Didn't see this posted. Looks kind of nice. http://blogs.chron.com/techblog/ Let's get this out of the way up front: Microsoft's Zune media player doesn't get much respect. In fact, among the cool kids -- and by that I mean Apple's marketing department and the company's fanboys, which are sometimes one in the same -- the Zune is considered something of a joke. So far, the line of devices have been through two revisions and has not made much a dent in the market share monolith held by the iPod. But one thing you can say about Microsoft: When the company wants to win, it just doesn't give up. It is tenacious. And Microsoft's tenacity is now manifest in the Zune HD, the third generation of the Zune, which which was unveiled Tuesday night. As you can see, this touchscreen Zune looks a lot nicer than the previous models. In fact, dare I say it? The Zune HD looks kinda cool. zunehd This new device won't be available until this fall, and its unveiling this week may be a shot across the bow of Apple, which hosts its Worldwide Developers Conference starting June 8. Microsoft is integrating the Zune with its leading gaming platform, the Xbox, by bringing its companion Zune service to Xbox Live. The Zune HD is packing some pretty interesting specs. The HD in the name refers both to HD video and HD radio: • Zune HD comes with a built-in HD Radio receiver so users can listen to higher-quality sound than traditional radio on the go. Users also will have access to the additional song and artist data broadcast by HD Radio stations as well as additional channels from their favorite stations multicasting in HD. If you don't like the song playing on your station's HD channel, switch to its HD2 or HD3 channels for additional programming. • The bright OLED touch screen interface allows users to flip through music, movies and other content with ease, and the 16:9 widescreen format display (480x272 resolution) offers a premium viewing experience on the go. • The HD-compatible output lets Zune HD customers playback supported HD video files from the device through a premium high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) audiovisual docking station (sold separately) direct to an HD TV in 720p.* • Zune HD will include a full-screen Internet browser optimized for multitouch functionality. • Zune HD is Wi-Fi enabled, allowing for instant streaming to the device from the more than 5 million-track Zune music store. While in some ways it's still doing the me-too thing, its OLED screen, HD radio tuner and HD video (viewable on an HD-compatible display via a dock) give it some features the iPod Touch lacks - at least for now. We'll see what Apple comes up with in June, or in the interim before you can actually buy a Zune HD. I like the design of this new Zune. I've always thought the software that powers the Zune was pretty good, even if the hardware was relatively clunky. Now, Microsoft may have created a device that looks as good as the software inside. Will it finally get some respect . . . and sales?
oh well, I just got an Ipod Touch. I do have the 30 gig Zune which I enjoyed. I actually like the Zune software, it gives me all my album covers. Itunes doesn't do that.
That pop you just heard was thacabbage's confusion mounting... I really like the looks of this thing, but I don't see anything really new about it other than the OLED screen and touchscreen, which admittedly, is a plus. The HD stuff is blah to me. HD radio... whatever. HD video... you're watching HD on a tiny screen... whatever. XBox integration could be interesting - I'd need to see what they do with it. It's only a matter of time before a phone gets into this thing.
I misunderstood the HD video part... here's another article : http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2347707,00.asp ---------------------------- Microsoft Announces Zune HD, Xbox Live Integration 05.27.09 by Tim Gideon Microsoft on Tuesday announced the latest iteration of its Zune music player, a touch-screen player called the Zune HD, as well as an extension of the Zune brand into the Xbox Live platform. The new portable media player will, as its name suggests, have HD-related features for video and audio, while the integration of Zune into the Xbox Live user interface will primarily focus on video content. The Zune HD features a built-in HD radio receiver -- the first mainstream integration of HD radio in a portable media player. This translates into more precision station tuning and higher quality audio than a traditional player's FM tuner might offer. HD Radio offers several simultaneous broadcasts from the same radio station, so if you want to listen to the oldies station but hate the song that's currently playing, you can switch to the station's other HD channels to find a song you want to hear. Outfitted with a 480 by 272, 16:9 widescreen OLED, the Zune HD purportedly offers a brighter, crisper video experience, although the screen's resolution is a few pixels shy of the iPod Touch's 480 by 320 array. The HD video experience offered by the new Zune has more to do with the device's output -- users can play supported HD video files through an optional Zune docking station with an HDMI output. In other words, to experience the true 720p resolution of HD files, users will need to buy the dock, which is sold separately, and use the HDMI output to connect to an HD television or display. The files will of course, play on the Zune HD, but at the screen's 480 by 272 resolution. Microsoft also announced the inclusion of Wi-Fi support and an Internet browser "optimized for multitouch functionality." The previous Zunes had Wi-Fi support but no browsers, so the most users could do was wirelessly synchronize their players with their computers. Microsoft has yet to announce the name of the browser. Prices and capacities for the Zune HD are not available yet, and the player is set to launch in fall of 2009. Meanwhile, the integration of the Zune video service into the Xbox Live platform will debut next week at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles.
I wonder what chip it has and what games it can handle. Having controller buttons or making the whole surface multi touch would make it an appealing handheld gaming device.
Actually they're not trying hard against Apple. They've already said if they don't sell the most mp3 players, they really don't care. They've said that this will be a gradual evolution of the product to interface with the entire home, not just an mp3 player or phone. I think the tie-in to the Xbox is the beginning. If they had been trying hard to battle Apple, they would've included a phone in this thing already. I think it will eventually gravitate towards that, but like MS/the XBox team already stated, they're in no hurry.
Depends on your platform. on a mac you can get widgets that run while iTunes is running to fetch both album covers and lyrics, which will then automatically transfer to your ipod on your next sync. I saw the new Zune write up too, and it does look good. They may not want to compete with apple, but they do want it to be successful. Don't know enough about the Zune to know how it is with an online store, syncing of songs, video etc, or if it runs, or intends to run, any kinds of apps.
I think Itunes is not that great. For example, if I have the artist as Bobby Brown and one that says Bobby brown, they count that as two artists on my Ipod Touch. Its annoying.
Sounds interesting. I'd have a use for it but not much of one. When I go to friend's houses I usually bring my laptop to connect to their TV's so we can watch HD movies that I've downloaded. THIS would be nice to have that way I don't have to lug around my laptop which is pretty big (17") It's basically a mobile entertainment system I carry around to connect to people's HDTVs. I have games and movies on there. I'd be interested in the capcities because each of my HD movies take up at least 4GB of space. I'd say it would need to be at least 100GB+ for it to be worth it for me. 50GB of movies and 50GB of music.
