So how cool would this be? I like Nokia products and I like my Zune … imagine combining the two. Hmmm, very interesting!
Nokia is currently working with the Zune team on integration of Zune Marketplace content according to a well placed source within Microsoft.
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The latest episode of the Tattooed Zune Boy brings us news that he has purchased a black 80GB iPod Classic. It looks like he’ll be covering those three Zune tattoos up with Apple logos.Read More…
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http://www.zunescene.com/nokia-zune-phone/”Nokia is currently working with the Zune team on integration of Zune Marketplace content according to a well placed source within Microsoft. The joint development is directed at content delivery rather than a hardware device according to the source.
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“The Xbox Live Marketplace team has added free Comic-Con 2008 videos to the Zune Marketplace. The event, which ran from July 24-27 in San Diego, California, is a huge convention for fans of comic books, sci-fi, fantasy, anime, horror, and other related arts spanning all genres from books to TV to film. Once devoted just to comics, today’s convention has everything from toys to video games to panels featuring Hollywood actors and producers talking about their latest big movie and screening trailers of highly anticipated films.”
I’m sure that a few of you here are comic book fans. If so you’ll want to check out the Zune Marketplace since the Xbox Live Team has decided to share the videos with us! (Aww, thanks guys!) Of course, since the Zune Marketplace software is free to anyone then even if you don’t have a Zune or an Xbox and want to see the videos, here’s a perfect excuse to go download them and watch them on your PC. Good catch by Sarah Perez!
If you’re trying to log into our forums and having trouble, here’s why: there are some individuals going around and running scripts against vBulletin installs, specifically looking to hijack user accounts where the username and password are the same. These people then use these hijacked accounts to send our spam private messages and email messages (I’ve turned off the email function on our board). I was shocked to learn that we have 559 users who have done exactly that: chosen their password to match their user-name. Not only is this bad security, it leaves the door open for hacker-types to get into our board, pretending to be real users, and cause problems. To prevent this, what we’ve done is randomize the passwords for the 559 users who were impacted by this.
If you’re one of these users, all you need to do is use the Lost Password Recovery Form to have the password sent to you - which you’ll then want to reset the password to something else…something other than your user name of course. If you have any trouble with this process, please contact me and I’ll manually reset your password. I apologize for any hassle this may cause, but this step was necessary to protect the security of all our users.
“It’d be nice to get more precise Zune data, but the company says that between Zune and Mediaroom (IPTV) revenue increased 65 percent or $539 million, primarily the result of the Zune launch.”
Not a lot of information here, and there’s no way to tell exactly what the Zune numbers are, but between the two groups, they’re boosting revenue. This is just a thing slice of the overall fiscal data, because it doesn’t say anything about profits (revenues minus expenses), but no one, Microsoft included, expected to be making money with the Zune for the first three years. It’s a long-haul game, and this is only the second round of products.
Another week and another Zune Marketplace freebie that you can download, play back, burn to a CD, and sync to your Zune device. You’ll need a Zune account to download the free content. Clicking on the link(s) below will automatically launch the Zune software and take you to the artist’s page, so please ensure that the software is installed on your PC.
Title: Evermore
Artist: John Matthias
Genre: Rock
Length: 3:59
Is anyone else tired of seeing that icon in the Zune software? I’ve got the Zune software installed on all my PCs now, using it as my main music playing software rather than Windows Media Player, so I’m accessing the Marketplace and Social aspects of the Zune quite often. The problem is that the Zune servers really don’t seem up to the task. Sometimes they’re snappy when I’m browsing Marketplace content, and the audio previews usually happen quickly, but as soon as I go into the Social tab, it’s very likely I’ll be staring at that “loading” icon for 10+ seconds. It’s been like this for months, so it’s not just an isolated incident. I’ve also seen strange issues with the inbox - I’ll delete a message, they’ll vanish from the inbox, and a few minutes later they’ll still show up on the new message indicator line. Are the social aspects of the Zune software really that popular? Or has Microsoft just under-allocated server resources for the Zune?
