Zune Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

I'm thrilled to announce the newest member of the Thoughts Media family: Android Thoughts. As you can guess, this site will be covering Android in all it's forms - phones, slates, etc. The site is being led by none other than our very own Jon Westfall; he'll be handling all editorial duties on the site, similar to how Apple Thoughts works. Android has exploded in popularity over the past 12 months, surpassing even the mighty iPhone in terms of daily activations according to some. It made sense to cover Android as part of what we do here at Thoughts Media, but I wanted to find someone who was passionate and interested in all things Android...and that person is Jon Westfall. Please go read his welcome message on the site to find out how Android Thoughts was born - and subscribe to the RSS feed and Twitter stream. And, above all, if you're interested in Android as a platform, contribute, share, comment, and become a part of that new community.

OK gang, here's a quick and dirty review. The Altec Lansing expressionist BASS ($129.95 direct from Altec Lansing) speakers are a two-speaker system from long-time speaker manufacturer Altec Lansing. I've always had a soft spot for Altec speakers, because my first set of "real" computer speakers way back in the early '90s were a pair of these cool clamshell speakers that totally thumped (sweet, I did keep a picture of them!) and cost $350 or so - back then, a crazy amount of money for computer speakers. Oh wait, that's still kind of a crazy amount to spend on computer speakers!

Fast forward to now: Best Buy Canada had these Altec Lansing expressionist BASS speakers on for $50, discounted from their regular price of $150. The steep discount perked my interest, so I pulled the trigger and ordered a set - my wife has a set of Logitech 4.1 speakers connected to her computer, and since she only listens to music on them, the rear channels were essentially a waste of space. I thought if I could get a nice set of two satellite speakers, I could save some space on her desk (and below it - the sub-woofer is kinda' big). The expressionist BASS speakers have dual 3.5mm inputs, allowing you to connect a PC and also an MP3 player or secondary audio source. They're connected by a non-removable cable that's long enough to work in most instances, and have an unusual, but uniquely pleasing design aesthetic. Read more...

Ever since the advent of the Walkman, researchers have been warning us that we're all about to go deaf. I don't know if those fears have been realized yet since I still don't hear about scores of the Walkman generation showing up for hearing aids. Maybe people have been heeding the warnings!

Whatever the case, the warnings have hardly abated over the years and there's been new warnings and research that has come out recently that shows that hearing loss in teens is on the rise. This really isn't surprising to me since as we've transitioned to digital music its become trivial to have your entire library of music in your pocket.

The challenge is finding a way to play your music at lower levels and still enjoy it the same. There does come a point where you start to lose things in the music if you can't put the volume high enough. Of course, if you make yourself deaf trying to find all the subtle nuances of your heavy metal, it may end up as a moot point eventually.

Ultrasone says that they have the answer with their S-Logic technology. They claim that it can decrease pressure on your inner ear by up to 40% which is definitely a pretty positive thing. Not only that, but Ultrasone says that because it delivers the sound more naturally, that your listening experience will actually be improved.

Safety and quality come at a price, however. Ultrasone only appears to provide over the ear headphones and all start at over $100 and go up into the thousands. If you're an extreme audiophile who demands the best listening experience and and want to ensure your hearing safety, this could be the answer for you. Its a pretty expensive solution for what is, admittedly, a pretty significant issue.

"ONE of our readers, who used to work at the Bill Gates-funded [1, 2] Walmart, says that "Walmart is no longer carrying the Zune". Well, the Zune has been virtually dead for a long time, but there was never any formal announcement about discontinuation. Moreover, some shops continues to stock and put this unpopular item on a shelf. When will an announcement finally be made to say that Zune is officially dead, just like "KIN"? It's probably inevitable. Walmart also de-emphasised Xbox 360 earlier this year."

The Techrights Web site sort of freaks me out - I was half expecting to find an application form for a combination militia/alien abductee support group - but when I saw that they were claiming that the Zune HD was no longer being sold at the largest retail chain in the USA, I was a little dubious. I contacted a Microsoft Zune spokesperson and asked them point-blank whether this was true.

Q: "Is Wal-Mart no longer selling the Zune HD at retail stores in the USA?"

A: "Sales of Zune HD devices continue at Wal-Mart. Our understanding is that individual stores have authority over when specific items are restocked once they're sold out, but the device is still available at Wal-Mart and other retailers like Best Buy, as well as online at Amazon.com and www.ZuneOriginals.net."

