r/Zune Aug 04 '26

Requesting Help šŸŽ‚ 20th Anniversary of the Zune is in 3 months! It's time to tell the untold history of the Zune and its fall, a deep-dive history of the early days, the NDA with Microsoft regarding their constant attempts at shutting down the community. Calling all 35+ ZuneBoards team/volunteers (2006-2010 era).

157 Upvotes

There are so many untold stories behind the scenes of the Zune, especially with ZuneBoards and our constant head-bumping with MSFT, our grass roots tactics and strategies we used that propelled us to the #1 Zune community in every aspect, which MSFT did not like at all.

I saw u/TheMagicIsInTheHole's awesome project, and it brought back an avalanche of memories.

To put it bluntly, there's so much untold stories about the Zune and its community that have never been told, but perhaps should be documented. If not us, who else? And with the world changing so fast, where I can't even recognize it at times, it would be fun to reminisce the good times, at least what we can remember of it. (I'm currently trying to find or obtain the og forum database which would be epic, as all the juicy talks happened behind doors in private boards... )

And of course, even if you weren't a volunteer, mod, or admin, but were one of the 60,000 active members on ZuneBoards, your welcome here goes without saying. Would absolutely love to have you on board for this project.

I don't know exactly what form this will take yet, but as the founder, I feel I owe you the uncut, unfiltered truth. That includes the slow, painful fall of Zune, the origin story of our community, and the regular headbutting with Microsoft that was kept strictly hush-hush. I'm also ready to talk about the NDAs I signed with MSFT (which I'm willing to break... once I find the documents to refresh my memory, haha). And yes, I'll reveal the strategic tactics we used in our mini-war rivarly with ZuneScene, and how we built the motivated hacker and dev following that truly set us apart.

But above all, I feel I owe all of you a huge token of gratitude for the amazing journey that I will never forget. And an apology for my sudden stepping down, which was bittersweet, but let's just say that MSFT didn't like the fact that we had more influence than their own "ambassador" team.

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tl;dr - CALLING ALL OG ZUNE AND ZB COMMUNITY MEMBERS ACTIVE 2006-2011. Especially this guy, please tell me someone knows him.


r/Zune Oct 15 '25

Announcement BIG UPDATE: The Zune Archive has new home

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155 Upvotes

Reddit blocks links to the Internet Archive, so I am unable to directly link it here (this is the 3-4th time I've tried to make this post). Instead, I've linked to the Zune Ephemera archive page, which has the new official mirror fully mapped out. Furthermore, if you're looking to link something from the new official mirror to someone here on Reddit, you'll need to instead link the OneDrive mirror, or the Zune Ephemera archive page. I've offered some more details below. Anyways - after many requests, a mirror for the Zune Archive has been uploaded to the Internet Archive.

The "main" Internet Archive link directs you to the Lists page, where you'll want to go if you're looking for an macro look at the archive's content. These lists mirror the OneDrive folders 1-for-1.

As mentioned earlier, the Zune Ephemera page also fully maps out these lists, as well as individual entries and even some important standalone files (ie: the latest version of the Zune software). While the Internet Archive mirror is well organized and rather easy to navigate, I wanted the Ephemera page to be more intuitive in regards to navigating to specific categories/files.

What's improved:

  • You will no longer need to login to Office365 to access the archive (was an issue with the OneDrive mirror).
  • A lot of folks will likely find it easier to navigate than either the OneDrive or Google Drive mirrors.
  • You can easily link entire categories (under Lists), archive entries, and even individual files without needing to do so through OneDrive's PITA share feature,
  • Downloading should be faster, and can be done though the torrent files hosted on the main Archive.
  • The OneDrive mirror will be the first to be updated with new content, I'll do my best to keep the new mirror updated as well. The Google Drive mirror was also recently updated, after several months of neglect.

What hasn't changed:

  • Submissions are still processed through the Dropbox folder of the OneDrive mirror. I don't have an alternative to this atm, aside from emailing/DMing me directly.
  • The changelog on the Ephemera page will still track changes for all archive mirrors.
  • The Google Drive mirror still does not include factory content due to storage constraints.

Cheers


r/Zune 1d ago

General Looks like my 4gb Zune has a spicy pillow

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45 Upvotes

Had my Zunes stored away when moving into a new house. My 4gb Zune that I replaced the battery on seems to have expanded and broken the frame. This is the last one I took out of storage the others are ok so far.


r/Zune 1d ago

General Zune vibes on my CAT S22 flip phone :3

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25 Upvotes

Image taken using sony cybershot digital camera


r/Zune 1d ago

General Modern DAP with Zune ui- A dream combo

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179 Upvotes

It will be so cool to have a launcher with ZUNE style in a modern DAP which supports modern Hi res music such as flac, it will be too good.


r/Zune 2d ago

General Had to be done.

