Today, Microsoft released the new Zune 2.0 devices, along with a new Zune Marketplace (similar to iTunes). The new Zune Marketplace has a directory of podcasts, so of course it’s important for podcasters to know how to get their podcast listed. Here’s how:

1. Download the new Zune software. This requires a Windows Live login.
2. Install the new Zune software.
3. Go to marketplace, then podcasts and scroll down to where it says “suggest a podcast.”
4. Enter the URL of the feed for the podcast, and hit Submit.

It looks as if submissions are monitored, so it may take a while for your podcast to show up in the directory. The Zune Marketplace has many of the top podcasts already in the directory, so make sure to do a search before submitting your podcast to see if you’re already included.

A quick review of Zune’s podcast support: the auto-import feature worked well; all my podcast subscriptions from iTunes were carried over to Zune, without me having to mess with any import/export. Even episodes that I had downloaded via iTunes were available in Zune. Zune allows you to customize settings for how many episodes and how to sync at the podcast level. Album art takes a while to load, but works. I did get some duplicates, when I subscribed via the marketplace for a podcast that I’d already subscribed to via iTunes. It’s not clear to me how to tell when a podcast has new episodes that are ready for me to listen to. Overall, the software looks nice and is rather intuitive in how to use.