Archive for June, 2008

As many of you know, when Zune refreshed the product line back in November 07, we started selling DRM-free MP3s. We’re now up to around two-thirds of our catalog available in that DRM-free format. I’m sure many of you saw the recent announcement from Rhapsody today – with other digital music providers moving toward MP3, it could be signaling even better changes in the industry in the future.

Taken in combination with the millions of tracks you could get with a Zune Pass, and guided by recommendations from your friends in Zune Social, I think it makes for an exciting platform to discover new music. And as many frequent readers know – helping folks discover and get new music is something at the core of Zune. And good thing about all that discovery is that you can take it to go – you can drag and drop both subscription tracks, MP3s you get from Zune Marketplace, and the Zune Cards you download from Zune Social down to your Zune.

We’re working to push the industry to explore new models – the standard $.99/track model is a great start, but there’s so much more we can do there. So for a major player like Rhapsody make an aggressive push into MP3 is a great sign that change in the way that folks get/find/acquire music is coming – more on this as it develops. What about you, dear blog reader - what do you think?

And speaking of Social - add me up as a friend - I can’t handle Jessica having more 1-way friends than me!

June 30 is the day that Microsoft begins phasing out Windows XP by no longer providing copies of the operating system to PC makers and retailers for preloading on new machines. It’s also a good day (thanks to a recent New York Times opinion piece) to start looking ahead to what comes next — after Windows.

It looks like J Allard has a new mission and new title to prove it. As of June 24, according to the Microsoft executive bio site, Allard is now “Chief Experience Officer” at Microsoft, as well as as yet another of Microsoft’s Chief Technology Officers

Well, given the fact I love Joy Division, I would love to get my hands on one of these, especially after seeing the pictures. I however cannot justify the extra cost, mostly because I recently upgraded to a red Zune…

Greetings once again, and welcome to the return of New Music Friday. Ready to get to the music? okletsgo:

• Let’s kick off the week with an awesome cover, which to me is like a cake filled with pies: Stereogum has Zuneinsider favorite Throw Me the Statue covering Huey Lewis


• Fans of Hip Hop? Check out Seattle hip hop artists Common Market, over at Music For Robots


• And if you can’t decide which genre you like, check out mashup artist Girl Talk over at RockInsider


• Fans of The Strokes should check out Albert Hammond Jr’s track, posted up at MOKB (rock)


• Aquarium Drunkard posts a Hold Steady track and interviews band member Craig Finn - very cool (rock) 


• Gorilla vs Bear posts a track from indie/electro darlings High Places


• And last but certainly not not-awesome, check out Jamie Lidell, over at Arjan Writes

Ok, enjoy the music and have a great weekend everybody!