Wow...Imagine that!  MS forcasted the demand for the 80 gb and went to the manufacturers with those numbers and retailers bought accordingly. No big surprise that is how supply chain management works.

Cesar I really appreciate that update but quite frankly if your readers didn't recognize that as a cause, well,...nevermind.

Keep up the great work.  Loving the update to my 30.  I'm saving my dollars now to get the flash 8gb.  

Thank you!!! Some much needed answers...Cant wait...

"The Zune Marketplace website looks better than iTunes because it feels less like a spreadsheet." -Dean Takahashi

Oh man, where are those stupid "i'm a mac, i'm a PC" ads now? haha anyway, i picked up my 80 at a target about an hour away from home and so far i've only been getting more and more pleased with the purchase. i've gotta say the squircle is WAY fun. sometimes i just skip songs for the fun of it. *flip*

great job guys. i'll live with the dumbed down rating system for a bit longer i suppose, the additions are distracting me too much to be too upset about it. :)

My friend was lucky enough to get his hands on one the day of the launch.

Side note: How come there hasn't been any ZMP freebies anymore? I miss those... OK I'm cheap. There I said it. Thx for the NMF posts though :-D

Can't wait for the Zune 80. Darn, I need to wait till second week of december and then ship it to Philippines. Darn. I dunno if it I'll be able to have before Christmas. Guys I have a question.... Do you know any website that can sell Zune 80 that can ship items to the Philippines? Thanks. Amazon can't. I have all major credit cards but issued in our country not in the US. sigh. I want one..... I have 2 Zune 30 but I want the Zune 80 more.

I did a search on "audible" in this blog and did not get any returns. It is a shame that you are quiet about any plans for supporting or not supporting Audible (.aa) file format. I am part of the small group of users for whom this is a deal breaker. You not addressing the questions on this makes Zune fall out of my consideration set. I want to consider getting your 8GB player instead of an iPod this year. Could you please post a blog entry about aa support plans?

Though i was waiting for the 8gb and bought it first hours released i'm still keeping at hand to buy an 80.And not enough? Shows who is the best on market.Also is it just me or usually before the 2nd gen zunes were released all apple fanboys were hardcore trash talking on zune? Where are they now? I haven't seen apple fanboys comments since the release.(It's cause they are out trading in their iPods for zunes)

I have been trying to sign into the marketplace for hours and keep getting the same error.... "the software is telling me to make sure the date and time settings on my computer are not set to a future date."  Customer service reps are oblivious to the problem although many other zune.net forum members are reporting the same problem.  So, an hour and a half later on the phone and I'm still trying to be transferred to a level 2 agent due to "high call volume."  This is how you lose customers...

Thanks for clearing that up.

Any news on when an update for the software might come? I reinstalled it, cleared the cache, manually re-entered metadata, and the software still screws up some of my songs. Even after I went back and fixed them for the FIFTH time! I even have the whole "Automatically update album art..." feature off. And it still picks on those 7 songs so screw around with.

Sorry...just had to let that out. Its starting to tick me off. =/

Cesar, 1 quick question.

Does that also make Zune80 available on Zune Originals? I'm waiting for the one with engraving.

Thanks, for the update though!

@Ali

I think Zune community forums might be a good place to post your questions. Many from the zune team seems to be participating there.

Hey, I know this probably falls into the "rumors and speculation" but figured I'd try in case it doesn't. I heard on Leo Laporte's Windows podcast that you guys are in talks with some tv stations to possibly get subscription tv on the marketplace. Any comments on that?

It looks like the flash Zunes aren't selling all that well on Amazon. I guess it was a miscalculation on the part of Microsoft to concentrate on the flash models. Hard drive based mp3 players are a dying breed, though, so I'm not sure this is a good thing for Microsoft.

When the Zune 80 is available from Zune Originals, will it come in other colors besides black?

when will language support be available?

east asian?

zune really closed off its market to anyone with foreign music...

It seems to me like you were saying those stores have them in stock, but when I checked, neither Circuit City online, nor any Circuit City store within 40 miles of my house has any Zune 80's.

Or did I just misinterpret what you said?

Jordy i totoally agree

"The Zune Marketplace website looks better than iTunes because it feels less like a spreadsheet." -Dean Takahashi

The new marketplace is so sweet, I love the now playing with the album artwork as a background, so awesome!  It's creative and fun and doesn't look like a spreadsheet. Kudos to the Zune Team :)

I just want an estimate of how many Zune 80s will be available from Zune Originals when it launches.  I am so deathly afraid that they will get sold out before I can snag one.

