Yesterday I had a meeting w/ James, the Zune release manager and he spilled the beans on the next firmware update. In March, we’re going to release Zune Firmware Update 1.3. Here’s what’s in the update: We’re fixing the skipping problem that some users were experiencing – that is, content acquired from Zune Marketplace will no longer skip when played on the device. Improved device and software reliability, when it comes to device detection, and improved sync'ing. We’ve made some changes to the FM...

I think I need to clarify how DRM works on Zune. As a company, we want to empower consumers to share music experiences, but recognize the need to place limits on the transfer of music files so that consumers are encouraged to try and buy music. You can sample full-length tracks that you receive from your friend up to 3 times in 3 days. I misspoke (mis-blogged) on last week’s post . We don’t actually “wrap all songs up in DRM:” Zune to Zune Sharing doesn’t change the DRM on a song, and it doesn’t...

I was going to leave a comment in my last post answering questions, but I decided to make a new one. So first off, we're not announcing availability or launch date today. And we're not announcing price. But I can tell you to wait till you see it officially, and that Zune will be competitively priced . . . On Zune file formats: Zune will support your existing, unprotected, music library (MP3, AAC and WMA files), as well as video formats (WMV, H.264, MPEG4, 320x240), and JPG photo files. We're still...