Rest in Pieces Zune

"Microsoft is sending Zune to the pasture where Microsoft brands go to die. It's the end of the road for a name that once symbolized Microsoft's grand plans to curb Apple's entertainment ambitions. In a flurry of announcements that Microsoft made Monday at the E3 games conference in Los Angeles, Microsoft executives said the company planned to introduce a new music service, Xbox Music, that would run on the Xbox 360 game console, Windows phones and Windows 8 computers. That service will come out sometime in the fall."

Just in case the past six months haven't proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Microsoft has given up on Zune, the news story linked here drives the point home: Zune as a service is going away, following in the footsteps of the Zune hardware going away.

Alas, poor Zune, I barely knew ye... :-(