@nik

yeah!! definitely one of my favorite features, and that part was free! haha. it's the little things too, like how on my zune, when i'm browsing through an artist's albums, they all show up on top. it's just the little polish that makes it fun to browse.

oh and Spencer Wagner, he never promised that it would be in stock in all stores, he just mentioned several stores which have some limited availability right now. personally i had no luck with circuit city, but last weekend all the targets in the area got about 5 shipped to em. it sucks to have to wait but just be patient, it's well worth the wait :)

Seeing as this shortage has been admitted to, (admitted is the wrong word, there's nothing wrong with it particularly) but can we any light be cast on whether this is the real reason for upgrading Zune 30s? Microsoft wouldn't have wanted to annoy existing fans, so by keeping the 30 up to date they make holiday sales safe and keep their fans happy temporarily.

Would like to know if that's the case, there's nothing wrong with it obviously, it would be sensible and everybody got a result they were happy with, but it makes me feel Microsoft knew about the shortage long ago- hence the upgrade announcement and at the time of announcement there only flash zunes with Cesar on On10's interview.

@northergeek

If i were a betting man I would say that MS knew in June that they were going to be short on 80s. So they continue to sell the 30s to prevent them from totally cedeing a market segment for half of the busiest retail shopping time of the year. Or possibly they just had a lot of 30s left over and decided to stuff them into the channel cheap to get rid of them. Or maybe a little bit of both. Whatever the case MS would not likely come out and say either of the above. I suspect when quarterly results are announced we might be able to figure it out. But at the bottom line it is what it is. No sense worrying about it. When the market forces come in to balance there will be Zunes for all. Hopefully that will be zune ...er I mean soon.

If this is indeed the case with the supply,then why wasn't Amazon able to ship out zunes that were preordered? I ordered mine on oct 3 -- certainly there was enough time to fulfill that order. smells fishy to me.

Hey Cesar.

Normally I don't listen to Leo Laporte and Paul Thurrots Podcast, but they had one directly about the Zune.

They made a great point that I hadn't thought of in regards to the Zune 80.

When coupled with a Home A/V Pack the Zune 80 is essentially an AppleTV that has twice the storage at 1/10 the size, and best of all you can take it with you wherever you go.

Perhaps time for a "Hi. I'm an AppleTV. Hi. I'm a Zune." commercials ;)

steph -

Re-read what Cesar said.  They were given forecasts and "early retail orders" by companies and that was what was given to the manufacturing teams.

When it got close to launch date the numbers of pre-orders really went up by quite a bit.  At that point MS couldn't go well we need to give all of our stock to Amazon.com.

They needed to have a retail presence as well.  By giving units to retail that took away from web based preorders.  Note how he said that they will have stock in 7-10 days?

If it were manufacturing issues then Cesar wouldn't be able to promise stock.  This is a case where the community really grew all at once and they weren't prepared for it.

It's like what happened with the Wii.  Did you hear people saying that Nintendo was hiding anything and that there were issues making them?

Nope, they just sold way faster than expected and it took a while to ramp up.

Filed under: Portable Audio , Portable Video Those of you searching in vain for a Zune 80 may not have

Cesar at Zune Insider says a full batch of Zune 80s are ready to ship and will be in most stores within the next week (give or take a couple of days). Apparently, Microsoft anticipated a greater demand for flash...

Cesar at Zune Insider says a full batch of Zune 80s are ready to ship and will be in most stores within

Cesar at Zune Insider says a full batch of Zune 80s are ready to ship and will be in most stores within

What about Target.com?? I pre-ordered my Zune80 on the site and it still says delivery estimate January 2008! They say they don't know when the manufacturer will send me. I really want this for my Christmas present.

So when will the Zune (any or all models) be released outside the US?  In europe they would be popular, but we can't buy them yet which is annoying.  Unless you want to pay massively over the odds from ebay or amazon stores

Has anyone actually seen any in stock since this post?  I know it has only been five days, and not seven, but I am starting to think it's not going to happen.

YA I HAD A QUESTION DOES ANYONE KNOW IF BEST BUY STORES WILL BE RECEIVING THE 80 GB ZUNE TOO BECAUSE I GOT A STORE CREDIT in the amount of the cost of the zune  THEYRE AND EVEYTIME I  CALL TO ASK IF THEY GOT ANY IN STOCK THEY JUST TELL ME ITS AVAILABLE ONLINE?PLEASE ANY INFO IS APPRECIATED.

A site that I found out about on TechCrunch a few weeks ago updates Zune stock status very frequently.  You can subscribe to this RSS feed (http://www.bountii.com/search.php?item=zune+80gb) to check Zune 80GB stock status, price and store.

