On Monday, September 14, at 11:00am, Zune.net goes down for scheduled maintenance.

During this time they'll be updating everything for the new Zune software update and some very cool updates to the Zune.net site.

I can tell you I've seen what is coming and not only is it very cool, but some of the features haven't been leaked yet. You're in for a pleasant surprise.

Excited? What do you think they got coming?

So, some interesting news from Apple.  Gdgt did the best coverage of the event, so we'll recommend you get the details there.

Three points worth mentioning.

iPod Touch Pricing no longer makes Zune HD "cheaper." Apple apparently doesn't want pricing to be an issue.

iPod Nano includes a video camera.  Very odd that they didn't put it on the iPod Touch.  Should be pretty obvious that they're worried about hurting iPhone sales.

No HD video announcements.  Looks like Zune HD will be the only player (at the moment) that does HD video out.

Nothing really that impressive at all - and Apple usually impresses.

Will any of these announcements affect Zune HD's launch in any way?

The current rumor out there is that Microsoft is discontinuing all Zune Models that aren't from the new Zune HD line.

If you track this rumor back to the source, it seems to come from Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows.

I don't know directly of any "bogus" information to have come from Paul's site (do you?) and this one actually makes a bit of sense.  It's obvious Microsoft is pouring everything into the Zune HD and to get rid of everything else might be a decent move.

What's your take?  Is Zune HD "it?"  Is this a smart move from Microsoft?

We like keeping up with Zune HD reviews and articles by people in the know. 2 really caught our attention that we thought we should bring to yours:

Lifehacker (we love these guys) says that Zune HD makes a "fantastic portable media center." This is great news. With a Zune HD and the Zune HD AV dock, we could have something very special here.

Engadget tells us, however, that Zune 4.0 doesn't "play nice" with Windows Media Center recordings. Kinda sad, really.

Microsoft wants an ecosystem. Hopefully, one day, Zune will be (completely) part of it.

But, let's be honest, does this news get in the way of your purchasing of the Zune HD at all? Leave your comments below.

Want to really show your Zune Luv?

You can now "Zuneify" your Twitter avatar via this very simple web page.

You can see it in action at Jacket Black's Twitter Account

http://zune.m80im.com - Do It!

Go ahead, Zuneify yourself, then leave a comment below (via your Twitter login of course) and show off your Zune Luv!

ZuneLuv has just become a heck of a lot more "social."

You can now make comments on any of our articles or pages using your Twitter, Facebook, or Open ID logins.

Heck, you can even post a video comment (see below).

We'll also shoot back those comments to the appropriate sites so you aren't just publishing here.

It's our little way of being "social" ourselves.

Leave a comment below accordingly.

Obviously, there have been some massive announcements in the Zune world overnight. After (of course), you've read the posts here, enjoy this selection of other links online:

Engadget: Zune HD pre-order available starting today. A nice piece on how to get your hands on this nice hardware.

Cnet: Zune HD's processor packs a punch. A few words on the chip that makes this possible.

Inside the Circle: Summary. Great roundup of all the news in a single piece.

And, don't forget our Zune HD summary page right here at ZuneLuv.com. Everything we know so far is on that page.

And here are a few new pictures that you haven't seen everywhere:

and …

Thoughts on what we know so far …?

Here are some cool details about the Zune AV Dock for the Zune HD that make this product very cool … (at least to us).

OLD ZUNES WILL WORK IN THE NEW DOCK: Obviously they won't make your Zunes magically output to HD - but if you've got another Zune in your inventory, you'll be able to use it on the new device.

ZUNE HDs WILL WORK IN THE OLD DOCKS: You won't get HD output but, still very cool

HD RADIO FROM ZUNE HD IN THE NEW ZUNE DOCK: You can have HD radio in your home stereo system now (with the Zune HD hooked up of course).

COMPOSITE AND HDMI CHORDS INCLUDED: Nice, eh?

Watcha think?  Gonna buy one?

It's official. Zune HD will cost $219 for the 16 gig version and $289 for the 32 gig version.

We only missed it by $1 each on our previous post.

Compare that to $299 for the 16 gig and $399 for the 32 gig iPod touch and it is obvious that Microsoft will be "fighting the war" with pricing as well.

The customer always benefits from a move like that.

Do you think Apple will change their prices?

At this point, Microsoft is reporting that the Zune Web Browser will not support Flash or Silverlight.

It is important to point out that the browser on the iPod Touch / iPhone also do not support this popular platform.

Flash support on a portable browser could bring Hulu to the handheld.  The first to bring Silverlight to the portable device has an interesting shot at streaming Netflix on the go.

We here at ZuneLuv were hoping that Zune would be the first to bring Flash or Silverlight to the Zune browser - but we guess we're going to have to wait.

How do you feel about the news?  Disappointed - or were you expecting the same?