1. Zune only works with the Zune store. 2. Urge shut down last week, but at least they transferred their users over to Rhapsody.
I was using a Zen with Rhapsody up until a few weeks ago. I sold the Zen and canceled Rhapsody. In the end, I went back to my trust old iPod mini, but for the longest time I was contemplating switching to satellite radio. One thing I didn't like about the subscription service was having to manage the collection in order to keep up an updated playlist. Honestly, it became a chore that made me dislike it over time.
Luckily, I have a local public radio station that carries NPR and another public station that plays a variety of music that I like. Otherwise, I'd switch to Sirius (to get the NPR feed).
Although I've never owned a Zune, I have used the Zune software to stream H.264 videos to my Xbox. It's a similar interface to Windows Media Player, but a little cleaner and easier to use. FWIW, I prefer the Zune media player to Rhapsody.
I had lots of neighbors in that predicament, most of the 2nd floor apartments had a northeast exposure. Their solution? Put the dishes on really high poles to get a skyshot over the roof:-)
Since 1996, apartment dwellers have had the right to have a dish installed in an unobtrusive manner. The law trumps all lease agreements and landlord's rules. In my old apartment, it seemed like every other apartment had one installed, either on a pole in the back of a 1st floor unit or on the balcony of a 2nd floor unit.
So basically, Netflix would like to save me the step of ripping their DVDs to H.264 and streaming them to my 360 from my desktop:-) Sweet! *snickers* OK, now down to business...
MS would probably not like this too much because they already offer a lot of current TV shows and movies on Xbox Live. TV shows are usually $2.00 each and movies are $3-$6 depending upon the offering and if the film is in HD or not. If you like to watch a lot of TV, those Microsoft Points add up quickly, in which case you're better off getting cable or satellite for your TV needs. But compared to Netflix, Microsoft has a tiny library.
Netflix is just the opposite...you pay $10-25 per month for an all-you-can-eat plan, but you have to wait for the movies to come in the mail. 1 day if you live up the street from the distribution center or up to a few days if much further. If Netflix could offer their entire library online, instantly, that is worth maybe even a few dollars more per month than their most expensive plan because your movie/TV show turnover rate is a lot higher now. And, at a nonetheless flat rate, it would still be a better deal than Xbox Live's piecemeal offerings for at least $2 a pop.
I worked for a bank in college...you can't post-date a check. Specifically, it won't matter if you post-date it; it's cashed or deposited when presented.
I used the Dell Win XP OEM disk that came with my Inspiron laptop to install a copy of XP on a Dell Dimension desktop that originally had ME. I was pleasantly surprised that I did not have to activate it. The Inspiron was given away and reformatted with another OS, so I feel no qualms about it.
OTOH, that same Dell XP OEM disk was useless for installing XP (via Bootcamp) on my Macbook Pro. Even after slipstreaming SP2, it would not install due to all the Dell-specific stuff.
Hmm...I use it under Vista, although they say it's not officially supported. It works fine for me to the extent that I never signed up for cable/FiosTV/satellite when I bought my house. My only thought is to run it as admin as long as your computer isn't open to the world.
Get TVersity. It's free and will transcode anything that the Xbox 360 won't play natively (native formats are WMV and H.264). In addition, use Miro to populate your video library with a bunch of video podcasts...many of which are in HD and more than just a few minutes long like video podcasts of days' past.
WMP 11 is useless. It's a shame that it take a free, third party project, such as TVersity, to make the 360 worth the money. The Xbox 360 is proof that Microsoft should split itself up into a hardware business and software business. The "software" part of Microsoft insists itself upon an awesome piece of hardware and shits all over the experience.
"They did have custodial staff on the Death Star right?;)"
You should go rent "Clerks" and spare us the agony of someone posting the conversation the lead characters had about all the contractors working on the Death Star:-)
That's how I break this down. This makes it very attractive to afford a second Xbox 360 for the bedroom to serve as a front-end for TVersity. From everything I've read, D-link's DSM 520 networked media player falls a little short on performance, but my Xbox 360 in the living room is really responsive to playing vids over the network. Transcoding (albeit on the fly) non-WMV/MP4 files sucks and takes a second or two, but the overall experience is great.
1. Miro downloads video podcasts (2,495 tracked and lots of stuff in HD) that I subscribe to and puts them in the shared video folder on my desktop. 2. TVersity streams them over my network to my... 3. Xbox 360, which lets me enjoy my videos on my couch. Or, get something like a D-link DSM 320 network media player for less. 4. I also rip and serve movies that I get from Netflix. 5. Xbox Live has lots of current, mainstream TV programming from the major networks for about $2/show, as well as movies on demand for $3 to $5, with many in HD.