Reported by Gagetell.com on November 23rd, 2007Anyone who has been searching for a Zune 80 will soon be able to make that purchase, despite recent reports of shortages the Zune 80 will be available and will remain in-stock for the holiday shopping season

What's happening with UK availability?

I'm in dire need of a new mp3 player and this looks like it could be my best option, but as far as I can tell it ain't happening at the moment.

Sort it out :P

Another vote for a UK release here!

I REALLY would like to know when it will be released in the UK. Or, if I do buy one from the US, will I be able to use the Market place once it does come to the UK? (I know I wouldn't be able to use it at the moment)

Please get back on this one Cesar pretty please :)

So - has the new shipment gone out yet?  There are hundreds of us who want to know.

Has anyone actually found Zune 80s?  It has been eight days, and no Circuit Cities around here have any.  I have a $40 off coupon that expires on the 30th.

I LIVE IN CALFORNIA AND I ACTUALLY DID SEE SOME ZUNE 80'S IN STOCK WHEN I WENT TO TARGET THEY HAD 2 OF THEM BUT UNFORTUNATELY I HAVE MY GIFT CARD FOR BEST BUY I GUESS ALL WE CAN DO IS WAIT AND SEE.

As part of the expanded Zune 80 availability plan we’ve set in place, we’re featuring Zune 80 in the

I just purchased a Zune 80 at ZuneOriginals today!

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?dest=9999999997&product_id=7958481&sourceid=31055076143944707018

I have seen many discounted offers, coupons & deals on electonics at Circuit-City store through Couponalbum.com....!

hi.......

im steve from india...waiting4opportunity 2 get my hands on zune 80..itz gettin me sucks tat zune releasing late...when its releasing?does any1 noe???

I JUST GOT MY 80 GB ZUNE FROM BEST BUY .COM  AND ITS EVEN BETTER THAN I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE AND NOW THEY'RE AVAILABLE ALMOST EVERYWHERE I WORK IN CIRCUI CITY AND WE GOT A FEW I HOPE YOU ALL GET UR ZUNE'Z QUICK.

When will we get multi-language support on the Zune???

MULTI-LANGUAGE SUPPORT IN THE NEXT FIRMWARE, PLEASE!!!

Problems with the Zune 80

3/23/08

I was absolutely excited after reading the numerous reviews, comparisons and kudos Zune 80 had received over the internet since its launch. Though I couldn’t wait to get my hands on one, I’m currently on my 4th Zune 80 device.

I purchased it in Madison, WI from Circuit City in February, only to realize almost no battery retention. After a full 3-4 hours of charging, the Zune would drain in a matter of couple of hours. Nowhere near the 22 hours of the so claimed battery life. I returned it for another zune in a week as thankfully, Circuit City has a 15 day return/exchange policy.

The second device came with no less problems either. Very often, it would freeze while I would be browsing through the song list and a reset was the only option. After many such frustrating resets, I went back to circuit city and returned the device to find out that I had one of the last remaining Zune 80s as they were out of stock and the only option was a refund.

Not giving up on the hopes of a problem free zune, I drove 45 minutes to a nearby city, Janesville, to pick up one of the 5 zunes they had in stock.

Without a doubt, this new zune had even major issues. It would keep restarting and would constantly prompt me that a hard reset is required due to device error and format the player every time only to keep restarting. Needless to say, I drove back 45 minutes to get it replaced.

Now, I have my 4th zune for about 2 weeks and I haven’t noticed any hardware related problems yet (fingers crossed). However, the zune comes with its own set of ease-of-use related issues.

So far it seems like the ONLY way to keep your music on the Zune is to keep it on your hard drive as well (in the zune software collection). I’m surprised microsoft has not yet fixed this annoying bug which, although does have a few workarounds described on the internet, defeats the purpose of having a large capacity media player.

I intended to fee my hard drive of my music collection and store it only on the device but it doesn’t seem to be possible as yet.

I’ve unintentionally lost quite a few gigs of songs as, as soon as I deleted songs from my hard drive, the zune software ended up deleting them from my player as well. The new firmware actually caused this problem since the very first zune i had, did not have this problem as far as i remember.

To Microsoft,

We need your attention to these issues as buying a $250 player for convenience has proved otherwise due to the workflow/design/hardware problems with it.

I don’t want to give up on this device but just as the other few ‘lucky’ owners of the device are frustrated, I’m getting close too and an IPOD isn’t very far away.

Maybe I'm missing something but why would you keep your music ONLY on a Zune?  What happens is it gets lost/stolen/broken?  

I bought a Zune 80 so that I could carry around all my music rathern than having to decide what I might want to listen to when away on a trip. I still have all my music on my PC and backed up elsewhere too :-)

Any new coupons/deals for this year?