Hey folks - I’m finally back from my trip to CES 2008 in Las Vegas. I was only there for a few days but man.. it was tiring. I wish I had more time there to be honest with you but I can only take so much of Vegas sometimes. Maybe next year I’ll spend even more time in Vegas.

In case you missed it, I covered Bill Gates’ pre-keynote speech at CES here at Krunker.com. Most of the speech was about the concept of the digital decade - what Microsoft has done with the first digital decade and what is to come for the second digital decade.

Some of the more notable Zune related announcements were as follows:

• The Zune is doing very well with it’s second release - though no official sales numbers were given
• The Zune will be sold outside of the US for the first time in the Spring with Canada being the target country. No word on Europe yet.
• The goal is to build a "Social Experience" and the new Zune Social is exactly that
• Zune Social now has 1.5 million users

As for the Zune Social, it’s all about "People powered music discovery". There was even a little plug for "The Shins" at CES 2008.

Microsoft also demo’d the Zune connected inside a car using Ford’s Sync system. Here’s a picture of that:

That was the gist of Zune related news at CES 2008. I’ll be posting more Zune pics shortly.

Technorati Tags: Zune, CES 2008, Bill Gates, Canada

Here’s the latest review roundup for the new Microsoft Zune players (yes - it’s easier than creating individual postings for each posting isn’t it?) So here goes nothing..

We’ll start with Digital Trends which reviewed the Microsoft Zune 8GB edition here. Here’s what they had to say about the flash player:

Overall, the new 8GB Zune Red is a really good media player. It’ll especially appeal to those who don’t want to line the Apple coffers with their hard earned money but still want a solid music experience. For $199 USD, the 8GB Zune is a decent iPod contender.

Of course, the Zune can only have so much bath water right? How about a little slap in the face from Walt Mossberg. Yes.. you can always count on Mossberg to provide a bit of .. “yes it’s better but it’s not quite that good”. The review is here and the verdict is as follows:

Microsoft has greatly improved the Zune hardware and software this time. But it seems to be competing with Apple’s last efforts, not its newest ones.

Sure.. if you compare the Zune against the iPod touch then yes - it’s no real comparison. But come on Mossie… compare the Zune 80 against the real rival here - the iPod classic 80.. and you’ll quickly see things stack up fairly closely (though my Apple friends often remind me of the little things that are still better on the iPod. To that.. I answer.. it’s not about the little things when it comes to MP3 players.. it’s about whether it works or not folks).

We talked about PC Magazine’s review a few days ago but they also reviewed the new Zune Marketplace here. Here’s their verdict on the marketplace.

Zune Marketplace is definitely showing signs of progress, but we’ll have to wait and see if it can really stand up to iTunes.

The Seattle Post Intelligencer has posted their look at the new Zunes here on their website. Here’s a blurb from the article:

Despite my gripes, its form and function should make the second-generation Zune a strong contender in the portable media player market. And while I’m not throwing out my iPod just yet, I will be keeping an eye on what the Zune does next.

Finally, Wired.com has an interesting article entitled “Microsoft Retools Zune to Target Apple’s Flaws”. Here’s a blurb from that article:

With an upgraded Zune player and a new strategy for tapping the strength of social networking sites, Microsoft is making serious moves to challenge the iPod.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Zune, Reviews, Zune 8, Zune 80, Zune 4,

Yes.. I’m still recovering from staying up a wee bit too late last night/this morning. Oh wait.. I guess it would be yesterday morning eh? In any event, for those of you who are wondering what my Zune Card is - you can find me on the Social here:

http://social.zune.net/member/krunkermedia

So drop on by - add me as a friend and let’s see what we’re all listening to! If any of you are in the Los Angeles area - let me know. I’d love to start up a party of Zune followers in the area!!!

One final note - I’m creating a Facebook group for folks who visit ZuneSphere. You can always find me on that group or in the "Krunker" group so drop on by!!!

Technorati Tags: Zune Social, Zune Card