But the Zune 2 is already thicker than the 80GB iPod. They could have made a thicker unit close to the size of the 160GB iPod. I think the reason they didn't go to the top has more to do with market penetration - or lack thereof. The flash units will sell in the greatest volume followed by the 80GB based primarily on price point. It's the same story with Apple. Their top of the line model has n ever been their best seller.

I hope this refresh does the platform some good as Apple need some serious competition in this area. Up until the Zune they had absolutely none. No other top-tier producer had a product with a form factor even remotely similar. Sandisk as second of third-tier company has had fantastic success with its flash players and I have no doubts the form factor had a lot to do with it. Creative (also a tier 2 or 3) has always had a mixed bag of models and far too many of them. Their stuff tends to be ultra-crap with abysmal software as well.

Microsoft's investment in the software and music distribution sides are also fairly important. Getting the Zune supported by iTunes would likely give them an incredible push though. Not something Apple would ever likely help them do. It would take quite a bit of time to build a cross-platform music program to *really* rival iTunes. Nothing out there really comes close right now.

I wonder when we'll start seeing these players support greater than NTSC resolution video. I'm also curious as to whether MS has added support for their HDPhoto file format into their new software.

Anyone know if it is/was possible to download images from a digicam onto the current Zunes? AFAIK Apple have never released an updated adapter for their iPods that doesn't suck (slow transfer - don't even know if the old attachment is compatible with the newest models).