Poll: What's your Zune 4.0 must-have?

Now that the dust has settled on Microsoft's impressive, if not quite revolutionary, Zune 3.0 update, it's time for us all to do what we do best: start demanding a new version of desktop and player software -- and a hardware refresh, of course -- chock-full of features that we've been asking for since day one, and a few things we dreamed up along the way. Pick your top-priority from the poll below, or just go nuts in the comments -- the floor is yours.

Poll: What's your Zune 4.0 must-have?

Xbox integration. Yesterday.Mac desktop application.Zune Phone, WinMo optional.Touchscreen player.Better video selection.Another Zune owner to be friends with.Something else / I don't care, just show me the results.Vote

[Brian @ Sep 18th 2008 4:09PM]

Touch screen player for sure. I love my 30gig Zune, a touchscreen would get me to finally replace it.

[Mark @ Sep 18th 2008 11:25PM]

What exactly would a touchscreen do to improve the Zune? Make your e-peen bigger? Exactly. While touch is very nice to have, there's no good reason to jack up the price of a perfectly good player 100$ just so you could poke at it and be like "Look mah! No buttons!" Furthermore, I enjoy being able to operate my Zune purely by tactile response. Here's what would actually make the Zune better:
1) DivX/XviD support for the love of all things holy
2) Better screen resolution
3) Global availability
4) Some actual advertisements. Then economies of scale kick in and Microsoft can sell it cheaper.

[soto @ Sep 18th 2008 4:09PM]

I would like to see a touch enabled zune.

[Thi mam(kris120890) @ Sep 18th 2008 4:12PM]

seconded
Thats what I voted for.

[SeNiLe911 @ Sep 18th 2008 4:51PM]

I as well.

Might as well throw a cell phone in it will there working on that and of course they could add Xbox 360 integration. Zune interface on the Xbox 360 would be tasty!

Engadget, you should have had a choice for all of the above!

[BluesK1d @ Sep 18th 2008 5:04PM]

No, thanks. I don't need to inflate the price for no real functionality increase. I have no problem with the human->device interface as it is now.

[West Hubbard @ Sep 18th 2008 5:22PM]

I comletely disagree here. When I use my phone, I love the touch screen, but when I listen to music, I want the tactile response. The same way I hate the onscreen phone keyboards. Think about all of us who use our player while working out or doing something else. I can just turn off the hold and control the whole player, and get a response if I have touched the button. On a touch player, like the iPod you don't know when you've actually pushed the button. There are many times when I can't see my zune while I'm changing songs, and the buttons are great. Especially play/pause. I can use it without looking, and thats the way I want my music player to be.

[VampireHunter Z @ Sep 18th 2008 5:30PM]

What I really would like is the Zune GP (Game Player)

5" LCD 480x800
30GB HDD
SDHC card support
No optical disc
Dual Analog controller
Touch Screen (for typing/ web browsing not really for gaming)
WiFi
Blue Tooth 2.0 (should accept an Internet connection through Blue Tooth from WinMo phones)
Should support any Blue Tooth head set for communiction
Plays most if not all XBLA games
Play full games cross platform online with Xbox 360 and other Zune GPs
Shouldn't be a phone!
Deep video codec support
720p video out
And yeah it should play music

I would pay almost anything for this.

[maty @ Sep 18th 2008 5:39PM]

How about a Europe release?

We've not even get a Zune 1.0 here.

[StrangeBum @ Sep 18th 2008 5:40PM]

My friend and I were discussing this issue the other night and decided that something that would be pretty sweet is that since the device already has AD-HOC wifi capabilities why not utilize that and turn the next Zune into a sort of walkie-talkie device as well, but it would be Zune specific as opposed to a full-blown phone.

Could possibly be a way of testing out such a feature before completely going totally cellular telephone, yaknow?

