Microsoft showed us a sneak preview of the Zune 3.0 software it plans to release on Sept. 16 with the latest generation of Zune devices, and what we saw made iTunes' simple Genius feature look like a blast from digital music's past. While iTunes serves up a text list of recommended songs within your library and from the iTunes store, adding to the more basic recommendations its MiniStore feature used to make, Zune reinvented the recommendation concept by collapsing artists, albums and fans into the same recommendation engine, more accurately mirroring the way people think about music.
The new feature, called MixView (pictured above), displays a single album, artist or user in the center of the screen and surrounds it with related items in a graphical format (sort of reminiscent of MusicPlasma, although Microsoft says it developed MixView all on its own). You can start on an artist and instantly discover which bands influenced that artist and vice versa, by mousing over those surrounding elements in MixView. Double-clicking through to any song plays a 30-second sample, offers a chance to buy the track or, if you're a Zune Pass subscriber, plays the track in its entirety.
The same view shows Zune users who play the artist in heavy rotation and the albums that are associated with an artist. Clicking on any of these elements brings it to the center of the screen and reconfigures the relationships with new elements.
Granted, I'm not referring to the accuracy of one system's algorithms versus the other's; there will be plenty of time to compare them on those merits once the new Zune software is released. But in terms of breadth, layout and social utility, Zune sends Genius back to school.
Even if you aren't buying a new Zune or subscribing to Zune Pass, MixView and the other elements of the Zune 3 software could be reason enough to try it out as your media player (Windows only). The free application will apply MixView to MP3s ripped from CDs, downloaded via bit torrent and so on. So even if you don't plan on subscribing with a Zune Pass ($15 per month), this feature could still be useful -- if only to figure out what to torrent next.
Adam Sohn, director of public relations and events for Microsoft's Zune division, said the new feature could encourage people to subscribe, because everything in MixView becomes instantly playable and transferable to the Zune. The motto appears to be "come for the software, stay for the subscription and device." He told us that the feature is so popular with Zune developers, who have been using it to play a music-geek version of "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon," which at times threatened to disrupt meetings.
Another cool Zune 3 software feature that will be available to freeloaders as well as subscribers and device owners is the new Now Playing screen, which displays relevant stats about the currently playing song in a lush, full screen interface -- sort of like an automated version of the VH1 show Pop Up Video. You can switch to this view manually, or it shows up automatically if you don't touch the mouse for a while as music is playing.
Microsoft is scheduled to start offering Zune 3 software for download on Sept. 16. Sohn told us that the company plans to rehabilitate its 14-day free Zune subscription trial for users who want a taste of that service once they're exposed to new albums, artists and fans through the software.
It's undeniable that Zune's music recommendation interface is far more evolved than Apple's Genius. What's less clear is whether that matters, given that so many more people use iTunes.
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