There was this great post, done on Zune Insider, called “What We’re Listening To” where members of Zune Nation (Zune staff, MVPs, etc) would share what has caught their ear during that given week. I always thought this was an excellent thing to do, so I’m bringing it to Inside the Circle (who only knows if it will continue on Zune Insider or not).

Therefore, periodically, you can check here to see what various members of Zune Nation are listening to. Use it as a starting point to expand your ears or to learn a bit more about what makes your fellow Zune Nation brethren tick.

Ready for this issue’s submissions?

Contributor: David Collins, GameFocus.ca

This week I went in the pop/club/let’s-shake-our-booties direction, which is a bit odd considering the issues I’ve been dealing with here at home. Nevertheless, both Brit-Brit (Britney Spears to you laymen) and Joe Jonas (of the Jonas Bros) ended up with my attention....and on my playlists.

Yes, I was fairly surprised myself.

Britney’s B In The Mix, The Remixes Vol 2 is, as the title implies, a remix album of some of her previous hits. While there won’t be any radio singles to come off it, it should please the club-goers with no problem, especially the mixes of 3, Womanizer, and If You Seek Amy.

With Joe Jonas’ Fastlife, I had no expectations at all, except maybe more of the bubble gum popping tracks he and his brothers are known for. Again, to my surprise there was some decisively decent singles there, all with a heavy emphasis on love and relationships. He does try to grab some of the club scene himself toward the end of the album, but it falls pretty flat. Sorry Joe, Brit has you beat there.

My playlists gained a few notables including All This Time, Just In Love, and See No More. Love Slayer and Make You Mine also stand out fairly well and will certainly see some more rotation from me.

Contributor: William Deveraux, AnythingbutiPod / Zune MVP

Soundtracks (specifically scores) are my favorite genre, so I’m still enjoying the third and final volume of the free Portal 2 soundtrack. Star Wars is also always near the top of my recently played list. Over on the podcast side, I’m continuing to enjoy Windows Phone Radio, especially with the long-awaited release of the Mango update a few weeks ago. I also started listening to two new podcasts: enConnected Live and CrowdGadgets. Both of these podcasts started up recently, and I had the honor of joining them in the role of guest and host, respectively. Finally, I had a chance to sit down and check out the new streaming music video feature for Zune Music Pass subscribers, which is pretty cool. It’s not perfect, but it’s a neat feature to have.

Contributor: Marques Lyons, InsidetheCircle / Zune MVP

I feel fortunate because I can actually share some of the Kpop/Jpop that I’ve been listening to these past few months. I just recently noticed that some of the stuff I’m hearing *is* available in the Zune Marketplace (go figure). So if you want to expand your ears past the US shores, here’s some suggestions:

One of my favorite international boy bands is 2pm. They have great harmony and do some pretty catchy stuff. Namely, I’m enjoying their EP that includes the song “Don’t Stop Can’t Stop”. I’ve seen these guys perform quite a few times on the MNET channel and have always enjoyed their performances.

On the girl side of life, you should check out the group “4 Minute”. Apparently, their claim to fame is that they can hit you with the awesome in 4 minutes or less. If you look at the amount of time each song is on the available albums, you’ll understand. Specifically, check out their album “4Minutes Left”.

One more cool female Kpop group is Miss A. Check out their album “Step Up”.

That’s it for this week’s edition. Thanks to our contributors, William and David. Catch you next time when we share what’s hitting our ears.