Microsoft ‘Ventura’ could replace Zune music, video services

General

Following recent reports that Microsoft will soon be killing off its Zune suite of entertainment services and replacing them with a new offering, All About Microsoft has uncovered what may end up being Microsoft’s Zune successor. The blog’s tipsters claim knowledge of a new set of services currently being developed by Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices division. These services, codenamed “Ventura,” are said to be focused on media discovery and consumption — much like Zune. To help firm up the report, All About Microsoft also reveals a Microsoft job posting that references Ventura. ”The Ventura Media Services team is looking for a highly motivated Software Development Engineer to help drive some great new service innovation,” the job description reads. It goes on to say, “In this position you will have the chance to help choose direction and drive innovation on some of the most cutting edge media services. Think large scale. Think Azure. Being a web and services group, our goal is to release early and often while maintaining high quality.”

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14 Comments
  • lurch

    Give it up, guys.

  • Anonymous

    if you fail… try a new name
    when that doesn’t work try another new name
    when that doesn’t work… hmmm
    pay another company to use their name
    after that.. well we’ll cross that bridge when we get there

  • Guestone

    F A I L …………again……

  • Zorro

    Sounds like a bunch of angry iTunes users. I guess I would be upset too if I bought overpriced equipment and was told that I had to use it only how they wanted me to.

    • Anonymous

      I don’t use either. I have a Coby MP3 player. I don’t need all that extra iTunes crap. That doesn’t have any bearing on whether renaming Zune is a good idea or not.

  • Stan Winstone

    Yeah cause Venture sure sounds cooler than Zune. Not. Just die already MSFT, your 15 minutes is long over.

    • Duh

      Yea they have this thing called Windows… They aren’t going anywhere

    • jay_max

      So because of some weird personal prejudice, you want the company to implode and 100,000 people to lose their jobs? Wow.

    • Neoprimal

      That’s 15 minutes longer than anyone else and 15 minutes more than anyone else is going to last.

  • Senor Chang

    lmao. 5 comments by fanboys.

    You all do realize that Zune is a service thats integrated w/ Xbox live, right?
    Zune hardware was a sales failure (despite being good hardware), but Zune services isn’t suffering.
    MS is ‘renaming’ Zune, not “killing off” as the blogger writes… those are words to help feed trolls.

    • person

      I sure hope so. As a Zune user since launch day I have a lot of stuff I do not want to loose

    • Neoprimal

      I disagree with them renaming it, IF that is really what they’re doing. If anything they should stick it out and just innovate under the Zune name.

      Why oh why can’t MS be consistent? As someone who’s owned a MS branded router and nic which MS stopped making and a fingerprint reader which MS also stopped making and even got mp3 music from msn music, which shut down….I’m finding it difficult to invest in anything Microsoft makes now except of course for Windows. On the verge of deciding to buy a Zune, smartphones became viable alternatives for mp3 players, thank goodness because this would have me worried now.

      I think they need an infusion of talent over there – to make something they’ll stick with through good AND bad (like Windows).

  • poseur

    Microsoft is the General Motors of the tech world.

    - Release a product that is already a generation behind the competition
    - Market it poorly
    - Drop support for it in the marketplace
    - Rename said service or product (rather than update or upgrade), further adding to consumer confusion
    - Repeat

    Cheers

    • Anonymous

      I come down with poser’s post.

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