Rumors of a Zune phone have floated around forever, but we've always thought it would make more sense for Microsoft to start by simply making a Zune player for Windows Mobile -- a plan Steve Ballmer casually confirmed today in an interview with CIO Magazine. Sure, Ballmer's hinted at Zune on WinMo in the past, but those were just hints -- not like today's pronouncement that "the Zune software will also be ported to and be more important not just with the hardware but on the PC, on Windows Mobile devices, etc." That's a pretty solid declaration of things to come, if you ask us -- too bad he didn't give a time frame. Now, about that 360 integration.

[Via WM Power User]

Microsoft couldn't let the gory, highly-anticipated launch of Gears of War 2 (chainsaw duels! Rhhhahaararggg!) pass without bloodying a Zune or three in the process, Halo 3-style. Specifically, Microsoft has laser-etched that pesky little "Crimson Omen" onto a glossy black Zune 120, pre-loaded the device with 244 pieces of "Gears of War" media -- the soundtrack, concept art, behind-the-scenes vids and so forth, nothing you won't be able to find elsewhere -- and squeezed it all into some "collectible" Gears packaging, featuring our testosterone-addled protagonist pondering the meaning of life. The whole kit will run you $280, with pre-orders at Walmart.com and Amazon.com (and a whole mess of Canadian shops) starting at 3AM PT / 6AM ET. It'll start shipping on November 7th. And still can't sync to your Xbox. Close-ups after the break.

Simmer down folks -- everything is going to be a-okay. Yes, 'tis true -- Microsoft has indeed scheduled for Xbox Live service maintenance and Zune service tweakage to take place at the exact same time this coming Monday, but it's probably not worth losing your mind over. In fact, Major Nelson goes out of his way to affirm that "when [Xbox Live] service returns, you will not have any new features and you will not have the new Xbox experience update." Point being, your Zune Social, Zune.net forums, all of the Zune Marketplace and Xbox Live services will be offline for up to 24 hours (48 hours for the Zune suite) starting at 12:01 PST on September 29th, but don't expect a Zunephone to pop out of your now-forgotten HD DVD add-on when things come back on. Or you can, but we'd be prepared for unprecedented disappointment.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Read - Xbox Live down time
Read - Zune services down time

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.

After a couple misstarts, we've finally got Zune 3.0 running on our computer and that shiny new blue Zune 8 we nabbed yesterday. We had problems with the straight installer, but updating from within Zune 2.5 worked quite well, and after a restart we were able to perform the same feat on the player. The software choked up on the first sync, but we canceled out and it twasn't a problem.

With 3.0 all ready to go, we wasted little time jumping onto Marketplace wirelessly, which felt especially delicious on a teensy little flash DAP. Naturally, we could've squandered all our Microsoft Points on song buys -- which are quite easy to accomplish, with a cart-based purchasing system -- but we're all about subscription music, and Zune Pass speaks our language. The browsing, selecting and downloading processing couldn't be much easier, and you can pick a song to play from right in the store while browsing other wares. There were a couple hiccups in playback when switching tasks, but they were always brief.

It all seems so socially apropos: the more pedestrian Zune is now to McDonalds what the oft pretentious iPhone is to Starbucks. Through a partnership with Wayport Inc., Zune users will now receive free wireless access to the Zune Marketplace (only, no browser remember?) from more than 9,800 McDonald's "restaurants" across the US. Also announced are new on-line exclusive colors to join the blue Zune 16GB -- red, pink, and green only through Microsoft's refreshed Zune Originals site.

The Zune 3.0 software update is now available, go get it! Unlike some vendors who shall not be named, 3.0 brings all the new features to generation one devices -- brown Zune, you never looked so good. We'll be back later with our first look. Until then, why not shout out your experience in the comments.

[Thanks, Adam H.]

It's Tuesday and the on-line store is down which can mean only one thing: new aluminum MacBooks. Huh? Oh, the Zune store is down. Well, in that case the Zune 3.0 software update is just around the corner.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

We just got ourselves blue 8GB and black 120GB Zunes, and naturally threw 'em on the table for an unboxing. With just capacity and color changes, there's not a lot to gawk at, but we've always had a soft spot for Microsoft's Zune packaging and "Welcome to the Social" greetings. In case you were wondering, they're still total smudge magnets, and they're still rocking 2.5 software -- 3.0 hits tomorrow.

