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A Detailed Video Walk-Through of the Zune 2.5 Spring Update Read more

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Finding Loopholes: An International Zune User's Guide Read more

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Zune v2 Launch: Video Coverage Galore Read more

Friday, May 9, 2008

Zunerama Summarizers The Spring 2.5 Update Changes

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Zune Articles & Resources" @ 08:53 AM

http://www.zunerama.com/zune-softwa...-5-overview.php

"Zune Version 2.5 is a significant update to Zune software, firmware, and Marketplace. The update introduces some oft-requested features from Zune owners, including gapless playback and autoplaylists. It addresses issues with metadata handling, and provides full metadata editing for both audio and video. It expands Zune's social networking features in some intriguing ways. And, Zune takes a solid step forward in video content, with 800 television shows available for download from Marketplace, in addition to 4,800 music videos. These additions are part of a "spring update" scheduled for May 6. The update will be applied automatically to Zune software, and to Zune players as they are synced. Zunerama was able to view this update prior to its release. Here are seven things you need to know about Zune 2.5..."



While I've been busy doing videos, Harvey over at Zunerama wrote up a great piece about the seven top things that the Zune 2.5 update adds. It's worth a look - he goes into detail on some of the things I haven't had time to yet. Watch for more videos coming up soon...I'm having a lot of fun with Camtasia. ;-)

Say Hello To My Little Friend...

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Zune Talk" @ 12:00 AM



That's right, I finally got my hands on a Zune Original! I had a friend order me one, and it just arrived today. I love it - the red is rich and luscious, just how I like my reds to be. ;-) The wave design on the back looks amazing as well...I dubbed it RedSpartan (which breaks away from my tradition of naming my computers and mobile devices after Japanese weapons, but it seemed like the right thing to do).

Thursday, May 8, 2008

XNA Studio 3 Goes Live!

Posted by Adam Krebs in "Zune Content Creation & Management" @ 11:00 AM

http://blogs.msdn.com/xna/archive/2...review-ctp.aspx

We're not even that far into May yet but the XNA team has already made good on its promise—and way faster than I could've imagined. Yes folks, the long-awaited XNA support for Zune has arrived! Granted, this release is strictly a Community Technical Preview (CTP), but from the walkthrough ZuneBoards posted, it sure does look cool. If you're the coding type or just curious about what games would look like on your Zune, head to the XNA team blog for the full lowdown. Just watch out for the Alien Aggressors ;)

UPDATE: If you want to start making your own games, check out the official XNA FAQ on Getting Started. They've got everything from basic tutorials and modifable samples to discussions on P2P networking and network architectures. Unfortuately the Zune-specific documentation is a bit lacking at this point, but the main ideas are still there--the Zune Pad is treated like the 360's left thumbstick, play/pause to B, etc.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Cesar Speaks On "Zune Cop" Scenario

Posted by David Tucker in "Zune News" @ 10:30 PM

“We have no plans or commitments to implement any new type of content filtering in the Zune devices as part of our content distribution deal with NBC. We think some folks in the industry were expressing hopes for how the entire industry, not just Microsoft, would come to look at content distribution, and some speculation has ensued. Again, no plans are in place toward this end.”

I had read the NYT article earlier today and before the firestorm on the net had let loose, I already had my doubts as to the veracity of any of this. I mean, this would have to be a pretty boneheaded move to begin with. There’s simply no way to determine whether the bits and bytes on your Zune are something you purchased or not and I couldn't imagine Microsoft blocking out user content not purchased through the marketplace.

I do know it’s very difficult to transfer licensed music off the Zune onto a PC and then back onto a Zune. This doesn’t work already and I don’t know how easy this is with the iPod. I think that’s about the extent of it that you’ll ever have to worry about.

Thanks for clearing this all up, Cesar!

- ADVERTISING -

Gorgeous Original Backgrounds from Zunecards

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Zune Articles & Resources" @ 04:00 PM

http://www.zunecards.net/



If you're looking for beautiful, completely original art for your Zune, you should definitely stop by Zunecards. I hadn't heard of this site before today, but it's really slick - their collection of backgrounds is small, but all very high quality. My only complaint is that it took a lot of clicking to download and unzip each of the 16 different backgrounds - I always wish sites like this would offer a single ZIP file with all their downloads, or at least one ZIP file per collection. Regardless, Zunecards is a site you definitely should check out!

Red/Black Zune Combo Discovered?

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Zune Talk" @ 08:39 AM

http://gotzune.com/2008/05/whats-th...zunes#more-1390

"The folks over at Zunited.net got there hands on some interesting info. It appears as though the zune software contains evidence of a Black-Backed Zune 80, and a black-backed red 4/8. On top of that, the 4/8 seems to have a black touch pad. Could this be a developer exclusive like the citron zune? We can’t be sure now, but no matter they are, they look great. Any thoughts?"



Chris Leckness over at Got Zune found an interesting post about a potentially new Zune, similar to the citron Zune that was discovered last year. I'm not so sure this is legit though - certainly the graphic is real (shown after the break), but for all we know this red/black combo was a propose colour scheme for the red Zune and they settled on a pure-red design. I doubt we'll see a red/black Zune, though it's fun to speculate! Read more...

The Fool Still Doubts The Zune

Posted by David Tucker in "Zune News" @ 03:00 AM

http://www.fool.com/investing/value...ng-so-zune.aspx

“Walk away from the Zune, Microsoft. There are only two scenarios in which I can see this as a battle worth fighting: one, if this is the platform that will be used to take on your video-game console rivals in the portable handheld market; or two, if it will bring something new to the wireless communications space. If the Zune is going to evolve into the next DS or PSP, blessed with a ton more storage capacity, great. If this is going to be a cell phone, in a brazen attempt to take on the iPhone, at least you have a strong enough mobile-operating-system pedigree to have a shot.”

