For anyone still interested in this Zune stereo dock that will be retailing for 350$, Harvey from ZuneRama has posted a video further demonstrating it's capability's and function.

I think the stereo looks great in this video, but is it worth 350 dollars? That’s your call.

    As pointed out by Rock4christ recently in the forums , SOApitstop has some tips for speeding up the zune software by removing some of the.. well pointless flashy effects. To do this you create a shortcut for the zune software, and edit the property's of the shortcut(by adding extra info to the command line).

Some of the effects can be caused by these phrases:

• -animations:(true|false) Enable or disable fading effects.
• -gdi Use GDI instead of DirectX, seems to disable animations and probably give some legacy support. This is mentioned in the Zune 2.3 release notes.
• -switchtogdi Permanently switch to GDI rendering. makes registry entry change in general settings: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Zune\GeneralSettings\UseGDI=1
• -dx9 Use DirectX9 compatibility? Probably.
• -direction:(rtl|ltr) Use Right-to-Left rendering for languages that require it.

So, if you value speed over effects, then some of these could help you out.

Jonistheman pointed out on "Zune 4/8 green missing in Canada?" yet another interesting point. He mentioned how it appears that the Zune 4/8 screen in the Canadian "meet Zune" is larger than the normal version.

Granted, this is most likely just a marketing edit to make the zune look more enticing, but it could also show what is to come with the flash models. See for yourself at http://www.zunejourney.net/ , and http://assets.xbox.com/en-ca/zune/comingzune/zune.html

As you all know by now, Zune is going to be making its way to Canada in the near future. However, it was pointed out by Zunited.net that the 4/8 green model appears to be missing. On the "Meet Zune" page of Zune.net/en-CA (which is Zune journey) their is no evidence that the Zune 4/8 green Zune even exists, in the description of the 4/8 model's it states,

Proof that petite can still be powerful. Comes with video playback, a built-in FM tuner, innovative touch controls and wireless sharing capability*. Available in pink, red, and black.

Could it be possible Microsoft is removing it for the Canadian release, or could they have simply not added it in yet? The image above shows the "Meet Zune" page, maybe that gap is left for the green to fill.

Previously, Steve Ballmer had said the release of the Zunes in Europe would be 2008. Unfortunately, rumors are coming in with bad news for people residing in the UK looking to buy a Zune. As the said rumors go, the Zune release in the United Kingdom has been delayed until 2009. It seems as though Microsoft has been very hesitant to leave the U.S. with Zune, but could the cause of this delay be to include Zune 3 with the release? What do you think?

(I realize this is not in fact new, sorry about the outdated post, but if your still interested, read on)

Microsoft has released it's own zune theme for your desktop, and it looks great! You can easily download it here, http://www.download.com/Microsoft-Zune-Theme/3000-2420_4-10818187.html It's a great color combo, and I highly advise it.

From Download.com's editor review:

Microsoft's takes a decidedly dark turn in this black-tinted theme for Windows XP. A bright orange Start box, sharp gradients, and effective gray-on-gray accents make the theme--based on the company's Zune media player--a welcome change from the default blues and greens. We're not especially enamored of the default desktop wallpaper, which lunges away from the cool factor generated by the rest of the theme in favor of cheesiness, but that's an easy enough user customization. The theme looks especially good when coupled with the Firefox Zune theme created by an independent developer.

Here's a preview of what it looks like on my desktop if your interested: http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii229/Soccerfreak1334/Zune-1.jpg

Hey everyone, Cesar Menendez, from zuneinsider.com  has just pointed out an interesting opportunity.  Jessica( A program manager with zune social)  is asking  us,  the zune social users, to help out with the development of a new feature for the zune social itself. Head on over to http://forums.zune.net/157115/ShowPost.aspx and let your voice be heard!

Here's a brief outline of the project, quoted from Jessica's post.

"So how will this work? I’ll provide initial concepts and ideas in this forum dedicated to developing the feature, and we’ll go from there. Together, we’ll develop the concept, user scenarios, and then the feature functional design. We’ll still work with our internal product designer to come up with what it actually looks like, and our software developers and testers will write and test the code. But you’ll be seeing it at each step of the software development process.

What do you say? Are you in? Let’s do it!"

And by the way, as Chris stated, It's Matt(Soccerfreak24) and I am now going to be a writer for GotZune. A quick note about myself: I play Soccer, Ultimate Frisbee, and am a huge Miami Dolphins fan. And of course, I love the zune; which is what drew me to GotZune in the first place. I look forward to posting, and being part of this community.