On the same day that Apple announces their upcoming ‘a little more portable’ notebook (can’t call it a UMPC at 13 inches), Microsoft released their much anticipated press release on the changes coming to the Zune. Caution AppleInsider employs some nasty pop-ups, so keep that in mind if you visit that Apple link above.

What cracks me up is the way the Microsoft press release reads. It actually says,

“We’re bringing the entire category to the next level by empowering consumers to play a role in redefining the digital music experience.”

This is a quote by J Allard, VP for Zune talking about their aesthetic customization options. Yes, you are really ‘redefining the digital music experience’ because we can place laser engravings of tats on our Zunes. Steve Jobs is likely shaking in his loafers. A real iPod killer…

I won’t bore you with the details of Microsoft’s press release when you can read it yourself, but I will say the coolest thing, in my opin, is the wireless sync option.

Wireless sync. Consumers can set their Zune to automatically sync to their PC collection via a home wireless network whenever it’s placed in its dock or plugged in to charge, making it easy to keep the Zune updated with the latest music or podcasts. Consumers can also manually start a wireless sync from their device as soon as they are within range of their wireless network.

The Vista/Media Center TV show sync was interesting. This one almost sounded awesome, as I record a huge amount of CSIs and Law and Orders on my Media Center:

Recorded television content to go. The Zune software will now import broadcast content recorded on Microsoft Windows Media Center for Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate, so consumers can sync it to their Zune.

However, I am not willing to put Vista on my Media Center, as I have had two machines so far with Vista and both have had to be wiped. It’s going to need to become more stable before I waste anymore time on it.

Other than that, nothing earth-shattering. They still have no Mac support, so I’m going to jump ship to the iPod.

Update: Yahoo! Tech has a good review, but why won’t they let you comment with your url? If I wanted to link to my Yahoo! profile I would have

Back in February I wrote a review on my new Zune, which I am still enjoying, mostly due to the FM radio, I might add, but I wanted to spend a little time on the app I am using to pull down my video and audio feeds.

I had an iPod before, and will preface this review by noting that the first annoyance I had was that the software wasn’t as 1-step easy as the iTunes software, but that is the price you pay for a more open player I suppose. More on that when I discuss the sync process in a moment, but I will say this is the only problem I had with the software, and I was promised that later versions will answer this issue.

Download and Setup:
The first step to using the software is to download it from feedyourzune.com. The process is painless and once installed, the program loads with a handful of sample channels and your fireant feed. These samples are easily deleted, thanks to a recent requested addition (so I’ve seen on a few message board rants).

The service allows you to add feeds seperately, or to add shows directly from your fireant account. If you choose the former, a simple copy/paste of the RSS feed is required, much like adding show feeds in iTunes. If you choose the latter, you must first open a fireant account and the management of that account is online at fireant.tv. The process herein is even easier, providing the show that you want to watch is one of those listed at fireant. Adding a show is a simple one-click event, and the resulting feed in your FeedYourZune software includes all the shows that you are currently subscribed to download.

Because I watch/listen to a variety of shows, some are not listed at Fireant, so my software contains both the fireant feed and a dozen or so other individual show feeds. You can see a few of them above.

Syncing Your Zune:
The major issue I had with the software was the sync process. Again, I will say that this is to be fixed in a soon-to-be-released revision. From Josh at FeedYourZune:

Currently, FeedYourZune adds all downloads to the Zune software, which you can then use to sync to your Zune device.

For a future release of FeedYourZune, we are working on direct connection to the Zune device and transcoding media files to ensure they will be able to play on your Zune.

Currently though, the way it works is that the FYZ software refreshes the individual feeds everytime you open the software. Then, you have the option of downloading whichever episodes tickle your fancy, and then you have to open the Zune software and sync from there. Not painless, but worth the trouble to avoid iTunes, in my opinion.

Monetization:
It apppears to me that the software is monetized by the Zune accessory advertising in the far left corner. Some, I’m sure, will complain about that, but for me, that was not something that I minded. In fact, I rather enjoyed seeing the accessories as they are in short supply locally.

I’m sure there are more items to cover, but for me the whole process was a breeze. As I said, I have read a variety of annoyed message board posts, so I think the early version of this software was probably much more ‘beta’ than even this ‘preview release’, but all in all I liked the software enough to make it my primary means of video/audio feed delivery.

Apple and Microsoft will go head to head to capture the ‘mobile gaming via music player’ market in the coming years. Apple certainly has a head start but Microsoft shouldn’t be discounted because of their own success in gaming (and their bottomless coffers).

Peter Moore said, at CES, that Zune will get mobile gaming capabilities in the next 18 months. Apple already has a variety of games available for the iPod.

An indicator of the current push towards a mobile gaming focus is EA’s 2006 purchase of Jamdat, a popular mobile games developer. In fact, that purchase is already paying off for EA.

The company in total has 5 games for the platform all of which are sold on Apple iTunes for $4.99 each. EA further said that mobile based games are increasingly becoming a relevant part of their revenue stream. Mobile gaming accounted for 14 percent of EA’s revenue in the fiscal year ended March 2006.

What fascinates me the most about all of this is the future of mobile gaming as it relates to marketing. There are hundreds of products out there that would be relevant to market in this space, and if consumers get a free game, rather than $5 each, out of the deal, they’ll likely not complain. I know I wouldn’t mind at all having to view an ad to get a free download.