Zune 2.0 – still not coming to Canada

Zune family of devices

Microsoft has announced a new generation of Zune MP3 players, and guess what? So far they’re still not coming to Canada. The new top-of-the-line Zune has 80 Gb of space, has a 3.2-inch (scratch- resistant) glass screen, can synch wirelessly, and is slimmer than the original and is still only available within the confines of the United States of America.

The new models are expected to land in stores sometime in mid-November with a top price tag of $250. So that means you can expect me to be headed for some cross border shopping sometime in mid-to-late November, and it should only cost about $240 Canadian.

And the reason why I’m going out of my way to buy a Zune when I could pick up something else in Canada? Well, I hate Apple, so you couldn’t pay me enough to buy an iPod (let me see, I have to use iTunes software, and I’ve heard for a couple years that the nice, big shiny ones tend to break a lot – no thanks), and to be honest, I’m a Microsoft fan, so why not? Nothing else has caught my attention and most of the other devices on the market are either puny, or cost a lot more than $250.

The only catch is that the Zune’s community-based features, like being able to temporarily share songs Zune-to-Zune, and the brand new website they’re launching, will be pretty much useless to me until the device officially comes to Canada – but I couldn’t care less.