Lucky Zune users land free monthly music packs

by Stevie Smith - Nov 21 2008, 12:20

Following on from the announcement that Microsoft is undercutting same-sized iPod Nanos by hacking down the price of its 4GB, 8GB and 16GB Zune multimedia players, those who opt for Microsoft's versatile device and its music rental service are also set to receive a monthly pack of free music too.

Free music-to-keep for Zune Pass subscribers. Image: Microsoft.

Arriving as something of an early Christmas present for those prepared to subscribe to the Zune Pass all-you-can-listen-to rental service will be given access to 10 free song tracks each month, which will be theirs forever and complementary to the service's monthly fee of $14.99 USD.Microsoft's offer is likely an effort to add a little appeal to a rental subscription service model that many music lovers avoid because they prefer to actually own the music they pay for. Microsoft's Zune Pass provides users with unlimited access to millions of song tracks but those tracks become instantly inaccessible should the user stop paying the agreed monthly fee. Individual songs can be fully purchased through the service, but the user must pay more in order to actually own each track.By introducing the monthly free music offer, which will be largely covered by the MP3 format, Zune Pass users will be able to fully purchase individual songs while the default desktop software will monitor usage until the allowed allocation of 10 tracks have been accessed. “I think the 10 free tracks is going to be a huge accelerant,” said Adam Sohn, Zune's marketing director regarding the offer's potential impact. “People will enjoy owning that music,” he added, “and I think they'll be more apt to transact more in the store.”Adding yet more appeal to its music service, Microsoft has also revealed new content deals with Sony BMG and Universal Music, which will deliver Zune users with more wide-ranging access to MP3 tracks that are not protected by contentious digital rights management (DRM) software. The extra coverage from Sony and Universal completes MP3 availability from 'the big four' labels as EMI Music and Warner Music already provide their protection-free content through Zune Pass. Earlier this week, Microsoft looked to drum up interest in its Zune player by cutting the price of its 4GB Zune from $129 USD to $99 USD, while its 8GB model was dropped from $149 USD to $139 USD, and the 16GB player shifted down from $199 USD to $179 USD.

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JohnNov 23rd, 2008 - 02:54:32

That's awesome. I just picked up a Zune player the other day (by the way, found a good deal listed at www.uberi.com)

This is a great model and would make it competitive with iPod. Yippy!

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OlivierDec 10th, 2008 - 04:38:29

I agree. I have had a zune for almost a year now, and i love it. This will be a huge zune boost in sales! Awesome! I love the build-in radio, which is unnaccessible on the ipod, and the sound quality is equal. It's also cheaper!

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Lucky Zune users land free monthly music packs

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