One other piece of news about this new, cheaper Zune Music Pass is that it will only be available on four devices, just like the Zune Music Pass now is around the rest of the world. For once everywhere but the US got to try out a new Microsoft product, not sure we really all wanted this product though.

After October 3rd this new Zune Music Pass will be the only pass available. If you are currently a Zune Music Pass subscriber in the US and love your free 10 tracks a month then don’t worry, you will still be entitled to these as it is only new subscribers who will not be able to get them.

But, along with this news comes some questions. I don’t know if users outside of the US will be able to stream the music videos if they own a Zune Music Pass. It would also be nice to see a reduction in the price of the pass around the world too and not just in the US (I do understand that this reduction might because of the lack of 10 free downloads). Another question is why is “Zune Music” being touted so much, is Zune siloing its entertainment? But perhaps the biggest question of all is when Microsoft says “more news to come” what are they referring to and how long do we have to wait?

What are your thoughts on this news?

Bruno H. told WPCentral that he was now able to access the marketplace saying:

"Yesterday when i opened Zune on my pc, suddenly there was a new option in Zune that I had never seen before.

It was the Marketplace that had opened. I could rent movies (for points) and purchase and download WP7 Apps (for money). I bought an app I had on trial (Sally’s Salon) to try the functionality. The Purchase went through but Sally on my WP7 device (Samsung Omnia 7) never got updated. Could be that I need Mango to get the purchases to download through Zune?"

However, it’s not all good news for Zune users around the world as the Zune Social is still down, its been quite a few days with very little news from Microsoft. I asked, via Twitter. the other day why there was no Social in the PC Software. The response I got from @ZuneSupport was:

The Zune social feature is currently down. I apologize for the inconvenience.

I am seeing an increasingly larger number of people getting annoyed that the Social is still down and with such little info about it from Microsoft it’s looking less and less likely that the issue will be resolved soon. Personally I don’t believe that this downtime points to some updated media service from Microsoft, whether that be a Zune service or not, but some people do think that Microsoft are up to something.

I hope the Social is fixed soon, I do like to know how many songs I have listened too!

I am not happy with this at all. Being a UK subscribed I am already done out of a good deal because I don’t get to download and keep 10 tracks a month and now I can’t have Zune on all the devices I have become used to having it on. My current set up is 1 Windows Phone, 1 Zune 8GB, 2 desktop PCs (one at home and one at uni) and my notebook PC. With this change something will have to change and I’m not sure what I will have to drop. Thankfully this doesn’t seem to affect having an Xbox linked, although I don’t own one myself.

Aside from my gripe with announcement I think it interesting to note that the Zune HD nor any Zune device is mentioned in this email and that its only Windows Phones. Also I wonder if this announcement is a precursor to any other Zune related announcement that might be coming out over the next few weeks. September/October has often been the time of year for new Zune related news and products, we do have BUILD next week.

How does this news affect you?

Update: It would appear that this change is for Europe only, it just gets better and better!

You can download the update from the Microsoft Download Center.

More coming soon…

Update 1: Zune services now appear to be more global as Microsoft has updated its “Availability of Zune software and services by location” page (via @tromboneforhire and @maryjofoley)

Update 2: Zune Pass is no more. Zune Music Pass is its new name. Not seen any other changes so far.

Update 3: There now appears to be larger margins around elements on the screen, this is most obvious in vertical lists of text such as a list of artists. I expect this is to make the software more user friendly.

“Working on lots of good things for both 2011 and 2012. My duties are split between working on an upcoming release for the Zune software and also working on some really cool 2012 stuff.” He then went on to add “that there are a lot of good things coming”. In addition to this information he also said that he had a “big win” in the week because he was able to convince his superiors that something needed the go ahead which he says “will be a really great thing, especially for [Microsoft’s] international customers coming up in the Fall”.

This has me wondering what could be so good for Microsoft’s international customers; perhaps 10 free tracks with the Zune Pass. That would be the best thing. But then, it could also be more Movie rentals or TV shows available through the Zune Marketplace but I’m not sure that is such a triumph, more just an evolution of Zune. I doubt it would be that Zune devices are going global as Windows Phone really is the best Zune device out there.

It also sounds like Microsoft are working on streamlining the update process of the Zune software and the Phone updates. It sounds like it will be a single update process or making it more obvious that one update follows on from the other. The current process was shown to not be that consumer friendly when users had to update their Zune software before being able to install the February update on their Windows Phone.

My thanks to @ParasValecha for the tip about this.

Anyone else have any idea what this “great thing” could be?

