Microsoft showed off the new smart shuffle system for their Zune player at Microsoft’s Techfest. This new shuffle will use tags and meta data (genre, tempo) to constantly recommend and update  new songs based on the ones played.

Gizmodo reports that the system was developed in response to the large numbers of songs people now carry around in their Zunes. Rather than using the completely random shuffle that places Beethoven after Jay Z, the new shuffle will use a logic that is “continuously ’steered’ by voting tracks up and down.” If the system gets this right, Zune users might be reaching for their ‘next’ button a lot less often.