Gizmodo reports that the Zune HD has already sold out in most major USA retailers.

http://gizmodo.com/5363270/zune-hd-quickly-selling-out-at-amazon-newegg-best-buy-and-more

The Zune HD will be shipping next week to customers who made and early pre-order from ZuneThings.

We are also now taking order for delivery in week of October 5th.

Once this batch sells out we will update the site with the next delivery date.

Good news for those who pre-ordered the Zune HD from ZuneThings, the first batch of both 16GB and 32GB are on the way and should be delivered in about 2 weeks as expected.

We will be emailing all the pre-orders to give details on how to make payment etc. over the next few days.

Engadget reports that XNA Game Studio development environment has already been released for Zune HD.

This means programmers are able to target the Zune to build custom apps (like the etch-a-sketch app shown above!). Good signs for flourishing app store in the future!

http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/microsoft-releases-xna-update-for-zune-hd-developers-multitouch/

Crunchgear has a great overview of the full Zune HD UI:


http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/09/16/zune-hds-ui-the-full-tour/

Microsoft’s Zune HD Promo Video

Gizmodo has a great gallery of pictures of the Zune HD:

http://gizmodo.com/5360326/zune-hd-review-gallery

http://gizmodo.com/5360327/zune-hd-review-gallery-2

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.