Own a Zune HD? Let me suggest you head over to the forums at AnythingButiPod and check out all the wallpapers. They are of course all formated for your device and most of them are killer.

One of the only downsides to owning a Zune HD instead of an iPod is the lack of speaker docks. There simply isn’t that many available and the ones for the previous Zune’s aren’t compatible. But Kicker knows what’s up and just released firmware to make its $249 ZK500 Zune HD friendly. But there is fine print involved and you can’t update the system yourself.

As of next Tuesday, November 17, you’ll be able to access Twitter and Facebook on your Xbox 360. The software update is free, like previous updates, and also includes Last.fm and Zune video compatibility. “What are you doing?” “Losing to 12-year-olds in Modern Warfare 2 over and over again! Not fun.”

Own a Zune HD like Devin and I, the two hippest cats here at CrunchGear? Best to connect it to your PC right now so you can upgrade its firmware to version 4.3. Go, now!

You probably know by now that at least some of us here at pretty high on the Zune HD—look at the lengths I went to get it up and running!—but I recognize that not every Mac owner is going to jump through hoops just to be able to use the device. But maybe, just maybe, Microsoft is finally ready to do what so many people have asked it to do: make a Mac version of the Zune software, thereby enabling all the Mac owners out there to use the portable media player a little more easily.

Sometime in the past two weeks I decided, with some thought being put into is, to buy a Zune HD. Why, I don’t know; I thought it looked neat, and I was thoroughly unimpressed with the new iPods Apple showed off at that Rock and Roll event. For the most part the Zune HD is, indeed, neat. Its user interface is miles ahead of the iPod’s, and, with a little forethought, can be used rather effectively with a dual-booting Mac. There’s just one small thing: you absolutely cannot read the display in direct sunlight. Don’t try to because you can’t.

I haven’t heard one major complaint about the Zune HD. Have you? Everyone seems to love it. My only iPod – the original iPod Mini – needs to be retired. I’m debating between the iPod touch and the Zune HD right now. The rebellious side in me wants to get the Microsoft Zune HD, which is kind of ironic if you think about it. However, the sensible side says that the iPod touch is the smart buy primarily because of the vast range of accessories available.

Last Christmas I got my 14-year old sister-in-law a Zune 80 over an iPod touch or classic. She got the Zune because it offered more storage than the flash-based touch, but had a bigger screen than the iPod classic. Plus I’ve never had a Zune act funky or die on me, which is something I can’t say that about an iPod. But then her birthday rolled around and we wanted to get her a speaker dock. Yeah, there are five speaker docks on the market and either they sound like poo, or they are made by Kicker and therefore out of our price range. She ended up getting a 2.1 computer speaker set with a y-cable.

The issue I have is that I like all the extras you can do with these devices. I have an Onkyo iPod dock along with a Belkin RF car dock that I used to use all the time with the iPod Mini. I expect to have the same capabilities with my new purchase, but I don’t think I can get that with the Zune HD.

The Zune HD has only been out for a day, but apps are already filtering into the Marketplace. So far there are some free apps like weather, a calculator, and a few games available. What do you have to lose, Zune HD owners? Download ‘em like you just don’t care!

It will be interesting to see the type of apps developers make for the Zune HD. Sure, the Zune HD is as powerful as Sauron, but will there be a wide range of apps and games that will tap the power? The answer probably correlates whether the Zune HD is a success. The App Store took off so quickly because there were already millions of iPhones around the world. Devs may very well watch the Zune HD from afar for a while.

A comment from earlier in the day sparked a bit of a conversation in the official CrunchGear chat room: what’s to stop someone from ditching the iTunes-iPod “universe” and switching to the Zune HD? (We’re all pretty keen on the Zune HD for whatever reason.) Those of you with iPhones are pretty much stuck using iTunes, but what’s to stop someone from saying, “You know, I’ve used an iPod in one form or another for the past five years, so I think I’m gonna try something new for a change.”? Let’s see what’s up.

If we’re being honest—and we always are here on CrunchGear, if nothing else—then I do have to admit that the Zune HD looks pretty spiffy. Apple’s event came and went, and I’m absolutely burned out on the iPod. (The last one I bought was the fat nano, back in 2007.) With my fancy new Windows installation all set up, though, there’s nothing stopping me from jumping on board the Zune HD bandwagon. I may well might, maybe as a Christmas gift to myself.