Zune round-up: unboxing gallery, leaked units locked 'till launch, and customizable casing rumors

Ahead of the official launch of the updated Zune range on Tuesday, there's been a deluge of new information about the device and its new features. First up we have the inevitable unboxing photos, although there's an interesting surprise in store if you manage to get one before the official availability date: Microsoft has required that you go to a website to "activate" your new Zune, and that website ain't up yet. Bummer. If you do manage to pick one up before Tuesday like these unboxers, you can look forward to a $25 gift card with your purchase at Target. We're getting to like this Zune + discount habit.

There's also rumors that Microsoft is planning to enable online purchasers of the Zune 80 to choose different case colors and four lines of text engraving. That's unconfirmed for now, but pretty good news if true. Microsoft kinda messed up the coloring deal last time around. Also, and straight from the horse's mouth, comes the news that the Zune's software won't require you to delete all your music if you want to sync to a second computer. How nice of them.

Read - Zune 80 customizable casing? (ZuneScene) [Thanks, Kevin P. and Michael]
Read - Zune v2 features rundown (ZuneBoards) [Thanks, Mike]
Read - $25 gift card with Zune purchase [Thanks, Ryan]

[Thanks to Ed S. for the unboxing photos]