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Zune HD

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Zune HD

The Zune HD is a portable media player in the Zune product family released on September 15, 2009, by Microsoft. It was a direct competitor with Apple's iPod Touch series of mobile devices. It was initially released in 16 and 32 GB capacities. A 64 GB version was released on April 9, 2010. It has a touchscreen interface for navigation and included Wi-Fi for synchronization, access to the Zune Marketplace and Web browsing.

The Zune HD utilized the Nvidia Tegra APX 2600 chip, allowing it to play 720p video through the optional HDMI Zune dock on a high-definition television. Otherwise, content would be scaled down to 480×272 pixels on the player's OLED touchscreen.

Soon after Apple released the iPod Touch[citation needed], Microsoft R&D department head, Robbie Bach, began work on a touchscreen Zune player to combat it. The department started immediately on reworking the Windows CE–based OS of the older Zune to suit the new multitouch PMP. Astro Studios was contracted to design the Zune HD's aluminium casing. On June 19, 2009, Zune Insider host Matt Akers confirmed that the Zune HD would have an Nvidia Tegra APX 2600 chip and OLED touchscreen.[citation needed]

The Zune HD was released on September 15, 2009 to retail markets in black and platinum colors and 16 or 32 GB capacities; additionally, red-, green-, and blue-colored models were available through the online Zune Originals store.

Two months later, on November 6, 2009, firmware update 4.3 was released. The new firmware version improved the performance of the web browser, added support for the apps that were to be released in the days that followed, and fixed several notable bugs. On November 11, 2009, several new apps appeared on the Zune Marketplace. The apps included Project Gotham Racing: Ferrari Edition, Audiosurf: Tilt, Lucky Lanes Bowling, Vans Sk8: Pool Service, Checkers, and Piano.

The Zune HD's Twitter app was released on December 16, 2009 to the Zune Marketplace; however, it was soon noticed that the app was censoring tweets. Microsoft promptly fixed this following an outcry among Zune HD owners in version 1.1 of the app.

After previously being promised before the end of 2009, the Facebook app was made available on the Zune Marketplace on March 1, 2010. Initially, the app had some API issues in which it could not download most information from Facebook, but these issues were corrected 2 days later without a software update.

On April 5, 2010, after being announced at CES 2010, firmware version 4.5 was released, bringing with it several new features, such as on-device Smart DJ (a feature that had been present in the PC software for some time), Xvid codec support, and Marketplace support through the optional dock.

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