The web has been hot with speculation and photos of the new Zune HD.  First, well, I am just excited to see excitement about the Zune, because I know I love mine.  Zunited has said that their inside sources confirm that this picture is indeed a picture of the new Zune.  Point for me.  I knew a Touch Zune had to be next.  Now there is quite a list of suggested specs for this latest addition to the Zune family.  There has been no confirmation, but here is what is supposed to be up next.

• multi-touch capacitive OLED screen in a 16:9 aspect ratio – total screen size 3.6″
• 3D Xbox game support
• playback of “HD media” available from Zune Marketplace
• TV-out from HDMI port
• HD Radio
• choice of 16GB or 32GB of storage – possible 120 mega-version
• wireless sync
• multi-touch Internet browser
• launches this Fall, “around September” in the US, Canada, UK, France and possibly other European countries.
• likely to be a “showcase” for Windows Mobile 7 when released

Wow!!!  That is a lot going on.  The most curious item is the 3D Xbox game support.  Now, I think tying the two platforms together is a great idea, but I will be very interested to see how this is accomplished.  I can’t imagine playing a complicated Xbox game without  a control pad and buttons.  Maybe there will be accessories to attach onto the end of the Zune to help with that.  Of course, that assumes these specs are accurate, but no one knows for sure.  I still don’t see an app for doing my laundry, but I believe MS is moving in the right direction.  If they want to compete with Apple, they need to have similar abilities to the iTouch.  Plus, HD gives them something that Apple does not have and hopefully that will continue to generate buzz.  I can’t wait to see what is ‘leaked’ next.

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