“We have nothing to announce about another Zune device – but most recently have introduced Zune HD to Canada via Zune Originals store and remain committed to supporting our devices in North America. We are thrilled by the consumer excitement for Zune across many new platforms, including Windows Phone 7 and Xbox 360. Our long-term strategy focuses on the strength of the entire Zune ecosystem across Microsoft platforms.”

This does nothing to reassure people that Microsoft will continue to to release Zune hardware, in fact it sounds very likely that Microsoft just want Zune to be an ecosystem across all of Microsoft’s platforms.

A more encouraging response comes from a Microsoft employee who works on the team responsible for the Zune hardware. He has written a lengthy forum post but the main point of it is he will be going to work tomorrow, and the next day, etc., etc. He knows nothing about the cancellation of Zune hardware and thinks people should stop listening to such rumour and speculation.

However, being a Microsoft follower its not easy to be that optimistic, Zune seems to have been shunned by the execs at the company in 2011 with no mention of it in some of the company’s most important key notes so far this year. This and other information I (and others) have received make many people think that Zune as a brand is dead. Again, Microsoft have done little to deny that that they are killing the Zune brand.

So where does all this lead us?

I am very confident that Zune as a brand is dead, therefore that means there will be no more Zune devices, no more Zune Pass, no more Zune Software or Social. However, this does not mean that these things wont be renamed, in fact Microsoft have said that all software aspects of Zune will continue into the future.

This makes me think that yes the dedicated Zune devices are dead but that does not mean Microsoft wont release a successor to the Zune HD. A few months ago there were quite a few job postings for hardware engineers within the Zune team which would seem odd if Microsoft were to cancel the hardware only a months later. I reckon a Zune HD 2 is in the works and I expect it will be running Windows Phone 7 OS but it certainly wont be called a Zune device when it comes out.

One problem with Zune was that it had very little mindshare thanks entirely to Microsoft’s lack of marketing for it. Which is the most probably reason why a rebrand is likely to happen. Therefore the new brand either needs to be heavily marketed at launch or the brand will need leverage the mindshare of another Microsoft product. Xbox fits the latter. I wouldn’t be surprised that whatever device Microsoft is currently working on will be released as some kind of Xbox Mobile device. With the device running Windows Phone 7 it will have Xbox Live integration and what are currently called Zune features.

But what if Microsoft has indeed cancelled this hardware?

Liveside have written a good article with some speculation what might happen to Zune and the devices. I’d like to add an additional idea to that list that Microsoft could be working on an Xbox tablet an not a smaller pocketable device. Microsoft are keen to take Xbox mobile as seen with the integration of Xbox Live on Windows Phone 7 but aside from the software there is nothing really unique with the hardware of the phones for gaming. Sony will be releasing their Xperia Play soon that sees dedicated gaming hardware on an Android phone. One way Microsoft could make some unique mobile gaming hardware would be to add Kinect hardware to the device. To do this though the device would need to be large than the Zune HD and would need to be a tablet. This tablet could well run Windows Phone 7 and so have the Zune features integrated into it.

There is one last option though, Microsoft are waiting for Windows 8. Windows 8 seems to be the answer to all of the requests that people for have of Microsoft.

Whatever is happening to Zune and any future handheld devices from Microsoft I imagine we will learn more at MIX.

What do you think about news from Bloomberg?

If, like me, you might want to read some of the articles speculating about Zune’s demise from:

Paul Thurrott

Liveside

Marques Lyons (Zune MVP)

Mary Jo Foley

Microsoft have said to Mary Jo Foley:

“We’re not ‘killing’ any of the Zune services/features in any way. Microsoft remains committed to providing a great music and video experience from Zune on platforms such as Xbox LIVE, Windows-based PCs, Zune devices and Windows Phone 7, as well as integration with Bing and MSN.”

That’s something I suppose even if the brand and name are going. From here on I am going to assume that Zune will never again be mentioned by Microsoft but they will, at some point over the coming months, announce the rebrand for the entertainment service. The rest of this article is pure speculation and me just spouting my thoughts for what the new brand could be.

What’s in a name?

So if the Zune name is going what could Microsoft rename it as?

Paul Thurott has said that some aspects of Zune will make their way over to Windows Live. That makes sense to me, in fact I said many months ago that Windows Live (and specifically SkyDrive) should feature a section for music like it does for documents and photos.

What could the Windows Live service be called? Windows Live Music? Possibly, but Zune is more about entertainment than music. So, Windows Live Entertainment? A bit of a mouthful, Zune would be better. Windows Live doesn’t have much mind share and isn’t deemed as cool so perhaps Microsoft will want something unrelated to Windows Live but something that be featured on it, a bit like Office in Windows Live; Windows Live is used to amalgamate various online services, not to be one.

