Microsoft’s Zune Returns From the Dead (as a Movie Giveaway)

A decade after Microsoft’s MP3 player was discontinued, the Zune is back?

Microsoft today held a product giveaway on Twitter. But rather than offer up one of its latest devices, such as an Xbox Series X or Surface Laptop, Redmond dusted off a single, unopened Zune player. “We have no idea if it works,” the company said in a tweet(Opens in a new window). 

Tweet(Opens in a new window)

The giveaway may seem random, but it’s part of a promotion with the new Marvel film, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The film’s main character, Star-Lord, was ironically gifted(Opens in a new window) a Zune in the previous movie as a joke. “It’s what everybody’s listening to on Earth nowadays,” one of the film’s characters quips.  

In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the Zune returns in a prominent role(Opens in a new window), blasting music throughout key segments of the film. In fact, the Zune becomes so important that Star-Lord almost loses his life trying to retrieve it.

In real life, Microsoft’s Zune didn’t receive much attention from consumers. The company began selling the MP3 player in 2006 to counter Apple’s iPod. But by 2011, Microsoft announced it would stop developing new Zune hardware amid lagging sales and surging interest in smartphones. In 2015, the company officially ended software support for the product, although existing Zunes can still play MP3s stored on their hardware.   

Although the product is officially dead, Microsoft in recent weeks has been promoting(Opens in a new window) the Zune as a STEM educational tie-in with Guardians of the Galaxy. If you visit Zune.net, you’ll be taken to a website(Opens in a new window) that includes a few coding projects for students, like creating a digital music player.  

For consumers nostalgic for the actual hardware, Microsoft is giving away what looks like a second-generation Zune player with 8GB of memory. To win it, all you have to do is both like and retweet Microsoft’s original post about the giveaway. The contest ends on Wednesday and is only available for residents in the US. Microsoft also created a video(Opens in a new window) about using old Zunes in 2023. If you miss out, many devices remain on sale on eBay.

Apple, meanwhile, discontinued the iPod in 2022.