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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, November 17, 2007

Zune sells out on Web, delighting Microsoft

By Jessica Mintz
Associated Press

SEATTLE — The 80-gigabyte Zune media player Microsoft Corp. launched Tuesday has sold out across the Web, to the dismay of online shoppers and delight of the world's largest software maker.

"Anyone know where I can get a Cabbage Patch Doll ... er ... I mean Zune?" asks an www.Amazon.com customer listed as Paul Taylor on the Web retailer's message board for the product.

Amazon told Taylor and others that their preordered devices for Nov. 13 shipping would not be sent for 10 more days, according to the message board.

While Web retailers have 4 GB and 8 GB versions of the second-generation Zunes in stock, the 80 GB music player is not available on Amazon, Best Buy or Circuit City's Web sites.

Microsoft said it prioritized the manufacture of the smaller Zune 4 and Zune 8 devices, and that more of the 80 GB version should be on shelves, physical and virtual, in the next 10 to 14 days.

Quite a few Zunes have "definitely shipped and sold," and Amazon is being given a limited number each week, said Anya Waring, an Amazon spokeswoman.

Microsoft, for its part, is happy to see such a positive reaction, according to a spokesman.