Microsoft Launches Zune HD

[buxtone17]

Nano just added FM radio, something zune has been having for years, me too, me too, copy, copy, that makes no meaningful argument.

Prior to the HD model, Zune had one feature before the iPod line added it. And it was a gimmicky, mostly worthless feature. Woohoo.

Seriously people. Everything that the Zune has that the touch doesn't have doesn't matter to the average consumer:

OLED? As I said before, the average consumer probably has no idea what OLED stands for.

HD video output? Sure, but you've got to buy a $90 dock to use it. So you're spending about $300 to use your Zune with your HDtv. Why not just buy a Blu-Ray player for $200?

HD radio? Another gimmick. And a misnomer gimmick at that. When the average consumer sees "HD radio" they think "hi-def radio". Nope. The HD actually doesn't stand for anything anymore. Sorry.

When it comes down to it, the average consumer doesn't think "MP3 player" or "PMP" anymore. He/she thinks "iPod". What kid asks for a Zune for his birthday or for Christmas? I can't think of any. They all ask for iPods. And when they get a Zune, they say, "Oh, I guess this is alright..."

The fact is, Apple owns the MP3 player market. The Zune HD isn't even goign to make a dent.

 

[clevin]

Prior to the HD model, Zune had one feature before the iPod line added it. And it was a gimmicky, mostly worthless feature. Woohoo.

Seriously people. Everything that the Zune has that the touch doesn't have doesn't matter to the average consumer:

first I listen to radio most of the day, mostly NPR affiliated, sometimes ESPN when cowboys win.

second, that statement that "any function apple's products don't have is useless, and any function apple's product have is extraordinary " is unbelievably ridiculous, its a classic representation of whats wrong with the culture apple has created among its fans.

e.g., of course HD radio stands for something, my local NPR affiliate has 2 HD radio channels, one of them has my favorite show in the morning, thats exactly what I need, if you know nothing about it, better just stop commenting on it.

 

[KnightWRX]

e.g., of course HD radio stands for something, my local NPR affiliate has 2 HD radio channels, one of them has my favorite show in the morning, thats exactly what I need, if you know nothing about it, better just stop commenting on it.

What does it stand for then ? Maybe you'd like to enlighten us.

And OLED is just nerd porn.

 

[buxtone17]

second, that statement that "any function apple's products don't have is useless, and any function apple's product have is extraordinary " is unbelievably ridiculous, its a classic representation of whats wrong with the culture apple has created among its fans.

Well that isn't at all what I was saying.

If you don't agree, tell me why the average MP3 player consumer is going to be excited about OLED, HD output and HD radio.

e.g., of course HD radio stands for something, my local NPR affiliate has 2 HD radio channels, one of them has my favorite show in the morning, thats exactly what I need, if you know nothing about it, better just stop commenting on it.

The HD in HD radio used to stand for "hybrid digital". iBiquity started HD radio and eventually dropped "hybrid digital" and just called it HD. The only difference between FM and HD radio is the signal: FM uses an analog signal and HD uses a digital signal.

 

[lex750]

first I listen to radio most of the day, mostly NPR affiliated, sometimes ESPN when cowboys win.

second, that statement that "any function apple's products don't have is useless, and any function apple's product have is extraordinary " is unbelievably ridiculous, its a classic representation of whats wrong with the culture apple has created among its fans.

e.g., of course HD radio stands for something, my local NPR affiliate has 2 HD radio channels, one of them has my favorite show in the morning, thats exactly what I need, if you know nothing about it, better just stop commenting on it.

lol... yeah, HD Radio, Wi-Fi sync, HD video out, OLED screen, all useless stuff till Apple decides to implement it... only then does it become revolutionary... lol...

 

[buxtone17]

PS - Here's a link for you: iBiquity

Scroll down a bit...

"Note: The 'HD' in 'HD Radio' does not mean 'high-definition' or 'hybrid digital'. It is part of iBiquity's brand for its digital radio technology."

 

[lex750]

What does it stand for then ? Maybe you'd like to enlighten us.

And OLED is just nerd porn.

Did Google ban you?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_light-emitting_diode

 

[clevin]

What does it stand for then ? Maybe you'd like to enlighten us.

And OLED is just nerd porn.

HD radio system is the only digital system approved by the FCC for digital AM/FM broadcasts in the United States.

and again, about OLED, so lame, whatever others have, that apple doesn't, is useless, in this case, you uttered another term, basically same meaning tho.

check wikipedia for advantages of OLED.

and wait for iPod to get OLED, and then check back this forum for praises.

