not have to, but be prepared just in case). Those of you who do not wish to tour this facility can move ahead to the "Coffee and Conversation" part of the meetup that follows. For those that are going into the Museum, please meet at the entrance at 11:45am. We will walk in as a group and tour the building. This will roughly take 60-90 minutes depending upon your interest level. I've been here already and I can tell you that if you dig music this will be an awesome place to be.

1:30pm - Meet at the L.A. Live Starbucks Coffee for "Coffee and Conversation"

• At 1:30pm those of us who have taken the Grammy museum walkthrough will meet the others at the nearby Starbucks Coffee (they're in the same complex). There we will all share coffee, hot chocolate and bagels and talk about Zune: your criticisms, concerns and questions. We'll also share some music and engage in device to device gaming (who wants to take me in Texas Hold Em!?).

This entire meetup is scheduled to end at 3:00pm

Please Note: You do not have to attend the entire meetup. You can do a portion of it as you wish. I know some of us have crazy schedules which is why I'm making this definitive itinerary so everyone can plan their calendars accordingly. You can choose to do the whole day (museum and coffee) or just the coffee part of it.

When you're looking for me, look for the guy who is wearing the awesome Zune shirt that I got at the MVP Summit. Trust me, you'll know it when you see it

So there, that's what's happening. If you have any questions you can talk to Raiderette87 (she'll be there too) or you can send a message to me.

Thanks, everyone.

Keep the Beat!

Marques Lyons (tromboneforhire)
Zune MVP
Contributor, Inside the Circle
http://www.insidethecircle.net

Microsoft's advertising and display for zune has always been, lackluster at best. The zune is a great product, but Microsoft just hasn't found a way to show the world this and display it in ways that draw people's attention. It appears as though Planned Marketing Solutions International has been quietly working on some new concepts for zune displays, and I must say they look great.

These displays are quite a bit brighter now, and not only do they show the zune but they effectively show it's integration with the xbox, as well as it's cool features such as wireless sync. Hopefully we begin to see this, or something similar very soon.

[Source: SlashGear]

Microsoft's Zune site went down this week, in a move eerily similar to Apple's Apple Store takedown, and on the same day too. New features cropped up afterwards including the entire podcast catalogue made available on Zune.net, but there was just one problem: nobody noticed.

What's going on with the amount of Zune exposure?  Are we running out of Zune steam or just complacent with our devices?  I don't know but check out the new features on www.zune.net and try to stay in the loop.

Zune.net went offline for part of Tuesday, returning with new features including the ability to stream Zune podcasts via your PC (US only, cheers guys). But just the same day, Apple took its store offline across the world for several hours, whipping Mac fans into a frenzy before the new iMac, Mac Mini and Mac Pro models were unveiled.

Type in Zune on Google news, and you'll see just two news stories covered the Zune.net update - on the other hand, "Apple Store" triggered around 856 news articles, according to the same service. In fact, if you compare the two words in Twitter, you get this:

Yup, the red line is Apple, and the blue line hovering around 0 is Zune. Quite literally, Microsoft's update went unnoticed.

Admittedly, the outage could have been simply as long as it took to upload the new content, and the Zune update isn't on the same scale as three new Mac models, but it does go to show just how finely tuned Apple's marketing machine is, even compared to the bigger company, Microsoft.

Coincidence, or a major PR failure from Microsoft? Either way, the Zune.net update is another bit of salt in the wound to us Brits as we wait patiently for Microsoft to release a Zune, any Zune, here in Blighty.

[SOURCE: Electric Pig]

Need I say anything more than It's a Deal!

Visit Buy.com while they last!

Some Interesting news here, the zune software and hardware team have split, hardware merging with mobile communications business group, and software merging with the Connected TV organization. Here's what Zuneinsider has to say:

If you’re pressed for time, here’s the short version:

• We are combining the Zune software team with the Connected TV organization (Windows Media Center, Mediaroom) to create a single group focused on creating software and services that enable great entertainment experiences across the PC, TV, mobile phones and Zune devices.
• The Zune device hardware team joined the mobile communications business group to create a center of excellence in portable hardware. This will bring people who live and breathe hardware together.
• The priority now is to focus on delivering against our current product roadmaps across each team in the new organization. That means new software, services and devices for Zune customers.

In a nutshell, this is an extension of the way we’ve been taking the business for some time. We’ve said before the strategy for Zune is to provide a great entertainment experience across multiple screens and devices and this move will help us deliver that. We’re looking at how the powerful features of Zune can be combined with the work in the TV space to deliver a broader entertainment experience.

As Enrique put it, “The goal is to make non-gaming entertainment a first-class citizen within Microsoft's business, that means building better software and gaining scale a little further out than just in Redmond."

For our current customers, this internal, organizational adjustment won’t result in any changes. Like I said above we’re still committed to delivering the next wave of the Zune hardware, software and services – and we will do so this calendar year, so stay tuned.

Zune has made it clear that this change is not in fact a negative one, and hopefully will lead to even better integration between zune and other microsoft products. This year's major zune update is shaping up to be very interesting.

As you can see from this screenshot, the Marketplace application will be making it to new Windows Mobile 6.5 devices. Since there has be a decline in Zune Phone rumors after time and time again, lets change it from Zune Phone rumors to Zune on your Phone, not a rumor.

We're just days away from Mobile World Congress where Microsoft is expected to make a few notable annoucements. Until then, we have to settle for all the hints and innuendo we can gather as Redmond attempts to win back the hearts, minds, and pocketbooks of consumers infatuated with Android, WebOS, and whatever Apple's got cookin'. Like these supposed 6.5 screenshots above, this time showing what looks like a Marketplace store a la the Zune.

[SOURCE: Engadget]