14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has confirmed rumors circulating recently, revealing plans to expand the Zune HD product line-up with a new item in less than two weeks. Speculation fueled by a leak from the Redmond company, which posted an inactive link for Zune HD 64 on the official Zune.net website, already indicated that a new digital media player device was cooking. It now appears that baking time is over, and a new version of Zune HD, with no less than 64 GB of storage space will be made available for purchase come April 12th, 2010, with a price tag of just under $350.
“What can hold up to 16,000 songs, or 20 hours of high definition video, or 25,000 pictures? A Zune HD 64GB that’s what! This morning we announced that starting April 12th you will be able to order a 64GB version Zune HD from Zune Originals for $349.99. All colors and custom etching will be available for you to create the ultimate Zune HD to your liking,” a member of the Zune Insider team noted.
At the time of this article, the ZUNE HD 64 link on the Zune.net website was live and was pointing to a page detailing the new Zune HD digital media player with a storage capacity of 64 gigabytes (GB). According to the technical specifications, the Zune HD 64 will be available at retail stores in Black, and via Zune Originals in Platinum, Black, Blue, Red, Green, Purple, and Magenta. The size of the device is of 52.7 mm x 102.1 mm x 8.9 mm (w x h x d) and it weighs 2.6 ounces (74 grams).
“In addition to the new capacity, we are lowering the estimated retail price on the Zune HD 16GB to $199.99 and Zune HD 32GB to $269.99,” the Zune Insider team representative added. Just a few days ago, Microsoft also announced that it was gearing up to release a spring update to Zune HD. In this regard, Zune HD owners will be able to install Zune 4.5, a firmware upgrade that brings to the table new features such as Smart DJ, Picks on Zune HD, the ability to browse and stream music from Zune Marketplace on your TV, and expanded Video Codec Support. (more details here)