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Who is going to want a ZunePhone?

The ZunePhone. That was a joke. But Microsoft was rumored to be considering making the Zune 3 a phone.

I've never met a windows fanboy defending their faith in person (have met plenty of Mac fanboys at work though!). Most Windows users are normal people just doing stuff with their computers.

http://www.istartedsomething.com/

http://www.neowin.net/

http://www.winsupersite.com/

http://www.zunescene.com/

http://www.zuneluv.com/

I could go on and even mention the rabid Xbox 360 fanboys that ignore the flaws and after market costs of their console of choice while attacking anyone who buys a PS3 for any purpose.

As an African American, the Zune is my choice MP3 player.

http://www.zunescene.com/zune2pics/zc1-380.jpg

With only seven options on the main menu, you think they could've fit it on to a single screen (settings is below the fold). This is the sort of crap that makes me not take Microsoft seriously. To quote SNL - "Who's the marketing genius who came up with that one?"

Zune. No grapes, no nuts. What's the deal?

Hey man,
if there's a dude out there willing to get a zune tattoo that means there must be at least some people out there who are happily willing to buy one. Although the dude's expression seems to say otherwise on the happily point.

Don't forget watermelon-colored!

Yawn...one of the most idiotic discussions I've seen so far on Slashdot. DRM is DRM is DRM and it all stinks. What - you think you *own* the crap you buy from Apple? BWHAHAHAHAHAHA. Of course you don't. The Marketplace is a piece of shit, I'll grant you. But who's fooling who here? I used my 14 day free pass, downloaded everything I wanted and then used Tunebite to convert everything to .mp3 with no DRM (yeah thats right - like none of you Apple Fanboys have never heard of Tunebite). Add to that, my entire collection of music I had my 30G 5G iPod that I HAPPILY sold to pay for the Zune.

OMIFGOD, you say! That's right - I SHIT-CANNED the iPod for this beauty. We already have a sweet, elite "social" (yeah, sucky fucking name) community where I work and we send each other shit all the time, including movies.

Wi-Fi broken? The FUCK you say! Go get an education at Zunescene or the other dozen or so Zune Forum sites. The sharing problem was CRACKED a long time ago - so CATCH UP TO REALITY friends. I can send anything I want via Zune's Wi-Fi anytime I want - movies, music, docs, software, you name it.

Now I'm not a fan of the Marketplace business concept of having to pay a monthly fee to keep your tunes "alive". But, since I like DRM even less, I simply do away with it. Oh yeah - and that INCLUDES the 3-day limit on Wi-Fi transfers, also easily by-passed.

Now boys and girls, go and type-in "ipod vs zune" or similar into Google and look at the tech comparisons. Zune audio is superior to 4th and 5th Gen iPods, period, end of story, not that I still don't covet the 3rd Gen iPod which was a masterpiece of both technical excellence and beauty. I don't miss the click-wheel though. Dialing up a song in the car is a pain in the ass and you know it, unless you have something like "iPod Car" or similar which transfers the control to your steering wheel controls or other dashboard function.

The Zune interface is a dream come true. Yeah, its a modification of Media Center Mobile but its gorgeous and extremely functional. Once you experience navigation in Zune, you'll never want to go back to the iPod model. Yeah, yeah..."no clock, calendar, no contacts - not a single luxury"! That shit's coming soon, plus games. Like the XBox, the Zune is exceptionally hackable and infinitely upgradeable.

http://www.zunescene.com/forums/ [zunescene.com]

Go check out the "Hacks" section.

Video? YEAH, BABY!!! I'm a video junkie and the Zune's Video gives me a stiffie while I was always disappointed in the iPod due to size and format. I was a big fan of Cucusoft's video converter for the iPod but their Zune converter leaves a lot to be desired. IMToo does a great job.

The trick of course, is NOT converting directly from DVD. You'll get beautiful video even on the iPod by converting your DVDs to the Mpeg4 flavor of your choice, then using a video converter such as described. OR, try out Handbrake (originally designed for Mac). The Win32 GUI isn't worth a crap but its rocks on the command line. My method is DVD Decrypter, then AutoGK in which the resulting XVid goes to my Media Center and then gets converted to my Zune.

I'm not a great fan of .wmv but if you buy a Zune and have vids you already converted for use on the iPod, the Zune software will convert them for you as is. IMToo has a nice tool set for conversion and you can get excellent quality vids with high quality stereo audio.

Let's talk about the case. Take a look at every other contender to the iPod. What are they? Clones. Nothing original to see here folks, move along. No thanks, I don't want yet ANOTHER Scratch-Pod. The Zune case is functional, aesthetically pleasing and is NOT a grease and scratch magnet. No need for a protective case other than I went ahead and invested $2.00 in a screen protector (I was a big fan of the McCally protectors for the iPod - best $5.00 you'll ever spend). The Zune is UNIQUE in this aspect.

Y'know what I

Yawn...one of the most idiotic discussions I've seen so far on Slashdot. DRM is DRM is DRM and it all stinks. What - you think you *own* the crap you buy from Apple? BWHAHAHAHAHAHA. Of course you don't. The Marketplace is a piece of shit, I'll grant you. But who's fooling who here? I used my 14 day free pass, downloaded everything I wanted and then used Tunebite to convert everything to .mp3 with no DRM (yeah thats right - like none of you Apple Fanboys have never heard of Tunebite). Add to that, my entire collection of music I had my 30G 5G iPod that I HAPPILY sold to pay for the Zune.

