Zune HD Availability

(UPDATE: August 14, 2009) - It's Official! The Zune HD will be available to the public on September 15th.

Amazon currently has both models available for pre-order...

The Zune HD 16GB has been priced at $219.


The Zune HD 32GB has been priced at $289.


Best Buy will be doing a ticketing system on September 15th for those who are interested in purchasing the Zune HD "in-store". It is estimated that each Best Buy will carry roughly 50 to 100 Zune HD's, depending on your Best Buy location.

I haven't heard anything regarding Wal-Mart, but as soon as I find out I will let you know.

- Moose

---

Wondering about the Zune HD Availability and Official Release Date? Don't worry, you're not alone!

Here’s an email I just wrote to Amazon (I’m waiting on a reply):

"Dear Amazon,
Last week, I saw the Zune HD available on the Amazon website. Now the Zune HD has disappeared from your product database! Is the release date being pushed back so far that Amazon canceled the pre-order list? Please let me know what's going on with the pre-order status.
Thanks,
Moose."

As soon as I hear back from Amazon customer support, I'll let you know what they say.

For those of you who don't know, Amazon displayed the Zune HD for just a few hours on their website! Just as quickly as they added the Zune HD, they snatched it away.

Apparently Amazon isn’t confident enough in Microsoft’s release date of the Zune HD to even offer pre-order sales. Remember how Microsoft issued no specific release date, just "Fall 2009?" Now it makes sense. As such a major retailer, Amazon is better informed than consumers. It is entirely possible that Amazon has found out that Microsoft has pushed back the release date (I’ll let you know what they say) so far that they would actually lose buyers by offering it in pre-order too soon.

What would cause this setback?
Maybe a problem with the new Zune Marketplace makeover Microsoft has in the works. Maybe a problem with the device itself; there are always bugs in new hardware, but perhaps they found one serious enough to address before release. Or they could be re-thinking their strategy and changing their game plan to improve the Zune platform. I hope so. I’m waiting with my fingers crossed, to hear the "Official" release date for the Zune HD.

-Moose