sweet :) thanks a bunch

sweet. Even though i never had a problem, im glad that for the ones that do, it will be fixed.

I hope this fixes their skipping problem.

Congratulations to you and the team for pushing this one out of the door. Good luck with any future releases.

Now, please, give us a clock willya?

Heres my list of personal wants for 1.3:

Clock

Podcasting

Folders added to the Video Section

And please will you do something about the Zune Marketplace? It's dog slow at redrawing on Vista if it even redraws. It frequently locks up and has many graphical glitches associated with it.

It's probably my biggest gripe with Zune right now, the software is dog slow and just a pain in the you-know-what to use.

(End Rant)

Don't mean to come off disrespectful in any of the above, just the words of a Zune owner who wants the see the product shine.

Same here, never had a problem, but at least all of the people who have Zunes and aren't techies or Zune fans don't experience any more problems and decide to easily return it for something else.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

Same here, i've never had any issues with my zune.  I just like updates.

Oh and I forgot to mention: Thanks for the birthday present! :D

Thank God!!! I never thought this would happen, actually I did, but not this soon. :)

So when are we getting a firmware that actually add some functions that should have been included in the original release?

Namely lossless audio support on the device. The freakin nano supports lossless audio why not the zune?

Also releases that add no functions should be called patches and or fixes not "firmware updates". Firmware updates implies new features which has yet to happen with the zune.

My wish is two-fold:

1. Get my xbox live arcarde games and TV shows onto my zune... please. :)

2. Allow me to take my MS points with me and make purchases wirelessly at a store.  I believe MS just released a POS software solution, so now let me hook up with merchants using this and buy things.  That would be great!!!  And help you compete with the PS3 - that supports Edy money.

is there a time that the download will be available?  

Heres my list of personal wants for 1.3:

Clock

Podcasting

Folders added to the Video Section

Wow! Thank god! I thought I would have to wait a while before it actually came out! Expecting it around somewhere in April 2007! Good job MS!

dear blog commenters, isn't it possible to have *1* post where people don't devote dozens of comments to requesting new features/wishlists? the team and I hear you loud and clear in these other posts:

http://zuneinsider.com/archive/2007/03/21/send-feedback-to-the-zune-team.aspx

http://zuneinsider.com/archive/2007/03/20/update-on-the-update-from-the-release-manager.aspx

http://zuneinsider.com/archive/2007/03/07/and-now-a-word-from-the-zune-release-manager.aspx

http://zuneinsider.com/archive/2007/02/28/zune-firmware-update-1-3-coming-mid-march-skipping-fixed.aspx

http://zuneinsider.com/archive/2007/02/27/the-official-word-on-firmware-updates.aspx

Woot!

Now when can we see games? :)

Now only if you would let me run my Visual Basic programs on the Zune..... ;)

Thank You :)

Nice!

from a coding standpoint, not a critical one, what took the update so long? this seems like the type of stuff that wouldn't be very hard.

jw, since im learning to code in VB

so, is the update for the Zune software?...when is the firmware (Zune device) being updated ?

As far as updates/features, I don't know about anyone else but the top 3 features I'd like to see the Zune have would be

1 Zune will go to work for you so you don't have to.

2 Zune can make your dinner and feed your cats

3 Zune should have a feature where you push a button and *poof* your house is clean!

I kid, I kid, I'm just making light of all the suggestions people keep putting out there and the admin's comment about doing so.I'm just happy to see the update coming and no more skipping.

lol Josh.

Ricardo - software and firmware should launch at the same time. 1.3

Any change on having an open source firmware, so companies/ hobbyist can make apps for the Zune? That would be insane.

Sorry, I myself generally only have posted my wants in firmware announcement type topics.

I apologize if this topic wasn't intended for this

:X

no worries nelson :)

Thank you cesar for keeping us posted.  Nice little surprise popping it up the day befor.  Always makes people happy to get somthing good that they dont expect.  :)

Hey Caesar and the zune team, THANKS!

