Zune HD now in Canada

[The DarkSide]

Originally Posted by WindSpear

darkside...can i marry you?

Only if you got a big butt, and a bigger dap collection!!! Lol!!!

[CrowdAds]

[daglesj]

Thing is just over a year ago this thread would have been 12 pages long or more by now.

Bit late now.

[The DarkSide]

Originally Posted by daglesj

Thing is just over a year ago this thread would have been 12 pages long or more by now.

Bit late now.

Yeah, and I would be getting cursed at a whole lot more!!!

[Angus_NB]

I am Canadian and own a Zune HD 16GB.
I bought it used on eBay just to see what they were like.
I like it a lot but am disappointed with Microsoft's lack of interest in supporting it. I expected consistent firmware improvements but MS seems to have abandoned the Zune.

I am now in the market to replace 16 smart phones. My choices are Windows Phone 7, Android and Blackberry. The lack of support for Zune has me skeptical about WP7. I have more control over Android and our employees are accustomed to BlackBerry.

[DaveMac-MS]

Originally Posted by Angus_NB

I like it a lot but am disappointed with Microsoft's lack of interest in supporting it. I expected consistent firmware improvements but MS seems to have abandoned the Zune.

I am now in the market to replace 16 smart phones. My choices are Windows Phone 7, Android and Blackberry. The lack of support for Zune has me skeptical about WP7. I have more control over Android and our employees are accustomed to BlackBerry.

I should point out that for Zune generations prior to Zune HD, we not only regularly updated the firmware, but did so on legacy hardware too - so we had a better track record than our competition.

When Zune HD came out we did in fact release a number of firmware updates - but now that the product is 18mo old and we're already on our next generation hardware (Windows Phones) you should expect the level of support to change. That happens with any and every consumer electronics product.

Microsoft has made public statements committing us to several updates of Windows Phone, and you should not expect an absence of WP7 updates only because your Zune HD has not received an update in the last month.

Cheers, Dave.

[lip]

Originally Posted by DaveMac-MS

I should point out that for Zune generations prior to Zune HD, we not only regularly updated the firmware, but did so on legacy hardware too - so we had a better track record than our competition.

When Zune HD came out we did in fact release a number of firmware updates - but now that the product is 18mo old and we're already on our next generation hardware (Windows Phones) you should expect the level of support to change. That happens with any and every consumer electronics product.

Microsoft has made public statements committing us to several updates of Windows Phone, and you should not expect an absence of WP7 updates only because your Zune HD has not received an update in the last month.

Cheers, Dave.

Well that pretty much confirmed that we will not be seeing another Zune device...
If MS doesn't do something quick with the WP7 regarding firmware updates, they are in big trouble....here we are in March and yet we have no update which is only adding C&P and some speed improvements...I heard it was all set to be releaed in January...whatever the reason for the delay this doesn't bode well for the platform...
I'm also in the same position but I am trying to push WP7 out to about 100 people when the parent company has switched from winmo to iphone...I'm having a hard time arguing that locally when I can't even get a WP7 phone to offer tethering...beyond pathetic MS...

[Angus_NB]

Originally Posted by DaveMac-MS

I should point out that for Zune generations prior to Zune HD, we not only regularly updated the firmware, but did so on legacy hardware too - so we had a better track record than our competition.

When Zune HD came out we did in fact release a number of firmware updates - but now that the product is 18mo old and we're already on our next generation hardware (Windows Phones) you should expect the level of support to change. That happens with any and every consumer electronics product.

Microsoft has made public statements committing us to several updates of Windows Phone, and you should not expect an absence of WP7 updates only because your Zune HD has not received an update in the last month.

Cheers, Dave.

18mo is a very short life span for a $250 piece of hardware.
The Zune HD hasn't received an update in nearly a year. The last firmware update was April 5, 2010. From the information I can find it appears that it was released September 15, 2009. That's more like a 7mo life span before development was dropped.
I have to sign a 36mo contract for phones. Should I expect the same 7mo-18mo commitment from Microsoft?

The release of phones doesn't seem like a reason to stop development on a PMP. Your competition seems to agree.

Some of the features people are asking for on the Zune are commonplace features found on media players that sell for 1/4 the price. Custom EQ settings and song resume are not features that I expected to be missing from a device of this calibre. Again, I am very pleased with the quality of the Zune HD but disappointed with the short development life span.

[unionjack37]

^Totally agree^, except for the song resume, don't see much use for that.

[Uberman5000]

The Zune HD isn't exactly the Kin here; it's not a thing that spontaneously got pushed aside because of the preposterous mismanagement of the people involved with the project, and no one quite knowing what this thing is. The Kin was forced, not designed.

The Zune HD, I think, is something that's designed for longevity. Hell, the iPod Touch has been basically the same since 2007, with each generation tweaking its specs and adding obvious features. The Zune HD is a superlative media experience, updated and tweaked every so often with firmware and apps, and it seems like the sort of thing that's going to be useful for a long while. While Microsoft invests in Windows Phone 7, it's not like the Zune HD's going to be massively deficient in its features, aside from a few audiophile features that wouldn't make or break it. This isn't like the Kin being abandoned because it was a dumb idea from the start; it's more like the latent developments of Windows Vista that eventually became Windows 7, and at least Windows XP was still around while Microsoft got its act together.