Details of Next Gen Zune Surface

KMG writes "Zune Scene has got a scoop about the next generation Microsoft Zune. There will be two new models; a flash memory based and a hard drive based. Zune with HDD will be thinner and have larger storage capacity while the flash based will feature Wi-fi, video playback. So will we see another try from Microsoft to beat Apple's iPod or it will be another vain attempt from the Redmond guys."

Comments

Re:Flash seems to be the way to go....

[MaestroRC]

Because umm... flash is OUTRAGEOUSLY EXPENSIVE? Hard drives let manufacturers sell these things for $3-400 with 30-80GB of storage, a 64GB flash drive is still in the $6-800 range in and of itself. Granted, prices will go down, but people want their storage now, and don't care so much about having to replace the thing every couple of years.

Re:"Zune Scene"?

[lubricated]

way to notice. Blatant astroturfing.

they'll lose billions but they'll keep at it

[Locutus]

They'll keep at it no matter how bad their device is and eventually, people will accept them. BUT, it'll cost Microsoft 10's of billions and 10's of billions in losses. Does anybody remember the first Microsoft WindowsCE based handhelds over 10 years ago? I think they were clamshell versions and after about 3 years on the market, most of those vendors quit selling the WinCE devices for lack of interest/sales. Microsoft then renamed the product to MS PocketPC after the courts said they could use PalmPC and also allowed vendors to build portrait based versions. Another 7+ years passed and billions in losses but today, people accept the product.

So it really doesn't matter what they put out, they'll just keep doing it, paying billions in marketing, discounts, and other incentives to vendors to keep pushing the product. The ONLY way this would not happen is if the press( hello /. ) stopped giving them any air time. Atleast make em pay you for it. IMO.

LoB

Re:Flash seems to be the way to go....

[Moofie]

My music library is 60gb. My wife's music library is upwards of 200gb.

There is still a place for high-capacity portable players. We may not be typical, but we definitely exist.

You aren't locked to iPod if you use iTunes

[Anonymous Coward]

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=935 48

I don't know if these players are any good, but they are compatible with iTunes and they aren't made by Apple.

Re:More the Merrier

[Saffaya]

"There was no service for MS to copy from "

Yes there was.
You are forgetting the DreamCast and SegaNet. (Phantasy Star Online anyone ?)

But I don't mean it in a copy sort of way.
SEGA shared its know-how with MS to help them build Xbox Live.

How to get 1,000G:

[Kadin2048]

I was curious exactly what you'd have to do to get 1,000 Gs, so here are some back-of-the-envelope numbers for comparison:

It wouldn't survive being fired out of a handgun (zero to 800fps along a 5" barrel [1] implies an acceleration, assuming I did my math right, of ~468000 m/s^2 or about ~47,000 Gs).

Still, it's better than your brain inside your head, which can only take about 150-200 Gs before you start doing serious/irreparable damage [2] (the rest of your body is a lot lower, like 8-20 Gs depending on direction and body part, but your head alone can take a bit more since it doesn't have all those squishy bits).

I was curious how fast you'd need to be going in a typical car accident to get 1,000Gs: The fatal accident that killed Princess Di was supposedly somewhere around 70-100 G [3]; if we assume that was the result of crashing at 120 MPH or so, 190 km/h [4], we can extrapolate that to get 1,000G, you'd need to have a speed of around 1682 MPH. [5] (That doesn't say anything really about surviving a car crash at that speed, because obviously there are mechanical and thermal problems involved...)

So if you swallowed one of those things, I think it's pretty clear that you'd be mush long before it got bothered.

[1] Pulling these numbers out of my ass, but they're roughly typical for a 1911.
[2] http://hypertextbook.com/physics/mechanics/acceler ation/ referencing medical literature from helmeted motorcycle crashes
[3] ibid.
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Diana,_Princ ess_of_Wales
[5] You use the acceleration value and speed to calculate a "time" for the collision, around 0.07s, and then use that to get the velocity for an acceleration of 1000G. I never said it was that reliable a figure...