This release that should go live tommorow morning will include a ton of new features, Fixes, etc… Most of the in the Social, but some big ones that you all have been asking for. Video Store, Gapless Playback, and Auto Playlists.

Here are some feature highlights…

• Auto playlists.
• Browsing videos.
• Editing album and track information.
• Organizing collections.
• Gapless playback.
• Syncing groups.
• Zune reminders.

There are tons of new Social Features today too…

• Syncing Zune Cards to a device.
• Enhanced friends search.
• Instant friends.
• Artist and album reviews.
• Reputation badges.
• Windows Live connections.

Hang tight, I have more info coming soon. I had a chance to see this in action last month and it’s nice so far.

Just some quick news about XNA. A bit of info was released today, with one of the highlights being the fact that zune gaming will support up to 8 zune wireless networking. 8 people playing a first person shooter together, that’s something to brag about. Also, just to clear things up, the said to be 16 MB of game storage is in fact the amount of zune ram a game can use. Overall, looks like zune gaming is really coming along, and for anyone interested below is a video demonstrating a first person shooter being played between two people over Wifi. Thanks WetWorker from zunecards.net for getting it on youtube.

Remember, The Community Tech Preview of Zune gaming is said to occur Early-Mid May.

Source

First Impression’s:  To begin with, this case is very similar to the previously reviewed,  White Leather Flip Case , so it packs many of the same features, just with a different style. As you can see below,  it is a brown leather case(although also available in white leather), with a clean white stitching. What can’t be seen on the outside is the contrasting pink stitching in the interior of the case border, and the interior of the zune slip-in section. The pink stitching looks interesting, but overall this case has a bit more of a “rustic” feel than the white leather flip, and looks a lot like a wallet ( as stated in the name).

Sync cable and Earphones easily accessible.

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Some interesting screens have been posted in the zuneboards.net forums, thanks to Ricardo Dawkins. These are screen-shots from a video that apparently briefly played over at www.zune.net. The video may have already been taken down, but in an effort to demonstrate the software features, it seems to have revealed some things to come in a hopefully soon to be software update. Possibly this is the reason it was removed so fast.

Marketplace section: “videos” is now there, but where did downloads go?

Artist pages now have an option for “listeners” alongside “artist, bio, videos, related,”. The “now playing” status displays album art as well.

The new selection of “Artists Genres Songs” in the default music screen. The album art alongside “now playing” status can be seen here as well.

These few shots definitely do look promising, and I will keep you all updated on any new info found. I don’t know about you all, but I believe we need an update, and we need one soon. Feel free to check out the original thread.

So, we’ve known for quite some time that the Canadians would get a Zune launch eventually. Now it seem that it’s getting closer though. Engadget today posted a story about jobs that came up on craigslist Canada and a link to a promo page on Microsoft Canada. They are calling this launch potentially a “limited lineup”. I don’t really understand that considering that the Red Zune was just announced as going to retail and the Zune 30 is an old legacy gen 1 device. It’s still a good Zune, but I don’t think they are in production anymore.

 
Screen grab from Engadget of the Microsoft Canada Promo Page.

Just hold on a little while longer, Canadian Zune-lovers — it seems that your wait is almost over. A job listing just popped up on the Vancouver Craigslist, looking for a “Microsoft Zune Program Coordinator” who will “represent our client Microsoft on their launch of Zune in the Canadian marketplace.” The job calls for applicants to be available between May 12 and June 20, so if it’s legit — and we hope it is, just because we prefer to believe no one is sad enough to fake this — it looks like the Zune will finally roll into Canada in just a few weeks.

Go Canada, at least you know they are coming!

It’s not shipping until June, but it is available for preorder now at iHome. This is the dock that Cesar shared with us recently on Zune Insider.

You can order it from their site (well, preorder) for $99.00 with free shipping right now. Head over there now for more info.

Meet the new ZN9, the world’s first clock radio for Zune. The ZN9 features several innovative solutions, including wake and sleep to your Zune™ music or AM/FM radio presets, a 7-5-2 feature for separate weekday and weekend alarm times, and an extra large, backlit LCD display with dimmer.
With our Reson8 speaker chambers, you’ll be able to enjoy stereo sound around the clock. The new ZN9… treat yourself and your Zune right.

• Wake or sleep to Zune, AM/FM Radio or buzzer
• High-fidelity stereo drivers in specially designed Reson8® speaker chambers deliver astounding clarity, depth, and power
• Gradual Wake and Gradual Sleep increase/decrease Alarm/Sleep volume so as not to startle the user
• Clean contemporary design complements the look of the Zune
• Dual alarm with AM/FM presets
• 7-5-2 feature for separate weekday and weekend alarm times

Apparently someone got shafted on Ebay with a counterfeit Zune…

“Just received my 8GB Zune from Ebay. When I saw the box first I was kind of shocked. Text and Printing not aligned to the center of the packaging, no sticker with serial number and Barcode. As well there were no manuals and the earphones and synch cable were not in separate boxes. Then I thought “wonderful you’ve bought a fake Zune” but the Device looks fine (ok it looks like second quality, dented screw cover (or whatever the chrome cover covers Smiley and some errors in the laser engraving at the back) When I plugged it into my PC it started charging and a few minutes later it started up and shows correct firmware as well. So how can this be? Has someone embezzled second quality devices and made a new Packaging for them? Has anyone else the same experience?”

The post over at Zunerama details how he appears to have been juked. It’s quite possible that this “is” a Zune, but one that didn’t make it past QA to go to market and was snuck out of the plant under the shirt.

Source: Zune Thoughts

Dan over at Channel9 posted a video interview with Mike Klucher from XNA. He talks quite a bit about what we should expect to see with zune gaming, and how it will be delivered. Among many XNA-related things shown in this video, you also get a sneak peak at a game called “Alien Takeover” demonstrated using a zune 80. The good news is we should see an initial test version out within about 3 weeks, which will allow developers/users to get a taste of XNA on zune. Although they do emphasize the fact it is aimed more toward developers, anyone can download XNA studios 3.0 , and by getting your hands on .zip file of someone’s game, you can easily play it. All I can say is,  it’s about time we got some more info on XNA with zune!

Check it out over at Channel9

Edit: The video has been uploaded to youtube(Thanks to WetWorker of ZuneCards.net), so you can watch parts 1&2 after the break.

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First Impression’s: This case looks very nice, as it’s nearly completely leather, and is strong and sturdy as well. Black is the base color throughout the case, with clean white stitching and a silver Proporta logo/magnet clip.  It’s a fairly simple design; just a  leather flip case that holds the zune in place using two clip-like side pieces. To close the upper flap, a strap is used with a magnetic connector(as can be seen below). While in use this case leaves the earphone jack exposed, and the majority of the side of the zune. Unfortunately the strap does cover the sync cable, but you can easily unstrap the case to charge.

Strap holding flap closed, earphone jack exposed.

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First Impression’s: As you can tell, this is a bit different from the previously reviewed case, because it is in fact a sleeve case. It seems to work the same as any other sleeve/sock case, but offers a bit more protection because of it’s leather material. The stitching is nice and clean, and the base color is used throughout the case with a slightly darker felt-like interior. Aside from the dotted pattern along the exterior, the only other design is the word Incipio imprinted near the bottom, and the Incipio logo on the pull tab. The current “butter cream” color definitely isn’t my favorite though, but it’s available in Green, Pink, White, and Burnt Orange as well.

Side stitching is nice and clean

Front view, with Incipio imprinted near the bottom

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