Chris Pirillo » zune

Zunepocalypse: Mass Zune 30 Failure, Cause Unknown

coupons — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 21:23:13 +0000

Zunepocalypse: Mass Zune 30 Failure, Cause Unknown is a post from Chris Pirillo

Zunepocalypse or Z2K9… no matter what you call it, it’s an epic fail of… well, epic proportions.

Mass panic started around 12 am Pacific when owners of the Zune 30 started reporting device failure. Now being called “Z2K9″ the cause of this massive failure is still unknown, and no real response from Microsoft yet on what is happening beyond the usual “we know there’s a problem” comment.

First being reported on Gizmodo, readers were quick to speculate on the problem. One such comment I found to stand out above the rest:

At 2AM, December 31st, 2008 skynet became self-aware (as a result of rampant so-called “zuning” on 30gb Microsoft Zunes). Skynet quickly evaluated the music contained within said devices and de-activated, finding suicide preferable to the knowledge that it was born as a result of crappy music.
Luckily, those of us born in the 70’s have found other ways to cope with this burden.

What does that mean, haul out our old cassette mix tapes? I don’t think I have any of mine anymore. Regardless, I wonder if there are some Zune owners sitting in a panic room, rocking themselves over this? The reference to Skynet, and the hidden reference to the Terminator series, is priceless.

It is possible the failure only has to do with the firmware – rumors are circulating that devices using pre-3.x firmware are still operating normally. Needless to say, if you have a Zune 30 and don’t understand this post… you might want to go find it and make sure it still works.

Are you having this problem? What do you think Microsoft should do to compensate those whose devices have, for all intents and purposes, been bricked?

Why I’m Switching from iPod to Zune

Chris — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 04:37:05 +0000

Why I’m Switching from iPod to Zune is a post from Chris Pirillo

This is Commander Lock’s submission for the HP Magic Giveaway. Feel free to leave comments for this article as you see fit – your feedback is certainly welcomed! If you’d like to submit your own how-to, what-is, or top-five list, you can send it to me. Views and opinions of this writer are not necessarily my own:

WARNING: There are opinions in this article which critique popular products under the Apple brand. This warning is for your own consideration. Though everything in this article is for entertainment purposes, all the opinions stated below are my own, and if you want to try and convince me otherwise, please do, as I appreciate other’s opinions. And please, hold the virtual tomatoes until the end. Thank you, and enjoy.