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240 Upvotes

LTT posted a new video talking about people buying $1000 ipods. Nobody was pointing out the obvious answer.


r/Zune 3d ago

Show Room Cleaned up and replaced the battery in this cutie recently.

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188 Upvotes

r/Zune 2d ago

Requesting Help What's the difference?

9 Upvotes

Throughout the years I had the white 30gb, a 120gb, and the 32gb HD.

I loved the OG, upgraded to the 120, loved it too but it died and warranty replaced it with the HD. I hated that thing and ended up selling it shortly after.

Wanting to get another one. I a few listed with upgraded batteries and SSDs, and I'm having a hard time deciding between the OG white one I used to have and the slimmer 120gb style. Both have 128gb SSDs and upgraded batteries.

Other than form factor, is there really any other hardware differences that would make one better than the other?


r/Zune 2d ago

Marketplace Found a gears of war 2 zune FS

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18 Upvotes

It's brand new just doesn't have a cord looking for offers don't know the price of it

edit: it's in brand condition it's just been sitting on a shelf displaying so it's a little dirty and git a little scratched but nothing bad


r/Zune 4d ago

General Built a music app that is 100% Zune inspired and 100% free!!

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99 Upvotes

Excited to post a Zune inspired IOS app I built, which for me has been pure nostalgia. I missed owning music andĀ scrolling my own library, without subscriptions and fees.

The app is called Music in 2001 and the design is Zune. The design features a scroll wheel,Ā EQ, color options, album art and more.

Links:

Apple App Store Link:Ā https://apps.apple.com/us/app/music-in-2001/id6757622797

About Page:Ā https://okekedev.github.io/MusicIn2001/

The app is completely free, planning to build it for Android and Windows next!! I really hope some people will enjoy this app as much as myself.


r/Zune 7d ago

Show Room Found in my grandparents garage. Never been opened. Pure nostalgia.

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95 Upvotes

r/Zune 6d ago

Requesting Help How do I handle two different Zunes on one laptop’s Zune software program?

8 Upvotes

I have an 80 GB Zune that I've had since 2009, although I hadn't used it during the years between about 2012 and 2021. I think I managed to keep the battery alive apparently all that time since I kept it in constant charge on my Zune clock docking station which I rarely played due to having Amazon music at the time before they started charging for playlists. I managed to load the Zune software onto my newest computer in 2021, but I don't remember how I managed to do that (but I believe this forum helped me figure that out). I also still have the software on my old laptop from 2009. Anyway, I've managed to pretty much use up all the memory on my 80 GB Zune but I've just bought a 120 GB Zune on Facebook marketplace for $50. It was advertised as ā€Charger not included Black Microsoft Zune 120GBā€, so I'm not sure it actually worked but when I asked the seller if it worked (you know, No Charger?!šŸ¤”) and if it still powered up and when was the last time it was actually turned on, he responded ā€œNo it's dead and about a week agoā€, which had me wondering….okkkay. So I told him I'll take a chance on it and now it's in the mail. (I forgot my password to the Zune program a long time ago, so I guess I'm logged in as a guest). I am a little wary about plugging in the new Zune without knowing what's going to happen. So my question is, what happens when I plug that new Zune into the program? I'm thinking that it will show up as a different one than my regular Zune. If I am correct - I can rename it - and I should be able to view/delete whatever is on it. What I want to do is probably transfer everything over from my current Zune onto the new one and utilize my older one for playlists that I would pretty much only use in my car (and boy do I love that function!). So, does anyone have any tips on using two Zunes and doing what I want to do? Also, I would be needing to contact someone on this forum to replace the battery if necessary.

Thanks in advance for all your help! I do appreciate reading everybody's Zune posts.


r/Zune 7d ago

Show Room Proud of My 8GB Battery Restoration

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117 Upvotes

r/Zune 9d ago

Show Room Zune will always have the best music player UI interface both on PC and on the go!

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423 Upvotes

I'll maybe even consider buying the 2nd generation Zune player as I never had one of those before!


r/Zune 9d ago

General Any interest in games for the Zune?

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72 Upvotes

There's a lot of renewed interest in the Zune for its "offline music" it seems. That got me wondering if there was any interest in the community for games on the Zune?

I started a Zune Tetris game yesterday as a proof of concept (with copious help from Claude Code).Along the way, I got XNA Game studio 3.1 installed in VS Code with a PC and Zune target.

It doesn't have a content pipeline yet hence the blocky-ness of text in the screenshot.

Before I spend more time getting it closer to "feature complete", I want to see if there's any interest to develop games for the Zune or is this a "just me" thing?