Even though I did not have these problems, I'm glad to see the zune team trying to make the zune a better player.  I'm tired of the people that want amazing updates, NOW.  Sure I would love to access zune marketplace via internal wifi, but that sounds like something that would take forever!  

This is great news and I just want to say thanks.

Yeah guys, I think we have drilled the ideas of things that we want on our zunes in there heads already! It is getting kind of old hearing the same improvement ideas over and over again. Lets just be patient for awhile and quit bombarding new threads with the same old stuff.

To Admin

You should add a section to this site for feature requests. some of the threads you linked get buried.

Also the main point about people continuing to request certain feature is a lack of feedback.

I submitted feadback, but got no Feadback on it

I suggest a simple single section somewhere that

people could put in feature requests that gets an actual response.

No one has to promise new features but some general feedback on what we request would be nice, like we are trying to implement this feature or your request is not feasible etc. etc.

If we had a central interactive place for feature requests it would cut down on the various threads that get the same type of replies

I'll actually be able to use it!  

The threads will be slammed with them regardless of whether or not they have a features section.

At any rate, thank you very much for the release. Looks like my waiting of a few extra days, while some people JUST couldn't! wait. Paid off.

:)

NO SKIPPING!  Woo hoo!  

Thanks Cesar.  Yeah I never had a problem either but I am glad others will benefit from the fix.

Thank you Cesar and the WHOLE Zune team. Thank you. My deepest Thanks and gratitude.

Yay! That's awesome, thanks, Zune!

If this patch works like it says it will, it is the beginning of the redemption of your product.

Thank you.

I really dont get the ads i see on TV. Make it make sense!

I know you've been busy Cesar but with almost a quarter of the year gone the blog still says "Copyright 2006".

Hey, only kidding but, you know what I'd like in my Zune for a future update? Bookmarks in movies. Why? I use the Zune a lot to show other people stuff. I want to show them the best bits - but fast forwarding and so on is not easy.

Allow bookmarks to be set from the device itself and you really will have something over the iPod - I have one of those too and it also can't do it - but there's no iPod person with a blog that I know of to tell this to :)

- Robin: http://zunearmy.com

I forgot to thank the Zune Team.  Thanks guys!  

It's nice to see an update coming. thanks and keep us posted on when features will be added! I've used that suggestion form already ;).

Bill Wittress confirms that the Zune 1.3 Firmware (which missed its tentative release date of March 20th

Since all of you usually hear from me via Cesar, I figured that I would post a response directly.

You are welcome for the update!  I am pleased to get this update out to all of you.  :)

Keep the feedback coming!  

James

Thanks for the direct response,announcement James/Cesar.  We'll keep the feedback coming, you keep your shoulders to the grindstone and make the product shine. ;)

thank god. i have music from the marketplace and i noticed today it skipped. i dont knoiw why it took so long for me to notice but now im happy :)

Ooh, nice!

I was really expecting at least another week. It'll be nice not having to skip the last few seconds of each song, and not worry about the syncing problems!

Thanks guys

Im sorry but what is everyone getting so excited about?  This "patch" is fixing 3 issues the zune is having.  Should it skip, no.  Should it sync, yes.  Should the battery drain, no.  Cesar I'm very happy with your site and letting everyone in on the "whats happening with the product you bought".  

But "it shouldn’t be a surprise to folks that we are going to continue looking for ways to add to or improve the Zune software." where is the improvement?  Your last sentence is amazing to me, new features? improvements? etc.?  etc must mean "fixing problems" cause that is what this is.  Now im not yelling about how I want my zune to have some incredible new features, like others, I just don't think this "update" should come with a side of fluff.

ok this is what i want

EVERYTHING ELSE EVEONE ELSE WANTS

meh just kidding i am happy never had any problems with the thing except it shutting down when it got freaking cold outside but that doesnt surpise me at all and now its warm HEYHEY problem solved also Ricardo Dawkins may have said the dumbest thing i have ever heard

so is this one 24 hour thing like at 12:01am is when it will be available?????????any thoughts......

i just know im going to be disapointed tomorrow, anyone else feelin' that? i hope i get proved wrong, fingers crossed

I was wondering if there is a set time as to when it will be availible, As well as why was the release delayed? I agree with micromarty, It would be insane if the firmware was open source

Glad to hear about the update!

