Pictures of special, limited edition Microsoft Zunes have surfaced and the good news is that if you like overpriced West Coast fashion, you're in for a treat. Apparently, Microsoft struck a deal with West Coast-based boutique clothing stores Union, UNDFTD and Stüssy that provides them with tricked out Zunes that'll be sold at (online) auction from UNDFTD's Web site. What do you get for your hard-earned coin? Well, Virginia, you get the fancified Zune, Shure E5c headphones, JBL On Tour portable speakers and a Zero Halliburton case. Yes, that Halliburton.
Only two special Zunes are being made available to each store, so get that wallet ready. Oh, and just in case you're wondering, I've been informed that the proceeds for the auction goes straight to the store's coffers, so don't think you're helping out Dust Bowl victims or anything. Check out more pics of this hot jawn after the jump.



Zune, the way music wants to be: gangsta and (probab...

Remember the rumor that the Zune will pay you for sharing a song that someone ends up buying? Well, that rumor was squashed by Cesar, the pants wearing blogger last week. Not so fast, says a reader who uncovered a whitepaper from Microsoft detailing their possible foray into "off-line economies for digital media."
In the paper, Microsoft details a way for one user to sell content to another while giving profits back to the copyright holder but still compensating the seller for participating in this offline economy. The paper also talks about adding Bluetooth to an iPod device, immediate purchases on-the-go, sophisticated sales scenarios, and best-effort anti-piracy DRM restrictions. I've had enough fun reading white-papers to last me a life time, but if you're interested, hit the PDF link.
Whitepaper [Gizmodo]
– Jason Chen
Thanks tipster!

Filed under: Gaming, HDTV
Microsoft has finally seen fit to release the details of its Xbox 360 dashboard update. Scheduled for release the morning of October 31st -- yes, that's tomorrow -- the update will add the much-talked about 1080p / HD DVD support, as well as the ability to play WMV files from a connected PC, disc, or USB storage device. Currently, users can only stream video from connected Windows Media Center PCs, but any XP machine running Windows Media Connect or Windows Media Player 11 should be able to do it post-update, as demonstrated during a press conference in Japan with several 720p-encoded videos. This compares to the PlayStation 3's recently-revealed compatibility with MPEG-4 and other video files, but so far neither has announced support for DivX / Xvid and Media Transcode 360 still requires Media Center. Apparently only 84 things needed fixing this time, down from the 125 in the spring update, including the option to automatically download demos of new Xbo...

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video
It's a good thing that Europeans don't mind waiting for "kit" that's been released in other regions of the world months earlier, because according to a Microsoft exec, the WiFi-enabled Zune may not hit the UK until sometime in 2008 -- well over a year after its US launch. According to Dene Schonknecht, the company's media and entertainment alliance manager, "the earliest date it will be in the UK is towards the end of 2007. However, it could easily be 2008." Schonknecht told New Media Age (subscription required) the reason for the delay is that "we haven't yet selected a music store provider to build Marketplace in the UK, which means we're way off launch," although now that a Zune International head has been appointed, at least there's someone to spearhead the project. Overall, it's not shaping up to be a very merry Christmas for the Brits -- while Americans will be busy playing their new PS3s and rocking out to their new Zunes, our frie...

I read Robert Scoble's post last week comparing the iPod to Zune. If nothing else, I usually find something interesting or thought provoking in Robert's posts. In this one, I found it interesting that his conclusion is that when compared to an iPod, "the Zune abjectly fails." The reason for this failure, in his opinion, is that there is no killer feature to differentiate Zune from the iPod.



I could critique and defend each of the points Robert made. But, it occurred to me that Robert is missing the point of Zune. There is no one magic bullet that is going to make Zune (or any other player for that matter) suddenly topple the iPod. What will be successful is a product that excels at the fundamentals while adding new features only when it makes sense for the user. Sure, software matters. Integration matters. Design matters. And, marketing matters. As Robert points out, it is the little things that matter and which will lead to long term success.


...

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video
Looks like there's a new -- albeit limited edition -- color Zune on the (auction) block: red. It comes by way of Union, one of the three La Brea Massive stores (including Undftd and Stussy -- not to be confused with the West Staines Massive) auctioning custom Zunes with "staff picked playlists," packed with Shure E5cs, JBL OnTour speakers, and a ZeroHalliburton 5-inch black aluminum attaché. Only two reds and six packages will be made available in total, so if you're feeling a little itchy to get all Bono up in this piece with your Microsoft player, hold out a while longer, something tells us more Zune shades are due eventually.

[Via HypeBeast, thanks Eric] 
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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Thanks to the boys at PodTech.net they have done a video interview with Matt Jubelirer, who is the product manager for the Zune at Microsoft. The video covers a variety of Zune subjects and runs for around 40 mins. Click here to watch Here to download

Filed under: Announcements, Features
Alright everybody, it's time to get to work. We know it's Friday afternoon, but we're coming up on the final weekend to get your Engadget theme song and photo entry in to us, and the last couple of days off you're likely to have before Halloween next week. We're making it worth your while with some pretty big prizes -- a Nikon D80 DSLR for the photo contest, a Zune for the Engadget theme song, and a VidaBox SLIM Media Center PC for the best costume. Check it out:

Halloween contest - VidaBox SLIM home theater PC
It doesn't have to be scary, but you definitely need to get creative -- make a gadgety Halloween costume! Send it in by Wednesday, 11:59pm EST, November 1st. Full details on how to enter here, let's make it happen.

Gadget photo contest - Nikon D80 DSLR with lens
Shoot the best gadget or tech themed photo! Send it in by 11:59PM EST, Sunday, the 29th. Full details on how to enter here.

Engadget t...

Check out the bitmap - two colors of Zunes plugged into my PC....

www.zunester.com/zunes.jpg

Scoble has posted about Zune. I will comment on the overall post in more detail in a bit (and Robert and I come at things from somewhat different angles in general), but he does rightly note one key asset - the Zune updater. A great deal of effort has gone into making periodic firmware updates reliable, seamless, and automatic.

This is definitely a nice, tactical feature - we couldn't get everything we wanted into the box right out of the gate. But more importantly, it's a strategic feature. We plan to be very nimble going forward, and there are a lot of great ideas for things to do with a small portable media box with wifi (many mentioned on this blog's comments). Must...be...nimble.

xbox 360 owners have experienced this - every now and then a new software update automagically appears on their box, bringing new features and improvements.