This was one of my biggest wishlist items for Marketplace. Awesome!

sweet! no reason not to get a zune pass if you don't already have it. bravo microsoft. one two three punch today and yesterday. zune 3.1, this announcement, and NXE.

Cesar will the 10 tracks have any drm on them?

Wow, what a great way to get the people who were hung up on "owning" music into the service. Personally I could care less if I own or rent-- being able to download whatever I want whenever I want makes owning music irrelevant-- but I know several people who have balked at subscription services for that reason. There's simply no excuse anymore!

Didn't see this coming, I'll be signing up next month when I have some extra cash.

This is very nice Cesar, but when can I get the Zune Pass here in Canada? The year is almost up and I thought for sure this month. This would seal the deal for me to get off the ipod ecosystem. My zune120 is just a solo dude without the marketplace of honeys. :)

Wow, great. Really really great.

I love my Zune pass even more now!!! I hope I don't have trouble deciding which 10 songs I'll keep each month....

you can get MP3s in marketplace with the 10 free tracks...in fact that's all I'd go for!

Very cool, another advantage of the wonderful Zune Pass subscription service.

no way. Outstanding stuff.

How do you choose your tracks that you want to keep?

wowwwwwwwwwww, Thank you for making my jaw drop. Again, wowwwww. amazing! Thank you!

Outstanding.  What a great feature.  Now to roll it out to other countries...

Wow!

What a killer move.  This is really a great response to people who say "Yeah, but if I cancel my subscription I have nothing to show for it."

Thank you - this is amazing!

Wow.  Just wow.  Nice work making this happen.

Wow - I am totally blown away by this fantastic move.  I have been an avid eMusic user for years now, but this is totally making me consider getting a Zune Pass.

This is simply awesome. A Zune device, combined with the version 3 software and a Zune Pass is the only place to be for music lovers.

Bravo! Bravo!

(Claps. Gives standing ovation)

You just buy it.  (Right click, if you are clueless.) First ten are no charge.

Hi Cesar,

First of all, awesome deal for us subscribers!

Second, I have two questions.

1) How can we tell the Marketplace which 10 songs we want?

2) Is this deal only for ZunePass Songs, or is it for any 10 songs on the marketplace?

This is just amazing!, Just got my first WMA converted to MP3. This is what we all wanted... and something that will keep us coming back to get the music we love. Many many thanks, now I feel like supporting Zune Pass for the past two years has not been a money waste...

Wow, Zune is just killing the Itunes music store in terms of choice and value!!! I tell mostly everyone about Zune pass, and a few people don't like how you can't keep your music, well this is going to be a selling point for them!

This is exciting. My only problem now is that I'm working on a Mac with Parallels, so the pass wouln't help me too much on my computer (because I don't like running windows).  But I have to say that this is VERY compelling and is a good move.  Keep up the good work!

What a nice surprise! And I thought the Zune Pass was an amazing value before, now it's just...wow!

When will Canadian be able to get it? I can't even buy songs from the marketplace. What are they waiting for?

WOW 10 tracks that almost the number of songs on a album, Zune Team.....I love you lol

Thanks a ton Zune team!  Nice to have ANOTHER huge thing to brag about to friends and family who haven't 'converted' yet.

This is Great! Zune is the way to go!

I was never interested in the Zune Pass until this announcement.  I'll be signing up!

what is the bit rate of a Zune MP3 file? I believe Amazon's MP3s are encoded at 256kbps (variable bitrate).

Is this is a "use it or lose it" program? Can you wait 3 months and get 30 free tracks all at once or do the free tracks not carry over so you'd have to get the 10 free tracks each month?

Very good on Zune team's part very good... it makes the subscription much more worth it.

Best thing ever happened to MUSIC. now only thing we need from Zune is a best device ..to match ipod touch. zune120 is far superior than ipod classic. zune flashes offers log better functionality than ipod nanos.

zune flashes should look better than the current version and zune touch should arrive soon.

Way to go Zune.

Same question here: how do you get your 10 tracks?

FYI: The "free" album I just downloaded is 320 kbps, which is interesting since the DRM versions were 192.

Don't know if this is standard for all files. YMMV.

Even for people who don't own a Zune, this is a great feature! For only $15, you get unlimited music to try, try different genre's and never have to worry about wasting money on music your not sure you'll like. And this way, If you ever cancel your zune pass subscription, you'll still have your absolute favorites still in your collection! Great feature, guys! The only thing i'm wondering though is, WHY DIDN'T YOU BLOW THIS OUT BIGGER? This is a HUGE blow to Apple's sales model...

I figured out how to get the tracks.  When you click Buy on a song in the Marketplace it will say that you have 10 song credits as well as your points to buy songs with.  You can just use your song credits.

this is such an awesome unexpected feature. ive been paying for the zune pass for the past two years and this just makes me that much more worth it. thanks so much.

on another note everytime i try to add something to my cart i get a an error that it cant process my request. and when i veiw my cart it will tell me it cant at the moment. is zmp down at all?

anyone who doesn't think the ZP is worth it is NUTS!  keep up the good work

I am one of those "have own to guys", and will be getting my first Zune Pass today.  After a year of having my Zune, there is no longer an excuse not to by the Zune Pass.  Excellent Smithers!!!!!