“Nokia is currently working with the Zune team on integration of Zune Marketplace content according to a well placed source within Microsoft. The joint development is directed at content delivery rather than a hardware device according to the source. It has long been assumed by many tech followers that Zune content and software would find it’s way onto Windows Mobile devices, thereby offering competition to the unfortunately popular iPhone. The interesting thing about the Nokia Zune partnership is that Nokia does not support Windows Mobile. It appears Microsoft may be developing a two front war against the iPhone, namely Windows based smart phones and more abundant ‘non-smart’ phones.“
Take it or leave it, but Zune-Scene’s reporting that if and when the Zune team releases a media player client for a mobile phone (a.k.a. the “Zune Phone“, “zPhone” or “Pink and Purple project”), it won’t be on Microsoft’s own Windows Mobile platform as widely speculated, but on rival Nokia’s series of smartphones. As with past Zune-Scene reports, this one is short on detail (e.g. no release date, lots of plausible deniability) and high on outlandish claims. While keeping this in mind, I should also point out that Zune-Scene’s sources have been right on a number of these scoops in the past. This should be fun to watch as it develops.
From the “I’m Really Into The Social” files comes a trick from Wade Dorrell. Wade has figured out a way to get user playlists to show up as RSS feeds. This can be a handy way to share playlists with your friends. Well, handy may be a bit of an overstatement since it requires some voodoo magic to make it happen.
Still, I’m always happy to see some ingenuity in the Zune community. So if you want to share your playlists with your friends, head over to Waded.Org to read how to do it. Its not quite water into wine but definitely worthwhile!
I spent the last week or so in Seattle, Washington pinging practically every Microsoftie I knew in an attempt to get a tour of the software giant’s Redmond campus (with apologies to the Zune team as a whole). I finally got an in via a friend who worked on the Windows Cluster Server team. Though she didn’t have or want much to do with the Xbox/Zune devs (”too much Kool-Aid drinking”—or “very, very into what they’re doing” as she put it), she did point out the extent of Microsoft’s commitment to the Entertainment and Devices division. Turns out the Zune, Xbox and (I think) Windows Media Center teams are all getting a new building across the street from Building 25 on the Redmond Campus. Not only will the huge building allow closer interaction between the members of the Zune and Xbox teams, but it’s also going to be right by Microsoft’s other main product teams. Also of note, when completed it’ll feature the largest underground parking facility on the campus (and I believe she said it’s also the largest in Washington state) in the Western Hemisphere(!).
My one regret about the visit is that there wasn’t more Zune swag in the Microsoft Company Store. They have a whole rack set up with Zune 4/8 (with 80’s out of stock) and plenty of official accessories, but very little by way of Zune t-shirts, which I really wanted. In fact, the only Zune-branded apparel in stock was an ugly green windbreaker with a Zune logo on the breast pocket. All in all, I can’t say I’m too dissapointed; I picked up Gears of War for $20 and some Lindor chocolates. Sweet.
Update: The parking garage is the largest in the Western Hemisphere, not just Washington state. Wow.
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 have totally unconfirmed information from a reader who wishes to remain anonymous that Microsoft is indeed working on a Zune phone. This source had information about a meeting this week in Redmond that was planning a Zune phone to compete with the iPhone. According to this information the Zune phone will be based on a specialized variant of Windows Mobile 7 and key functionality will be centered around WIndows Live Services. On the hardware side the ZunePhone would be touch-screen based using multi-touch (surprise) but other than that not much is known.”
I’m wary about placing too much stock in rumours, but thing one has a ring of credibility to it that the others lacked: if the Zune team were to to a Zune phone, this is exactly how they’d do it. They’d take Windows Mobile 7, they’d optimize the hell out of it for speed and stability, and slap a Zune-like interface on it. Wrapping it all up with Windows Live services also sounds like a Microsoft thing to do, for better or worse (I love the Live Search client on Windows Mobile though, it rocks!). Multi-touch? That’s a bit surprising, if true, but it makes a certain amount of sense: Apple has drawn a line in the sand with a number of iPhone features, and when consumers see someone with an iPhone pinch a picture to make it small, they expect to see that feature on all touch-screen phones. Will we see a Zune phone next year?
Another week and another Zune Marketplace freebie that you can download, play back, burn to a CD, and sync to your Zune device. You’ll need a Zune account to download the free content. Clicking on the link(s) below will automatically launch the Zune software and take you to the artist’s page, so please ensure that the software is installed on your PC.
Title: Everything I Ask For
Artist: The Maine
Genre: Rock
Length: 2:37
“The bad dream of DRM continues. Yahoo e-mailed its Yahoo! Music Store customers yesterday, telling them it will be closing for good—and the company will take its DRM license key servers offline on September 30, 2008. Sure, it’s bad news and yet another example of the sheer lobotomized brain-deadness that has characterized music DRM, but the reaction of most music fans will be: “Yahoo had an online music store?” “
I had Yahoo! Music a few years ago and really liked it until my licenses would no longer update, and after 3-4 email exchanges, uinstall/reinstalls, I demanded a partial refund and that was the last time I’d ever deal with DRM like that again. If you have Yahoo! Music, you have about 60 days to burn what you want to CD and re-rip it unprotected so you can listen to what you purchased. And for your music needs, see Amazon’s MP3 store. Everything there is unlocked.
