Xbox 360: A-
Microsoft, you have to be happy as hell that you pushed Xbox 360 out of the gate a year before the PS3 and the Wii. Console sales have been great, staying ahead of Sony and only recently challenged by Nintendo. This is fueled by two factors: a better selection of hot games like Halo 3 and BioShock and the only real implementation of live online gaming in the console world. The Xbox Live community has even allowed you to pilot programs for HD video downloading and all sorts of other media treats that make Sony (and Apple) nervous. Sadly for HD DVD buffs, compatibility with that format is not one of the selling points, or you would have included it in your recently revamped HDMI-equipped 1080p Xbox 360 Elite.

Performance aside, I would say that the only mark against you on this front is the hardware itself. I personally would like some kind of Xbox 360 Ultimate with integrated with HD DVD, but even if that doesn't happen, it's still pretty noisy, and the Red Rings of Death are getting to be more than just a clever punchline.

Zune 2: B+
The Zune is one of those products that gets shat on just for being what it is, but the first one really was a weak contender. Why start with an HDD player when, in 2006, flash-memory giant SanDisk shook Apple to the core with an affordable low-frills nano challenger? Apple owned the higher-end hard-drive based media-player market, but could be challenged more easily in flash memory. Still, I'll admit that as of June, the Zune share was something around a respectable 11%.

Fast forward to October, and you get it much closer to the bull's-eye, with a flash player in four non-brown colors, plus wireless syncing and a slightly more lenient over-the-air sharing policy. Missing were two key customer demands: the ability to purchase songs over Wi-Fi, and the availability of movies and TV shows in the online Zune Marketplace.

The absence of those features wouldn't have been such a trauma if it weren't for the fact that Apple's iPod touch, which lets users buy songs over the air, had just arrived in stores, while the iPhone got an upgrade to do the same. Ironically, sales of your thin new 80GB player may be boosted by some frustrations with the iPod classic, which was introduced at the same time.

We're still a long way from seeing many Zunes in subways, and even longer off from that great social day when strangers are sharing Zune tracks on those same subways. My own personal opinion is "yawn" but I'm not going to begrudge you your successful attempt to jump well into the middle of the non-iPod pack.

Windows Home Server: A-
When I first peeped the WHS this past summer, I was impressed by the wealth of features it presented, such as smooth network file sharing, centralized daily backups and web-based remote access. The "media furnace" concept has always appealed to me, and it was nice to see Microsoft's server division creating a home product that didn't seem to have all of the emotional and technical baggage of the Windows franchise. Beta response was overwhelmingly positive, and it appeared a slam dunk was in order. Though I had my minor troubles in testing it, the platform itself is getting rave reviews. Lately, I've heard talk from both inside Microsoft and just outside of it that the next WHS might even offer full support to Macs as well, just thing thing for hybrid homes like mine.

Windows Vista: D
Let's cut the blather about new functionality and early-adoption growing pains and all that: New operating systems are supposed to run smoother than older ones. In my own life, three Vista machines proved unable to meet the mobile rigors of blogging in the field. I had used both Macs and PCs for years, but my primary devices had been PCs. Unable to find a Windows laptop that could hold up, I turned to a certain machine with the initials MBP, and can report zero regrets to date, even with the impulsive day-of update to Leopard.

Let me repeat that, so any people who accuse me of fanboyism can wrap their heads around it: I was trying hard to find a Windows machine that I could work on. I tested a handful of them, all without satisfactory results. Then, and only then, did I switch to a Mac for full-time use. Incidentally, my dad switched, too, and is enjoying his new iMac.

You can blame the OEMs for the troubles, but they blame you: In recent my conversations with execs from big PC makers, one said that the good news about Apple gaining market share is that maybe, just maybe, Microsoft would "get the picture" and work harder to build a better product. Just yesterday, another exec told me that customers were "crying like schoolgirls" to get XP put back onto shipped Vista machines.

Windows Mobile: D
My feelings about Windows Mobile were best expressed in a sentence from my hastily written Motorola Q9m mini-review: "Seriously, if you buy this phone, you are dumb." Frustrated as I've become with the platform, I turned to the coolest head I know—Jason Chen—for a reality check, but his thorough, non-biased evaluation of Windows Mobile proved almost all of my gut instincts correct. WM6 is not the improvement that was needed to fix what's broken, and it doesn't look like that will come now until at least WM8. Thanks for the heads-up, Microsoft, but telling us to wait that long for something that has the features commonly found in Treos, BlackBerrys and yes, iPhones, is not very alluring.

