New Zune Advertising Campaign

No sooner does Crispin get the go ahead to remake the Zune ads to try and ratchet up the cool factor (not to mention the Zune price cuts), but we're already seeing the theme of the new advertising.  Hey, around here we all knew that the Zune is the way to go, however, I have to say that the marketing was underselling the product IMHO.  This new ad campaign is showing off the Zune as a "Music Discovery Machine," and invite folks to download the new 3rd gen software (which I have installing as I type this, gotta love dual core processors)!  With the social aspect of the Zune one of the main selling point, I'm glad to see that they are finally doing a better job of getting the message out.

A Couple of Free Tracks....Literally

I'm hardly a big Counting Crows fan, but I do enjoy rock, and I wanted to pass along the opportunity to acquire two tracks from this group, free for the downloading (only 9000 more and my Zune 80 will be full).  The two tracks are "1492," and "I Dream of Michelangelo."  They're both mp3 files, encoded at the 128 kbps, which makes them medium quality.  I'm not sure this how long this is going to last, but while the "1492" track is too loud for my taste, the other one suits me just fine. 

Link

Vote for the Zune on the WSJ!

This is a poll that started two days ago, and I've just found out about it on Zune Boards. It's on the Wall street Journal's website, and it's a poll for the Items you are most likely to purchase as a gift for Christmas. If you enjoy using a Zune, which most, if not all of you do, then vote here for it, because those ifans have crazy numbers for the iPhone and iPod already on the poll.

Exclusive Ladytron's Remix EP on the Zune Marketplace

After partnering with Mims on their last tour, Zune is doing it again with Ladytron. They are sponsoring the tour of the Liverpool band.

But the Zune marketplace also has an exclusive Ladytron's Soft Power Remix EP for you to download now. Check it out!

I have to admit I had serious doubts about the marketing strategy behind the Zune, but things have been changing a lot lately. Do you see a trend coming from the Zune team as we speak? The pink Zune special edition, the Zune-Halo 3, Music exclusivities from famous artists and labels. The Zune wants to be cool and wants to do cool things too. And I seriously begin to think that there doing it right! It's like if suddenly they were doing the right moves one at the time.

Let's hope that the upcoming software upgrade, the second generation Zune and the flash Zune will continue in the same trend.

Are we beginning to feel the magic touch of J Allard?

via Zuneinsider

DRM Free Music From EMI on Amazon.com

Amazon.com will finally open an online music store and yes, it will be DRM free. The company confirmed the move that had recently been rumoured.

Without giving any precise timetable, Amazon said that the music store would be online "later this year".

Amazon will offer EMI Music and about 12 000 other music labels in MP3 formats to its customers. The company will then become the second online store to offer EMI's catalog without DRM's hassle.

Apple was the first to announce the availability of DRM free content from EMI on iTunes Store earlier this year. Microsoft followed by saying they will eventually make the same move but no plans have been revealed so far.

No pricing information is available for now. But iTunes is offering the DRM Free songs for 30% more than the original locked music files available at $0.99. It would be surprising to see Amazon undercutting Apple at this point. Indeed, introducing to most expensive music store on the market is also not option for them. We will have to wait and see if they can innovate and bring a new attractive economic model to the fast evolving market of digital media.

This announcement will certainly add even more pressure on Universal, Sony BMG, and Warner's shoulders.

Via PCworld

Download Music for Your Zune for Free

There is still a lot of unanswered questions regarding the legality of international and domestic music downloads. RIAA’s litigation strategy has created a blanket presumption of downloading fear that may not be entirely justified. There is not that many websites that offers a guaranteed free legal service. Here’s a list of the ones we have seen. You have a suggestion to make? Please add a commnent.

3hive.com: A cool blog-style listing of free MP3-Zune compatible songs offered by record artists and labels. They are giving the tracks as a teaser for sell the album to you. You like an artist? Buy the album also!

Amazon.com Free Music Downloads: Find an interesting mix of mainstream and independent artists, available for free in Zune-compatible MP3 format. Musicians also have the ability to upload and share their songs.

eMusic.com: This one is not free but it is cheap. The site has over 2M songs in their database. Most of them are independent artists. eMusic has a free two-week trial period.

AOL-Music Now is Dead!

“AOL has named Napster exclusive supplier of subscription music for its AOL Music site, and plans to migrate all 350,000 paid accounts away from the existing service, AOL Music Now, over the next 60 days.”

“Unless they opt out of the move, existing Music Now customers will be able to use the Napster service for the same fee they pay now, and their existing login and payment details and any prepaid credits will be retained, AOL said.”

This reinforce the idea, backed by David Caulton that online music provider needs to be linked with exclusive mp3 player. The real money seems to be coming from selling the hardware and not the music itself. Standalone online music websites may be facing a challenge that can’t be overcome as we know it right now. This may be a part of the reason why Universal did everything they could to get a royalty on every Zune sold and are also planning to go after the iPod. The news came only a week after the Virgin Digital announced the merge of their service with Napster

Free Music From GarageBand and Zune

The preloaded content of your Zune was not enough? Get more free music from Garageband and Zune.

Garageband is good place for finding stats about artists you don’t know to well yet.

Garageband.com collects and provides popularity charts of independent music. They even have the lyrics of the songs. There database has over 125,000 bands at this time. You can download all sort of music from independent artist.

Zune as partnered with Garageband to offer you a selection of tracks from their database. Go ahead download them to your Zune!

Free Music From ArtistDirect and Zune

We found a few interesting things related to music today on Zune.net. Zune is now offering you free tracks from ArtistDirect's database. Couples of them are from well known artists like Moby, Aimee Mann and the Barenaked Ladies. The tracks do not seem to be available when you navigate through ArtistDirect’s website. You need to go at Zune.net to find the url. But once you have the link, you can download the MP3s and play them on the player of your choice.

Enjoy the music!

SectionZ Becomes Zune Friendly

“SectionZ has partnered with Zune to help spread the music of the Electronic Music Underground. If you have a Zune player use the Download Zune button to download free music. The folks behind the Zune share our values of community and using the community as a channel for more than just a top 40. To find out more about the Zune go to www.zune.net"

You’re a Zune owner and an electronic music lover? SectionZ may be for you! Download music directly to you Zune with the “download to Zune” button available on the site.

SectionZ is a comprehensive portal for electronic musicians and an ever-evolving online community. SectionZ provides a supportive online forum in which electronica artists can hone their talents through ongoing feedback from peers, enabling them to achieve their musical aspirations. SectionZ Music takes the cream of the crop and provides marketing services to publish the talent.