Cool. Got any info on that new video on zune-arts.net? The one with the snakes.

Neat, what are you discussing in the meetings? o.o

While you can't say anything, I'll be eagerly awaiting Zune 2. :-)

Blue would be a cool color to have in the new Zune's as well!

i'm sorry but you are so much sexier then that drawing. Your glasses are triple that size. What were they thinking? Not to mention the stack of pens you carry around in your shirt's pocket. LOVE IT.

So, does this mean the Blue Zune is Confirmed?

OMG! That picture is Hilarious! I'm gonna send it to Apple. =)

With Zune 2 coming out shortly (this week, I hope), I thought it odd a new blue Zune would be released.

yeah I loved the snakes video, very weird ( ok who am I kidding, it is zunearts, all of it is pretty weird. )

but it was a very cool artistic style and loved the whole idea of it.

also, about the blue zune, so that means it is not true right? you were  a bit too subtle and i want to make sure.

Hey you can meet every day this week as far as I'm concerned, if it gets me a Zune to show down an iPod owners mouth then do whatever it takes.

Heres an idea: Make it two times fatter so we can literally crush the opposition :).

On a serious note, as always I'm hoping to hear some exciting news on the Zune in the coming days/weeks

Cesar, do you even live in the USA? Cause the time says tomorrow at 2:42 in the morning.... Zune 2 is gonna rock!

Gonna guess the blog is showing GMT Zoa.  Just a guess...

All day meetings are great! Hope they are bringing in nice sandwich platters and maybe some of those mid-afternoon ice cream and cookie trays! Yay! Too bad that work stuff gets in the way.

In the snakes video, I (for whatever reason) kept expecting something bad to happen. Such as:

1. Two snakes battle to the death.

2. Ice cream cones fall down and impale the snakes.

You get the picture...  Good stuff, though.

I doubt the Zune 2 would be released this week. Maybe it will be announced but not released.

Another 20 song indie playlist is uploaded. This is for the zunepass fanboys and those that love acoustic covers of instrumental metallica tunes.

Enjoy!

Revolution

@Eddie

I d ont think there'll be an announcement b4 the release. MS has already told that they are working on Zune 2.0 devices, so whats in the point of a new announcement? unless MS want to start a viral campaign for Zune 2.0 like Halo :)

cool. another color for Zunes. I feel much better now over the (complete and total) lack of support for the device.

well here's hoping the progress will be spectacular

Thanks savethesocial.com, I've downloaded your playlists.  Sweet.

2 more tidbits...

First

It is NOT a Blue zune, it is bad lighting and worse camera work. Take your zune out andlook at the edges against a light.

Second

There are not going to be any announcements until well after Halo 3 is out. M$ is not going to Over/Under shadow a either product.

Cavan

Thanks Savethesocial, i think they might release the Zune before the iTouch. Maybe even on Halo 3, lol.

Yeah I don't think it's so much being taken with a grain of salt as a 'who cares?'

I want some news!  I'm sick of being disgruntled!  make me gruntled again! :p

This social is looking more like a lynch mob -- halp!

Yo Cesar

We know you you can't talk specifics about Zune 2.0 but in regards to capabilities but can you give us a number between 1 and 100?

Let us say the current Zune falls in at 25... what number would Zune 2.0 be?

Zune first birthday is in less than 48 hours, will we hear an announcement i wonder ?

probably not i wonder why we  have seen no leaked FCC photos of the new Zune...

Hmmm

yea meetings = more news for them and even less for us. that means even no update on how their bbq's are going or their buses.

CEsar

instead of specifics is there like a month that i can look forward to until my zune is updated. i mean what could be wrong with giving a month. no specific features im sure you guys have a deadline already so he cesar how about giving us something to feed my zune news craving instead of trying to satisfy it with nmf.

@ZuneToday

Zune 2.0 = 25.1111111111

September 11th O_O

Between Sept-Oct-November....I pick October after the Halo 3 craze

@Ricardo

I am shooting VERY End of Sept. or early Oct.

In the light of the deafening silence from Microsoft, I'd bet that "all day meetings" either means that the Zune team is scrambling for a response to the competition, or reeling from an executive decision (e.g. re-org/re-focus.)

