And thus your fellow Mac users get dragged into the witch hunt to spot the Microsoft troll, astroturfer, etc. Don't forget to queue up Ballmer references for good measure.
Wait they're Mac users too?
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Microsoft Attempting to Recruit App Store Developers for Zune HD?
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Wait they're Mac users too?
I wouldnt mind them adding HD-Radio with tagging. I tag a song and I can purchase it.
Radio is not dead kids, its just not a "cool" thing to you, as your still listening to your hanna montanna and jonny brothers, and some soldier boy.
Us who have been around for a while, like radio.
Radio is not dead kids, its just not a "cool" thing to you, as your still listening to your hanna montanna and jonny brothers, and some soldier boy.
Us who have been around for a while, like radio.
There's nothing wrong with competition, and I think everyone here (at least everyone here who is sane and rational) welcomes it.
But the thing about the Zune is that it's about two years too late, it's being released without any significant App store and it's "killer" features aren't very exciting (Pandora App > HD Radio, Quality LCD > OLED that will eventually turn blue).
New product by a different company, sure. But it's not competition.
Are you calling me a kid? Oy!
I've been around a while (over 40). I don't like (most) radio. Your average radio station is plagued with lousy ads, DJs who must like to hear themselves talk and overplayed singles.
HD radio would be nice for NPR and such, but what's the point of using it for music?
With radio, you listen to a station for half an hour and get fifteen minutes of commercials, five minutes of pointless DJ banter and ten minutes of music. With that in mind, how often are you going to find a song that you like that you don't already own?
Why not just listen to songs you already own (and therefor enjoy) when you're out of range of a WiFi signal and then use Pandora or last.fm when you've got WiFi? You've got a much better chance of finding new music you'll enjoy with those apps than you've got with the radio.
If the iphone had the ability to listen to regular radio, I would be for it. I am not about to carry a pocket radio around, but sometimes I would like to catch a local sports game on the radio when I am away from a radio or TV. I checked into those apps that tune in local radio, but not all stations are available.
For the record, if I had a terminal disease, I might consider getting a Zune and ZunePass. It might make sense in that scenario.
Doctor: "I have bad news and good news...The bad news: You have three months to live. The good news, MS lowered the price on the Zune again."
Doctor: "I have bad news and good news...The bad news: You have three months to live. The good news, MS lowered the price on the Zune again."
In a way, iTunes compatibility is a barrier to entry. It's kind of like trying to make a PC that is not compatible with Windows and then trying to sell it to the general public.
I don't get the point of mini-A/V devices displaying HD video. The whole point of HD is that you get very clear images at LARGER screen sizes. You gain very little from cramming 720p into 3x5 inch displays --- same reason 11 inch HDTVs are not selling very well. In addition, the size of the HD data files is HUGE compared to SDTV files.
Who wants to buy palm sized (or smaller) HD video players?
I do not get the point...
Who wants to buy palm sized (or smaller) HD video players?
I do not get the point...
The point of HD video on the Zune is that you can output it to an HDtv (if you buy the $90 adapter).
The point of radio for me is so I do not have to listen to music. I just want to listen to CBC and hear the news. I had a watch from 1985 that let me do that, but my 32 GB iPod can't.
s.
LOL at the prediction that we will get a 16GB Touch for $199.99 At a minimum it will remain at the current price point of $229.99. (meaning the base iPod Touch will remain $229.99)
Just out of curiousity, where would one find the statistics of how many 11" HDTV's are being sold? Or, maybe a better question would be, why would one want to find out how many 11" HDTVs are being sold, unless you made them yourself?
Sorry, I just thought this was funny and I am being an ass.
Wow! Great to hear that they're playing hardball.
Also, for all you people who think this is "terrible" and Microsoft is "evil" please remember (put down the Apple kool-aid) that competition is never bad for anyone. Apple's a company, not your friend.
Also, for all you people who think this is "terrible" and Microsoft is "evil" please remember (put down the Apple kool-aid) that competition is never bad for anyone. Apple's a company, not your friend.
Here's one -
http://seekingalpha.com/article/93699-five-reasons-steve-ballmer-thinks-apple-s-a-buy
... many other articles loves to emphasize "ipod killer" also - past and present.
Yes, you really don't get the point at all. You do not need a $5000 65" TV to view HD. It can be ANY size. As long as the resolution is 16:9 1920x1080, you got HD.
as for the 11" part, reason why Sony is not selling much of their 11" OLED HD TV is because its priced at $2499, you can get a larger TV for that same price
and thats good if your taking the bus/train to work and want to listen to some news, because well, some people fine the news in the morning more important then some music.
Just out of curiousity, where would one find the statistics of how many 11" HDTV's are being sold? Or, maybe a better question would be, why would one want to find out how many 11" HDTVs are being sold, unless you made them yourself?
Sorry, I just thought this was funny and I am being an ass.
Good point....
He was just making a bunch of rubbish.
