An alleged Microsoft source today claims that Nokia is developing phones that would be compatible with the Zune Marketplace. While the project isn’t said to involve custom handset design, Nokia in the suggested plan would integrate its software with.
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News Analysis. As usual, Microsoft’s annual 10-K filing is a treasure trove of information.
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A new rumor regarding Nokia working with the Zune team to give its customers access to the Zune Marketplace is making the rounds. According to the source, the deal will not be exclusive to Nokia, meaning that Apple may one day get some serious competition on the iTunes-iPod Touch-iPhone front.
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“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.
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?
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
“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.
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.
“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!
“It may be hard to believe, but from what we’ve now heard from multiple sources, it’s true: the fourth-generation iPod nano will look like… a Microsoft Zune. Well, sort of. Contradicting speculation that Apple was planning to transform the new nano into a miniature iPod touch, complete with a smaller touchscreen, we’ve been told that this year’s nano upgrade will go in a different direction. Described by one source as looking like “a Zune Flash… or whatever it’s called,” the new nano has a vertically (tall) oriented display with a Click Wheel underneath, preserving the button-based control scheme that users have found easiest to use without looking down at the screen. The new nano’s screen will gain the same 1.5:1 widescreen aspect ratio as the iPhone and iPod touch, versus the 1.33:1 ratio of the prior iPod nano and iPod classic, and you’ll rotate the device to watch videos on it.”
Does this surprise anyone else? It doesn’t surprise me. The design of the Nano “fatty” never seemed particularly appealing to me - the screen was too small to be useful for, well, really anything. And it’s not like the second generation Nano was too big - I liked the design it quite a bit, which is why I like the design of the Zune 4/8 so much. It’s a nice balance of screen size and functionality, and about the only way I’d improve the outer design of the Zune 4/8 would be to make the screen bigger, nixing that huge bezel. I’m not convinced that a wide-screen aspect ratio screen is appropriate for a device this size - what do you think? I really want to see the Zune 80 gain a wide-aspect ratio, WVGA resolution screen, but on a device as small as the Zune 4/8…would you want to watch movies on it?
“When Yahoo announced that it would follow Sony Connect and MSN Music into dissolution by terminating its DRM-ed music store, customers of the store and media analysts were understandably irate. But we can all take some comfort in Yahoo’s vague offer to reimburse those who were unfortunate enough to have paid for PlaysForSure DRM-ed downloads from the Yahoo Music service, although details remain scarce.”
Earlier this week we told you that Yahoo! Music was shutting down, taking its DRM servers with it, leaving those of you that purchased music from them potentially high and try. It seems there were enough complaints that they are offering some sort of refund, though the specifics haven’t been shared yet. It is better than nothing. Whatever it is though, this whole DRM issue is leaving a sour taste in consumer’s mouths and I suspect remaining DRM music stores are feeling a bit of a squeeze as more and more customers understand what DRM really involves and are moving to other methods of obtaining music, where when once purchased, the user owns the song, even if the music store goes out of business the next day.
“I’m tired of waiting - I want a dead simple and dirt cheap touch screen web tablet to surf the web. Nothing fancy like the Dell latitude XT, which costs $2,500. Just a Macbook Air-thin touch screen machine that runs Firefox and possibly Skype on top of a Linux kernel. It doesn’t exist today, and as far as we can tell no one is creating one. So let’s design it, build a few and then open source the specs so anyone can create them. Here’s the basic idea: The machine is as thin as possible, runs low end hardware and has a single button for powering it on and off, headphone jacks, a built in camera for video, low end speakers, and a microphone. It will have Wifi, maybe one USB port, a built in battery, half a Gigabyte of RAM, a 4-Gigabyte solid state hard drive. Data input is primarily through an iPhone-like touch screen keyboard. It runs on linux and Firefox.”
Now this is something I’d pay $200 for! I’m baffled why someone hasn’t created something like this already, but I was equally baffled as to why it took until last year for someone to build an affordable, small Web-focused computer like the Asus Eee PC. I’ve a firm believer in the concept of a low-cost, thin and light computer in every room - something that acts as a portal to your information. If this product materializes, it’s a small step in the right direction. What would you like to see on this? I’d want to see an embedded version of VLC Media Player so it could handle all manner of video and audio files. A USB port would allow for a nice 8 GB USB flash drive for playing back video files off of, and I’d like to see it have an SD card slot for photo and video viewing (or more storage). What would you like to see this product have? Would you buy one for $200? $300?
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?
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 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.
“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!
“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.
“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.
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
“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?
