14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft's digital media player has somewhat managed to slip out of sight in 2007. Out of sight, but not out of mind. Zune 30 GB Digital Media Player (Black) is currently featured by Amazon.com at number 58 of best sold electronics device, a list topped by Apple's iPod. Currently, Microsoft accounts for the second position in the hard drive-based digital music player market. Zune managed to get a hold of 9.9 percent of the digital media player market in January 2007, according to data released by NPD.
At the end of February, Microsoft promised a March Zune firmware update designed to tackle some functionality issues. The update made available yesterday, March 28, 2007 is just a minor refresh focused mainly on resolving a problem that caused the media player to skip when playing back music purchased from Microsoft's online store. "We were aware a limited number of users were experiencing that issue, and we were able to address it," said Zune spokeswoman Katy Asher.
Zune Firmware 1.3 was initially scheduled for mid March, but the development process took Microsoft longer than expected. The software update addresses only bugs and does not deliver any added functionality. However, one member of the Zune team promised that new features and improvements will be added to the digital media player in the future.
"We're fixing the skipping problem that some users were experiencing - that is, content acquired from Zune Marketplace will no longer skip when played on the device. Improved device and software reliability, when it comes to device detection, and improved sync'ing. We've made some changes to the FM Tuner so it no longer drains the battery when in sleep mode," revealed Cesar Menendez, a Microsoft employee working on Zune - Microsoft's new music project, as he puts it.