I get exactly what I want this way. More importantly, I am not subsidizing special interest programming (ie ESPN).
Most of the CD versions of albums I saw on there were only a dollar or two higher than the MP3 albums. If anything, this will help increase Amazon's sales of physical CDs, too. But this would be good for those occasions when you only want one obscure song from an album you otherwise don't want.
I opted not to get cable or satellite in my house. All my TV shows come in from Xbox Live or Netflix. For all the time I have for TV, I save a lot of money that way.
For $0 a month in cash, I can download a sizable selection of music to my Playsforsure (Creative Zen Vision M) music player, but I have to spend my rare and precious time watching advertisements. Right off the bat, the real economic cost of this service based upon my opportunity costs is over $50 per month without exaggeration.
Or, I can pay $15 a month for Rhapsody or Napster and not have to spend my time being subjected to advertisements. $15 a month, which, and let's be honest, is not a lot of money to have access to a library of millions of songs.
My cynical take: this service is essentially an advertising gimmick by its financiers to draw people to superior services, such as Rhapsody. The increment from $0/month to $15/month is not too much at all for the tremendous jump in convenience.
1. If you're inclined to buy TV shows, you just enter your CC info once when you set up your console. Or buy a prepaid points card to refill your account. 2. Download and watch it. 3. Save time by not having to scrounge around on the web for torrents.
Or, get a Netflix account and build up a nice little library of movies and shows.
It's not that crazy of an idea. I spent $15 for a CD (content). I really wanted to use some of the music for a little home video mash-up thing for my personal use. I have spent thousands of dollars on computer equipment & software to that lets me engage in the fair use of content (ie mixing the music into my video).
no wire,....ah fsck. OK, we can retire that one now!
On a more serious note, the ringtone news was the only bad news to come out of this. Ringtones can be made in iTunes, but they charge you an additional 99 cents, even if you've already purchased the song. This is beyond assinine, paying for a feature that, by common sense, one would assume is a simple built-in function of the iphone.
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You might run into a couple of problems:
1. Zune only works with the Zune store.
2. Urge shut down last week, but at least they transferred their users over to Rhapsody.
I was using a Zen with Rhapsody up until a few weeks ago. I sold the Zen and canceled Rhapsody. In the end, I went back to my trust old iPod mini, but for the longest time I was contemplating switching to satellite radio. One thing I didn't like about the subscription service was having to manage the collection in order to keep up an updated playlist. Honestly, it became a chore that made me dislike it over time.
Luckily, I have a local public radio station that carries NPR and another public station that plays a variety of music that I like. Otherwise, I'd switch to Sirius (to get the NPR feed).
Although I've never owned a Zune, I have used the Zune software to stream H.264 videos to my Xbox. It's a similar interface to Windows Media Player, but a little cleaner and easier to use. FWIW, I prefer the Zune media player to Rhapsody.
I had lots of neighbors in that predicament, most of the 2nd floor apartments had a northeast exposure. Their solution? Put the dishes on really high poles to get a skyshot over the roof :-)
Those portions of the exclusivity deals would have been null and void. The law trumps them, period.
Since 1996, apartment dwellers have had the right to have a dish installed in an unobtrusive manner. The law trumps all lease agreements and landlord's rules. In my old apartment, it seemed like every other apartment had one installed, either on a pole in the back of a 1st floor unit or on the balcony of a 2nd floor unit.
So basically, Netflix would like to save me the step of ripping their DVDs to H.264 and streaming them to my 360 from my desktop :-) Sweet! *snickers* OK, now down to business...
MS would probably not like this too much because they already offer a lot of current TV shows and movies on Xbox Live. TV shows are usually $2.00 each and movies are $3-$6 depending upon the offering and if the film is in HD or not. If you like to watch a lot of TV, those Microsoft Points add up quickly, in which case you're better off getting cable or satellite for your TV needs. But compared to Netflix, Microsoft has a tiny library.
Netflix is just the opposite...you pay $10-25 per month for an all-you-can-eat plan, but you have to wait for the movies to come in the mail. 1 day if you live up the street from the distribution center or up to a few days if much further. If Netflix could offer their entire library online, instantly, that is worth maybe even a few dollars more per month than their most expensive plan because your movie/TV show turnover rate is a lot higher now. And, at a nonetheless flat rate, it would still be a better deal than Xbox Live's piecemeal offerings for at least $2 a pop.
I worked for a bank in college...you can't post-date a check. Specifically, it won't matter if you post-date it; it's cashed or deposited when presented.
I used the Dell Win XP OEM disk that came with my Inspiron laptop to install a copy of XP on a Dell Dimension desktop that originally had ME. I was pleasantly surprised that I did not have to activate it. The Inspiron was given away and reformatted with another OS, so I feel no qualms about it.
