Zune HD to be released on 5th September?

Oli Jones Gadgets, iPod, MP3 players
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Zune-HD.jpgThe Zune HD will be launched in the US on 5th September according to Microsoft guru Paul Thurott.

But as the American launch edges palpably closer, a UK launch is beginning to seem impossible rather than improbable.

The Zune’s HD radio wouldn’t work in the UK where we use DAB and the ZunePass music subscription service, used in the US, is none-existent in Europe.

Pipe smoking, tech high-brow, Jack Schofield writes on Guardian.co.uk, “Sony is already offering much better sound quality than Apple, OLED screens, built in FM radio and better file support at reasonable prices. Admittedly it still has to re-educate a market that still thinks Sony supports ATRAC and requires horrible SonicStage software, but that’s probably an easier job than establishing the Zune brand from scratch.”

Which he’s right about. Well, the Zune thing, not the iPod thing: The sound quality on Sony Mp3 players is simply not any better than the iPod’s. That’s just not true. The thing that has made the iPod successful is how seamless it is. From it’s beautiful design, across every device and generation, to its amazingly simple and balanced UIs and a sound quality that’s as good as any personal media player out there.

That’s what has made the iPod ubiquitous, it’s simplicity. And that simplicity isn’t something Microsoft has ever been good at (ie… Vista). That being said, I’d be sad not to see the Zune HD launched here in some form, purely because it looks like a good product. I’m sick of these US only products. What have they done to deserve them? I want the Kindle 2 and Zune HD on these shores by the end of the year – got it.

(Via SlashGear)

Oli Jones
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One thought on “Zune HD to be released on 5th September?”

  • The Zune may be a good bad or indifferant product, – but adopting HD radio – whilst attractive to the US market severley limits its viability globaly.

    HD was sanctioned in the US for many reasons – and the relative quality that it can achieve when seen against the much traveled and adopted DAB is not the point of this piece (interesting though it may be).

    DAB and its deivatives are available in huge range of receivers, radios, hi-fi units and hand held PMPs and telephones. It is almost inconcievable for a manufacturer to launch a product limited to such a small (no matter how attractive) geographic market sector. Zune with DAB, or rather T-DMB, – now that would be worth talking about!!

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