The time is finally upon us, after a long delay Zune Pass is hitting the Australian Market for $11.99 p/month.
It was announced only a few weeks back that Zune Pass was finally coming down under and will be bringing 11 million songs on day 1. For the small sum of $11.99 per month or $119.90 per year, its going to be a great holiday season for Windows, Xbox and WP7 users in Aus. Hitting early before the new 360 Dash, update scheduled to hit this summer, its truly going to be a great holiday season for Microsoft in Australia this year.
Options for signing up to Zune Pass
Live Early
There has been reports that TechAU that the Zune pass has started hitting machines early and users have already been able to sign up to the Zune Pass using Australian accounts. It is clear after trying 3 machines that it is still not “fully” released and that some Zune applications are still locked out of displaying the Music section of the marketplace.
Unable to buy Music Videos/Songs
I am able to confirm that even without the application not supporting the Music section of the Marketplace, it is still fully accessible via http://social.zune.net/music . In this early testing I am able to confirm that once activating the Zune Pass Trial (Which unless you cancel will become the monthly trial)
Zune Pass with Web Player
Zune Pass with Web Player
Zune On The Web
Being in AUS i have never been able to fully experience the Zune library apart from the small amount testing i conducted using a US account and a 14 day trial. Zune can be access a number of ways to stream your music ranging from PC to Xbox, Windows Phone to Web Browser. During my pre-Aussie Zune launch i am only able to access Zune via a browser or 360. The Browser is a very quick and light way to gain access to your Zune pass when using a PC that does not have Zune installed. The “Popout” player acts almost identical to the “mini’ view in Zune (But without all the CPU and Memory usage).
