One of the less obvious facts about the Zune is that as soon as you turn on the device, you have an abundance of quality content of both music and videos preloaded onto the device so you can literally start enjoying the experience from the first hands-on. On the other hand compare that to the “don’t steal music” sticker you have to peel off the iPod – which is like those “shoplifting is an offense” signs, makes you feel pretty guilty even if you have good intentions.
Of course, to enjoy these preloaded content it would have to mean you first have to own a Zune, right? Not quite! You see, Microsoft today has made available the entire preloaded contents pack downloadable (ZIP) from Microsoft’s servers with no strings attached. The reason this has been made available is that “if you have accidentally deleted the preloaded content, you can download it.” But I’d imagine we’re all pretty clumsy.
The ZIP archive comes at a whopping 410MB which contains all of the preloaded content on the 2nd-generation Zunes. Which includes,
| Audio Tracks Datarock, “Fa-Fa-Fa” Mexican Institute of Sound, “El Microphono” Sidestepper, “Paloma” CéU, “Ave Cruz” Barenaked Ladies, “Easy” John Doe, “Golden State” The Handsome Furs, “Cannot Get Started” Pop Levi, “Sugar Assault Me Now” Junkie XL, “Dark Territory” Pacha Massive, “Don’t Let Go” Music Videos |
Podcasts Short Videos Images |
MetroTwit
I, unfortunately, lost all the preloaded content on my Zune 30. And I see right in the KB article that they specifically mention that that batch isn’t available.
Oh well… this is nice too. 
Thanks!
Whoa…that was a really great move [in terms of making customers happy]! Kudos Microsoft!
hellz yeah! i had that happen with my Zune 30 when i first got it. that was before i found out there was a guest feature. you think they’d do this for the content from the original Zune?
Hey thanks for the heads up Long!
I was just wondering, do you know where i can re-download the video from the ‘original’ zune titled, 1.618BT? thats all it said, it was a pretty cool track, and id like to get it again.
Thanks, Long!
You complain about the ‘Don’t steal sticker’, but last time I checked nothing changed with some of your money for the Zune still going to the record companies.
Meizu M6 ftw
Love that Shins album. Highly recommended.
Hey, does anyone have the default content for the first gen 30gb Zunes?
Thanks
Does this actually work on the Zune 30, or are they just saying it won’t work?