With previous generation Zunes being discontinued, the Zune HD will be rolling solo into the next generation of the Zune platform. This hardware along with the software and services is a walled garden approach that tightly integrates content delivery across your Zune HD, PC, Xbox, and Windows Phone. It is an approach that creates a very seamless and easy to use experience but on the flip side can be limiting on choices of software and formats.

This Zune HD review will show off the features of the HD hardware and how it meshes with the Zune ecosystem.

The Zune Wall Paper Development Kit by ABI will allow you to see what your wallpaper will look like before you put it on your Zune. It helps you layout the design elements for your wallpaper around the Zune HD's clock, icons, and bottom bar on the lock screen. It will even apply the shadow as if you were viewing it on the device. It is an awesome tool for Zune wallpaper designers.

Additionally, we are having a contest to see who can create the best Zune HD wallpaper. The prize is a Zune HD AV Dock. Here is the contest thread and stop into the Zune HD Wallpaper Forum to download and check out the entries.

If it doesn’t exist why not build it? One of our readers did just that. Searching for a replacement hard drive for his old school iRiver H300, abi reader Andrew, decided to go with an SSD drive to avoid future hard drive failures. He was unable to find the proper SSD drive to replace the H300s so he looked for a broken hard drive player to marry with an SSD drive.

Not wanting to pay $300 for a new flash player, he wanted to go cheap and hack something cool together. He was able to dig up a broken Zune 120 and a refurbished SanDisk EIDE/PATA SSD drive for a total cost of $130 bucks off of eBay.

Want one? Andrew has made a nice detailed guide- you should be able to follow and make your own.

Last week, Cruelworld spotted four never before seen Zune HD colors lurking in the Zune software source code: pink, magenta, purple, and "atomic".

Recently, it was discovered that an eBay user, who just happens to live in Washington, is in possession of this majestic and allusive Atomic Zune HD. The user, who says it was a gift from a "friend", did what any of us would do when a friend gives us an extremely rare, impossible to find gift: sell it on eBay for cold hard cash.

It's still unknown if these special colors were created specifically for the Zune Team, or if they'll make an appearance in the wild at some point. But if you absolutely must over-pay for a Zune HD which may appear on store shelves down the road at a much lower price, head over to the 'bay and get your bid on.

[eBay | Dark Zune]

Here is a quick look at the Zune HD hardware comparing it to other MP3 player form factors.

It is always difficult to gauge the size of a device from a picture and honestly I am always surprised regardless once I get the actual gadget in my hands. However, in an attempt to help you size up the Zune HD, here is a photo with hopefully a player that you already own. Full resolution photo after the break.

Still a day left before the much anticipated Zune HD launch and Dell already has the thing on sale.

Dell.com is offering to take 15% off Zune HD 16 and 32GB models if you enter coupon code 6FWJ247J1P44CK during checkout. That's $33 off the 16GB and $43 off the 32GB, people! And to sweeten the deal—which means to add sugar to—Dell will ship your Zune for free. If you're the least bit tempted, hit the links below.

Zune HD 16GB

Zune HD 32GB

[Dell | Via Engadget]

Many assumed the Zune HD would arrive in other countries shortly after its September 15th US launch. But today it was reported by Ars Technica that Zune HD fans won't be getting any love if they live anywhere outside the US

The news left many international Zune fans frustrated and wondering why Microsoft wouldn't want to make the much anticipated Zune HD available to as many countries as possible. There are already several conspiracy theories floating around, but we turn to Senior Business Development Manager of Microsoft's Zune team and ABi Zune forum resident Dave McLauchlan for the answer.

With the release of the Zune HD, Microsoft will hopefully finally get a real stand in the MP3 player market with a device made to fit the times. The older Zune models; both first- and second generation hard drive based models and the flash based players never really made that big of a dent in Apple's market share, and it's no surprise to see Microsoft now deciding to drop all the older models and go forward with just the HD in it's lineup.

The information that Microsoft will do this move comes from a Windows blogger who met up with Microsoft to discuss various things. Among secret information he couldn't share, the one piece of info he didn't have to keep a lid on was this discontinuation.

Seeing how the market looks today, it's probably the right move by Microsoft. Hard drive based players are simply not worth producing anymore due to the major drawbacks of the technology (especially in something as portable as an MP3 player) and the fact the vast majority of consumers won't need as much storage space. Flash memory is also catching up to it in terms of capacities. With the MSRP of the Zune HD being as low as it is (only $30 higher than the MSRP of the 16GB Zune) even the flash based Zunes are becoming pointless since they would have to be ridiculously cheap to be worth it dropping all the goodies in the Zune HD.