I’m sure that Rick Munarriz over at The Motley Fool generally knows what he’s talking about (and with a middle name like “Aristotle” I would hope so!) but I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with him here. For one thing, he compares Zune sales to Sansa sales in his article. That’s like comparing Vaio sales to an eMachine. Not really the same class of device. Sandisk crashed the market with low end players when it came in. Microsoft is taking a long term approach with quality.

His other argument was that Apple’s iPod sales stalled; therefore, Microsoft missed the boat because the market isn’t growing. I have to wonder how exactly that analysis works out. If Apple sold 10 million players in Q1 and 10 million players in Q2, it sounds to me like the market grew by about 10 million people. Unless he really thinks those were all the same people! I’d say this is still a booming market. There are a lot of people who don’t own MP3 players still and this market will continue to grow and evolve. Microsoft doesn’t need to go anywhere and I don’t think they plan to.

Zune Team Further Restricts Non-US Users: Please, Someone Stop The Insanity

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Zune Articles & Resources" @ 01:00 AM

http://www.istartedsomething.com/20...tware-25-nonus/

"The Microsoft Zune team has officially become “region control” extremists. First, they locked down the Zune Originals site with geographic IP blocking so you couldn’t even fantasize about the cool and stylish new Zunes if you didn’t live in the United States. If that wasn’t enough, they’re also blocking enthusiasts from populating their Zune Card with play lists. Now comes a third restriction which hides the Zune Marketplace in the latest version (2.5) of the Zune software. If you installed version 2.5 of the Zune Software and you don’t live in the United States, this is what you see. There is no “Marketplace” button in the menu bar."



This is getting ridiculous. Long Zheng, who's based in Australia, noticed that when he installed the Zune 2.5 software update, his Marketplace tab vanished. So did our very own Darius Wey, who also happens to live in Australia. The Zune team, in some bizarre fit of needing to control the Zune experience even more tightly, is making that tab vanish if your computer is set to any regional setting other than "United States". That's right, it's the same blockade that the Zune team put up to block the inclusion of our song plays. This is an arbitrary and silly restriction of course, because I have a Zune account that works, with points that I can use to purchase songs, and I'm not in the United States. Sure, I had to jump through some hoops to get that far, but it's possible.

The solution is exactly the same: on a Vista-based computer, go into your control panel, then look for the Regional and Language Options. Select the Location tab and change the Current Location to United States. You may need to reboot your computer, but the next time you load the Zune software, it will display the Marketplace tab. If you're on a Windows XP-based system, the solution is nearly identical.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Zune Will Launch in Canada Without Online Store

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Zune News" @ 11:30 PM

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/.../tech-zune.html

"Microsoft Corp. is bringing the Zune, its answer to the iPod, to Canada, but the media player's initial launch will be hamstrung by the lack of an accompanying download store. The company on Tuesday announced the Zune player will be available in stores here on June 13, making Canada the first country outside the United States to get the device. The online Zune marketplace, where device owners can purchase music and video content, however, won't be available on launch. Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft announced on Tuesday that it was adding episodes of popular television shows, including The Office, South Park and Battlestar Galactica, to its U.S. online marketplace. There are a number of factors that need to be sorted out before the online store can be made available here, said Elana Zur, product manager for Zune in Canada. "We need to do what makes sense for Canada," she said. "We want to make sure that rather than rushing it, we develop the model that makes the most sense for the market.""

There was some speculation about this issue when I posted about it yesterday, but it seems we have the answer: no Zune marketplace store at launch time. That kind of sucks, because it's a less-than-ideal scenario for the Zune, but I still thing it's better than nothing. Get the hardware into the market, and even if people can only use it with their ripped CDs, at least it's out there. I really hope that the "model that makes the most sense for the market" isn't one of these "We need to have localized content or it won't succeed" excuses that is delaying the launch of the store.

The only people who don't believe that the US and Canada have nearly identical cultures in terms of entertainment are usually the ones either working for the Canadian government, or someone who receives government grants for "defending" Canadian culture. If the reason the Zune marketplace isn't launching in Canada on June 13th is because they're trying to get French content in order, or some uniquely Canadian TV content...then the Zune team has been listening to the wrong people. Bring the Zune marketplace to Canada with exactly the same content as the US marketplace, and everything will be just fine.

Spring Update Around The Net Wrap Up

Posted by David Tucker in "Zune News" @ 09:11 PM

“With those fixes, the Zune software is no longer a show-stopper, and I can recommend the Zune as a credible alternative to the iPod.” - Matt Rosoff, “Digital Noise” @ cnet blogs

“It's a worthwhile bunch of upgrades, if you're into the Zune scene.” - Anders Bylund, Ars Technica

“Unfortunately, news on the video store front isn't so compelling: Microsoft is only adding TV shows at this point, no movies, and there's no way to pull video you've bought on your 360 over to your Zune.” – Paul Miller, Engadget

“There's also improvement in the player itself, like the return of auto playlists and the introduction of gapless playback. Wee!” – Gizmodo

“You’ve heard them say “Welcome to the Social” — well, this is what they’re talking about.” - Devin Coldewey, CrunchGear

Well, if the Zune Spring Update 2.5 was a summer blockbuster, the review teasers would probably look something like that. The final verdict will take several more days of playing with the new software but I know that THIS Zune owner is quite pleased with what this update has given us. The social stuff alone is just fun. The video section is still lacking the one thing I really want to see, which is some sort of subscription option, but I realize that’s hoping for a lot right now.

Overall the reception is pretty positive. Plenty of people still don’t think that it’ll make a difference in the fight to dominate the iPod (which misses the point) but the general consensus does seem to be this is a big step in the right direction.

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