Boo. Here's a dose of Your.Music.Weekly prepared to devour your soul.

Thanks to the wonders of Facebook, I have discovered what was already there.. Roxy's Facebook page advertises their weekly free music download every Tuesday.

I want to thank everyone for all of the feedback about the story on my high school music teacher. Like I said, I'm in awe of what this man did, and is still able to do, for inner city youth as far as academics and music are concerned. So I managed to find this quick 'red carpet' interview that he did for the ICEF Dream. Believe. Achieve. Inspiration Gala.

I think this quick snippet says a lot about who he is.

So, in a previous post, I talked about my trip to Zune L.A. For those that don't remember, Zune L.A. is Zune's workplace/performance space located in Los Angeles. It's where by day some of Zune employees get their work done, while at night it turns into a hub for birthday parties, presentations and exhibitions. I was able to go there for the Mewseum exhibit that was featuring the band Mew.


Since we're on this subject, would it kill Zune L.A to have some sort of web presence? I was lucky to stumble upon that Mew thing, but if they're going to keep having cool events like that there needs to be one central location where we, the public, can find out about it. I, occasionally, see people on Twitter (that bastion of news deployment) talking about events they're going to at Zune L.A. While I understand that 95% of what happens there is usually private events, it still would be nice to have a webpage of some sort, wouldn't you think?


Anyhow, in one of the pictures that I took, I took a screenshot of their Zune Social account. I had noticed that they didn't have a Zune Pass attached to it as most of the music in the Marketplace was charging them -- even stuff I KNEW was available under Zune Pass. (Gee, I wonder if they now have a Zune HD in one of those glass cases?)

So I'm saying all of this to say that there's a Zune Social account for Zune L.A. if you want to head over and be their buddy. I don't know if they have unlimited friends or not, but at least you'll have their page to reference if you want to know what the workers could be listening to over there throughout the day.

That is... if they ever use the account at all anymore :-)

Artist	The Lonely Island
Song	I'm On A Boat
Album	Incredibad
#zunetune	Click here to download

In what had to be a total shock to everyone within ear shot of the news, Brian Seitz announced over Twitter (which is becoming a hot bed of instant news and announcements these dayz) that he is leaving the Zune team and moving to another position within Microsoft. For those who don't know, Brian Seitz was the Lead PR/Marketing guy for Zune. He was the one that did the interview for CNET's MP3 Insider to discuss the Zune HD. He was also the guy I hung out with at the Caprica screening/cast interview/party that took place in Hollywood.

I've gotten to hang out with the guy quite a bit during the MVP Summit and I've found him to be a standup guy. If you've followed both of us on Twitter, you'll notice that we have this friendly back and forth about the Anaheim Angels and the Seattle Mariners (it's due to that, I've found myself more engaged in this season that I have in previous seasons -- always wanting to rub his face in it the next day, haha).

Hey, Brian - Kudos to everything that you've done buddy. Glad to know that you're remaining in the Microsoft family (and that this wasn't the result of the economy), but we are a bit saddened that we won't have you as a go-to person for Zune information.

Best of luck in the new (ad)venture, man.

Oh, and for those who aren't totally sure who @YEGR is. Mike came on to the Zune team as Brian's right-hand man. As you heard on the podcast he helps with PR for Zune. He's also the guy that works with us MVPs to make sure that we have all of the tools we need to continue to help you guys "out in the field". So be sure to follow him and the @Zune Twitter for the latest. greatest and official from Zune.

I figured I would put this here because this is a true testament to the power of music and having an awesome person behind teaching it to you. It also goes to show that one man can make a difference in this world for so many people.

I attended George Washington Preparatory High School from 1991-1995. In that time I was a trombonist with both the Marching Band and the Jazz Band. Our director, Fernando Pullum (pictured above, obviously) was always insistent that we take the lessons that we've learned from music into our everyday lives.

Considering that Washington High was in a bad neighborhood (South Central L.A.) and we were around at a time when gang violence was at a peak, Mr. Pullum always did what he could to distract us from that type of activity. He made sure that the band was performing on weekends, rehearsing after school and focused on making sure we had a song memorized instead of trying to remember which liquor store to rob -- it's amazing how many of my "friends" ended up down that path.

