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The 80GB Zune might be hard to come by, but the rest of the family is doing just fine -- and Zune.net user halfcirclepunch is here to unbox his fancy-pants 8GB Zune Original for your viewing pleasure. The device is obviously identical internally to the standard 8GB Zune, but the box contains a fullsize poster of the custom-engraved artwork, and a nice soft carrying case -- and the deep red Zune looks way better in these pics than we've ever seen it before. Peep all the rest of the shots at the read link. Unboxing the 8GB Zune Original - Engadget The 80GB Zune might be hard to come by, but the rest of the family is doing just fine -- and Zune.net user halfcirclepunch is here to unbox his fancy-pants 8GB Zune Original for your viewing pleasure. The device is obviously identical internally to the standard 8GB Zune, but the box contains a fullsize poster of the custom-engraved artwork, and a nice soft carrying case -- and the deep red Zune looks way better in these pics than we've ever seen it before. Peep all the rest of the shots at the read link. Unboxing the 8GB Zune Original - Engadget November 19 The second version of the Zune rocks. In many ways it is superior to the iPod, on others it is not. The following is my open letter to the Zune.net team for the next version of software and firmware. - Video Market Place
- Audible Codec compatibility
- Zune Software Mini Mode. For watching music, podcasts and videos smaller than normal video resolution.
- Be able to pin open or close detail pains on in Zune Software.
- Able to set Resume on music or mp3s like you can on podcasts, instead of starting over. This would be great for books on tape.
- Drag and Drop, or copy and paste Album Art
- Stream music from web with Zune Pass, then mark songs for download on your home pc.
- Let Device Name be Social Name. I have several Zunes and when I share I like to have different names show.
- Be able to share video.
- Outlook Contact integration [Not a big thing, but it would be nice]
- TV Out on 4 and 8 Gig Flash models. [ This maybe a hardware thing]
- I like the hearts, but you should give people the choice between hearts and standard 5 stars.
- When you sync multiple Zunes with one PC, and you right click on a song or video, you should get a list of all the Zunes you sync with not just the last one. I have a lot of Zunes. Me Likey the ZUNES!
- Picture Rotate.
- OK this may be crazy, Video Zoom mode. The Zune screen is 4:3 and some video is 16:9. This makes it hard to watch high def content on the the Zune, specially the smaller ones. It would be nice to have a ZuneZoom feature, I just made that up, that would allow you to zoom in 10%-15% to get rid of the bars on the bottom. If you are really crazy, you could allow for your own pan-and-scan with the touch pad. If the action is on the left, swipe left, if it is on the right, swipe right.
- Picture and Video playlists
November 12 
Zune 2 and its batch of new features are finally upon us, bringing new players and an entirely new experience. On the device side, there's 4/8GB flash-based and 80GB hard drive-based Zune with fancy form factors and increased storage, as well as new firmware for your old first-gen 30GB players. On the software side, the functionally rich (but somewhat clumsy to use) Zune suite is gone and is replaced by a beautiful, but hollow successor. Read on to find out how Microsoft has managed to change a lot on the one hand, and very little on the other—then see how the Zune stacks up against iTunes and iPod. Microsoft Zune: Complete Guide to Zune 2's Software and Firmware October 20 
Zune obsessives: if you want to drill down -- and we mean way, way down -- then check out this freshly leaked 47 page Zune support document over at Zunescene. You'll get a sneak at some of the forthcoming features from the bleak lens of those who spend their professional affairs providing technical support. October 18  Microsoft recently announced a slate of updates to their Live Search features for mobile users, including a free 411 service and voice input for search features on Windows Mobile devices. Live Search 411 (800-CALL-411, or 800-225-5411) offers some pretty familiar features, with business listings and the ability to have maps sent by text message. Meanwhile, Live Search for Windows Mobile users now offers voice input (in beta), gas prices, and hours of operation for businesses. Windows Mobile 5.0 and 6.0 and BlackBerry users can access Live Search Mobile at wls.live.com, while other mobile phones go through m.live.com
411: Microsoft Offers "Live Search 411," Mobile Updates October 11 
We've all seen glimpses of the upcoming Zune user interface - from the limited video clips available showing the new Zune players in action. Beyond the obvious font and layout changes - and the addition of new menu options like podcasts - our eagle-eyed members have detected some subtle changes in the Zune UI: Volume settings now go up to 40 (compared to 20 currently) Album artwork when browsing by Album looks bigger than on the current firmware Artist name doesn't show on unselected albums when you browse by Album Home screen font is somewhat transparent Videos now provide a thumbnail on top instead of the video name - for videos and for video podcasts The dotted circle (for sync and wifi transfers) is replaced with a set of blinking stars in the shape of the Zune logo When scrolling through the options on the home screen, the currently selected item is bolded When an option is activated from the home screen, or from lists such as songs or albums, the selected item flashes momentarily The icons for battery, lock, and wireless are oriented vertically now When advancing from one track to another, the album art for the new track slides in from the right in a "wipe" transition Podcasts are organized on the player into audio or video podcasts When playing a podcast, the options available are Resume, Play from beginning, and Send. (Podcasts can be sent wirelessly to other Zune players, just like audio tracks.) The first-generation Zune UI earned high marks for usability. It seems that the above refinements will make the new UI even more satisfying. We can't wait to dive deeper into it - and especially to see what's behind that Settings menu option. Zune articles. Archived stories from Zunerama's Zune blog.#071011_zune_story#071011_zune_story October 09  According to ZuneInsider the new DRM-free, MP3, tracks of the Zune Marketplace won't use digital watermarks, although Microsoft is licensing this kind of technology to it's partners. It is used for piracy control reasons to track down information about the buyer or the retailer for any type of media. Read more about this technology after the jump...
