The most recent installment of the Zune newsletter includes a survey question that hints at the possibility of the Zune being used as additional Xbox 360 storage. After selecting "Yes" to the first question, readers are asked "Have you ever connected your Zune to your Xbox to do any of the following?" The first response to the question is "Use my Zune hard drive for extra Xbox 360 storage." One could interpret this as meaning that Microsoft is considering making the Zune official backup storage for saved games, Marketplace downloads, etc.

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Microsoft's arty Zune Originals designs are a great selling point for the device, but if you weren't satisfied with the selection so far, they're adding a whopping 46 new sketches to the collection. Some of the new designs are awfully snazzy, and they're all available on the Zune Originals site. While perusing the press release, a reader over at Zunerama found a shot of what seems to be the Zune 120 in the same shade of blue as the flash-based blue Zunes. It'd make sense for Microsoft to add a little colour to the big brother of the family, so it's probably safe to expect a more official announcement soon. [Zunerama]

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Dane-Elec, known for distributing the iPhone ripoff Meizu 8 and the M6, is ready to try its hand with a few PMPs of its own. The first four players in the new line are named pretty much for what they do. There's the Music Mediatouch, for molesting music and media files with a touchscreen. Then there's the Music Touch, which is similar to the first, yet smaller. Music Pix shows off music and, well, pictures. Finally, the "music" is attached to a lanyard so you can lug your MP3s to soccer practice or something.

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CNET got their hands on Cowon's new flash-based PMP, the O2, and they think it's one of the year's best dedicated media players. The 4.3-inch touchscreen player has a truly ridiculous list of supported codecs, an SDHC slot to expand its internal 8, 16, or 32GB memory, solid (if not too flashy) GUI, and a surprisingly affordable price: only $US219, $US249, and $US299 respectively.

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At last! The Beatles iPod is out, although only 2,500 units are available. But if you are a fan of the Fab Four and you still think the classic iPod is worth it and you want to help Paul, Ringo, and Yoko through the crisis, you will need to blow $US795 to get it. The Limited Edition Ultimate Collector's Beatles iPod Set comes in a wooden box designed by Psycho Bunny, containing the 120GB Beatles iPod, 13 original Beatles album in CD form, two masters, the Love CD, and one engraved guitar pick. Clearly, this is not the Beatles iPod that I was looking for. This one, on the other side:

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Improv Everywhere, the pranksters behind such internet classics as the Grand Central freeze and the No Pants Subway Ride, recently did a tour of four North American cities to hold their MP3 experiments. These consisted of thousands of people getting together, each with a special MP3 loaded up on their portable audio players, and then following the instructions en masse. What resulted was a bunch of completely insane battles between huge groups of people wielding balloons, all listening to headphones. Only in the age of the internet could huge groups of strangers get together to participate in such well-organised lunacy. Be sure to sign up for IE's mailing list if you want to get on board for the next one. [Improv Everywhere]

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Here's the special edition Gears of War 2 Zune coming out next month, in the flesh. It's total sex if you're into dripping blood and skulls and boxy media players. (You sick bastard.) Oh, and good news for Zune Guy: Marketing director for Zune Jason Reindorp told us that a serious "step up" in Zune and Xbox 360 integration will happen "within a year." Finally, though they're taking their sweet time getting to where they should've been a long time ago.

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Are you in a relationship? Can you hardly bear to be apart from your partner for more than half an hour? Do you make out in the library while sitting next to a Gizmodo writer, totally unaware that someday he'll grumpily complain about you in a post? Well, I have the perfect mp3 player for you and your equally annoying significant other. The Twinned MP3 Player concept is actually two mp3 players, capable of holding only one playlist each: the same one.

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The Gadget: Archos 5, the touchscreen "internet media tablet" with HD video viewing, game support and web surfing, is poised to take on the comparatively puny-in-screen, puny-in-storage iPod touch.

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We've heard plenty about the iRiver Spinn PMP since it appeared at CES 2008, but now it's finally available for purchase in US markets. The 3.3-inch AMOLED touchscreen MP4 player with Bluetooth 2.0 support and roto-dial UI navigation will retail at $US250 for the 4 GB player and $US290 for the 8 GB player. It's available for directly order over at iRiver.

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