All of the hard work, dedication, attention to academics and detail that he instilled in us paid off royally. In those 4 years, I think I've seen more than most musicians see in their entire career. We had performed at the Hollywood Bowl, met celebs like Wesley Snipes, Bill Cosby, Angela Bassett, Stevie Wonder, Marla Gibbs, amongst others; Our marching band won 3 consecutive district championships and our jazz band had won the district championship all 4 years I was there. Things were taking off so much for the performing arts program that Jackson Browne had lent us his producer and recording studio so we could make a CD.

When we were getting ready to graduate, Mr. Pullum only asked of one thing in return: He wanted us to pay it forward. He wanted us to always be sure to help others get the best out of music or whatever topic it was that interest them. I guess it's that 4-year lesson that helped shaped how I am now in wanting to talk music and help others with Zune.

But for Fernando Pullum, things only got better after we graduated. To date 98% of the kids who have gone through his music program went on to college, he was featured on Oprah and given $50,000 in new instruments from Yamaha [Side Story: A fire nearly destroyed the high school band room, so Mr. Pullum had the band borrow instruments where they could. They did and ended up winning that year's district championship].

As a cherry on top and a true reflection of how awesome this guy is, there is now a Performing Arts School named after him. I have to honestly say that he has totally earned and deserved every single accolade that he's gotten. I haven't even mentioned them all here, but suffice it to say that he's made a major impact on people, especially us inner city kids who when given the choice of music or gangs found out that music was a much better route to take.

So hats off to you, Mr. Pullum. Rock on, good sir.

So imagine that you're out on the town listening to your favorite DJ. They play a song that you absolutely love, but you'll never be able to remember the name of. Well, Richie Hawtin has you covered. He has researched and created a program that will send a Twitter message (in real time) while a DJ is performing.

The application, called "TwitterDJ" (makes sense as a name doesn't it?!) will send 30-second updates during a DJ set of what is currently playing to a designated Twitter account. Anyone following this particular account will have a chance to see how a DJ builds his/her performance over time by knowing what songs are playing when.

Also, imagine yourself as a composer. Imagine that your name and song is being broadcasted over a Twitter account for those following a particular DJ. Now you get instant free advertising to a group of people at once. If they are hearing your song and enjoying it, now they'll know who you are and being to seek you out and listen to more of your music.

For more information about TwitterDJ, and to download the application and see an installation video, click here.

By the way, the picture being used is not of Richie Hawtin. That's actually Morgan Page as he was performing for a Zune CES party. Just in case you were asking... :-)

Does it really need to be said how much of a fan I am of the OM Records label!? They have such a hot roster it's uncanny. Well OM Records is offering a free MP3 of a mix done by DJ Mark Farina. What's cool about this particular mix is that it was recorded during OM's 15th Anniversary party in San Francisco. So you know that Mark brought out the A game.

Now you get to hear the mix for yourself. The only catch is that you have to register for the OM blog site and use the code farina. It's a small price to pay, I think, for getting some great music in return.

To take advantage, click here!

A few days now into the launch of the Zune HD has been met with mostly cheers and praises. People are enjoying the hardware, the software, Smart DJ, zune.net and all of the enhancements Zune has made to offer a better media experience. Some have even welcomed the addition of apps and games to the device. While these apps and games aren't designed to run on legacy hardware (a fact that has some users miffed, but is an entirely different subject altogether) those with Zune HDs have been hampered by their own little issue: advertisements. Specifically, the ads that run prior to launching a game and how they can add to the overall waiting time for a game to load and begin.

It could be suggested that it's the advertisements that keep the offerings free. For a portable device (especially one running on flash memory), however, I want to be able to pick up and play something. For a device that boasts about fluidity as you're going through menus, traveling through your media collection and being able to get into that media quicker and easier, yes, I don't see this lag with music, movies, marketplace or other sections of the Zune HD, so why does life slow down as soon as I want to play Sudoku or Space Battle 2?

Unlike the story of "The Tortoise and The Hare" this is one situation where slow/steady doesn't win the race.

