Ah another fall, another Zune update and what an update it is. Last week Microsoft did exactly what we knew must have been coming soon and unleashed a barrage of Zune updates. Below you’ll pictures and information on what’s coming for Holiday Season 2008 and what you can expect in terms of updates. I’ve divided it into areas of functionality. Please send comments if I’ve missed anything. If I don’t get any negative feedback I may file all Spring and Fall Updates in this way.
Music Playback With all the hooplah over music playback it’s a wonder we didn’t get any new codecs to play with in the Spring 2007 update. Sadly we’ll still have to live with the dissapointment because we won’t be getting any with this update either.
Video Playback Also equally disapointing is that because there was no big hardware upgrade we’ll still be stuck with WMV, MPEG4, and H.264 video formats. It’s no DivX, or AVI but what the heck, it’s still something.
New to the Menu Finally added to this version of the software, you can now add AudioBooks to the main menu of your Zune, including full Audible support for those of you who like to listen to books while on the run. Also included is XNA Games support, because of this the new firmware now includes to games “Hexam” and “Texas Hold’em”. /p>
New to the Device What the Zune team lacked in hardware updates, the Zune Team made it up when it came to the firmware. You can now not only tag songs your listening to using the FM Tuner but download them automaticlly when you sync your Zune. Also new to the Zune is the wireless Zune Marketplace, allowing for remote browsing, searching, and downloading of music, along with wireless playback effectivly turning your Zune into a wireless jukebox if you’ve got the Zune Pass. Going to McDonalds will also help you out, because Microsoft has teamed up with the restaurant to give Zune users free access to Zune Marketplace.
New Devices The holiday Zune lineup will include two new capacities for buyers to choose from Zune 16, which is available in the new glossy Blue, Black, Red, and Pink. The Zune 120 will also come in glossy Black.
At the current time the above is all we have been able to gather from our sources about what’s expected. If you have noticed or read something that we’ve missed Email in to us at theteam@zunespring.com. Remember to put Fall update in the subject.
