BEFOREVIEW

Microsoft Zune 2GO Preview

[2007-05-25] by a special correspondent B.G. Lei

Hot on the heels of the unprecedented market success of the original Zune, Microsoft seems to be ready to take the next step in the battle for MP3 player dominance. Based on the reliable sources, Microsoft is working on iPod Shuffle competitor named “Zune 2GO” with the release date planned sometimes in Q4 2007, just in time for a busy holiday shopping season.

We had an opportunity to play with an early prototype of the device and we are pleased to be the first to report on this revolutionary development in the MP3 player space. Skeptics may raise issue that Microsoft was rarely revolutionary in the last 20 years but we are not joking, Zune 2GO has the makings of the revolutionary product! If Microsoft is indeed able to bring it on time, it will forever change how you think about MP3 players.

The very first thing we noticed is its diminutive size. Zune 2GO is just like the SD card! Goodbye USB, no more cables to sync the player with the PC. Just plug it in the SD card slot most of modern PCs already have and you are ready to sync. Copying files is extremely easy, no special tools or software is needed. Just copy your music to a special folder named “My Music”.

Zune 2GO supports only WMA format for the playback. WMA files can have up to 128 Kbps bitrate promising near CD quality reproduction. However, if your music files are in some other format, Microsoft is working on a simple utility that should seamlessly convert other formats to WMA. Based on our sources even FairPlay protected files purchased at iTunes Music Store will be converted to unprotected WMA files! In order to prevent piracy, such converted WMA files will be locked to a single PC and a single Zune 2GO.

To play your music on Zune 2GO, you will need a custom designed sleeve/headphone element. It should be available at any store where Zune 2GO will be sold and price should be very competitive. Zune 2GO slides into the sleeve and immediately starts playing music. There is no ON or OFF switch. If player is in the sleeve, it plays! Sleeve is very small in size, much smaller than iPod Shuffle. Unfortunately, since sleeve and headphones are combined in one element, you won't be able to use other headphones until 3rd party accessories become available.

If you don't think that above features are truly revolutionary, than options to refresh your Zune 2GO will definitely make you change that opinion. Microsoft is planning to install over 5000 Zune 2GO Stations across North America. Zune 2GO Stations will provide two distinct options.

The first option is “Refresh My Music”. Basically, if you tie your Windows Live profile to your Zune 2GO and subscribe to the “Refresh” service (rumored to be around $10/month), you can just plug your Zune in any station and have up to 7 songs (randomly selected based on your profile) copied to your device. Songs will be playable for up to a month or until next refresh.

The other option is “Refresh My Zune”. This service will be free of charge and should be available on any Zune 2GO Station. You can just drop-in your Zune 2GO to any station and get a random Zune 2GO that somebody else dropped before. What a better way to discover new music than to get a completely new Zune 2GO preloaded with someone's music? We can imagine a lot of new community services developing around this feature. Of course, Zune 2GO Station will transfer your profile automatically to a new Zune 2GO so there should be no worries about losing your Live profile or syncing with your PC later on.

We are truly impressed with the Zune 2GO and accompanying services. We are pretty certain that Zune 2GO will make Apple sweat like never before. It could even result in Apple having to copy Microsoft for the first time ever.