Zune 1 running firmware 2.1, Zune 2 coming Wednesday
By Nilay Patel 
posted Oct 1st 2007 7:28PM
posted Oct 1st 2007 7:28PM
Update: We're now being told that while Microsoft will announce and discuss the Zune 1 firmware update on Wednesday, it won't be available until sometime later -- presumably when the Zune 2s hit the market.
What?!
mine says it is already up to date!!
mine too
i want a firmware upgrade!!
I'm guessing the new firmware is for Wednesday and not today?
I think they are saying that the firmware comes out on Wendsday along with the new zune, because mine says it is up to date as well
I wish I had a zune so i can say its up to date
What sort of "software goodies" are we talking about? Regardless, this makes me happy. I'm liking my $8 Woot bag of crap Zune more and more...
any more in depth details on what the changes are in this new firmware? any more info? come on guys spill the beans!
When I heard that there was possibly a new firmware, I quickly synced my Zune, but sadly, my firmware is up to date. I guess we'll see on Wednesday.
The songs you download on your Zune Pass are yours for as long as you hold your Zune Pass subscription. ---- So i don't own them? How is the marketplace supposed to work??
The Zune pass is a subscription, in other words you are leasing songs. Subscription expires, songs expire. GO AMAZON MP3 STORE!
It's called good marketing: If someone went and bought a Zune pass for a month, downloaded a huge amount of songs, then canceled the service, that would be a lot of money lost.
That said, Amazon MP3 store FTW.
iTunes+ anyone? lol
Uh, some people seem to be kinda missing the point on this.
The Zune Pass is an all-you-can-eat subscription service. You pay $15 a month, you get to download as many songs from the library as they want. You can fill your 30 (or 80) gig Zune with any music you want. But if you stop paying the subscription, the songs will stop playing after a couple weeks.
If you buy individual tracks off the Marketplace, they're yours. No monthly fee. They are DRMed, though. I never buy individual tracks, because I won't buy music with DRM.
I personally only buy music on CD and rip it. It's higher quality and you have a nice archival hard copy. Subscription services are excellent for finding new music and DLing stuff I don't want to buy, like stupid pop albums I want to listen to once or twice or classical albums that I'm not convinced I'll like. Subscriptions give you (nearly) full access to a massive archive of music. It's good stuff. People who scoff "Bleh! I don't want to RENT music!" don't usually seem to understand what the point of subscription services is.
Is this Zune news frenzy of the last couple hours a backlash against the Apple-hating commentors?
By the way, I love the Apple news.
no, i think it be because information about the zune just came in..?
by the way, i love zune news
Oh please. Three relatively positive Zune articles in one day - compared to the months and months of iPhone and iPod news. It's not even in the same class.
That being said, "Thank you" to the Engadget gang for the Zune 2 coverage so far and for doing it with a nice even hand this time.
Much appreciated.
The only thing I'm worried about is that they'll get tired of this, and start a backlash before Microsoft has a chance to take advantage of the good PR (for once). That said, the new hardware and UI look very cool. I can't wait.
Seriously, people complained the day Zune 1 came out that four articles was too many. All the Zune fans have to put up with hundreds and hundreds of iPod/iPhone articles, let us enjoy our two days of fame :)
i think you need to update the zune software on the laptop before updating to the zune...
no, u just plug you Zune in, then right click on your tag or name and choose check for Zune device update, I’ve been running a couple of hacked on the software and they work great, the guest hack and marketplace hack, you can turn off the marketplace features and just use regular sync and media playback, that hack makes a tone of difference with computer resource.
Check www.Zuneboards.com for a lot more hacks for it
This is what i hate about ipods. You would never get the ipod classic features on a older ipod, despite it could handle most of it (maybe not cover flow)
thats exactly how I feel and is why I am happy I made my investment in a zune. I know it sounds scary but it actually seems like Microsoft cares about their customers.
What! r u kidding, srsly do have a 360, they hate their customers. They have u buy it & then shit in ur face! BTW I have zune, 360, windows, etc. I don't hate Microsoft, but they hate US. I just forked over $99 for my 360 repair even tho they make shitty product!
You're being sort of selective in your memories... My first-gen 5 gig iPod had a clock, calendar, and various features added to it via software, and I remember Microsoft's "Plays For Sure" program longer than Microsoft itself did. So it goes both ways.
Seeing that you have a 5G iPod, how do you like the new menu setup? How about the coverflow? Is it nice, because since you have a 5G iPod and you seem to make it seem that Apple updates its existing iPods with new software that is released for the newer iPods, i would assume you have those features as well in your 5G iPod, just by updating its firmware.
Right?
