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Zune 2.0 and flash Zune coming this year?

Lindsey Turrentine EVP, Content and Audience
Lindsey Turrentine is executive vice president for content and audience. She has helped shape digital media since digital media was born.
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Lindsey Turrentine

Christmas came early today for the folks at Zune Scene--at least, if their story is true. According to the blog, a chance meeting between the undercover blogger and a Microsoft employee yielded some golden nuggets of Zune news:

Zune 2.0 coming this year. The hard drive player will be thinner with more capacity, but still with the double-shot finish (probably in a number of colors). Parts will be made at a new plant in China, implying that Microsoft won't be buying the player from Toshiba this time around.

Flash Zune coming, too. According to the report, the smaller (also double-shot) flash player will measure "3 by 1 1/4 by 1/4 inches," chock-full, top to bottom, with the flash memory. Supposedly, this leaves some room for a Wi-Fi antenna and a long, video-capable screen.

All of this sounds mighty alluring--especially the promise of a Wi-Fi-and-video-ready flash player. But the proof lies in the firmware. Unless Microsoft expands the Zune's Wi-Fi capabilities beyond the weirdly stingy Zune-to-Zune "social" world, no amount of double-shot finish will stand up to Sandisk's Sansa Connect.

Oh yeah, and no word on the Zune phone. Yet.