[dbam987 @ Sep 18th 2008 6:12PM]

I voted for a touch-enabled screen also. I'd also like to see the accelerometer thrown in as well. Games can make use of it, like whats been done for the IPod Touch/Phone.

Also, it would be cool to add videos to the subscription service. I'd pay a bit more for the subscription service if it included unlimited downloading of videos.

[william @ Sep 18th 2008 9:30PM]

I would like to see this pile of crap go away. where is the Go the hell away option in your pole. The thing is a pile of shit....

[Citrico @ Sep 18th 2008 10:06PM]

Ugh, touchscreens are ruining these things. I want a PMP that I can use when I'm not looking at it. This touchscreen fad and obsession with doing everything and their dog makes for devices that are too complicated to use without pulling them from your pocket and walking into a pole just to change the bloody track or adjust the volume.

[Blue @ Sep 19th 2008 8:22AM]

The flick-thro' navi-system is fine...but touchscreen+accelerometer on the Zune would make it cool.
Some additionals -
+ internet browser
+ bluetooth for data transfer
+ GPS (I should be crazy) ;)

[Raheem @ Sep 18th 2008 4:09PM]

All of the above?

[Corey Willis @ Sep 18th 2008 4:09PM]

I would consider buying a Zune if I could use it on my Mac.

[brandon @ Sep 18th 2008 4:21PM]

I ♫would♫ buy a zune if it would work with my mac.

[Josh @ Sep 18th 2008 4:53PM]

So, Zune's still not drag/drop enabled? Does it even have integration with WMP - ie are you still tied to the software that was so reviled a while ago?

If so.. then i want drag/drop ability! Or at least syncing with media player.

[captain underpants and the bringdown gang @ Sep 18th 2008 5:23PM]

is anyone else thinking that we could just use Crossover? or, parallels, or boot camp, or VMware fusion?

I mean, any one of those would totally work for getting the Zune to work on a mac...kinda.

[who? @ Sep 18th 2008 5:36PM]

Hey, brandon- what's the key combo for ♫? Or did you use a menu of some kind? (I never saw that one before)

Oh, right- back on topic- here's some unbiased food for thought:

Apple supports Windows and Windows supports iPods (with the help of iTunes). Each company (Microsoft and Apple) supports the other company's most successful/well-known product!

They are what my science teacher would call 'Symbiotic' (they help each other survive). Neato.

[who? @ Sep 18th 2008 5:42PM]

* mutualistically symbiotic (got to be specific around here these day, never know who might get off by correcting you)

[The Red Monkey @ Sep 18th 2008 5:49PM]

Its funny how often I hear that a Mac owner would buy a Zune and MS is not reacting. How hard could it be to port the software since they run intel now? I think they are missing an opportunity here. The Zune is an awesome DAP. Not everyone wants to kill their phone battery by listening to music on it.

[brandon @ Sep 18th 2008 6:22PM]

Nifty UTF-8 symbols...

http://thenextweb.org/2008/09/16/twitterkeys-enhance-your-twitter-conversations/

[The Dude @ Sep 18th 2008 6:57PM]

A no-cost solution would be to download VirtualBox and run the Zune software from there through Linux in Wine. But it looks like the software doesn't work in Wine.

[Brian E @ Sep 18th 2008 4:09PM]

How about a web browser, folks - or at least an RSS feed reader + email reader?

[Fernando @ Sep 18th 2008 4:33PM]

Seconded on the browser.

...and a way to sync it on a mac, mass storage plz

[tpadekar @ Sep 18th 2008 4:55PM]

The browser wouldn't be too useful without a proper input method (Oh, I'm so irritated by the input method at the moment).

So, the browser would only come in if we get a touchscreen device or a Zune Phone!

[who? @ Sep 18th 2008 7:38PM]

@tpadekar

Zune + Phone = Zone. Microsoft's marketing dept. will have an easy job with that name!

"Get in the Zone"

"Zone out"

For those keeping track, that's two ads in one minute, without dropping 6mill on Jerry Seinfeld.

