Now there are a few things coming into the market for you to add to your Zune experience.

* The Zune base station with a waterproof speaker system. To be used near a pool or in the shower, but not recommended for full immersion. This speaker setup includes a 2.4 GHz wireless interface so that you don’t have any interference from surrounding electronics. You can add four wireless speakers to the system for some increased sound. Unfortunately you still have to wait for purchase because this won’t be out until June of ‘07.

Most know about the Home AV Pack that can output audio and video with a remote control. This allows you to dock your Zune and play video on your large TV setup and speakers. There is also a Car Pack that with an FM transmitter and a car charger to keep your tunes flowing while you head down the road.

In addition to these options, there is a Travel Pack that includes a bag, “premium” headphones, AC adapter, sync cable and a dual connect remote. It’ll keep you nice and stylish while you still get the full use of your Zune.

As far as cases there are quite a few that have come out for the Zune. One is the Folio Kickstand Case which allows you to watch videos while setting your Zune up for easy viewing. It’s constructed from easy-care microfiber and leather to protect your Zune.

This limited edition color is only available to 100 lucky Zune buyers and recently one sold, in pink, for over $700USD (the original colors are black, brown and white and cost around $250). Amazingly, you cannot find one and you have to be lucky and just happen to receive one in this lovely pink color.

Although pink might not be your favorite choice for a Zune, especially if you’re buying one for the man in your life, if you bag one of these you can put it on ebay and purchase two Zunes for one!

I think it’s well worth the risk of someone complaining it’s a bad gift color choice. In fact, before everyone opens their Zune gift, I would be sure and let them know that if it’s in pink, you are going to be an indian giver, if that’s the plan. Then, take the new one and grab one for yourself off the profits. Hey, some people MIGHT understand!

I know I’m not holding my breath for a pink Zune (although I love the color) or searching ebay for one, either, but many will be working hard for the color and it could benefit you and yours. Visit the Zune site to order one and cross your fingers if you’re hoping for pink. Remember, the Zune comes with WiFi and an FM tuner so that you can share music with your friends (don’t forget, they can only listen to it for 3 days though), so that’s the extra bling everyone needs.

If you don’t get lucky and score a pink Zune, visit the accessory site and work on some personalization for your Zune, even if it is boring white, brown or black. Nobody will fault you for going out of your way to get cool digs for the Zune of your dreams.

This pair of glasses also works with mobiles that have an AV output. Direct connection to the iPod video with plug and play and direct connection to the Zune player, too. Fully charged after 2 hours on a USB, this setup will keep you going for quite some time.

The glasses run $250 USD and they are fully compatible with 5th generation Video iPods, 4th generation iPods with video out (Photo/Color), Microsoft Zune, compatible with any device with AV output such as Portable DVD Players, Sony Playstations, Microsoft Xbox, and the Nintendo GameCube. Take your gaming love to extremes and play with a huge screen.

You’ll see the videos on a 35″ screen but it will only be 2 meters away! Comes with an eyepatch to block out external lighting so that even in the most lighted conditions you can utilize the video setup. Laying down, standing up–it doesn’t matter. You get full video and sound capabilities on all compatible devices.

Comes with USB charger, video glasses with lithium battery, built-in stereo earphones and AV input cable, eyepatch to block out external lighting, bander, USB charger, AV Cable (Female RCA – Yellow/White/Red), AV Cable (Male RCA – Yellow/White/Red), and an AV Cable (Dual 3.5 Split Video/Audio).

Specs for the glasses are:

* Video Signal : NTSC / PAL
* Display : 2 TFT LCD Displays
* Colour Depth : 24 Bit

* Image Size : 35″ Virtual Screen (2M far)
* Resolution : 320×240 (230k pixels)
* Aspect Ratio : 4:3
* Viewing angle: 26°
* Built-in Battery : 480mAH Lithium-ion battery (4-5 Hours)
* Voltage : DC5V

Product Page

Article submitted by Amorfelina, one of ZeroPaid’s occasional news/tech contributors.

According to the terms of the deal, Universal Music is set to garner a much larger share of the profits from the partnership than it does from the one it currently has is in effect with Apple’s iTunes. Unlike its deal with Apple, Universal will also receive a royalty on each mobile media device, the Zune, that Microsoft sells. This is in addition to a percentage of the digital music download revenue.

The deal is most likely a hardline attempt by Universal to increase the amount of money it makes on digital music downloads after being met with such a firm stand by Steve Jobs earlier this year to maintain the status quo.

Despite the best efforts of music companies to raise the price of iTunes downloads above 99 cents(USD), Steve Jobs stood resolute and successfully rebuffed their attempts. He rightfully argued that doing so simply pushes people back into the illegal P2P and file-sharing conundrum from which many of them came. They service must be cheap and easy to use if it is to be successful.

Unfortunately for Microsoft it had very shaky footing upon which to lobby Universal for the use of its music. Universal knew that in order for the Zune player and its Urge digital music download service to be successful, Microsoft had to have decent selection of music fro users to choose from. Universal leveraged this fact into getting a cut of Microsoft’s Zune player, which is not the case with Apple’s iPod and may possibly spell trouble for its financial future later on down the road.

If all things are considered equal, the royalty payment on Zune sales could potentially inhibit Microsoft’s ability to compete on a level playing field. Luckily for Microsoft Apple’s contract with Universal expires next year and could allow for a more competitive atmosphere between the two.

