2:20am CST, I am starting the Video test on the Zune 30 and Zune 80 to test battery life. Microsoft claims up to 4 hours for each device.

Both devices are fully charged and have been on their cradles for more than 5 hours. The only video on each of the Zunes is Linkin Park, Live in Texas. I ripped this video from my DVD at 25 fps @ 320x240 using SPB Mobile DVD. This is a program I have been using at this resolution on my Pocket PCs and Phones.

Both Zunes have headphones plugged in. The volume is at 10 out of 20 and the brightness is set to high. Since I have only this one video file on the Zunes ( 1:15 Minute Concert ), I will check them on the hour and restart the movie each time.

The Orlando Sentinel ran a story this morning about Zunes at Toys "R" Us Black Friday Sale.In Seminole County hundreds of people lined up as early as 12:45 a.m. outside the Toys "R" Us store.

Update : Shoppers go zany for Zune and Retail hordes go loony over Zune

Many hoped to get their hands on a limited supply of Zune  MP3 players, but most walked away disappointed. The store had only seven of the popular music players.

Norbert Soto was one of the lucky ones. The U.S. Postal Service worker waited in line for more than three hours and got the last music player.

“I’ll lose sleep for my daughter,� Soto said. “I just prayed to God that I can get it.�

Soto had his hands on one of the precious few tickets for the Zune but gave it to a shopper he thought was in line in front of him. However, the person gave it back because he already had a ticket.

“I felt like my heart fell out of my chest when I gave it back," Soto said.

Sandy Dale, wasn’t so lucky.

She started waiting at 3:30 a.m. to buy a Zune but didn't make it to the electronics department before the last music player was gone. She said she was angry that the toy store didn’t say it had a limited supply.

The Zune normally sells for $199.99 and was on sale for $69.99 at Toys R Us.

-- Robert Perez

I guess low prices work. It's working for HD-DVD and it looks like it's working for Microsoft with the bargain priced Zune 30s now.

A Zune media player is the top-selling digital musical device on Amazon.com, outselling Apple. Inc.'s iPod for the No. 1 ranking.

On Monday morning, Microsoft Corp.'s heavily discounted, 30-gigabyte, $134 Zune digital media player was ranked the No. 1 bestseller in the Seattle online retailer's (NASDAQ: AMZN) list of top-selling MP3 players in the "Electronics" category.

Apple's four-gigabyte iPod nano was No. 2, followed by Apple's 80-gigabyte iPod "classic" at No. 3.

Last week, the Redmond computer giant (NASDAQ: MSFT) introduced a new 80-gigabyte Zune player, but they're hard to find. Amazon's site on Monday said they're "temporarily out of stock" and no future shipping date was listed. Microsoft's own Zune site said the 80-gigabyte player can't be ordered until "early December."

Source : Puget Sound Business Journal

I did this one last month, but I can't remember if I posted it here...

Here is a quote from mikehill33, a member of the Zune Online forums...

This is what happens when a Zune gets upgraded with the latest firmware then decides to lock up my entire machine. No uninstall, reinstall or anything. Welcome to the SUCK. Hammertime.

No Mike, this is what happens when you lose your temper.

Check out the rest of his pics...

The 2.2 release apparently broke the hacks that allowed users to use the Zune 30 as an external HD for storage and such.

Some folks over at Zunerama have already come up with a work around.

First, it's based on the registry hack from before - (described at this link: http://zunerama.com/forum/index.php?topic=970.0)
The difference with the new firmware is that the registry keys have changed. The new registry keys to be modified are:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Enum\USB\VID_####&PID_####\########-####-####-####-############\Device
Parameters
Modify the same three keys as before, and your Zune will serve as an external drive. A different icon will display in the shell, but you'll have the same functionality.

Source :Zunerama via Crunch Gear

Crappy Music, Great Demo... Zunerama does an impressive speed test comparing the Zune 30 with and without the 2.2 patch.

Check out the post over at Zunerama...

Some comparison shots of Zune 30 and Zune 80

Zune 30 on left and Zune 80 on right (syncing)

Zune 80 on top of Zune 30

Zune 30 on left

Zune 80 on right

[Chris will get some better photos and video tonight!]

Remember the early days of the cell phone biz? You got a cool, free phone for signing up for a year. Well the cell carriers do less of the totally free phones these days, but Microsoft is looking at that business model.

Source: Zune Online via Gizmodo

Gizmodo reports that the Microsoft Zune will soon be available in Pink. Teen girls rejoice. I know that pinks sells for sure. While aimlessly walking up and down the isles at Fry?s in Dallas this week, I witnessed two seperate teen girls riding their parents for the Pink Creative Zen. I happen to be in line with one and she got her way.

"Hey ladies! This is the moment you have all been waiting for?the folks at cliczune received confirmation that a pink version of the Zune is coming on May 1! If you remember, Microsoft surprised purchasers by leaking 100 limited-edition pink Zunes last year, but now they are being released mainstream. I guess the fact that the pink Zunes fetched a pretty penny on eBay inspired Microsoft to release the pink Zune not as a super-sneaky surprise."

Source : Gizmodo