I could go into how I wish that Zune could figure another way to do the ads thing. I would even be willing to pay a small amount of points if that meant getting a game that had no ads attached whatsoever. But I'm going to toss this conversation out there to you: What are your opinions about the advertisements that run before a game is loaded up? Do you personally care/not care? What are your thoughts?

Artist	Jewel
Song	Intuition
Album	0304
#zunetune	Click here to download

Ahh, the wonders of Twitter. I think news on the Twitter Wire moves faster than bad news, which everyone knows moves faster than the speed of light. Regardless of the speed at which information travels, it seems like porting a game from one platform to another happens even faster. This time, thanks to volvoshine, I bring news of another first for Zune HD apps. This app is just as revolutionary as the multitouch drawing app we reported previously. In just twelve hours development group Foundation42 managed to port the first iPhone-based app to the Zune HD. Check out their video below of a game called WordMonger:

Accompanying the video, they had this to say about the game’s development,

“We built it over the last few weeks using the new MonoTouch toolkit on the Mac. Yesterday we ported it to the Zune HD in 12 hours! We are really hoping that Microsoft can provide a way to publish third party games on the Zune app store soon.

-f42live

According to their twitter feed, they used MonoTouch and XNA to get the job done,

“From #iPhone game to #ZuneHD game in 12 hours using #MonoTouch and #XNA - http://bit.ly/2O3y6Z - enjoy!”

-Foundation42

So we are on day three of the Zune HD era. It is my understanding that the game is still under development. Regardless, hats off to the Foundation42 team, you’ve made some Zune users proud tonight. Get some rest, you’ve earned it.

• Hosts: Marques Lyons and Neville Williams
• Recorded: Thursday, September 17, 2009
• Running Time: 38 minutes
• Intro and outro music by Shohei Urata
• Server space provided by Travis Pope and Paige Aiden

Topics covered:

• Congrats to the Zune team on launching Zune 4.0
• Zune Software Feature: Smart DJ
• Zune Website overview
• The MTV Video Music Awards rant
• Zune Tip: Understanding Protected, Personal and Zune Pass content
• Update on the state of #ZuneTune
  
• Marketplace Recommendations
  

• N/A
  

• "Sex Type Thing" by Stone Temple Pilots [zune.net]
• "Discotech" by Young Love [zune.net]
• "Thank You" by Jay-Z [zune.net]
• "Let It Go Lil Mama" by Nelly [zune.net]

Thanks for listening!

• Para el sitio oficial de los Latin Grammys, clic.
• El sitio oficial de Calle 13.
• This made me laugh.

So now we're a couple of days out from the release of Zune 4.0 and folks have had a chance to try the new, updated ecosystem -- albeit with a few glitches here and there and a total bug-squishing session with zune.net. But just for a second I wanted to talk to you guys about the Smart DJ and the Quickplay portion of the software.

When I first looked at this screen, I thought that the "history" and the "new" sections of Quickplay were welcomed additions. Then I stared long and hard at the pins part. What the hell was I going to put there? I know it can be essentially any media in my collection, but do I have anything that's worth pinning? Is there anything I have that I absolutely need to see right off the bat when I open my software? Would it have been better served if there was a place called 'continue' where it was stuff you started but didn't finish?

Then I began to try and pin stuff: One of my favorite episodes of To Catch A Predator, Seal's debut album, etc. I couldn't tell you how many times I pinned something only to pin something else in its place about 2 minutes later. Could that just be a testament of how great my overall collection is or do I just have serious A.D.D. with this thing? It was the same situation I had with the favorites part of Zune Social. I couldn't just have 8 favorites, I needed 80!

It's the same thing with Smart DJ. I was enjoying the feature so much that I was swapping out artists in those 5 slots in Quickplay. Luckily you can start Smart DJ from anywhere in the software, but in choosing to have Quickplay as my opening screen I wanted to use it for its intended purpose and have some great content at the ready when I arrived.

So I guess what I'm asking is, what are your impressions of Smart DJ and the whole Quickplay screen in the software? There's been many positive comments about Smart DJ on Twitter with folks saying that they started it expecting it to last an hour and ended up going to sleep with it still running.