Microsoft like their single word names such as Bing, Office and Xbox. Could we then see a new name for the brand? Perhaps. The only single word name that makes the most sense to me would be to call service Metro. Its what the UI design is codenamed, it has a “cool” factor to it and its urban. There are many other connotations for the name Metro and it could work very well, but then people would have to convince people that Metro is better than Zune. Metro would be a brand new name and Zune has users but relatively few people deem it to be of any real value.

So Microsoft are likely to want to use a well known and liked brand that can plug into Windows Live, hmm that’s a tricky decision…Xbox. I wonder if Microsoft will call the new service Xbox Entertainment, it seems to make sense to me. one major advantage I can see with this possible rebrand is that people who buy an Xbox Live Gold subscription would then be able to stream as much music as they liked rather than having to buy a Zune Pass on top of the Gold subscription. The whole point of Xbox Live Gold is entertainment, allowing people to play against each other, access social networks, etc but surely music, films and TV all belong in that entertainment brand too.

Another good part of the Xbox service is the gamer score which is replicated in Zune with play count. Well what if merged the Zune and Xbox services not only made people compete with how many achievements they had achieved but also their play count and perhaps even how many films TV they have watched and even how many podcasts they had listen too.

With the current success of the Xbox and Kinect I wouldn’t be surprised to see Microsoft use the name for the rebranding of Zune (a bit like how the company is using 7 on everything, so long as they don’t call it “Entertainment for Xbox 360 7” or anything long winded like that).

My only concern with Xbox Entertainment (or something like that) is that it would need to be on the PC, in place of the Zune software, which could quickly be misunderstood as Xbox vs. PC gaming rather than just the entertainment side. Although having said that Microsoft have stated that they will refocus on gaming on the PC this year, could that mean PC gamers will be treated to more Xbox and Xbox Live features; Kinect is thought to be officially coming to the PC soon. The software could be used to get all types of entertainment on to one’s PC including music, films, TV shows, podcasts, Windows Phone 7 apps and PC games.

This idea of Zune being gobbled up into the Xbox team might explain the findings of Mary Jo Foley that quite a few services guys from within Microsoft have moved to Xbox team. I can quite easily imagine “Xbox” sitting beside “Office” in the Windows Live header. Allowing people to listen to music, watch films, TV, etc and perhaps even play games all within the browser.

More than just a name?

Any rebrand would be useless if its just a change of name, no one would suddenly decide to use the software and services. Therefore I think that we will see some new things for what was Zune. I would expect that Microsoft is concerned by whatever Google has planned for its long rumoured music service so I imagine there will be a greater focus of accessing entertainment through the browser. I’d hope that people could backup their entire music (and maybe all media) to the cloud (using SkyDrive) to have access to it wherever they are. I’d also hope that it would be more social, if it does merge with Xbox and Xbox Live this would be great, allowing people to share their playlists with their friends on Xbox Live and even via Twitter and Facebook (Microsoft’s special relationship with Facebook could be very useful).

Then there is the Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac which has been in beta for quite a few months. Could the new Zune brand go multiplatform? I’d like to see it happen but I think Microsoft will want to use it to make people come to the Microsoft ecosystem.

I’d hope that the rebrand would usher in a wider rollout of features around the world. Currently its very confusing to figure out what services are available in what countries. I wonder if record labels and film companies would be happier to give Microsoft content if the name of Xbox was used.

So that’s the software and services but what of the devices? All indications point to at least one more Zune device. Could the Zune name stay for the Zune HD2? Perhaps but I doubt it. I reckon work is being done on a new “Zune device” but in reality it will be a portable Xbox running Windows Phone 7 without the phone functionality. The device might even be  very gaming focused device with dedicated gaming buttons (this is allowed in Windows Phone 7 and devs can make use of special buttons but there must be other ways of doing the same functionality). This device would be like Apple’s iPod Touch which compliments the iPhone.

If is thought that the new device will be on sale this autumn, 2 years after the first Zune HD and perhaps just in time for Windows Phone 7.5.

When?

When indeed, I am pretty sure Zune was mentioned in the CES keynote so that might mean that lack of Zune mentioned in the recent announcements indicate the rebrand will be announced soon. At the latest I would expect the rebrand to be announced at MIX in April however there is the Gamer Developers Conference at the end of February which is perhaps where the service could be rebranded. We already know there will be an update for Xbox this Spring so perhaps as part of the update Zune will be removed from the Xbox and replaced with the new brand. There has also been talk of a few updates to Windows Phone between “NoDo” and “Mango”, perhaps one of them will do away with the Zune brand on the phone.

Why?

