Have we all come down from our Zune HD highs yet? No. Well I thought I'd ask.

Actually the reason for this little post was because now that we know some things about Zune's next entry on the hardware front, there were a couple of things that went through my mind considering what we know about both the device (so far) and the software+services front (so far).

Podcasts: Rob Greenlee has already made it clear that Zune will still support podcasting. That's an awesome thing. Recently, to help move that forward zune.net began streaming all available audio podcasts via the website. So let me see if I understand something: If we're to have this rich browser experience on the Zune HD, does that mean that I can browse over to zune.net and listen to streaming audio podcasts from there? While I would totally prefer to be able to update podcasts that I already have on my device over the Wi-Fi, being able to stream them using the web browser would be interesting as well.

HD Radio: Now I'll admit, I didn't know that much about HD-Radio prior to it being part of this announcement. I had heard some inkling of it because one of my favorite radio stations, KKJZ offers both an analog and a digital stream. Now what I thought was that people had to pay for the digital stream, much like satellite radio. However, the analog and digital streams are actually sent together from the same place. If you happen to have an HD receiver (looking at Zune HD) then you'll be able to pick up that digital stream.

The digital stream also allows for a better feed of the song and album information that allows us to better use the Buy from FM feature that Zune implemented a few releases back. Together HD-Radio and Buy From FM could be a quality experience for Zune users while they're out and away from their comptuers.

XBOX Live Integration: I'm sure now that people are beginning to understand this whole software+services thing that Microsoft is very animated about. Having Zune be the forefront brand for XBOX Live's Video Marketplace has just bumped up it's visibility from 3 million to 17 million in one fell swoop. That's a definite way to get your name out there. I'm very excited to see how this plays out in real time at next week's E3 expo. Most reporters are making note that the integration was actually the mainstay of the press release and the device seemed more like the afterthought. Could that have been the actual plan?

The Older Devices: So what happens to the older devices? Zune was always fantastic about giving the older devices enough of a firmware update that they could feel new again and do what the newer models could do. Yet, with the introduction of the Zune HD, do we expect to see that kind of firmware in the older devices? Could you imagine Zune HD functionality in a Zune 30? Personally, I thought what separated Zune from others was that ability to tell the older generation users that they weren't going to be left behind. Now I don't know what the plans for this may entail, but I would tell current Zune users to hold onto their devices (and continue to use them, haha). I would venture to think that they would still be useable even after the Zune HD's general availability.

Yet it also seems like the devices may have a bigger generation gap (read: experience) than it was to jump from a pad to a squircle, for example.

McDonalds: Will I now be able to browse the web while at a McDonalds for free, much like I'm able to shop the Marketplace? Just thought I'd toss that one in there for shizz and giggles :-)

So these were just a few things I had swirling around in my head. I'm sure E3 will answer some questions people may have and as time goes on to the actual release date we will find out more of what Zune has in store.