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>>Zune fansites has been buzzing with anticipation of a new Zune fitted with the higher capacity drives. <<

I've never understood buzzing in anticipation of an electronic device.

Anyway -->

>>While the Olympics are only just beginning and it's really hard to say how well Silverlight will come out at the end, early numbers show that Microsoft has something to be proud of.

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Is Silverlight living up to the task of the Olympics? Apparently, it is. On August 11 alone, Silverlight managed to deliver 250TB of data without any major problems. <<

I have yet to install it, but if it continues to grow I assume that it will become inevitable.

arstechnica.com/.../so-far-silverlight-is-powering-the-nbc-olympics-quite-well

Subscription TV and Movies would be amazing for iTunes or Zune.  It'd make canceling cable that much closer to reality.

@johnpapola

The biggest hurdle to being able to cancel cable/sat for any ala carte or subscription digital download service is live content. Mostly sports & news, but any kind of live event is unwatchable unless you get good over the air reception of local networks. I know I can't get that in central NJ from NYC with a roof antenna, but I could have done something wrong. If live events were available, I would drop my cable subscription pretty much immediately.

"It'd make canceling cable that much closer to reality."

Don't get too giddy at the prospect. TimeWarner is already testing metered access; when you start pushing that much data through the Intertubes, you'll probably wind up paying more than you were for cable in the first place.

These guys aren't going to give up their cash cow any time soon. Trust me.

Wow same Zune with a bigger HD....yawn.  

I have the orginal Zune, I won at a TechNet Event.  I have also have an iTouch.  The Zune and its many limitations make it seem like transistor, hand held, AM radio, compared to the iTouch.  Throw in the recent app store for the iTouch and the margin increases 10x.

My Zune is not a bad device, it just has so many limitations its not worth it.

When I get time, I keep forgetting, I will ebay it.

"lotsa" and the cabal:

Ocean did post something O/T about Silverlight. You have your excuse for posting some irrelevant news article/blog about Microsoft.

How about a TV/movie subscription service that would allow unlimited viewing on both my Zune and my Xbox? Now that's something I'd pay for.

@bettieblu - tell me some of the limitations...Its a media player and that is all it is trying to be. With a Zune Pass, I can download unlimited music...and for the same $15/month my wife and daughter can do the same for those. I can sync the TV shows that I record on my Media Center PC, I can rip any CDs that I have to WMV or mp3 format in order to sync to the device. To me, the iTouch, even with the App Store is limited when it comes to a media player...sure, you can download a lot of applications...and they are cool...but I don't want to do that...I want music and video, and in my opinion, the Zune just plain out performs the entire iPod line in that arena.

-tayme

Oh, and I forgot about the FM Tuner. I use that when I am at the gym and want to listen to what is on one of the TVs instead of listening to music...

--tayme

Realistically, the Zune models compare with the iPod models thusly:

Flash Music Players

Zune 4 ($130) - iPod nano 4GB ($150)

Zune 8 ($180) - iPod nano 8GB ($200)

Hard Drive Music Players

Zune 80 ($250) - iPod Classic 80GB ($250)

Zune 120 ($???) - no equivalent iPod

No equivalent Zune - iPod Classic 160GB ($350)

That people want to compare the Zune 80 with the iPod Touch is amusing but pretty silly.

I thought that I had read that there was some type of music subscription service for the Zune is that incorrect?

I got a 2nd gen iPod 2GB nano for opening an account. The Zune looks just like, but actually looks nicer. I really don't like the newer nano's but they needed the change for video support, but the new style is ugly, IMO.WiFi file support would be great, if they can't do it already. There is a $2 app for the iPhone that does it and it's cool that you send store and read Office docs, pics, music and other stuff. Is this possible on a Zune too?

DRWAM

There is a music subscription service for Zune called Zune Pass that's $14.99/month.

@DRWAM - The Zune Pass is awesome...we have 3 Zunes that we manage in the same account...but each has its own playlist...all for the same $15 month. To me, that is one of the major advantages of Zune over ITMS. Sure, I can't burn the subscription music to CD...but who needs to today? The Zune can plug into the AUX jack in most home and car stereos and if you have a newer Ford, there is the MS SYNC service.

--tayme

"That people want to compare the Zune 80 with the iPod Touch is amusing but pretty silly."

I agree. iPod Touch is more like a PDA. I've seen this among some of the tech journalists like Pogue et al, who did the same.  I think Zune is a pretty good mp3 player that had a reasonable amount of success in the market. The flash models that Microsoft expected to sell well ended up doing badly, though, which is the reason for the low marketshare.

"I got a 2nd gen iPod 2GB nano for opening an account. "

Nice. All I got was a Shuffle.

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Zune limitations as I see them.  Zune store has limited content compared to iTunes.  I have not been on there in a while but does it have TV, Movies, books yet?

