Have you ever used a computer program and come up with a way to make it, less annoying, easier to use, or more enjoyable? Well if that program is the Zune software, there is a possibility that the Zune Team could take your suggestion under consideration and implement it. In no particular order below are a few items that have come into existence partly thanks to Zune Nation calling for them.

Permanent Listening Badges – Originally the listening badges on your Zune card were not permanent. Instead, they were awarded based on music played within a 28 day period. The idea was to give an overview of what you were playing as your tastes changed over time. While the idea made sense, (what you play does change over time right?), people were getting confused.  So after many forum posts on the issue, the Zune Team decided to change the display of your listening data was to make listening badges permanent. One beauty of this switch was that all of your plays before hand were stored so many Zune users (with properly tagged songs) saw a nice bump to their badges as they were rewarded for faithfully listening to their favorite artists. Listening badges can now be viewed by clicking on the numbered emblem below the ‘about’ tab of your Zune card.

Music Quizzes – The development of this feature is the only one (so far) that spawned its own Zune.net sub forum. What started as an invitation to Zune users to to help Zune Social Program Manager Jessica Zhan develop a feature turned into quite and insightful look at the process of feature development within the Zune Social. Music Quizzes are one of the newer aspects of a Zune users’ online social page. It allows individuals the opportunity to create music based listening quizzes. Others can get to know more about the quiz host or a particular band or genre by taking the quiz. It is interesting to note this feature took about a year to complete from inception to completion. Along the way we wondered if the feature would see the light of day. You can view the progress by looking at the threads within the sub forum. What is most special about this feature is that the community, well 309 of you, decided to create this feature. Finally this feature is actually part one of a potential two part feature. Again, your input is needed to make it happen.


Device Clock – You do know that your Zune did not always have a clock, right? And there were those who wanted to keep the device clock-free.

“Zune is music, not a PDA. Get a watch”
“But Zune is my life, is it that hard to make the thing tell time?”

OK, not that extreme but there were definitely sides as illustrated in this Zune.net forum post within a thread discussing the clock. Again, after many forum posts and some internal discussion the clock became one one of the most celebrated additions (by the MVPs at least) to the Zune firmware.


Brown Love – Remember the default screen on your device, before the Zune  3.0 release? If you do, you’ll remember that it looked like this picture. The Zune 3.0 release traded that beautiful tessellation for a flat black background. Some users were not happy about this change, and posted threads in the forums asking for the return of original background. In the interim, some, including ItC, sought to soften the blow by making similar ones. Eventually the Zune Team came to the rescue and added the original design to the permanent collection of custom backgrounds available from Zune.net’s background selection.

So you see, your voice has a real and tangible effect on how the Zune team thinks about the product it offers and what features it should develop to improve that product. Stay tuned for Part II. Before then, feel free to add any suggestions to this post or the appropriate Wishlist threads over at Zune.net.