I think it was a reference to the life of the diodes. I believe it is blue that has a shorter life (with some OLED materials), which would make it lose blue, rather than turn blue. It is a moot point in my opinion. It's not like the Zune cost much money and life of the OLED is long enough to outlive the usage life of the Zune. Trust me, I'm sure Apple will start using OLED in products soon enough. It uses far less battery than LCD.
Let alone alow them to make thinner products (not that they need to be any thinner)
I've seen both LED and OLED in person, and I have to say my money is on OLED. anything for a clearer, sharper image.
and thats good to know, thanks.
BTW, why hasn't anyone complained about the ipod/iphone having a glossy screen?
There seems to be a common misconception here (and elsewhere) that the Zune HD has an HD display. It does not - its display actually has a lower pixel count than the iPod Touch.
It's only HD if you use it to drive an external HD display - e.g. a TV. This is something the current iPod Touch cannot do.
Two good points. Yes, there is OLED material less than 1 mm in thickness, like the stuff you see in sci-fi movies, where a video screen is rolled up like a piece of paper. It's possible with OLED. Also, OLED provides an extremely high contrast ratio because there is no white backlight to illuminate the image. OLED is self-illuminating, so it doesn't require a backlight. The future of televisions will be OLED. Because of its thinness and layering capability, it is believe that OLED can provide 3D video imaging without the aid of special glasses.
What? Sure, there are articles talking about possible iPod killers, but your claim is that MS specifically "touted" the Zune as such. I don't think they did. Where did they do this?
Which is not enough of a selling point to make any real difference.
What MS did essentially is to come up with an iPod Touch duplicate (that fails to duplicate the Touch's current key strengths), 2+ years after the iPod Touch, and put a Zune logo on it, hoping we'll all think it's September 13, 2007.
They did this with the original Zune (vs. the iPod Classic.)
But THIS TIME around, MS thinks they'll get a different result! Meanwhile Apple is about to render MS' entire effort into an non-event come the new iPod release in September.
The real question is . . . why miss the boat AGAIN? Why not release something truly compelling and desirable BEFORE Apple? That's kinda the whole point. Good Lord, even when Apple arrives LATE to the game, they still redefine the market completely (smartphones.) That's a rarity and Apple might be a special case. Not everyone can pull it off. But at the very least, Windows sufferers should be able to expect MS to use all that R&D money (apprently they have far, far more than Apple) to once in a blue moon upstage a company that is half their size, with half their workforce, with half their global reach.
Something is definitely wrong in Redmond. it's getting to the point where I don't really hate MS anymore, I just pity them. You have to feel sorry for an operation like that. It's being run by the WRONG PEOPLE. Probably a case of lions led by donkeys. The first to go should be Ballmer.
just a few things from a bit of a neutral (which is a rarity on here )
1) In the UK radio is definitely not dead, following live sport, talk radio and other stations is still popular, especially BBC radio. The quality of radio in the UK is actually pretty good so id love to be able to get radio on my iphone. For me and a large percentage of other iphone/ipod touch users it would be a very important feature.
2) The ZuneHD looks very nice in my opinion, the UI from the videos it looks great, probobly better than my iphone if i was honest. I dont have an ipod but i am getting rid of my car that has a USB port for my music so i am going to consider getting one when that happens. I doubt i will be able to get a Zune here in the UK which is a shame because for what it is i would choose that over an ipod touch, i find the UI when playing music etc on my iphone a little bit finicky and my wife also finds it quite poor in comparison to how the rest of the device works.
3) As a switcher to Macs since 2004 i still find all the anti microsoft stuff very funny, i dont have any trouble as i bootcamp into windows when i need it, and since using windows 7 for games im really enjoying it. Not enough to stop using OSX yet though!
4) Lets hope the new ipods have plenty of new features to persuade me from going to the dark side and buying a non-apple music player though.. id use my iphone but the 8gb is just not enough really.
)1) In the UK radio is definitely not dead, following live sport, talk radio and other stations is still popular, especially BBC radio. The quality of radio in the UK is actually pretty good so id love to be able to get radio on my iphone. For me and a large percentage of other iphone/ipod touch users it would be a very important feature.
2) The ZuneHD looks very nice in my opinion, the UI from the videos it looks great, probobly better than my iphone if i was honest. I dont have an ipod but i am getting rid of my car that has a USB port for my music so i am going to consider getting one when that happens. I doubt i will be able to get a Zune here in the UK which is a shame because for what it is i would choose that over an ipod touch, i find the UI when playing music etc on my iphone a little bit finicky and my wife also finds it quite poor in comparison to how the rest of the device works.
3) As a switcher to Macs since 2004 i still find all the anti microsoft stuff very funny, i dont have any trouble as i bootcamp into windows when i need it, and since using windows 7 for games im really enjoying it. Not enough to stop using OSX yet though!
4) Lets hope the new ipods have plenty of new features to persuade me from going to the dark side and buying a non-apple music player though.. id use my iphone but the 8gb is just not enough really.