Zune HD Officially Goes Live, Already Considered a Hit On The Streets

Update1: Looking for more flavors rather than Black or Platinum? It seems you can find engraving options of other colors, on Zune Original online stores or in the player’s software source files code, which apparently indicates additional Zune HD palettes, like pink, atomic, magenta, or purple. That said, Platinum remains our favorite.
Update2: As planned, the Zune 4.0 software is finally up and ready to download - well, that’s only in case you were lucky enough to nab a piece of ZHD over the night. But anyway, as you may expect, it’s fully compatible with Windows 7 OS , which means Jump Lists support, Taskbar Previews/control, and Aero Snap window resizing. Other than that, it also offers Smart DJ feature, which creates endless playlists, using any artist, album or song and combines them with Zune Marketplace music, for those who have a Zune Pass. The Quickplay menu that easily lets you access recently added, played and favorite content, located on the home screen. Mini Player Mode brings the playing feature on top of your apps. And last but not least, full movies/TV shows online renting store.
Update3: It’s not a launch without the iFixit guys, laying their hands on a sealed and closed audio device, tearing it down and pulling out the parts one-by-one. And once again, this time is no difference than others, as the group just finished their Zune HD dissecting process, unveiling NVIDIA Tegra SoC, placed together with Toshiba-sourced flash NAND, Wolfson MIcro WM8352 audio subsystem, SiPORT HD Radio module chip, and an interesting “for our princess” inscription line, dedicated to one of Zune team crew member who apparently died before release.
Update4: Both Anythingbutipod and Crunch Gear have managed to grab themselves a pre-launch Zune HD device and kindly shared their interesting impressions, which you can find after the break, with the first, featuring the hardware part, while the second, showing Zune’s UI in all its glory.
Update5: As expected, Microsoft starts rolling out the Zune HD commercial and a very colorful new one is waiting for you just after the break, featuring Redmond new player’s features such as HD radio, video playback, Wireless connection and even Games (!)
Update6: If you’re into Magenta or Purple flavors, December 1 (2009) is the day you should wait for, as Microsoft will presumably get to release those colors for its highly respected Zune HD player. Not sure which storage capacities will get these hues up on their sleeves, but this way or another, it definitely worth waiting a while.



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