Zune HD Release Day News

Zune_HDToday is a big day for Zune fanatics! First of all, the long-awaited Zune HD has been released today.  In 16GB (black) and 32GB (platinum) configurations, the Zune HD with its new touch-screen control, HD radio, HD video capabilities and web browser (among many other new features) is now available for sale.  With the new model comes other updates to the Zune system’s software and firmware, which are detailed below.  Read on!

To go with the new Zune HD, the folks at Zune have released a new version of the Zune software (4.0) along with a firmware upgrade.  The new firmware version (3.20) has no new features, but the most important bug fix is that gapless playback now appears to be fixed.  I spot-checked several albums on my Zune 120 and in all but two instances (which are problems with the files and/or CD rips), gapless playback worked flawlessly.  One thing I have noticed with the new firmware is that, about 5-10 seconds before the end of the current track, the player’s hard drive spins up to prefetch the next song in the album listing or playlist file.  Having this cached helps the Zune play the next song in sequence without any gap between the tracks.

As for the Zune software, it features the same basic setup as version 3.  It does appear to be somewhat less “laggy” in performance, although I have not yet tested it extensively.  The poor performance of the Zune software on computers that are older than a couple of years is not all that good, although I must say that for the 4.0 version’s requirement of 1GB of memory, it ran quite well on a computer equipped with 512MB of memory…albeit with very little in the music collection.

The main “home page” screen of the Zune software is now black, and defaults to a home page that features easier sections for you to jump right into music playback.  You can now “pin” items to your home page, so you can play them instantly.  You can also choose recent uploads or additions to your collection from the Zune home page as well.

One curious new feature (which is still “installing”, it says) is the Smart DJ, which automatically picks similar music from your collection and, optionally, from the Zune marketplace.  If you choose an artist, an album or a playlist, and choose the Smart DJ option, it will create a playlist containing similar music.  I have yet to test this, as the Smart DJ feature says it needs another 71 hours (???) to install itself.  Seeing how busy the Zune servers have been all day, it will probably be awhile before downloads of anything will be smooth.

One thing I have not checked with the Zune application (or firmware, for that matter) is if any additional file formats can be used.  I’ve had great luck with the WMA 10 Pro codecs, and MP4 for video.  Some have wished for FLAC support but, if you want lossless, there is still WMA 9.2 Lossless available.

One new additional feature: you can now listen to audiobooks on the Zune!  By downloading the audiobook software from either Audible.com or OverDrive.com, you can now load audiobooks onto your Zune.  You use their software to load the audiobooks, and I’m about to try it myself to see how well it works, and to see if it adds another menu choice to my Zune player.  Additional details are available on the Zune.net website.

You may want to wait a few days to update your Zune software and firmware, given how busy the servers are.  I had to download a 400+ MB software package in order to get the Zune software to install, vs. the standard 131MB download.  Better yet, choose the update feature within your existing Zune software to upgrade your application.  The firmware update (accessible only through the Zune software) came in OK, although there was a bit of a delay between the steps.  If you update firmware, be patient and let it finish.  Both my Zune 120 and Zune 8 upgraded without a problem.

Last note: it was rumored that the older Zune models would all be discontinued.  But upon checking the Zune site today, the 4, 8 and 16 GB flash Zune models, along with the 80 and 120GB hard-drive-based models, are all still available.  I did notice that list pricing on the flash-based players has dropped, putting them in reach of more users who want a really solid, good-sounding little portable music player.