Neowin was surprised to discover an icon for a Zune app in the Microsoft store.  The music and video client is rumoured to be not long for this world, and has been speculated to be ripe for replacement before Windows 8 launches.

Neowin notes that rumours of the demise or at least rebranding of Zune for Windows remains, with a dedicated Windows Phone 8 synching app rumoured as a replacement,  so while the client is here today it may still be gone tomorrow.

Read more at Neowin here.

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It’s been rumored for a long time now that the Zune brand would eventually be killed off, considering the commercial failure of the Zune music players. But alas, Zune has lived on as the music service integrated into Windows Phone and Xbox, and the Zune desktop software is used to synchronize Windows Phones with PCs, suggesting that Microsoft was looking to retain Zune as a brand similar to Apple’s iTunes.

In all Windows 8 demos and previews to date, however, the Zune branding was notably absent, and Neowin is now claiming that they’ve seen a possible replacement for it, on Windows 8 devices shown at CES, that’s called Microsoft Music.

We do not know yet whether this Microsoft Music app will replace Zune or Windows Media Player, or whether it is just an internal, non-finalized moniker for the music player application. What Microsoft will probably do, though, is to ditch the venerable Media Player and integrate the features of the current Zune software into Windows 8, so Windows Phone users do not need to install another application to sync their devices. The only question now is how that new software will be named – Microsoft Music?

Whatever the outcome, it’s quite frustrating to see the lack of a clear branding strategy at Microsoft. While the application stores on Windows Phone and Xbox are called Marketplace, in Windows 8, it’s called Windows Store instead. The worst case scenario here would be that the same divergence happens with Zune and Microsoft Music – or even that there’d still be a seperate Zune software, in addition to the built-in music app.

Update:  We had an anonymous but seemingly informed tipster who said this:

Zune isn’t going away.  The Microsoft Music app is more a hub.  It will allow users to get to other service like Pandora or Zune, and will also show things like artist information, upcoming shows and lyrics.

You heard it here first

Source: Neowin via The Next Web

The only Zune remote for Windows Phone out there has got a big update on Sunday. Zemote 2.0 fixes some important bugs, optimizes speed in a couple of areas and introduces some new features.

Zemote 2.0 introduces playlists the way it should be. You can browse your playlists on your phone and change the current playing list very easily with the Zune remote now. You can just start playing the list, or you can start playing it with a specific song.

In this update, the album view will work a lot smoother also and jump list is added, so you can easily jump to the albums instead of scrolling all the way down.

And here’s a short overview of all features offered by Zemote:

• Play/pause songs in Zune
• Play next/previous song
• Turn repeat and shuffle on/off
• Change volume or mute
• Browse your collection via albums, artists, songs or a custom search
• Rate songs in Zune
• Automatic PC discovery
• Zemote DJ: create a list of songs you want to hear next so you don’t have to change tracks all the time
• In the application bar you can always play/pause or skip tracks so you never lose basic control over Zune.

You can read everything about the update here.

Zemote is available in the Marketplace here, which costs you $1.99 and has a free trial.

Zemote 1.4 has been released to the Marketplace. This update introduces Zemote DJ.

Zemote DJ
With Zemote DJ you can queue up songs that have to be played. You create a list and those will be the songs Zune will play first. When your list is finished, Zune will continue playing randomly. Simply add all songs you want to hear, reorder them in the order you want to hear them and confirm the list by hitting the back button while going back to the main screen.

Other things in this update:

• Faster search performance
• Bug fixes

You can find more information about Zemote on zemote.dreamdevelopment.be

Zemote is available in the Marketplace for $1.99 and has a free trial which does not include Zemote DJ.

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Disclaimer: this app is not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft, Microsoft Points, Xbox, Xbox LIVE and Zune are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

Microsoft has a knowledge base article up on the issue, but it dates from September and it is not known if the solutions offered there will be helpful.

Interestingly they note that problems with the clock on the PC may be one of the issues, and one wonders if this is in any way related to daylight savings time, with the clocks recently falling back one hour in the USA.

Are any of our readers affected by this issue, and is there any sure-fire solution? Let us know your experience below.

via WPSauce.com

Istartedsomething has managed to clarify the status of the coming Zune service in Australia, which are expected to go live on the 16th November 2011.

He was able to confirm that the Zune Music Pass in Australia will cost $11.99 per month, giving users unlimited listening capability on their Zune software, Xbox and Windows Phone devices to a library of about 11 million songs at launch and also that there will also be the ability to  individual purchase songs and albums from the Zune marketplace at launch.  The last part has been in question until recently.

The news is a good sign that Microsoft is able to roll out equivalent services to more of its markets, and we hope the trend will continue for many more Windows Phone users in many more countries.

Read more at istartedsomething.com.

Thanks Dawookie for the tip.

At a press event in Australia, Microsoft Australia announced that its Zune Music Pass service is coming to Australia on Nov-16th. With Zune Music pass, subscribers can stream music from the library of about 11 million songs on Zune desktop software, Xbox 360 and Windows Phone devices. The Zune Music pass service will cost $11.99 per month and however there will be no free songs available for download every month as we had in US earlier. Also, still there is no option for users to buy individual songs/albums from the service. Anyway, good to see Zune services expanding outside US.

Source: istartedsomething

The saga of the Zune HD has taken another turn.  The execution of the device heralded last week when all links to the Zune HD was removed from Microsoft’s Zune website, and the above announcement, saying “we will no longer be producing Zune players”  was posted on Microsoft’s site.

There followed the removal of the notice and denials by the official Zune twitter account.

Now the notice has gone up again, and online stores shows the Zune HD is out of stock.

The writing has been on the wall for Zune hardware for some time now with the integration of much of the software in Windows Phone 7, and while no-one may have told the Zune support staff I think it is safe to write the obituary now.

Update: According to WPDownUnder Matt Akers, formerly Zune Program Manager and Zune Insider Podcast host confirmed that the Zune HD has indeed officially been discontinued.

Via Neowin.net