Apple and Microsoft both issued a slew of updates to the iPod and Zune lineups in the past two days, and it looks like some of the new features will be kicked down to older devices as well. Although it was expected that second-gen Zunes would get all the new Zune 3.0 features, Microsoft says that the older Zune 30 will also receive an update to enable Buy From FM, Channels, and WiFi music store features, and Apple reps at the Let's Rock event told CNET that the iPod classic will eventually get an update to enable the new Genius playlists. That's particularly interesting since Genius is most definitely a new feature, but it doesn't sound like Apple's going to charge for it -- which flies in the face of the company's "we have to charge for new features because of Sarbanes-Oxley accounting requirements" $9.95 iPod touch update price reasoning. We won't complain too loudly about free updates, but that's definitely a little odd -- care to explain, Steve?

Update: We just spoke with Apple, and it appears people are getting all kinds of facts wrong. The iPod classic will not be getting an update with Genius functions. Don't ask us why... it just ain't.

Read - iPod classic getting Genius update
Read - Zunes getting Zune 3.0 firmware update

It would have been juicier if Microsoft hadn't announced the fall Zune lineup a day early and gone directly head-to-head with Apple's newly refreshed iPod lineup, but the fact is that if you're in the market for a new player the past 48 hours have delivered a slew of new options. Microsoft concentrated on the software side of the equation with Zune 3.0, but Redmond's players themselves got a WiFi music store, some new games, and Buy From FM, while Apple added in new Genius playlists across the board and updated the iPod nano's form factor and UI. At the high end of the capacity scale, the Zune seems to have the win on paper -- both the Zune 120 and the iPod classic frustratingly top out at 120GB, but the classic's stagnated essentially at the level of the 5.5G video iPod while the Zune 120 carries all the features of its smaller siblings. On top of all that, you have the newly-thinner iPod touch, with all of its browsing, media, gaming, and third-party application features -- and the lost purity of purpose adding all features those entails. That's a ton of choices -- so c'mon, kids, what's it going to be?

You've seen the PR, now check the videos. The zunitedcommunity just posted four introductory videos straight outta Redmond -- three demonstrate the new WiFi Marketplace, buy from FM, and Channel features in the 3.0 firmware while the fourth demonstrates the updated desktop software with new Zune mix, improved Now Playing view, and new Picks view auto-populated to reflect your listening habits. CNET News also had the chance to get some hands-on time courtesy of Zune's Joe Belfiore. Joe confirms that WiFi access to Marketplace only works from hotspots that don't require a browser-based login (duh) while once again hinting at future Xbox and Zune integration since "both stores are based on the same technology." He also confirms that the 3.0 firmware will work with all Zune devices as we expected. Curiously, when asked about accessing your Zune music collection from a phone, Joe responded by saying, "that's another really interesting device that you may someday see us do work on but nothing that we're announcing here today." Funny response since CNET asked him about accessing Zune music from a phone, not a Zune phone. See all five videos after the break.

[Via Zunited, thanks Ryan and Milo]

So much for that ta-da moment tomorrow -- Microsoft just confirmed the fall Zune lineup a little earlier than planned, and it's almost exactly as leaked: capacity bumps to 120GB and 16GB, new WiFi music store, Zune 3.0 software with recommendations and pre-programmed theme channels, and two new games, Hexic and Texas Hold 'Em. Oh, and that snappy blue flash Zune we just spotted. Pricing is similarly unsurprising, seeing as we've had it for a week: the 120GB Zune is $250, while the 16GB flash model is $199 and the 8 gigger is $149. Oh well, at least we still have those new mice and webcams to look forward to tomorrow, right? Certainly nothing else is going on.

Update: The official PR is out, looks like Zune owners can look forward to the Zune 3.0 software update on September 16. Oh, and there's new Audible support as well. Rock on, rockers.

[Via CNET]

Hey, is that the fabled blue flash Zune, all priced up and sitting on a Walmart shelf in Knoxville, Tennessee a whole day before it's scheduled to launch? Indeed it is -- let's hope those rumored LifeCams are pretty spectacular, because we done just scooped every other product Redmond has on tap for tomorrow. You're next, Stevie.

[Thanks, Christian]