Recently Microsoft announced it's partnership with Activated Content and the creation of a platform for free, ad-supported music downloads. In its most simple form a meta tag which contains the buyer's or the retailer's information is added in purchased tracks. If any of them leaks to Peer-2-Peer networks the buyer can be identified and ... told he has been a very bad boy. This simple form is used in iTunes Premium MP3 tracks where the full buyer's name is written in cleartext inside the track. But this info can be easily removed. It gets more interesting when cryptography, digital signatures, spread spectrum and other exotic technologies are used. The information now is embedded in many places (spread spectrum), all over the media file, in an invisible way. Ideally humans cannot understand the difference between the watermarked and non-watermaked media content; no one except the provider can read the hidden information and it cannot be removed without destroying the media file (e.g. conversion to other format or lower quality won't remove it). So when a track is found in a P2P network, depending in the embedded information, the provider can trace the online store it was sold from or even the name of the buyer! Zune-Online.com | Zune News and Forum - Zune MP3s won't have Watermarks 
If you've got a drawer full of photographs you'd love to preserve digitally but don't feel like going through the work of scanning every one yourself, send them to web site ScanCafe for cheap and professional scanning. The service charges $0.19 for each negative and $0.24 for each slide you accept (you can reject up to 50% for whatever reason, whether you don't like the quality or you just don't want the image). The door-to-door round trip will take approximately seven to eight weeks, but the quality is excellent and price is very competitive. If you've ever used ScanCafe, let us know how it worked out for you in the comments. If you've got another preferred digitizing method, we'd love to hear about that, too
Archiving: Digitize Your Analog Images at ScanCafe - Lifehacker 
Altec Lansing was among the first to offer a speaker dock for the original Zune, and it now looks set to accommodate the latest batch as well, with the company apparently nearly a release for its "Designed for Zune" inMotion iM414 speaker system. While we're a bit skeptical of Altec Lansing's claims of "immersive, crystal-clear sound," the system does look to be fairly decent as far as these things go, with it boasting some 3.2-watt speakers with 2-inch neodymium drivers, a built-in FM radio, a remote, and a spare input jack for your other audio gear. It'll also, of course, charge your Zune while it plays, and it'll even hold some batteries if you want to tote it along with you. As they've shown in the past, Altec Lansing hasn't forgotten about SanDisk users either, with the nearly identical inMotion iM413 model for Sansa players also said to be "coming soon," for the same $100 price as the Zune version. Altec Lansing intros inMotion iM414 Zune speaker system - Engadget October 03  The AT&T Tilt (8925) is official. This ship was leakier than a sunken pirate ship, the successor to the 8525 is finally here. The important specs: Windows Mobile 6, Mobile Office, 2.8-inch screen, GPS w/ TeleNav, Push to Talk, standard IM program, slide-out and fold-up keyboard, glorious HTC-style QWERTY keys, Wi-Fi, 3-megapixel camera, Push Email, 3G HSDPA—but no TouchFlo on the top level like the Touch (seems like they're saving that for "Touch" designated phones). $299 with two-year contract starting Friday October 5.
Windows Mobile: AT&T Tilt is Official - Gizmodo 
The new Zunes are official so let's get to it: a spec-by-spec scrap between Redmond's new Zunes and Cupertino's formidable iPod foe. Unfortunately, Microsoft failed to mention the all important battery performance of their new gear in addition to a few other minor details. Microsoft fans will tell you that's due to an iPhone-like surprise close to the November launch while haters will jump to the conclusion that this is a definite sign of trouble. Still even without that morsel, there's plenty of data to masticate for comparison.
The Zune 80GB certainly holds its own when pitted against the 80GB iPod classic on a specification table. That's not the case, however, with the iPod touch as long as you're willing to sacrifice the bytes for the touch's bigger display and heftier price tag. It's a tougher call on the flash-based Zune vs. the iPod nano -- just how important is WiFi to you on a 1.8-inch display? None of this, of course, accounts for the oh so important user experience or the ecosystems supporting their respective players. As such, we'll reserve final judgment until we have the new Zunes in-hand. Until then you'd best dig in fanboys, that November release is a long way off. The tables that follow will provide the fuel to fight the flame wars for the weeks to come. The Zune 80 with its big 3.2-inch display fits right in between Apple's iPod classic and iPod touch models. As such, we'll give you all three in a side-by-side comparison. Since Microsoft is a bit light on the specs, we've plugged in the information we reasonably expect to carry over from the 1st generation Zune -- otherwise, it's To Be Determined: Read More Zune vs. iPod specification smackdown - Engadget October 02 
As we noted in our Zune launch post, with the new Zune announcements, Microsoft intends to do more than just launch hardware. The Zune crew has apparently done a complete overhaul of the Zune desktop software so it's no longer just a weak rebadge of Windows Media Player 10 (praise the heavens), which Microsoft hopes will help the social to get more, um, social-er, with a number of things to attempting better engage music listeners and Zune customers: - The Zune Marketplace is officially adding DRM-free music support, launching with over a million DRM-free MP3 tracks. As we mentioned earlier, other details (like which labels, whether there is a DRM-free upgrade path is for users who've bought music with DRM, price differences, etc.) are not yet known.
