A bizarre overview of a long forgotten product: the ZUNE. I thought you might find it interesting.

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Another strange and unscripted ramble from the Old Guy Hifi. Today’s amazing video is about Microsoft ZUNE software, hardware and accessories. WOW! For the masochists among you there is more info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zune. Thank you so much for watching.

Current audio equipment list:
Cambridge AXR-100 Receiver 100 WRMS. (“B” stock)
Schiit Bi-Frost 4490 DAC, which has been upgrade with Multi-Bit and Unison USB. (“B” stock)
Schiit Lokius EQ (“B” stock)
Schiit Mani Phono Pre. (“B” stock)
Loxjie D-30 DAC
Elac Debut 2.0 F-62 Speakers with minor mods, i.e., I removed the grill over the tweeter and added damping material and “No-Rez” to the cabinet.
Fluance RT-84 turn table. I ditched the Ortofon 2M Blue for the Audio Technica AT540ML. The Ortofon sounded ok but the AT cart is really on another level.
All line level cables are from Worlds Best Cable. I primarily use Mogami 2964 Wire and Amphenol ACPL connectors. I also have a few of the Canare L-4E6S, Star Quad, Audio Interconnect Cables with Amphenol ACPR Gold RCA Connectors. I like them both. I started with Mogami as almost very recording studio and arena size system use that brand.
My speaker wires are from Phoenix Gold. About 35 years ago they used to make/market 10 AWG for 9s cooper speaker cable. It is about ¾” in diameter. I have been using them for that long and love their sound.
Miscellaneous items include a small format PC (Core i5, 8GB of RAM & a 256GB internal storage. I also have a remote controlled line level switcher so I can run all my source components through the Lokius.
Tidal Playlists: The Fahrenheit Project (ambient electronic music): https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/69c8751a-750a-464c-9424-0fdd112fe56d
Electronica for Audiophile: https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/e2974257-b35d-4cf4-ba20-a028819da0be
My Classical playlist: https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/8e588a95-7664-4f5a-97c1-70270655e40c
Baroque Weekend: https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/cfee9f5e-a64c-4f96-97bf-973340242df6
DJ Ed, a collection of music that is all over the place. https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/f89fb87a-f69f-4111-bb2d-ab319b159387
Spotify: Classical Weekend: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/648pMGies9cVEsUqEWEiNE?si=64a61b584d9b43c3
80’s Patio Mix: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4RUkB77grcjiBiQoUKRdXA?si=19bc0130b21b4d2d

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10 thoughts on “A bizarre overview of a long forgotten product: the ZUNE. I thought you might find it interesting.”

  2. I have a Zune HD and a Zune 80gb in my desk right now, the same ones you have (although my HD is black). Miss them a lot, both broken because of me when I was young. I killed the Zune HD by trying to make a portable charger. The first code I ever saw was a homebrew app for the Zune HD, from a zune forum. That led me to learn programming and become a software engineer. I have tried to fix my Zunes multiple times and no luck 🙁
    The Zune software was the best music software Ive ever used, I miss that too. I used to have the subscription and collected a lot of music with the 10 songs a month.

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  4. Ed – Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I had and used a Zune back in the day. It now resides in the basement. You have motivated me to find it, to see if it is still in working order. and see what I was listening to back in the day. Always enjoy your content.

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  5. I still use my zune hd 16GB to this day. Got it on my bday a couple months after it release…has a few dings but is still 100% and even with the og battery i still get about 15hrs usage….just a damn good device. MS has made it some work to get the software workin since they stopped supporting it, but the zune community has kept the software working with some great work arounds. Great vid! +1 sub and like from me…keep em comin.

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  7. I don't actually remember any ads for Zune, or knowing about it in the early 00s. Maybe their advertising, getting it to the customers, was not on par, so many early adopters missed oout until the ipod itunes came out (which I DID take part in) Great trip down a memory lane I never knew about.

    The Zune interfact UI looks way less clunky than iTunes.

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