Microsoft admits Zune problems, denies label blocking

• Posted: Wednesday, January 24, 2007
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• Author: pradhana
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• Filed under: Digital Content, Mobile Content, Mobile Services

Two months after introducing its Zune music and video player, a device touted for its wireless content-sharing capabilities, Microsoft has announced technological snafus are preventing the service from working as promised. "Wireless sharing is a new experience and its implementation is in a version 1.0 stage," Microsoft said in an e-mail statement distributed Monday. "We will continue to make it better."

Microsoft also denied rumors that record labels are preventing sharing of songs by certain acts; the buzz even prompted Universal Music Group to issue a statement of its own, which read in part "Contrary to recent and inaccurate reports, [Universal] has not prohibited its artists from participating in the Zune service. Nor has UMG restricted the ability of Zune users to transfer their music wirelessly so that others can enjoy it."

Upon its release, Zune's sharing feature, dubbed Push, was cited as a critical differentiator separating the device from Apple's market-leading iPod multimedia player. The sharing problems seem to affect only content purchased via Microsoft's Zune Marketplace storefront; according to the blog Zunearama, 21 of the 50 current best-selling song downloads from Zune Marketplace cannot be shared.

Source: FierceMobileContent.
For more on the Zune problems, read this WindowsITPro article.
Related article: Zune launch details revealed.

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