No information is available as to when the discontinuation will be official and put in motion, but the Zune HD is only two weeks away so it's probably not long.

[SuperSite Blog]

Kicker and I go way back to my early days as a car audio enthusiast. Even before I had my license, as a 15 year old I started packing Kicker subwoofers in my trunk paired with various amp and crossovers. Yes, I will admit, I was one of those obnoxious kids with more subwoofers than wheels- the one who rattled your window sills from a mile away. It turned into quite the hobby/obsession even entering a few local car audio competitions and even winning a few first places.

Being no stranger to car audio and Kicker products my interest was piqued when they introduced the ZKick. So I have had my eye on the ZKick dock for quite some time only having had a chance to preview it in the stores. It may be helpful to demo a dock like this in the store for features and build quality, but it can be hard to get a sense of sound quality and output in a big box store with kids screaming and Guitar Hero being played in the background. I finally got a chance to pick one of these units up and have been using it daily for the last two months.

This week on Zune Insider Jessica and Matt had Dave McLauchlan on as a guest. Dave does business development for Zune- basically working out deals with accessory, connectivity, and other partners for not just the device but the entire Zune ecosystem. One of the more interesting stories to me is that he works with car companies and aftermarket head unit manufactures to bring Zune connectivity where the iPod has historically been the only compatible player in the automotive space.

Though, some of you may know Dave from our forums kicking off one of the longest running debate threads starting back in 2006: MTP vs MSC. He now hangs out in the Zune HD forum and does his best to answer what he can pre-launch.

One of the top complains about the Zune has been the lack of Unicode support. For those that don’t know Unicode support will allow you to properly view foreign music with showing characters instead of those random boxes. So does this confirm that the Zune is coming to markets outside of the US? No, not necessarily, because there are legitimate reasons for the US- I mean we do listen to foreign music here. Its such a simple thing yet one of those make or break features for a lot of people. Kind of like the EQ.

This news broke on the Zune Insider Podcast #22. If you are at all interested in the Zune this is a must check out podcast. Jessica interviews Progressive DJ, DJ Dan and Matt has a chance to sit down with Hip-Hop star Wale.

[Listen from your browser] [Subscribe with the Zune Software]

Zune has been working towards getting exclusive TV-like content for the marketplace for a few months now and a few days ago a press release announced the first of these series: a animated series called City Council 3050 AD. The series will be produced by the Seattle-based company Worktank and the show will only be available on the Zune.

"City Council 3050 AD," an original comedy conceived by Worktank, is based on local government C-SPAN channels that broadcast the mundane proceedings of city business. The show, set in the future, uses this dry backdrop to offer humor and absurdity, taking modern local and national political issues and recasting them in the future.

If Microsoft can get more of this going for their Zune, that might be a reason for people to seriously consider the device as a media device. There's also the Zune HD rumours going around and if they turn out to be true it's another sign that the Zune is far from dead. Hit the link below for a video preview of City Council 3050 AD.

[Press Release]

Browsing around the forums I see a few people purchasing screen protectors for their MP3 players that have glass screens. Some might say better safe than sorry but these screens are much more durable than one would think. Below I put a few of these glass screen players though some rather harsh scratch tests, well beyond what the vast majority of users might experience.

An "Anonymous tipster" sent some photos into Engadget claiming to be the new Zune, dubbed the Zune HD. Gizmodo says they have reason to believe its legit and other sites have confirmed it. What say you? Legit or fake? Specs? Your wish list? Update: New photos from WMPowerusers.

Zune has really be taking a beating lately in the press with the 2K9 Zune bug, 54% drop in sales, and all the Microsoft layoffs. With this many Zune fans have had concerns about the future of this device going as far as worrying about total abandonment. What I have learned from a conference call yesterday is that this is far from the truth and that new hardware and software is on the horizon.

Sure it may seem like a given that there will be new hardware, but I wanted to put aside the concerns by letting you know that there still is genuine excitement coming from the Zune team, especially when speaking about the new hardware. Owners can rest assured; the Zune is here to stay.

The above photos is a mock up I did for the Zune Touch article, it is not the new hardware, sorry. There are more photos in that article if you want some more tease.

