A decade after Microsoft’s MP3 participant was discontinued, the Zune is again?
Microsoft in the present day held a product giveaway on Twitter. However reasonably than supply up one in every of its newest units, similar to an Xbox Sequence X or Floor Laptop computer, Redmond dusted off a single, unopened Zune participant. “We don’t know if it really works,” the corporate mentioned in a tweet.
Tweet may have been deleted
The giveaway could appear random, however it’s a part of a promotion with the brand new Marvel movie, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The movie’s major character, Star-Lord, was sarcastically gifted a Zune within the earlier film as a joke. “It’s what everyone’s listening to on Earth these days,” one of many movie’s characters quips.
In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3the Zune returns in a distinguished position, blasting music all through key segments of the movie. In reality, the Zune turns into so necessary that Star-Lord virtually loses his life attempting to retrieve it.
In actual life, Microsoft’s Zune didn’t obtain a lot consideration from customers. The corporate started promoting the MP3 participant in 2006 to counter Apple’s iPod. However by 2011, Microsoft introduced it could cease growing new Zune {hardware} amid lagging gross sales and surging curiosity in smartphones. In 2015, the corporate formally ended software program help for the product, though current Zunes can nonetheless play MP3s saved on their {hardware}.
Though the product is formally useless, Microsoft in current weeks has been selling the Zune as a STEM academic tie-in with Guardians of the Galaxy. Should you go to Zune.web, you’ll be taken to an internet site that features a few coding initiatives for college students, like making a digital music participant.
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For customers nostalgic for the precise {hardware}, Microsoft is giving freely what seems like a second-generation Zune participant with 8GB of reminiscence. To win it, all it’s important to do is each like and retweet Microsoft’s authentic submit in regards to the giveaway. The competition ends on Wednesday and is just out there for residents within the US. Microsoft additionally created a video about utilizing previous Zunes in 2023. Should you miss out, many units stay on sale on eBay.
Apple, in the meantime, discontinued the iPod in 2022.
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