Tom's Guide is reporting that Zune HD is now available for pre-order. Although Zune HD is expected to launch September 15th, customers in the United States can now place their pre-order for Zune HD from the following stores:
The Microsoft Store: 16GB ($219.99) | 32GB ($289.99)
Amazon: 16GB ($219.99) | 32GB ($289.99)
Although Zune HD's official site says that you can also pre-order from Best Buy and Wal-Mart, pre-orders for the device doesn't appear to be listed at those stores.
Tom's Guide is also reporting that when Zune HD launches, it will be offered in five colors, and that customers will also have the option of adding one of 10 engravings by guest artists to the back of the device. An e-mail sent out by Microsoft shows the alternative color choices to be blue, green, and red. Customers who pre-order will only be able to choose from either black or silver.
A Microsoft press release says that customers can place a pre-order in person at Best Buy beginning Aug. 16. Select Best Buy stores in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. areas will offer a sneak peek at the device on Aug. 22 and 23.
Although Microsoft has confirmed that the Zune HD will go international later this year, release date and pricing information for countries outside the United States has yet to be released.
Anyone ordering the device, beware of the free engraving. If you get it engraved for free, it means they won't replace the device if it malfunctions. It voids a big part of the warranty. This is why they offer it for "free".
"Although Zune HD's official site says that you can also pre-order from Best Buy and Wal-Mart, however pre-orders for the device doesn't appear to be listed at those stores."
Either remove the 'Although' or the 'however'; you can't have them both without destroying that sentence.
Also, Engadget posted a screenshot from the email from MS showing the color options:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/13/zune-hd...re-order-email/
On the same time I also gotten to try Zune Software 3.0 for the first time, I gotta say it is amazing media manager and player, looks and runs fantastic.
16gb chips from Apple are $100 so Microsoft is cheap on that :p
"Hi, I'm looking for a new iPod"
"You know what's way better than an iPod, a Zune!".
Update: Microsoft has hit us with the corrected & updated spec list with a slight change to battery and charge specs: 33 hours of life playing music with no wireless, up to 8.5 hours of video. 3 hours to charge from PC, 2 hours via AC adapter. Hopefully that's long enough to cover your one man rave in the woods far away from A/C outlets. Check the PDF for yourself, but beware, as Microsoft has informed us one typo remains, as the Zune HD can hold up to 22 / 48 hours (16GB / 32GB) of video optimized for the device, no matter what the official sheet says.
Am I the only one that needs 100+ gb? Why does it seem everyone accepts 16 or 32gb?
Commenting has either been disabled on this article or you are not logged in. Click here to login or register, its free!
Note: Anonymous commenting is disabled in order to keep the quality of responses to a high standard.