Props go to Mike at IHaveAZune.com for putting these pieces together in an email conversation we were having.

Earlier the code for this infamous Zune bug showed up on Digg. This code is actually code written for Freescale’s MC13783 PMIC (PDF Whitepaper) and it seems like its affecting other players that have this PMIC like the Gigabeat S Series. This makes a lot of sense since the Zune 30 was heavily bases off of the Toshiba S series. So far it looks like the Gigabeat owners are trying the fix as the Zune 30 owners, letting it fully discharge. So far one user has been successful using this method and changing the date on his PC.

[Gigabeat Thread]

When I fly I usually pack several MP3 players but only one for the seat since is such a pain to dig around in those tiny seats. In the past I have used a simple soft case to hold the player and the Shure SE530s (Amazing isolation and sound quality for flying, 'eff Bose!) all in one neat package. Though I did always worry about smashing it in between a seat or dropping it in the boarding and unboarding chaos.

So I stumbled on this little gem today at Best Buy. It’s made for the iPod (Ew, I know right?) but will work with anything that will fit. There is also a headphone cable leading from the inside to a plug on the outside for waterproof use.

Zune made an awesome addition to the Marketplace subscription today. In addition to the all you can download subscription, you are now able to download and keep 10 tracks per month even if you cancel your subscription. The way I see it is kind of like buying a album every month and getting a free subscription.

As Ina Fried at CNet points out, this is a move by the Microsoft and the labels to drum up subscription rates since they are lower than what they hoped. But subscription is not the only thing hurting in terms of music sales, physical sales are declining faster than digital downloads can keep up.

Today the Zune is getting a small update to version 3.1. Official Zune blogger Cesar tells us that Zune users will get a few more games added to the default firmware (Checkers, Sudoku, Space Battle, and an updated version of Texas Hold’em). There will also be a new music discovery feature called “like minded listeners” and additional back end updates.

I can’t help but point out the coincidence that this update is a day before the Xbox 360’s major refresh, Next Xbox Experience (NXE). Likely, I’m reading into this a bit too much and is purely speculation, but it triggered one of those “hey waaaint a minute” moments.

Ever wanted to know what is inside the Zune Pad? You are in luck- my compulsion to take things apart kicked in the other day after a bout of boredom. The pics may not be for the feint hearted, but I can assure you that no functional Zunes were harmed in the making of this disassembly. This one was already on its death bed. I would also like to mention that opening up the Zune Pad will render it useless.

Please read on for some great pics and a bit about the tech behind the touchpad.

One of the things I really appreciate about the Zune is every time the Zune gets a firmware update, its like a brand new device. Even the old school Zune 30's function just as any of the new hardware after the 3.0 firmware update. Like I mentioned way back in the very first Zune 1.0 review, the Zune development shares a lot of characteristics of the Xbox 360 where the software drastically improves the functionality extending the life of the device. If you think about it this make sense since Microsoft has always taken the position of being a software company, not a hardware company.

While I will get into the 3.0 software when it is released in a few days, this review is aimed to show off the new hardware in a lot of great pictures as well as point out the subtle differences in finishes and accessories with the new hardware.

This Monday I was in Redmond checking out the updates with a few of my fellow bloggers so this news is a day or so late. Overall, the update is pretty impressive especially the music discovery features, which was something I really liked about my Rhapsody subscription. I’m anxious get it running on my own music library to see how it stacks up.

The wireless features are also slowly developing now with the ability to download directly from the device. More interestingly this feature ties into the FM radio. Since the Zune has RDS (Radio Data Services) and RT+ (Radio Text Plus) knows what track it being played on the radio and since identifiable, you will be able to download most songs you hear on the radio with one click.

Jason over at Zune thoughts has posted a list of fixes he would like to see for the next Zune revision. If you remember I have been battling Jason to keep superfluous features off the Zune (see “8 features I do NOT want to see on the Zune” & RE:“Anythingbutipod’s Anti-Wish List”), things like a clock and audio books which he mentions in this article. We’ll let those slide for now since the rest are solid points on things that need to be fixed on the Zune.

Check out the full list at Zune Thoughts. Below I would like to pull out what I feel to be two key fixes in and improvements that should be fixed in the next update.

New York Times recently ran an article suggesting that Zune users buy the Zune because they don’t want an iPod. The Slate suggests that NYT is calling this “anti-branding” a more extreme version of “counter-branding.” Basically this method of marketing positions your product opposite your competitor’s product.

