OK; that is VERY nice. It looks like they finally hired and outside UI designer.

Nice but its still a Zune.

I agree. This is finally where it should have been last year. Very nice. A very nice.

but its missing "Shortcut Menu" on the top of the screen... how will anyone know what all the words are for?

I leave for a while and when I come back, what has happened to Gizmodo? To make myself feel better, I've written a JavaScript that finds all references to "Zune" on the page and changes them to "iPhone".

Aaaah. Better.

@fmccb: Funny!

Screen looks kind of washed out.

That's not bad.
It's a shame no one will buy one.

(c'mon, you know I'm right)

At 3.2 inches, the display really should've had a higher resolution than QVGA.

"Nice" isn't strong enough - the new Zune interface is impressive. Really impressive. They need to get the Zune team to build UIs for the Pocket PC and UMPC.

I noticed at the end of the video the pad wasn't always responding. I dunno, to tell you the truth, I think I may prefer the d-pad over their take on the touch pad.

this looks pretty awesome so far, if all the reviews are good i would get this over one of the new ipods (even though nano is oh so cute)

lol @ LUCKY_YOU, sad but true.

ps this is what the first Zune should have been in the first place.

This seems like a huge improvement and an increasing temptation to jump into the "social". I still feel like companies are only getting things 80% right, if i could have the radio, the wifi synch, wifi sharing, and combine it with apple's wifi store, multitouch wide screen, and internet access I would finally have a device I'd be willing to drop several hundred dollars on.

As a side note: I hate to sound rude but i feel like if you're going to be on video using a device with your hands then you should at least trim your nails. But could just be me.

Really nice UI. Very fluid as the gen 1, though I personally like the gen 1 main menu the best.

@fmccb: You should have coded "iPhone Extreme" instead.

@sumocat: I fully agree. If they released a UI this sleek and RESPONSIVE for the crapware that is Win Mo it would be a must have.

But i digress, great design and the pad looks like it is breeze to navigate through even the largest music libraries.

@sumocat: You are absolutely right! If the same team that built the Zune UI would work on fixing the pocketPC UI's, Microsoft will become a real winner and I'll be very happy. :)

I love the idea that I can flick and click at the same time without filling my screen with finger prints all over the place.

I swear on my fathers grave, I'm buying it as soon as I get my hand on it. I would be a fool for not doing so. It is what I wanted so long, and just now I realize how touch screens are still not the right way to use with hand held media players.

I love it when Microsoft do something good, they always win.dos. :)

I still don't understand why Microsoft needs to make an MP3 player. Aren't there enough in the market already?

Touch pad looks a little tricky to use. But the UI is definitely tight.

that song navigation menu reminds me of uhh the insignia video player

@larry91403: What kind of reasoning is this? Everyone is free to enter whatever market they please. If Microsoft wants to take a stab at it, what's the problem?

Does it still feel like a cheap piece of crap plastic toy?

Looks sweet, i hope you can adjust the menu text ,they are too big. swwet device though.

Touch Pad? MSFT did see Apple's Touch Screen right?

With this UI, all they need is a touchscreen and it's the Itouch killer. Seriously, what MS OS isn't (easily) hackable? C'mon MS! And for brownie points add a small mic and so we can do VOIP!

Here's the pictures... oh wait, no. Ok, *here* are the pictures. Damn, overshot.

Looks like the sensitivity is WAY too high...

And what's with the huge font on the main menu?

I'm curious to see where Zune will be in 5 years. Some people are saying nobody will buy them, but I think we'll be surprised. They know what they're doing now...

Zune Pad looks awesome and so innovative He wanted to go to photos, and he missed twice. Just what I want in a product. Being able to touch to scroll or click seems redundant and frustrating.

Otherwise, looks like a fairly good second generation product. Microsoft needs to develop its product and forget about iPod. Don't try and fight them, instead do your own thing!

@FlashSandbox and @ramjaw: Heh. Funny thing is, that's a problem I get WAY too much in my 5.5 gen ipod. I'll find the song I want on the list, and then move the press the center button, only ti find that it registered my lifting my damn finger up, or brushing against the wheel again as a click, so I send up listening to the next song up or down on the list.

I'm a zune fan, I like iPods too but I'm looking forward to Zune being integrated with the other microsoft products. Working with vista, winmo phones, and eventually live anywhere will make it great for me.

What the rest of you have to ask yourselves... what do you see when a fat chick from highschool drops a buncha weight and shows up to your highschool reunion as a hot chick... do you still see the fat chick or are you willing to look past their ugly duckling phase? :p

The ipod is so dead........Pisss yeah right!

