Microsoft Zune HD
The best Zune. A category of one.
CAUSE OF DEATH: Arrived in 2009 to fight the iPod, two years after the iPhone changed the fight.
By the time the Zune HD shipped in September 2009, Zune's market share had fallen to 2% and GameStop had reportedly stopped stocking the brand for lack of demand. Microsoft built it anyway: a touchscreen music player with an OLED display, released as standalone music players were giving way to smartphones. The original Zune was mocked for being bulky and brown. At midnight on December 31, 2008 many of them froze because the clock could not handle a leap year. Microsoft ended all Zune hardware in October 2011. Its interface lived on as the inspiration for Windows Phone. The Zune's ghost went on to haunt a second failure.