This technique is used quite a bit; for instance 7-Up openly calls itself “the uncola,” marketing it as an alternative to colas. Business Week points out the more recent example of “Mamma Mia!” as the alternate choice to the blockbuster “Batman: The Dark Knight” for people who didn’t buy into the hype or just had no interest in seeing what everyone else wanted to see.

Is Microsoft positioning the Zune as the anti-iPod, and are people buying Zunes because they’re not iPods?

Non-ipods have always received the short end of the stick when it comes to cool docking stations. Docks are still lacking but the Zune is getting a little bit of face time for these types of accessories. iHome has typically made docks for the iPod but has now made a slight deviation and released one for the Zune family, compatible with the Zune 4, 8, 30, & 80.

So if you are in the market for a Zune clock radio, this is more or less your only choice at the moment for a Zune dock with alarm functionality. Read on for my thoughts and a full rundown of the ZN9’s features.

SFGate recently interviewed Robbie Bach. This is the guy in charge of the Xbox, Zune, and Windows Mobile- all of those ultra competitive consumer devices. In this interview the question of whether or not we would see a Zune phone was brought up.

At first Robbie touts the fact that Windows Mobile devices will continue to outsell the iPhone and the Blackberry. But then he goes on to state that, “We don't make phones ourselves. We don't have any plans to make phones ourselves.” He goes on to explain that Windows Mobile is currently in the position to take advantage of their belief that, “…a phone is a very personal thing. Different people want different types of phones.”

While this rules out the possibility of a Zune branded phone, it may not rule out the Zune as a piece of software or service on a windows mobile device. When discussing the MP3 player market Robbie goes on to state that Microsoft has a broader goal not just including hardware but also software and services. He states that, “…software and services, at least in theory, can be used on a lot of different types of devices.” This I think is a ways off, but it does show the future of the Zune brand.

So what did he have to say about the Zune “Touch”?

I am a big fan of Diggnation hosted by the rarely sober nerd duo, Alex and Kevin. It is fantastic that they got their show sponsored by the Zune or any MP3 player for that matter; hopefully this ends the need to paste their faces on herbal tea blends.

Alex is a Windows user and a fan of the Zune, but his counterpart is pretty hardcore Apple. Stefan from IHaveAZune points out that Kevin has been rallying for Zune software support on the Mac. I admit that iTunes was once quite nice, but now it’s just a messy and bloated media player. Zune Software now stomps all over its muted grey façade, so I see why Kevin would be rallying for Zune support.

While I highly doubt that Mac support is high on the Zune team’s priority list, I was told it does run nicely under Parallels. Anyway, just wanted to plug my favorite podcast and give Alex and Kevin a friendly “Welcome to the Social”.

If you recall, not too long ago the Zune 2.5 update added support for games development. The XNA team released their first game (via Got Zune) for those willing to dive into the XNA dev software. If you are willing to spend 5 min or so, it is relatively easy to get these games going on the Zune. There are a few guides out there, but take a look at this video that Cruleworld had made for and see how easy it is to get games onto your Zune. Really you don’t need any development experience, just a little old fashion pointing and clicking.

While many of these games are more hobbyist creations, they are rather entertaining and give of a taste of what it to come on the Zune in terms of gaming. Personally, im still holding out for my top Zune game picks. In the mean time head over to the abi Zune Forum to check out the video and get some help if you need it.

I know, I know, Zune games was on my list of 8 things I don’t want to see on the Zune, however, I have slightly warmed up to the idea. A few weeks ago I played games on the Zune for the first time and while the controls can be a bit awkward there still is some potential for some decent games especially if you are talking about more simple and “low action” games.

There are two key aspects to Zune game play that these games can focus on: Zune to Zune wi-fi and its ability to tap into your music library. With the recent firmware release games can now available to anyone though the XNA developer's kit. This would be the best time to rally behind your favorite games for the Zune. Here is a list of top 5 must have games for the Zune. What other must have games are on your list?

Update: The new 3.0 Firmware comes with games installed. Please check out the Zune 120 & 16 Hardware Review for a close look at the new Zunes. Also, please check out our Zune Forums.

