The new higher-capacity models are great, but what’s really exciting is what those players can do with the new 3.0 firmware. In fact, the new 3.0 functionality will be freely available to all Zune models, including the first-generation 30GB model. Kudos to Microsoft for giving new life to all those existing players out there.

New features in firmware 3.0:

Buy from FM.

You can flag a song that you hear on Zune’s built-in FM radio. That song can then be viewed and purchased from Marketplace.

Buy from FM uses Radio Data System and RT+ data feeds within the FM broadcast frequencies. These feeds identify song and artist data.

See our pix of this feature in action.

Device to Cloud.

You can now use wireless – either at home or in a hot spot – to find, buy, and download Marketplace content directly from your player. You can even stream Marketplace content to your player.

Any Zune Cards from friends that you’ve synced to your player are also updated wirelessly – giving you incoming updates of new music from your friends, automatically.

Here are some pix showing how it works, and Zune Thoughts has a video demo as well.

Audiobooks.

Limited audiobook support is here in this release, although Zune firmware/software does not yet have end-to-end audiobook support. Now you can sync audiobooks from industry leader Audible. You do this using the Audible client – not from Zune software. The Audible client software manages the syncing of Audible files to Zune.

When audiobooks have been synced, an Audiobooks menu option appears on the main menu on the player.

Some audiobooks have embedded pictures that change at different locations in the book; Zune supports that.

You can pause where you are, and resume from where you were the next time you open the Audiobook.

No support yet for bookmarking or for “round-tripping” – where your audiobook bookmarking is synced between player and PC client.

Games.

Zune Games were in developer beta earlier this year, and now they are a supported part of the firmware. Two games come preloaded with the Zune 120GB: Texas Hold’em and Hexic. Here’s a video of both of the games, shot by ZuneLuv.

Channels.

Playlists that are automatically defined and updated with new music for you. More on this in Zune software section (link below).

Clock.

A simple clock has been added to the main player screen, causing great numbers of Zuners to wonder what missing feature they are going to obsess over next.

Click a topic below to see more of our Zune 3.0 Guide:
Zune 3.0 Guide: Players | Firmware | Software | Marketplace | Zune Social