With recent reports that a mere 5-10% of the music stored on iPods was purchased legally, music companies have been trying to figure out a way to recoup their losses.

David Geffen, former head of Geffen records notes:

It’s a major change for the industry. Each of these devices is used to store unpaid-for material. This way, on top of the material people do pay for, the record companies are getting paid on the devices storing the copied music. It certainly changes the paradigm.

Universal Music’s chairman, Doug Morris furthers:

I’m hopeful that technology companies and creative companies will understand how each other’s futures are intertwined,” Mr. Morris said last night. “It can only work if one doesn’t try and take advantage of the other, and so far we’ve come out on the short end.

With current federal legislation covering only outdated audio devices like digital-audio tape machines and not the new digital music players, the royalties that music companies receive on music recording and playback devices has decreased significantly. Taking this along with the continual decline in CD sales, music companies have been scrambling to secure new revenue streams to make a profit, if not to simply contain the hemmoraging.

In any event Microsoft had to approve the deal or otherwise risk the success of it so-called “iPod killer.” With Universal Music accounting for a third of all all new album sales in the U.S. it was left with little choice.

I think what it will mean for all of us in the end though is higher prices on digital music players and downloads. Costs, as they always are, will be passed onto the consumer and either push many back into the world of file-sharing and P2P networks or simply discourage many from purchasing as much as they might normally be inclined.

After seeing the billions that Steve Jobs made for Apple, everybody now wants a slice of the iPod Apple pie.

SOULXTC: “walkin’ the streets of P2P”

Microsoft has said it will stop selling music from MSN music from 14 November, when Zune goes on sale in the US.

But in a move that could alienate some customers, MSN-bought tracks will not be compatible with the new gadget.

The move could also spell problems for the makers of MP3 players which are built to work with the MSN store.

- Technology company changes rules, technology or strategy. See: Your Music Goes Flat
- A hard disk crashes.
- Computer is stolen, broken or upgraded.
- Exceed number of allowed devices (usually some are lost, stolen or broken).

I’ve been looking for a good verb to describe losing all of your music to DRM because it’s increasingly common and I think I have one: zune.

Sample usage: He had an extensive classic rock collection that got zuned.

Now if you’re thinking that zune sounds familiar it’s because the press has been abuzz about an upcoming MP3 player from Microsoft called Zune. At first glance the features seem compelling but my prediction is it will be the biggest flop of 2007 with less than 50,000 units sold worldwide.

The video demonstrates how its wireless networking ability functions and the ease with which one can share media files with a friend nearby.

The only damper is that it crystallizes just how DRM infested this new player will be, as shared music files will have a shelf life of 3 days or 3 plays, whichever comes first. Now whether or not this is true merely of music purchased from their Urge online music store or all music uploaded to the Zune is unclear but, on the surface of it is not a good sign.

(CLICK ON IMAGE BELOW TO WATCH THE VIDEO)

Digg It!!

We also learned that users cannot share files that they have received by sharing. That is, if Eric shares his favorite song, Cotton Eye Joe, to Nate, Nate’s stuck with it. He cannot share it to anyone else, and once his 3 plays/3 days are over, his options are to expunge the song or purchase a new copy (with DRM) from the Zune Marketplace. The Zune player itself will simply monitor the age of the song (on the device) and how many times it has been played, and prevent playback when the limits have been reached.

When Forbes reported last week that Microsoft’s new Zune player would add digital rights management (DRM) to unprotected songs, it caused quite a stir. The ‘net lit-up with complaints about the practice. Would it violate the Creative Commons license? James Grimmelmann tackled the issue in a long and thoughtful essay from a legal standpoint. Others wrote about the ethical problems of slapping DRM on anything and everything. What about music you have recorded yourself? What about your ripped CDs? What business does Microsoft have toying with this? It would now appear as though the entire fracas was wanting for a fact check.

We started researching this topic over the weekend, convinced that something was wrong. For its part, Microsoft’s press release only talked of sharing “select songs, homemade recordings, playlists or pictures” (emphasis added). I still don’t think we have the full story yet, but Microsoft’s PR people aren’t talking on the record. Knowing the information that we have is good, we’ve tried to get Microsoft’s Edelman representation on the phone for two days for an official confirmation, but we’ve been ignored. I’m beginning to wonder if Zune’s feature set is not, in fact, fully set. Or maybe I shouldn’t leave voicemails in Homeric dactylic hexameter?

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Targeted squarely at Apple’s iPod and iTunes Store offering, the Zune will ship with a 30GB hard drive, built-in WiFi, an FM tuner, and a 3″ 320×240 display. Zune players will be tied to the Zune Marketplace, which will sell music by track and on a monthly subscription basis. Users will also be able to import tracks ripped in the AAC, MP3, and WMA formats—as long as they don’t have any DRM.

Wal-Mart told ABC News that the price “was incorrectly and inadvertently listed at Walmart.com.” $284 does seem like an odd figure, unless you take into account Wal-Mart’s practice of discounting products a few bucks below the competition. For example, one 2GB Creative Zen player retailers $119.72 at Wal-Mart vs. the $139 price usually seen at other retailers

At the launch event, all Microsoft had to say about the price is that it would be “very competitive.” A couple of days prior to the launch event, the consensus $299 price would have been competitive with the 30GB iPod. However, Apple chopped $50 off that model’s price at its Showtime event earlier in the week. That unexpected price drop from Apple may have caused a small change in plans in Redmond if Microsoft was indeed planning to introduce the Zune at $299 as many have suspected.

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