What do zunes do

In the years to come, the iPod and its iconic white earbuds were ubiquitous and instantly recognizable, and its name became synonymous with portable music players. Of course, this post is not about the iPod.

In — years after the iPod had already been on the market, and one in which Apple had sold nearly 40 million of the devices — Microsoft waded into the portable music waters by introducing Zune. Although many critics seemed to prefer its competitor, Zune had some interesting software features that made it a favorite among a modest but devoted crowd. Then there was the disparity in the digital marketplaces from which you purchased media to bring your player to life.

Again, Apple was first-to-market and the clear leader. After securing deals with several major record labels, Apple was first to market with the iTunes Store in , providing a legitimate way for consumers to purchase digital music.

The service sold 70 million songs in its first year, and has now sold upwards of 10 billion. That was okay, because, at the time, Microsoft also had Zune Marketplace — the digital media store to serve up media for Zunes and PCs.

Zune Marketplace functioned in a similar fashion as iTunes, and it did have some distinguishing features. Its subscription service , for instance, let you pay a monthly, flat fee and download all the music you wanted to your Zune so long as you kept up the subscription. And the marketing campaigns for both companies at the time really spelled things out.

They were brilliant in their simplicity, had mass appeal and are still widely remembered even 15 years after their introduction. But today, almost a decade after Microsoft terminated the brand, there is a small bastion of diehards who are still loving and listening to their Zunes.

Preserving the Zune legacy has just become another part of the hobby. And so, most of the posts on the subreddit radiate with a strong wistful ennui in lieu of any firmware updates on the horizon. Others administer modifications on their Zunes that push the hardware well past what it was capable of in ; like retrofitting an imaginary future where the Zune was not only still around but dominant.

Someone else flaunts the wireless charging adapter they added to an ancient Zune One frequent contributor to the forum, year-old Erick Leach, reminds me that, in its heyday, the Zune came equipped with a fairly robust social media appendage: Zune owners could send songs to each other wirelessly and unlock Xbox Live-like achievements for the music they listened to — both novel features in the mids. The brand never managed to muster the cultural ubiquity of the iPod Apple attempted its own failed social network, Ping, around the same time , but with that emphasis on community, perhaps it was inevitable for the Zune to eventually mount a cult-like fandom.

He always felt like there was a massive nation of Zune-heads out there who he would surely meet someday. Leach believes the Zune has aged better than people might think. Simply and effectively. The Zune Marketplace offered a genuine streaming subscription — long before that became the dominant way people consumed music — which never caught on.

Woods tells me that solidarity among Zuners has never been stronger. He finds even more thrills in this strange afterlife, as the years have eroded away everyone except for the zealots.

She spent three years writing for her local newspaper, "The Colt," writing editorials, news stories, product reviews and entertainment pieces. She is also the owner and operator of Howbert Freelance Writing. By Melissa King. If you have an older model, reset it by holding down the "Back" button while pressing up on the directional pad.