Why All The Zune Leaks? The Buzz Is Deafening!

By Kip Kniskern on April 15, 2009 8:20 AM

14 comments

I don’t know about you, but my head is spinning from all this Zune news. Well the buzz from the leaks may be deafening, the silence from Microsoft is positively ear shattering.

Trying to keep something under wraps in this day and age, is akin to plugging a leaky dike with a tissue. I have absolutely no problem with MS wanting to keep things under covers for competitive reasons. However all you have to do is look out there to see what this buzz is doing for Zune. Before the latest batch of rumors hit the interwebs , the Zune was lost in a wash of Apple news. Now that the leaks have started coming Zune is everywhere. This is the kind of exposure that MS couldn’t pay for, Yesterday the Zune HD story made it to the #2 spot on digg with 2000+ diggs. Zune has even been trending on twitter over the past few days.

Tonight the site WMpoweruser leaked the below image,

I’ve spoken to my sources and I can say the device you see above is real. However, besides Tegra the specs are still a big question mark. From what I’ve heard the UI is also different (how, I’m not sure). No confirmation on some of the crazier ideas. HDMI? Camera? Look for more Zune news in the coming weeks and months. Stay tuned to Liveside.net and Twitter for all the latest news.

Posted in News | Tags: LiveSide, Microsoft, Zune

Comments

http://www.liveside.net/members/VasiS/default.aspx VasiS

Very interesting!! time to replace my Zune80

Thanks for confirming that this is the actual device and from what you are saying looks like Tegra is also confirmed?
http://liveside.net/members/Salem/default.aspx Salem

The ZuneHD is looking good. I just hope it won’t only be available in 16 & 32GB (according to the WMPoweruser article), i’d like something a bit bigger.

The article (WMPoweruser) also mentions HD Radio. What about the European version as (North America’s) HD Radio isn’t used here, we have DAB Digital Radio. DAB would as well as FM & MP3/WMA/AAC/WMV/MPEG4 playback makes an excellent combination.

I’ll be getting one if these
http://www.liveside.net/members/ChaosAngelic/default.aspx ChaosAngelic

Ooh, now is this confirmation that it uses Tegra? First time I’ve heard you actually say that… :P
http://www.liveside.net/members/newmiyamoto/default.aspx newmiyamoto

Most of those specs are quite random and very unlikely from the little info that has gone around.

On a totally different note, what do the liveside guys think of this: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/19/stantums-mind-blowing-multitouch-interface-on-video/

Any chance of this being on the Zune HD?

I’d definitely prefer it to to a capacitive screen as all the ones i’ve tried never feel precise enough or even close to responsive enough.
http://www.liveside.net/members/danz32/default.aspx danz32

Current Zune’s menu:
Music
Videos
Pictures
Social
Radio
Marketplace
Games
Settings

I mean, I expect it to change, but WMPoweruser mentions a browser included as well…you’d think that would have its own link on the front page of links?
http://www.liveside.net/members/tedbone/default.aspx tedbone

Hmm do the UI is different? I wonder if it is “different” in the sense that hte items on the UI are not correct, or if it is the look of it..hmmm…
HDMI, HD radio, Web Browser = BIGTIME
No one has mentioned anything about it being a phone. Is it just that obvious that it won’t be? I know-don’t yell at me. I heard here and there that it will not be a phone months ago, BUT… I didn’t expect to see images like this either.
If not a phone maybe VOIP could work with this?
http://www.liveside.net/members/paperlock/default.aspx paperlock

http://www.zunehd.net/
http://www.liveside.net/members/paperlock/default.aspx paperlock

I wood get the zunehd as soon comes out.But i hope microsoft build in windows live messager in the the zunehd you sould chat from the zunehd.
JohnCz

I really want one of these. I wonder what Extras could refer to and if that is somehow tied to Windows MarketPlace.
http://www.liveside.net/members/tedbone/default.aspx tedbone

@paperlock:
Did zunehd.net add a little more to the art on this website today? I don’t recall seeing the “ghosted-in” background image yesterday – It now looks like they are slowly revealing the device, since it appears as if there is a cirlce with a zune device inside it.
http://www.liveside.net/members/Alber1690/default.aspx Alber1690

If you look at the source of the zunehd.net site, you get meta data keywords like “zune,zune.net,zune home,home,zune official website,microsoft,mp3 player,digital media,social,zunehd,zune hd” and “zune,zune.net,zunehd,social,homepage,zune official website,media player,digital music player,video player,mp3,drm-free,microsoft”

Sadly…nothing like “phone” or other words are in there…and there is this date stamp at the beginning of the source=”2008-12-23 02:00:50Z”…wonder if it has any value…
http://www.liveside.net/members/Alber1690/default.aspx Alber1690

OK…nevermind. I guess it’s fake (http://www.zunited.net/news/index.php/zune-hd/76-zune-hd/319-zunehdnet-is-not-real).
http://www.liveside.net/members/joeale/default.aspx joeale

But i hope microsoft build in windows live messager in the the zunehd you sould chat from the zunehd.
http://www.liveside.net/members/tedbone/default.aspx tedbone

Well, I knew that the website zunehd.net was a “fake”, but I’m not 100% sure on it. I know the reasons (and good ones) as to why we all think the site is not legit, BUT you never know.
Although I just saw the latest ZHD specs on this website (and none mentioned of a phone), I am holding out and hoping that it could still be a phone too. There is much talk about Zune planing on being extremely competitive for this round – a phone is that element to make it a hardcore competitor.

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