Zune Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

If you have a Zune Pass, it's not immediately obvious how you claim your ten free song credits, so since I have a three-month Zune Pass trial (courtesy of a kind soul on the Zune Team), I figured I'd see how this worked. When you see a song you want, you click on the Download button like you normally would. Only instead of just downloading the track, you'll see the pop-up windw above, which gives you the option to use a song credit or just download it as part of your Zune Pass account. If you click Use Credit, one of your ten credits will be used. Here's the weird thing I noticed though: nowhere in the process does it show you/tell you what format the song is in, MP3 or DRM'd WMA. If, when you're browsing the album you see the small MP3 icon, the download will be in MP3 format. If you don't see the MP3 icon, the download will be in DRM'd WMA format. An even though 90% of the catalog is in MP3 format, it didn't take me long to find an album that was in the WMA DRM'd format.

I'm really liking this 10 free tracks a month deal, but the Zune team shouldn't hide the fact that some tracks are DRM'd. I don't consider any music truly mind to keep as long as it's poisoned by DRM, because as we've seen several times this year, all it takes to make that music stop working is for a company to decide they're going to turn off their DRM server.

I had no idea until grommet mentioned it in our forums that the 10 song credit was for ANY music in the Zune library and not just for music part of their subscription service. That turns what is a pretty neat feature into something that’s “woah” to me. If you buy at least 10 tracks of digital music a month anyway then the cost of a Zune Pass on top of that becomes much more palatable. I have to say I’m still very surprised that Microsoft is doing this. This is definitely a huge deal in my eyes and something they need to promote heavily.

That said, what are you all buying with your first 10 tracks? We only have a week to do it really since the tracks don’t carry over and there’s no time like the present! I knew instantly what I was going to buy anyway. Metallica’s “Black” album. It has 12 tracks so I went ahead and bought the final two tracks to get the whole thing. Anyone think that a lot of people may do something similar and end up buying music anyway to get the whole album?

"The week just keep getting better for Zune owners: today we're announcing some amazing enhancements for Zune Pass. Starting today at about 11:00PM pacific time, everyone with a Zune Pass gets to keep 10 tracks from Zune Marketplace each month. These 10 tracks will be yours to keep, forever. Each month that you keep your Zune Pass current, you'll get another 10 tracks credited to your account. All this for the same price as your Zune Pass today: 14.99/month, or about the price of one CD per month. So each month as you discover and download new music in Zune Marketplace, you'll be able to keep 10 of your favorite tracks. One quick note: there is no roll-over, so make sure you collect your 10 tracks each month."

The blog post goes on to say that approximately 90% of the 4 million tracks in the Zune Marketplace are available in MP3 format. I don't know if that's something that has just changed tonight though, because the last time I checked I had a really hard time finding MP3s in the songs that I wanted - and that's why I purchase most of my digital music from Amazon's MP3 store. Still, I'm all for DRM-free music, so it's great to see them focusing hard on getting more MP3s into their catalog.

Back to the big news though: getting to keep approximately $10 worth of music per month, and getting rented access to a huge collection of music, all for $15 per month, is compelling. What I'm not sure about is what format the 10 tracks you get are - I suspect their in WMA format and DRM-laden, which makes them less interesting, but I suppose it's better than nothing. The Zune team isn't the first I've heard offering a subscription service with tracks to keep (check out what Nokia is doing), but I think it's a first out of the major players in the subscription industry - which I guess really only consists of Rhapsody and Napster at this point with pretty much every other player dying off.

So what do you think? Is this enough to make you want to sign up for a Zune Pass if you've been resisting up until now?

"Since it first landed two years ago, the Zune has been the butt of many jokes, like how its wireless music sharing feature would be great, if only a second person would buy one. But while Apple Inc. has counted on the sex appeal of its ever-thinner devices to keep consumers turned on, the Zune team has been beefing up its software and courting artists like Common, a dashing MC with mainstream appeal who might just help make Zune — dare we say it? — cool."