Has having a pins segment caused you to change how you look at your collection as a whole? What's your criteria for which media gets the honor of being in a PINS slot?

Do you care to share which artist(s) were your inaugural Smart DJ artists (or songs/albums, if applicable)?

So with the new Zune 4.0 update we now have movies in the Zune Marketplace. You have the option of purchasing or renting videos for your Zune HD or PC. If you purchase a movie, it will also be viewable on previous generation Zune devices. Coming soon with the inclusion of the XBOX Live Zune Video Marketplace you'll have three tuners at your disposal: Zune HD, PC or XBOX 360.

So last night, I decided I was going to put some of the rental experience through its paces. I had said over Twitter that I thought about purchasing a film, but instead I decided to go through the rental process. It was something that I hadn't even done on the XBOX 360, so this was going to be an interesting experience.

The following, however, only represents part of the full experience. I have yet to view the movie on-the-go with my Zune HD yet, but when I do, I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

The video marketplace is located when you open the Zune software and click on 'marketplace'. You see a tab for Videos. Under the video umbrella is where you'll find music videos, TV shows, movies and movie trailers. The trailers are viewable using the Zune software. Including full-screen viewing in 4.0 makes watching these trailers all the more special. Of course, this isn't as robust as the Apple Quicktime movie trailer experience -- I do think I enjoy that setup, but over time as the offerings grow you'll find yourself in front of the Zune software watching trailer after trailer.

I find it kind of odd -- unless I'm missing something -- that you can't sync the trailers to a device. It would be nice to have those on the go (for whatever reason).

One thing you need to remember is that there are no refunds available for rentals or purchases. Always be careful which movie you're choosing to view. In this particular case, I decided on the movie "Snap Dragon". Yeah, I know what that movie is about -- don't you judge me :-). In any event, when you click on the movie cover art, you'll get a screen (seen above) giving you a synopsis, run time, release date and the option to send (suggest) the film to a friend. Depending upon the contract with the studio you'll see a BUY and/or RENT button.

Choosing either rent or buy, will bring up the tuner screen. This is the screen where you're gonna decide how you plan on viewing the movie. Your options (ultimately) will be PC, Zune HD, Legacy Zune (if you're purchasing the movie) and XBOX 360. In this particular case, notice that the Hamachi Zune 4 isn't available as an option because I'm renting the movie, however the Zune HD and the PC are. For me, I'm choosing the Zune HD because I plan to test this on the go.

Using the new XNA extensions that were released today, along side the Zune HD, Twitter user elxx has created a neat drawing app that shows off the multi-touch capability of the Zune HD. Check it out:

Here’s another picture too:

This is just day two of the Zune HD era. Imagine what is to come further down the road.

Check out this video of some of the goings on of the Zune Team during Zune 4.0’s launch night.

Awesomesauce.

Check out this video, via Microsoft PressPass that goes over some of the hawt new features of the Zune HD.

Rejoice Zune Nation, Zune 4.0 is here. We are happy to be able to ‘dish’ on greatness in store. There are significant updates occurring to the the software, hardware, website and Xbox. Without further ado, below is a list of what is changing and new to the Zune for fall 2009. We may retread on some previously reported items but it well help present a more full picture of the changes going on across the Zune ecosystem. Stay tuned as we update this list and populate it with pictures.

 

