Calamity has been avoided, and justice for woefully underappreciated noughties hardware served: Microsoft has fixed an issue in Windows 11 affecting compatibility with the Zune MP3 player. As The Verge noticed in the latest Windows blog, Windows 11’s new Insider Preview build includes an update specifically for its long-dead iPod competitor.
Microsoft fixed an issue “that was causing some challenges in getting the original Zune drivers to install in Windows 11,” the blog says, “so now it should be easier to use your (totally unsupported and still discontinued) Zune on Windows 11.”
The update isn’t quite as random as it might seem, because the Zune recently starred in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 as a replacement for Star-Lord’s beloved Walkman. In May Microsoft released a video walking users through the rather arcane process of getting a Zune to play nice with Windows in 2023; hopefully this new update will make that process a lot simpler.
The Zune community on Reddit has reacted well to the news.
“Holy ffing shi,” writes Redditor Aggravating-Bake3522.
Redditor _killer_elite_ got even more excited: “CANT FACKEN WAIT !!! GONNA UPDATE MY ZUNE HD ARTIST PROFILES !!!!”
The Windows blog notes that the update is currently available in the “Canary” channel of Windows 11—the least stable, most experimental branch—but will “make its way through the Insider Channels and eventually to all Windows 11 customers.”