Reason Not to Use Microsoft's Zune

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Thu May 08, 2008 6:29 pm

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/0 ... technology

So far it's been denied, but we know Microsoft...

Skykid · Post by **Skykid** » Thu May 08, 2008 6:40 pm

Don't need zune if you got a mac, it's a piece of piss to link up.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Thu May 08, 2008 10:12 pm

And they said MiniDiscs were restrictive.

One question, though. How are they going to block shows like Heroes from being played? How can the devices tell a legit file from an invalid one, other than using Metadata or file names?

Guess that Microsoft can't let Sony have the record for most consecutive instances of shooting themselves in the foot.

t0yrobo · Post by **t0yrobo** » Thu May 08, 2008 10:39 pm

I really doubt that that has much truth to it. Something like that would be total suicide. Mp3 players thrive on piracy, not too many people actually have enough stuff to fill all theses 50+ gig devices..

Damocles · Post by **Damocles** » Thu May 08, 2008 11:11 pm

I never could understand watching video on a portable device.

Udderdude · Post by **Udderdude** » Thu May 08, 2008 11:39 pm

It's going to detect which video streams have copyrighted data .. using black magic long thought lost to the sands of time. Try to ignore the occasional daemonic screams your Zune makes.

Lordstar · Post by **Lordstar** » Fri May 09, 2008 12:40 am

Creative zen for the win!

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Fri May 09, 2008 1:18 am

Damocles wrote:I never could understand watching video on a portable device.

I'm with you. They're good for planes, and that's about it... even then I only use that when my batteries in the laptop are dead (which is very fast, unfortunately).

dial911 · Post by **dial911** » Fri May 09, 2008 2:48 am

I love my 30GB Zune... + everything in the store is DRM free... when I can't find it elsewhere...

Screen is nice and vibrant... but who watches shows/vids on a portable mp3 player? Kind of like playing music cd's on game consoles... who does that shit (although the saturn is pretty nifty >_>)?

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Fri May 09, 2008 5:18 am

dial911 wrote: Screen is nice and vibrant... but who watches shows/vids on a portable mp3 player?

Bus commuters and considerate anime fans who don't want to wake up their family in the middle of the night by firing up the TV?

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Fri May 09, 2008 7:10 am

Specineff wrote:Bus commuters and considerate anime fans who don't want to wake up their family in the middle of the night by firing up the TV?

Can I has my own PC, pleez?

jp · Post by jp » Fri May 09, 2008 1:05 pm

Damocles wrote:I never could understand watching video on a portable device.

Bingo.

Thankfully I just use my Zune for, you know, listening to music.

Lordstar · Post by **Lordstar** » Fri May 09, 2008 1:15 pm

i must admit its bad enough when your reading a news paper or magazine and some ones reading over your sholder on the train/bus. I could imagine having a episode of something would attract even more attention.

wha?! no love for the zen then, so it is just me?

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Fri May 09, 2008 8:18 pm

Ed Oscuro wrote:
Specineff wrote:Bus commuters and considerate anime fans who don't want to wake up their family in the middle of the night by firing up the TV?
Can I has my own PC, pleez?

Huh?

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Fri May 09, 2008 8:31 pm

You can watch media on your PC these days, you know. That kinda knocks out the second group's need to have a Zune for late-night viewing.

Btw, I found something (okay, not "found" so much as "it was right there in the article):
http://zuneinsider.com/archive/2008/05/ ... -idea.aspx

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Fri May 09, 2008 10:04 pm

My Psp won't burn my belly or chest when I want to watch a full Gundam movie while in bed, waiting to fall asleep. And its battery life is longer than my laptop's. Just pointing at an example of why it's more practical to use such a small device instead of a computer. Also, I'd rather risk losing or getting the PSP stolen than the laptop. Makes sense, right?

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Fri May 09, 2008 10:54 pm

Specineff wrote:My Psp won't burn my belly or chest when I want to watch a full Gundam movie while in bed, waiting to fall asleep.

So if you didn't have a PSP you'd try to balance your television on your chest?

Specineff wrote:[...] considerate anime fans who don't want to wake up their family in the middle of the night by firing up the TV?

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Sat May 10, 2008 12:58 am

No, wait.

Not sure if that's what you'd do, but one of the reasons I bought the PSP is because I can watch movies and play games while comfortably laying down in bed.

jonny5 · Post by **jonny5** » Sat May 10, 2008 1:44 am

i used to be a 'creative' supporter but i had 3 of there zen videos die on me in a 6 month period...all in the same way....and i baby electronics....

now i have a 30 gig archos.....bigger screen....640X480 res and it plays any format.....

and if you spend like 2 hours a day in transit being able to watch something helps makes the commute less bothersome

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Sat May 10, 2008 2:31 am

Specineff wrote::roll:

No, wait.

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Please tell me if I got this right:

Watching shows on a tv > watching shows on a pc > watching shows on a psp > watching shows on a TV balanced on your belly because you're considerate

Speaking of consideration, you never mentioned that you liked to be on your back, because we aren't like the ancient romans who would eat TV dinners while reclining on their sides. HOW RUDE

jp · Post by jp » Sat May 10, 2008 2:40 am

If I wanted to watch something while I was in bed... I would just... I dunno... watch it from my bed.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Sun May 11, 2008 12:18 am

@ED: Nope. You're doing it wrong.

UnscathedFlyingObject · Sun May 11, 2008 12:20 am

Reminds me of the Sony DRM shit. Nobody boycotting Microsoft altogether yet?

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Sun May 11, 2008 12:42 am

I am. Ironically, by sticking to Sony Hi-Minidisc, which has dropped all DRM completely, via a bit of tinkering.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Sun May 11, 2008 1:35 am

Specineff wrote:@ED: Nope. You're doing it wrong.

Ah, okay then

Also, minidisc isn't dead huh? Do its player still use the old capacity discs? I checked out prices on eBay lately, and they're still pretty pricey.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Sun May 11, 2008 2:30 am

Yeah, it's still alive. Somewhat. The new Hi-MD can take and record on the old discs just like the older players, and can reformat the old discs to double their capacity to use with the new "Hi-type" formats, in addition to the new 1GB discs, with unlimited uploads to computer from those new discs. Pretty darn cool to get perfect 1:1 copies of soundtracks off the digital out of the Xbox.

Sony seriously cleaned up their act and removed all restrictions from your own Minidisc recordings, probably due to the bad rap they got from the Rootkit-loaded audio CDs.

KBZ · Post by **KBZ** » Mon May 12, 2008 5:03 am

Boo zune.

I'm not hardcore enough for Mini discs. But they are REALLY cool to have.

Seriously though, anything that doesn't allow msc/ums mode is useless to me. I hate MTP with a passion. Thankfully korea hates MTP too and doesn't allow it.

So I'm all about the Cowon D2 right now.