Anilrgowda

Microsoft has released its second firmware update 1.2 for its Zune music device, offering stability and performance improvements.

The company said this update would make Zune compatible with Microsoft's next-generation operating system, Windows Vista. The update is now available from the Zune Web site.

Cesar Menendez, a Zune team member, said that they are issuing a 22MB update to make Zune compatible with Windows Vista. Besides, the update improves the Zune software installation process, a commonly reported concern with users of Zune so far. Zune users who do not run Vista are advised to install the patch, as well as obtain useability fixes included within it.

This functionality was originally scheduled to be made available along with the consumer release of Windows Vista in January. Microsoft says that though Vista is yet to go on sale to consumers, the software has been available to businesses since last month, and that many tech enthusiasts have already been running test versions of it.

Noting the lack of Vista compatibility in the November release of Zune, Microsoft said a software update to fix the issue will be out well before the Jan 30 consumer release of Vista.

It is learnt that when the Zune device launched in November, it carried support only for Windows XP and the Windows XP Media Center Edition. Apart from being considered an embarrassment for Microsoft, the lack of Windows Vista support was taken as a further indication that Microsoft had rushed Zune to the market.

The latest firmware update not only adds support for Vista to Zune, but also improves many of Zune's internatl workings making it much easier to install than before.