Microsoft Talk

Consumers can now keep the tracks they love.

From its inception, Zune has bet on the power of subscription, not only as a consumption model but also as a way to highlight the music discovery features central to the Zune experience and the PC platform. The Zune service gives consumers convenient and unlimited access to the music they want, and also connects them to other music fans and expert sources to help them find the music they will love. The new enhancements to the Zune Pass subscription service offer unprecedented value for all music fans.

“The subscription model continues to redefine the digital music landscape, and today’s announcement is great news for consumers, artists and labels,” said Simon Renshaw, chief executive officer of Strategic Artist Management (representing Dixie Chicks, Miranda Lambert, Everclear, Tila Tequila and Aly & AJ). “This breakthrough offer makes it easier than ever for consumers to discover new music and will encourage deeper engagement in the digital music space, and that is good for the entire industry.”

A Zune Pass gives a subscriber access to millions of tracks that can be streamed or downloaded from a PC or directly from a Zune device when in a wireless hot spot.1 Downloaded music can be shared among up to three PCs and three Zune devices. In addition to unlimited downloads, consumers now also get to select 10 free tracks per month to keep and add to their permanent collection. These tracks can be burned to a CD or moved to other devices even if their subscription ends.

Since the launch of the Zune portable media player and music service two years ago, Zune has invested in improving the subscription model and the discovery experience it brings to life. With the recent launch of Zune 3.0, Microsoft built additional value into the Zune Pass offering by adding new features focused on music discovery and personalizing the music experience for each user:

• Mixview. Customers can select an artist, album or listener from the Zune Social online music community to activate a dynamic visual mosaic of related music and listeners. With each click, users can take the view in a new direction. Mixview works with users’ current collection of music, in addition to tracks and albums from across the Zune Marketplace.

• Zune Channels. Subscribers can explore dozens of channels programmed by genre; explore sources such as Billboard Hot 100, The FADER magazine and KEXP radio; or access themed channels, like fitness, to get a steady stream of new music added to their collection automatically. Zune will even create custom channels for each user, based on favorite artists and genres.

• Personal Picks. Now the Zune software learns what kind of music users like and makes personal recommendations. Each week Zune suggests artists, albums and tracks based on the music each person has been listening to, as well as channels they might enjoy and listeners like them in the Zune Social.

Declare Your Loyalty to Delta Squad With a 120GB Zune “Gears of War 2” Special Edition

Microsoft Corp. today announced that Zune, the company’s end-to-end music and entertainment service, will introduce the Zune “Gears of War® 2” Special Edition 120GB device with pre-orders going live today in the U.S. at Amazon.com and Walmart.com. The special edition devices will also be available online at Amazon.ca, BestBuy.ca, FutureShop.ca and TheSource.ca in Canada, for an estimated retail price of $279.991 (U.S./CDN) and will begin shipping to customers starting Nov. 7.

In celebration of the sequel to one of the best-selling Xbox franchises of all time, Xbox and Epic Games Inc. have collaborated with Zune to create this unique portable media player. The Zune “Gears of War 2” Special Edition is based on the new Zune 120GB device and features a laser-etched Crimson Omen on the new gloss black enclosure, collectible “Gears of War” packaging, and 244 pieces of “Gears of War” media including the original game soundtrack, behind-the-scenes videos, game trailers and concept art galleries.

“This special edition Zune is a great way for ‘Gears of War’ fans to carry around all their music and videos while sharing their enthusiasm for the game,” said Michael Capps, president of Epic Games.

“Gears of War 2” is developed by Epic Games exclusively for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system, and will be available worldwide on Nov. 7. “Gears of War 2” is the highly anticipated sequel to one of the most popular Xbox games in history, and is poised to be the biggest entertainment phenomenon of the 2008 holiday season.

Evolving platform continues to offer new ways to connect with new music, media and the community, anywhere, anytime.

A Clear Channel from Discovery to Purchase

In a groundbreaking move, the 3.0 release makes the Zune’s FM tuner more interactive by using the RDS and RT+ information feeds that are used in the signal of most radio stations — Zune can now match that information with Marketplace, allowing users to click any song they hear to instantly tag and purchase it, or download it through their Zune Pass subscription.

If the Zune is in a recognized Wi-Fi hotspot, the song will immediately download. If not, a queue of songs will be ready to download when the Zune is next connected, either physically or wirelessly.

According to Jeff Littlejohn, executive vice president for distribution development at Clear Channel Radio, the new functionality from Zune comes at a perfect time for radio stations worldwide, as they seek new ways to distribute content of all kinds. Radio reaches more than 200 million people every week, and studies show that more than half of new music discovery still happens via FM stations.

“People spend a lot of time with radio,” says Littlejohn. “This Zune technology puts two things together that have been dying to get together for years — discovery of new music on FM radio and the purchase of music, which is getting to be more and more digital.”

According to Littlejohn and others in the broadcasting industry, putting those two things together creates the instant gratification that really compels consumers.

“To hear a new song on the radio and then purchase that song and own it within minutes is a pretty magical consumer experience I think,” he says. “We’re making FM radio interactive. It’s exciting for broadcasters, for consumer-electronics providers and, of course, for consumers, which is the most important.”

Zune’s Buy from FM functionality will work with any RDS or RT+ information feed from any radio station in the United States. Clear Channel alone will have more than 450 stations enabled for RDS feeds on the day Zune’s functionality goes live, and the company is also working with other broadcasters to standardize the feeds and improve the customer experience.

“We see this as an industry coalition,” he says. “This needs to be ubiquitous to reach its potential, and Zune brings so much depth to the game, since it’s so connected and focused on the listener.”

Software update will enable Zune users to tag songs and buy music directly from FM radio and download and stream music on the go beginning Sept. 16.

Zune, Microsoft Corp.’s end-to-end music and entertainment service, again revolutionizes how customers discover and connect to the music they love, where and how they want it. Starting next week, every Zune portable media player will let consumers wirelessly download or stream millions of songs on the go from thousands of wireless hot spots around the country. Free, powerful software and firmware updates will give Zune owners the ability to discover, tag and purchase songs directly from the built-in FM radio, wirelessly access the Zune Marketplace store on the go, and tap into interactive, personalized music recommendations that add even more value to the Zune Pass subscription. Zune is also expanding its device lineup with new 16GB and 120GB capacities as well as shiny new blue-on-silver and sleek all-black color schemes. The new features will begin rolling out on Sept. 16, 2008.

“Digital music services really come alive when they help people find not only the music they know they like, but the music they didn’t know they would love,” said Chris Stephenson, general manager of Global Marketing for Zune at Microsoft. “With the combination of subscription, wireless access to millions of tracks, and powerful discovery features like personal recommendations and the ability to buy music from FM radio, Zune is taking the digital music experience to the next level.”

Wireless Connections

More than 61 percent of people say they discover new music by listening to the radio. (1) With that in mind, Zune is taking advantage of the wireless connection and the built-in FM tuner to deliver a new feature called Buy from FM, which lets customers tag and purchase songs they hear on FM radio stations (2) directly from the Zune device. When the customer is in a Wi-Fi hot spot, the song can be immediately downloaded to the Zune device. If Wi-Fi is not available, the device will have a queue of songs ready to download when connected to a home computer or in a hot spot. Buy from FM uses Radio Data System and RT+ data feeds within the FM broadcast frequencies that identify song and artist data and enable the Zune service to identify and deliver the track to the customer.