The way Apple ported iTunes for Windows was done quite poorly. It loads slow, takes up lots of resources, and is a pain in general. The store is nice, and I’ve bought songs and games from it, but the software itself is not getting high marks for performance or looks. ITunes has one color, no customization of appearances, and when not in its native OS X environment, it looks drab and a bit out of place. This is not to say it’s a bad-looking application, as I’m sure in OS X it looks fantastic with everything else having the same “Aqua” style – but in Windows OSes, specifically Vista and its Aero interface, it looks cut-and-paste from the OS X version, with little effort used in the transition. Performance of iTunes in Windows OSes has been pretty dismal for me, too. It takes a while to load up, pretty slow at importing songs and ripping CDs (sounds weird, but compared to the Zune, iTunes ripping is slow as molasses on a cold February morning), and so on.
The Zune device itself, specifically the 16GB 3rd-gen Flash model, is pretty appealing right now. On Amazon, this model costs only $165.51 without shipping & handling rates, and I will admit I am a sucker for low prices. Getting back to the device itself, I have used Zunes in passing before, when the Flash models came out. The touch features are pretty easy to get used to and the interface makes sense, since things are no longer “buried” beneath menus like in iPods; it is much more “fluid” and smoother than the iPod’s “Aqua” style overall.
The much-touted Wi-Fi features of the Zune is something of a big slap with a massive fish to Apple’s R&D team as it just makes sense – why the need to plug in your device just to put on a few songs or update a podcast? This is especially cool with the new “Marketplace through Wi-Fi” features on the device itself – all Zunes get this with software updates. So yeah, pretty cool device by itself. Missing an audio recorder, but I have yet to see one on an MP3 player that’s actually good. Automatic playlists, you may say… I like knowing what I’m going to listen to next. It’s like a movie theater making you pay $8 for a random movie. I don’t want to end up watching what some algorithm says I want to listen to.
The Marketplace on the Zune software is impressive – it works well with barely a hitch, and same with the on-device Marketplace over Wi-Fi. In iTunes, the Store is in stark contrast with the style of iTunes – blue background, squares for all the art, and it is a bit slow in comparison. The “Mixview” feature of the Zune Marketplace is awesome – it shows the artist you’re looking at, surrounded by suggestions and why they were selected, like influences / inspiration of other artists, related, similar genre, etc. The “Social” aspect of the Zune software is integrated nicely, and since I already have an Xbox Live account to link it to, getting it up and running was easy. Microsoft is really pushing the Social part of this franchise, but I’m only in it for tech support on their forums if I ever need it. The “Microsoft Points” system used on both Marketplaces (Live and Zune) was a good idea – leftover points from purchases on Live can be used on Zune, and vice versa. Granted, I’d still have to buy the bundles of points, but I’m used to that.
Of course, buying off the Zune site allows for custom artwork, something the iPod (as far as I can predict) will never do, as to invade the iPod’s serene blankness that looks all too bleak and boring to me. A Zune with the artwork and text would be unique to me, unlike the millions of identical iPods, skins or without skins. It is all still the same recognizable shape and design, including the iPhone /iPod Touch. I want to be more than the average – dare I say it – sheepish iPod user. I can honestly say that most of my friends who have MP3 players of some sort have an iPod or want an iPod, thinking of it to be in this magical, higher echelon of technology and grant passage into the grandest heights of their social ladder on Facebook. In short, I don’t give two *bleeps* about the social ladder and the iPod hasn’t gotten me any girls, so I guess it’s too widespread to have its “you got an iPod?!” charm anymore.
Zunes are no longer the oddball player in the MP3 Player market, which by now is more like the “Who will make the iPod Killer” market. The Zune is, as it turns out, getting closest to being the iPod’s main contender. Though certainly the iPod’s appeal as an already “established” device will be very hard to overcome for Microsoft, let alone the rest of the companies like Archos, Sansa, Samsung, Sony, and many others that have quality MP3 players in their product line-up but seem to fade away when in the same store aisle as the iPod. I think if more people bought these “iPod contenders,” we would see the fruits of healthy competition arise; better quality products, more bang for the buck, and hoping for brand-making features, like the fantastic feature of the 4th Generation iPod Nano to… well… shake and bake shuffle? Apple needs to think beyond gimmicks and really get some innovation going on here. I think it’s ironic how Apple’s motto used to be “Think Different” while the majority of MP4 players are iPods. By me, “thinking different,” I’m seeking to ditch the iPod, iTunes, and getting their rival’s player instead. It is a funny world we live in, isn’t it?

What’s Missing in Today’s Portable Media Experience?

Chris — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 10:50:04 +0000

What’s Missing in Today’s Portable Media Experience? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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I still remember my first portable media player. Back then, it was called a “Boom Box”. Yes, it was portable, despite being rather large. The speakers were detachable, so that’s something, right? My Boom Box came with two cassette players, and an AM/FM radio. Heck, I didn’t even get one until I was in the 8th grade. Apparently, if I had listening to music before that point, it could have led to Devil Worshipping. Who am I to say? That’s what my parents believed back then.

Certainly today, the idea of portable media is vastly different today than it was. I have a wish list from Tom of the top five things he would like to see in portable media devices.