AWESOME.  Congrats on creating such a fantastic end-to-end music experience - device, desktop client, marketplace, and website are all top notch.  

All purchased content tagged MP3 is MP3 @ 320Kbps.  All purchased content tagged without MP3 is 2-pass WMA @ 192Kbps.  End result audio quality should be very similar, however.

This is great. But I still can't switch from Napster because there still isn't a Media Center interface. I love music and most of the time I want to listen to it on my stereo instead of my Zune. Give me a way to browse and stream music from Zune Marketplace with my MICROSOFT remote and I'll switch that very day.

hey, will this work with the Zune Pass cards available at the Zune Store ?

@Karl

I can access all of my Zune Pass music via Media Center. I have it scanning the Zune directory, and it plays my music just fine. Or am I missing something from what you want?

Finally, I feel like the zune pass is a good investment for my small budget.  Thanks!

Thank you Zune team!

Wow, VERY cool news. I have one question: are the 10 tracks DRM'd?

@Will

The Napster interface can search, browse, and stream any music from the Napster catalog from within Media Center. That means you can just play millions of songs with your remote -- no need to leave Media Center and download from a client app. Or you can just switch on a Napster radio station. Looks great on a big screen TV. So easy the wife can use it. It is also fantastic at a party becasue someone can mention a new song they like and you can just play it. It always impresses.

I wish Microsoft would just buy the Napster interface if they don't want to make their own.

HOW TO SELECT YOUR 10 TRACKS:  Very easy.  In the Marketplace, find the track you want, right click on either the "Buy" or "Download" button to the right of the track, and select "Buy" from the popup menu that appears.  A new window will pop up that tells you that one of your credits will be applied to the download, and that there is no cost.  

Absolutely love it.  have mentioned it a couple of times on your comments here that this is _exactly_ what I think a subscription service should be.  Fantastic job!

This rocks... I have always believed you should be getting something for your money to keep!  Thanks so much.  I will probably get me a zune pass next month

Zune is coming of age. We appreciate it!!

As you've no doubt have read , we made some exciting enhancements to the already-solid Zune Pass

Wow... I just downloaded 10 free MP3's... no strings attached. The Zune Pass is now the best 15 dollars I spend every month.

I'm very happy with the new zune pass updates as well as the new zune software update . Also I passed the 5000 plays mark recently. The 5000th play was Glassy by Dj Rekha....

This sounds great, when is this coming to Canada?

Does anyone know how to use the song credits for songs that have alreqady been downloaded through the ZP?

I cancelled 2 XM Canada Sat Radio subscriptions at $10 per month each to get a zune pass instead.  If a zune pass is not available by Christmas in Canada  I'm thinking a boxing day IPOD would be nice.

I agree - Canada has been left out of the "social". :(

I've always wondered this...when it says "some songs not available"...how do you know if they are available or not?  I've been looking in the marketplace for some kind of clue.

For those who have Zune Pass, as I'm on the fence now that they are offering 10 permanent songs.

With these 10 credits, I notice that all albums cost the same as the value of 10 songs. Can you download an entire album with the 10 credits, even if that album has, say 14 songs?

Very Lame that there is no Zune pass in Canada.  I am sort of pissed that I bought two Zunes thinking I would be able to get the Zune pass.  I should have stuck with Ipods.

Another Canadian here still waiting for the zune pass in Canada - it's the only thing stopping me from buying one.

Another Canadian here hoping you sort out the licensing issues with the music peeps up here, just bought a zune 120 and sure would like to use the pass as well.

Any ideas if zune pass is coming to Canada? I read that its still coming in 2009...

Any ideas if zune pass is coming to Canada?

How do you choose your tracks that you want to keep?

canada... maybe... soon?

canada! DAMN.

Canada when?  when?

Also waiting for Zune Pass in Canada before I purchase a Zune Player

Want to buy Zune pass for Canada!!!!!

Awesome. Too bad my pass is totally borked and the "download" buttons are missing. I'm signed in. I can see my account is current. No "download" button. Engrish tech support is clueless.

WHEN ARE WE GETTING MARKETPLACE IN CANADA??!!!

I'm finding that much less than 90% of the content in the Zune Marketplace is available as MP3, even for some very big name bands. Is the amount of MP3 content still going to be increasing, or is the current '90%' what we're stuck with?

I have had a Zune pass for the past 2 weeks and can say categorically there is NO way that '90 %' of the Zune content is available as DRM-free MP3. It feels closer to 25% from my attempts over a wide range of music.  Is there going to be any progress on this front, or is this as good as it gets?!

Eh! We really exsist up here... it't not a myth!  CANADA = REVENUE$$$$

I like music and I like memberships... and I live in Canada

where is the love?

Canadian support would be very much appreciated.

Adding my voice to the demand for Canadian access to the Marketplace.