OTOH, that same Dell XP OEM disk was useless for installing XP (via Bootcamp) on my Macbook Pro. Even after slipstreaming SP2, it would not install due to all the Dell-specific stuff.
Hmm...I use it under Vista, although they say it's not officially supported. It works fine for me to the extent that I never signed up for cable/FiosTV/satellite when I bought my house. My only thought is to run it as admin as long as your computer isn't open to the world.
Get TVersity. It's free and will transcode anything that the Xbox 360 won't play natively (native formats are WMV and H.264). In addition, use Miro to populate your video library with a bunch of video podcasts...many of which are in HD and more than just a few minutes long like video podcasts of days' past.
WMP 11 is useless. It's a shame that it take a free, third party project, such as TVersity, to make the 360 worth the money. The Xbox 360 is proof that Microsoft should split itself up into a hardware business and software business. The "software" part of Microsoft insists itself upon an awesome piece of hardware and shits all over the experience.
"They did have custodial staff on the Death Star right? ;)"
:-)
You should go rent "Clerks" and spare us the agony of someone posting the conversation the lead characters had about all the contractors working on the Death Star
That's how I break this down. This makes it very attractive to afford a second Xbox 360 for the bedroom to serve as a front-end for TVersity. From everything I've read, D-link's DSM 520 networked media player falls a little short on performance, but my Xbox 360 in the living room is really responsive to playing vids over the network. Transcoding (albeit on the fly) non-WMV/MP4 files sucks and takes a second or two, but the overall experience is great.
Apparently, cake will be served at the end of the stock seminar!
I can even plug my iPod into my Xbox 360 and play AAC files (the non-DRM ones of course).
Awwww...I felt sorry and added him as a friend. Not that Slashdot friends count for anything. Slashdot fans, however, that's a different story!
That's a trick question, since God hates frags.
He should have picked a color other than pink and settled for fabulous instead of flaming.
I do it on the cheap:
1. Miro downloads video podcasts (2,495 tracked and lots of stuff in HD) that I subscribe to and puts them in the shared video folder on my desktop.
2. TVersity streams them over my network to my...
3. Xbox 360, which lets me enjoy my videos on my couch. Or, get something like a D-link DSM 320 network media player for less.
4. I also rip and serve movies that I get from Netflix.
5. Xbox Live has lots of current, mainstream TV programming from the major networks for about $2/show, as well as movies on demand for $3 to $5, with many in HD.
I get exactly what I want this way. More importantly, I am not subsidizing special interest programming (ie ESPN).
Most of the CD versions of albums I saw on there were only a dollar or two higher than the MP3 albums. If anything, this will help increase Amazon's sales of physical CDs, too. But this would be good for those occasions when you only want one obscure song from an album you otherwise don't want.
I opted not to get cable or satellite in my house. All my TV shows come in from Xbox Live or Netflix. For all the time I have for TV, I save a lot of money that way.
For $0 a month in cash, I can download a sizable selection of music to my Playsforsure (Creative Zen Vision M) music player, but I have to spend my rare and precious time watching advertisements. Right off the bat, the real economic cost of this service based upon my opportunity costs is over $50 per month without exaggeration.
Or, I can pay $15 a month for Rhapsody or Napster and not have to spend my time being subjected to advertisements. $15 a month, which, and let's be honest, is not a lot of money to have access to a library of millions of songs.
My cynical take: this service is essentially an advertising gimmick by its financiers to draw people to superior services, such as Rhapsody. The increment from $0/month to $15/month is not too much at all for the tremendous jump in convenience.
I'm pretty sure Joe was just trolling for spelling and grammar nazis. Mission accomplished!
Or on Xbox Live:
1. If you're inclined to buy TV shows, you just enter your CC info once when you set up your console. Or buy a prepaid points card to refill your account.
2. Download and watch it.
3. Save time by not having to scrounge around on the web for torrents.
Or, get a Netflix account and build up a nice little library of movies and shows.
It's not that crazy of an idea. I spent $15 for a CD (content). I really wanted to use some of the music for a little home video mash-up thing for my personal use. I have spent thousands of dollars on computer equipment & software to that lets me engage in the fair use of content (ie mixing the music into my video).
no wire,....ah fsck. OK, we can retire that one now!
On a more serious note, the ringtone news was the only bad news to come out of this. Ringtones can be made in iTunes, but they charge you an additional 99 cents, even if you've already purchased the song. This is beyond assinine, paying for a feature that, by common sense, one would assume is a simple built-in function of the iphone.
...what can I do with it? Are there any sites or interesting apps out yet to try?