I think if there were some good news, we would have gotten a tidbit to hang our hopes on by now... even a meta-announcement rather than a weak "hold on, trust us" response.

comment removed (trolling)

savethesocial, shared playlists combined with Zune Pass sound like a great idea but I'm not sure if I understand how it is different from the FreshPicks playlists that are already published weekly on Zune Marketplace. Are your lists just better songs?

Hopefully we will see the ability to share playlists on ZMP soon. This feature is so much more valuable with ZunePass than on something like ITS where you still need to buy all the tracks to listen to them.

If I'm missing the point with your site and your playlists, please clue me in since I don't want to miss something that would help me get more from my Zune.

I need news about firmware,Im thinking of going fruit but my girlfriend loves my Zune.I dont like feeling in the prehistoric era,I need update 1.5.

Cesar Please Talk To Us.

Let's say you check out my 20 song playlists and like them.  Now, let's say you can get access to a 2000 song meta-list of songs just like those 20.  Now let's say that, in addition to the daily 20 song lists, you got an updated 2000 song meta-list that took some out, and put some in.

Now, you've got a dynamic 2000 song list that changes daily, keeping up with the new, removing the old so it doesn't get stale, all a piece of cake with the zunepass subscription, because mailing songs is hard, but mailing playlists is easy.  You do this with an iPod, and it's $20 a day.  You do this with a zunepass, it's $14.99 a month.

It's a 1-click solution to the "all the stuff on my iPod is the same because I'm lazy" problem.  Each day you get fresh tracks, all paid for by your zunepass subscription, all chosen by professionals (or, in this case, me) and the problem of keeping your zune/iPod current is no more.  Don't feel like spending a bunch of time on your music this week?  Don't.  It'll still be fresh.  Every person I know who has an iPod filled it with music, and then got tired of all the work involved, and then stopped.  Most of my friends stopped some time around Weezer 2001.  Lame!  I can fix it! Microsoft can fix it!  It's an iPod killer!

The problem with the zunepass isn't selection.  It's execution, and the only thing missing is:

DELIVERY.

Get it yet?

Is anyone getting this?

Or is everything I'm doing falling on deaf ears?

You'd all be interested to know that some apple computers in so-cal have been hitting my site. Sweet!  Someone gets it, I just hope it isn't Jobs.

Steve hasn't been able to ship iPods with music on them because of the Beatles lawsuit.  If you got your zune, and were able to immediately fill it for 14.99 with Tunes that you like (a top-40 profile, an adult-album-alternative profile, a grunge-circa-1994 profile, a KEXP profile, a classical profile, a rap profile) it would solve the problem that many/most of us have: filling an MP3 player with the right 5000 songs is HARD WORK!  I would KILL for a playlist of John-in-the-morning on KEXP.  We have the technology RIGHT NOW to offer a two-click solution to this problem!

Microsoft: Help Me Get The Right Music To The Right Zunes.   Help Me Do It In Two Clicks Or Less.  Help Me Do It By Xmas 2007.  We Can Roll This Out In Two Weeks.  It Is An Ipod Killer.

Playlists shouldn't be 20 songs.  They should be 2000.

Hit random.  Don't like the song?  You track surf instead of channel surf.

I want to change the way people listen to music.

I want to start a revolution.

Who is with me?

I am! I really just want zune news though. I listened to my Zune while i was getting a filling, Zune saved me pain and the noise of the drill.

Example:

Jack fm.

They have a 1000 song rotation that is tailored to individual cities.  Drive to Cali and every station it seems is Jack-this, Jack-that.

You get your zune, and decide that you are stuck in the 80s and 90s, so you click 1 button (that's right, 1 button) and download the Jack-fm equivalent playlist, 1000 songs.

Now, you click another button and sync your zune.

Two clicks, you have 1000 songs just like Jack-fm.  Difference is, with the zunepass, the songlist is updated daily with some put in, some taken out.  Sync your zune weekly, daily, whatever - when you do it, you are updated with a fresh batch of stale songs.  You don't become familiar with the list because it's constantly changing, slowly, in the background, seamlessly.

Sorry, I have to admit that sometimes I am just in the mood for Jack-fm.  Who doesn't like to rock out to Genesis from time to time? It's a guilty pleasure.

Anyway, it's a 2-click solution to a library of fresh, dynamic playlists.  It's about the software, not the hardware!  In this case, the software is the playlist!  I was able to do this in 5 days!  Imagine what the resources of Microsoft could do in two weeks?

