More Details About the New Zune

Here's the scoop on the Zune's new system for rating songs, more about transferring your DVR'd recordings to the Zune, how to get free etchings on the back of the player, details about the customizable wallpaper, and more.

• Rating songs: Gone is the old five-star rating system for the songs in your collection; now, you simply select "love it" or "hate it." It's a smart move; I've rarely bothered rating my songs in the past, namely because I have a hard time deciding, for instance, whether I have five stars of affection for a song or four. A binary choice makes the decision much easier.
• Volume controls: The Zune Pad doubles as a volume control—you flick it up or down to tweak sound levels as you see fit. It's a clever feature, although I wish there was a physical volume rocker on the side of the device.
• DVR transfers from Windows Media Center: I touched on this feature quickly in my review, but it deserves more discussion. Basically, if you're using your PC as a TV set-top box and you're recording shows on Windows Media Center, you can automatically transfer the resulting DVR-MS files to the Zune (provided the shows don't have Dolby Digital soundtracks and aren't DRM-protected). As some commenters have pointed out, it's one way to get around the fact that you can't buy TV shows on the Marketplace—and hey, it's free. I just wish those of us not using our PCs as DVRs had another option for putting TV episodes on the Zune.
• Playlists in the Zune software: Instead of the big column of playlists you get in, say, iTunes (which gets pretty hard to manage after a while), there's a little playlist icon in the bottom-left corner of the Zune client. You click on the icon to select or create a playlist; once a playlist is selected, you can drag songs or albums onto the playlist icon to add more content. Nicely done.
• Picture folders: When you're browsing pictures on the Zune or using the Zune client, folders are labeled with a jumbo-sized number representing the amount of pictures in the folder. Again, a nice design move.
• Premium Zune earphones: An in-ear headset comes standard with the 80GB Zune, and the wires have a fabric casing that does a nice job of preventing tangles. The earphones pack a nice, bass-y kick, although the high end is a little blunt for my taste.
• Wallpaper: You can select any picture stored on your Zune and turn it into your wallpaper—for all your menus, not just the main screen. I like it.
• Firmware update for the old Zune: Just in case I didn't make it clear in my review, your old 30GB Zune will also get wireless syncing, DVR transfers, and many of the other new Zune features. Stay tuned for the free firmware update, due tomorrow (Tuesday, Nov. 13).
• Free etchings on the back cover: Getting your MP3 player personalized with inscriptions on the back is nothing new, but Microsoft takes it a step further with Zune Originals, a collection of 27 original graphics that you can get etched onto the back of your Zune, for free. Visit zuneoriginals.net on Tuesday for more details.