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Zune HD could be better than Apple Ipod

iPod Music Players, Cellphones, Laptaps & Notebooks | Comments (0)

By MAJOR TOM | October 15, 2009

Zune Pass Apple has long maintained that people want to own rather than rent their music. I counter that a subscription-based music service, combined with a state-of-the-art player, is one of those features that you have to try before you realize how fantastic it is. It reminds me of the first time I beta-tested the Xbox Live gaming service back in 2002–I didn’t understand how addictive online console gaming could be until I spent eight hours playing Moto GP without even looking at the clock.

The first thing you’ll notice — the first thing everyone notices — is just how incredibly sexy the Zune HD is. The sleek casing and big, glossy touchscreen is a far cry from previous devices in the line. The body of the player is a sandwich of brushed metal bread with plastic “meat” through the center. On the face of the device is a tall and thin 3.3-inch OLED display and a lean home button at the southern end of the panel. The back is slightly curved on the edges and fastened with four prominent, industrial screws. On the bottom of the device there’s a Zune adapter port and 3.5mm headphone jack, while the top houses a power / sleep button, and a “media” button lives on the left-hand side of the unit (more on that later). All in all, the package is smartly put together, and while it sometimes felt a bit light (or not quite there) in the hand, we have few complaints about its build and style. It’s one of the more mature offerings Microsoft has made to the gadget world — and we’re taken with it.

These are the kinds of music-discovery features that make the Zune Pass a great deal at $14.99 a month. And on top of that, each month you get 10 MP3 downloads to keep.

Quickplay This feature lets you “pin” favorite songs, albums, playlists, or other types of content to the front menu of the Zune HD. It also has a “New” section that automatically displays the six items you’ve most recently added to your collection, a “History” section that displays the last six things you’ve played, and a spot to access any currently playing song that you’ve paused. I miss this instant gratification, particularly quick access to recently added music, on the iPod.

Background art Remember how cool it seemed when you could first look at album covers as you played songs on your MP3 player? The Zune HD makes this seem hopelessly obsolete–instead, it scrolls through album art and pictures of the artist as each song plays. No purchase is required–it works even with the LPs I ripped. It’s similar to how the Zune software (and iTunes) can populate your music collection with album art from a database in the cloud, only more sophisticated. (You can see this feature in action starting around 2:00 into this video demo.)

Wireless sync This feature has been part of the Zune experience since 2007, and once you get used to it, you’ll hate dragging your iPod to your computer every time you want to load new music. Microsoft seems to have improved the sync experience in the Zune HD and Zune 4.0 software–all you have to do is leave the Zune HD’s wireless connection on, and it will periodically sync automatically with your PC, even if you don’t have the Zune app open.

Nokia E71: A Computer On One’s Hand

Computers Tech, Software & Programming, PC Games, Cellphones | Comments (0)

By MAJOR TOM | September 23, 2009

Okay, we’ve seen already quite a number of previous cellphone models that acts and stimulates a full computer on the palm of the hand but E71, in a glance could be just the first-ever unit that truly epitomizes full functionality computing in one’s hand, especially with the QWERTY keypad right below the screen, not on another flap or fold, but right in front, just like a notebook or a laptop.