Zune Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

There’s been some crazy rumors flying around today at Engadget about what Windows Phone 7 will be bringing in the way of its multimedia experience. Namely that the media oriented phones will be bringing a Zune experience to the table. While I’ve been out of the Windows Mobile game since I got my G1, this would be great news for the platform, if true. The media experience on the Windows Mobile platform is definitely way behind everyone else.

I think it’s even better news for Zune. I know plenty of people who have Windows Mobile phones who don’t also have a Zune. Subscription music combined with a 3G connection would be a pretty awesome combination.

I hope the rumor is true because I think Windows Mobile (or whatever they want to call it these days) desperately needs something to help it get competitive again. And Zune really needs to be better integrated into Microsoft’s other product lines. Maybe we’ll finally start to see the Zune platform live up to some of the promises that were made years ago when the Zune 30 launched.

"With its expansive new range of earphones, Sennheiser is taking music on the move to another level. Altogether the 22 new models, designed specifically for use with portable players, offer a first-class audio experience and the Sennheiser quality you have come to expect. Each set of headphones features fashion-forward designs to complement any taste."

There is no doubt that the most important accessory that you can buy for your Zune or any PMP is a better set of headphones. And if you were having a hard time deciding which of your options were best before now, well, wait until you check out Sennheiser's new line of headphones! Read more...

Nvidia had their CES press event today and among the announcements were details on the next generation Tegra chip. The Tegra powers, among other things, the Zune HD and from everything I’ve seen it’s a very impressive chip already. The current Tegra runs the ARM11 chip. The new Tegra is going to be running the dual core Cortex-A9.

They also said that there will be 8 independent processors so if I understand the transcript from Engadget correctly, that means 16 cores total on the new Tegra (I didn't understand correctly. Thanks bitbyte for pointing out there are actually 2 Cortex A9 processors). All while only consuming 500 milliwatts. They claim this will allow for 140 hours of music and 16 hours of HD video but of course, that will depend on a lot of factors unrelated to the Tegra alone.

Nvidia’s biggest announcement for Tegra is that it will be powering all Audi cars starting in 2011. I assume that means the 2012 model years but they don’t specify in the live blog on Engadget. There is no mention of the Zune or other devices specifically but they do say there are 50 devices in the pipe for the new Tegra.

I think a combination of Tegra, Windows Phone 7, and the Zune all on one platform could make for a killer device.

Check out the rest of the live blog on Engadget. They have other announcements involving 3D on our laptops, which I’m sure everyone is excited about and lots of great pictures and slides from the Nvidia’s presentation.

This is a little after the fact since this has been sitting in my queue for a while, but here we go anyway! This is why I hate that people think the Zune needs applications to compete in the market. CNET’s prize fight is a little absurd because we have two devices that in reality can provide the same service but really don’t do the same thing. I’ll save you the time…the iPod Touch blows away the Zune HD 4.5 to 4.0 in the 5 round fight. But they’re comparing two different things throughout the fight. I feel like they may as well compare a Zune and a Corvette and dock the Zune points for not putting out 400HP. Yeah sure, they both play music!

If you want a device for a little music, applications, games…go get a Touch. If you want multimedia device that’s dedicated to music and video, go get a Zune. They’re just not comparable and not because one is better than the other. If you take away application store out from the Zune equation, and there isn't much you're losing out on, then the Zune is not competing with a Touch at all. But because it has one it does compete. Poorly.

In most reviews I’ve seen, including CNET, the Zune wins on sound and screen quality. The navigation is considered on par with the iPod. Some like the Zune better while others like the iPod better but I think everyone can agree both devices are very good on that front and then it’s just personal preference. Both devices are well liked for the physical design. If I’m looking for a portable media player, the Zune just won on sound and picture. If I’m looking for a PDA, I’m getting an iPod.

"Not one to go quietly into the night or vanish without a fight, Microsoft relaunched the Zune with the Zune HD, a direct competitor to the iPod touch. The Zune HD was met with strong launch sales and praised by critics, but only time will tell if it will ultimately usurp the iPod in terms of market dominance. In the meantime, we ask this question of you, our beloved IGN readers: Which portable media player is better in your eyes?"

Oh it's on. IGN, like many other tech sites, has seen fit to pit the two media player juggernauts head-to-head in a battle of brains, brawn, and feature specs. At the bottom of the article, readers voted for their favorite device and discussed the relative merits of the two platforms in the forums. As these things often go, the comments section got a little hectic, but when the poll closed and the dust settled, IGN readers crowned Zune HD champion, eking out its rival a mere 53% to 47%. Booyah.