The Zune team has been hard at work in the Zune headquarters (cleverly disguised as a library) lately and is now going live with the next milestone, version 2.5. It is a fairly substantial update adding to the social aspect, implementation of auto playlists, better meta data editing, and even a video section where TV shows can now be downloaded. The most interesting I find to be the Gapless playback, since it has always been such an elusive appearing only on a hand full of devices over the years. It may go unnoticed by some, but for the live music listener and or electronic mix fan it’s a feature we longed for.

For the details on all of the latest changes in software/firmware version 2.5 check below for a quick look list and screen shots of the software that should be live in a few hours.

Ok... before you laugh at the brand names ridiculous prefix, hear me out. I have listened to the iHome stuff for the iPod- a few of the clock radios and they sound fantastic for the price, so I’m pretty hyped to see one for the Zune. I have a few Zunes laying around that need a home (yeah what a terrible problem to have).

Cesar over at Zune Insider reports that this is the first clock radio (ZN9) for the Zune that will features a gradual wake or sleep to your favorite crunchy tunes. Additionally, you have the ability to set the alarm for weekends and weekdays. The table radio (sorry not pic available) is housed in a “retro-classic” wooded speaker cabinet with a line in for other non-Zune gadgets.

I will definitely pick one up, but I really wish they would change the brand name- it kind of creeps me out.

[iHome via ZuneThoughts]

Audible's user base is growing every day and more and more mp3 players include Audible support these days. For those unaware, Audible is a website that specializes in audio books. The selection is huge, but you need an Audible compatible player as the audio books use a special format.

After a Zune user emailed Audible about whether or not the Zune was compatible with Audible he got an answer saying that this feature was to be implemented before year's end. This should be good news for any audio books lovers out there and with the Zune's massive storage capacity it should open the possibility of a vast audio book collection in your pocket. No exact release date is mentioned for this new feature, but hopefully "before year's end" won't mean December.

[SuperSite via Zune Thoughts]

Linux users have in the past been confined to using MSC based MP3 players, ones that act like basic drag and drop memory cards, so choices have been limited. In order to get MTP based devices to work Linux users had to used programs like Gnomad2, Rhythmbox, or Amarok to transfer media to these devices.

In the latest Ubuntu version 8.04 a simple command (sudo apt-get install mtpfs) will install full MTP support. MTPFS provides a full file browsing experience just like an MSC based device with the ability to browse playlists, write playlists, and write metadata to music tracks.

This is great news to MTP only devices like the Creative Zen family, but I also throw out a proposal for the Zune. The Zune uses a modified version of MTP called MTPZ. If this isn’t too modified from MTP, then could this be a slight hack to get full drag and drop Linux support to the Zune?

[Linuxtechie via MTP on Linux Forums]

Our friends at GenMP3 have tipped ups off to some exciting European Zune news. Since the launch of the Zune I have received countless emails from people all over Europe asking if I knew when the Zune would be released in the EU. It looks like we finally got an answer from Microsoft France’s Francois Ruault- stating in a French newspaper GNT, that the third installment of the Zune would be released in late 2009. This would likely be in the fall to coincide with the holidays.

There are some more interesting pieces of news from this article stating that the Zune Marketplace will hit mobile platforms on the upcoming Windows Mobile 7 OS. Could this be the start of a Zune Phone? My guess would be that is will not be a fully fledged Zune Phone but an intermediary step with music being a tight integration with Windows Mobile 7. Without a doubt we will see this new mobile Zune service in coming Sidekicks since Microsoft’s recent acquisition of Danger.

A researcher at Microsoft’s Techfest showed off a smart shuffle system that would use additional meta data such as temp and genre to make static and dynamic playlist for the Zune. This may still be a ways off judging by the prototype interface, but I’m sure we can expect it in future Zune firmware updates.

Additionally at Techfest, another researcher showed off a way to shape the band of the Zune’s wireless spectrum dynamically in order to conserve battery life. The conservation will hurt transitions, so the likely scenario would be to use the low power for discovery then throttle the spectrum for transfer.

[Gizmodo | NetworkWorld via ZuneThoughts]

Cover Flow is a nice looking interface, but it is eye candy far from a practical and useful interface. The biggest problem with Cover Flow is that the user can only view the currently selected album, the one before, and the one after (and only a fraction of the latter two). The reason why this is not useful has to do with the way we mentally process ordered lists.