Geez, why did it take so long for anyone to figure this out?  Cesar - we can roll this out in 2 weeks!  Get your best music minds going on playlists - lots and lots of playlists - it's not about the 3 million songs, its about the filter that you provide.  You go to a restaurant, they don't give you the market - they give you a menu.  And you pick from that menu.  It's a filter on a filter on a filter.

The company that delivers the best FILTERS will WIN.  

Revolution!!

I'm with ya

OK, so I get the big difference between the existing playlists on ZMP and savethesocial's idea of 2000 song playlists. Sounds good to me to pick my favorite radio station or genre and have it download and sync a ton of music. But that's not what's on savethesocial.com right now, right. There are some much smaller playlists that I''m sure are good, but they are really the same thing as what I can get on the playlists section on ZMP now but they are YOUR picks instead of someone else's, right? I think the real value is in EASILY letting anyone publish their own playlists and then letting people publish and share their own playlists. If I could flag a publisher and automaitcally grab all their future playlists ala a podcast but grab all the songs from my ZunePass, now that would be value! Is this what you are suggesting?

"Steve hasn't been able to ship iPods with music on them because of the Beatles lawsuit."

It was announced at the beginning of the year during the iPhone announcement that Apple Computer had bought all of the rights to use "Apple" from Beatles-Apple and licensed the name back to Beatles-Apple.  This is when they announced that they were dropping "Computer" from the company name,

I like your idea, but I alredy used my ZunePass trial and they doesn't sell the passes here in Mexico :(

but the idea is good, they should do it

savethesocial....sweet ideas.  That was one of the main reasons I started visiting this site way before the zune was even released.  I was under the impression that MS and the zune team would really listen.  I had all of these cool ideas (IMO) and I would shoot them at Cesar and Richard from Madison and Pine.  Then, I'd head over to zunester and chime in over there.  But, as time passed, it seemed that this idea of a revolution in this music space was a bit premature.  The Zune team is being very methodical with the focus groups, witholding information a la Steve Jobs and no one knows where this thing is going.  

Sorry to digress, but keep up with the ideas because you never know.  I think it's brilliant.  Instead of making a big deal out of the subscription itself, focus on other ancillary features that having the zune pass could facilitate.  

You are dead on. There is a lot of room for innovation in this space and innovative methods to deliver massive amounts of content could be a killer.  Apple has 160GB ipods coming out...and no subscription service.  MS needs to change the perception of the zune pass from a subscription service in the mold of cable television to one more along the lines of xbox live.  The only way to do that is to add more cool music lifestyle features that make use of the subscription model such as things like savethesocial's idea, music messaging, virtual DJ'ing, easy track and playlist sharing, live library browsing, user radio, and the list goes on. MS is the only one with the infrastructure to do it.  Now, what are they waiting for?

Save the Social:

Microsoft needs to hire you. they already do this, but their taste in music isn't what I like and theirs isn't updated as often. Your sounds like a great idea. Now all we need is a way to RSS the playlists and integrate it into the ZMP.

I think you have just convinced me to get the zunepass. Keep up the great work!

-Woody

OMG! WHY U USING A MAC IN THAT PICTURE?!?!?!?!? ;)

One thing what would help huge playlists like this is if MS allowed a user account to save "star" ratings for songs that have been deleted from the user's local library but are available in the Zune store.

Let's not forget this is about the music. I'll hold off on the diatribes for now.

In the meantime...

Playlist 5 - all the songs from the zune-arts vids

Playlist 6 - the albums that they came from (1)

Playlist 7 - the albums that they came from (2)

I'm just getting started!

Revolution

savethesocial.com

Lol, Wait were against Mac's now? I thought it was just the iPod.... Cesar, could you please answer this, has the Zune come up in any of your meetings?

. . .Still checking 6 times a day for update news so I can return the new nano and resume using my Zune. . .gues not this week!

PC Mag reviews the iPod Touch...

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2179699,00.asp

...and gives it 5 out of 5 stars.

The bottom line?

"With an excellent interface and elegant design, the iPod touch is simply the best portable media player ever made."

Gotta love an industry with healthy competition. Can't wait to see what Microsoft, Creative, SanDisk etc. release in response!

