Zune Insider

As you can tell by the new design, we’ve dusted off Zune Insider and relaunched it with a new look and feel!  If you are reading this in RSS, click here to head to the site and check it out.  A few things we want to point out:

• We love social media! We’ve added widgets for Facebook and Twitter in the sidebar to the right.  If you aren’t part of the Zune Nation on either of these, please join us!
• We love the Zune Nation! We have added commenting system Disqus to the site to encourage healthy conversation, feedback, tips and tricks.  But remember…just like on our social networks, we want this to be a place that everybody can enjoy, so please behave.  If you’re not registered on Disqus make sure to do so, we want to hear from you!
• We love links! Check out the sidebar on the right, there you will find information about other RSS feeds, product info and just about anything else Zune related.
• Don’t forget to subscribe! In the top right corner of this blog you will see links…one of them is to our RSS.  Click it and get updates delivered right to your reader.

Thanks for stopping by! As a special thank you for reading all the way to the bottom of this very short post, we’re going to do a little mini-contest to see who actually got this far.  Everybody that leaves a comment on this post between now and April 19th at midnight PST will be qualified for a chance to win a free month of Zune Pass! We’re going to give away a few, so send your friends our way too.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

As you might have seen on our Facebook page, you are invited to a meetup in NYC on January 16. Here are the details from John, the organizer:

Live in Atlanta? Check out this post by Indmusic, Zune community member and MVP. He’s bringing folks from the Zune community together for a quick meetup. Details: 7p-8:30p at Lenox Mall in Atlanta, GA.

Ok, enjoy!

<edit> – meetup is postponed. Stay tuned for news on a rescheduled meetup!

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Since the launch of the new Zune Pass, I’ve gotten a few questions from folks. For a quick how-to, be sure to check out the screenshot tutorial over at Inside the Circle. And Harv from ‘rama did a great job in summarizing these – I ran his list by the product team and here’s what I got:

1. What’s the catch here?
No catch. You get everything you always got with your Zune Pass (i.e. unlimited access to Marketplace subscription tracks, for as long as you maintain your subscription), plus your choice of 10 tracks to keep every month.

2. If I don’t download my ten tracks this month, can I download twenty next month? In other words, do the ten free downloads carry over from month to month?
No, there is no rollover of the ten downloads from one month to the next. Download your selected ten tracks each month; next month you’ll be able to download ten more.

3. Is the ‘free downloads’ offer retroactive from when I started my Zune Pass?
No, it starts now. Each month from this month forward, you get ten free downloads. And if you are a current subscriber, you get all your 10 tracks immediately regardless of your renewal date. Cool!

4. How do I download the ten free tracks?
Right-click on the track you want, and select ‘buy’ or ‘add to cart’. If you have a Zune Pass, each month you will have a ten-item credit in your account to use for this.

5. Are the free tracks in WMA or in MP3 format?
That depends on the song. About 90% of Marketplace tracks will soon be available in DRM-free MP3 format. So chances are you’ll be getting a drm-free mp3

6. Can I burn the downloaded tracks to CD?
Yes! You can burn them, just like you can with any other purchased content. The downloaded track works just like one that you purchased from Zune marketplace: you can burn it, sync it to your Zune, or more

7. I sync my Zune Pass tracks to several players and PCs. How many free downloads do I get?
You get ten free downloads per account. Having several Zune players and PCs tied to that account doesn’t affect the number of downloads that you get.

8. How much does a Zune Pass cost?
No change here: it’s still $14.99 per month. For that you get access to all Zune Marketplace subscription tracks, and your ten free keep-it-forever download tracks

9. How do I get a Zune Pass? Can I get a free trial of it?
You can sign up for a Zune Pass here. You can also get a 14-day free trial.

10. When does my 1-month start? On the first, or the day I first signed up with my zunepass?
On the first day of signing up for your Zunepass

Ok – happy downloading!

<Edited 11/21 – changed 90% info – thanks Paul!>

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Thanks to TXT Bone, a buddy from Zune Social, for producing a set of background images for your Zune! Now, regular readers and visitors alike can all be insiders. You’ve already got the inside scoop by visiting this site, so show it

Check these beautiful images:

more in the full set here.