Its thought that this could be in part due to the Nokia deal. It will be great if music from Nokia’s Ovi Music catalogue is brought to the Microsoft service providing people with a larger amount of music to buy and stream. but I don’t think this is a recent decision, Zune is hardly prominent on anything Microsoft makes. Look at Windows Phone 7, the services are mostly all there but the Zune name and logo appear in very few places.

Its also likely that Zune wasn’t getting the kind of market share wanted by those higher up in the company, this is due to the refusal of the company to advertise the service and probably because its only been available outside of the US for the past few months.

The idea of rebrand that brings together all the entertainment services Microsoft offer makes sense to me. One name to advertise to consumers; Xbox. Three screens powered by Windows, Windows Phone and Xbox all with access to the same entertainment via Xbox Entertainment or Xbox Live. If someone is invested in the service and ecosystem on one platform it only makes sense which two other platforms they should move to are.

Could this be the motto of the new Xbox?

Xbox: All your entertainment, everywhere.

What are your thoughts on the possible Zune rebrand? Is it needed? What do you think Microsoft might op to rebrand it too?

I believe it was a mixture of two things that meant Zune was spoken about at the announcement. The first is that this announcement was made in Europe with a large European tech company, we Europeans have only just really got Zune over here. I know a few of my friends know about Zune because of me and I know only a few people who use the service. I know of people through Twitter who use it in the UK but its not a very large number. The reason for this low number of users is because for some reason Microsoft will not advertise Zune, at all. A strategy I don’t understand.

I therefore think that Zune was not mentioned because most European customers of Nokia haven’t the foggiest of what Zune is. Nokia have only a small user base in the US where people might actually know about the entertainment service. However I don’t believe this one reason would account for the Zune omission.

The second reason, I think, is because Nokia have their own Ovi Music service. Nokia recently announced that Ovi Music Unlimited was being shut down, the service is a direct competitor to the Zune Pass, but people will still be able to buy individual tracks from the music store. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the Ovi Music store is to be completely shut down and merged with Zune, Microsoft and Nokia seem to be collaborating on everything else. Zune is by the better of the two services offering more than just music and allowing people access to entertainment on 3 screens and the cloud.

The issue, perhaps, lies with the difficulties of music vending due to the record labels being so tight with who, how, where and when music can be purchased or streamed. I would imagine that if Ovi and Zune were to merge there would be some major issues convincing the record labels, but in the end it should mean that Zune would have agreements for more music.

So I think the second reason that Zune wasn’t mentioned is that Microsoft and Nokia don’t yet know when or if a better Zune service will be provided as part of the partnership.

Microsoft sadly don’t hold any regular Zune focused conferences so its unclear when we are likely to hear about the future of Zune, however there is mention that Zune will be talked about at this year’s MIX. Zune MVPs are likely to hear about the future plans at the MVP Summit but that will all be under NDA. I really hope its good news we hear about Zune over the next few months, I love the service and the brand.

If you follow me on Twitter you will know that I had been told that there would be an update to the Zune software before the Windows Phone 7 update was released.

If you haven’t yet get the update go to settings, general and then click “check for updates”.

I shall keep you posted on the “NoDo” update; I have also added a new bit to the banner at the top.

I have been a Zune lover for years, pretty much ever since the devices, software and service were announced. I even have a “coming Zune” poster in my room to prove it which I had to buy through eBay. For me it provided a complete alterative to Apple and its “iProducts” dominance. Over the years the devices have only get better, the software is now fantastic and the service now does a lot more than it used to.

Sadly though I have only been a partial Zune user for the last 18 months or so and a full Zune user for 6 weeks. The problem I have had with Zune is that it hasn’t been supported outside of the US for nearly all the time it has existed.

Back in the summer of 2009, just as I was starting my blog, I won a Zune 8GB. This made me use the Zune software which up until I had used infrequently as I would use Windows Media Player to put my entertainment on my Windows Mobile device. The Zune software was good and then in September last year they updated it and the software became great with some really nice new features. I enjoyed using the Zune software to play my media and having my Zune device but I wanted more, I wanted to use my proper Windows Live ID for my Zune account, I wanted access to the Zune Pass, I wanted the full Zune experience…

This article continues over at Inside the Circle, a Zune focused website and community. I have been communicating with the guys over Inside the Circle for the past year or so and they were keen to hear of my experience of Zune in the UK. I believe that my experience of Zune in the UK is also reflective of other users outside of the US.

I’d like to thank them for the opportunity to write an article for the site. If you are a Zune user, whether on the PC screen, the TV screen or the mobile, then I suggest you have a look at their site to keep up to date with the latest Zune news. Or if you want to know more about Zune then the site is definitely a good place to start.