OMIFGOD, you say! That's right - I SHIT-CANNED the iPod for this beauty. We already have a sweet, elite "social" (yeah, sucky fucking name) community where I work and we send each other shit all the time, including movies.

Wi-Fi broken? The FUCK you say! Go get an education at Zunescene or the other dozen or so Zune Forum sites. The sharing problem was CRACKED a long time ago - so CATCH UP TO REALITY friends. I can send anything I want via Zune's Wi-Fi anytime I want - movies, music, docs, software, you name it.

Now I'm not a fan of the Marketplace business concept of having to pay a monthly fee to keep your tunes "alive". But, since I like DRM even less, I simply do away with it. Oh yeah - and that INCLUDES the 3-day limit on Wi-Fi transfers, also easily by-passed.

Now boys and girls, go and type-in "ipod vs zune" or similar into Google and look at the tech comparisons. Zune audio is superior to 4th and 5th Gen iPods, period, end of story, not that I still don't covet the 3rd Gen iPod which was a masterpiece of both technical excellence and beauty. I don't miss the click-wheel though. Dialing up a song in the car is a pain in the ass and you know it, unless you have something like "iPod Car" or similar which transfers the control to your steering wheel controls or other dashboard function.

The Zune interface is a dream come true. Yeah, its a modification of Media Center Mobile but its gorgeous and extremely functional. Once you experience navigation in Zune, you'll never want to go back to the iPod model. Yeah, yeah..."no clock, calendar, no contacts - not a single luxury"! That shit's coming soon, plus games. Like the XBox, the Zune is exceptionally hackable and infinitely upgradeable.

http://www.zunescene.com/forums/

Go check out the "Hacks" section.

Video? YEAH, BABY!!! I'm a video junkie and the Zune's Video gives me a stiffie while I was always disappointed in the iPod due to size and format. I was a big fan of Cucusoft's video converter for the iPod but their Zune converter leaves a lot to be desired. IMToo does a great job.

The trick of course, is NOT converting directly from DVD. You'll get beautiful video even on the iPod by converting your DVDs to the Mpeg4 flavor of your choice, then using a video converter such as described. OR, try out Handbrake (originally designed for Mac). The Win32 GUI isn't worth a crap but its rocks on the command line. My method is DVD Decrypter, then AutoGK in which the resulting XVid goes to my Media Center and then gets converted to my Zune.

I'm not a great fan of .wmv but if you buy a Zune and have vids you already converted for use on the iPod, the Zune software will convert them for you as is. IMToo has a nice tool set for conversion and you can get excellent quality vids with high quality stereo audio.

Let's talk about the case. Take a look at every other contender to the iPod. What are they? Clones. Nothing original to see here folks, move along. No thanks, I don't want yet ANOTHER Scratch-Pod. The Zune case is functional, aesthetically pleasing and is NOT a grease and scratch magnet. No need for a protective case other than I went ahead and invested $2.00 in a screen protector (I was a big fan of the McCally protectors for the iPod - best $5.00 you'll ever spend). The Zune is UNIQUE in this aspe

"Maybe I missed something. Why is the Zune becoming more attractive?"

My guess is these people can't get enough punishment to satisfy their 'masochistic tendencies||hatred of all things Apple||love for all things Microsoft||pseudo-metalhead-gamer-wannabe fantasies'.

Looks like these poor sods have got squirted on already : Zune Scene Support

A particularly ironic post is from one named 'zuneipodkiller' who pleads for someone to help get the software installed.

Remember, SUN makes money on hardware.
Novell and Microsoft do not.

No kidding.

The Zune isn't much bigger than the iPod 30gb. Its .8 ounces heavier, .2 inch longer, and .1 inch deeper. Honestly I doubt you'd notice a difference. Gimme a break.

Its got a larger screen- same resolution, so its not as digitally grainy. You have a problem with that? Plus the screen can be vertical or horizontal . When's the last time I've seen an iPod do that? Never

The Zune has the same battery life as the iPod . "When you turn the wireless off, Zune has up to 14 hours of battery life when listening to music, and up to approximately 4 hours for video or pictures." - http://www.zunescene.com/zune-battery-life/

And you'd be surprised about the color brown. No, I probably wouldn't pick a brown player, but it is an earthtone, and there are people who like earthy colors. Its yet one more option- I don't see iPod offering a third color at all for its 30gb model.

So, thats my humble opinion explained. Oh yeah, and yes- I hate Apple products. Waste of plastic and wiring.

Sounds like Apple has you locked in by virtue of dominant market share, the same thing you guys blast MS for.

BTW, Microsoft is indeed openning up the 3rd party market, so that iPod advantage won't be as big as you think.
Here are a couple examples:
Octavio - Zune speaker dock made by VAF
Altec Lansing's Zune speaker dock

A list of companies that have signed up to make Zune accessories is here:
http://www.zunescene.com/zuneaccessories/

Read more info at http://www.zuneguy.com/ the blog of the MS guy that's in charge of creating Zune's 3rd party market.

Keep in mind that the wireless is almost worthless [slashdot.org].

It also doesn't allow you to play Windows Media files.

There's 2 sides to every story. Let's look at the other side of the coin. If songs were transferred without DRM the Zune would become twice was popular twice as fast. So MS is slowing thier own growth, now why would they do that? Not because they are jerks, because it's the best they can do without getting into trouble from recording artists. http://www.zunescene.com/