{"id":350815,"date":"2025-11-02T17:51:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T17:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/350815\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T17:51:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T17:51:13","slug":"the-story-of-the-microsoft-zune-the-would-be-ipod-killer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/350815\/","title":{"rendered":"The story of the Microsoft Zune, the would-be iPod killer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1ymtmqpi _17nnmdy1 _17nnmdy0 _1xwtict1\">The Microsoft Zune is mostly just a footnote in tech history. Microsoft spent years \u2014 and vast sums of money \u2014 trying to create a true competitor to Apple\u2019s iPod, <a href=\"http:\/\/[Zune hardware was a mistake, admits former Microsoft exec Robbie Bach | The Verge](https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2012\/5\/14\/3019100\/zune-hardware-mistake-robbie-bach)\" rel=\"nofollow\">without ever coming close<\/a> to actually pulling it off. The Zune was simply too little, too late.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1ymtmqpi _17nnmdy1 _17nnmdy0 _1xwtict1\">You know what\u2019s surprising about the Zune, though? Microsoft made a lot of the right bets with the Zune. The company saw \u2014 well ahead of most of the rest of the tech industry \u2014 that adding social features could make its product stickier. It understood that these pocketable devices might eventually be useful for much more than just music. And it had a bunch of interface design ideas that are still very present in our lives today. The universe in which the Zune was a smash isn\u2019t so far away (And there <a href=\"http:\/\/[Microsoft killed the Zune, but Zune-heads are still here | The Verge](https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/22238668\/microsoft-zune-fans-mp3-music-player-subreddit)\" rel=\"nofollow\">are plenty of fans in this one<\/a>, too.) Maybe if it hadn\u2019t been brown, you know?<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1ymtmqpi _17nnmdy1 _17nnmdy0 _1xwtict1\">For <a href=\"https:\/\/link.chtbl.com\/versionhistory\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">this episode of Version History<\/a>, we tell the whole story of the original Zune. (There\u2019s a Zune HD episode to do here at some point \u2013 more on that another time.) David Pierce, Nilay Patel, and Victoria Song flash back to the days of MSN Music, the Toshiba Gigabeat, and the Xbox 360, to try and figure out the future Microsoft saw coming. The hosts also talk through the shocking ambition behind Zune, which was meant to be much, much more than just a music player. Microsoft even made new kinds of deals with the entertainment industry, to support its vast vision. And finally, they discuss why the Zune didn\u2019t work, and whether it ever even had a chance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1ymtmqpi _17nnmdy1 _17nnmdy0 _1xwtict1\">This is the fourth episode of Version History. If you want to find the show, there are three good places to go:<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1ymtmqpi _17nnmdy1 _17nnmdy0 _1xwtict1\">Thanks to everyone who has already watched or listened to the show, and has sent feedback! We\u2019re already putting on the next bunch of episodes, and want to hear everything you think we should be doing or not doing or doing differently. How many more MP3 players deserve their own episodes? You tell us. In the meantime, if you want to know more about the Zune story, here are some links to get you started:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Microsoft Zune is mostly just a footnote in tech history. Microsoft spent years \u2014 and vast sums&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":350816,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[239,705,252,5158,242,158,67,132,68,159017],"class_list":{"0":"post-350815","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-apple","9":"tag-gadgets","10":"tag-microsoft","11":"tag-podcasts","12":"tag-tech","13":"tag-technology","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-version-history"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115481377845814618","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}