Zune 2.0 and flash Zune coming this year?

Christmas came early today for the folks at Zune Scene--at least, if their story is true. According to the blog, a chance meeting between the undercover blogger and a Microsoft employee yielded some golden nuggets of Zune news:

Zune 2.0 coming this year. The hard drive player will be thinner with more capacity, but still with the double-shot finish (probably in a number of colors). Parts will be made at a new plant in China, implying that Microsoft won't be buying the player from Toshiba this time around.

Flash Zune coming, too. According to the report, the smaller (also double-shot) flash player will measure "3 by 1 1/4 by 1/4 inches," chock-full, top to bottom, with the flash memory. Supposedly, this leaves some room for a Wi-Fi antenna and a long, video-capable screen.

All of this sounds mighty alluring--especially the promise of a Wi-Fi-and-video-ready flash player. But the proof lies in the firmware. Unless Microsoft expands the Zune's Wi-Fi capabilities beyond the weirdly stingy Zune-to-Zune "social" world, no amount of double-shot finish will stand up to Sandisk's Sansa Connect.

Oh yeah, and no word on the Zune phone. Yet.