Typically we view lists in words made up by letters- since the alphabet is standard and consistent, we are used to making sense of where a “G” falls in reference to the rest of the items in the list. It is an automatic mental process developed by our mastery of the alphabet and language. By contrast, Cover Flow forces us to constantly relearn our mental processes of ordering visual cues in the form of album covers. While you could argue that it is possible to learn the order of album art covers, it would take time and would be difficult since the list is dynamic.

We are all obsessed with album art and love visual interfaces, but a different approach needs to be taken in order to circumvent our natural understanding of language and ordered lists.

Looks like one of my "8 things I don't want on the Zune" can be crossed off. I can't say that I'm excited about this since I have been quite adamant about keeping the Zune as a music centric device but I will have to see how it plays out when released. My previous opinion may be swayed.

Update: Cesar from Zune Insider stresses that the Zune's primary focus will still be wireless music and video playback. That makes me feel a little better.

Microsoft has announced at the Game Developer's Conference that developers will be able to target the Zune as a gaming platform. It could be cool in that home brew games will run rampant making an interesting community. The controls may be unfriendly to a gaming platform but it is interesting that there is a multi-player wireless aspect on the table.

More info to come when I get my hands on the official press release..

[Photo via Joystiq | Engadget]

There is no doubt that Microsoft Surface is a hot product. Every time I walked by the Surface demo area at CES you had to push and shove your way to even get a look at it. I got a chance to actually touch and play with Surface and aside from touch calibration issues, it is a hot product. It will be amazing once these tables see sub $10k prices and hit consumer homes.

I checked out a few demos of Surface, but the more interesting one pertaining to this site was the Zune demo. The video below shows a simple demo of playlist management and syncing capabilities. This particular demo was build for a hotel lobby. This is cool, but it would be way more practical for consumer and home use with further integration with other devices. None the less, check out the video below.

There are a few problems with in-vehicle accessories such as player docks and other player specific accessories. Let’s say that you bought an iPod and had a dock professionally installed to look and work seamlessly with your car’s stereo or after market head unit. Then you finally see all the cool features and devices you are missing outside of the fascist iPod ecosystem. Now you have to tear out that incredibly slick install you just paid top dollar for.

IME has developed and answer to this problem with the IME Dock. The modular dock system will give you a clean install and allow you to upgrade your device across different brands. Each dock will power and supply audio and video line out to your factory stereo or after market head unit.

Currently docks for Microsoft Zune, SanDisk Sansa, and iPod. But IME also has future plans for other players and mobile phones. An interesting thing that I found out while talking with IME was that the Zune dock system has been selling the most preorders. Go Zune!

Soon to be released the dock system will sell for $250 and include one snap on dock for the brand of your choice. When you are ready to change brands a new dock will only cost you around $90. I will be checking one of these out as soon as they are released. This will be a very useful accessory for my massive collection of MP3 players.

[IME Dock]

A month or so ago I wrote about how I don’t want the Zune to be cluttered with countless and useless features. See “8 Features I do NOT Want to See on the Zune”. Jason Dunn over at Zune Thoughts responded with counter arguments, which I still don’t agree with and did get some support from readers on my site when I pointed in his article out.

Volley for serve. The back and forth continues and now Zune Thoughts has a mutiny on their hands. In the latest post in this saga by one of Jason’s other writers, David Tucker, titled “Jason, You’re Wrong!”. David agrees with all of my 8 points except the Bluetooth feature. So David, I leave you with this: If we are keeping it simple and features out that only leaves Bluetooth headphone support. The problem is IEMs are becoming more and more popular being that they are excellent in sound quality and isolation. You cannot build wireless IEMs, Etymotic tried but they suck and they still have a wire. Sennheiser’s new high end wireless phones don’t even use Bluetooth. So my point is Bluetooth as a means to transport audio to headphones is not a good solution and Bluetooth being used in any other way is a feature to clutter the Zune.

Not too long ago I wrote an article titled “8 Features I Do NOT Want to See on the Zune” that discussed keeping the Zune simple and media centric. My basic point of the article was that it is really nice to use a device that was devoid of "feature clutter" and centered on the music experience. These features included: clock/alarm, games, web browser, FM recording, voice recording, memory expantion slot, Bluetooth, and touch screen.

My campaign is not anti-feature or anti-progression, but it a campaign against a one size fits all device. While I don’t disagree that some of these features are useful, I would use some myself, but once you start adding these features you have to start subtracting and sacrificing the music centered features. Additional features add complexity to the hardware and software sidetracking product teams and developers from delivering the core functionality of the Zune- music.

