RIP Microsoft Zune brand

As a longtime Zune user and appreciator, I'm hoping that the Zune-Pass will be rolled into something else and that existing devices won't suddenly lose access to the Zune-pass service songs ($15/mo for unlimited (DRMed) songs and 10 MP3 Downloads was generally great).

Further, if the Zune software becomes the "WP7" software, I won't really care so long as it still works with my existing devices.

If, on the other hand, my existing Zune stuff is ultimately gone and no longer supported, I guess it's back to Amazon MP3 for me.

I love my Zune, even when it came out I would say things like "Microsoft products generally suck, except the Zune is a pretty sweet device - they did that right". My opinion of MS has changed for the better since then, and it started with the Zune.

Although the Zune was largely a failure in terms of overall market share, it wasn't a bad product offering.

* The Zune Pass was an excellent way to get music for a flat monthly rate, and the selection and price was competitive with Rhapsody and other services.

* Zune hardware was always top-notch, with Zune devices having FM or HD radio. The Zune HD was particularly nice.

* Zune Social was somewhat similar to last.fm and provided useful music recommendations.

* Zune offered DRM-free music, in addition to DRM-locked music for the Zune Pass.

* The (Windows-only) client software was very well designed, and superior in usability to iTunes (IMO).

I would be disappointed to see the Zune name go, but sometimes good products fail in the market.

Dear author:

boasting features like song-sharing that Apple still hasn’t managed to catch up to.

Don't be silly. Apple hasn't "caught up," because it was never behind in some kind of race to add song-sharing. Apple chose not to implement that feature, as it has chosen not to add a great many other features.

If you think it's a benefit, it's appropriate to praise Microsoft for adding it, but you shouldn't imply that Apple is staffed by hapless engineers that are somehow incapable of figuring out how to implement this feature, or that Jobs sends out a weekly email asking when this feature will be ready.

Another Microsoft digital media strategy reset? Has it been 5 years already?

At least the Zune Marketplace went DRM-free, so people won't get shafted like all those PlaysForSure media buyers.

Yet another spin on the Microsoft brand carousel. Someone over there seems to think that if they give their product a certain name then people will start buying it. Zune seemed like a good brand. The products were of high quality and had good reputations. I feel like a few well placed articles titled "Zune: Microsoft's quiet success" or "Microsoft becomes the underdog with Zune" would have gone a long way.

Well, it was no surprise to most people that Microsoft could release a well-designed MP3 player well after the problem of the MP3 player had been solved. (Although, the Zune Desktop software was way too underpowered for my needs.)

It was also no surprise that it had little impact on the market. They have been 3 steps behind their competition for the entire time. Few differentiating features beyond music subscriptions; a useful feature for some, but clearly most music fans would rather collect music than rent it. And with no connection to their mobile smartphone strategy, the Zune HD was always a dead-end platform.

So the Zune brand is now toxic and worthless. They only way it's mentioned in popular culture is as a punchline to a joke. Microsoft has no choice but to trash it.

But Microsoft will regroup, rename and redesign their desktop music software (again) and release an iPod Touch-like device based on their WP7 platform. I wonder what they'll call it?

I think Windows Phone 7 really suffers from the lack of unique branding. It doesn't have a unique product name like Android or iPhone; even 'Zune Mobile' would have been better, Windows Phone 7 doesn't evoke anything and just sounds like a technical specification.

Damn, I'll miss the self-mockingly absurdist tagline "Join the Social".

The Zune desktop software is stunning. The design and layout of the application is vastly superior to iTunes and Windows Media Player. The Zune pass, and artist bios are excellent people who love to discover new music. Each time I use Zune I think to myself, "I need to write software this beautiful and functional."

Zune integration with Windows Phone 7 was the candle that flickered my last hope for Microsoft to compete with iOS and Android. Microsoft's inability to work with carriers to push out WP7 updates, and now the death of the Zune brand, puts that candle out. What a tragedy.

I hope they don't get rid of the player. That desktop player is by far the best one I have ever used except for maybe Winamp before AOL. Its too feature rich to get rid of. Yes, even better than iTunes.

You know, as a guy that uses free software whenever possible, I never liked a Microsoft product until I gave the Zune a shot (got it for free, so...). It still pisses me off, having to run a virtual machine just to load up my music, and I've never used an iPod, but I honestly like the device and the firmware a lot. It's one of the best offerings they've put out.

I hope the product design and engineering talent in the Zune team continue to do great things for WP7, even if I'll probably never use one.

This seems like a silly move to me. I would have expected a zune running Phone 7 to help push the OS to more users. I would love to have a Phone 7 device to hack around on, but I've already got a phone and data plan.

So no more iPod Touch competitor? Perhaps it'll exist, but not be called the Zune HD (and run WP7 Apps). In fact, that would be quite cool (esp. if Nokia is in on this operation).

RIP squirting you friends! Sigh...