Zune 4.0 desktop and older Zune firmware updates now available
The Zune 4.0 desktop software was officially announced and is now available to download and I already have it up and running on my MSI Wind in preparation for the arrival today of my new 32GB Zune HD. I will have a first impressions article up early tomorrow morning after I have had some time to use the device. The new Zune software has features such as Quickplay, Smart DJ, mini mode, and Mixview. So far it works just fine on my MSI Wind and it looks quite slick with fluid animations and more. If you are not already a subscriber you can get a free 14-day trial of the new software too. It works on Windows 7, Vista, and XP, but there is not Mac support.
Some new features that go along with the Zune HD launch are HD movie purchases and rentals, new streaming music service on Zune.net that lets Zune Pass subscribers stream via a web browser. I also noticed that my available Zune Pass credits are not prominently display in the upper right corner and clicking on this pops up a window with suggested songs so I can easily use my credits. I often forget to use them due to the odd billing period date and hopefully will now be able to take advantage of the 10 free songs each month.
While I wait for my new Zune HD, with future support for Zune HD apps like Twitter and Facebook, I updated my Zune 4GB device and it went from firmware 3.1 (50) to 3.2 (34) with four steps to update the firmware. The steps were downloading updates, copying to the player, updating the player, and confirming the update. I don't see anything that pops out as a major change, but did read that the new firmware kills the squirting on older Zune models. Since that never worked for me it really is not a lost feature.
