With the new Videos section, auto-playlists, metadata improvements and a more social Social, there’s a lot of big changes to love about the 2.5 spring update. But what I appreciate just as much from the Zune team is the little interface and usability touches that make the experience of using the Zune software that much more enjoyable. The great thing about them is that they’re never really publicized or explained, you have to explore and find them on your own (or read blogs like this one). When the 2.0 software was released, I was amazed when I found the “Now Playing” screen when I clicked the little equalizer-looking icon by the play controls. This release doesn’t have as many surprises as last time, but there’s still a few gems to be found. Here’s just a few I’ve come across so far.

The Video Preview

If you’re playing a video (or video podcast) and you leave the full-screen view of it, you’ll get a little version of it continuing to play down at the bottom-middle of the screen.

It’s a tiny Michael Scott!

It even goes widescreen if the video is in that format. How great is that?

More Complete ‘Now Playing’ Screen

Before when I’d have the Now Playing screen up, there were many places where there wouldn’t be album covers making up the background. I had a lot of cover-less music, either live recordings, one-offs, non-album tracks, or stuff that just plain wasn’t in the Zune system. It didn’t look bad, the Zune software filled in the spaces with squiggly artsy designs, but the completist in me always wished it could be full of my album covers. Now it is! I don’t know if it’s the metadata fixes that have added art for just about every album and song I have (whether it’s the right one or not) or they just changed it to only pull actual album art, but now I’ve got nothing but wall-to-wall album covers, and I couldn’t be happier.

‘Show Episode List’ for Podcasts on the Zune

On the Zune itself, I noticed a new entry when you bring up the menu while playing a podcast. There’s now an option for “Show Episode List” where you can view all the episodes in the series and even change episodes mid-episode. Neato!

Hide the Playlist

When you’re on the Now Playing screen, there’s now a new icon that lets you hide (or un-hide) the playlist. It still auto-hides it after a few seconds like it did before, so I’m not entirely sure of the benefit of it, but hey, it’s there.

That’s what I’ve found so far. I’m sure there’s tons of other little changes that I’ll discover the more I explore through the new update. If I missed anything share it in the comments.

Oh and by the way, I’m Jonathan. I’m new ’round these parts, but I’m a bigtime Zune fan/evangelist and I couldn’t be happier to be a part of the Got Zune team. Add me as a friend on the Social if you’d like.

Wow. There are a ton of bullet items in this patch! The following was posted by Cesar in the Zune.net forums…

• Fixed top crashing bugs submitted by users
• Fixed bug where Zune software thinks the device memory is full (but isn’t)

Key Marketplace fixes

• Allow users to view top music videos in marketplace
• Misc improved error messaging including splitting sign-in issues into 4 separate errors for customer and support benefit
• Retrieval of subscription download history no longer stalls if the content is revoked
• Better handling of accounts that have expired credit cards
• Podcasts with spaces in their name can now be subscribed to
• Marketplace no longer blocks explicit content purchases when parental controls are set to allow
• Points balance label is now updated when user purchases new points

Key Player UI fixes

• Allow zooming in/out (2x, 4x, fullscreen) during video playback to prevent stretched playback
• Ability to switch Zune to GDI mode through command-line parameter

Key Podcast fixes

• Allow subscriptions to podcasts larger than 10MB
• Fixed some parsing errors that prevented some podcasts from syncing to the device
• Fixed bug where podcasts were unsubscribing themselves

Key Setup fixes

• Fixed numerous bugs affecting build to build upgrades
• Improved installation for users accessing from corporate networks
• Fixed driver uninstall failures
• Included device 2.3 firmware in client download
• Failure in creating system restore point no longer blocks client installation

Key Sync fixes

• Fixed issues with reverse sync
• Fixes issues with sync meter UI showing incorrect information as to what is on the device
• Fixed issues using wireless sync with multiple devices to the same PC
• Fixed a few different issues setting up wireless sync
• Device is no longer being reported as full even after deleting large file from device
• Device content is no longer being turned into guest content when it shouldn’t be
• Content with bad metadata now shows properly so it can be removed from device
• Turning off “autolaunch when a Zune device is connected” no longer prevents “Sync Now” from working from a wirelessly connected device
• Podcast bookmarking is now transferred/saved to the device
• Wireless sync connection continues to work after rebooting host computer
• Unsubscribe podcast from device now works properly
• Changing album art in the client now updates the device as well
• Duplicate tracks are no longer synced to the device twice

Key Xbox Streaming bug fixes

• Xbox Streaming now monitors the rip folder if user changes default location
• No need to reinstall client to fix Xbox Streaming when upgrading from XP to Vista

Key Infrastructure fixes

• Vista x64 customers can now get to web help from error messages
• Client no longer crashes if database is corrupted

Key Library fixes

• Changes in pictures or video metadata made outside client will now get updated in the library
• UI is now smoother during file groveling
• When a track is added to an album we will now always update the track on disc
• User can now update album art for marketplace tracks
• ‘Unknown Artist’ metadata is no longer written to files when writing out user edit of album name
• Renaming  an artist now more reliably keeps the change
• Two different copies of the same album no longer get duplicated down to one when it shouldn’t
• Access violation no longer occurs when checking song properties in the burn list
• Multi-disc albums imported from iTunes no longer show in the client as a single disc album
• Thumbnails for video content now extract on XP properly

Give us some feedback on the patch when you apply it… Also, check this thread to give input too.

I haven’t noticed a difference in the time I have been poking around, but it’s there. ( I didn’t have any issues with 2.2 anyhow )

The upgrade took all of 2 minutes from plugging in to done… This upgrade is optional it says and doesn’t start automaticly. You will have to click the settings tab, then device, then finally device update. This is what you should see at that point.

From this point it’s automatic… Just don’t remove the Zune from your cradle or sync cable.

And we are done!

From Zune Insider:

Zune will be issuing a firmware update today. There are no new features in this update, but it does address some issues we’re reading about in the forums. Specifically the battery issue affecting a small percentage of Zune 30/80 GB users - I posted about this last week in case you missed it. In addition to the battery issue, this update provides some performance improvements:

• Improved device recognition
• Improved stability and reliability on sync (both wirelessly and while connected to a PC).

After today, your device firmware will be running 2.3. Hope everybody had a great weekend (and Monday!)

Source: Zune Insider:

Cesar brings word that there is a no feature, minor software update coming…

“Just spoke with our Dev Team, and we’ll be issuing a small software update today. There are no features in this update, but it does help users who haven’t upgraded yet avoid some metadata issues that we’re reading about in the forums.

If you’ve already upgraded your software, there is no need to install the new update.  If you are seeing some metadata issues be sure to check here for how to address them. ”

Source: Zune Insider

For those whose Zune software or firmware update did not go as planned, or simply hate the new software, there is a solution for you. Personally, I would not downgrade, but users with multiple songs with Asian Characters may want to downgrade until Microsoft adds the support for Asian Characters. Full guide and instructions here.

I have gotten it all set up. Zune 30 running 2.2, Zune 4 Running Zune 2.2… Software updated and all this good stuff. Now off to work to play, play, play!

A Zune Software Update 1.3 is due out today, Wednesday, March 28, so hopefully you will be able to download the new firmware update.

What can you expect this update to do?

• A fix for the skipping problem that some users were experiencing

Zune owners will get a firmware update next month fixing a problem that some owners of the Zune music player to experience.

Evidently some songs purchased from Microsoft?s online store ?skip a beat? during playback. CNET reported that Zune marketing director Jason Reindorp indicated a firmware update will be appearing in the middle of next month. The update will also include some additional performance improvements.

Read the rest of the story here at CNET News.com