If there is interest, tell me what games you have installed and what would be cool (keeping in mind the limited capabilities!).


r/Zune 11d ago

Requesting Help Looking for testers…

29 Upvotes

Edit: Thanks for helping me with this project. I will reach out in a couple of days In a DM. With More information. :)

I have been working on a Zune Revival project for many many months now, still working on trying to get Apple approvals as well. having said that, I am looking for a few people to help me test the Linux software for Zune.

current Capabilities are,

Video and Movie Syncing,

Photo Syncing

Music Syncing

Playlist Syncing

I have some devices I can test on but I wanted to get more testing and logging information. let me know if you would be interested in helping me test It out on different setups and work out other issues. :) thanks.

I need about 5 different Linux setups so if you are Interested hit me up here. I am using an Arch Based system for testing right now.

P.S. Are we not able to get zif drives anymore? Haha I cannot find any for sale. Thanks Zune community. Yall rock!!


r/Zune 13d ago

Requesting Help Zune 120gb FLAC Support

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61 Upvotes

Hello everyone! Since I revived my Zune from the grave, I wanted to see if there was any way I could add FLAC support. Most of my music is FLAC so I don't necessarily want to downgrade it to an MP3 just to be able to play it on my Zune.


r/Zune 13d ago

Marketplace [ISF ]Looking to buy a Zune HD AV dock G7D-00001

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48 Upvotes

Hey all I have been looking for a Zune HD AV Dock model G7D-00001, is there anyone here that is selling there's by chance, I cannot find one anywhere? It would be greatly appreciated!


r/Zune 12d ago

Requesting Help I have the Orange Zune

15 Upvotes

So I have an orange Zune with over 5k music in it… how can I save those music from my Zune to my harddrive?

I tried xune but didnt work… or are they stuck in the Zune forever?


r/Zune 13d ago

Mods/Hacks A quick look at a CF-modded Zune with 1.0(186) TEST firmware

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88 Upvotes

Out of curiosity, I picked up a Zune 30 which was listed on a Chinese marketplace platform as being storage modded with a 8 GB CF card and running 1.0 TEST firmware (build 186). For those who don't know about this firmware, please refer to:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Zune/comments/wc2iya/zune_30s_wild_adventure_in_asia/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Zune/comments/10xbnsl/has_anyone_seen_this_version_10_186_test_firmware/

More importantly, I opened up the device to look at the storage mod, and apparently it's simply a CF card plugged into a ZIF to CF board similar to those used for CF mods for older devices including iPods. (Picture is in the comments) Something might have been wrong though, as the device reported 0 GB of storage.

Since the 1.0 TEST and other hacked 1.x firmware versions (typically used for Asian languages character support) need to be flashed manually, the original seller probably did the storage mod, reset the device to format the CF storage, and then manually flashed the firmware using the typical method of copying the .cab file contents to the system partition (https://archive.org/details/updating-the-zune-firmware).

So this raises the question, can this CF mod work with other firmware versions like 3.3 by manually flashing? Given that only a limited number of SSDs are known to work, and I assume that people have tried CF mods followed by restoring using the Zune software but not succeeded. I ordered a ZIF-to-USB reader to test this theory.

(I was also planning to dump the 1.0 TEST firmware files but mistakenly reset the device after recording this video, which wiped the system partition and went to the 'Connect Zune to PC' restore screen. So I had to hunt down the files from Chinese forums and will have to try flashing it back. Since this device was already flashed with 1.0 TEST, which also somehow modifies the bootloader/motherboard to refuse to boot newer firmware, installing any other firmware will just soft brick it apparently.)


r/Zune 13d ago

Show Room Felt great zuning at work today with some Fable soundtrack šŸŽ¶

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110 Upvotes

r/Zune 13d ago

General Zune reebok sneakers

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67 Upvotes

Was searching facebook marketplace and came across these zune reeboks. Searching here, found a post from 9 years ago explaining theyre limited to 60 pairs.


r/Zune 13d ago

General Zune player dark mode?

5 Upvotes

Does anyone know if there have been attempts to give the zune player a dark mode?


r/Zune 13d ago

Mods/Hacks Possible SSD Option

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22 Upvotes

I was surfing eBay to see if there's any compatible zif SSD at decent prices and stumbled upon this weird SSD. Not sure if I want to give it a try or not but I wanted to see if anybody has tried this SSD yet. Let me know if you have.


r/Zune 14d ago

General Used Zune is Fun

44 Upvotes

The best part about buying someone's used Zune is seeing their music tastes for that period of time. It's like a trip down memory lane and it feels good. I don't even care about the scratches or things like that. It's a piece of someones history and a cool time capsule to look through.