"Full details regarding Tegra 2 are unknown, but it's expected to have roughly twice the power and graphical capabilities of the original and be based on 40nm processes. The current-gen Tegra is already capable of 1080p HD video; Hara says NVIDIA's goal is the desktop internet and media experience in a portable device:"

The first Tegra chip is mouth watering enough, but imagine a chip that can handle twice what the current Tegra does. That is just what Nvidia's Tegra 2 is rumored to do. They are set to release more details at CES 2010, including some demo products from their partners. The first half of next year will bring us tablet PCs, smartbooks, netbooks, and MIDs all powered by Tegra 2. Later down the line will we see a second generation Zune HD based off of the new chip? Or a Windows phone? Only time will tell on that one.

"It's that time of year when we lay out our top picks for the year. 2009 was the year of the touch player- consumers demanded them and manufactures responded. If you notice that this year's list resembles last years and that's because many of the manufacturer's this year made some awesome incremental improvements in their current line of players."

Grahm Skee over at AnythingButiPod has come up with a top 5 list of the MP3 Players from this year. My personal favorite, the Zune HD, came in 4th place because of its locked in ecosystem. Leading the pack was the Sansa Clip+ with its cheap price and newly added MicroSD card slot. Are there any players that you think should have been in there? What's your top 5 list of MP3 Players? Let us know in the comments.

This is a quick reminder that our giveaway of three pairs of SHURE SE210 headphones ends on the 15th of this month, so if you haven't already entered, you'd better do so quickly!

"For comparisons sake, they were producing clearer sound, with much heavier base than the previously reviewed Ihome Alarm Clock / Speakers (which also fit the 100$ price point). Built in are options for Surround Sound effect, and Bass Boost. Both are nice additions, but it was the Base Boost I found most noticeable, and impressive considering the speakers don’t have a sub-woofer. For it’s size, it could certainly get loud and had the ability to “fill a room with sound” as advertised."

As I mentioned last week, Altec Lansing has released its new iM414v2 speaker dock for the Zune line. My only concern at the time was that the previous version of the dock I had used with my Zune 80 had produced less-than-impressive results and that didn't make me very excited about the new dock they have.

Well, Mobilitysite did a review of the new dock and as you can see from the above quote, they were pretty pleased with the sound! Check out their full review for more information but it looks like that Altec Lansing has delivered a quality product judging by the review. I'm glad to find out that the dock is better than I expected because the Zune needs all the peripherals it can get!

If you want to get one, you can pre-order it for $99.95.

"Today, Altec Lansing introduced the latest member of its inMotion line of music docks -- the inMotion® iM414V2. The inMotion iM414V2 is designed for the Zune HD and Zune in addition to any devices with a 3.5mm headphone jack including CD, DVD and MP3 players. Packed with features including a built-in FM radio, HD Radio technology and an easy to carry design, the iM414V2 is a perfect companion for music on the go."

Well this seems like a pretty nice speaker dock from Altec Lansing. The name, iM414V2, really rolls off the tongue too! It appears to be a pretty straight forward dock. It's advertised to fill the room with sound and bass without a subwoofer. I have to say I tried one of their docks before and I was underwhelmed by the sound it produced. It was suitable for your desk at work if you have an office but definitely didn't impress me as I washed my car to it!

This is a newer dock and Altec Lansing generally makes good sound equipment. It's not inexpensive at $99.99 but its also not out of line with similar products. So if you're looking for a gift idea for your Zune this holiday season, the iM414V2 could be the one! Just make sure you write it out in big letters and numbers so people have some idea what you're asking for.

Check out the full press release here.

"While browsing Amazon I noticed a new Kicker Dock I had not seen before. I jumped over to Kicker’s website to get the full details. It looks like Kicker has two new speaker systems designed to be compatible with the Zune HD. Depending on what you are looking for, both look like great alternatives to the ZK500; which is also compatible with the Zune HD."

Wow, these looks pretty amazing! Neville at Inside the Circle spotted a couple new Zune speaker docks coming from Kicker. You have two options. There's the ZK350 which is basically a portable boom box and the ZK150 which is a radio alarm clock. The ZK150 is especially intriguing because there is a dearth of good radio alarm docks for the Zune. Both of these docks are compatible with all Zune models which is a smart move Kicker's part!

