Use Windows Phone as a remote to control Zune music playback with Zemote (Coming Soon)

Zemote is a remote application that enables you to control music playback on Zune via the application on your Windows Phone. Nifty. The application utilizes the local WiFi network and a Zemote desktop application to set up a complete sync with the application on your device. List of features and video of the application in action, after the break.

By Rahul Mathur

WP7 NoDo Compared to WP7 Mango (Part 2)

Hello readers!

It's time for another comparison video between Windows Phone 7 and the new 7.5 Mango update. This video chronicles a few of the visual overhauls that are made to the Zune Music + Videos section of the OS. Also, we take a look at the new feature of downloading podcasts over the air, without the need to connect to your computer!


Enjoy!

By dbG33K

More Zune HD applications to be ported to Windows Phone

Dave McLauchlan, senior business development manager for Zune, in a Zune insider podcast revealed that Microsoft is planning to port Zune HD applications to Windows phone in near future.

By Rahul Mathur

Zune services to be split up and renamed on May 24th?

Twitter user, MS_Nerd, has leaked some juicy information regarding Zune for the May 24th event. According to him, Zune services will be split up into Xbox mobile, Xbox Live and Xbox Live Zune. So in other words, this is it for Zune. They are re-branding a somewhat unpopular brand which, in my opinion, isn't such a bad strategy at all. Oh, also - it is consistent with what we reported some time back.

Another leaked info from the MS_Nerd rumor mill suggests that  Zune backend platform will become a "Nokia services on Azure" offering, with content from Netflix, Last.fm & Hulu among others.

Nokia services on Azure? I think we need to dig deeper or just wait till tomorrow when all of this shall be revealed. Until then, we'll keep a close eye on rumors like these. What do you think of the strategy - drop in your thoughts.

For all the Mango related news, don't forget to read this. Stay tuned, we'll bring you loads of information from the Mango unveiling event which will be held on May 24th.

source : MS_Nerd

By Rahul Mathur

Zune services to be renamed ' Xbox Live Music ' ?

An anonymous tipper sent us a link which turned out to be job posting for ' Xbox live Music Marketplace ' which is totally unheard of.

The listing is embedded below :

Job Category: Services & Consulting
Location: United States, WA, Redmond
Job ID: 754083
Division: Interactive Entertainment Business
Are you interested in working in one of the most dynamic areas of the digital entertainment industry? Are you ready to deliver the content and experiences that customers want? If so, the Xbox LIVE Services Business and Strategy Team might be the right place for you. Our Interactive Entertainment Business (IEB) is responsible for products & services like Xbox, Kinect, Live Services, Zune, and Microsoft games.

The Xbox LIVE Services Business and Strategy Team is looking for a passionate, media-savvy, detail-oriented and highly motivated Business Manager passionate about driving our first party Music business in the US across multiple tuner end points; Xbox 360, Windows Phone 7, PC, WWW and Bing

The position is responsible for management of relationships with two of the four major record labels as well as a number of high profile indie labels, and creating strategies around content to drive the Zune Music business. You’ll work closely with other team members internal and, afore mentioned, external content partners, and with Marketing, Promotions and Tuner teams to help them support objectives and initiatives into smart execution.

Using a blend of partner opportunity, merchandising, curation and packaging, you will help drive the evolving Zune music experience and improve the value of our offering.

This role has a wide range of responsibilities including the following key activities:
Daily management of partner relationships, focus will be on two of the four major labels and a small number of indies
Develop strategies and content prioritization plans to drive the Zune Music business
Analyze service usage and other metrics to develop business intelligence in order to further guide business, promotion & priority planning and address the best market opportunities
Project management between development, marketing, promotions, business development and internal partners
Drive opportunities for catalog differentiation, including: exclusive content, content availability windows and offerings
Evaluate business performance against key performance indicators
Engage with marketing to target initiatives based on release schedules and business intelligence
Management of bi-annual business reporting to major label partners
Prioritization of content merchandising for publishing & programming teams
Identification of new potential label/content partners based on competitive intelligence and business goals
Management of weekly calendars, release schedules and content prioritization lists
Support new projects and initiatives as point of contact for label partners and Zune business
Evangelist for the music business across both internal and external events with partners/customers

Is this the end of Zune or just an extension of current Xbox services  ? Zune isn't even close to being s popular as the Xbox Live services. Xbox live has a huge fanbase while Zune being exceptionally good isn't really catching up with users. Will the renaming of service cause a positive impact ? Will update as soon as we get more information on this.

By Rahul Mathur

Connect to Hidden WiFi networks on Windows Phone 7 with HTC's Hidden Wi-Fi application

Well it's a know problem that your Windows Phone 7 device cannot connect to hidden networks, which is a huge problem for several people. HTC has just released an application called ' Hidden Wifi ' that let's you add 3 Wifi access points with hidden network names ( you do that by entering your network name or SSID )  to Wifi network list on your mobile after which you can connect to them just like any other Wifi network.

Do give it a shot and tell us if it works as described above :

Zune download link.  

Sadly, it's limited to HTC devices for now. 

By Rahul Mathur

Zune marketplace to officially launch this fall in India [ Mix11 ]

#Mix11 is going on and we have some exciting news to share. Joe Belfiore has announced the expansion of marketplace to several countries including India and China.

More details coming soon. Stay tuned for more on Mango. 

By Rahul Mathur

Zune Marketplace launches in India [ Confirmed ]

Good news everyone. Zune Marketplace has finally been launched in India. Microsoft hasn't released any official statement on this yet. Now you can search the marketplace from the Zune software and buy / download applications inside Zune in Rupees.

Here is the Zune software in action  :

Finally Zune has evolved from being a sync only software to more purposeful iTunes worthy competitor in India.

Note -  Zune pass is still not available in India. Just the application marketplace is working at the moment.

Now here is the problem I encountered, my Mozart's primary live account is US based while secondary is India based. Now to download application from Zune, I need to enter the primary live ID of my phone - but to my dismay it gives me the ' wrong region ' error probably because my region is set as India on PC while it's US on the phone. So a simple solution for me would be to switch to my India based live account and sign in ( which isn't a problem ) to download app but that isn't happening because it keeps asking me to enter the live primary live ID to download it. Remember, you cannot swap your primary and secondary accounts so I am kinda stuck here. Thus I still cannot go beyond searching for apps. I am looking for a solution here ( except hard resetting ), if you have one - drop in your comments.

Quick update :  If you have an Xbox at home, our reader Ahmad AbdulLateef   has found a workaround to download XBL titles in the Indian  marketplace. The steps are listed below :

1. Create a New LiveID (Temporary Only)2. Log onto XBOX Console and follow these instructions http://support.xbox.com/en-us/...3. Chnage your original Live ID to your temporary LiveID using the method specified in the above link.4. Now Login to Zune Software on your PC with your original LiveID. It would ask you to create a New Zune Account. This time be sure to specify India as your country.5. Once its done Voila you can buy Apps and use them on your phone :-)

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By Rahul Mathur