Music, culture, and the inside scoop from Cesar Menendez,
a Microsoft employee working on Zune - Microsoft's new music project.

December 20, 2006

Zune Unboxed: Time Lapse

Regular commenter on this site Chris Hammond (hi-five!) produced a cool video of him unboxing the Zune. Check it out:

Very nice. Anyone know who sings that song?

 |  Wednesday, December 20, 2006 10:55 PM  |  38 Comments

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Chris Hammond

I won't give away who sings the song just yet. But a little background on why I chose it. That song was on a CD I got in the mail back in 1995 or 96 while in school. I was on a website and saw something about a free CD if you signed up, so I did, and low and behold the CD showed up at my place sometime later.

It's still one of my favorite CDs, though the last that band put out (2nd album for them) before they broke up.

Harvey

Ha! Love it!

Nice job Chris!!

Harvey

Zunerama

Sean

Hey Big C i got my shirt in today . Thanks a bunch.

Lucy

Who sings the song, I like it!

shravan

Great video! did you do it on a Mac?

Chris Hammond

I proudly don't own a mac. That video was composed completely with Microsoft tools.

A Microsoft VX-9000 Lifecam (webcam)

Windows Movie Maker running on Vista Ultimate

Ed

So who is the artist? That definitely rocked!

C0ke

You know, you're not Apple.

Diego

Here's another great video

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6ZXiLY4bo80

to Diego

Why did you link to Leo's funny video when Cesar linked to in in his previous blog posting?!

Michael

I just un-boxed my Zune and I have to say the hardware is nice, but the Zune Pass in my opinion is very deceptive.  Half of the things I've wanted to download so far are "buy 79" or "album only".  The main reason I got a Zune was for the subscription service.  I then contacted their support line to find out that it was only for technical support.  No one could tell me why my "unlimited" download service is actually very limited.  Overall I doubt I will be keeping my Zune if I can't even get an answer as to why tracks are restricted.  Anyway I just wanted to post this somewhere as there doesn't seem to be any official channel through Zune's site to actually voice a complaint.

To Michael from Bill

Michael, the limits are due to the licenses the content owners set.  In some cases, they won't allow the "subscription" model.  In other cases, they only allow "full album" purchases... no singles.

The customer service folks can't answer "why" because it's not their call.  Ask the label and, in some rare cases, the band/artist.

Ed

I know there are more important things in the video, but seriously ........ who is the band?! I have been creeping on this site to find out.

Josh

I was looking on the Zune website and it said the the ac adapter came seperately, if it does how do you recharge your Zune if you didnt buy it?

Chris Hammond

You charge your Zune off the USB port on your PC

Diego

The market share keeps falling.. a more realistic less than 2%.

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=2323

I didn't see a post about this from you guys! You were quick to post about the 9% earlier in the month. :)

Josh

ok Thank You

nickolas

"Plug your Zune device into a friend's computer and use guest sync"

does this work like ipods sync. how it only puts the stuff from your library on the ipod, and you coudlnt go anywhere other than your house to put stuff on it. cuz that woudl be crappy if it did work like that.

im getting a zune for christman and my ipod nano serves me good, but i dont think that my computer could go through holding a 30gb library on it just for my zune. any suggestions/comments/etc.??

BlaQ

You heard about the Zune that was sold filled with gay porn? Must have been the work of an iFan.

ray

i just saw this new zune commercial, it rocks. it is different from the rest cause it is better at letting the viewer know what the hell a zune is. anyway here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGq--cfd8PA&eurl=

John

No info on whether gay porn was included on that Zune as well?!!! Geezz... the iPod fan boys are having a field day --- I just hope I will not get gay porn with my Zune, I will be a laughing stock

admin

Um. It wasn't.

Chris Hammond

since no one has guessed should I say who the band is?

Sean

I wouldn't let them run loose in there ideas lol

John

Um. It was. "Zune + Porn = $25" on Zuneinfo.com - gayporn preinstalled on a Zune

Stephane

Sounds like Rage Against the Machine...

Ed

Holy Crap! Tell me the band! It is not Rage!

Chris Hammond

The band is called Sven Gali, the song I believe is called Helen.

Ed

Thanks. They sound great, kind of sounds like Quicksand.

nick adame

"Plug your Zune device into a friend's computer and use guest sync"

does this work like ipods sync. how it only puts the stuff from your library on the ipod, and you coudlnt go anywhere other than your house to put stuff on it. cuz that woudl be crappy if it did work like that.

im getting a zune for christman and my ipod nano serves me good, but i dont think that my computer could go through holding a 30gb library on it just for my zune. any suggestions/comments/etc.??

DOES GUEST SYNC WORK SO YOU CAN HAVE MULTIPLE LIBRARIES ON ONE ZUNE?!?!? PLEASE ANSWER ME!!!!

Josh

Can a ZUne play music that I bought at another music store like Napster or Rhapsody?

To Bill from Brian:

Bill,

If you can tell Michael why his "unlimited" service is limited, it seems that the customer service people should be able to, as well. The explanation isn't that complicated. What's more complicated is why the term "unlimited" was used to market the service in the first place.

Chris Hammond

Sorry, it's been pointed out that I said I used the VX-9000 from Microsoft, it was actually the VX-6000 sorry

Stephanie

How do i recharge my ZUne?! Can anyone tell me?! Thx.

admin

Stephanie, Zune will charge when you plug it into your pc - even if you're not synching it, you can use it.

Or you can buy the AC adapter

Ricardo Dawkins

ummm..yada..yada...well expecting the update soon while my Zune is working like a champ churning music (Alexandre Pires, Sean Paul and CSS right now) and doing some FM radio duties for almost 8 hours....gotta love this device...

Cesar, BTW. Why the programmers or the firmware/hardware team don't post on this blog ? The firmware is already delayed they can post something besides churning code in the background. Just 1 or 2 lines like..."We will surprise you all soon" or something like that.

Ricardo Dawkins

WTF wrong thread..LOL

Jefferson

My 4GB mini Ipod will charge but won't allow me to put in new songs or take out any.

Please somebody help me.

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About admin

I'm Cesar Menendez. I left the Xbox marketing world for Microsoft's new foray into music - Zune. Community, cool videos, music, discovering new music - these are things I love. In the past I wrote music reviews for RealNetworks, and before that I volunteered at KCMU (now KEXP). Get in touch w/ me using this email: AskZune (then type the at symbol) microsoft.com (please no solicitors)
(edit me)

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