Some interesting news here today with zune. To begin, Gizmodo just posted a story regarding the release date and capacities of the Zune Hd. An anonymous tipster sent them some secret documents regarding the zune, revealing(confirming) , it'll be shipping in 16/32 gig capacitys, on September 8th. Accompanied with this leak is a nice promo pic:

Not only this though, but at a microsoft event in Manhattan, some lucky people were able to play with the new zune. Here's a tidbit from an article from GearLog.com .

The hardware itself looks very sleek. The device is a lot slimmer than I had originally suspected. Microsoft is certainly starting to edge in on the iPod in the aesthetics department. Check out another up close picture of the device after the jump.

But check out this new photo, revealing "internet" as an option on the device. Good stuff.

Update: Looks like Engadget took a look at this device as well, and has a gallery of images as well as a video! Check it out here.  Among the photos their are some cool shots of the dock that will be used for HD out.

Episode 24 of the ZuneInsider Podcast(the most recent episode) has officially confirmed Tegra being in the new Zune HD. Matt Akers finally [officialy] spilled the beans on Tegra by saying:

Well, we're going to go ahead and confirm that. Yes, the Zune HD does have the Tegra chip in it. So sick, so much better battery life, graphics acceleration. This thing is like a mini laptop in your hand, right, it's so awesome.

So of course this is great news, as the hardware specs for Zune HD just keep getting Better. Hopefully the zune team still has a few aces up their sleeve, and their'll be more to come soon.

Up on Zune.net is a new contest to win "Funkmaster Flex's" Custom SUV. It's got some crazy features, so I advise entering this one.

Also, after entering you may notice the line: "The drawing will be held on our around September 8th, 2009" Thus, confirming the info on the Amazon Page, regarding the September 8th Zune HD release.

Amazon has put up a page for the zune hd, revealing a bit of new material, including a release date. According to the amazon page, the zune will be released September 8th 2008.(assuming the 2008 is a typo for 2009)

And another thing to notice.

The device also has a built-in accelerometer, so it senses when it is moving. This lets you play games and use apps that are controlled by moving the device.

Now, nothing solid, but notice "games and apps". Microsoft has really been fairly quiet about the zune gaming/app store, so hopefully this means we'll see at least something coming to zune as far as apps are concerned.

Stay tuned for more info to come.

Edit:

Amazon has just taken down the page for the Zune HD.

I don't think it can be stated any more blunt that this...

I can’t recall if I had stated this date explicitly before, but I have been told that Zune HD will ship on September 5, 2009.

Yes, that quite is from Paul Thurrott on his website. Obviously it could be moved up or delayed quite easily, but hey, it's a date to hang our hats on.

Source (via)

That's all I will say. Engadget was 1st to get some time with it and Ballmer.

Head over to Engadget for more photos from the set.

And now for Gizmodo's hands on time... on video.

Thanks to Josh from CruleWorlds for drawing this up. Assuming this is accurate, here's how the Zune HD matches up with the current Ipod Touch.

So, although the HD will feature a smaller screen, it is noticeably skinnier, and slightly shorter. Depth wise, it's a mere .05 inches larger. Not bad at all, although I really was hoping for a bit larger of a screen.

The day has finally come. Chris Stephenson has confirmed the Zune Hd, and has a bit to share before E3. This player will feature an HD radio tuner, internet explorer web browser, an OLED screen, and has HD output. Their will be much more news to come at E3. Zune will be expanding to European markets as well.

(and for anyone who cares, notice how the menu is now lower case, unlike the previous leaked image)

The software maker also said that at next week's E3 trade show in Los Angeles it will announce details on a new Zune-branded video service for the Xbox that will replace the current Xbox Live marketplace for TV and movies. The company didn't announce details or specifically say that content will be playable on both Zunes and the Xbox.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Source: Cnet

Just a few minutes ago I came across an article, Zune Comes to Xbox Live in UK. Plus: ZuneHD to hit US.  Now, I don't know how reliable this website is(I do doubt it's legitimacy), but the writer has said,

Zune, Microsoft's 'end-to-end music and entertainment service' is coming to Xbox Live. Later today the mega-corp will officially announce its plans, which - although intriguing - are substantially less radical than the Zune mobile phone and/or Zune portable games player imagined by internet rumour-mongers over the weekend.

Claiming,

The finer details have not yet been announced, but the basics were revealed to me by Chris Stevenson, Microsoft's General Manager of Consumer Marketing for TV, Video and Music Business."

Basically, he is saying this new update will work to bring zune marketplace to xbox, and allow xbox uses from many other country's to enjoy the zune marketplace. As expected, it will integrate the xbox experience and zune, hopefully drawing millions of xbox users to the zune experience.

Now to the Zune HD, here's what he has to say regarding the specs:

The new model will, as expected, feature a 16:9 widescreen OLED touch display, built-in HD Radio receiver, full-screen internet browser optimised for multi-touch and Wi-Fi functionality. There will also be HD video out capabilities: as the press release explains, "the HD compatible output lets Zune HD customers playback video from the device through a premium HDMI A/V docking station direct to an HDTV in 720p."

And finally, a bit more regarding the Zune HD, as "quoted" by Chris Stevenson

Yes. We've got a tremendous device - this is a fantastic piece of hardware and absolutely it's going right up against iPod Touch; it's hyper competitive against that product. I think in many ways, we look at our consumers and what's really motivated them, and the radio functionality is something that people really talk about - the HD radio receiver, with radio tagging, with track tagging, is a great differentiator for us. It's going to be an interesting and competitive year for us in the market - we think we've got a great product; we are going to compete..."

Obviously, don't take any of this for granted. However, keep an eye out for an announcement tonight, and if by miracle their just happens to be something, then were all in for a treat.

I caught this over at Giz this morning on the way out the door and bookmarked it to read later. While I was getting a "round tooit", Nate shot me an email linking a ZuneScene story claiming to have gotten some info about a Zune Upgrade plan from their sources. Well, I don't know otherwise, so like other rumors, we'll roll with them...

The upgrade plan is for Zune owners who want more capacity, less capacity, a different color (only red or black will be initially available), or perhaps just a newer Zune. The plan is specially targeted at owners of damaged OOW (out of warranty) 30GB Zunes according to the source.

Their sources also mentioned that the Zune 30 is no longer going to be available for purchase. Hmm.

Source: ZuneScene