Device

• Zune HD
  • Available in two Capacities
    • 16GB Black
    • 32GB Platinum
    • Blue, Green, & Red via Zune Originals in addition to Black and Platinum (Picture)
      • New etching option include new artist designs, Major League Soccer team logos, and Xbox Game titles
      • “You make it you”
  • Featuring Nvidia’s Tegra APX2600
    • ARM11 MPCore CPU
      • 64KB L1 Cache (32KB for instructions, 32KB for data)
      • 256KB L2 Cache (unified)
      • Up to a 600MHz clock speed
    • Ultra-low Power GPU
      • OpenGL-ES 2.0 Support
      • 47M Triangles /sec (peak)
      • 24M Drawn Triangles /sec (peak)
      • 600M Pixels /sec (peak)
      • 240M Textured Pixels /sec (peak)
      • Programmable pixel shader
      • Programmable vertex and lighting
      • Support for CSAA (Coverage Sampling Anti-Aliasing)
    • HD Audio/Video Processor
      • Web-based flash video is hardware-accelerated (flash playback currently not supported by the Zune HD)
    • ARM7 Core (for supplemental audio and video processing)
    • Fabricated with TSMC’s 65nm process
    • 12mmx12mm in size
  • Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) Screen
    • 3.3”
    • 480x272 resolution
    • 16:9 aspect ratio
    • Multi-touch
  • HD Radio
    • Higher quality FM radio that features substations of genre-specific music. This is similar to the way some over the air digital TV stations have content-specific sub channels
  • Internet browser
    • tap-to-zoom capable
    • multi-touch gesture capable
    • no flash support
    • QWERTY keyboard
  • Unicode Support
  • Return of the equalizer
  • Rental and Download-to-Own Movie Capable
    • Rentals are roughly the same approach as current Xbox Live movie rentals. 14 days to play the movie. Unlimited plays within a 24-hour period once the rented title is played.
  • Most navigational elements in the new user interface are touchable. What this means is that if you see text, you can touch it to navigate through the user interface.
  • The artist pictures of the Now Playing screen, as seen in Zune 3.0 now moves to the device. This present a more engaging experience than simply liner notes alone, as you are able to read an artists biography and check out similar artists all from your device. This now playing experience is extended to the TV when the Zune HD is plugged into the new HD & A/V dock.
  • 720p HD output capable when using the the new A/V dock
  • Apps
    • New marketplace section on device
    • New Games
      • Space Battle 2
      • And more
    • Utility apps included too
      • Weather
      • Calculator
      • Twitter & Facebook coming soon
    • More apps will be coming shortly after release.
  • Quickplay Menu
    • Easily customizable
    • Allows access to the most recent items added to your device as well as you recent play history
    • You can also ‘Pin’ items to your Quickplay Menu
  • US only release
• All models prior to the Zune HD have been discontinued.
  • As necessary, older devices will be updated. However, some features present in the Zune HD will not trickle down to the the v2 and v1 Zunes
    • No Unicode Support
    • No Movie rental support
    • No UI enhancements (i.e. no Quickplay Menu)
    • No Web browser
    • No equalizer for v2 devices
  • All official apps moving forward will be for Zune HD only
    • XNA side-loading of games for all devices will still be possible, it’s just up to the developer to support the v1 and v2 Zunes
  • Older Zunes will be able to playback download to own movies

Software

• Quickplay Menu (picture) 
  • Same functionality as on the new Zune HD, this menu gives you easy access to your recently played tracks as well as newly added music to your collection. As on the device, what appears in your Quickplay menu is customizable with the a few simple clicks.
• Apps Marketplace (picture) 
  • New tab in the Zune software
  • At this time there is no 3rd party access to the app marketplace. However, side loading apps using XNA Game Studio is still possible.
• Updated Zune Pass Functionality (picture)
• Now the software tells you when your 10 monthly picks will expire.
• Picks (picture)
• A new selection algorithm allows for more relevant musical selections. Also you now have the ability to tell the software to ‘pick’ something else for you if you are unsatisfied with its current selection.
• Mini-mode (picture) 
  • Finally a way to keep Zune small but keep it beautiful while you work on other tasks with your PC
• Support for Windows 7
  • Jumplists (picture)
  • Snap-to-resize the window support (picture)
  • Taskbar-centric play controls (picture)
• Improved library management (picture) 
  • Now you can sort your collection my Zune Pass and Non-Zune Pass music
• Movie Marketplace (picture) 
  • As part of the connected entertainment strategy you are now able to buy a movie on a PC and choose whether to have it waiting for you on your Xbox or Zune. If you purchase the movie on your Zune, you can watch the video on your Xbox, Zune or PC without having to repurchase the movie. Buy once, play anywhere.
  • No Netflix support ;-)
  • Depending on where you watch the movie, the file will be optimized for the screen upon which you are viewing it.
  • Watch movie trailers within the software (picture)
• Smart DJ
  • Now you can create music playlists based on what you have in your collection. Smart DJ can pull tracks from the marketplace for Zune Pass users to supplement the tracks you have stored locally. For non-Zune Pass users there is an option to turn off this feature and only create playlist with tracks in your collection. This playlists can also be saved for playback on any Zune device.
  • Think Genius, but done correctly from the beginning
• Improved video playback support with a new full screen mode

