Zune 80 availability = Zero

Got Zune 80 #2 today from Circuit City. Did the in store pick-up to make sure it didn't sell before I got there.

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Have fun, enjoy life! Live, Love, Learn!

 EagleEye2590 wrote:

 The Slothinator wrote:

I think it's kind of funny that microsoft is doing a controlled release purposely to make it seem like EVERYONE wants one, when in reality "sold out" generally means that the store only got one or two to begin with.

They did the same thing with the Xbox 360 at launch.... they gave each electronics store like 20 a week or something like that. 

Speaking of Xbox 360 - I was worried that Bungie was going to do the same with the release Halo 3, however they were smart to release millions of copies since they would rather have the fastest-most selling game of all time instead of a shortage of games.

Too bad MS didn't go for this approach with the Zune 80. It looks like they assumed that the Zune 4 & 8 was going to be the big seller - wrong!

I hope everyone gets their Zune 80s soon! Good luck!

Actually, the problem was that MS didn't anticipate this much demand for theZ80.  The reason for the trickle in is not necessarily a controlled disbursement.  It's simply a matter of spreading as many Z80s to as many retailers as possible until production can catch up.  That makes much better sense from a business standpoint than sending 200k Z80s to Wal-Mart because that would give Wal-Mart an advantage over other retailers and that could tick them off so, its a better idea to spread the product out as much as possible to avoid upsetting any partners.

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Welcome to the Dawn!
NPGMBR

I personally don't think the Zune 80 debut was so much of a "controlled release". I think the Zune marketing dept. botched on this one with their projected sales. Don't get me wrong; I too thought that the Zune 4 & 8 would be a huge hit- with it's wide variety of colors and lower price would have made it more inticing, but that Zune 80 is just too dang sexy to not want.

NPGMBR, what you're saying does make sense to me, but what I have seen in all the store (still today) are an over-stocking of Zune 4's & 8's. Here in Houston there was an average of 2 Zune 80's per a store, and 0 for Best Buy (they really screwed up that one). 

On the other hand, if they palnned on a limited debut release, and then made plenty available just in time for Christmas (say, Dec 17 or so) - that's brilliant!

On a side note: 3 weeks ago a radio station had mentioned an article that reported on the low demand of MP3 players for Christmas this year, since "the entire world" already has one form of an iPod. I was a little peaved that there was no mention of the new gen.2 Zune.

I walked into Target today looking for a Zune 80.  I went up to the mp3 section and saw about 50 flash zunes.  I then looked to the left and saw about 14 (yes 14) Zune 80s lined up and calling my name.  I am so happy and syncing my zune 80 at this very moment.  Looks like the avalibility is taking a spike!  Yaaaaay!

Awesome news! What City?

 Tank8131 wrote:

I hope someone has had some luck today finding a Zune80.  I've been to three wal-marts (one in a college town), another is the second largest wal-mart ever built, and the other was a tiny one and they all said the same thing.  They got the 4 and 8, but no 80.  I went to Target too.  This particular target was selling the 4 and 8 a week early and they told me today that they haven't recieved any 80's yet.  So, what gives?  Anyone struck gold yet?

I'm going to try Staples and then head to Best Buy when they open and hope to the high heavens they have an 80.  I've wasted too much gas on this!  I can't give up now!

Lol I had the same problem looking for mine. I just ordered online.. Sure it was on Back Order but the wait was only 2 or 3 days.

 TX T BON3 wrote:

Awesome news! What City?

Austin, Texas

Alright! A-Town!

Got my Zune 80 Original yesterday!  It's great... took a long time to fill it back up with all my media but other than that all is well.  The device is much smaller/thinner than I thought it would be and the artist work etching on the back came out really schweet!  Lovin' it!

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Zune 30 --> Zune 80 --> Zune 120 --> ZuneHD

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I just ordered from zuneoriginals.net and got it in 3 days!!!!  The price is about the same as you would pay for a plain one but you get to choose a design for the back and/or special text!  I wish I had done this for myself, as the order was for my child for Christmas.  The process was EASY and not to mention FAST delivery (this may change as the orders go up).  But this way you can get your Zune with out having to hit or miss at the stores (which by the way most store sites let you check inventory for your local stores - Target, Wal-Mart, Circuit City, CompUSA, etc...)   Anyway, check out the Originals (link on home page of Zune.net).  And no, I don't work for Zune or Microsoft, I'm just a happy customer! :)