RockBox for Zune in the Works

"Though it’s not ready yet, developers are working on a Zune port of Rockbox (on volunteered time, nonetheless), which isn’t much different than the Toshiba Gigabeat port they’d already started work on. This means that sometime in the future, we should see a workable version for download. But before you go and get excited, it’s worth noting that if you run Rockbox on your Zune, you’ll probably not only loose compatibility with the Zune Marketplace, but will most likely void your warranty, as well. It’s not yet for the unexperienced or faint of heart, but it is something to consider."

If you've never heard of RockBox, you're not alone.  Only use geeks who try to leech every single little bit of power from their devices would be willing to detroy their warranty by completely replacing the operating system on their device.  I was temped once long ago with one of my ancient MP3 players, but I never did it because I was too afraid of hosing my device.  So if you're the adventurous type, you might want to give it a look (when it's ready of course).  I'd be interested if they're able to get more out of the WiFi component with an entirely different firmware...