Like I said, this has not been the easiest year for you, but then again, out of some unexpected places came some against-all-odds victories, and you should be proud. Just please, for the love of all things holy, get crackin' on an OS that might convince the switchers that you haven't just given up. By the by, I'm really looking forward to the new Office... for Mac.

Final Grade: B-

However, despite the upgrades, ol' Walt thinks Microsoft is competing with last-gen iPods rather than the current batch. He think the Zune gets blown away by the iPod touch (I would think they shouldn't be compared, as they're totally different, but what do I know) and is also outclassed by the nano and classic, which offer slimmer profiles and bigger screens (at least on the nano).

And he still likes the iTunes Music Store over the Zune Marketplace, which is certainly understandable. A music store lives and dies by its selection, and iTunes is clearly the winner here.

And while the Wi-Fi syncing is nice, it sucks up too much juice for Mossy's tastes. So his verdict, unsurprisingly, is to go with an iPod. [All Things D]

Flash Zune: It's got a great cool scroll pad, high quality screen, ample storage in a slim price, plus just about all the features in the big boy Zunes (including Wi-Fi sync). Verdict: Buy it if you're in the market for a tiny player that does video and Wi-Fi sync.

Zune 30: All the features of the 80GB Zune, but actually the cheapest of the three at under $99 because it's last year's hardware. Verdict: Buy it if you're looking for a great way to break into the Zune ecosystem if you don't need the slimness or storage space of the 80GB model, or the portability of the 4/8GB model, or the fancy new Zune pad.

Zune 80: At 80GB, the top end Zune will hold tons of music and movies, which can be synced automatically via Wi-Fi when you're not looking. Add to that a solid, if basic, software package, the Zune 80's a definite contender to the iPod classic crown. Verdict: Buy it if you want the most space and the most features out of the three options.

Zune Software, Firmware Guide [Gizmodo]

Zune 2 Hardware Test [Gizmodo]

Zune Social Hands On [Gizmodo]

The Software: Large icons, bright orange and pink colors, and lots of small (but tasteful) animations welcome you when you start up the Zune suite. Gone is the dark MTV Urge-based Zune 1 that looked like a mix between iTunes and Windows Media Player. But that's not all that's gone—Microsoft took out a bunch of features in the name of making the experience a lot simpler to use.

First off, there are no play counts and the rating system has been re-tooled to just a heart, a broken heart, or no rating at all. If you're wondering how that will affect your smart playlists, well, there are no smart playlists anymore. I can only speak for myself when I say I love making smart playlists based on songs that I've played the most or rated the highest, so this move hurts like stealing candy from a diabetic low on blood sugar.

What they did add, beyond the tastefully animated and skinnable interface (you make it you!), is quite nice. You can now wirelessly sync to your Zune, which can be initiated from either your computer OR your Zune. Once connected, you can drag songs or playlists onto the Zune icon in the bottom left. Fairly straightforward, and definitely easier to understand than the iTunes/iPod's "choose which things to sync" for a beginner. This "make things easier for the casual user" motif can be seen in all of Zune 2's changes.

Other additions we like:
• There's a little icon next to each track that shows whether it's on the device or not.
• Podcast support is quite nice and is divided up into video or audio podcasts, and but video podcasts need to be converted. It took about 30-ish minutes to convert 6 podcasts from X-Play and Attack of the Show on a low-end Pentium D machine in the background while we scoped out the rest of the Zune stuff.
• TV Shows sync fine, but also need to be converted from Windows Media Center's DVR-MS format. This also takes a bit of time depending on how fast your computer is and how long the show is.
• Windows Media Lossless is now supported.
• The video playback screen is nice, big, and full screen.
• The Now Playing screen when playing music has a huge wallpaper of your album covers.
• Marketplace has been cleaned up to match the rest of the Zune UI.

Other complaints:
• You only get two views, one where there's a huge list of artists on the side, the other a gigantic flat list of all your songs that you can sort by artist, album, or genre. Again, simplified to the point where advanced users would miss some functionality.
• Searching doesn't find stuff while typing.
• No edit screen to edit ID3 tags. No mass/multiple item edit. All you get is pressing F2 and editing the artist name, album name, or track name. You can't even change the track number. This makes it hard to edit track details.
• Synced photos are aliased compared to the first Zune software. We're not sure if this is because each picture is synced full-size and then resized on the fly (for better squirting), but it's noticeably worse.

