Microsoft merges Zune and Xbox account preferences

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Alex Wilhelm

Alex Wilhelm is a San Francisco-based writer. You can find Alex on Twitter, and on Facebook. You can reach Alex via email at [email protected] (show all) Alex Wilhelm is a San Francisco-based writer. You can find Alex on Twitter, and on Facebook. You can reach Alex via email at [email protected]

We’ve been discussing the end of Zune for so long now that if Microsoft simply killed the service it would actually be a relief. Well, not quite. Still, we have heard that Zune will be folded into Xbox, or Windows Live, depending on who you talk to.

No one is completely sure. However, news today indicates that Xbox is the chosen home for Zune, if its individual brand identity is later axed. WinExtra uncovered a plan today involves the merging of the preference systems of a user’s Xbox and Zune accounts. This is the note that went out:

We could hem and hack at this all day, but we are going to save you several hundred words. This is what appears is happening: Microsoft is moving Windows Live to be a user’s Windows profile, with gaming and music and apps and other content attached to their Xbox tag. It appears to be a two account future. That works well enough, but we are still worried about the Windows Live integration with Windows 8.