Unfotunately, I finally broke down and bought one of those i-thingies Sunday :( If only I had a bit more patience.

Glad to hear the update(fix) is finally done, but i really hope were not going to have to wait another 5 months for the next one.

Sorry but I forgot to ask, Is it just going to be those 3 fixes or are we able to expect more?

I can't wait for the update!  Even though the noted fixes aren't any of my problems.  

I do have one issue though.  I noticed that if I don't listen to my Zune for a full day, then it reboots and forgets where I was in the middle of the song that I was listening to.  I think this is similar to the issue with the FM Tuner.

Yay! Now keep them coming. And for the next, bookmarks please, think of the Audiobook'ers, we are out there. :)

Woohoo....finally but i think im going to wait at least one day to make sure no one encounters any bugs...i'll be crossing my fingers!

woot- a fix.

@admin

I get it. It must be a pain to hear people complain all the time when you're doing your best.

How 'bout this thou, you guys @ zune dev team state what you guys will be working on in terms of actual upgrades(planned or considered). It might stop people from asking.

Personaly, I think you guys have a product that's unbalanced, now that you've fixed the problems, concentrate on the video part for a while.

Tells me firmware is up to date....hmmmm

Recently bought a Zune. Happy to see a pending update... but I have doubts.

I'm finding it annoying that though I spent twice as much on it as my Creative Microphoto, it seems to lack a lot of the basic things that the cheaper MP did.

A clock is a no-brainer... with an alarm please. I'd love to be able to use it as a clock radio hooked up to an external unit like you can with the Zen or the Ipod. This is such a basic request and so common with a lot of players out today that it makes no sense that it was not included from day one!

More music and video codecs need to be supported, including open source ones like OGG.  Not being able to play my AVI files at all? A nuisance and a pain for consumers.

And why can't we record the FM radio? I mean seriously? Again, this is a common feature on other players.

If the Zune is to be competitive, it should at least be comparable with like priced players in terms of functionality.  Not to say fixing bugs isn't important, but I must say that I was really disappointed to see how much obvious functionality was left out of this machine.

I mean, Microsoft is a giant. You'd think they'd have the resources to make a player that had comparable functionality to their competitors.

Are there any 'hidden' features in this update we need to be aware of like in the case of the xbox 360?  

In the 360 arena, updates have been know to brick (ruin) the console hardware, strongarm their unwanted DRM, cause unwanted operation, etc... all of which happens to be irreversible thanks to the 360's processor architecture.  All of which was leveraged under the false pretense of 'fixes' and 'updates'.

No offense, but your company has a history of blatent deceit in patch 'upgrades'.  I'll keep the 1.2 firmware since I don't have any of the listen problems, thanks anyway.  

To Admin: Perhaps people will stop requesting so many features if you actually confirm that new features are being worked on at all. I've been wondering, has the Zune team even began work on new features yet? Or have they been spending all their time working on bug fix patches like this one?

rumor has it that the FW will be available at 10AM EST. Don't quote me on it, I'm just repeating what I heard.

I pray to god that you guys are adding Chinese, Japanese, Korean and all other asian language support to the Zune

I hate that all my Asian music shows up as squares on the Zune when the Ipod can display them just fine.

Thank you guys!

Don't you think your work is over, do you?

;)

yeah folders for videos would be perfect!

Well where is it? Ive been clicking check for updates since 12:01 am , and still nothing?

Well its 1500 here in Baghdad.  It still isnt out yet lol.  Hopefully it will be out sometime before I go to sleep.  We are 7 hours ahead of EST.