They're a bit pricey as the ZK350 will be retailing at $199.95 and the ZK150 will be $179.95. The alarm dock is especially expensive for an alarm clock. But then again a good alarm clock could be pretty important to people (I know it is for me!). Style-wise I think these are also much nicer looking than the ZK500 that's been out for a while.

Jason already reviewed the ZK500 a couple months back and while these are obviously different you can at least get a feel for what Kicker makes. The ZK350 isn't available in Amazon yet but the ZK150 can be pre-ordered here.

Microsoft's "Open House" party at the Armory in uptown Manhattan last week was meant to serve as a "coming out" of sorts. The Microsoft brand for the first time in a while seems to be regaining ground lost after high-profile marketing failures like Windows Vista and lackluster mobile device sales. Now, Windows 7 is getting rave reviews even ahead of its release, Zune HD is a critic's darling, and the Xbox 360 is selling like never before. While these individual products have gained success on their own, they have so far failed to lift Microsoft to the same level of brand unity that competitors like Apple and Google have enjoyed. The event therefore was intended to show the connection between their many interests and reinforce Microsoft's commitment to its "three screens and the cloud" strategy. Did it succeed? Well, yes and no.

Read more...

"Now there is no way I was going to pay $300 dollars for a MP3 player. You can get a netbook or an older laptop for that kind of money, and that to me is ridiculous. There is also no way that I could go back to anything less than 30Gb, (Which is what my previous H300 had) and well there was no way I was going to pay good money for a lumpy brown Zune. So that meant I was looking for a 2nd gen 80Gb Zune in black as a base. I knew to get the price point I wanted I would need to find a Zune that had "issues" and rehabilitate it, so it could return to normal life among the other Zunes in the "social". Since I knew I was going to replace the Zune's original drive, I simply searched around for a seller that was getting rid of a black 80Gb Zune, that was displaying error code 5 on boot. (Error 5 is Microsoft's way of telling you that your hard drive's cheese had slid off its respective cracker.)"

Now, I'm not sure your only option to get a Zune under $300 is to go out and get an SSD for a broken Zune 80, but it's certainly cool that this is even possible. If you were ever curious about the feasibility of using an SSD with your dying or dead Zune, Andrew's story is a worthwhile read. I was wondering how he managed to strip out a full-sized drive into such a small enclosure, and true to form, he didn't disappoint. Now all we need to find out is the speed/battery benefits to see how practical a mod like this actually is.

"Microsoft is considering whether it should port the Zune software and services to other platforms, including Apple’s. There’s no guarantee that the Redmondians will end up doing this - or timetable as to when this could happen - but it’s one of many strategies under active consideration. That’s what I heard today from Jose Pinero, Director of Communications for Microsoft’s TV, Video and Music Business. I had a chance to chat with Pinero at Microsoft’s consumer open-house showcase in New York on October 6."

Going along with the news of a definite Microsoft commitment to putting the Zune platform on Windows phones, this article at ZDNet is even more interesting. Microsoft would be willing, going forward to support other platforms, including Apple. What exactly does that mean? Just Zune software on the Mac? Apparently not! Microsoft even is thinking in terms of direct iPod support. Now I don't know if that's realistic or not but its something they have on the table.

The bigger picture you get from this article is Microsoft's view of what the Zune platform is to their business. Zune has always been somewhat strange for Microsoft. They tend to build ecosystems for others to play in. Even the XBox follows that mold since a game system, by default, needs broad support from game publishers to survive and thrive. The Zune though has been Microsoft's closed platform. Microsoft controls the entire experience from end to end.

But that's not how they view the Zune platform internally, according to this article. Zune is viewed as their media platform for their entire product line. They're not talking about the players either. They're talking about the whole Zune experience. Could this mean Microsoft eventually licensing out the mobile platform? After Plays For Sure I'm not sure how many would jump on that.

It will be interesting to see where it goes. With the Zune set to make an appearance eventually on Windows phones, that will certainly give an instantly broader market and really that would be the first real challenge to iPod/iPhone dominance because that platform is widespread enough to compete already. Many people are happy to carry one device around and I could see that more than anything causing some erosion in the DMP market.

Vaja is well known for the luxurious leather cases for pretty much any personal electronic device that you can think of. Therefore it should come as no surprise that they’ve released a leather case for the Zune HD. The price is actually very reasonable for a Vaja case, starting at only $50 and I’m sure the leather quality is top notch. However, I do have a couple of concerns.

