A mere thirty minutes after the Toys R' Us flagship store in Manhattan opened its doors, employees were already yelling, "The Zunes are DONE! The Zunes are DONE!"

Customers lined up outside this location long before 5am when the neon lights filled the street. Hundreds of these shoppers were there specifically for the 30GB version Zunes that had been slashed down in price to near $80.

"It definitely was very hectic in the beginning, due to the Zune being on sale," said Gianni Incontro, an employee based in the corporate headquarters in Wayne, N.J., who was helping out at the Times Square location.

In Victorville, California customers lined up outside another Toys R' Us, same sceanario, only to get inside to find that the Zune sale only had 5 to offer the hundreds waiting a chance for just one! This did not go over very well...

"It should have said something in the flier," said Harim Sanchez who waited in line for almost an hour with his family for the deal. "We were going to buy them at OfficeMax but we saw them here for $80 and decided to come here."

Glad you shop online and waaaay early like me?

More Zune news at Zune Vibe >>>>

Cesar, the Zune Insider, has reported that the Zune 80GB should be available again in the the next 7 to 10 days.

"Based on our own forecasts as well as early retail orders, we chose to prioritize production of the Zune 4 and Zune 8. Zune 80 was at retail on launch day albeit in lower numbers. That combined with the positive press cycle and higher-than-expected demand has led to the current situation"

Thanks again to Cesar and the entire Zune team for keeping us posted and good luck everyone who missed the boat first time around snagging their own Zune 80GB!

Read more Zune News at Zune Vibe >>>

There's so much going on in the Zuniverse right now that some things get overlooked. One dimension of our beloved gadget and community of users that deserves our attention and praise is Zune Arts. Over a year ago Zune Arts launched with a Regina Spektor song about two men and a bunny. Now, Zune Arts has relaunched as a full fledged online program that features some of the best up-and-coming artists in the world.

Zune Arts is keeping its minimalist approach but there are many more features that have been added to the buffet to make your browsing more productive and enjoyable.

Read More about Zune Arts at Zune Vibe >>

Several posts have surfaced via Gizmodo and CrunchGear, to name a few, of the Citron Yellow Zune 16GB. According to Bill Wittress [ZuneGuy.com] this is not a product that will be available soon and was a "launch gift" to the Zune team in appreciation for their hard work on the Zune 2.0 products. Bill says:

"I've seen a few posts today about the Yellow (or Citron) Zunes. I've also seen a lot of speculation as to whether this is a "hidden" product. I'll shed a little light on this. They do exist. They are the ship-gifts given to the team for launching the product. Just like last year when we gave out Magenta and Orange devices, these are a special run just for us. There you have it, mystery solved."

Read More at Zune Vibe >>>>

The new Zune 80GB version is selling out in most major retailers, online or otherwise. In a way I am very happy that it is so popular but I am also a bit disappointed. Not because my buddy can't snarf one up today, but I'm a bit disappointed in Microsoft for not anticipating the rush a bit more. In a market that is almost completely captured by the iPod, it would make sense to me to seize this Holiday shopping season as a way to put a dent in the armor of Apple and make a huge surge forward....


Read More Zune News at Zune Vibe >>>