Charlie,

No doubt about it, the new UI on the Zune itself and new PC software is slick, so much so that I’m really quite bummed that I won’t be getting the 80gb Zune. It’s all because it’s not compatible (in my opinion, see #1 and #2 below) with Windows Media Player and Media Center Edition. Personally, I think WMP is a great media player, so much better than itunes. My three main issues with the new Zune are:

1.) No more 5-star ratings, 2.) No more auto-playlists and 3.) Only able to sync Vista Media Center recorded TV. I’m still using MCE2005 because I have apps that don’t work well yet with Vista.

For my use, the ipod is more compatible with WMP and MCE than the zune.

Hopefully you’ll be able to work on this with this “connected home” effort.

1 day in and I have to say overall I love the new client and the new firmware on my Zune 30.

On the "love" list: Podcast support is excellent. Navigation on both the client and the Zune is vastly improved. Love the "Now Playing" animation of the wall of album covers. And I've always loved the all-you-can-eat subscription model. I really love checking out new bands and Zune Marketplace makes it easy and affordable to do that. I also love taht I can sync content from more than one PC to my Zune. Great for updating podcasts at work for my commute home. Finally, giving me all the new goodness for "free" on my Zune 30. WTG!

On the "like" list: I agree the artist pages are a big upgrade, but since I'm no longer a fawning teenager/college student, its not a huge deal for me.

On the "don't like" list: I can't sync OTA HD or CableCard recorded content to my Zune. Pretty much makes it a non-feature to me. Can't use it. I know a lot of people have gotten all wound up about not being able to sync TV from the Media Center interface, but I would be happy just being able to sync TV at all.

Overall, a huge step forward.

In all fairness to iTunes the example that was selected wasn't exactly top notch. A number of artists in iTunes do have "premium" display pages.

Ex. http://www.thewholepic.com/i/tmp/itunes.png

But, the Zune interface does appear to be quite snazzy, though I don't know if every artist appears as it does in the screenshot. It would be quite a bit of work if they all did look like that.

I downloaded and installed the Zune Software tonight. I opened it up and starte to play with it and I loved it. I went to the market place and everthing worked very well. I was excited and was thinking in my head that I would switch from WMP to the Zune software. And then....showstopper. No graphic equalizer. Man what a let down. How can you make this great software for music and then leave out the EQ?

I would love to see the Zune software and WMP become one. Just make sure you give me a graphic equalizer.

Kevin

Its a great looking piece of UI. Still missing a few bits of functionality that didn't make it in the rewrite but great looking. My understanding is that a significant number of developer resource to develop Zune MarketPlace came from Media Center. Great job folks! Did you make use of SilverLight to develop this?

Since you are looking to improve the connected experience..here are several items that fall short with Zune connected experience...

- No way to sync to Zune device from within Media Center. You are left with no options when your Media Center is tucked in your living room av cabinet. Can you imagine how cool it would be if you were on an extender in another room and could select content and initiate a wireless sync.

- No way to play content on Windows Mobile phones. I can't imagine a business person really carrying around both a Zune and a Mobile Phone. And since Windows Mobile has media playback capabilities...it should be able to access and playback media. My suggestion is to allow Zune purchased content to be placed on Live SkyDrive (or Zune branded backup site) for Mobile Phone/Remote. Another avenue would be to leverage the new U3/Sandisk/Microsoft standard..put Zune software and content on it and allow Windows Mobile run the software.

Killer Features that *could* be Developed.
- Basic Media Extender (ex. Media Connect) experience for Zune. When Zune is in a AV dock, there is no reason with its TV output and wireless capabilities that it couldn't stream content from a central source. Not everything should require syncing. What this does... Kills AppleTV. Starts introducing the public to home streaming that possibly could lead to future sales of dedicated media center extenders. And who knows, with future advances in hardware, maybe Zune could act as a MCE Extender when in a AV dock.

- Direct Podcasts/Music/Content download from the internet. As it stands now, you have your PC on with Zune software installed to get/sync podcasts. I think Zune service backend should store your subscriptions and allow you to retrieve new content when the Zune device connects directly to the Zune backend. I'm not saying the PC software goes away..thats a great discovery tool. But not every bit of functionality should require a PC component.

I'll stop here...alot of promise, alot of work yet to be done.

Thanks Charlie..very interesting.

I am lovin the the Zune software as well! Also just wanted to say as someone who has been listening to Steven Curtis Chapman for years (just saw him in concert here in Raleigh and took my 9 year old daughter ... yes when he sang Cinderella I was a blubbering idiot ;-) Good taste! :-)

Wow, you weren't kidding about Cinderella... holy cow for a dad with two daughters that's instant tears...