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...

I have to confess, I didn’t get the whole “badge” thing at first. I’m not a gamer. When I look at my Xbox profile, I see that I’ve played nine games. I think what that actually means is my son has played nine games on my Xbox Live account. And then we got Rock Band, and everything changed. Suddenly, I started telling my kid to play on his own account, not mine. I didn’t want him (he’s WAY better than me; plays on expert on guitar, drums, and bass) to get achievements on my behalf. I kind of lost...

Check out this article on Zune.net about badges, both on your zune card and in the forums. Here's what the gold badges look like: 1000 Album plays 1000 Artist plays 1000 rated forum posts*