Zune software for Windows Phone 7 development available; plus October update for the WP7 development tools

If you are interested in Windows Phone 7 (WP7) development and are committed enough to work with a real phone device (instead of the free emulator), you will need some software in addition to Visual Studio 2010 and the Windows Phone developer tools to get going.

Firstly, you will need the Zune software package, which allows you to connect your development PC with the WP7 device. Think the Zune software as of being the "ActiveSync" that you need to communicate properly with the device.

However, the Zune alone is not enough. Instead, to test features such as media choosers on the phone, you will need to stop Zune as Zune locks for example playing media on the phone while it is connected to the PC via the USB connection. But how can you work with the device if you cannot keep Zune running?

The answer is a utility called Windows Phone Connect Tool, which is part of the October 2010 refresh of the Windows Phone 7 development tools, available here.

Thanks JW for the tip!