New Zune Firmware coming soon!

[KeithTalent]

http://www.digitalhome.ca/content/view/2808/284/

New features found in the upcoming firmware update include: a music discovery feature that taps into Zune social; wireless connectivity to the Zune Marketplace from any public Wi-Fi hotspot; ability to tag from FM radio (if you're listening to an FM station that sends song information via the RDS standard), two free games - Hexic and Texas Hold 'Em - and the ability to download and sync audiobooks.

Interesting stuff, though not sure how much I would use much of the new features, aside from maybe Hold 'Em, though it will be hard pressed to tear me away from BrickBreaker.

Looks good for those that use the Marketplace.

KT

 

[RandomFool]

I'm not really interested in most of the new stuff since I never use the marketplace. But I am interested in see if there are any interface changes they're going to slip in with this. Free games are nice too.

 

[Gooberlx2]

this looks cool. Like iTune's genius, but better and snazzier looking. I :heart: my Zune80 + Zunepass. And holy shit, if they were to offer audio books via the Zunepass, I'd be in heaven.

I noticed the features list has mpeg-4 included. That'll be nice if they mean to include divx/xvid avi file support.

 

[mwmorph]

It's nice, I just wish it had auto playlists like itunes Genius. I find the auto playlisting to related songs a incredible feature.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Originally posted by: mwmorph
It's nice, I just wish it had auto playlists like itunes Genius. I find the auto playlisting to related songs a incredible feature.

It has something called mixview, which is pretty damn neat. It would be cool if you could have a set number of related tracks turned in to a playlist.

There's the channels too, which seem to be playlist recommendations. Kinda nifty, especially being a ZunePass subscriber.

 

[RandomFool]

Just installed it. Not too different I like the clock and haven't had any problems so far. I'm glad they shrunk the main menu text down some. Hexen and poker should be fun occasionally too.

 

[bucwylde23]

My 30 GB Zune just keeps getting better and better. This one is pretty banged up after having been through a car accident but the battery seems to be working fine and it lasts long enough for me. No reason to upgrade yet!

 

[uli2000]

Well, its crashed my 30gb. I have been able to go thru the recovery process and put the firmware back on it, but now it tells me my zune is full although there is nothing on it. And so far, I havent found any answers online. Thanks for a mandatory upgrade, M$.

 

[RandomFool]

I have to say I'm a bit disappointed with texas hold em so far. Pretty much anytime I make a bet the computer folds.

Also my play count still isn't updating correctly. I'm going to leave it plugged in over night and see what happens.

 

[KeithTalent]

Finally got it updated last night. Everything looks good, but to be honest I haven't really had a chance to play with it too much.

Had a quick game of hold 'em this morning, but I came in 3rd.

KT

 

[Bacstar]

Got it installed on my zune 80 without any problems. I like it. When I plugged it into my Car Adapter/FM transmitter, it even ran an update on that.

Gotta say, I get lots of use out of my Zune and my Zune-pass.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: RandomFool
I have to say I'm a bit disappointed with texas hold em so far. Pretty much anytime I make a bet the computer folds.

The Zune's AI is just terrified of you, clearly.

I got the update for my Zune 30, and I am mostly happy. I'm having some trouble connecting to my WiFi AP, but you've gotta love MixView and the games. The entire MixView concept works much, much better with a subscription service rather than a buy-and-download service. I've already stumbled into a couple new bands I enjoy!

This isn't completely related to the update, but I've also been playing with the marketplace, and it's fairly impressive. You can indeed stream DRM'd video to your 360 (BSGS4E1 is free to test with!), and it works quite nicely. If only it were in HD! Where is my HD on Zune marketplace, Microsoft? You've got it on XBLM!

 

[Gooberlx2]

Originally posted by: erwos

Originally posted by: RandomFool
I have to say I'm a bit disappointed with texas hold em so far. Pretty much anytime I make a bet the computer folds.

The Zune's AI is just terrified of you, clearly.

I got the update for my Zune 30, and I am mostly happy. I'm having some trouble connecting to my WiFi AP, but you've gotta love MixView and the games. The entire MixView concept works much, much better with a subscription service rather than a buy-and-download service. I've already stumbled into a couple new bands I enjoy!

This isn't completely related to the update, but I've also been playing with the marketplace, and it's fairly impressive. You can indeed stream DRM'd video to your 360 (BSGS4E1 is free to test with!), and it works quite nicely. If only it were in HD! Where is my HD on Zune marketplace, Microsoft? You've got it on XBLM!

DRM content also works with media center extenders (considering you're actually playing the files locally, since the media center extender uses a remote instance).

But yeah, the marketplace with MixView and Zune-pass is totally awesome!

...I had hoped they would add more video format support (.avi with divx/xvid and ac3 in particular).

 

[uhohs]

still no unicode/asian text support?

 

[Gooberlx2]

Originally posted by: uhohs
still no unicode/asian text support?

Doesn't look like it.