For anyone interested (like me who had his little iRiver destroyed in the washing machine...), it looks like Microsoft has the next beta version (hehe) of their Zune player coming : http://www.engadget.com/tag/Zune/ I'm guessing in one or two more versions, they'll be a threat to iPod marketshare.
I'm looking to switch to another mp3 player from my current Ipod Video. The problem is it takes way too long to scroll through some 150 albums or so. I wish they had alphabetized the artists so I could just select a letter and then go to those selected artists. Its annoying as it is right now.
Interview with J Allard (heading up the Zune development/project) : http://blogs.reuters.com/mediafile/2007/10/03/zune-qa-with-microsofts-j-allard/
i hope they make the new zunes drag and drop, enable lossless encoding, and gapless playback. the older zunes weren't bad in the audio quality department, but the firmware was terrible. and unlike ipod, nobody made a rockbox type program for it.
My new blackberry.....if it ever gets here........has a media player, and it accepts microSD cards. I bought six of them from newegg when I bought the phone. Three 2GB cards and three 1GB cards.......all for less than a hundred bucks. I don't know if I'll struggle to keep up with the cards (they are so damn small), but it sure seems like the way to go. Unlimited space at a cheap price. And I just have to carry around headphones, not headphones AND another device. I wonder if I'll miss my iPod?
its a good option if you are space strapped. i use SD cards in my cellphone but the quality pales in comparison to any true mp3 player.
i bought the original Zune off of Woot 2 weeks ago for $146, and that thing is not bad at all. The only thing I dont like about it is the sync program, as much as I hate to admit it, iTunes works much better. this maybe slightly off topic, but my nano is stuck with the keylock on. I've tried to reset it (menu/center key held down) but same issue, I even reformat it through iTunes, same thing, any ideas? I've read to drain the battery, but how the hell am I suppose to do that if its locked? If everything else fail, new Nano Fatty here I come
That iTunes software is dog crap in my book...especially when it comes to importing a CD. It never imports all the songs and always crashes during the import. I don't get it. It's also not the greatest UI experience IMO. If it feels like a turd, then it usually is.
I just wonder how long it will be until Microsoft abandons the whole Zune thing. "Plays for Sure" was the last big campaign. Now, if you bought music from MSN Music (which sold music for the "Plays for Sure" players), you can't play it on the Zune. Why couldn't they at least make the Zune compatible with music bought from their service? How many times can you do something like that and still expect people to trust you?
Same here. I've heard that iTunes can be a different experience depending on the platform you are using (i.e. on Mac vs. Windows). I've used it on both (XP, currently) and never had any issues. My only gripe is that it seems that every time I load it up, there's yet another update available.
Those of us that don't want/need to install iTunes feel your pain... "Hey, there's a Quicktime update... oh, and btw, let us install iTunes on your machine, too, while we're at it...." Blech. Amazon has the new Zune 80GB coming out Nov. 13
<embed width="320" height="240" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" quality="high" src="http://freevideocoding.com/flvplayer.swf?file=http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/video/bishop/zune2demo.flv&autoStart=false"></embed> I think people haven't learned about this feature. "You can easily connect to your home wireless network and sync your Zune with your PC collection of digital goodies" i dont think the ipod can do that. that's one feature I been waiting for. because lets get straight here..i don't buy every single song I am going to put on my mp3 player. so this whole wireless store mess doesn't appeal to me. but now i can turn on my zune and send songs wirelessly from my pc!!!! and yes itouch istroke watever is good lookin but does apple expect me to shell out 300 bucks for an 8gb mp3 player?