@ mferrari3:
Yes, i do have a 360. When mine broke, a courier picked it up on tuesday, then dropped it off thrusday morning. I didn't pay a cent and got a free month of Xbox Live as a gift. They hate me?
hopefully the wifi and battery indicaters being switched from horizontal to vertical implies a clock will fit in the horizontal space.
Even if it doesnt mean a clock. At least it's not needed to buy a new Zune. The new UI and everything will stay there.
You can buy the songs forever for about a buck or you can use the subscription and have the songs till your subscription is canceled.
Microsoft will announce Zune HALO COMPATIBILITY! well... I'd get a laugh. I like my Zune and Halo.
It may play halo with this update....
...but will it play doom?
No, but i am pretty sure that it will blend.
my first comment is highly ranked. *sheds tear*
The fact that your comments are highly rated have just convinced me that reading comments on engadget is complete waste of time. I wonder what took me so long?
OMG this is soo exciting maybe I should buy one... Or maybe one of those new nanos wow this will be a hard choice.
Where's our option to opt out of Zune news? This is getting pretty ridiculous. Zune this, Zune that.
Are you kidding? 3. Stories. Thats. All.
Three zune posts in a day.... OH NO! SO ANNOYING!
suriously
"wah wah wah"
I am actually interested in hearing what they add to this zune, after apple botched the iPod Touch for me by excluding calender functions.
Uhh, sarcasm anyone?
Yessss, finally. I knew Microsoft wouldn't just leave us Zune users hanging.
What is a zune?
fart with a lump in it
Aaah, I'm loving all the news. Just don't leave me out of it, Mr. Gates. Remember: affordable, useable, and ergonomic. Do me right, MSFT!
hahaha oh my engadget.. clean those pictures
"Clever... Is so last week."
I love Zune.
Vertical Wifi orientation FTW!
Wireless syncing FTW? Please?
Eagerly awaiting Wednesday.
OMG, all these M$ articles, you guys must hate Apple (read: sarcasm)
Bring on the Mac-compatibility?! Please!!!
Oh, and double-shot, tough-to-scratch surfaces FTW!
;)
many months ago i predicted that the would release the new zune2 firmware onto zune1 hardware!
i rule ;)
I read in several places that the announcements are tomorrow (Tuesday, October 2) *not* Wednesday.
Check it out here: http://www.betanews.com/article/Microsoft_to_Debut_Zune_2_on_Tuesday/1191256215
Hmmm... so how about uncrippled WiFi??? Eh??? come on!
can't wait...i hope they at least put a clock in it this time :\
And all three Zune owners rejoice...
So innovative, the apple kiddies moved from the 2 zune owner joke to 3! You guys can count! I should give you a gold star for that one.
LLLLOLOLL SO INTELLIGENT LOLOZZ!!!!11oneoen
Really? Aren't these jokes getting somewhat old?
People are really excited about this thing? Really? Wow. Just wow.
@freakshow1 "People are really excited about this thing? Really? Wow. Just wow."
i said the same thing about the ipod when i found out every player in the last 3 years has about a dozen features that the ipods dont.
Did anyone else notice that the battery icon/wifi icons have been stacked in the 2.1 version, does that mean they had to tighten up the interface at the bottom to allow for a bunch new icons?
Either way, super excited about the firware update coming soon (hopefully)
insert obligatory apple fanboy comment
insert obligatory anti-M$ comment
This is way too much Zune news for one day, so some love for Apple's next generation iPod touch please!!
http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/28/how-would-you-change-the-ipod-touch/
http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/10/apple-confirms-ipod-touch-cannot-add-appointments/
http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/20/apple-fesses-up-to-faulty-ipod-touch-screens/
http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/20/apple-fesses-up-to-faulty-ipod-touch-screens/
http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/16/ipod-touch-has-an-identity-crisis/
Anyone who thinks they are going to get new functionality is going to be disappointed. I predict some new Apple like services whose only functions are to drain your wallet.
I'm sure the twelve people who expressed interest in Zune 1, half of whom now own a Zune, are all aflutter with the prospect of ... Zune 2. I for one am waiting for the all powerful iPod killer, Zune XVIII due in 2012.
"Zune XVIII due in 2012"
16 products in 5 years? No, I'm sorry, you're thinking of the Apple release schedule.
Does it work for the Mac? No?
Then I guess I won't be getting one.
Seriously-- Apple figured it out and made the iPod compatible with Windows, so why doesn't MS get wise and make the Zune an option for Mac users? Some of us might give it a try if we could.
Being locked out entirely, though? Dumb.
And it took how many generations for that? Give it time.
You can, in fact, use a zune on a Mac, just not in OS X. Most Apple guys I know run Bootcamp as there are typically at least some applications (okay, applications = games) that they really want but can't run natively. The Zune works just fine in that environment, at least if the words of Tycho from Penny-Arcade can be trusted.
