“Microsoft is sending Zune to the pasture where Microsoft brands go to die,” Nick Wingfield reports for The New York Times. “It’s the end of the road for a name that once symbolized Microsoft’s grand plans to curb Apple’s entertainment ambitions.”
“A Microsoft spokeswoman, Melissa Stewart, confirmed that the Zune brand is going away so Microsoft can use the better-known Xbox brand for its entertainment services, including its online video service,” Wingfield reports. “Ms. Stewart said Zune Music customers who created playlists using the old service would still have access to those songs through the new Xbox Music service.”
Wingfield reports, “The Zune was a failure in the market, coming too late to stop the iPod juggernaut and falling short of the high bar Apple had set. A version of the player that came out in 2009, the Zune HD, did little better. In the meantime, Apple shifted most of its focus in digital entertainment to the iPhone and iPad. This shift eventually sank in at Microsoft, too. The company discontinued the Zune line of music players and the brand lived on [until now] as a music and video service for Xbox and the Windows Phone operating system.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Through our laughter, we’re also a tad misty-eyed as we trot out one of our favorite graphics for the last time:
Ah, the memories. Oh, what the heck, let’s relive it a bit more for closure’s sake:
Some photographs really do speak a thousand words. This one from Christmastime 2006 pretty much says it all:
Adios, Zune. Too little, too late. Yet another Microsoft failure.
“All the way back on July 25, 2006, I told you so.” – SteveJack
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fernando” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Microsoft: ‘We will no longer be producing Zune players’ – October 4, 2011
More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: Microsoft pulls plug on Zune – March 14, 2011
Opinion: More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: Microsoft pulls plug on Zune – July 25, 2006
More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: Germany’s Maxfield files for bankruptcy – February 20, 2008
More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: Microsoft pulls plug on Portable Media Center – May 09, 2007
More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: Dell’s ‘DJ Ditty’ flash-based MP3 player is dead – August 22, 2006
More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: Dell dumps ‘DJ’ hard-drive MP3 player line – February 04, 2006
More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: iRiver gives up on digital media player market – May 23, 2006
More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: Sony’s Walkman Bean is cooked – February 13, 2006
More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: iRiver pulling out of Europe? – February 01, 2006
More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: Thomson gives up on MP3 player, CE markets – December 12, 2005
More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: BenQ withdraws from MP3 player markets – November 28, 2005
More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: Olympus halts production of portable digital music players – November 09, 2005
More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: Rio is dead – August 26, 2005
Apple’s iPod has blood on its Click Wheel: Virgin Electronics is dead – March 08, 2005
I actually met a student in ’07 who swore by the Zune. He said it felt more stubstantial and only crashed 2 or 3 times a day. He hated Apple and did nothing but talk MS up the whole time he was editing his video on a G5 PowerMac.
Poor guy. What’s he gonna do now. It’s the only Zune I ever saw in the wild.
I saw a Zune strapped to the arm of a guy, while I was transiting DFW airport five years ago.
It sure was brown and ugly.
I saw one at a Super Bowl party way back when. The guy was showing it off, seemed pretty proud of it.
——RM
I’ve only seen ONE Zune out in the wild. I was riding the Washington Metro home one evening , and I spotted a lone fellow, looking forlorn and depressed, listening to his Zune. Somehow it fit.
Spelled backwards is…
You will notice that the example given by MDN was upside down and backwards.
Just like Windows.
Almost looks like anus. Guy must feel like one with that tattooed on his arm.
RIP
Great management decision on their part not unlike when Apple turfs a product as they might be doing with their desktop CPU. Only wish that our Country would be managed the same way. Redundancy is not good… Deal with it.
And I’ll never forget you either, Zune Tang®!
A moment of silence for our dear friend.
……
That was tough…
@ZuneTang®, a brave comedian serving a righteous cause or making us laugh day after day at the follies of Microsoft. I know the human behind the mask remains here among us, but we shall miss the dear little mask and wish it was back among us, highlighting our days with hilarity and mirth. Fare thee well great satirist. Fare thee well. 😥
Contrary to popular myth, I was never ZuneTang®, and I too will miss his brilliant satire and biting humor. There was no better way to call out the newbies on the site than to bait them with one of ZT’s comic masterpieces. We’ll miss you, old friend.
But we won’t miss the Zune. Rest In Pieces.
-c
via C1: Rest In Pieces.
LOL, that’s a new one for me, I love it!
I too miss our good ol’ ZuneTang. Fare thee well, indeed.
+1
But wait!!! Microsoft has now given us ZuneTunes! A direct competitor to Apple’s iTunes. Ooooooohhhhhhh – give me shivers just thinking about the fierce competition that lies ahead!
The second pic stil gets a LOL. Looks like two girls making out, and the one on the bottom… getting much more.
Obvious they chose that picture to distract from the “Installation error” message.
Moss,,,,, man, you missed the point. its a guy on top and …… he is having installation problems… as shown by the girl..
sorry about that but it had to be said. :-0
Look closer (I did before posting earlier, just to be sure).
The “guy” on top is wearing an open top, has strap tan lines, and you see the start of a ponytail.
Since it’s not a guy, we can safely assume this is a different kind of “installation problem.” :-p
I always thought she was just screaming in the pain of ANOTHER MICROSOFT ERROR SCREEN.
