And the Zune 2 has been announced to a resounding "meh. " Microsoft brought out the new social, today, introducing the flash-based versions, and the upgraded hard drive based Zune. The breakdown is as follows:

Flash-based Zunes

• 4 gb and 8 gb capacities
• Available in red, green, pink and black
• Screen size not yet available. (But, from the pictures on the website, it's smaller than the big Zune)

Hard drive based Zune

• Bumped up to 80 gb
• Only available in black.
• 3.2 inch screen, diagonally mesured
• Includes "premium" headphones.

Both versions now support wireless synching over Wi-Fi, which is pretty awesome, as well as the squirting of songs from one device to another. Both versions are now controlled by "Zune Pad" but nothing denotes the difference between Zune Pad and the controls on the previous Zune.

Jon Gruber's analysis at Daring Fireball is pretty solid:

So, compared to the iPod, the prices are the same, GB for GB, but the Zunes have larger screens and can sync over Wi-Fi. But there’s nothing to compete with either of the two flagship iPods: the 160 GB Classic or the fancy new Touch. Wi-Fi synching is cool, in concept, but the devil is in the details — Wi-Fi song-sharing between devices is a cool idea, too, and we all know how well that feature worked out for Microsoft last year.

The footnotes on the new Zune website are pretty telling, especially footnote 2:

[2] The Zune to Zune sharing feature may not be available for all songs on your device, and works only between Zune devices within wireless range of each other. This feature allows recipients to play full-length sample tracks up to 3 times.

Which essentially means that, just like in the pervious Zune, record companies can opt-out of letting their songs be squirted. And, more than that, it implies that even DRM-free songs that you, the owner, rip will be slathered in DRM prior to squirting. Awesome. Gruber backs this up in his update to the above-linked analysis, quoting this New York Times article.

However, Gruber doesn't mention that the DRM on squirted songs has been relaxed. Where songs that were received from one Zune would expire in 3 days regardless of if the songs were played, and songs received from a Zune couldn't be passed on from the recipient Zune to a third Zune; the DRM is now much less restrictive, removing the expiration date entirely, and allowing for songs to be passed endlessly from Zune to Zune. Received songs, however, can still be played only three times. It's a change for the better, but it's another case of offering ice water to people in hell. "Thanks, Microsoft, for letting me almost do everything I see fit with my own property."

And, I'll wrap up with Gruber again:

And, lastly, no word yet on whether the new Zunes work on Macs. I presume the answer is no, but, seriously, why not? Look at these much-publicized photographs of a lecture hall taken earlier this year at the Missouri School of Journalism. In the past, notoriously, Microsoft has made new products Windows-only as a competitive bludgeon, but in the case of the Zune, who is hurt by keeping them Windows-only? Just Microsoft. Apple can sell iPods to anyone using a Mac or Windows; Microsoft can sell Zunes only to Windows users

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