@Lance Wallen: Difference being, that fat chick may just kick your ass, or brush you off (same thing) cuz you were an ass to her in school.

I'm so glad to see the "zunepad" interface in use -- that scrolling is a lot like the Creative Zen Vision: M's touchpad, which was really intuitive and easy to use. One of my major frustrations with the Zune 30's physical interface was that it lacked that easily-controlled scrolling ability that a touchpad might offer. Kudos to Microsoft for that.

Finally, a PMP with text that my grandmother can read.

@Lance Wallen: I'll tell you what I see - stretch marks.

@Kaiser-Machead: He wasn't actually touching the pad those times.

I am surprised that yet again the forces that be will not give me bluetooth freedom.

What is it about not adding bluetooth to mainstream portable devices?

It looks like I will have to buy the Samsung P2. P2's have all of the important stuff like rugged solid state memory, palpable screens, and sky hued teeth! ;)

"At 3.2 inches, the display really should've had a higher resolution than QVGA."

Agreed.

Maybe they'll finally increase the resolution by Zune 3 or 4. There's really no point in a larger screen if it means a degraded picture.

I just invested in my first iPod (80gb classic, black) having upgraded from my Sony NW-A1000 and as far as I can tell, while the iPod scrolls with some purpose and function, it seems that the Zune has it for no reason.

It looks okay. The interface look pretty good, the controls look okay (though the scroll wheel still looks better -- it's just a matter that a circle makes more sense for getting that infinite range).

Of course, this should all be taken with a grain of salt, as I own an iPhone. But after you get used to manipulating the interface by just touching it, it's painful to watch any control pad used.

It's curious he didn't show off the social feature. That seems like something that would actually differentiate it from an iPod. That, and storage space, it seems like first-gen compare to the TouchPod.

I'm actually interested from someone who is a Winboi. Besides not being made by Apple, what do you see that this offers you (beside the aforementioned items) or do you think it will do better than an iPod?

pfft... it has more features than the new ipod and a better ui for the same price? no way this will ever catch on...

Sorry guys im an apple fan ,i love me some ipod.

My question is, does it run 3rd party applications? 'Cus if it doesn't I'm gonna have a giant flip out and then spread poison across the internet about Microsoft making a lame locked-down product.

I'm really surprised they called it PodCast on the Zune. Figured they'd call it NetCast, which is another name that has been floating around.

Well, the accessory bundles and pricing sure is better than Apple's:

Zune Video Cable Pack includes A/V Cables, AC Adapter, Aux Audio cable, spare USB cable = $40.

iPod Video Cable Pack includes A/V Cables, AC Adapter = $50. Less for more money!

locked down... you mean like the iphone 1.1.1 lol

people dlove to say they love their classic ipods but they never have a reason, smaller screens, crappier UI, no radio and somehow they still love it for some reason...

i got a zune30gb and love it cant wait for the upgraded version with the podcast support

i hope they announce gapless support and osx support with the 2.0 software/firmware

I need of show of hands of people that really need a radio on their iPod. The new Zune looks better. Navigation doesn't seem as easy and smooth as the iPod. The social thing... don't you just listen to snippets of what other people have? As far as the name "Podcast" MS does not need to change the name to confuse people. I'm glad they stuck with it.

That really is quite sexy...can't wait to get my hands on this (before I buy one this Xmas).

New large font for the visually impaired. And that touchpad looks like a bitch to use. As for the screen, you get a 4:3 aspect ration and a total pixel count of like 12...yay...

Well I think people that aren't near a T.V. when Sunday rolls around would want Radio for maybe a football game. I had a ipod... and that didn't work out I'd take a Zune over ipod because of features, Although ipod has a bunch of accessories, like 85% of them are useless to a large amount of people. I picked my Archos AV500 over the photo ipod and I'd pick a zune 2 over the new ipods.

Having those controls over on one side makes the thing look off-balance and the scroll "gesture" is just silly on a surface that small. It's obvious from the video that the scrolling is hard to use as the guy misses the menu selections over and over. I dunno. This would have been cool if they released it a year ago. At this point it just looks like a "me too" product when compared to the iPod.

@ChopSue-Me:
oh apple this apple that. you guys have no life. Let people choose whatever they want to choose and stop with the ignorant comments of who's copying who.
and for your information microsoft had touch screens way before apple. heard of pocket pcs or the new microsoft surface? [www.microsoft.com]