 

[KnightWRX]

Did Google ban you?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_light-emitting_diode

Are you being illiterate on purpose ? Did you miss the fact that I was asking him what HD Radio stands for, not OLED ? Too bad some other poster answered for him : HD Radio doesn't stand for anything. It used to stand for Hybrid Digital, and it is trademarked by a company called Ubiquity. See this site for info :

http://www.hdradio.com

And why did you dodge my earlier question about resolution ? Maybe because you don't want to admit being so damn wrong all the time ?

Hello Lex750, you win the troll prize.

HD radio system is the only digital system approved by the FCC for digital AM/FM broadcasts in the United States.

Stop dodging the question, you said HD Radio stands for something. What does it stand for ? Even the HD Radio Alliance says it stands for nothing. It's just 2 meaningless letters bunched up together. It's not High Definition Radio, it's not even Hybrid Digital like it used to be anymore.

Again, why would you say it stands for something when the trademark holders, Ubiquity, says it doesn't stand for anything. M.A.R.K.E.T.I.N.G.

and again, about OLED, so lame, whatever others have, that apple doesn't, is useless, in this case, you uttered another term, basically same meaning tho.

check wikipedia for advantages of OLED.

and wait for iPod to get OLED, and then check back this forum for praises.

I didn't claim anything about OLED other than the fact it is nerd porn. And that is precisely what it is. Normal people don't give a damn if their screen is LCD, OLED, Plasma or a bird that carves out a stone. As long as it displays what they want to see in a readable manner.

Only nerds buy a device based on specs, rather than on fonctinality. Only nerds claim a specific technology is a need vs a nice to have. Precisely why the term "nerd porn" was coined in the first place.

 

[clevin]

Are you being illiterate on purpose ? Did you miss the fact that I was asking him what HD Radio stands for, not OLED ? Too bad some other poster answered for him : HD Radio doesn't stand for anything. It used to stand for Hybrid Digital, and it is trademarked by a company called Ubiquity. See this site for info :

http://www.hdradio.com

And why did you dodge my earlier question about resolution ? Maybe because you don't want to admit being so damn wrong all the time ?

Hello Lex750, you win the troll prize.

so your "stands for" is only a literary question about the abbreviation? so you dont really care about the benefit it brings to end users? talking about useless nerd argument.

yeah, the screen is less height, how important? I will let you know when my order arrives, or if you have ANY hands on experiences. feel free to share.

 

[rjohnstone]

The only difference between FM and HD radio is the signal: FM uses an analog signal and HD uses a digital signal.

You forgot that the digital signal is also CD quality.
And if the broadcast station chose, they could pump out a Dolby 5.1 encoded signal over the air. Many won't, but it is capable.
Gimmicky... maybe, but you do have more stations to choose from.

I'm not a radio guy myself... too many commercials. 5 minutes of music followed by 10 minutes of commercials and then some jerk DJ who feels the need to talk over the first 30 seconds of every song.

But I digress.

 

[lex750]

Are you being illiterate on purpose ? Did you miss the fact that I was asking him what HD Radio stands for, not OLED ? Too bad some other poster answered for him : HD Radio doesn't stand for anything. It used to stand for Hybrid Digital, and it is trademarked by a company called Ubiquity. See this site for info :

http://www.hdradio.com

And why did you dodge my earlier question about resolution ? Maybe because you don't want to admit being so damn wrong all the time ?

Hello Lex750, you win the troll prize.

OMG! You just called me a Troll... My life is over, I'll crawl into a hole and die now...

 

[KnightWRX]

so your "stands for" is only a literary question about the abbreviation? so you dont really care about the benefit it brings to end users? talking about useless nerd argument.

You're the one who claimed it stood for something. We're still waiting for you to tell us what it actually stands for instead of continuously dodging the question.

Regardless of any advantages or disadvantages of the technology (we're not arguing that), you said "It does too stand for something". Please, do tell what it does stand for.

yeah, the screen is less height, how important?

It became important when one of you trolls claimed that the 16:9 form factor of the screen with lower resolution than the iPhone/iPod Touch was a better experience.

Maybe you'd like to answer for him why lower resolution is better ?

OMG! You just called me a Troll... My life is over, I'll crawl into a hole and die now...

Thank for you admitting that you were wrong each time you replied to me. It took guts for you to do it and not dodge the questions anymore. I respect you for that.

 

[clevin]

You're the one who claimed it stood for something. We're still waiting for you to tell us what it actually stands for instead of continuously dodging the question.

Regardless of any advantages of disadvantages of the technology (we're not arguing that), you said "It does too stand for something". Please, do tell what it does stand for.

my bad, i read the previous post of yours (or one of your trolls) the way that I think it questioned the usefulness of HD radio, I didn't realize it was making an useless and stupid argument about abbreviation.

e.g., when GOP said "we stands for something", it usually doesn't mean they stands for grand old party. rather, it means they stands for some conservative policies, etc

It became important when one of you trolls claimed that the 16:9 form factor of the screen with lower resolution than the iPhone/iPod Touch was a better experience.