Common has been promoting with Zune since he performed on the Los Angeles leg of Summer 2007's Live at the BBQ Concert series. Zune sponsored his most recent tour, which he used to promote his forthcoming album, Universal Mind Control. Perhaps in an attempt to return the favor, the video for the epynonymous lead single, Universal Mind Control, features a Zune in the opening and closing shots. Though both Common and Microsoft deny any monetary compensation for the placement in the video, Common has since appeared in the latest round of Zune ads, alongside hip hop legend Afrika Bambaataa. The spot, which promotes the Zune software's new "Mixview" feature, attempts to show the relationship between the Neptunes-produced Universal Mind Control and similar-sounding tracks made years ago by Bambaataa and his group, the Soulsonic Force. Mixview has been promoted by Microsoft as a music discovery tool which visually showcases relationships between artists, their influences, influencers, and contemporaries, and is at the center of a new multi-million dollar campaign headed by noted ad firm Crispin Porter + Bogusky, who have previously worked on Microsoft's I am A PC campaign and Burger King's Subservient Chicken viral campaign.

I'm a huge fan of Common's music, and ate up every minute of Cesar's interview with him when he visited the Zune offices in September (my brother had a similar experience with Common when the artist came into the Obama election headquarters to make get-out-the-vote phone calls). And I love the simplicity of the spot itself; it seems for the first time the Zune marketing guys have gotten out of their own heads and actually showcased the product itself. While it's not quite on par with Apple's "This is how you use the App Store" commercials for the iPhone, it's certainly much better than the launch ads. Hopefully Common and CP+B can finally inject some much-needed mass appeal into the Zune marketing campaign. The ad runs this week on most networks that target 18-25 year-olds (MTV, Comedy Central, Adult Swim), and during both the Sunday and Monday Night Football games.

The ZuneOne leather case ($15 USD) is a folio-style case with a magnetic closure mechanism and a rotating leather belt clip on the back. The magnetic closure feels very "Zune" (in line with other accessories like the headphones and car pack v2). While the overall construction is solid and has held up under a good deal of almost continual punishment, the stitching between the back of the case and the belt clip feels weak, and several of the seams started to open up after only a few weeks of normal usage. Additionally, the cutouts for the play/pause and back buttons are quite hard to get at, though both the screen and d-pad benefit from their generously-sized holes. Read more...

About two months ago, I purchased a Canon HF100 high-definition video camera to replace my ageing but still totally sweet Canon GL2 (that thing has such great optics!). It took me a while to re-create my template in 16:9 format, but I did and published my first two HD videos to YouTube...and I was quite disappointed with the results. YouTube only offers a 4:3 aspect ratio player, so 16:9 videos look pretty tiny with those big black bars on the top and bottom. I set out to find a better solution for embedding videos on Thoughts Media sites, and I think I've found one: MotionBox.

I say "I think" because while the video quality is utterly fantastic, and for $20 per year they offer a lot of value, I've been seeing some problematic playback issues today - sometimes the video will start right away, other times it will take 30+ seconds before it starts, and sometimes it won't start at all, instead showing a black box. And sometimes it will just "break" and stop playing. These are obviously serious problems, but I don't know if MotionBox is just having a bad day, or if my bandwidth Kung-fu is weak today. So check out the video below and report back what you find - does it play back OK? Any problems or glitches?

“The software maker plans to announce on Wednesday a price cut for its flash-based models. The 4GB version will drop to $99, the 8GB model will drop by $10 to $139, and the 16GB model will sell for $179, down from $199. Microsoft is also cutting prices for several of its Zune accessories. The cuts take effect on Wednesday in the U.S. and on Friday in Canada.”

Well, this is welcome news for the holiday season. I think this is something Microsoft should have done a long time ago, personally. The flash players are where the really big market is and I think these price cuts could actually have a big impact on their sales. The 8GB model at $139 is a very good price.

My only problem will be deciding which one to buy. I really wanted a flash player for working out and I can’t think of a better time than this holiday season.

The CNet article also talks about the new ad campaign that Microsoft kicked off on Monday that centers around getting people to download the software even if they don’t have the Zune player.

