Welcome to the Social...

So, as most of you who talk to me and read this.. I'm now the proud owner of a Zune!
Also as many of you have asked.. "What's a zune?"

The Zune is essentially Microsofts verion of the Ipod, and well to be fair, it's probably a lot better!


Unfort. for us Euro's this is one device that we can't buy them here, the only option is to import (although saying that, a lot of people on Amazon do that and charge a fortune) or take a trip across the pond!

Anyway, so I have a black 8GB version, and just to show how small this device really is, here it is next to a ball point pen! Oh and to note it's 8mm thick!Inside the box:
-Headphones (pretty good headphones, but could be better)
-USB cable (charging cable and for data transfer)
-Instructions (who needs them?)
-Your Zune!!

As for the zune itself...
-Mp3 player
-FM Radio
-Video's
-Pictures
- "The Social"

Pretty standard except for "The Social" thing, I have no clue what this is, except that it works over wireless. Apparently every time you play a song on your PC, or sync your Zune to update play data, that information is uploaded to Zune Social, so your friends can automatically see what you're listening to. All that data is collated and aggregated so you can see what's the most listened-to music, which users have listened to certain bands the most, etc.

They're also building a widget called the Zune Card with functions much like the Gamer Card on Xbox 360. The Zune Card can be embedded into your blog or "other social networking sites" to provide that constant stream of information where you want it displayed. No word on which sites they're working on building it for, but it was made clear that Facebook and My Space are priorities.

As for the device itself.. The screens is bright and clear, it can even be seen in the sun, which is a major issue i've had with previous mp3 players! As for audio quality it's pretty damm solid, i've used it constantly over the weekend and it's pretty damm good!

Edit: Welcome to the social... RvB style!