I agree with kyle, one thing I dont li ke is once you make a quicklist, there is no way to save it as an actual playlist for later on , I get all my fav songs on 1 list, then by accident clear it , drives me nuts, we def need audio book and podcast support. These fixes in this update dont help me cuz I dont have any of these problems.

congratz on the FW/Patch Zune team!!!

...

But, please, any easter eggs???

oh... and what time will it be available, so i dont have to sit here and hit the update button over, over, and over. My fingers are starting to hurt

Just want to say thanks for all the hard work!  The iPod wasn't made over night and it can take a long time to get all the details worked out.

I am a product tester who's job it is to find bugs (yes even for the zune) and honestly compared to a lot of other products I have tested the Zune is an excellent product with limitless potential.  

Keep up the good work!

Awesome, had no skipping issues but its good to see progress.

Be patient people, progress is progress and each firmware update gets us closer to v2.0 (which I heard will clean your house and cook you dinner...)

Cesar and ZTeam: Keep up the good work. Period.

Woo, i didnt expect it for a while to be honest.

i dont really need this update coz mine works fine now. but still, good to know its out there, in good time.

good work team

i'll be here waiting for 1.4!

-adam

Not Only will it do that Selcouth, but also it will clean you fish, hamster, and bird cages i hear. And make tons of money for you. Thanks Big Cesar (267,453,952,974 High Fives) Can't wait to try it out.

*sigh* this good news make me even more sad that the uk (and the rest of europe) dont have "official" zunes.

heres hoping we see it before year end. i want santa to gift me a black one to match my 360 elite. ^_^

@Admin

Yes!!!

Thats what we want to here!!!

Keep those little tid bits coming

Great Job James & Cesar getting the showstoppers for 1.3 taken care of!  Delaying a release is a tough decision, especially when the public knows, but I am confident that you made the right decision.

Stay focused on making the best media device out there.  If you do that the masses will be knocking down your door, then you can worry about all the extras.

In honor of this big occasion, I redeemed my zune pass 14-day trial. Not something I had planned on doing, I had done Urge before I got my zune, and it was awesome… But, I hate DRM and hated having to manually purge all the urge files when I got the zune. I don’t plan on keeping the zune pass, I prefer buying CDs (Yes, I am the one ;). This is prior to the 1.3 update I have 6gb free (5.9 with the new albums), and downloaded 3 albums. Been listening to them, and have not had a skip yet, I will be curious to see If I notice anything with this update.

Where is it? my software keep telling me my firmware (1.2) is up to date!?

its 10:11am Eastern time ... do you know where YOUR zune update is?

good thats exactly what we want to hear admin quistion is how hard is it for somone who isnt admin to say there name is admin blah i dont kno

and chris the answer is

no

"this is just to show how easy it is to post using the name admin.  no, I am not cesar."

 <cesar's edit: nope, you're definitely not me. you're banned>

neither am i

Great now we will never know if that was Cesar who said that on the portable drive or not. Cesar you need to make a new name for yourself.

no, this site needs to require logins, or he needs to limit posting under the name admin to only himself.  I dont think that would be that hard... a little script doctoring on the firm to make it a null entry or something...

nor i

wtf!!? Why didn't you just disable people from using that name?  My Heart can't take these frights!!!!

@Admin(Fake)

That is so uncool!!!

Cesar You need to have one of those WebDev's you guys (Microsoft) have over there, make it not possible to post as Admin, unless in the admin panel, i.e. logged in

if you pay attention, "admin" is an underlined link when it's cesar.

yea, we need some offcial names, or maybe have people make accounts so that people have to use the same name all the time.  and the admin or zune team can have theres with out people being able to use the names also.

Isn't Cesar's name underlined when posting?  I'm sure it could be faked but what would be the point?  Anything said to mislead he would probably correct in the main blog.

And to the real Cesar... any info on when the update will happen today?

