“Microsoft Corp. said on Thursday a Zune-branded phone is part of its future plans to expand in the digital music market, now dominated by Apple Computer Inc.’s iPod. “A Zune phone is definitely part of the future of this brand,” Chris Stephenson, general manager of global marketing for Zune, told reporters at a news conference. [...]

I should preface this post as being my opinion, not the finalized words of Microsoft. A number of folks have asked about a Zune SDK. For the uninitiated, this is shorthand for software interfaces that would enable developers and hobbyists to extend the Zune experience. I've answered below that we *don't* have an SDK at this time, but wanted to spend a bit more time on why we don't. My brief

I spent a good part of the day doing up a little comparison chart of iPod and the Zune. Hopefully this can help clear up questions and give people a better view of how the zune compares to the iPod. To look at the charts, click the link up in the nav, or just click this [...]

Microsoft has started making various accessory product makers official Zune partners, as you can see below that is the little badge that will be placed on the products being developed specifically for the Zune. And Australian company, VAF has been one of the first company’s to be made an official partner and has already started development [...]

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video
We're just passing this one along, since there really isn't any way verify this isn't just a 5 minute Photoshop job or a little family get-together with a clever name, but apparently a ZuneBoards.com forum user named Marc just got his hands on a ticket to some sort of Zune launch party on Saturday, November 11th. We would suppose a "launch party" would imply a close proximity to some sort of "launch date," and November 11th seems close enough to the holidays to work within the

Ashcraft continues Kotaku's tradition of "creepily stalking" J Allard, who's actually been fairly difficult to find. Like a fat man's genitals, you may spend a lot of time looking, but once you find it you're not sure it was worth the trouble.
J's been working on the Zune in the States, but his first love is still the Xbox 360. Bodyguard, shmodyguard. Nobody can resist the combination of Ashcraft and McWhertor, two guys I still can't tell apart. – Jason Chen
TGS06: Where Is Our J? [Kotaku]

I wasn't going to do this, but someone asked. Here's the Zunester's office, at least for the next week... 

It's not as nice as the official and sharing videos we posted, but the fellas at Gear Live got someone from M$ft to give em a tour of the Zune behind some S&M fetish nightclub. No, its just some dark back alley. Yea, this is the fodder we have to feed on until Microsoft puts the Zune in our hands.–Brian Lam
Zune in Back Alley [Gear Live]

Lobbed over the wall from Cesar at Zuneinsider.com:
"In terms of Zune and Vista - will the Zune Marketplace app take advantage of Vista's new shell features like tagging (metadata)? Will I easily be able to use Vista's Start Menu Search to find songs to play etc? Also: will Zune music be playable hrough Windows Media Center to extenders such as the Xbox 360? Has there been ny thought to doing perpahs Zune Marketplace Sidebar Gadgets which would alert users with the Gadget running to be alerted to new music etc?"
Many good questions. Zune Marketplace content will be compatible with all those scenarios. So, for Zune Marketplace songs:
you'll be able to play it in Windows Media player you'll be able to search in vista, play from the shell you'll be able to connect to xbox 360 through media center extenders etc.... The gadgets are a great idea...I'll pass that along.

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

And in other news, it's a chilly 32 degrees in Hell today, and we just saw a winged pig buzz by our window.

[Thanks, Mikami]