Social

• Streaming Zune Pass (Picture)
  • Stream tracks from the Zune marketplace over the internet with any Silverlight capable browser. This includes OS X-based implementations of Silverlight.
  • Create Smart DJ playlists is available online as well
  • Includes a pop-out web player to allow for uninterrupted browsing (Picture)
• Stream Video Podcasts too
• Watch movie trailers online (Picture)
  • Stream them online (Picture) or click the ‘download’ them to your PC
  • Share a trailer with a friend
  • Write a review for a trailer
• Rent or Purchase movies and TV shows online for viewing on another screen later on. (e.g. Buy a movie at work, and have it waiting for you on your Xbox when you get home.)
• Zune Arts is officially shut-down
• Now using Silverlight to power the ‘My Social’ pages. Hopefully this means faster load times. (Picture)
• The My Social Page will now displays concerts in your area (picture). Your area is determined by what you typed into your bio, under your personal profile. You can change your location simply clicking on the ‘change location’ option under the “Tour Dates” header.

There are probably a few more updates that will be wedged into one of these general categories as we pour over the device, hardware, and software over the next few days. Also, be sure to keep an eye our for some potential in-depth feature looks in the next few days.

For the 3rd Club Social event, I've decided to partner up with Travis Pope of ZuneSpring to host a Monday night of XBOX Live madness as we all wait for the launch of Zune 4.0.

Travis will be hosting Halo 3, at 6:00pm PST and I will be hosting Gears of War 2 starting at 7:30pm PST. You can feel free to jump back and forth between games if you own them. This is not only a call to Zune Nation, but to anyone who wants to join us on XBOX Live for some group gaming. 

Even if you're not taking part in this event, for whatever reason, we hope to see a lot of you on XBOX Live -- gaming and chatting with friends; having some fun until the 15th rolls around, cause then I'm sure everyone will log out of XBOX Live and start staring at computer screens waiting for download/update notifications :-)

Remember, Zune Nation: Zune will go completely offline on Monday starting at 11am, to prepare for the September 15th launch of Zune 4.0 (Zune HD, software, and zune.net).

Be sure to update your music collections, grab some videos and whatever else you need to download to get you through the downtime -- or you can join us for our Club Social event if you're an XBOX Live owner.

Artist	Peter Gabriel
Song	Big Time
Album	So
#zunetune	Click here to download

Call it a cool little tidbit, but Grahm Skee from AnythingbutiPod noticed that some Microsoft Point cards are now being decorated and sold with some Zune style and flair. While it's no secret that the points can be redeemed and used for both the XBOX and Zune Marketplace, it's nice to see some cards outright be focused on Zune Marketplace and have some coloring to match.

1. What type of Zune do you currently own?  
I currently own the Good old Zune 30 Brown, only Zune I’ve ever owned. Got it back in 2008 and it has served me well.

2. What have you learned from your friends at Zune Social?
I have learned there is more music out there except my music and what I listen to.
 
3. What made you decide to get a Zune over any other MP3 player?

4. What type of music do you listen to (name as many as necessary -- genres/groups)?

5. What's your favorite thing about Zune (favorite feature)?
I love my Zune Pass, allows me to have all the music I want but get it legally for a price of one album a month. Besides that I really like the reverse sync thing on the Zune.

6. Where do you use your Zune? Working out? At the office? 
I actually use my Zune Software more than the hardware itself. I am home schooled so I always rock out to music while I’m doing my school work. I usually have it playing out of my computer via the software to my 300w Sony shelf system (best $150 I ever spent).

7. What are some of your hobbies? What's your life like away from Zune Social?
My life away from the Zune social is pretty much my family and church. I sing in the band for my youth group and play the piano a bit to. Let’s just say I love music and it’s be horribly bored without it.