I've been lookng forward to this patch for a while. Thanks guys! Fixes the only real problem I ever had with the device. (hmm that clock idea sounds cool though...)

@jim

it is underlined when there is a URL

Admin any rumors of when they will start selling videos on marketplace or allowing us to transfer video from our xbox? Probably around the same time that we get podcast support?

Has anyone noticed the little girl in the background wallpaper of this site? on the lower right corner? I'm sure it wasn't intentional but funny none the less.

maybe ms is giving us some sort of subliminal message

<cesar deleted this comment and banned the commenter. not cool.>

Forget whether its an admin or not ... when is the update suppose to be UP?

Has anyone updated yet?

when is this thing going to happen?  Im getting really sick of checking for device updates.

I dont know why Im so worried about it.  Im not experiencing any of the problems this is supposedly fixing, and Im sure there will be nothing cool hidden in the update such as all the things we've been asking for since day one.

Im betting the only FW updates you will continue to see for this version of the Zune are problem fixes...no features.  My guess is they're all so busy working on the next version that this one has already been forgotten except for trying to fix issues...thanks for screwing the early adopters MS...really not a good idea since I would say the early adopters are probably the die-hard MS fans...

It is now 11:08 AM EDT.  No update.

@travis

Sock it to em buddy.

we want update, update, update, update.

cant believe i got up early to check for an update, im such a loser!

*** And yes we are working on making it a portable drive, so you guys can carry you personal files ;) ***

WHOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO......yes!!!...yes!!..yes!!!....Zune FTUW!

Maybe ill go get some kolaches, anyone want any?

@Ricardo

That was not Cezar:(

isnt that sad? waking up at midnight for an update?  

btw, I WILL issue an apology in this comment section stating that im a loud-mouthed jackass if there is any form of feature included in this update...no matter how small...

Cesar ummmmm yea maybe fix this name thingy.

Yeah I also noticed the little girl on the right giving me the middle finger lol. STILL waiting for 1.3!!

Hummm...A WMP11 for vista update today to...bout External storage for WM 5.0, isnt zune built on wm 5 ?

this ipod lovers are insane...Zune will r4p3 your ip00s ...nuff said!! :@

    Is anyone else just, waiting? Any ideas on timing? I'm UK so thats what? 8 hours ahead? Also sorry if comment has been posted before hand, just too much to read =P.  

your 5 hours ahead coz of the daylight savings time we observed, this is in central america of course. shout out to my Grimsby grew in England.

man I feel stupid...I thought we would actually get the update today

What's cool:

Cesar (note the correct spelling) has a marketing blog to share information about Zune with customers. He also allows the customers to leave comments, and responds to those comments, resulting in a unique and open dialogue between Company and Customer.

What's not cool:

Some of the commenters are - pretending to post as Cesar, spreading false information, requesting the same features repeatedly, using extremely bad grammer and spelling, and whining about how this update doesn't help them.

I think any update helps the entire Zune community, whether you personally benefit directly from it or not. Try to see a larger picture here than just your own immediate needs and wants. Either contribute intelligently or refrain from commenting.

This is just my opinion.

Oh why do we have to be tortured like this. Where's this update ?

Nothing like one of the team chiming in here with a heads up , maybe they are too busy playing with their ipods

@Kevyn

I agree with your points, however it is ironic that you complain about incorrect spelling yet in that same sentence incorrectly spell the word grammar.

I wouldn't have said anything, but since you were calling others out for their spelling mistakes I thought it only polite to point out your own.

@Chris - I can appreciate your frustration however any valid points are now being lost with your continual level of sarcasm.

I am assuming since they actually said an update today going to happen and how they failed us on their previous promise then they are probably gathering the team together to prepare for the relase--it's 9:15AM Seattle time so give it a few okay?