Jason from Zune Thoughts has written a nice point by point rebuttal to my article in “Anythingbutipod’s Anti-Wish List”. While I still disagree with his points (except the ones where he agrees with me =) ), it’s always nice to have the ying for the yang- so definitely check out Jason’s thoughts over at Zune Thoughts.

The Zune Marketplace subscription will allow you to sync two different Zunes and two different computers with the same account. What I found out by accident is that you can actually use a completely different brand of player for the second device. You may not even need a Zune; you may be able to sync two non-Zune PlaysForSure MP3 players. I have only tried this on one account so I may need some of you to further verify this. So please let me know if anyone else is successful.

The first Zune was something rushed to the market and it showed. The first generation Zune lacked anything outstanding; it really did not offer anything above what the competition was doing. The second time around I am seeing something a bit more impressive. The hardware has been updated and features have been added. The Zune is much more social this time around with the ability to share your listening preferences online. It has also tightly and seamlessly integrated podcasting and the wi-fi has finally been put to good use with wireless sync.

There is a lot of cool stuff going on with the Zune but there is a lot also that will be missed with the hardcore DAP crowd. Read on, let me show you what the Zune is all about.

There are a few hundred different players with a few hundred different features on them. Consumers are getting used to this choice. So naturally, when a new player is released, users are request companies to add the features they want. MP3 player makers include many popular ones so as to “cover all the bases” and appease as many users as possible. This is the way that anythingbutipod manufactures have tried to compete with the Apple- offer just many more features at a much lower price, while Apple offered simplicity at a premium. Both strategies are viable since there are many types of consumers.

While Apple’s strategy has worked well, they are now feeling the pressure in the market and are slowly absorbing the jack-of-all-trades approach. It is not as profound since it has been very gradual, but if you look at the history of iTunes, you will see how cluttered it has become by having to accommodate the many features added to iPods over the years. They also continue wow us with petty but impractical ones like “cover flow” as if we were a bunch of attention deficit two year olds.

Apple is on the verge of creating a void in the market where a simple media centric device once stood. This void is now being filled by the Zune, so I write this in hope that Microsoft will continue to offer the Zune as a simple media centric device and not cave to the people screaming for clocks, games, web browsers, and other add-ons. Time, energy, and recourses are better spent improving the users’ music experience.

Everyone seems to be buzzing about Microsoft adding 1 million DRM free MP3 to their upcoming revamped Zune software. What differs here from competitors is it is a 100% clean MP3; it does not contain any customer info like Apple has embedded in their DRM free AAC files.

This is definitely exciting news for those paranoid of big corporations keeping track of your every movement. For the DRM free fans, you are free and clear to download without being treated like a criminal. Enjoy.

At last the details of Microsoft’s new Zunes have been revealed and as we expected an 80GB hard disk model has been introduced alongside a flash model in 4GB and 8GB sizes. What may come as a surprise is that the original Zune has not been replaced and will coexist as the Zune 30 together with what’s been called the Zune 4, Zune 8, and Zune 80.

The new models all use a four way touch-sensitive d-pad called the Zune Pad, while loads of new features will be offered to every Zune player. These include a redesigned interface, added support for H.264 and MPEG-4 video formats, ability to sync to a computer via Wi-Fi, utilize podcasts and share them with Wi-Fi, removal of the three day limit for shared songs which can still only played three times, completely new Zune software, and over 1 million DRM-free tracks presented by the music store.

Come November you will be able to get your hands on the Zune 4, Zune 8, and Zune 80. The 80 features a 3.2-inch display and at first will be offered in a single color of black for $250. Pink, green, black, and red are provided for the 4 and 8, which contains a 1.8-inch screen and will cost $150 and $200 respectively.

[Zune.net | via Engadget]

More pictures below.

Rumours surrounding Microsoft’s impending Zunes have accumulated to suggest that an official announcement for the new players will emerge in the next few days. Several prior leaks and pieces of information have been supported by an inside source and photos of a display at a retail store, both reiterating that a new thinner hard disk version will be accompanied by a smaller flash-based Zune.

The pictures don’t reveal an enormous transformation in design, so we will have to wait until Microsoft verifies the changes presented in their succeeding players which, if the rumours are at all accurate, we can assume will hit stores well before the Christmas shopping season.

[BetaNews via Electronista| ZuneScene via Engadget]