If it was just her, maybe. With the other two in the picture posed that way, it’s way too easy to see it as something else.
“The Zune was a failure in the market, coming too late to stop the iPod juggernaut and falling short of the high bar Apple had set.”
Uh, can’t we just replace “Zune” with “Windows Phone” and ‘iPod” with “iPhone”? Looks like we’re headed for a replay.
Ok, everybody, one more time… 🙂
The only people I knew who actually bought Zunes were simply Apple-haters. That’s what hate does for ya’….
Leave it to Microsoft to get what the customers have been saying about 3 years late.
Spare a good thought or two for Zune Tang.
“Zunes Out” poor guy.😂
“Zuned Out” oh this keyboard today! I’m overwhelmed.😉
Ah, the end of an error.
My Costco had one of those iPod-on-top-of-dead-Zune stacks, too.
And now at the Wake, for you, some Zuney-goodness! …
Zune Tattoo Guy Gets Third Zune-Related Tattoo:
http://gizmodo.com/300805/zune-tattoo-guy-gets-third-zune+related-tattoo
Excerpts from actual Zune purchaser reviews:
See –> http://www.pcworld.com/product/29480/microsoft_zune_30gb_media_player_black.html?p=userReview
“…why did you make the Zune that I can NOT delete a song from the player ON THE PLAYER??? So, I hear a song that I really think is awful, Have pause the player, stop the car, write down the song (since I can’t just delete it), wait till I get home, hook it up the the computer, FIND THE **** SONG, remove from player, then look it up again in collection to delete it from there,…
” Very good payer but sorry I have no experience with Ipod or other players. But I would not want to have to be locked into iTunes!”
” Low weight… Not made by apple, … Can work as a flashlight …but best of all, it doesn’t require itunes.”
“STAY AWAY from Zune. comes pre loaded w/bunch of garbage, need tons of passwords to access one song on line, sinch w/another Zune requires patience and many tries. easy to drop, clip easy breaks, burdensome, lumpy, heavy, earpieces don’t stay put, accessories VERY EXPENSIVE. These ppl are out to get your mone and its not worth it. I just bought a 300.00 paper weight!! ”
” i live in a rual area and it works really well for me. microsoft dose a geat job on this little piece of heaven. no itunes on my machine is a good thing”
“THERE IS NO MANUAL that walks you through. A LOT of fumbling around like a monkey armed with a paper clip in a room full of electrical sockets. …THERE IS NO PRELOADED CONVERSION SOFTWARE! You have to surfing for one and hope you find a programs that doesn’t burn you wallet or your PC’s phallus with some unknown VD. ”
” I must say: the Zune can really take a beating. I’ve dropped it more than a million times and it doesn’t have a scratch!”
Goodbye, Zune and the fun associated with you!
More Frosting on Microsofts cake of Failure!
Microsoft’s response to the wildly successful iPod was a brown log of a gadget whose name is anus when viewed through a mirror.
History won’t be kind to Steve Ballmer.
The one thing the Zune had that I kinda liked, the HD radio… The rest was crap, or “Zune” as MDN’s first pic shows 😉
Noooooo!!!! I was just about to find the social!!!
The Zines HD was actually a great device.
Typical MS by the time they produced a good offering the market had passed them by.
It didn’t help that the first 3 or 4 revs of the device were a big ol’ bag of hurt on their customers
One last squirt for da zune
^ Not the real ZT.
Alas.
You would know, LOL.
Windoze 8 won’t be far behind…
For the benefit of future victims of attacks from the undead, such as the Zune:
1) Always have a hatchet at your side. Invest in a hatchet belt, available at your local zombicide utilities store.
2) Keep your hatchet sharpened. If you are traveling, keep a small bottle of mineral oil and a small sharpening stone with you at all times. Some hatchet belts provide compartments for these accessories.
3) Keep with you at all times a small stash of smelling salts to stave off the swoon inducing stench of rotting corpses. The best of hatchet belts also include a compartment for this essential accessory.
4) When confronted with one of the walking dead, such as the Zune, never hesitate. Visualize the deed as you prepare your swiping stance. Stand exactly the distance of the sum of your arm length and the length of your hatchet. Swing your arm on the horizontal plane with one long sweeping motion with all the force you can muster. When you feel the hatchet tearing through the neck tissues of the zombie, turn your head away from its face in the direction of your swing in order to avoid splatter. Step swiftly around a 360º angle to meet the gaze of the undead. If the head has not been cleanly removed from the torso, repeat the decapitation motions until you are entirely successful.
5) Always retain a small pocket knife with which to notch the handle of your hatchet for every successful remortification. 😉
©2012, Derek Currie
As ZuneTang® can tell you, the best defense against a Zune is a HAMMER. 😉
Very timely.
http://curiousrat.com/home/2012/5/31/zombies-between-the-lines.html
Zombie Apocalypse is already begun.
Bwahahahaha, I sure miss Zuen Thang…as much as possible.
They were still making Zunes? I thought they discontinued it several months ago. Oh well.
They discontinued the hardware a while back. This is just the death of the brand name.
Oh no. I foresee a doorstop shortage worldwide!
Oh, the calamity!!!
Zune Boys. Come out come out wherever you are! lol