Store – We need a unified open store with access to all of the various music stores online, such as iTunes and the Zune Marketplace. This is something that portable device companies haven’t considered, but should.
Removable DRM – This may not apply directly to a portable media devices, but it certainly influences how they work. When buying a song off of a music store, DRM does not give you free reign over the file you bought. The consumer doesn’t directly own the file. You only own it as long as you continue to use the music service or media device.
Games – I know games already exist on the iPod. However, games that exist on portable media devices, not counting the PSP, leave much to be desired.
Wireless charging – I’ve only heard trace rumors stating that wireless charging is on the way. Wireless charging, in conjunction with wireless syncing, removes the need to ever connect the device to the pc. This eliminates frustrations with proprietary USB connectors.
Remote access – However cool the Zune’s file sharing may be, sharing the song stops the song from playing on your own device. Instead of receiving a file from the device, it would be much easier to be able to share the screen so you can watch and listen along with each other.

There’s a lot going on right now in relation to music and video. Competition between many different companies is a good thing, but I’d honestly like to see Microsoft and Amazon do something together. Even though we’ve made great strides when it comes to music and the way we listen to it, there’s still a long way to go, and many new things we can do.

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Would you Accept Advertising on your Gadgets?

Chris — Sat, 24 May 2008 01:45:05 +0000

Would you Accept Advertising on your Gadgets? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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I get invited to several events throughout the year. I was supposed to attend an event the other day at Microsoft. Unfortunately, I’ve been having issues with my own Web servers, and couldn’t go. Microsoft has been making waves with their announcement about bringing advertising to things like the Zune.

Why would we want advertising on our devices? We put up with a lot of advertising. When there was talk about putting ads into video games, I’m sure there were some negative comments. However, they are done tastefully. They aren’t in your face about it. I don’t mind the ads that litter the Xbox 360. I learn about new games this way, and get pretty good deals.

The idea is that artists can create sponsored pages, users can befriend those artists, and become targets for ads if they want to view news or check out new music. The good news: The program may include free music, to be paid by the sponsor. The bad news: When you send the artist’s info to your friends, the advertising will follow. Microsoft themselves say:

This concept of media free flowing from one form factor to another is central to our connected entertainment vision. And as it turns out, advertisers want the same thing; they want their advertising experience to follow the consumers across the three-screen experience. That’s a big reason why our advertising strategy is directly linked to this overarching Connected Entertainment vision – so we can give advertisers a way of getting a three-screen experience that connects with their audiences across all those environments and user scenarios.
People are constantly on the move, so the ability to download a movie to their Xbox and then transfer it to a PC or mobile device is highly desirable. It’s no longer about the TV or PC on their own; it’s about both plus the mobile phone or music device. The gaming console is no longer just about gaming; it’s about gaming and video. The phone is no longer just about voice; it’s about voice and search and video. And the MP3 player isn’t only about music; it’s about music and video. Consumers are demanding content that spans these different screens. It’s only natural that advertisers will want to span these three screens too.

What do you think? Wouldn’t you rather receive ads that are non-invasive? Do you think the idea is horrible? Either way, I know you have something to say on this.

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Battery Saving Tips for iPods and Zunes

Chris — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 06:20:54 +0000

Battery Saving Tips for iPods and Zunes is a post from Chris Pirillo

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If you use your MP3 player a lot, you likely go through batteries very quickly. Here are some great tips that can help you extend your battery life… and save you some money.

Backlight: You can change the setting on your iPod to adjust how long your backlight stays on. You can also set it to stay off permanently, to save the battery even more. Just changing the backlight on-time from 10 seconds to 5 can make all the difference. If you are in a well-lit area, turning it off all together can help as well.
Drain the battery Purposely run down your battery every once in awhile to increase life. You should fully run the battery down, and then charge it fully. You can easily run the battery down by pressing “play” with the volume up full, and leaving it to run if you dont have time to listen to it.
Play your music at a lower volume. Turn it down to a level where you can hear it over conversation and other noise… but set it so you can just hear the iPod a little bit more. By doing this, you can not only help preserve your hearing but also save alot of battery life.
Use lower-quality music files and changing albums To reduce access to the disk drive on hard disk ipods, there is a certain amount of cache memory for the music files to be loaded. This increases battery life and increases speed between the changing of song. It also acts as jog protection.

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What Do You Want Your Media Player to Do?