- Zune Marketplace is also getting podcasts and music videos. (Great, but where's the real video content?)
- Microsoft is also launching Zune Social, a free online music community / social network (great, another social network!) which allows users to create...
- Zune Cards, which are web widgets not unlike Xbox's Gamer Cards. Zune Cards let other users track your most played and recently played music (updated each time you sync back to your host machine). Users can also sample music directly from someone's Zune Card.
- You can now share with others music that was shared with you.
- No, the Zune still doesn't analyze the tracks it shares, so Zune Pass unlimited customers still can't share music without DRM.
- But, at very least the Zune's 3x3 DRM no longer has a time limit. Same three play restriction, but it no longer has to be within three days.
Microsoft beefs up Zune music and community experience - Engadget 
We love a good non-mystery around here, and Microsoft's new Zunes are about as un-mysterious as they get. But we also love a good product refresh, and now that the cat's officially out of the bag we can really dig into the new Zunes, which definitely have a lot going for them. There's plenty to cover, so here's what you need to know.
Hard drive Zunes - It's called the Zune 80 and, shockingly enough, it has 80GB of storage.
- Uses the new Zune Pad -- four way touch-sensitive d-pad (with up, down, left, and right buttons).
- It will sell for $250 (with "premium" headphones).
- Available only in black (to start).
- Screen size has increased to 3.2-inches (from 3-inches).
- Dimensions are 61.1 x 108.2 x 12.9mm (2.4 x 4.25 x 0.5-inches), some 1/3rd smaller than the classic Zune.
- The classic Zune will now be known as the Zune 30 -- it's not going anywhere. More on that in a sec.
New flash Zunes - Zune 8 and Zune 4 are the names for the 8 and 4GB flash based models.
- Also uses the Zune Pad.
- These will sell for $200 and $150 respectively.
- Both will be available in pink, green, black, and red.
- It will feature a 1.8-inch screen (compare to the nano's 2-inch screen).
- Dimensions are 41.4 x 91.5 x 8.5mm (1.6 x 3.6 x 0.33-inches) -- compare to the new iPod nano, at 69.8 x 52.3 x 6.5mm (2.75 x 2.0 x 0.26-inches).
Everything else - New Zunes ship in November, date not yet announced.
- All Zunes (including the Zune 30) will have a new, redesigned interface and feature parity. In other words, early Zune 30 adopters will have all the same software features as new Zune 80, 8, and 4 users.
- Additional native video codecs for h.264 and MPEG-4 -- users no longer need transcode those file types to WMV.
- WiFi sync to host computer.
- Podcast support! (Sorry, no over the air downloads -- sync only.) Podcasts can also be shared via WiFi.
- The 3x3 song sharing DRM has had its three day restriction removed, but users can still only play files three times.
- The Zune software is all new and rewritten, and is supposed to actually be more than a rebadge of WMP10 now. Friggin finally.
- The Zune music store is going DRM-free, with over 1m MP3 tracks being made available for download. Other details are not yet revealed.
Accessories info after the break. Official press images, etc. coming shortly, don't wander far! [Image via Rompres]
New Zune accessories - Zune Home AV Pack ($99.99) - "Home Dock with three faceplates to accommodate each Zune device, wireless remote, AC adaptor and composite AV output cable."
- Zune Dock Pack ($49.99) - "Home Dock with three faceplates to accommodate each Zune device and AC adapter."
- Zune Car Pack ($79.99) - "Redesigned FM transmitter/charger and dashboard grip pad."
- Zune Cable Pack ($39.99) - "Sync cable, composite AV output cable and audio cable."
- Zune Premium Headphones ($39.99)
- Zune Leather Case ($49.99)
- Zune Sync Cable ($19.99)
- Zune AC Adapter ($29.99)
Microsoft's new Zunes: officially in 80, 8, and 4GB sizes - Engadget October 01 
Here it is, direct from a trusted source close to the situation -- a Zune 1 running firmware 2.1, which will bring all the Zune 2 software goodies and UI tweaks with it when those bad boys are announced on Wednesday. That's right, we also have confirmation that Microsoft will be making the Zune 2 announcement on Wednesday, which should give the Zune tattoo guy plenty of time to get some new ink before the holidays.
Update: We're now being told that while Microsoft will announce and discuss the Zune 1 firmware update on Wednesday, it won't be available until sometime later -- presumably when the Zune 2s hit the market Zune 1 running firmware 2.1, Zune 2 coming Wednesday - Engadget
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