Today is the day that the second generation Microsoft Zunes hit the street. There are two new Flash based Zunes available in 4GB ($149.99) and 8GB ($199.99) capacities as well as an 80GB hard drive-based model (USD$249.99). The smaller Zunes are available in pink, green, black and glossy red while the 80GB Zune will be available only in black. All the new Zunes will use the Zune Pad, described as an innovative touch-sensitive button for navigating on the device but essentially a four-way d-pad.
If you want to personalize your Zune2, you can choose a Zune Original and add a laser engraving. Unlike the text only engravings offered by Apple, you can opt for one of over 25 designs and/or five lines of text.
To go along with the new Zunes are a new Zune.net web site and Zune Marketplace.
And first generation Zune owners can now download the new firmware and get all of the goodness introduced with this latest generation, including new native video codecs, the ability to sync video from a Media Center PC, podcast support, the removal of the three day DRM restriction on shared songs and the ability to use Wi-Fi to sync back to the host computer.