@Steve

That is pretty funny... go me!

grammar*

@Kevyn

I believe our "own immediate needs and wants" are for the benefit of the Zune, the Zune Team and the Zune Community. This product will not survive if it is not bought up to snuff. Plain and Simple. It is an iPod Competitor, without question, and the 3 bonuses i.e. Wifi, Widescreen, and radio are not going to make up for its downfalls, i.e. No lossless, Audible, Video formats, and lack of content. We bring these up, over and over again so they don’t forget, it is about Customer Demand.

How come this says that its already released ? odd huh?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926770/#appliesto

The last paragraph in Cesar's post is what we should all be holding on to.  He states that the Zune device you buy now or in the future will benefit with updates with new features.  Thats it, that sums it all up.  We should all hold MS to this post if we don't see any real new features in this generations lifespan, and act as consumers accordingly.  Like I have stated before this is a "patch" a fix to a problem.  This won't make big news and they don't want it to be big news.  Along with 2 other "big" announcements today MS will not say "oh yeah the zune.... yes remember we have a music device too that has a huge up hill battle to make its mark... we fixed some stuff that was wrong with it."

@Admin

Roll outta bed Cezar and tell us whats up!

@Chris

in spanish..nobody will understand..but you are right...

1.3 increase stability and performance..

w00t!

Exactly, I mean come  one how bout some simple features... I mean all this time to address the skipping of music that is dled from Microsofts service that you have to pay for? its ridiculous , I mean c'mon this is microsoft, ! I know something as small as having a clock sounds dumb , but at least its SOMETHING, they pour time into something like the zune arts website , I mean honesly how many have downloaded stuff from there , and kept  it, I go to deviantart.com and I have an unlimited resource for wallpaper, real art you name it . On the zune it says themes, im sorry when I hear themes I think , font changes, sound changes, not a simple wallpaper change , RELEASE SOME THEMES, release something . anything , but dont make us wait this long for something like song skipping , and something like syncing improvements which is something that should have been addressed before release, 3x3 rule , kill it , YOU WILL NOT FIND A SINGLE SOUL who will say they like it , we should not have to depend on 3rd and 4th party hacks and mods , to obtain what should havre been implemented from day one , nor should we have to depend on 3rd party sites for product updates we should have a single source , where daily posts gives us a heads up on what they want to imlpement and give us something to look forward to , cuz when this is released its gonna start over and everyone will want 1.4 asap , since none of the enhancements came in 1.3 and so on and so on . and thats if people dont get rid of their zune and replace it with a supperior product such as ipod , which has games , calander, widgets, if Apple decides to put wifi on the next ipod you will see zunes for 99dollars online. And its a shame cuz with the right people this product could be killer, and they could have 2 INSANE pieces of hardware backing them .. The zune and xbox.. With the new mobile browser, that would be a nice add on if only they would open up the wifi, SOOO much has to be done to restore faith , but again thats just my opinion and in no way to I expect Cesar or anyone on the zune team to respond , cuz that would be asking waaaaaaaaay too much from them

Cesar said:

"<cesar's edit: nope, you're definitely not me. you're banned>"

Someone should start a parody blog called "ZuneOutsider" for all the banned to post their comments.

Hey guys it will come out when it does don't keep complaining to Big C alright?

@Sean

Unfortunately *when* the 1.3 update comes out Big C will still get hammered with complaints and rants.  Nature of the business.

"I for one welcome our zune patching overlords"

If people did not know this, the update seems to be up now.  I'm downloading it as I type this.

Its out!

YAY! it's out.

you're right guys, its out.

Thanks Big C. 765,935,824,754 High Fives!

um, where? my 1.2 device is still "up to date"

Thx!! let me check it out

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm my 1.2 is still up to date

Yay! Lets all celebrate that a patch that should have been out a long time ago is finally out.

In December, I called tech support complaining about sync problems.  They told me that "it must be your computer."  I said, well it is a new computer, AND my brother has the same problems.  The tech guy said he had a Zune and it worked perfectly.

It would help customer satisfaction, if tech support would speak with the other parts of the company.