Zune Insider has noted that  the Zune-Arts website received an Honorable Mention in the Industrial Design Magazine’s 2007 52nd Annual Design Review. Here’s a quote from the issue (thanks to Cesar):

“The site itself didn’t have a wow factor-the wow factor was the material in it.”

That’s definitely true. The content on Zune-Arts certainly was unique and intriguing - even if it left me shaking my head at times. My favorite video has to be the “Bitstate” video. Here’s a clip of it on YouTube:

Congrats to Zune-Arts and congrats to the artists who contributed to the site.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Zune-Arts, Industrial Design, 2007 52nd Annuak Design Review

I’ve read a couple of comments today pointing out that Zune.com appears to have changed somewhat. If you go to the website now you’ll see a flash promo that’s similar in nature to what was on comingzune.com (more on this site shortly) or even artwork found on Zune-Arts.com.. yet it’s not quite the same.

Thus, it’s not entirely clear that Microsoft owns the site at this moment. WHOIS information still points the site to belonging to Antonio Nogales of Gate Market Research Limited in London but if a domain transfer did take place, it often takes days for WHOIS information to get updated. So we’ll wait and see what happens here.

So while we’re on the topic of comingzune.com - we just noticed that the website automatically redirects you to Zune.net now. So long comingzune.com!!!

[Check it out]

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“Welcome to the social”

Head on over to the new website for the Microsoft Zune player over at Zune.net. There are four major sections to the site - “Meet Zune”, “Social”, “Artists”, and “Accessories”. You’ll find plenty of information and pictures regarding the new Zune player but you’ll also find plenty of information on artists and bands on the website (nice touch).

I must commend Microsoft’s efforts in pushing the Zune as a hip and cool MP3 player for the youth out there. Pretty sweet.

As an aside, Microsoft also owns Zune-Arts.net which currently showcases various artwork associated to the Zune.

[Check it out via Zune Insider]

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Zune, Zune.net, Zune websites

It appears that Microsoft may be lacking one key ingredient to their Zune marketing campaign - the Zune.com domain name. That’s right. Zune.com is currently owned by one Antonio Nogales of London and not by Microsoft. Microsoft did manage to secure Zune.net but if you look at the registration records, you’ll notice that Zune.net was registered to Microsoft on June 26th of this year - a bit late for a new product launch no?  Of course, it’s probable that Microsoft will end up owning Zune.com one way or another but it’s a bit funny that they don’t have it in the meantime given how close the launch is now.

Now getting Zune.com wasn’t the only problem for Microsoft. RedHerring (which reported on this domain name oversight) also reports that ZuneMarketplace.com belongs to someone OTHER than Microsoft. We’re not sure if Microsoft would want that domain name or not (it’s totally possible that the Zune Marketplace would be folded right into their live initiatives if you ask us) but yes - it’s another strange domain name oversight. Again - you’d think that when you launch a new product, you’d want all of the marketing materials to be in line with your product launch - including domain names.

At the end of the day we do know two things: 

• We can rest assured that ComingZune.com will forever belong to Microsoft - even when the Zune has indeed been introduced. (Hey - maybe Microsoft will forever use ComingZune.com as a way to launch new Zune players? Who knows! )
• Zune.net belongs to Microsoft and will be the home of the new Zune for now!

[Check it out via ZuneMax.com]

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We here at ZuneSphere had been thinking about integrating a forums feature for some time. The key theme with the Microsoft Zune centers on sharing and being connected to one another. I can’t think of anything that encourages that more than a community forums page on a website. Sure a blog is a form of communication and comments on a blog allow users to talk back.. but it’s still mostly 1.5 way channel where we speak, and you guys respond back and forth.

So, today, we launch our “experimental” forums page.. and I do mean experimental! Our site uses WordPress as the blog engine which means it’s not exactly easy to integrate off the shelf forum engines into the fold - at least not ones using an integrated user management system. After a bit of research, we decided to get XD Forum a try mostly because it was built with WordPress in mind.

You can see the forum page on the top tab of the website. In order for you to post or respond to a message, you’ll need to register as a user. This is really to keep the spam down. So, check out our new forums - introduce yourselves in it.. aw heck - bring a cup of coffee and your Zune and share with one another.

[Check out the forums]

Technorati Tags: ZuneSphere forums, forums, XD Forum, Zune Community, Zune Users