Live on the Scene: The Sneak Peek event at Zune L.A.

It's always interesting to attend events like this, especially when they happen in the middle of the week. However, I was able to go to Zune L.A. last night for what was a "sneak peek" preview event for the upcoming Zune 4.5 firmware update. Specifically, Smart DJ on the Zune HD and Marketplace shopping from the device and dock were demonstrated. Plenty of pictures were taken, plenty of schwag was grabbed and many a drink was consumed.


By the way, all of the pictures that you see associated with this article was taken by my good friend Seeson of 360Junkies. He was at Zune L.A as my guest (and even got to take home plenty of Zune-branded items). So I want to thank him for taking some great shots of the event and I'm glad he was able to make it out.

The first hour of the event was spent mingling and taco wrangling. Zune was able to get one of those mobile taco carts to be parked outside on the 'patio' and provide several free tacos to anyone within grabbing range. They also had an open bar available because nothing says awesome event like a free, open bar.

After the mingling was done, everyone headed to the 2nd floor of the building for a more "formal" introduction and demonstration. Michael Yeager, from Zune, lead the showcasing of two specific features: On-Device Smart DJ and Marketplace on TV.

It should be noted that this was setup so that people could walk around and tour Zune L.A. Noone had to sit and hear the presentation first. They could always go one-on-one with Yeager throughout the evening to get a demo and ask questions.

A lot of people seemed interested in the decoration and spread of Zune L.A. ... and who wouldn't be? Zune L.A. is fashioned with several XBOX 360s, a Surface table, performance stage, balcony that could host a DJ setup, art gallery layout, cool couches and bathrooms with bears that stare at you while you handle your business.

Overall the event was informal and informative. I could tell that people were quite impressed with what was coming down the pike for Zune HD. Those who weren't too sure about what Zune even had to offer seemed impressed with the way the ecosystem was coming together. As an example, with the XBOX 360s in the building, they were connected to XBOX Live and Zune Video on XBOX. You could easily demonstrate renting a film and having that instant-on action. With Zune HDs docked to various TV sets you could demonstrate how the artist art comes across on the TV (my favorite is Garbage).

It was a great event and I'll be interested to see public opinion of the 4.5 firmware update when it hits.