User Interface

The Zune software often flies under the radar compared to rival Apple’s iTunes and it’s a shame because it’s one of Microsoft’s most impressive offerings and stands out from just about every media software I’ve previously used. However, I would stress that this software isn’t for meta-data geeks, of anyone who likes to fully customize every aspect of their listening habits and library.

Music Visualizations and Now Playing

Zune 3.0 update provides a great way to show visualizations, down at the bottom of the main screen which you’ll have to download and try it for yourself. I have my media player up on the screen it’s because I’m browsing my music library, not staring at the pretty shapes and colors while a song plays and it looks great to me.

The ‘Now Playing’ screen is even better, rather than just a larger version of the visualization as there is a full screen display of ever-changing album covers which looks fantastic. In fact, when I’m not using the computer for anything else, I often just leave it up while my music keeps playing.

It gets even better though, if you are connected to an internet connection and you have the ‘Now Playing’ screen up than you’ll get a new kind of display for many popular artists including, pictures, text and animations related to the band.

MixView

MixView is a new feature that is designed to help you get involved in the Zune Social, where you discover new bands and find out more information concerning bands you already know.

Podcasts

Before getting my Zune, podcasts never really interested me, but the Zune software provides an easy way to subscribe so I got into listening to them. You can find hundreds of podcasts in the stores with more being added all the time, although sometimes it can take a long time to get a podcast submitted and accepted. These are just a few of the features of the Zune software and I would definitely recommend downloading it and giving it a try as well.

Note: if you are not a US citizen I would suggest that you download the International Zune Hack for the software. This will allow you to access all the available features that I have mentioned and sign up for Zune Social using your Live ID.