Zune 4.0 software is live, Zune HDs rejoice

Microsoft’s Zune HD portable media player has been sitting in a sealed box on my desk for two two weeks now. Don’t worry, I haven’t lost my professional fascination with portable media players. The only reason the box has stayed sealed is because the Zune HD is little more than a $219 paperweight if it doesn’t have the Zune 4.0 software client to connect to.

The wait is finally over. As of this morning, Microsoft’s free Zune 4.0 software is available for download. Perfect timing too, since the Zune HD officially goes on sale today and with any luck, pre-orders will be dropping on the doorsteps.

So what’s new in version 4.0? Well, there’s a new look, a new opening Quickplay page (shown above), an updated store stocked with new HD movies, rentals, and TV shows, a Genius-like Smart DJ feature that

But perhaps the biggest part of the new Zune 4.0 experience is that Microsoft is giving Zune Pass music subscribers a way to stream music over the Web by logging into their Zune.net account on any Mac or PC. We’re still a far cry from being able to sync your Zune with a Mac, but at least Zune Pass users can now dig into the Zune Marketplace’s deep catalog and stream music wherever and whenever they want.

source: cnet