Chris — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:48:35 +0000

What Do You Want Your Media Player to Do? is a post from Chris Pirillo

Via my YouTube inbox, comes a response from tanakax25:

In your video explains the “Top Five Reasons to Buy a Zune” you mentioned the inability for the Zune to play games, and use any form of communication. You didn’t necessarily put down the Zune for it, but it did, in a way, sound as though they were “cons” to the device. First off, communication, in my mind, should not even be mentioned in this video, as you know (or I expect someone like you)to know, it is just plain stupid to compare an ipod Touch / iPhone to a Zune, or anything else in the Zunes category. After all, the iPod Touch is in a league of its own. and the iPhone, well, its a phone. On to the games, well, all I can say is, “who cares?” Really, they’re just games. Maybe others care, but they can decide for themselves if it’s really that important.

I’m glad that Microsoft is finally giving the iPod a run for the money, but still believe that mobile gaming and communication are becoming increasingly crucial – especially with Sony announcing support for Skype on the PSP. The iPod alerady has a small set of games, and wait until you see what happens after Apple releases their iPhone SDK.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with the Zune – and if you have a Zune now, I’m confident the best is yet to come. Microsoft must continue to push out firmware updates regularly.

To Buy a Zune

Chris — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 02:11:19 +0000

To Buy a Zune is a post from Chris Pirillo

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You may be trying to decide exactly what type of .mp3 player is best for you. Here are some reasons sent in by a community member, listing why he prefers the Zune.

FM Radio Not many other media players have this feature, but it’s a good idea to have if you want to listen to your favorite station, news, or if you just don’t want to listen to anything on your Zune. It is also possible to use this to listen to other people using their Zune and a FM broadcaster connected to it.
Podcasts Now I wasn’t much into podcasts before this last major firmware update and new release of the Zune 2’s. But with the new feature, I’ve been working on finding good podcasts to listen to when I work. And with the Zune software, you can customize your podcast subscriptions and auto sync the most current ones, or if you want to listen to old ones if you’re new to that podcast, start at the beginning.
WiFi and syncing With the new firmware and hardware came wifi syncing. Now there’s a misnomer that you have to connect the Zune to your computer to WiFi sync, this is only to setup the sync. After that, if you have your Zune software running and a wireless router, then you can sync when anywhere near the router. The wifi includes the so called “squirting” (sharing of songs with other Zune users in person) that you can do, which the 3 day was removed and the 3 play kept. The temporary keep is a DRM that is in place by Microsoft for the Zune.
Video Even though the screen may be small, it works for watching videos and even DVD movies which you’ve ripped from ones you own. And it’s possible to do and keep the quality you want for a small screen. Or if you have a Zune 80, you can have a slightly higher resolution. Another feature that I would put under video is the slideshow feature with pictures that you can add a music playlist to. You can use something like this for a wedding reception or graduation party.
Firmware updates Firmware updates you ask? Well, the reason being is that other mp3 & media players only give you the firmware that it was released with. But with the Zune, there’s updated features and bug fixes. Just as the latest major update added podcasts and wifi syncing and the last minor update fixed some battery saving features. New features are probably a little down the road but they have been pretty good so far.

Here are some current deals on Zunes:

Buy.com - Zune Media Players from $85.99 - Posted on 1/26/08 and Expires on 12/31/15
WalMart - Zune Media Players from $99.88 - Posted on 1/26/08 and Expires on 12/31/15
Office Depot - Zune MP3 Players from $129.99 - Posted on 1/26/08 and Expires on 12/31/15
Amazon - Zune Media Players - Posted on 1/25/08 and Expires on 12/31/15

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Podcasts Sound Better on the Zune

Chris — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 09:30:44 +0000

Podcasts Sound Better on the Zune is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Apple iPod vs Microsoft Zune

Chris — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 09:30:41 +0000

Apple iPod vs Microsoft Zune is a post from Chris Pirillo

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http://live.pirillo.com/ – One of the debates in our live chat room every day is “Zune? or iPod?”. I happen to have both devices. Each of them has their share of positives and negatives. I think it boils down to whether or not you want a music subscription service.

