Slashdot Mirror


Zune's Wireless Almost Totally Worthless

mikesd81 writes to mention an article at Engadget exploring what the Zune's wireless is good for. It turns out that, at least for now, that's not much. From the article: "You can search for and find other Zunes nearby. You can send songs / albums for the 3 x 3 trial. Songs past the three days / listens are deleted at next sync, but catalogued on your PC for record-keeping should you want to purchase them later. No word on whether Microsoft is going to keep track of which files are traded. You can send and receive image files for 'unlimited viewing.' (Oh, so copyrighted images aren't worth DRMing?) You can't: Connect to the internet, Download songs directly from the Zune store via WiFi, Sync to your computer via WiFi."

15 of 442 comments (clear)

  1. 10 steps behind by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    hello? cell phones are where the mp3 playing action is at - sony ericson has the lead at the moment.

    Microsoft has to actually come up with something new and worthwhile but they are not exactly a creative bunch.

  2. obligatory by MonoSynth · · Score: 2, Funny

    WiFi. More space than a Nomad. Lame.

  3. Re:Makes me wonder by Kamineko · · Score: 4, Funny

    Total wireless free sharing hyper-media super-internet. YouTube on legs.

    Coincidentally, that's going to be the Zune 2. Or at least, the Zune 2 is going to approach it. The Zune 5 might have something similar to it, and they'll claim to have invented it too.

  4. fresh-roasted by etheriel · · Score: 2, Funny

    aaah, there's nothing like a cup of microsoft-sux to get the day started.

  5. Re:How about illegal pictures? by Abcd1234 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Sweet! Finally, goatse for the masses! It takes this (don't worry, SFW :) to a whole new level.

  6. Re:Makes me wonder by GunFodder · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yes, but the downside is that our streets would be full of unemployed record company executives. Think of the poor execs!

  7. Re:Makes me wonder by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 2, Funny

    "t's telling that our culture seems to put emphasis on how shortlived it really is, instead of thinking of the future and how we can best preserve our legacy for those that will come after us."

    In the case of Britney and Paris, I might actually think this is a good thing. I don't want them to be a legacy. :-D

    --
    Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  8. I am willing to bet by codepunk · · Score: 2, Funny

    Microsoft is about to get a little lesson in why the public is not going to go for this DRM crap. I predict
    the sales to be very dismal at best.

    --


    Got Code?
  9. Re:Makes me wonder by mrchaotica · · Score: 3, Funny

    I've got a Modest Proposal to solve that problem, if you want to hear it...

    --

    "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

  10. Zune's for Teenagers by thethibs · · Score: 2, Funny

    If you aren't a kid in highschool (and a non-technical one at that), you probably shouldn't bother having an opinion about the Zune. It's evident that socially active eight-to-eighteens are Microsoft's target market for the Zune, and they aren't going to be taking input from anyone else.

    --
    I'm a Programmer. That's one level above Software Engineer and one level below Engineer.
  11. Re:Makes me wonder by GenmaKun · · Score: 2, Funny

    If they have trouble reading the DRM, all they will need to do is push the "Enhance" button on their Tricorder and the files will play back just fine, except maybe for some slight analog distortion some disgruntled code monkey added when coding the "Enhance" function.

  12. Re:Makes me wonder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Wow... that is probably the best debate I have seen for religion, in particular fundamentalist viewpoints on religion. Without it, you get Paris Hilton et al. It's actually making me debate my stance.

  13. It's not about capabilities-its about posibilities by SnprBoB86 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Ok so it can't sync by Wifi and it can't browse the web. Bummer. Both things can be fixed with software upgrades -- which can be delivered wirelessly!

    Let's not forget that the Zune was built in 9 months. This is from the same people at Microsoft who built Xbox. The original Xbox was mostly on par with the PlayStation, like the Zune will be with the iPod. The 360 had more time to be thought out and appears to be capable of blowing the PlayStation 3 out of the water. I'll be waiting to buy a Zune 360 :-)

    I don't want to browse the "web" on a Zune, but I might like to browse a custom set of web applications designed for the Zune. Here's one crazy idea that I would love to see: wifi communications from my digital cable tuner (or a Media center PC?). The tuner could broadcast an ID number of the show I'm currently watching and the current time into that show. I often say "aw man -- what is this song they are playing?" Whip out my Zune, click "Current Show" and then "Recently played songs", preview them right there, buy immediately.

    --
    http://brandonbloom.name
  14. Re:Makes me wonder by QRDeNameland · · Score: 3, Funny
    I'd hate to be in the shoes of a 23rd century researcher trying to play back a 2005 issue SONY drm'd compact disc or the last copy of a tune surviving on some ancient file server in encrypted apple iTunes format.

    I'm picturing the end of A.I., when the future robots find Haley Joel Osment at the bottom of the frozen sea, and when they also find the 2005 Sony CD, one sticks the CD in its chest and is instantly rooted, clutching its head moaning "Damn XP legacy code!!"

    --
    Momentarily, the need for the construction of new light will no longer exist.
  15. Re:Makes me wonder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    "If we'd put the music of the Voyager Golden Record on a USB key in iTunes Fairplay ALC, I have little doubt that aliens with the capacity to recover a space probe from interstellar space could have decoded it"

    And then 10,000 years later a probe from the RIAA would arrive to sue them for breaking the DRM...