[ez e @ Sep 18th 2008 10:22PM]

+1 on browser.

I just picked up 2 120gb zunes, 1 for me and 1 for the wife, both firsts in the pmp market so my comments are limited to about 1.5 weeks of use.

we evaluated both zune and ipod, hands down the zune is a better device. the zune marketplace pass and wifi sync are huge. with the mix view i can choose artists i have never listened to before and like.

other wish list items:
I would also like the ability to make recommendations to the mix view if I find a missing link, e.g. Evanescence and Seether (if it's already available it's not intuitive). I would also like to adjust the number of levels depth for the mix view links.

when i'm out of town, i'm typically around other zune owners. I would like to see texas hold'em play head to head.

linkage to live mesh would also be a plus.

[Nick J @ Sep 18th 2008 4:11PM]

Finally!!!

Thank you very much Engadget for including a choice on the survey where I don't have to lie just to see the results.

+1

[Wolfticket @ Sep 18th 2008 4:20PM]

Having a "Something else / I don't care, just show me the results" category, instead of a "something else" category and a show "me the results button" is utterly stupid.

[HOOPER @ Sep 18th 2008 4:36PM]

Exactly. Anybody else notice the "I don't care" option at 30-something percent? You're just ruining the survey results. How about adding a "show results" button, eh engadget?

[MacVicta @ Sep 18th 2008 4:50PM]

The "I don't care" option is at 30% because it's the same number of people who care about the 4th generation Zune as those who cared about the previous generations: virtually none.

[Dean @ Sep 18th 2008 6:08PM]

hey macvicta, i think you need to check your math, if only 30% doesn't care, then by your assumption, 70% does care. In which case in no way could you consider that "virtually none"

[Josh @ Sep 18th 2008 6:40PM]

Leave the poll blank and hit the vote button. Works like a charm for me.

[Jayayess1190 @ Sep 18th 2008 4:22PM]

Touch screen and long battery life.

[WixosTrix @ Sep 18th 2008 4:29PM]

thats asking them impossible. hahah.

[andrew @ Sep 18th 2008 4:14PM]

Something like the iPod touch, but with buttons too. I hate having to take the thing out of my pocket to change the song.

[modifiedbears @ Sep 18th 2008 5:57PM]

A set of headphones with in line controls takes care of that easily.

[Rotaryfan @ Sep 18th 2008 4:14PM]

there really aren't many zune owners... what a small pole turnout. after i voted, there was one for each.....sad.
it needs xbox (live) integration. that would include all of the content there. zune phone? really? a phone is a phone unless its a touch pro or blackberry.

another zune owner would be nice too... so my zune can actualy do something special.

[Gary Combs @ Sep 18th 2008 4:21PM]

Seriously? Its what? 15 minutes after the poll got posted?

[Alex @ Sep 18th 2008 6:58PM]

"pole".

[mrpoo @ Sep 18th 2008 4:14PM]

Another clock.

[eddy @ Sep 18th 2008 8:52PM]

Like an analog one? I could go for that.

[Benson @ Sep 18th 2008 4:15PM]

Open-source UNIX OS.

Nah, I won't be buying a Zune for a while.

[skant @ Sep 18th 2008 4:15PM]

how about some more colors, especially on the 120...like a white and a brown?

[Lowest Ranked @ Sep 18th 2008 5:12PM]

Apple owns white and Engadget owns magenta, so probably not.

[HunterXI @ Sep 18th 2008 5:37PM]

You mean T-mo? Pretty sure there isn't any magenta on Engadget.

[cesium @ Sep 18th 2008 5:57PM]

A white and blue zune 120 are coming :D

http://www.zuneboards.com/forums/zune-talk/31715-4-new-zune-colours.html

[Lowest Ranked @ Sep 18th 2008 5:58PM]

http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/31/deutsche-telekom-t-mobile-demands-engadget-mobile-discontinue/