Maybe you'd like to answer for him why lower resolution is better ?

did you not read what I said? I will answer you, when I got my zune hd.

 

[bobertoq]

Are you being illiterate on purpose ? Did you miss the fact that I was asking him what HD Radio stands for, not OLED ? Too bad some other poster answered for him : HD Radio doesn't stand for anything. It used to stand for Hybrid Digital, and it is trademarked by a company called Ubiquity. See this site for info :

http://www.hdradio.com

And why did you dodge my earlier question about resolution ? Maybe because you don't want to admit being so damn wrong all the time ?

Hello Lex750, you win the troll prize.

What difference does it make if the letters stand for something or not? And what difference does 30 pixels make?

 

[KnightWRX]

my bad, i read the previous post of yours (or one of your trolls) the way that I think it questioned the usefulness of HD radio, I didn't realize it was making an useless and stupid argument about abbreviation.

Apology accepted. And yes, in these debates, attacking the credibility of other posters is important. That's what I did to you, and since you now admitted that you made a claim without any plan to back it up, we can dismiss all your previous and future posts as shallow and worthless, same for your claim about HD Radio standing for something more than just ... HD Radio.

did you not read what I said? I will answer you, when I got my zune hd.

Irregardless of getting a Zune HD itself, we can already make the comparison. Would you rather have a 16:9 1920x1080 or a 16:10 1920x1200 24" Monitor.

My choice is obvious, more resolution = more screen real estate = better experience. I just don't see what 16:9 brings to the table that is sooooo much better that I should sacrifice pixels in order to get it.

And what difference does 30 pixels make?

Again, it starts making a difference when people start claiming "Less is better". This is my original question and one that has still gone unanswered.

You people can whine about Apple fanboys all you want, you aren't much better.

 

[clevin]

Apology accepted. And yes, in these debates, attacking the credibility of other posters is important. That's what I did to you, and since you now admitted that you made a claim without any plan to back it up, we can dismiss all your previous and future posts as shallow and worthless, same for your claim about HD Radio standing for something more than just ... HD Radio.

so since we all agree, so we can establish that you or one of your troll have been more interested in arguing an useless abbreviation, and ignore the real important functions it brings to end users.

its important to arguing something with a true care for end users, rather than making argument just for sake of argument, in order to distract the topic and turn discussion into useless crap. Im glad you realize thats what you have done, and hopefully you will learn and make some meaningful argument that help end users in the future.

I shall hold my breath for that.

You people can whine about Apple fanboys all you want, you aren't much better.

its important to distinguish what and who you are replying to, I hope I did that better than faboys.

or you just want to turn the whole discussion into a apple fanboys vs. non apple fanboys fight?

Thats not a good attitude towards any discussion, dont you think?

 

[lex750]

Are you being illiterate on purpose ? Did you miss the fact that I was asking him what HD Radio stands for, not OLED ? Too bad some other poster answered for him : HD Radio doesn't stand for anything. It used to stand for Hybrid Digital, and it is trademarked by a company called Ubiquity. See this site for info :

http://www.hdradio.com

And why did you dodge my earlier question about resolution ? Maybe because you don't want to admit being so damn wrong all the time ?

Hello Lex750, you win the troll prize.



Stop dodging the question, you said HD Radio stands for something. What does it stand for ? Even the HD Radio Alliance says it stands for nothing. It's just 2 meaningless letters bunched up together. It's not High Definition Radio, it's not even Hybrid Digital like it used to be anymore.



Again, why would you say it stands for something when the trademark holders, Ubiquity, says it doesn't stand for anything. M.A.R.K.E.T.I.N.G.



I didn't claim anything about OLED other than the fact it is nerd porn. And that is precisely what it is. Normal people don't give a damn if their screen is LCD, OLED, Plasma or a bird that carves out a stone. As long as it displays what they want to see in a readable manner.

Only nerds buy a device based on specs, rather than on fonctinality. Only nerds claim a specific technology is a need vs a nice to have. Precisely why the term "nerd porn" was coined in the first place.

Who cares what it stands for? You are just wasting your time focusing on BS terms. HD Radio sounds way better than traditional radio. So what's your point?

Yeah that's the "normal" people buying a Vizio at Walmart. I guess you don't care about your iPod/iPhone screen, as long as it's readable.

It's not just nerds who look at specs, it's also people who can afford to buy a better quality item with more features.

 

[KnightWRX]

so since we all agree, so we can establish that you or one of your troll have been more interested in arguing an useless abbreviation, and ignore the real important functions it brings to end users.

It's obvious no one wants to discuss actual features in these polarized threads. I asked a poster to give us arguments to back up his "16:9 is a much better experience" comment and instead was met with "OLED has better resolution" (false, in this case it doesn't) and then with "OLED is better" (which is besides the point, OLED is not an Aspect ratio or a screen resolution).