Desktop software prior to 2.5 was horrible, now its just bad.  The raiting system still sucks, pod cast options are horrible.  2.5 brought smart play lists but even that option lacks in comparison.

3rd party support is dominated by the iPod.  My wife and I both have iTouch's and we have an iHome in our bedroom, and bose sound stations in two different rooms, each of us have connections in our cars, CD dont exist in my world and have not for a while now.  Trying to the do that same thing with the Zune is just not possible or you options are way to limited or just not as elegant, as in some items like the bose docking station can use a Zune if you lay it on the counter, and use a chord to the back of it.  The ease of which I move my iTouch from a PC to a device in a room or to a car is made possible by massive third party support for the iPod brand.

The applications on a iTouch make the device almost not even comparable to the Zune.  The only thing the Zune has over a iTouch is a radio, an FM radio.  I would bet every Zune user or 99% of them would trade that radio for applications like the iTouch has in a second.  Unless you have really used an iTouch its hard to understand how cool the thing is.  

Example, I work from home for a large company that uses Exchange.  I recently updated my iTouch to 2.0 firmware when it came out.  Now I have full Exchange 2007 support on my iTouch using the wireless connection in my house.  So now instead of taking my notebook with me around the house to check my email or going to my office, its in my pocket.  The Exchange\email interface is 10x better than my blackJack II my work gave me, so much so I dont use the blackJack as a mobile email device unless I leave the house.  That is just on of the many features it has above and beyond the core features of a great audio/video playing device.

Like I said the Zune is not a bad device, it just greatly pails in comparison to the iTouch/iTunes echo system, especially for the masses.

@bettieblu - Like I said...for me, the Zune is just a better fit. All I want is the media player functionality and subscription music...add to that the other things that I pointed out, and i am wowed.

Regarding your questions...Yes to TV, no to books...but I don't want to read a book on it. Podcasts work great for me, I am not sure what problems that you may have had when you tried...if you have.

I like the software much better than I ever liked iTunes...I don't spend time rating the music that I listen to...I just listen to it.The Smart play lists are quick and easy to use...but I usually just put it on shuffle and listen.

Email - I have said multiple times...I just don't need to be that connected. When I am oncall for work, I have my blackberry. Other than that, I will read it when I am working. When I am off work, my time is spent actually doing stuff outdoors.

You said it yourself...the Zune is not comparable to the iTouch...but compare it to an 80GB iPod Classic...Zune offers just as much and performs just as well or better than the iPod. That is the correct class of iPod to be comparing it to.

--tayme

I am always for having options. While I like what iTunes brings, I also like what Microsoft is doing with the Zune. Lets be fair, if you're going to make comparisons,use products that lineup. No sense of comparing an iPod touch to something that doesn't have an equivalent yet. Who knows if MIcrosoft is working on something like it? At least, I don't know if they are.

For what I'm looking for, the video iPod works for me. My only complaint is iTunes. Apple can do better here.

I'm still up in the air about the subscripton service. Perhaps as an add on to the existing pricing model it would be nice.

@subzero - "Perhaps as an add on to the existing pricing model it would be nice."

That is exactly how it works on Zune. I can purchase songs if I want full rights to them...or I can use the subscription to listen as often as I want...on the Zune, PC, or XBOX 360. If I really like it and find a need to burn it to a CD...I can still buy it.

--tayme

Shark, here's the scam that I used. Ameritrade offered a Tungsten T3 when you open an account and keep it open for a year. I opened one for me and another for the wife, and got two T3's. After a year, I consolidated and sent half the money back to my savings. Another promo for the Treo 650 started, so I opened another account with the money that I had transferred 2 months before. Then a promo for the iPod nano started a year later. I opened 3 accounts. Since the accompanying letter that arrived with the nano stated "accept this gift from Ameritrade...", I kept one and returned two to the Apple store, stating that I got them as gifts. I asked for a gift certificate and got around $360 or so, even the tax. My wife knew I wanted to use the gift cards, but there was nothing that I needed at the Apple store. On our 10th anniversary, she swapped our phones, asking me to use hers to figure out an alleged problem, grap the gift card and bought an iPhone and warranty. [The T3's and Treo still work, although the first Treo died under warranty and ATT replaced it with 2 weeks of warranty remaining, although i did not even buy it from them. ATT gave me another 90 days warranty as well. That was May of 2007.] That's how I sliced the Apple. As a follow up, Ameritrade now gives a Garmin Nuvi 660 if you deposit [a lot] of money], so I did, and will buy shares from the same fund where the money original came from, so I will only pay a transfer fee for the stock purchase.

@Tayme,

Thanks. I really didn't pay much attention to the subscription model announcement. Appreciate the info.

Peace.

Sup, if you have the Touch model, there is are several apps that use WiFi FTP [Filezilla in Windows] to send movies, music and other files to it. I use Mobilefinder for the iPhone, and these may work for the Touch. The vendors of these apps seem to respond to emails well, so if you ask, maybe they can help.

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