You asked for it, and we listened. Beginning next week when we roll out our new software, services and devices, your listening badges will be permanent. Plus, we've redesigned the icons, and I have to say, they're really cool! When we first launched the badge concept, we decided they'd be earned based on a rolling 28-day cycle - which meant that if your listening habits changed, you'd lose some badges and earn others. The idea was that the badges could serve as a snapshot of your...

In this week's podcast, we're going to be interviewing our buddy Jessica from the Zune team. Jessica is a program manager on the Zune Social, so here's your chance to ask questions about Zune software dev and the process by which we design, develop and release features. What would you like to know? Drop a comment! Edit: Ok! The podcast is recorded! Thanks for your questions, and stay tuned tomorrow for the release!

And we're back! I’m pleased to announce some exciting changes happening today on Zuneinsider: a new look and feel, better content. On the design side, you’ll notice a more streamlined design, easier navigation throughout the site and easy links for social networking sites like Digg, myspace, or facebook. Specific articles are now called out across the top, in the featured articles section. If you have ideas for topics to cover, or people to talk to on this site drop a comment!