Yeah, I can't wait until I get an iPod touch and can go to starbucks and download a song for .99!  That'll be awesome!  Then I can download another song!  Soon I'll have an entire library of songs!

In the meantime, I'll just have listen to all of the albums that the zune shipped with.

Wait, the zune shipped with songs, not albums.

If only there was a place I could get all the albums that have those songs on them...

If only...

if only...

revolution

savethesocial.com

savethesocial.com - great idea!  

Sounds a bit like Slacker for the Zune - but I too am lazy and would love for my songs to be updated like that. Plus I am too busy to keep up with whats new.  

That PC magazine ticks me off. Every time I read a Zune review, people always seem to bash 30GB as ridiculously small for video. What happens when a true iPod for video comes out? "Oh, yeah, 16GB is small, but that doesn't matter because of the interface." Give me a break. THEY DON'T EVEN LIST THE LIMITED STORAGE AS A "CON". Please.

I'm not saying the iPod Touch is a terrible device, but come on.

Malory1 said:

"Every time I read a Zune review, people always seem to bash 30GB as ridiculously small for video. What happens when a true iPod for video comes out? 'Oh, yeah, 16GB is small, but that doesn't matter because of the interface.'"

I stopped by the Apple store the other day just to take a peek at the new Nanos. They come in 2 GB, 4GB and 8GB capacities, and play video on the little 2" screen at 320x240. The screen is absolutely crystal clear, and video was surprisingly watchable. I wouldn't want to watch an entire movie in one sitting, but a podacst or 30 minute television program would be great.

I looked at how much content was on the device, and how much space was free. There were about five videos (a couple of movies and some television programs), several hundred songs, and over a thousand photos. This was an 8 GB Nano. It was about half full. 8 GB seems like a lot of space to me. FWIW, a coworker of mine is going to be getting a 16 GB iPod Touch. He's started ripping some movies from DVD to put on his iPod. Converted to the right size (320x480) and format for the iPod Touch, each movie is a little over 500 MB.

And don't forget, the new Nano, Classic and Touch can all be connected to a big screen TV over component video for full screen viewing. My understanding is that the decoder in the iPods will even decode higher resolution video than the iPod screen is capable of for playing on larger screens. So, you could rip at 720x480 for better viewing quality when running the video to your TV.

Pretty darn cool.

@ Zuneless:

No doubt! Like I said, it's not like the iPod Touch (or the other new iPods) are bad, they have some great features. I was just annoyed that, while the Zune was consistantly put down for "only" having 30GB, an iPod with close to half the storage seems to get a free pass.

Never heard any bashing on the Zune storage. The only basing is from the lack of basics, lack of updates, features, lack of direction (so it seems especially with the silence).

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2054203,00.asp

"Cons: Small hard drive."

Too bad MS didn't just ship the Zune with 16GB, then maybe it would have been fine.

http://reviews.cnet.com/mp3-players/zune-30gb-black/4505-6490_7-32068976.html

"The bad:...maximum capacity is 30GB."

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/zune.ars/3

"Then there is the fact that it only comes in a 30GB model, making it more difficult to store a the complete music collection and a good video library for road trips or commuting."

So that's PC Magazine, CNET, and Arstechnica. The thing is, they are still pretty positive reviews overall. They do make specific mention of the 30GB hard drive as a negative, though, while PC Mag simply tosses the issue aside and say that the earbuds suck. Of course they suck! Who buys a top of the line iPod and still uses the earbuds?

EDIT ON LAST POST:

Meant to say: "However, they do make specific mention of the 30GB hard drive as a negative. When it comes the the iPod Touch, though PC Mag simply tosses...etc"

Didn't come out right the first time. :)

Shame on them, 30 GB is enough storage for most people.

But if the next Zune came out with a Web Browser, Wifi (ZMP Wifi Store), multi-touch interface, Flick-scrolling, Ambient Light Sensor that automatically adjust to save battery, Accelerometer that automatically rotates the screen, Starbucks/YouTube integration, podcast support, a clock :) all in a very slim-down form factor, no one would care so much about the storage in the Zune, they would toss it out also as a minor gripe compare to the other features. Add to that, flash storage are limited today to only 16 Max, but growing fast. If Zune 2 came out with all these features, I would happily downgrade from 30 GB to 16 GB.

I love savethesocial's ideas...make it so Cesar!