The much awaited software update 1.3 is out now. As of 10:00 AM PT yesterday the update is available for download.

Well as I mentioned before, the update includes known bug fixes. For example skipping issue with zune marketplace content, improved device, syncing and software reliability. And a few changes to the FM tuner which prevents the battery from draining in sleep mode.

Now let’s move on to feedback. I just searched around a few blogs and sites to see if this update really helped in fixing the bugs as claimed by Microsoft.

Here are a couple of responses:

We all know that zune software does not recognize and transcode DivX, XViD, and MPEG files with .AVI extensions. But there is a work around to this problem.

A zunescene forum member devised a hack; well not actually a hack, but registry tweaks which will enable the zune software to recognize and convert DivX files.

After making changes to the registry you can now drag and drop DivX files into the software. These files will be automatically transcoded to the native WMV format when you sync your zune.

Remember, this hack doesn’t add native DivX support to the software or zune itself.

Yes, the much awaited firmware update will be released around third week of March. But this update will only fix known bugs in the system and no new features will be rolled out. So, no audible books or podcasting support yet.

Now, what to expect from firmware version 1.3? First the much talked about skipping issue will be resolved. As you know I wrote a post last month highlighting this issue with respect to content downloaded from zune marketplace.

Other features include changes to the FM Tuner so it no longer drains the battery in sleep mode and improved device and software reliability, when it comes to device detection, and improved syncing.