“This post has nothing to do with the Zune device itself as I really like my Zune and enjoying listening to it, but has more to do with the state of digital music. I have a Zune Pass which means that for a certain amount of money each month I am renting the music. I like this over having to buy everything in my collection as it allows me to try out songs and albums I might never take a chance on otherwise. It also provides a steady stream of money to the music business since I am not likely to purchase these albums anyway. The problem is that the record labels can pull the rights to the music at any time. On Friday I was driving home from work, and plugged my Zune into my car stereo system. I quickly discovered that a large amount of the music I listen to has be pulled from the Zune Marketplace. On my Zune itself I get a message that, “The item is missing or can’t be played.””
First of all, Dale, you work for Microsoft man! If you have a problem with something here shouldn’t you be coming up with a solution? Or talking to someone involved with the Zune? The problem here seems to be that sometimes the record labels pull the rights to have music be part of the Zune Pass scheme. Personally I’ve never experienced this but it wouldn’t surprise me one bit to hear that it happens. I still don’t think the music industry knows what it’s really doing in the electronic realm.
That said, Zune Pass users do need to keep in mind that we are simply renting the songs. Suggestions such as letting the Zune Pass users get the expiring songs at a discount or keep them after they aren’t generally available just isn’t realistic. While I understand Dale’s frustration, the benefits of the Zune Pass still far outweigh issues like this.
“There, that wasn’t too hard, was it? Lastly, it’s important to remember that this only works if the iTunes library and the Zune library in question are drawing from the same media files! That means that you should have the Zune jukebox software set to monitor the iTunes music folder that you are drawing from, so that the same files are referenced in both programs’ libraries. This little hack worked well for me, and allowed me to load my Zune with playlists created in iTunes, without having to try and use the gimped Zune rating system and autoplaylists to do so.”
Are you not a fan of the playlists in the Zune software? I’ve never had an issue myself but I know that plenty of people out there don’t like the playlists that Microsoft has given us. Jake Billo’s Weblog has a convenient little program (written by Jon Fritz) that will allow you to copy your iTunes playlists into your Zune software. I don’t use iTunes but if you have it and want to try it out, let us know how it works!
“I received six cases from Incipio: three each for my Zune 80GB and Zune 8GB/4GB players. Both cases have a clear front shield that protects the screen, and open access to buttons and touch pad. They are feather-light cases - made of very thin anodized aluminum - that add very little weight and almost no bulk to your player.”
Head over to Zunerama to read what Harvey has to say about the new Incipio cases for the Zune. He’s also taken quite a few pictures of them and from the pictures you can see that these cases really are stunning. I’ve always liked metal cases for their protection but never for their looks. I have to amend that here as these cases really are very attractive! After you finish drooling over the pictures Harvey posted up, you can go buy them at Incipio for $29.99 for the Zune 80 or $19.99 for the Zune 4/8.
Just a quick FYI: we need to do some optimizations on our server this weekend (for greater speed and uptime) that will result in us having to take the Web sites offline Saturday morning 6 AM to 8 AM EST. That’s a rough estimate of course, but if all goes well they’ll be back up before 9 AM. Thanks for your patience as we work to smooth things out.
I was doing a little experiment today with my Zune: I ripped a single chapter from a DVD, using CloneDVD Mobile [Affiliate], and I used their .mp4 preset. The program helpfully allows me to specify resolution and bit rate, so I wanted to see the ceiling the Zune had on bit rate. Ripping to 320 x 240 in resolution, I ripped three different files at 500 kbps, 1000 kbps, and 1500 kbps. The Zune 80 could play all three of - I knew it could handle the first two, but I wasn’t sure if the processor could decode 1500 kbps MP4 files. At 320 x 240, 1500 kbps is probably overkill (I think 1000 kbps looks identical), but if you’re ripping to 640 x 480 to play back on a TV, the more bits the better. I haven’t tested the upper limits of the Zune - I’m not actually sure what the threshold is for when the Zune desktop software transcoding kicks in. Anyone done any tests to find what the upper limit is for Zune video quality? What Video Format and Bit Rate Do you Use on Your Zune?
