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photo credit: Ken McGrail

Getting under the skin of this week’s Zune launch, Saul Hansell has posted a three-part interview with Microsoft’s J Allard at the NY Times Bits blog. There’s a great amount of candid conversation around all aspects of Microsoft’s growing entertainment movement.

On the perpetual rumor of a Zune phone:

The phone will be one part entertainment…. What you will see from us is more of these signature experiences. When you see the Zune, you’ll say say, I want my music experience on the phone to be like that. Hey, I want my telecommunication experience on the phone to be more like that.

On the evolution of Zune devices:

I’m a big believer in failing fast… If we skipped last year, we would have never come out with the product we did this year… We learned that because of the shortfalls in the PC client [software], the device was less useful… People hated that there was no podcasts, that they couldn’t fill their cultural cache [the Zune] with the stuff that was meaningful to them.

On the evolution of a new Microsoft entertainment platform:

Today we have Xbox live for $50 a year. We have Zune Pass at $15 a month. We don’t have a rationalized premium version yet. Fast forward a little bit, and you can image a menu like DirecTV. There is basic, there is enhanced, there is movie pack and NFL Sunday ticket.

It’s exciting to see another solid base hit for Mr. Allard. His laser focus on consumer experiences and the interaction between Microsoft and individual human beings is right up my street. There’s a gravity around personalities like J and Ray Ozzie that fill me with a lot of hope. They both seem to understand the importance of user experience, and seem to place more importance on them than traditional Microsoft thinking.

Once you’ve got yourself a properly cool Zune card, the next thing you’ll want to do is show it off, right? Turns out there’s one chunk of html that simply needs to be pasted wherever you choose. Take this code, replace the all-caps section with your own handle, and click publish.

Keep in mind if your handle has any spaces in it, you’ll want to use the html-friendly “%20″ instead.

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Zune enters its sophomore year starting this morning. As previously mentioned, the new Zune devices and marketing are simply divine. Short of running out and dropping a chunk of change on a device, the new client app will provide plenty of geeky entertainment.

Perhaps most important update to the Zune client software is the support for MP3 files. No longer will moving your library require a massive format conversion. The next bit that I personally appreciate most is the evolution of track rating. As opposed to an overly granular five-star system, Zune simply allows you to mark a song as loved or unloved. Oh and the user interface is stunning. Typography is a given special treatment, and your local library, the online marketplace, and device management all maintain the same visual style and continuity.

Last but certainly not least, the social functionality looks to be extremely interesting. Because your Zune identity is the same as that on Xbox Live, we all start off with a pile of friends. You can customize the graphics to your heart’s content (they even provide pixel measurements), or choose from an already beautiful collection. I can’t wait to watch my Zune profile grow with friends.

Of the thousands of Microsoft bloggers, few are more thoroughly entertaining than Steve Clayton: Geek In Disguise. While executing his day job as the CTO of Microsoft UK, Mr. Clayton produces a stream of thoughtful, entertaining, and refreshingly brief posts. A couple from today have been cunningly titled cool site #1 and cool site #2.

Just to be difficult, let’s start with site numero uno: http://startdoingmore.com, which has been designed to highlight the experiences that are possible with Windows Mobile 6 software. The site showcases hardware as well, but mostly focuses on the sort of things that can be accomplished with our mobile tools.

He also posted a link to http://zunejourney.net, which has been launched alongside the next wave of Zune devices (which are only ten days away). The art direction on the site is simply stunning, and you’ll spend more time than you thought possible flying around to explore every corner of the Zune universe.

The brilliant bit of coincidence here is that both of these sites were developed by a creative firm here in San Francisco, and a close friend of mine, whose birthday is today, has a hand in building both. How’s that for fondest wishes?

This Seattle PI video of the Zune 2 user interface posted on Zunerama is the first I’ve seen, and it certainly looks the business. I’m glad the first press photos showing that big, brash main screen weren’t a big tease.