I don't know if it is worth MS's time to develop a client for OS X. The user base is relatively small (moreso the userbase without a bootcamp partition), and a large percentage of that population hates the Zune on instinct rather than the merits of the product. Moreover, MS can't make a half assed attempt on the platform or they will alienate any potential customers they might have had, so they would need to put a great deal of development effort into the release, which equates to a great deal of money (Dev's aren't cheap, and considering the compatibility issues between both processor platfroms, as well as between OS versions, neither is the hardware to test on). The E&D division at MS is notorious for losing money (though Robbie Bach will lose his job this year if they aren't profitable) so I can't see them gambling that the effort would actually equate to positive cash flow in the near future for the amount of money put into developing a mac client.
It was one thing for Apple to support windows (though if you recall, the first gen did NOT use iTunes but the horribly evil MusicMatch Jukebox) since it would pretty clearly pay off (it is hard not to see the benifit from going from supporting 1.5% of the consumer market at the time to 99% of the consumer market), but for MS the situation really is no where near as certain even if OS X market share has risen a bit since then. I suspect if you want Zune support on the Mac it will have to come from a third party that figured out how to get the two to speak together all nice like.
You should also consider the fact that iTunes on Windows is crap compared to the one on Macs.
Many of the iPod users problems comes with using iTunes. It's that problematic.
I'm glad Microsoft won't blunder into the OS X territory like that. At least they're trying to make their product better first, and then expand.
Apple users wont be able to use bootcamp when Steve handJobs lets you know that the beta is expiring (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306583) when 10.5 comes out, then forces you to buy leopard and have access to the real bootcamp so you can use actual applications that matter.
True, after Leopard the only bootcamp will be on the new OS, but it has been my understanding that upgrade rates between OS X 10.versions have been pretty high, as a percentage much higher than say the upgrade rate of windows users (though obviously smaller as a raw total, when Vista outsold all current OS X installs in 5 days, at least if the SEC filing numbers were to be believed). Most everyone I know upgraded to Tiger within a couple months and it was certainly less a change than Leopard promises to be (I guess that could actually be a bad thing, but OS X users seem less phobic of change than Windows users).
After countless days of page-filling Apple news, it's nice to see MS's oft-maligned offering getting a little attention even if it does feel a lot like a pity f*ck.
wanna see maligned? two words: Windows ME.
Windows ME was more of a prison f*ck...
I want Mac compatibility, i may want to try out one of these Zune's.
For once Apple needs to follow Microsoft. If MS is making all the UI improvements/changes in the Zune 2 available to Zune 1 owners that is freakin' awesome!
There is no reason why Apple can't release a firmware upgrade so my 60gb iPod can do the new album artwork jazz!
I cant wait for the firmware update!!
For complete coverage of the Zune check out
http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/digged/
nice...looks like I won't have to buy myself a second-gen Zune right away :D
wake me when they do something interesting with the wifi.
The best thing about my brown zune, is how the poddies all wrinkle up their nose and go 'ewwwww' when they see it.
Make me giggle every time.
I actually had to register to reply to this.
Chum, I have news for you. I HAVE a Zune* and it doesn't support AVIs. I've got it RIGHT HERE at work. I am trying to copy AVIs to it. NO GO.
You would THINK that anything you have a DirectShow filter for could be copied to the Zune, but Microsoft doesn't agree. (There is a hack to enable AVI import. Microsoft disallows it for some policy reason, not a technological reason.)
You'll love this though--you CAN copy .movs to your Zune without hacks.
* With God as my witness, my Brown Note was a gift.
Hopefully they'll address podcasting.
Zune 2 will require Windows Vista.
We don't know how to program Halo 2 for Windows XP, so we're sure as hell not gonna know how to program the Zune software for it...
OMG how can you guys fall for that that is obviously just a picture the battery and wifi icons are in landscape mode like it was displaying a picture
But for real I never use my zune because it has no clock
I do not see why they do not put a clock, A CLOCK!
Um ... there is no new firmware. Unless someone can point out where it is.
The only thing that vista is required for is the tv recoring part of it. Otherwise, xp works fine. In terms of the 2.1 Firmware for zune 1, that hasn't been released yet and most likely won't be until the Zune 2's reach the shelves in stores.
wow.....bigass let down. no upgrade today!!! and i skipped school and all just to get and play with it lol.
Compared to the Ipod, i have to say one thing that Microsoft was brilliant when doing, which was leaving the software updateability open so despite hardware changes in future versions, i can still get the interface of the newer Zunes within the older players harware limits. As such i just purchased a new 30GB Zune for 100.00 off Amazon!!!! and will simply update with new firmware. Only gripe with the whole player is that there is no turnwheel navigation system and that the new Zune has the touch/turn wheel!! MS actually did something right u Zune haters!!!! PS u have to buy a IPod classic to get the shiny new interface (oopsy)