In the end, despite a graphical overhaul that added eye candy, the features Microsoft left out make us wishing for the old Zune suite back. We'll definitely say that what's left is very refined—but like a statue that's been over-polished down to a unnatural sheen, it's missing important features. And we'll take features over a glossed-up interface any day. Let's add back the features in Zune 3.

vs. iTunes: What used to be quite a close match between the Zune suite and iTunes has turned into a one-sided first round knockout for iTunes. Apple's changed iTunes very little since a year ago, but Microsoft has completely re-vamped their offering. We'd rather them de-vamp this, take a look at iTunes, and add back smart playlists, song ratings, play counts, metadata editing, and everything else that makes iTunes the best music manager software on desktops—Mac or PC.

The Player: While Microsoft changed a whole lot on the desktop side of the Zune experience, the player side actually changed very little beneath the big-lettered facade of its front screen. It's true that the menus are large and in your face, but the now playing screen is essentially the same as in the first edition. The same goes for playlist view, the song list, genres, albums, and artists. Only slight navigational changes (such as more horizontal scrolling) and presentation differentiate this version from its predecessor, as you can see in the video above.

We got our hands on the 8GB Zune and proceeded to shove it into our pants—this time for scientific reasons.

Videos and pictures still display the same—tilted to the left in landscape mode—but the addition of podcasts is very welcome. They're separated between audio and video, and video podcasts play exactly like a standard video. The whole section is nicely integrated into the Zune experience.

The biggest change is the wireless sync, and to Microsoft's credit, it works beautifully. Dig into the settings menu, under wireless, and you can trigger a manual wireless sync. Connect it to a power source and it will automatically sync after a minute's worth of idle time. The setup process to connect to your wireless point is simple as well, but needs you to connect your Zune (via USB) to your PC. There might be a problem if your computer's out of Wi-Fi range, but otherwise it's pretty much painless.

Some things, like podcasts and video, are too large to sync quickly over Wi-Fi. This means you should sync with USB if you're in a hurry. Other than this, we don't have any complaints about Wi-Fi support. They've finally delivered on a feature people have been asking for for a year. This is exactly why this Zune 2 firmware update feels more like a maintenance release than a feature upgrade—which makes us understand why Microsoft is giving it away for free to old customers.

vs. iPod: Have we changed our recommendation from last year? Yes, things are quite different now. The iPod itself didn't get many new features, but the introduction of the iPhone means you've got something else to consider now. Then there's the iPod Touch, which has the power to provided both music and internet features, and more when hacked. You don't want to have to manage your music library in both iTunes and Zune, which tips the scales in Apple's iPod classic's favor.

However, for brand new customers that haven't dipped into either company's ecosystems, the Zune player seems to have slightly more features. Both iPod and Zune support music, video, TV Out and podcasts, but the Zune still has FM radio and it still has the Zune Pass subscription service. Add to that the convenient wireless sync, and you've got an offer that's quite tempting. Despite these plusses, the child-like software that limits what you can do with your music really hurts. In the end, it seems that Apple has kept the delicate balance between keeping functionality while making their software usable, while Microsoft has fallen off the fence and landed on the side of over-simplicity.

•The Zune's blockish body is thin, but not as thin as the iPod's rounded body. Height causes the Zune to not be as pocketable. (Zune: 1.6 x 3.6 x 0.33-inches, iPod: 2.74x2.05x.25 inches.)
•The Zune's candy red beats the crap out of the iPod's anodized finish. The pink looks terrible, and I reserve judgment on the green. The Zunepad has a textured surface, but the bodies of these things are aluminum and the slickest paint you've ever seen on a gadget.
•The headphone jack is on the bottom, as is the dock connector (same as big Zune connector). There's a lock on top.
•The D-pad's raised profile is a blessing when it comes to track changing while the Zune is in pocket. but it does cause a bit of friction when sliding into the denims. Man, I need to exercise.
•The Zune's aluminum back looks gray, and is dull in comparison to the mirrored finish on the nano. Good news, it won't scratch as easily.
•Twisting the chassis shows some flex.
•It's very similar in size to the last gen nano, but has the same size screen as the current gen nano, in a much more efficient layout.
•More or less - the Zune has a 1.8-inch screen vs the 2-inches on the pod. Don't be fooled by the black border around the Zune's screen, which makes it look bigger than it is, but to Microsoft's credit, the black border helps the screen pop nicely.
•Oh, one more thing we can't forget. These little flash players by Microsoft have Wi-Fi inside for song/photo sharing and wireless sync. Pretty impressive in such a small package.

