Zune gen 3 bringing just minor upgrades?

Maybe on 9/9 evil MS:)

I very much look forward to the 16gig flash model. I have the 80gig hdd version right now. I really like it......anything but ipod is my objective. I drive a motorcycle most of the year (2007 Victory Kingpin Tour is my current bike) and I have more than 16gigs of junk and would very much prefer the "durable" flash instead of the hard drive version. Anyway, at the very least, we know at this stage MS still hasn't given up on the zune. I hope they keep driving forward...even if it trails the ipod in some ways, it's a true alternative for people like me who don't wanna buy into the apple thing. Full disclosure - I own a MBP too along with my XPS 720, XPS m1710, and XPS m1530. Have a nice day!

@Lindy - I doubt it, but it would be hilarious. Bonus points if Microsoft does a press release with all three announcements titled, "Ruin Apple's iPod Announcement Day" or something like it. Double Bonus if the Zune is internationalized and gets a price drop. Triple Bonus if the Zune gets Games and syncs song info and status live to the Zune Social website from any hotspot. Quintuple Bonus if the Zune gets Anywhere Home Sync (being able to connect to any hotspot and sync with home library). Quadruple Bonus if you can buy stuff from the Zune store straight from the Zune at any hotspot. Hextuple Bonus if the Zune allows configured hotspots to highlight songs, backgrounds, and videos from the Zune store that are relevant to the location and/or hotspot's owner. (Special Bonus if you start seeing Wireless routers certified/stickered with the function to highlight/distribute to any Zune nearby setup already, and with a special channel for Zunes to use without verification.)

Master3 "Why would MS just give away everything that their going to do weeks before they announce?" Yeah. They should do it the iPod way and sue any site that publishes an accurate rumor out of existance. :-)

Will Zune v3 finally be the one that comes to Europe? I don't understand why they've kept it US-only for so long. I'm in the market for an MP3 player with a large capacity and everything in Europe aside from iPod Classic is flash memory-based and consequently too small to accommodate my music collection. A 120GB Zune would do the trick, and give me loads of room to grow into too! The only thing putting me off getting a Zune (because, of course, I know eBay exists) is that you can't use it as a mass storage device as well as a managed music library device. Will that still be the case in v3 too, I wonder...?

"Leak just enough to attact interest and announce something bigger. Doesn't Microsoft do this a lot?" "Hype for years, make your upcoming product look like the second coming, and then release something evolutionary" sounds more familiar to me, or did I miss something?

looks more like a gen 2.1 than a 3 to me... bumps in capacity with no other improved features/functionality.

Mum '"Hype for years, make your upcoming product look like the second coming, and then release something evolutionary" sounds more familiar to me, or did I miss something?' You mean like the "secret features in Leopard" or the iPhone or the iPhone 3G or "Snow Leopard"? Yeah. It does sound familiar.

Mum, Probably by responding to the blatant hypocricy of attacking Microsoft for things Apple is praise for.

I'll say this much: if the most Microsoft has for the fall is a 16GB flash Zune and a 120GB hard drive-based Zune along with some software that just brings it up to where it should have been last year (audiobooks, anyone?)... ...then it's over. Not literally, of course, but the simple reality is that Apple has what's likely the best touchscreen player on the market, and has *useful* Wi-Fi. Microsoft hasn't even given signs it wants to launch its first touch device, let alone something that could make Apple break a sweat. It's hard to position yourself as the true rival when you've already given up making major changes to your hardware. And yes, if the iPod nano does end up going to a tall screen, it'll be an admission that the flash Zune (or other tall, narrow players) had the better idea.

@ocean and Mum Just giving some well-known examples of how this happens from everyone. If you want, I will give some Sony Examples, but who on Earth would know what the RFG-232432d or Sn-22884x was?

Mum So, somebody taking it off topic to espouse their religion is fine and dandy with you and somebody responding to them is the problem. Nice and neutral view you've got there Reverend Mum.

Mum Hmmm. Maybe when you said ""Hype for years, make your upcoming product look like the second coming, and then release something evolutionary" sounds more familiar to me, or did I miss something?"

Hype? You mean like: Cario?

"Wasn't that the Vista marketing plan?" Don't get me wrong. Giving more than you hyped is crappy marketing. If you do crappy marketing, there's a bigger chance you do crappy products too.