This is the next in the series of Microsoft TV adverts featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld. They seem to get a lot of criticism for not talking about Microsoft, but I think this is whole point – just funny ads that people talk about!

ZuneThings are having a contest to allow you to win a Blue 8GB Zune. To enter, all you need to do is go to the www.zunethings.co.uk and write a review of your Zune product. Simply find the product you have on the site and then click the review link – you have to create an account to place a review (this is so we have the details to contact you should you win!)

We will pick one winner at random from all the reviews on the site.

This contest is open to anyone and we will ship the Zune free of charge to your location.

The contest ends on September 23rd and the winner will be notified on the 24th by phone or email.

Good luck!

We have done some initial tests on the Zune 120 GB battery life. Our first test was with wireless turned on and for audio only. The Zune managed to play for just under 23 hours. This compares to about 18 hours for the Zune 80 GB when we performed the same test.

So, a little improvement which is a good thing. Given these numbers we would expect about 30 hours with wireless turned off. We will confirm this with further tests and will also report video numbers shortly.

Here we have some pictures to show you the new Zune 120 GB, the 16 GB Black Zune and the 8GB Blue Zune alongside a Zune 80 and a Red Zune 8GB.

Key Points:

The 16GB Zune Black is just like the 120GB Zune in that is is black on the back and side and has a glossy front.

The 16GB Zune has no TV Out. Only the 80GB and 120GB are capable of TV Out.

The 8GB Blue Zune is exactly the same as the existing 8GB (apart from colour of course!)

The 16GB Zune comes with the Standard headphones (only the 80GB Zune includes Premium Headphones)

Update: The new Zune Software will be available to all Zune models (yes that includes the original 30GB models)! We are so pleased to hear this – very different than the path Apple takes with new models!

Microsoft have now officially confirmed the new Zune’s and a September 16th software update in a press release:

http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2008/sep08/09-08ZuneFallUpdatePR.mspx

There are some cool marketplace enhancements that allow users to purchase songs heard on the radio – the bad news is there is still no mention of an official UK or European release, so these features will not be available to us!

Of course ZuneThings will have the Zune 120 in stock very shortly for UK buyers, so here are the software highlights that we will benefit from:

“The Zune PC software is a free download at http://www.zune.net that provides rich discovery and media management capabilities to help consumers make the most of their existing music collections, in addition to providing access to the Zune Social and Zune Marketplace so they can add to it.

A new firmware update will also improve the experience on the Zune device. In addition to the new wireless functionality, Zune will bring new features customers have been asking for:

ZuneThings have managed to get hold of one of the new 120GB Zune’s that are not yet released! Here are the highlights with pics below:

Zune 120 is exactly the same size as the Zune 80. Weight is 4.8 oz for the 120 vs 4.9 oz for the 80.

The headphones included are the standard ones (Not premium headphones that came with the 80GB Zune)

The colour is a shiny black all the way round.

The software seems to be the same as Zune 80 for now, but we are still testing, so will update later.