•The new touch sensor, the Zune pad, is actually terrific. There's a bit of lag, and drifting causes the flicking to be less precise than say, an iPod touch, but I prefer the Zunepad to the too small wheel on the iPod nano for quickly browsing lists. Clicking the D-pad for select is not that precise; often I'd want to click down and would hit "select" instead. That point aside, this is possibly the biggest reason to upgrade from a Zune 1 to a Zune Flash or 80GB. It is a lot better than the dumb directional pad of the original Zune, and scrolling through large lists of songs is much better this way.
•The screen has the same res as a full Zune 80, at 320 x 240 pixels, same as the nano, but is slightly less bright. Nonetheless, it's sharp and it's a great screen.
•The Zune pad's texture feels like your finger is on a zipline as you scroll. Whee!
•Here's a comparo of the Flash Zune to the nano and 30GB generation one zune.

As some of our astute readers have pointed out, the Zune 2 looks like it will support a Wi-Fi text messaging service. The extract from the leaked support document details an inbox feature, which "is where customers can send and receive text messages with other Zune users." The added functionality would sure make the social a lot more social, but the exact details are not clear.

Apparently, there are three types of messages, including text, artist or album. What the artist and album message formats will allow is not clear. (Simply a message with the information seems unlikely, but anything beyond that also seems a little unlikely). What has not been touched upon is a method for text entry; we sure hope there is some form of a solution to make this doable. Given the hardware infrastructure we cannot see a solution, but we'd love to be proven wrong. [Zune Scene via Zune Boards]

+ Gateway
With the release of their XHD3000 Extreme HD, Gateway smacked big display leaders Dell and Apple aside the head. 2560x1600 resolution, or 1600p, is what having a premium monitor is all about. Overkill.

- RIAA
Yeah, they technically aren't a tech company, but they certainly made a lot of gadget consumers sick this week when a court ordered that defendant Jammie Thomas pay the RIAA $222,000 in damages for 24 stolen tracks. And never forget this quote from Sony BMG during the trial: "When an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song." Making "a copy" of a song you bought is "a nice way of saying 'steals just one copy.' "

= Microsoft
Microsoft released their long-rumored Zune 2. A new flash model will compliment the updated classic players, and the new Wi-Fi syncing is available on all old Zunes, too (very classy). But we want even more from a new model this late in the DAP game. And losing major Microsoft Game Studios development company Bungie, even with secure rights of the Halo canon, was a knock to this industry giant.

Bill Gates says that the Zune is part of a 10-year plan to build a digital entertainment business, of which the Xbox 360 is definitely a big part of. Whether they'll tie the Zune and the 360 (just like the Zune got some Media Center integration) is unknown, but probably coming.

Robbie Bach also wants everyone to know that "this is going to be an Apple-Microsoft" thing, reiterating that not just are they aiming for #2, eventually they want to be #1. [Seattle PI]

[Financial Times]

Lets not forget all the Pre-release stuff:
• Zune Getting Media Center Video Integration?
• What the Hell is a Zune Pad?!
• Zune 2 Price
• Zune 2 Getting Wireless Syncing, DRM-Free Music, Video Downloads, Colors
• Zune 2 Launch: Excited?
• Flash Zune Specs Leaked by FCC
• Zune 1 Getting New Firmware, Features
• Zune 2 Hard Drive and Flash Models Leaked?
• Rumor: Zune 2 Launches Tomorrow
• Zune Scene Predicts Zune 2 on October 16th

• The Zune and Zune Software now supports lossless audio. Windows Media Lossless.
• Microsoft claims that the Zune is now a much superior option compared to the iPod.
• Launch date, according to Amazon, is November 13.

• Zune Pass (the monthly subscription scheme) work with the 1 million DRM free songs, but all songs you download with the Zune Pass will still be wrapped in DRM to be recognized as a rental.
• Wireless syncing will automatically sync one minute after activity is stopped as long as you're in Wi-Fi range and attached to a power source (dock, AC adapter). You can manually trigger the Wi-Fi sync as well even without being connected to power.
• Syncing will interrupt any activity you're currently doing.
• All the old accessories are compatible with the new devices (there may be some problems with a dock, but they'll get back to us)
• Screens are now made of glass as opposed to plastic in the 30GB
• The Flash Zunes, even though smaller, have the same resolution as the 80GB Zune.
• Zune Social, the social networking site, will launch in beta.
• You won't be able to send songs through Zune Social, just pointers to 30 second clips of what you're listening to
• The brown isn't discontinued (it's still in the 30GB models), but they say green is the new fashionable color, so they're going with that in the Flash models
• No battery life details yet
• No sound quality comparisons vs. the iPod yet either

Update:
• The new Zune dock offers component out with the 80GB, composite out with the 30GB, and no video out for the 4/8.