According to Electronista, the Microsoft Zune HD is seeing extremely high sales so far since its launch on Tuesday, with many big retailers already seeing backorders or complete sell outs.
Dell customers have to wait until November for their pre-order Zunes to ship, and dell has even offered another $20 USD off the purchase price to keep people happy.
The 32GB model at Amazon is backordered for 1-3 weeks, and the 16GB model appears to be headed there soon as well.
Best Buy is backordered in both models and Fry’s is completely sold out of the 16GB unit.
However, the official Microsoft store is selling both models with no supply constraints.
You can read our review on the player here: Unboxing the Zune HD and Zune software 4
Result for: Zunes
Microsoft, Apple, LG and 20 other similar companies have all been sued this week for patent infringement by Tsera, a Texas-based business that is claiming to have invented the touchpad used today in many media devices.
In the filing, Tsera alleges that they own “all rights, title and interest in” patents related to “methods and apparatus for controlling a portable electronic device using a touchpad.” The patents were filed in 1999 and granted in 2003.
The complaint claims patent infringement on the Apple iPod classic and Nano, the Microsoft Zune, and a plethora of other devices including the LG Chocolate VX8500.
According to the Register, it seems Tsera does not have a strong case. More in depth, the patents describe the touchpads as those that can “interpret commands made by detecting the patterns of strokes made by a user upon it, with each of several patterns corresponding to a predefined function or command of the device.” Additionally, the patents say: “No immediate visual feedback is provided as a command pattern is traced, and the user does not need to view the device to enter commands.” None of that sounds like Zunes, or iPods.
From all the defendants, Apple has the most to lose, as Tsera says the company deliberately disregarded the patents, knowing of them as early as 2004. In the suit, they seek “enhanced damages, up to treble damages” from Apple, while only asking the others for standard damages and “compulsory future royalty” payments.
Result for: Zunes
Beginning on December 31st, 30GB Microsoft Zunes around the world began freezing up and complaints flooded in from worried users who were concerned their media device was broken.
The software giant looked into the problem and concluded that the problem stemmed from 2008 being a leap year. The Zune’s internal clock had failed to switch over to the new year, and the software bug caused the devices to lock up.
The problem was ‘fixed’ however yesterday when Microsoft advised all Zune users to let the battery of their device drain out and then turn it on after 7 am on Thursday.
“Wait until the battery is empty and the screen goes black,” the company said, “Then power up the devices, but only after 7 a.m. Eastern time on New Year’s Day Thursday. No other action is required.”
Users may have to re-sync their devices completely today however, to restore any DRM files that come with
copyright-protected songs.
