What we know so far about Zune HD:

Available in 16 GB and 32 GB. At release the 16 GB is only available in black and the 32 GB in Platinum.

Release date is September 15th (ZuneThings will have UK stock ready to ship in the first week of October)

Built in FM Radio (there is a US only HD radio. FM will work fine in UK)

Product weight: 2.6 ounces

What's in the box: Headphones, Zune Sync Cable, Three pairs of foam earpiece covers

Battery: Music, up to 33 hours (wireless off); video, up to 8.5 hours

Charge Time: Approximately 3 hours when connected to your PC, approximately 2 hours with A/C adapter

Screen Size: 3.3-inch OLED color display, 16:9 aspect ratio
Type: Scratch-resistant glass with touch input capability
Orientation: Vertical (music) and horizontal (pictures and videos)
Resolution: 480 pixels x 272 pixels


Wireless connectivity: 802.11b/g compatible

Wireless sync: Yes
Connectivity: 802.11b/g compatible
Authentication modes: Open, WEP, WPA, and WPA2

Audio Support: Windows Media Audio Standard3 (WMA) (.wma): Up to 320 Kbps; constant bit rate (CBR) and variable bit rate (VBR) up to 48-kHz sample rate. WMA Pro 2-channel up to 384 Kbps; CBR and VBR up to 48-kHz.

WMA Lossless

Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) (.mp4, .m4a, .m4b, .mov) - .m4a and .m4b files without FairPlay DRM up to 320 Kbps; CBR and VBR up to 48-kHz.
MP3 (.mp3) – Up to 320 Kbps; CBR and VBR up to 48-kHz.

Picture Support: JPEG – (.jpg)

Video Support: Windows Media Video (WMV) (.wmv) – Main and Simple Profile, CBR or VBR, up to 3.0 Mbps peak video bit rate; 720 pixels x 480 pixels up to 30 frames per second (or 720 pixels x 576 pixels up to 25 frames per second). Zune software will transcode HD WMV files at device sync.

MPEG-4 (MP4/M4V) (.mp4) Part 2 video⁶– Simple Profile up to 2.5 Mbps peak video bit rate; 720 pixels x 480 pixels up to 30 frames per second (or 720 pixels x 576 pixels up to 25 frames per second). Zune software will transcode HD MPEG-4 files at device sync.

H.264 video – Baseline Profile up to 2.5 Mbps peak video bit rate; 720 pixels x 480 pixels up to 30 frames per second (or 720 pixels x 576 pixels up to 25 frames per second). Zune software will transcode HD H.264 files at device sync.

As you have probably heard, the Zune HD will be released in the USA on September 15th. Unfortunately there is still no word of an official release of the Zune in the UK.

However, ZuneThings will be carrying the Zune HD in the UK, as we have done with all the previous Zunes.

We are now taking pre-orders and we should be able to start shipping both the 32 gb Zune HD and also the 16 GB Zune HD in the first week of October.

As always we will honour the 12 month warranty on the Zune and will repair or replace the device ourselves should anything go wrong.

To Pre-order just check checkout as usual except choose Zune HD Pre-order at the payment screen and we will not collect credit card information at this point. We will contact you for payment once our stock is here in the UK. You are able to cancel your order at any time if you change your mind.

We will also be adding the new Zune HD Accessories over the coming days which will also be available for pre-order.

Labels: Zune HD