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In order to be awarded a patent, a company must demonstrate that they will actually USE the patent for something other than litigation. I looked around and I didn't see a damn thing that ZapMedia has EVER done with any such patent (which was filed in 2000?) for even such a common sense application of content distribution. Its like patenting how to use a blender! "If you press liquify and then chop, Blendable's Inc. will sue the pants off of you!"

They don't even have a WEBSITE (besides this lovely info-less drivel) and they are awarded a patent for media distribution?!

Is this Phantom thing the same as the 'Zapstation?'
I pre-ordered the ZapStation five years ago. Someone said it was running on a Celeron 333.
I got a pretty good price. Anyone know when they're shipping?

Why don't you check their websites for the info?
ZapMedia.
ZapStation

Things seem 'rather clear' to me.

The ZapStation is probably a bit more than you need, but I find it works pretty well.

The ZapStation has a really nice looking, 3 color VFD display that is way cooler than an LCD. It's listed in the specs

Signal-to-Noise Ratio 99 dB (20 Bit Precision), 96 dB (16 Bit Precision)

Or, you could read the specs before you whine about them.

Analog Audio
Frequency Response 10Hz to 20kHz (+0.1/-0.3dB)
Dynamic Range 97 dB (20 Bit Precision), 94 dB (16 Bit Precision)
Signal-to-Noise Ratio 99 dB (20 Bit Precision), 96 dB (16 Bit Precision)
Channel Separation 108 dB (1kHz)
THD+N 0.006% (1kHz)
Noise Modulation 105 dB ± 1.7 dB
Output Level 2 V RMS ± 0.2 (1kHz)
Audio D/A Converter 24 Bit, 96kHz
Wow & Flutter 0.0017% W. Peak (EIAJ)
Digital Audio
Optical Output Level 18 dBm
Coaxial Output Level 0.5 V p-p / 75 Ohm

if you are trying to be so informative, is it so hard to Make a link to http://www.zapmedia.com/?

It looks like the ZapStation from ZapMedia does many more things than this unit. I guess the focus of the two products is a bit different, though. This product seems focused on music (with the ability to burn CDs and download to portable MP3 players), while the ZapStation is basically an "everything" player, but doesn't seem to be able to record.

I went to the website expecting to see this amazing product that he talked about. Instead I am greeted with yuppies relaxing on their plush red couch, a "Back to the Future" clad Michael Fo... Er Connie Chung, and Andre the Giants son trying to "sell" me their product.

Frankly, I was a bit scared by their index webpage. Their front page should focus more on their product rather than having weird people trying to make the product seem enjoyable. Show me that it's enjoyable in other ways, with more info, interactive demos, reviews and pricing. I want to feel like I can relate to this product (by having a need for it in my house/office/etc.) instead I feel like I'm not the target audience they're trying to reach.

The specifications page lists the device as running Linux, and has WMA in the list of Supported Formats under audio/video playback and audio recording. From what I've heard on here, I thought this was all but impossible. Confirmations?

Cheers,
levine

ZapMedia has release complete specs on the ZapStation. I'm biased (I work there) but I think it compares very well to any of the competitors. Read them here

Thanks for asking ;) We just finished production of our first run and our online store will be up by the end of next week. I'm a developer at Zap so I'm a little biased. The specs are online here but some of the specs are now out of date (we use a 800 MHz Celeron, 24-bit audio, and no modem). We still have the old website up (which sucks) but that will be changing next week too. The OS is, of course, linux 2.4.x and we'll be sending one to Rob to review if he's interested.

Anyone have a clue if the Zapstation from Zapmedia will ever make it to market. I actually slapped my credit card down on one about this time last year. They were actually hopeful of getting them shipped by LAST Christmas. It's over a year later and they still can't seem to get it together.

Why have an internal hard disk at all? It requires you to distrute the music to the edge. You don't have a backup and what you end up doing is paying for a very expensive hard disk.

What you want is the Audiotron.

For the same price, you could put several of them around your house and connect them to the linux computer you already have, which could be the central music server.

Basically, you plug it into your network through it's ethernet port and turn it on. It scans all SAMBA shares for mp3 music in /audio or /my music
and lets you select from the IR remote. The output is a SPDIF jack, RCA stereo jacks and a headphone jack. The list price is $299 (cheaper other places).

The only other thing I found was the dell digital audio reciever, but it's totally tied to windows and I think it requires real player installation. It's inexpensive though - $199.

Another interesting one is the harman kardon/zapstation. It can do the same thing, but with video as well. However, if you look deeper into the specs, it's another pile of crap: they try to control everything about the device. You can't load DVD's onto the hard disk, and it incorporates most of the other controlware tactics.

I just interviewed with this company - got to see their prototype MP3 / DVD / Web Portal boxes. They were sweet. It runs linux, has a hard drive, broadband ready (aka ethernet port), built in DVD player. It was purty.

1. ) DVD player
2. ) MP3 Jukebox (30GB storage)
3. ) Full-screen MPEG1 player (VCD)
4. ) CD player
5. ) Broadband network connection
6. ) web browser
7. ) runs Linux
8. ) plays streaming MP3 and WMF files off the internet

Plus, it's just cool. I'm going to put a Quake 3 server on mine.

http://www.zapmedia.com/

Actually no - it does have a digital S/PDIF output (specs).

And if you can really tell the difference between S-Video and component inputs I'd be surprised --- I tried it myself and found that while there is a difference in the default color/hue balance, once it was corrected via the set's controls, I honestly could not begin to tell the difference when switching inputs from my DVD player. S-Video is fine for regular interlaced TV.

The only thing you're going to see that will make DVD's better is progressive scan component inputs as are on DTV's.

You have a transitional piece of equipment (as do I) -- component inputs will be a thing of the past in a few years in favor of a standard vga 15pin connector and/or 5-BNC.

Here's one you didn't mention: The ZapStation.

ZapMedia is coming out with an internet appliance called a ZapStation. It is more of a digital entertainment device/MP3 jukebox/DVD player and doesn't have DVR capabilities, but it plays mp3s, CDs, DVDs, and online movies and music. Of course, you can also browse the web or send/receive email with it.

It comes with an ethernet jack in the back--it would plug right in to a home network without trouble.

It is also Linux based and due out later this year.