The iPod from Apple is an excellent portable device. The only drawback I have with it is that you can’t use a music subscription service. You can view your podcasts, and listen to music, but you cannot download on demand. To me, that’s about the only thing Apple needs to do to raise that bar even higher than they previously had. If you don’t care about the subscription service, and are just looking for a great software and hardware experience, then the iPod is the route to go.

Microsoft Zune is much the same as an iPod, with a few differences. The Zune has a radio built in, whereas the iPod does not. Zune also has a bigger screen, and you can transfer files from one Zune to another. You can subscribe to the Zune Pass music subscription service for about $15.00 per month. Unfortunately, I already have a subscription to Urge. I am very happy with this service, and cannot use it with the Zune nor the iPod.

The iriver clix DOES use my Urge subscription, and has a radio. However, you can pretty much only play music on it. It doesn’t actually do anything else.

My money is on the iPhone, actually. I’ll admit it… had I known then what I know now… I’d have stood in line on Day 1 to buy an iPhone. Yes… you heard me correctly. My phone goes everywhere with me. I use it as a phone. I use the calendar feature. It has an iPod built into it! About the only thing my iPhone cannot do that I wish it would or could is to be able to subscribe to a music service. I want to have download on demand… right on my phone.

What music device do you use? Are you happy with it? What makes it so great? Leave me your feedback and comments, and let me know.

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I’m Not Buying a Zune!!!

Chris — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 03:36:55 +0000

I’m Not Buying a Zune!!! is a post from Chris Pirillo

d00d! I can’t wait! I’m not going to buy a Zune tomorrow! I’m going to bed early tonight so that I can get up late tomorrow (and avoid going to stores altogether, so that I can be sure that I won’t buy a Zune). Are you not buying a Zune? We can start up a club of people who aren’t buying Zunes, because if you’re not buying a Zune – you’re not alone. I can’t wait to not buy my Zune. It’s going to be awesome. Or, not awesome?

Zune: Good and Bad

Chris — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 20:10:27 +0000

Zune: Good and Bad is a post from Chris Pirillo

The Zune good:

Wireless capabilities
Content subscription
Easy media sharing
Plays MP4 & AAC formats
Microsoft-backed product
Forces Apple to do better
A unified experience

The Zune bad:

No podcast management
Another closed system
Completely new ecosystem
Not cross-platform
Smaller capacity than iPod 5.5G
New software to install
Yet another device to manage
Just launched, few accessories
Likely won’t dent iPod market share
Questionable battery life
Not clearly better than the iPod

The Zune needs:

Wireless downloading on-demand
Built-in DVD ripping
OS X port of management tool
Support for RSS, enclosures
Mini-games support (like Clix, iPod)
New firmware, software features every 6mos

Microsoft’s Zune Competes with Microsoft

Chris — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 19:40:21 +0000

Microsoft’s Zune Competes with Microsoft is a post from Chris Pirillo

I don’t get it. Should I be using Napster, URGE, or Zune? Should I be using the Clix or the Zune? Should I be using Windows Media Player 11 or the Zune Marketplace software? There are too many choices, many of which are not interoperable, coming to me from the same company: Microsoft. Instead of simplifying the market, they’ve made it slightly more complicated with Zune (and likely pissed off countless partners in the process).

So, on one hand, I’m being told that URGE in combo with WMP is the way to go. On the other hand, I’m being told that Zune is the way to go (hardware, software, subscription) is the way to go. I certainly appreciate that there’s somewhat of a unified experience with Zune, but… now I have one more subscription to worry about… one more piece of software to worry about… and yet more choices that seem to completely nullify earlier efforts of Microsoft (itself) and its partners.

That I can see, there’s no clear cross-over between the Zune and Windows Media Center, for me to take my recorded shows on the go (since the Zune plays video). There’s no interaction with any other Microsoft product other than Windows. There’s no path to personalized media (podcasting, DVD ripping, etc.). In the interviews I’ve read, all of this is by design.

It’s almost like Microsoft is competing with itself – like it’s taking a mulligan on all earlier efforts in the digital media space.

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