[image credit: Wired]

That’s according to Wired who got a sneak peek at the Zune 3.0 software that will be out next week. Should

 

The new feature, called MixView (pictured above), displays a single album, artist or user in the center of the screen and surrounds it with related items in a graphical format (sort of reminiscent of MusicPlasma, although Microsoft says it developed MixView all on its own). You can start on an artist and instantly discover which bands influenced that artist and vice versa, by mousing over those surrounding elements in MixView. Double-clicking through to any song plays a 30-second sample, offers a chance to buy the track or, if you're a Zune Pass subscriber, plays the track in its entirety.

 

Can’t wait to check it out next week. Meantime, I got an iPod Touch as a gift this week and I’m very impressed – great for mobile Twitter, Facebook, Google Reader but bummed I can’t get Nike+ on it :(