PMP Today

Who doesn’t love an awesome product makeover? Microsoft just revamped the new Zunes and they’ve made a lot of interesting changes and additions. Here’s what’s in store for you in the Zune 2.0 lone up:

Hard Drive Zunes

The hard drive Zune is called the Zune 80 and, not surprisingly, it holds 80GB of memory. The screen size increased from 3 inches to 3.2 (though the resolution is still QGVA) and it features the new Zune Pad, a four-way sensitive d-pad with up, down, left, and right navigational buttons. Its dimensions are 61.1 x 108.2 x 12.9mm (2.4 x 4.25 x 0.5-inches), which is a little smaller than the classic Zune. So far it’s only available in black, comes with premium headphones, and costs $250.

Flash Zunes

The Zune 8 and Zune 4 are the new flash-based models. They come with the new Zune Pad, a 1.8-inch screen (vs the Nano’s 2 inch screen), and are available in pink, black, green, and red. Their dimensions are 41.4 x 91.5 x 8.5mm (vs the Nano’s 69.8 x 52.3 x 6.5mm). The flash models will sell for $200 and $150, respectively.

More Zune Info

The new Zunes will be released in November, though the date has not yet been announced. All the Zunes (including the classic Zune, now renamed the Zune 30) have a whole new redesigned interface. What that means is early Zune 30 adaptors will have the same software as Zune 80, 8, and 4 users. Users no longer need to transcode file types to wmv as there are now native video codecs for h.264 and mpeg4. The Zune software has also been rewritten and is supposed to be more than a rebadge of WMP10.

Besides these, Zune can finally sync video from your Media Center PC and sync to host computer. This includes moving over music, movies, photos, and other media. There is podcast support and WiFi sharing, but no air downloads (sync only). The 3×3 song sharing DRM got its 3-day restriction removed, but users can still play files only three times. There is still no wireless music store, but the Zune music store is going DRM-free, with over a million mp3 s available for download. No other details (DRM-free upgrade, price differences) are not yet available though

Accessories

• Zune Home AV Pack ($99.99) - “Home Dock with three faceplates to accommodate each Zune device, wireless remote, AC adaptor and composite AV output cable.”
• Zune Dock Pack ($49.99) - “Home Dock with three faceplates to accommodate each Zune device and AC adapter.”
• Zune Car Pack ($79.99) - “Redesigned FM transmitter/charger and dashboard grip pad.”
• Zune Cable Pack ($39.99) - “Sync cable, composite AV output cable and audio cable.”
• Zune Premium Headphones ($39.99)
• Zune Leather Case ($49.99)
• Zune Sync Cable ($19.99)
• Zune AC Adapter ($29.99)

[via engadget]