Editor's Note: My name is attached as the author, but this post was written by Michael Gillett - of My Microsoft Life, friend to Inside the Circle and overall Zune enthusiast. It's only been recently that any true substance of Zune has been able to travel beyond North America, so here's Michael to give us his international take. Take it away, Michael!

I have been a Zune lover for years, pretty much ever since the devices, software and service were announced. I even have a “coming Zune” poster in my room to prove it which I had to buy through eBay. For me it provided a complete alterative to Apple and its “iProducts” dominance. Over the years the devices have only get better, the software is now fantastic and the service now does a lot more than it used to.

Sadly though I have only been a partial Zune user for the last 18 months or so and a full Zune user for 6 weeks. The problem I have had with Zune is that it hasn’t been supported outside of the US for nearly all the time it has existed.

Back in the summer of 2009, just as I was starting my blog, I won a Zune 8GB. This made me use the Zune software which up until I had used infrequently as I would use Windows Media Player to put my entertainment on my Windows Mobile device. The Zune software was good and then in September last year they updated it and the software became great with some really nice new features. I enjoyed using the Zune software to play my media and having my Zune device but I wanted more, I wanted to use my proper Windows Live ID for my Zune account, I wanted access to the Zune Pass, I wanted the full Zune experience.

Earlier this year with the announcement of Windows Phone 7 it became clear that Zune would be a major part of the mobile operating system experience. This meant that Zune would be going international by the end of the year. Were we given specifics about it? No. I was left hoping that everything Zune would come to the UK but fearing that it might only be a partial roll out. In the summer I discovered that it was possible to trial the Zune Pass officially in the UK but without an update to the Zune software it was only accessible through Zune.net. The most important aspect of Zune was coming to the UK!

It was then a long wait for any more information. In September Microsoft announced which parts of Zune would be coming to which countries around the world. Sadly, due to media companies being so restrictive about distribution of media it’s a very confusing roll out of services around the world. However, for me it was great news, all Zune services would be coming to the UK.

A week before Windows Phone 7 went on sale in the UK the Windows Phone site was relaunched with information about using Zune and an updated version of the Zune software was released. I immediately logged into Zune.net with my normal WL ID and bought a Zune Pass and it worked perfectly. I love the Zune experience and Zune Pass is even better than I thought. A couple of weeks later and I got my Windows Phone 7 where again the Zune experience is just great.

After waiting so long for Zune to come to the UK it’s a shame then to see that not all things are part of the experience in the UK. Podcasts are not available in the Zune Marketplace in the UK, which is a great shame as the BBC have so many great podcasts which the Zune software would allow people to discover. Another omission from the Zune Marketplace is TV shows; it’s only possible to watch movies (which is a very small collection) or music videos. There are also only 8 channels in the Marketplace, I seem to remember that there were more when I used to use a US based WL ID to login to the Zune software.

The lack of items from the Zune Marketplace isn’t just found on the PC software but also in Windows Phone 7.

I have no complaints with the music section of the Marketplace; I believe there has only been one song that I have not been able to find on it despite the UK marketplace having about 2 million songs less than the US. The Zune Pass on Windows Phone 7 works very well, I have already found many excuses to stream or download songs when and wherever I want too.

I really do love Zune, it’s a great combination of software and services and completes one aspect of Microsoft’s “three screens and the cloud” strategy. However it’s a shame that in the UK and everywhere outside of the US we are still left with parts of the service “coming Zune”. I can only hope that Microsoft plan to release updates to the entertainment platform frequently to bring all aspects of Zune to many more countries. If Microsoft wants people to rely and use Zune around the world then its needs the full service to be available in as many countries as possible and they can’t be slow about that.

I now look forward to what the Zune software version 5 will bring us and I hope that it will be an international launch rather than a staggered one with related updates to Zune devices and Zune.net.