"Well, I am thrilled about this piece of news! Effective today, Zune Marketplace has added video content from PBS, including NOVA, Scientific American Frontiers, Carrier, and more. You can also download specials and mini-series, such as Ken Burns’ acclaimed 2001 miniseries, Jazz. The ten episodes of this series will set you back 8,000 points, or about $100 US. A season of NOVA goes for 2,880 points, or roughly $36."

Not only did we get hit with the Zune 3.1 update today (just a day before the big XBox 360 update tomorrow too!) but Microsoft also added to their video library the PBS collection, according to Harvey Chute over at Zunerama. Every bit of new content, especially in the video section, is only a good thing. I’m not actually familiar with any of the shows but PBS is definitely a big name to bring into the Zune fold!

Actually a few of them sounds really interesting. Anyone have any thoughts on them?

Today, the Zune 3.1 release come out - and for a .1 release, it's looking pretty big! The most obvious change is that there are now three new games, bringing the total to five. There are three new games - Checkers, Sudoku, and Space Battle - along with a multi-player enhancement to Texas Hold 'Em. The three new games, and their descriptions are as follows:

Checkers: "Checkers - the eternal strategy challenge you can learn in minutes and play for life. Play the classic game or try suicide mode, in which the first to lose all their pieces wins."

SuDoKu: "Solve Sudoku by filling in all nine rows and columns with the numerals 1 through 9. Each numeral can only be placed once in a given row or column. Play the classic 9×9 or a quick 6×6 game."

Space Battle: "Survive as long as you can against increasingly aggressive waves of alien attackers! Customize your ship and add weapons to your armory as you progress through the game."

Texas Hold 'Em is enhanced with new multiplayer optons. I don't have any details about this, but I presume it's for local WiFi play with nearby Zunes. There are also new single-player difficulty levels for you Texas Hold 'Em pros out there.

Other enhancements with this 3.1 release include:

• Zune Social enhancements include a visual refresh to make things easier to navigate, and a new feature called "Like Minded Listeners" that will let you see how compatible your music tastes are with friends and other listeners.
• There's improved stability and performance in both the device firmware and desktop software. One the device they've improved the play count reporting and content synchronization, especially channels and wireless purchases from the device. The device side firmware should also eliminate some of the lag we sometimes see.

Want to snag this 3.1 release? Just sync your Zune and sometime within the next few hours you should see the 3.1 update pop up. Enjoy, and let us know what you think!

"The most recent installment of the Zune newsletter includes a survey question that hints at the possibility of the Zune being used as additional Xbox 360 storage. After selecting "Yes" to the first question, readers are asked "Have you ever connected your Zune to your Xbox to do any of the following?" The first response to the question is "Use my Zune hard drive for extra Xbox 360 storage." One could interpret this as meaning that Microsoft is considering making the Zune official backup storage for saved games, Marketplace downloads, etc. Yes, that would be a great reason to buy a Zune, but keep in mind that the question could refer to using the Zune simply as a means to upload pictures and audio tracks to the 360 (although that would be ridiculous because nobody would give a damn). And, of course, it may mean nothing at all. We shall have to wait and see if Microsoft does the smart thing here."

While I'd like to believe something like this is a sign of what's to come, I just don't see it happening. Why would I want game content on my Zune if I can't do anything with it? What purpose does it serve to carry around my Halo 3 stats with me everywhere? Even if I could, I doubt I'd beam my gamerscore to a buddy the same way I would with a new track. I think, and as Christopher Price points out, that the question itself was just poorly worded:

"What the question meant to ask was “Are you storing pictures and video on your Zune, because your Xbox 360 hard drive is full from game and marketplace content?” When you realize that’s what they were asking… you can see how the rumor got started. Microsoft does want to know that this is an issue, because over on the PlayStation 3, people can use all kinds of storage options… it takes only a few minutes to upgrade the hard drive with one of your own (and not pay Microsoft’s six-times-cost markup for their puny 120 GB hard drive). If the PS3 is luring away savvy customers over being able to have unbounded storage options… Microsoft needs to tackle that issue (with more than the obnoxious-highway-robbery of their hard drives, of which, I refuse to pay… and use my Xbox 360 less because of it)."