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All posts tagged "Update"


Monday, September 22, 2008

Backwards Compatibility As A Business Decision

Posted by Adam Krebs in "Zune Software" @ 02:00 PM

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10043442-56.html

"Even with a big update, there are still many areas where the Zune comes up short when compared to Apple's iPod. It's easy to argue that Apple still has the lead in styling, breadth of video content, add-on accessories, and software and compatibility. (Zune works only on Windows PCs.) Not to mention the fact that Microsoft has nothing to match Apple's iPod Touch with its ability to surf the Web and run a wide range of add-on programs. But there are a couple of areas where Microsoft deserves significant credit. The most important, from my perspective, is that every feature that Microsoft has added to the Zune is available for free to owners of previous generation Zunes."

I was tempted to write off this article by CNet's Ina Fried as yet another article praising Microsoft for making the 3.0 and 2.0 firmware backwards-compatible with every Zune device--something Apple and other PMP makers should have done since the start. After reading the article, however, it becomes clear that Microsoft made a strong commitment to its customers, not just in avoiding planned obsolescence, but in building up the ecosystem to provide value for every Zune owner. If I have the latest blue Zune 16), but my buddy is still rocking the brown Zune 30 that he bought back in 2006, I'm still able to beam him my favorite podcast, play him (eventually) in Texas Hold 'Em, and get that photo he took of us last week to set as a background. In centering this latest update around music discovery, Microsoft has built a strong motivation to sign up for the Zune Pass and Zune Social, both of which end up being beneficial to Zune owners and Microsoft alike.


Monday, May 5, 2008

More news on 2.5

Posted by Adam Krebs in "Zune News" @ 05:04 PM

http://www.ihaveazune.com/?p=1203

Stefan at IHaveAZune:

"If you head over to the Microsoft Download Center and search for Zune software you will find that Zunepackage.exe file is now titled “Zune Software 2.5″. Unfortunately the file is actually version 2.3."

It's only a matter of time now..

P.S. The Video's back up. Thanks Ricardo.


Sunday, May 4, 2008

Zune Update Coming Soon?

Posted by Adam Krebs in "Zune News" @ 10:40 AM

http://zunerama.com/forum/index.php?topic=9714.0

With the Spring Xbox update just around the corner, it only makes sense that Microsoft's other main E&D device should receive the update treatment as well—after all, we haven't really had a significant update since the launch of the gen 2 devices. With many rightly feeling that the upgrade to Zune v2 had taken away several desirable features, it appears we might be getting a few of those back. Zunerama member Ricardo Dawkins spotted a video on Zune.net that appears to hint at a few of the upcoming features, including a new genres link in Browse view of the Collection, a videos (!) link in the Marketplace (but strangely no downloads link), and on the artist page in the Marketplace, a new link for "listeners", likely something relating to further Social integration.


Notice the "videos" link in the marketplace (and removal of downloads link).

Details are of course sketchy (and the video has since been pulled), but we'll keep you updated as the update approaches.


Tuesday, April 1, 2008

APRIL FOOLS: New Thoughts Media Site Design for "Lefties"

Posted by Mike Temporale in "Thoughts Media Status Updates" @ 06:00 AM

Jason was pretty excited about this update, but unfortunately, he's unable to post about its availability due to becoming available prior to his return from Japan. So, in his place I shall announce the news. Fabrizio, being a left hander, was getting pretty frustrated with the design of all of the Thoughts Media sites. He spent a fair amount of time over the last month working on a new design that significantly improves the experience for lefties on our sites.

To enable the left-handed template you need to login and click on the "User Profile" link. Under the "Settings & Options" section, you need to click on "Edit Options" and then scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page under the Miscellaneous Options heading you will see a section for Forum Skin. Simply change this value to “Lefties - Thoughts Media” and then click the “Save Changes” button on the page. I have helped test the new design over the last weekend, but since I’m not a left hander, I didn’t really see what all the fuss was about. I invite all lefties to login, change the template and post your feedback on the new site design and I would like to thank Fabrizio for making the Thoughts Media network a better place for both left and right hander’s.


Thursday, December 13, 2007

Zune Social update

Posted by Adam Krebs in "Zune Announcements" @ 09:45 PM

http://zuneinsider.com/archive/2007/12/12/zune-marketplace-and-zune-social-back-online.aspx

You may have noticed that Zune Social was down for the last few days

Included (according to Cesar):
  • Improved overall stability and performance
  • Ability to view Favorites on your profile and the ability to remove a favorite
  • Most played artists will be displayed on your Zune Card, including three of the top songs for each of those artists (based on community usage)
  • Zune Gadgets Page: http://social.zune.net/profile/gadgets.aspx
  • Ability to view up to 24 recently played songs and 24 most played artists (increased from 5)
  • Easier to remove friends (directly from the friends activity module)
  • Timestamp for your recently played songs
  • Song and album information is now displayed in the send dialogs


I'm seeing a lot of the "stability and performance" upgrades, especially in Firefox, though for some reason, a few of the features are quirkier than last time (the "add to friends" link seems to only work when it feels like it, logging in is similar, e.g.), though this may just be due to Firefox's own weirdnesses.

Also, I got kind of excited by the idea of being able to remove a "favorite song," but I guess that isn't fully there yet either (or I'm missing something). I'm also beginning to see a bit of feature creep, as the lists don't seem to be scaling well to the design of the page. I hope they do something about that in the future, but for now I like the integration between the more static HTML and the cool Flash design.

EDIT: I knew I wasn't crazy! Jay-Z, my top-played artist, now shows 25 plays, when just yesterday (see above) it showed 26. The same thing with De La Soul a couple days ago (20 down to 19). Social seems to pick-and-choose which songs it wants to have show up on the "played" list. Sometimes, songs I know are supposed to show up (because their metadata is correct and have shown up before), simply don't. It's a little frustrating, and I hope it's just a small issue that'll be fixed soon. Then again, this is a beta...

P.S. Not sure where Train came from... I looked through my computer and I'm pretty sure I don't have any of their songs...


Monday, October 1, 2007

Zune Firmware 2.1 Coming Soon (And New Software!)

Posted by Adam Krebs in "Zune Talk" @ 04:45 PM

http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/01/zune-1-running-firmware-2-1-zune-2-coming-wednesday/#comments

"Here it is, direct from a trusted source close to the situation -- a Zune 1 running firmware 2.1, which will bring all the Zune 2 software goodies and UI tweaks with it when those bad boys are announced on Wednesday. That's right, we also have confirmation that Microsoft will be making the Zune 2 announcement on Wednesday, which should give the Zune tattoo guy plenty of time to get some new ink before the holidays."



Not content with merely updating the hardware, Microsoft has seen it fit to give us early adopters a break, granting us the same features that are rolling out with Zune2, Engadget reports. Not only that, but we're also getting a complete software and Marketplace overhaul. Folks, this is truly an exciting time to be a Zune owner.

(and I love the "Clever...is so last week" tagline. I truly hope they keep it in there.)

EDIT: Clarified when. (Thanks julioangelortiz)

Tags: Zune, 2, Zune2, Firmware, 2.1, Update

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