If you want a serious discussion on the merits of the features themselves, might I suggest a Zune HD forum instead of a Mac forum ?

Let's face, HD radio is not much of a discussion. Pros : Better audio quality FM and AM. Cons : Less choices in stations (for now). Since there is no radio on the iPod Touch (one of the very reasons my Sony Ericsson will remain my PMP/Phone for quite a while) there's not much comparisons to be made to the competition.

 

[unfrozen.jon]

Funny how this significant step forward only has one thing to offer the touch/iphone doesn't. The oled screen.

I think i'll stick with my iPhone and be happy.

I disagree that the OLED screen is better than the iPod Touch LCD. Theres better resolution for iPod Touch and its better viewing anywhere but a dark room. I know a lot of gamers spend much of their time in their parents basement but I for one like my iPhone games because I can play them anywhere.

I actually thought the Zune HD would be a worthy competitor til I read this article from Apple Insider:

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/09/14/from_oled_to_tegra_five_myths_of_the_zune_hd.html


"the iPod touch delivers both a significantly better screen resolution and a better display technology, unless of course, you're planning to always stay at home in a candle-lit basement."

 

[lex750]

Thank for you admitting that you were wrong each time you replied to me. It took guts for you to do it and not dodge the questions anymore. I respect you for that.

your delusions only hurt you... I think there is an app for that...

 

[bobertoq]

Again, it starts making a difference when people start claiming "Less is better". This is my original question and one that has still gone unanswered.

No one ever said less is better, and once again, 30 pixels isn't going to make a big difference.

I asked a poster to give us arguments to back up his "16:9 is a much better experience".

Do you have any arguments that it isn't?

 

[KnightWRX]

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/09/14/from_oled_to_tegra_five_myths_of_the_zune_hd.html


"the iPod touch delivers both a significantly better screen resolution and a better display technology, unless of course, you're planning to always stay at home in a candle-lit basement."

Significantly better screen resolution ? Ok, now both sides are at it. 48 height pixels aren't significantly better. It's just more pixels. Yes it is better, but I would qualify it "slightly".

A significantly better resolution would be something like the Nokia N900 or rumored Android phones with 800x480 resolution.

No one ever said less is better, and once again, 30 pixels isn't going to make a big difference.

Yes, mosx said less is better, 2 pages ago. No, 48 pixels isn't going to make a big difference, but it does make a small difference and I doubt 48 more pixels would result in a lesser experience.

And it's actually 48 pixels time 480 pixels more. That's 23,040 more pixels. Not so insignificant now is it ?

Do you have any arguments that it isn't?

Yes, and if you read my post again, you will note that I said 16:9 isn't a better experience when it gives you less pixels. That is my argument.

 

[clevin]

It's obvious no one wants to discuss actual features in these polarized threads. I asked a poster to give us arguments to back up his "16:9 is a much better experience" comment and instead was met with "OLED has better resolution" (false, in this case it doesn't) and then with "OLED is better" (which is besides the point, OLED is not an Aspect ratio or a screen resolution).

If you want a serious discussion on the merits of the features themselves, might I suggest a Zune HD forum instead of a Mac forum ?

Let's face, HD radio is not much of a discussion. Pros : Better audio quality FM and AM. Cons : Less choices in stations (for now). Since there is no radio on the iPod Touch (one of the very reasons my Sony Ericsson will remain my PMP/Phone for quite a while) there's not much comparisons to be made to the competition.

I do want to discuss the actual stuff, if you want to suggest zune forum, why does the threat started here? Mod did it. obviously he/she thinks its a fit topic.

regarding HD radio, yeah, it would be a letdown if it won't let you turn to normal FM radio, but I don't think its the case, is it? (I will have to wait to see, since I dont know the answer)

OLED is better.

resolution again, I told you I will need hands on to tell, but if you have to ask, I can only speculate:

when do we need more space(res wise)? game, document (including web), video are the ones come to mind, how does 30px affect these? I dont know, I have to see how mobile IE works before I can talk about it, and there is no sayings if any significant games will be negatively impacted by it. finally video, again, I have very limited experiences with them, but since the screen is either 480x320, or 480x272, they are BOTH SMALL, so IMHO, it doesn't really make a difference.

 

[bobertoq]

Yes, mosx said less is better, 2 pages ago. No, 48 pixels isn't going to make a big difference, but it does make a small difference and I doubt 48 more pixels would result in a lesser experience.

Yes, and if you read my post again, you will note that I said 16:9 isn't a better experience when it gives you less pixels. That is my argument.

Maybe, but you're not getting less content with 48 less pixels. Nor are you getting more. So I see don't see it as a bad thing. It's not a good thing either.