• Hosts: Marques Lyons and Neville Williams
• Recorded: Thursday, September 10, 2009
• Running Time: 36 minutes
• Intro and outro music by Shohei Urata
• Server space provided by Travis Pope and Paige Aiden

Topics covered:

• Quick reactions to the Apple iPod event
• Marques' trip to Seattle:
• PAX 2009
• Visit to Zune
• Dinner with the XNA MVPs
• Bumbershoot
• Marketplace Recommendations
• Possible little surprise at the end of the podcast :-)

• Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival
• ZuneBoards
• Zunerama
• Penny Arcade Expo
• MVP Directory: XNA
• iPod Touch / iPod Nano microsites

• "Probably Never Again" by Daydream on Autopilot [zunetune]
• "Club Perfecto" by Paul Oakenfold [zunetune]
• "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles [zunetune]
• "Ordinary Songs" by The Little Ones [zunetune]

• This is off of Juanes' official website.
• As is this.
• This article is from the Miami Herald; a very large population of Cubans and Cuban-Americans live in Miami, Florida.
• Then there's this.
• And if you want to read more, click here.

One of the cool things about Zune (and the upcoming Zune HD) is the opportunity to customize the device with your favorite background image. In the case of the Zune HD, what you're really decorating is the home screen - that screen that will show you the clock and battery, the one you swipe upward with your finger to reach the menus. The reason for this is because when you're going through the menu and playing music, the background that was once your favorite picture is now replaced by artist imagery.

It's always been a crazy time for me to figure out what I wanted to be the background on my Zune device. It had to be something cool, it had to be something I wouldn't mind looking at for extended periods of time *and* it has to be something that meshed well with the white lettering of the menu. For the home screen that really doesn't matter anymore (the meshing with the lettering, I mean) but still you want to see something cool when you start up your Zune HD.

So join in the conversation: How do you approach what image you'll use as the background for your Zune devices? How often do you change the background on your device(s)? If you're getting a Zune HD have you figured out what you want to have as your home screen image?

Sound off, #ZuneNation!

Artist	Raphael Saddiq
Song	Ask of You
Album	Higher Learning Soundtrack
#zunetune	Unavailable as a #ZuneTune

Note: You can purchase the entire Higher Learning soundtrack, including this song, at Amazon -- It's an 'Album Only' purchase, but the entire soundtrack is great in my opinion.

Join me for the next few days as I head into Seattle, WA to infiltrate the 2009 Penny Arcade Expo. Next to E3 it's one of the big video game events of the year. I'll get a chance to reconnect with some of the folks I met at E3 and break bread with some new faces. You'll be able to follow along with me on Twitter and/or our Facebook page. This should be a good time.

For more information about the Penny Arcade Expo, visit their website.

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.

1. What type of Zune do you currently own?  
I own a Black 80, a Black 30 and a Red 4. I use the 80 for my personals though.

2. What have you learned from your friends at Zune Social?
I have learned that I am unique in my interests. I have found I think one person who is awesome with me and he has the top plays of all. lol.
 
3. What made you decide to get a Zune over any other MP3 player?

4. What type of music do you listen to (name as many as necessary -- genres/groups)?

5. What's your favorite thing about Zune (favorite feature)?
It's definitly the Wireless Marketplace, that is the most convienient thing I have ever seen. That with the Zune Pass, pure win.

6. Where do you use your Zune? Working out? At the office? 
I use my Zune, everywhere. In me, music is, it's the truest thing often in this world. Nothing is better than finding a new artist, and realizing that his/her lyrics touch something inside your brain that brings you to a deeper level of understanding and relation and with that connection through the power of music you build a certain trust with that artist and use them for the reason they touch you. Music is truly powerful. 

7. What are some of your hobbies? What's your life like away from Zune Social?
I drum, sing and play guitar in my band Aphellion. I also play Xbox360 catch me on that and the social at XLeperOMessiahX. I love Gears of War 2. I just started College, i'm going local and hoping to be a Producer. I'm a huge sports fan. I love the Chicago Bears, Bulls and Whitesox. I pitch it's the most natural posistion on the diamond for me. I love drawing and graphic arts, that is a huge factor of my personality. That's me in a nutshell.