Posts Tagged ipod
Zune glitch indicative of gaining popularity
Posted by Matt in Apple, Digital Media, Microsoft on January 1st, 2009
The recent Microsoft Zune glitch causing many 30GB models to lock up and require a complete erase/reset of the device may be more significant than many would initially believe. Microsoft certainly has some history of buggy software (e.g. the initial release of Windows Vista), and has had a rough year during 2008, but I suspect things may end up differently in 2009.
If, Microsoft truly “missed the boat” in the digital music market, as one analyst remarked, then why are there 20,000+ comments on one forum complaining of locked up 30GB Zunes? If Zunes are truly inferior to iPods or if Apple is not gradually losing market share to other media players, then why would this particular issue cause such a stir? In fact, the number of users with problems doesn’t include those with smaller flash-based Zune players, nor does the statistic indicate the number of people with 80GB (most likely one of the most popular) or 120GB models! My theory is that 2009 may be the year of the Zune. Certainly Apple won’t lose it’s footing in the digital music business overnight, but many users are expressing their disapproval of the iTunes software and the iTunes store, which attaches restrictions known as DRM to most of the available music. The software itself has shown little in the way of innovation over the past several versions. In fact, I’m not really sure iTunes 8 can be considered a major version upgrade (i.e. I think it should have been v7.8). It adds new DRM restrictions to certain types of video and includes the “Genius,” which attempts to suggest new artists and songs based on what the user is currently listening to. Unfortunately, it’s far from smart and just picks obvious alternatives. The Zune software is far more intelligent in this regard, which just provides yet another reason to ditch iTunes and switch to something better.
In conclusion, I’m waiting to see what Microsoft does this year, especially with the possibility of a Zune-based phone and Windows Mobile 7. Combined with the promising features and power of Windows 7, it could end up being a very good year indeed!
Apple’s 6th-gen iPod not all it’s cracked up to be
I’ve always wanted/needed a good solid digital media player (e.g. iPod, Zune, iRiver, etc) – a device that had a lot of storage capacity for the ever-growing media library, had solid performance, an intuitive interface, support for major standards, and of course it needed to look good too. I’d narrowed my selection to two contenders: Apple’s iPod and Microsoft’s Zune.
I wanted the Zune to be honest. I own PCs running Windows Vista and XP, I’ve carefully engineered my music collection for Windows Media Player 11’s amazingly intelligent media library, and I have files scattered across multiple computers in numerous folders. The Zune would have been perfect for my needs since it easily integrates with the technology I already own. I wanted to buy a new or almost new device (and certainly the latest since this thing needs to last awhile), so I started looking on Froogle, Amazon, and eBay for the best deals on Zunes and iPods. I came to this conclusion: I could buy a Zune for nearly retail price or I could get an iPod for $100 less than what Apple sells charges on it’s website. I decided that the iPod had a good enough reputation that it would definitely suit my needs and since 99% of my audio files are in MP3 as opposed to WMA, I could let iTunes catalog the files and transfer them to the iPod. So that’s what I did–I bought the iPod Classic (6th gen) 80GB. And I got a good deal.
It took about a week to receive the unit, but once it finally arrived, I excitedly opened the package and took out a small black box from inside. Wow, I thought. That’s pretty small! It was an open-box item, but looked like to be in mint condition as I lifted it from it’s packaging. I carefully examined it and upon deciding that it was in perfect condition (minus a couple fingerprints on it’s brilliantly reflective back), I removed the quick start guide, headphones, and charge/sync cable from the bottom of the box. A few short minutes later, I was plugged in and waiting for the iPod to charge.
I walked away for awhile and gave the device the recommended 2 hours for a quick charge, deciding that I’d play with it while waiting for the other 2 hours of its 4-hour complete charge cycle to finish. First thing that happened was iTunes launched. I’d made sure a couple days previous that I had the latest version of the software (in this case v7.7) so that it would have the latest bug fixes among other things. At first, iTunes kept giving some strange unknown errors and recommended that I reboot the device. I ignored it momentarily and noticed that it had been run through initial setup by the previous owner, but there was nothing actually on the device. So, like a good tech-savvy individual, I told iTunes to look for a firmware upgrade and then restore the machine to the factory-condition settings. This would reformat the internal drive, reset the RAM, and then upgrade the device software/firmware to the latest revision. All of this went smoothly and a few minutes later I was happily clicking through the initial setup screens within iTunes. Everything seemed to be great!
Now, I decided, it was time for the true test. I had 10GB of audio imported into iTunes, a few video podcasts, and an audiobook or two that I would sync to the iPod directly after the initial setup had completed. Everything was ready and then with great enthusiasm, I clicked “Sync.”
The speed pleasantly surprised me! Everything transferred over in just a few minutes and then reported that synchronization was complete. I unplugged the iPod, popped in the included headphones and started surfing around the device. First I opened a video podcast-the image was crisp and reminded me of HD quality video. Pretty slick. Next I decided to try out the music, since that’s primarily what I’d bought it for. I opened up an album or two and played a few songs. Flawless! I opened a third album and that’s where all my troubles began.
I selected just a random song from the album and waited for the music to start-only when it did, it was the wrong song! Figuring I’d just accidentally moved the selector before hitting ‘play’ I used the click-wheel to go back a track and tried again. That’s when I knew there was a problem. Read the rest of this entry »