The first is a minor quibble but, all the same, I am not very impressed by their leather color selection. The colors they have are rather dull and the number of options is tiny compared to what I’m used to seeing with Vaja.

The other issue that is more troubling comes from my experience with the case I have for my Zune 80. This is a common issue with cases I’ve seen in general but the Zune 80 case has a clear plastic shield to protect the screen. Unfortunately over the course of the past year, the protector has become so scratched that it renders the case difficult to use since it also serves as a stand to watch video. Not to mention it looks horrible.

And this isn’t scratching from harsh objects. It’s just putting it in and out of my pocket. I assure you that my Zune’s screen would not be the least bit scratched from that if I chose not to use the case (which I have done now.)

"FedEx is starting to drop off the long awaited (read: delayed) customized Zune Originals direct from Microsoft's factories in China. Those who ordered a Zune Original as an express order got a little treat for their patience in putting up with the delay- $15 credit to be spent in the Zune Marketplace."

Finally, someone with some photography skills gets their hands on a Zune Originals device! You can always count on Grahm Skee from anythingbutipod to know how to take a good picture. Check out the gallery for all the pics - it's amazing how the blue looks so different depending on the angle. I haven't ordered a Zune Originals yet because I'm worried I won't like the colours...I know I already don't like any of the art designs. Honestly, I'm pretty disappointed with the Originals this time around - I can't understand why the Zune team would change what was such a successful collection of colours and designs from last time. I think I'm going to stick with the 16 GB black Zune HD for now and wait for a 64 GB model in better colours and designs. I know, it might be a long wait...

"I can live in Mac completely as I normally do, making zero concessions or compromises, then boot into Windows occasionally to sync my music to the Zune HD. I don’t have two separate music libraries or anything, but rather the master Mac iTunes library, then the Zune software builds an index and syncs the music to the Zune HD based on said library. Is it an elegant solution? Maybe not, but it definitely works and is dead simple."

Nicholas Deleon over at CrunchGear has an interesting writeup about his double life as a Mac user and Zune HD fan. Its an interesting perspective from someone who doesn't really use Microsoft products except when he has to. To use his Zune he manages all of his music on his Mac with iTunes and then boots into Windows when he wants to sync. This works for him I think since he's not a subscription user and doesn't add music too often. That said, he must really like the Zune HD because that's a lot of work to use an media player!

Interestingly, he seems to like the Zune software more than iTunes but knows he won't likely be using it anytime soon on the Mac OS. If you're a Mac user and the Zune is at all interesting to you, his article is worth a read!

“Preordered a Zune 32 GB, it arrived on the 17th and have been using it for two days now. The touch screen is not responding, and there are random clicks despite the fact that i'm not even touching the screen sometimes. It has been updated to the 4.1 using the Zune 4 software. The firmware has been reinstalled twice (method 1) and the device has been formatted (method 2) twice following these instructions…”

Reader Ben pointed this out to us and as I don’t yet have a Zune HD, I’m not familiar with the issues that it may be experiencing. This comes from the official Zune forums. Has anyone else out there suffered the issues that this poor user has? They’ve apparently had sporadic touch screen issues that they couldn’t resolve and are RMAing their Zune HD to Microsoft.

Of course because when one thing goes wrong, everything goes wrong, the poor user was given error messages from the Zune support site when they were in the RMA process! So has anyone (hopefully not) run into any issues like this? If so, did you fix them and how?

"We have slightly modified the wireless sync behavior for Zune HD. Instead of remaining connected once you establish the wireless connection, you will now automatically exit the connection once the player determines there is no content to sync. In the auto sync wireless scenario, the player will continue to attempt to reconnect every 10 minutes if wireless sync has been set-up, the player has AC power, no media is playing, and there is no user activity on the player."

If you are trying to unlock every bit of potential that your new Zune HD has, then you might want to head over to AnythingButIpod and check out their forum post detailing every little thing that you may not have known how to do but want to. Or how to do things that you didn't even think about. ABI has TONS of tips up in its forum so if you're a proud new owner of a Zune HD you should definitely follow the link and see what cool things are hidden!

This is a "deep dive" video where I take a closer look at the device. This is part three; part one is found here, part two is found here. The model I'm looking at here is the 16 GB model, in black, and it sells for $219 USD as of September 2009.

Jason Dunn owns and operates Thoughts Media Inc., a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys photography, mobile devices, blogging, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his lovely wife, and his sometimes obedient dog. He wonders if the Zune is ever going to exist outside the USA.

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