Although it was announced as early as September 8, the Zune 3.0 upgrade was made available for download only today, September 16. Last week, Robert J. Bach, President, Entertainment & Devices Division indicated that the focus with the evolution from version 2.0 to 3.0 was not the hardware, the Zune device itself, but the software and service built around it. Brian Seitz, group marketing manager for Zune, confirmed that.

According to Seitz, the close similitude between the Zune 2.0 and Zune 3.0 devices is due to the fact that Microsoft is focused on building software for a hardware platform which can be overlooked by innovative growth.

“The new frontier for personal media players is the software. We made an early bet with the FM player and wireless capabilities of the device. Now we can build on those hardware features by delivering great software. That’s what we’re doing with the 3.0 update,” Seitz revealed.

In terms of the actual hardware design, Microsoft introduced the 120 GB and 16 GB (Flash) devices, delivering blue versions of the digital media player. However, the new software permits Zune 3.0 users to Buy (songs) from FM and to engage in a new level of music-centric social interaction.

“People spend a lot of time with radio,” says Littlejohn. “This Zune technology puts two things together that have been dying to get together for years - discovery of new music on FM radio and the purchase of music, which is getting to be more and more digital. “To hear a new song on the radio and then purchase that song and own it within minutes is a pretty magical consumer experience I think. We’re making FM radio interactive. It’s exciting for broadcasters, for consumer-electronics providers and, of course, for consumers, which is the most important.”

The new Zune 3.0 software is available for download here.