One year to the day after Microsoft release the first model of the Zune media player, the Zune 2 has been unleashed upon us.  I’m not going to contribute to the monstrous hype that has been surrounding this event, I’m just going to give you my thoughts and impressions on what this means to two different segments of people: podcasters and consumers.

Let me start by saying this: I personally have not had the opportunity to play with one of the new Zunes.  Yet.  That problem will be fixed in short order.  But I have had the chance to update my original Zune (in stunning brown skin) to the new version 2.1 software.  Overall, that experience went much more smoothly than any other Zune update to this point.  Once the software downloaded, I was able to hook up my Zune and update the system in fairly short order with no headaches that I can think of.  Well done, guys.  Well done.

The interface itself on the Zune seems to be a little bit easier to navigate than the original version, with the welcome addition of podcasts to the top-level menu choices.  Here’s where I start my little speech about podcasters and the Zune…

From the first day that iTunes supported podcasting, Apple has been both the podcaster’s best friend and worst enemy.  iTunes has been the biggest repository of all things podcasting until now, but has done probably the least amount of promotion for the independent podcaster of any other entity.  Thank goodness for sites and networks like Blubrry.com, Podcast Pickle, and the Tech Podcasts Network (among the many podcast directories that are available) for giving people the chance to discover podcasts other than those produced by big media companies.  Podcasting is just a small part of new media and deserves to have a voice all it’s own.  And until now, there hasn’t really been that support.

Enter our old buddies from Redmond, Microsoft.  Now, I’ve got to give these guys some credit.  The Zune launched last year and basically everyone in the tech world hated it.  I mean HATED it.  No one pulled any punches in their scathing reviews of the device and how poorly it stacked up against the iPod.  What everyone seemed to forget was the fact that the iPod was on the fifth generation of the device at the time.  5 versions along.  Of course it was a better device than the Zune!  It should have been!  But Microsoft has taken the last year to listen to what people wanted and has delivered on some of that.

Heck, they even hired a really for real, living breathing podcaster in Rob Greenlee to head up the podcast side of things with the new Zune.  Very intelligent move.

Paul and Alex discussed the fact that although Microsoft is rarely ever the first to enter a market, they generally do very well once they come in to the market on the latest episode of Marketing Online Live.  Microsoft didn’t enter the web browser world first, but now we still have a world where the majority of internet users are using Internet Explorer to surf the web.  And look at the XBox.  Talk about entering a market and dominating.

So now, podcasters, we have a very, very large company that is giving us a piece of real estate on the screen of everyone of their new media player devices, something that has yet to happen with iTunes.  Are we going to take advantage of it?  Where are all the new media producers now?  Are we ready to have an influx of new listeners and viewers for our content?  Let’s hope so.

And on my second point, what can the Zune do for consumers?  That’s easy.  The Zune offers the power of choice.  In a market filled with all different types of media players, no one company has the power to really bring anything to the table that will provide any sort of real competition to the iPod.  Except for Microsoft.  I think they may have dropped the ball a little bit in round 1 of the Zune releases, but Round 2 is just starting and I think things could get very interesting going into this holiday season.