Seems like someone should do a bit more research before making unsubstantiated claims, no? Oh wait, this is the Internet that we're talking about...

Hey there, Zune HD owners! You now have access to two more apps in the Zune Marketplace: Animalgrams, a word game, and MSN Money, a personal finance app. Basically /msn Money is a stock ticker app with a few extras added in. About two months ago we saw another two apps, so at the rate this is going, the Zune HD app catalog should hit 100 apps by 2017 or so. Hooray. More images after the break. Read more...

Since most Thoughts Media readers are using high-speed Internet, I decided this article would benefit everyone, so it's one of our rare across-the-network pieces of content. I hope you find it useful!

Figure 1: What is this, 1994 all over again?

Whenever bandwidth is discussed, there's always lots of finger pointing because there are so many variables, and players involved, that it's rarely a simple issue. My particular bandwidth bugaboo this morning? I was ticked off that Dropbox (referral) was only uploading at 10 KB/s. I left a 900 MB transfer running all night and it wasn't finished in the morning, and that's when I discovered the awful speed. My first instinct was to point a finger at Dropbox, thinking there was some sort of bandwidth throttling going on. I did a speed test with a tool my ISP provides (speedtest.shaw.ca) and was shocked to see 1.7 Mbps downloads and 107 kbps uploads (Figure 1). It's normally 20x that on downloads and 10x that on uploads, so I knew something was wrong beyond just Dropbox. Read more...

Hi there. The topic of ad blockers tends to generate some heated discussions around these parts, so I'm going to keep this really simple: if you're running an ad blocker, this is a polite request that you white-list this Web site and allow the ads to load. Here's why: I work hard to keep the ads on Thoughts Media sites non-intrusive; I say no to pop-ups, pop-unders, full-page ads, ads with sounds, etc. I know that those types of ads are irritating, and I value the readership of everyone who visits our sites. I don't want to irritate anyone with our ads.

What you may not realize about online ads is that, for the majority of them, when they simply load, that helps me pay the bills (Our server bill alone is almost $500/month.). Ad blockers stop the ads from loading, which hurts this site. You don't have to click on the ads - just letting them load helps us out a lot. If you do click on them, all the better - that helps us get better advertisers because they know you're interested in the ads. It will help us continue to provide you with the content that you come here for, and that benefits you in the end. So please white list this Web site in your ad blocker.

As a side note, I have a personal "1 visit, 1 click" policy in which, when I visit a site and read/watch some content on it, I find an ad that I'm interested in and click on it. It only takes a few seconds of my time to do, and it's my way of giving back to that site, thanking them for creating that thing I just read/watched. The Internet would be a very different place if everyone had a similar policy. Just a thought to ponder as you head into the weekend. :-)

"Thanks to tipster Greg, who has managed to sign up for a trial subscription to Zune Pass in the UK (although it doesn’t work yet), it looks like the “all you can eat” service may be coming soon to the UK. Along with the Trial Pass option, it looks like Zune Pass in the UK will cost £8.99/mo, with a 3 mo. subscription costing £26.97/mo."

An intrepid reader of LiveSide discovered a tantalizing yet inevitable detail on the UK Zune Pass website; It looks like Zune Pass will be coming to the UK sooner than we thought. This is an important first step for laying the groundwork of an actual strategy for WinPhone7 in the UK and overseas, and hopefully we'll begin to see more progress in the coming months. It's important to note that while the site allowed the tipster to register for a free trial, he wasn't able to log in and download music just yet. Though commenter Greg brought up Rafael Rivera's Zune Features Unlocker script to re-enable Marketplace, Channels, and Apps within the Zune software, which may have helped.

Please join me in wishing our very own Adam Krebs a very happy birthday. Adam is a great contributor here at Zune Thoughts and I'm grateful to him for all his hard work and contributions to this community, and to the Zune community at large. Happy birthday Adam! If you'd like to show your thanks to Adam in a more tangible way, here's a link to his Amazon Wish list.

We did a Quick Look of the XO Skins for iPhone 4 over at Apple Thoughts, and the XO Skins folks were generous enough to give us a code for $2.00 USD off their products. XO Skins makes protective covers for a wide variety of products (not just Apple stuff), so if you want to partake, use the code APPLETHOUGHTS2OFF. I believe the code will work on any of the products they sell at XO Skins, and is good until 12/31/2010.