Microsoft is pushing the kill switch on app downloads through the Zune PC software. Instead, from now on if you want to download Windows Phone apps you’ll need to do it on your device or using the web-based Windows Phone Marketplace. The move makes sense, because the Zune PC software wasn’t really designed to be an app store or app management service. It was originally… Read more »

LauncherPro is one of the most attractive (and most useful) home screen replacements available for Google Android. Now the developer is working on an app that can replace another program that comes with Android: the music player. This week Fede launched the first beta version of UberMusic. It’s been in alpha testing for a little while already, but the beta has a completely new look…. Read more »

Microsoft is retooling the Music+Videos Hub for Windows Phone. When the Mango software update rolls out later this year it will bring new tools for managing podcasts, a “Smart DJ” option which creates a playlist based on an individual song, artist or album, and better Marketplace search. The podcast update is long overdue. While you can listen to podcasts on a Windows Phone device you… Read more »

Microsoft promised there would be at least 500 changes in the Mango update to Windows Phone 7 due out later this year, so it’s not surprising that the company didn’t highlight every last tweak during its press event this week. Now that the developer tools have been released, the folks at anythingbutiphone fired up the Mango emulator and noticed that the new version of the… Read more »

Microsoft has a tool for synchronizing media between a Mac and a Windows Phone 7 device. But for some reason there’s no official tool for doing the same thing with a Zune media player — even though the Zune platform has been around longer than Windows Phone 7. The folks at ZuneBoards have figured out something interesting though: You can use the Windows Phone 7… Read more »

Now that handsets with Windows Phone 7 are starting to ship in some parts of the globe, a handful of customers are inevitably wondering “how to do I get this thing to sync with my Mac?” Well, as promised, Microsoft is working on it. PC users can sync their music, movies, and other data with a PC using the Zune Desktop software. But Zune Desktop… Read more »

Microsoft’s Zune Marketplace music store lets users purchase music or sign up for Zune Pass subscriptions on a Zune media player, Xbox 360, Windows PC, or an upcoming Windows Phone 7 device. This week the company announced several major changes to the service: All purchased songs will now be available as DRM-free MP3 files instead of WMA The Zune Marketplace is expanding to new countries… Read more »

Ever wish the home screen on your Android phone looked more like the Zune HD launcher? Yeah, me neither. But there’s an app for that anyway. Zune Home is a $0.99 app available in the Android Market that replicates the basic look and feel of the Zune HD app launcher. Instead of a series of shortcuts and widgets, the Zune Home screen features a list… Read more »

There may only be about a dozen apps for the Zune HD in the Zune Marketplace. But third party hackers are doing their best to turn the handheld media player into a full-fledged mobile computer. A few weeks ago we saw the launch of an independent development kit that made it possible to write games and other apps that would take advantage of the Zune… Read more »

Microsoft’s Zune HD is a touchscreen portable media player that has a number of things going for it. It’s thin, light, and has a brilliant OLED display. It can play 720p WMV and H.264 videos, which means you may be able to copy movies from your collection without transcoding them first. But the device doesn’t actually have an HD display. Instead, it has a 480… Read more »