Zune 2.5 Spring Update Hits. Adds TV Shows, gapless playback – No Audible Support / Games
Let me get this out of the way first: I’m a HUGE fan of the Zune. Not as much of a fan as Zune Guy, but a fan nonetheless. The device itself is fairly slick (mine is the white Zune 30), the screen is large, bright, and readable. The large high-res album art on screen is way better than the album art implementation on the classic iPods. The software gets the job done (especially now), and the ability to subscribe for unlimited music is awesome! Sure, the lack of good accessories is annoying, but I’ve gotten over that. All in all the Zune is a pretty sweet device as long as you can get past the fact that it’s made by Microsoft.
After all of the news of the upcoming Audible support for the Zune, and game development, needless to say I was pretty excited for this next coming update. Unfortunately though, while this update is solid, it doesn’t really provide the advancement I was looking for.
There is however, a lot to like in this update.
They have finally added support for TV shows that you can buy through Zune Marketplace. This is a shot straight at iTunes especially considering they were able to get NBC to join. Getting NBC and shows like Heroes and Battlestar Galactica on board, when you can’t buy them on iTunes is quite a dealmaker if you like to take your shows on the go. I downloaded the latest episode of Battlestar Galactica for 160 Microsoft Points (about $1.99 US) and it synced straight to my Zune without issue. The quality is great and it looks fantastic on the large screen.
They’ve also added support for gapless playback of tracks. If you don’t know what this means, it probably wasn’t a dealbreaker for you, but for those who love long-form concept albums, classical, and movie scores, where songs regularly fade into each other, you will be in heaven! You also don’t have to resync all of your music for it to work, after the firmware update, I played an album that I knew would benefit from gapless support and there wasnt so much as a pop between tracks, it was perfectly seamless. Good job on this Zune team!
They have also increased the footprint of the Zune Social. The Zune Social is a social network built around the Zune community. You can share what you’ve been listening to, and see what your friends have been listening to. You can even get achievements for being the person who listens to a certain song or band the most. Apparently I’m a “Top Listener” of the hard rock band Kamelot. Neat!
Microsoft has also improved the implementation of Wireless Sync-ing, though since I’m more old school I tend to plug it in by USB just to add some charge to it while i sync anyway so this doesn’t affect me.
The rest however, is kind of a disappointment.
After the past few weeks of Microsoft showing off / leaking screenshots and video of Zune Games, I was fully expecting Zune game support to be added in this update. Alas, it was not. I’m not necessarily chomping at the bit to play games on my Zune, but if you’re going to start advertising a feature, you should really get around to releasing it.
The same goes for the support of Audible Audiobooks. A few weeks back, a big thing was made in the Zune community that Microsoft had signed a deal with Audible to add support for Audible Audiobooks on the Zune. This was a feature I couldn’t WAIT for. Currently I have to load Audible books on my Windows Mobile phone to play them, because my Zune won’t. Considering that just about every mp3 player from a $45 little sandisk player, to high end players like the iPhone and iPod touch has Audible support, this was ridiculous. So, the announcement, needless to say put a smile on my face. Until I downloaded today’s 2.5 update. Not a word about Audible support anywhere. Like Zune games, I suppose Microsoft neglected to add it to this firmware version.
The question is, WHY!? If you’re going release updates few and far between like you have been, why announce features that you aren’t planning to release in the next upcoming update? It looks now like I’m going to be waiting until the Zune Fall or Winter update before I get to do anything with this. It’s just silly. I know a lot of people who LOVE Audible books, and the lack of support on this player is a total dealbreaker for them. Luckily for me I have another player that can handle them, but the lack of support is just silly.
I guess I’m back to waiting. Thanks again Zune Team.
