http://www.zune.net/

The Zune 2 has been announced, and it looks like they are going to have a better lineup this time to compete with the iPod market. 4 and 8 gb flash players, plus an 80 gig unit in addition to the 30 they had. All versions have the same features, including wireless syncing now, and MPEG4/h.264 video support. The nice thing that Apple needs to take note of is that all the software features are also going to be available to previous Zune owners via a firmware upgrade. The first gen Nano units and 5th gen iPod line never did get the search feature added to the later units, something that would have likely been easy to do from a tech standpoint.

MS is also adding DRM free songs to the Zune marketplace, but no info on if these will still be WMA, or moving to MP3 or M4A. I'm assuming WMA, and the horrible MS points system, so Amazon is still the online service I am eyeing.

According to engadget the new 80 is smaller than the current 30.

I think the zune2 sounds pretty good compared to what other players are out there now. I will wait to try it before buying but I know I like the first zune interface better than the ipod. I just wish they wouldn't make you use their software for syncing. Give me MSC dammit.

Actually, I was mistaken in thinking that they had released two 1.8" drive units. I read another report wrong...

Still, I think I'm half right. I think they wanted to attempt to compete with Apple as best they could on the size aspect, and that's as big as you can get with one platter (I believe...).

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).

Did anyone else see the secret woot for the zune.
http://www.woot.com/special.aspx?k=vipzune

It's pretty tempting but I want bigger than 30 gig.