Zune Wi-Fi Downloading to be Released Soon?

Microsoft said all along that Wi-Fi scenarios would be released in the future. A few weeks ago, we even had the confirmation that at least one new scenario was going to be available soon.

Engadget seems to think that Zune Wi-Fi Dowloading from the Zune Marketplace could be the next thing we should see coming out. They have a picture of a Zune screen showing "American Idiot" from Green Day being downloaded.

I don't know if this picture is real or not but I certainly hope we are going to have something exciting like this in the near future.

However, there are a few things that make me believe that the picture we have does not represent what Engadget is claiming. First why do we have a "2.1.4" instead of "1.4" and why is it standing in the middle of nowhere on the screen, just besides the song oh St. Jimmy? That could be easily done with a background picture on the Zune. Right?

Other things like the Wi-Fi icon is not on and the Zune shows that it is currently transmitting. That's strange! The picture also shows that the cost of the album is 492 Microsoft points. I checked on the Zune marketplace and the album price is 960 Microsoft points and the Microsoft point logo is located after the price and not before.

Music downloading directly from the internet is a scenario that was said possible by Microsoft, but last January, Matt Jubilirer (Zune Product Manager), told me that the router and security configurations were so much of a challenge that this scenario would not be available on a short term period. Unless Microsoft as finally been able to managed a way to make it simple, of course!

What we could see emerge though, is the Microsoft points reward. A scenario that would fit a lot more in the philosophy developed around the Zune. Imagine if you could share from Zune to Zune, but once you get home and sync with the Zune software, you are able to confirm if you want to buy the song you just received or not. If you are a Zune pass subscriber, the full access to the song could be granted automatically.

If you finally buy the song, the buddy that shared the song with you could earn Microsoft points in reward. This would make the 3days/3plays a lot more convenient since you could go beyond those limitations easily.

Comments

[Indy]

So, I'm a little tired of getting let down on rumor after rumor. Here are a couple thoughts on this thing though...

The Beta text being a background makes sense if they are testing this thing in house and want to see on screen which version they are running.

Could the points not matching be explained by the idea that that is not the cost, but perhaps a balance of points you have to spend? That way, you're constantly reminded that you have points to spend and are running out and should BUY more.

[bill]

If you look closely, the first line at the top of the screen after "American Idiot" is an icon next to the text "Buy All." To the far right of that is a fuzzy "960" for the Zune point total. The 472 is not doubt the points in an individual account.

[Stephane]

Bill and Indy, you both have good points.

On thing though, if that is a 960 at the top of the screen, the currency would be missing(Microsoft point icon). No?

I also figured out that the 2 in 2.1.4 could be related to the hardware version. This could be a picture of a second generation Zune with firmware 1.4.

[brad]

Its hard to tell if this is a true picture or not. The download bar looks to be typical Microsoft style, mimicing MSN Soapbox, but doesnt look consistant with or better than the current 'playing' bar with the white light moving across the screen...maybe they having got around to applying the GUI....

[Marco]

Fake! The wi-fi icon isn't even visible!

[Usama]

This is fake because there is no Wifi icon.