So early this morning the new Zune digital music players became available. New hardware shapes and sizes, but also new software, firmware and UI. This includes both the desktop software as well as on the device itself.

I haven't yet updated my Zune device, but i plan to tonight. the nice thing is Microsoft is updating/upgrading the firmware for the "old" devices. so even though i bought the 1st gen device last year, i get most all of the new bells and whistles with today's release! that is a pretty cool thing (Apple doesn't do this if i remember correctly)

I jumped in this morning and updated the Zune desktop software on my work computer. WOW.... i am pretty impressed by the new look. sure i'm also frustrated as i can't figure out how to do some simple stuff, but i'll figure it out shortly (i only tried for about 3 minutes). But the coolest feature is shown below. that is the "now playing" interface. i have it set on random play, so it will bring up the album art and information on a tiled background of all the albums i have in that library. yup, look close. that isn't a set background made up by a designer at Microsoft, that is a compilation of the ablum art for my personal collection! that is pretty damn cool....