@S-Express:
Its HD b/c it can output HD video. Have you ever tried playing video off an ipod touch onto a TV? It's horrible, the video files on the iPod are encoded and cut down for the iPod's screen, while the Tegra in the Zune allows it to play 720p files even on a screen that small (although not displaying 720p on its 3.3" screen, it just plays the 720p file), so when you go to plug it into a TV, you're getting 720p video on the TV screen.
@S-Express: Why would you need HD playback on a 3" screen. I does play back 720P video on an HD TV, so it is HD. What you are saying would be like saying a Blueray player isn't HD if you played it on a standard television. The player is still HD, but the display is not. For people like me that travel, it would be extremely handy.
Hey Giz (John), I'd check Engadget again, apparently the specs were wrong. MS gave Engadget the real specs. 33 hours of music and 8.5 hours of video. 3 hours to charge from a PC, and 2 hours to charge from an AC adapter.
@S-Express: Update: Microsoft has hit us with the corrected & updated spec list with a slight change to battery and charge specs: 33 hours of life playing music with no wireless, up to 8.5 hours of video. 3 hours to charge from PC, 2 hours via AC adapter. Hopefully that's long enough to cover your one man rave in the woods far away from A/C outlets.
@S-Express: Your MS hate is too overt. Why post on the same story multiple times saying the same things? Also, I'm curious, does a paycheck from Apple have their logo on it?
@wargames2007: Kind of. :\ Sure the battery can be accessed and can flop right out but from pictures I've seen, it still has soldered wires running from the board to the battery.
@G.O.B.: Come on!:
I seen the pics that engadget has, the battery in those pics look like it has tape around the edges, and there was plastic covering the battery itself.
It most likely gonna have a pin connector like the battery on the 360.
@wargames2007: Yeah, those were the pics I was referring to. Hopefully I was wrong in my assumption that the battery was soldered. I really REALLY want one but I'll have to hold out for 64 GB. 32 won't cut it for my music, let alone any video.
@Bigbadbikernerd: working 4 ten hours shifts like i do, that means i only have to charge it once during the week, rather than every night like i do w/my zune 8. pure win.
@godwhacker, your incandescent leader!: This comment was directed toward the initial specs posted on engadget for video playback. After the updated specs. I am on happy mutha...
@OCEntertainment: True, true:: Well the quote I wrote referred to storage so maybe you can use it as a mass storage device as well in which case you could store 10 hours of HD video.
@Bigbadbikernerd: Semi-acceptable. I still think it's a bit disingenuous to call this device "HD", but at least there's that.
Honestly, I still think this is ridiculous. I'd just as soon hook my computer up to my TV, playback HD video from whatever source I have a drive for (plus web streaming), and skip the Zune altogether.
But then I have a phone that can play music and videos and have no need for a Zune/iPod. If hooking your music player up to the TV is the best way for you, sure go ahead.
Though, if you're storing HD video, even the high-end 32 GB is gonna fill up fast.
@OCEntertainment: True, true:: Think about when you travel. Hotels, friends house, etc, where you don't have DVDs with you or maybe even a player. Always have the Zune...
@Bigbadbikernerd: And that's a great idea....just not one that fits inside a 32GB device at $300.
If I were to get a Zune, first order of business would be getting all my music on it, as my music collection is still horribly disorganized. For even the average user, how much of that 10 hours of video is left? Pretty soon, you're scrambling to fit maybe one or two movies on there.
It would do the job in a pinch. But it's not nearly the ideal situation. Certainly not worth spending $300 to count on that kind of functionality. Just as soon get a netbook and a cheap flash drive if that's what I'm after.
@Solday: When you decide to sell content like movies and TV shows, it's hard to explain to your media/content partners that you allow easy viewing of the prime un-DRMed formats used for piracy.
I'm with you, it's annoying, I wish that I could just drop .avis on my iPhone without re-encoding. And now that VisualHub has been set adrift on autopilot by its dev, I only see it getting a little bit worse the day it won't run because of some update to the OS.
@pixelpushing: I guess I never thought of it in that perspective. Still aren't there other players that do that? Doesn't Creative have players that play almost anything?
when I use iTunes, I wonder if I accidentally installed failure instead. It's just a terrible terrible, slow application for anyone who isn't in the cult of Apple.
Not all lossless codecs are created equal. FLAC is far superior to Apple Lossless in terms of quality, you'll just have to get over your fanboyism to use it.
The sad thing is that iPods, from a hardware standpoint, can handle FLAC just fine (5.5G or earlier can load RockBox) Apple just chooses not to support it... which is stupid.
@Soliq: Yeah... there's like a disconnect between the death of the CD and a sufficiently fast internet to support distribution of a replacement format that's at least as good. There could be an audio "middle ages" during which albums will be released only as lossy downloads.
Ultimately, high-res audio formats are inevitable. It's just a matter of when internet speed and storage make them as convenient as MP3s, so they become commonplace and not "fussy."
you forgot to mention Linux!!!! FLAC support out of the box
I use Rhythmbox for my music (well over 70k tracks), and not only did it load the library really fast, its also extremely snappy at handling the collection, i don't remember iTunes having anywhere near that stability and performance.
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So it's HD in the same way that 'FREE CREDIT REPORT.COM' is free...
08/14/09
Its HD b/c it can output HD video. Have you ever tried playing video off an ipod touch onto a TV? It's horrible, the video files on the iPod are encoded and cut down for the iPod's screen, while the Tegra in the Zune allows it to play 720p files even on a screen that small (although not displaying 720p on its 3.3" screen, it just plays the 720p file), so when you go to plug it into a TV, you're getting 720p video on the TV screen.
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So what happened to the OLED being more power efficient?
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Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....
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I seen the pics that engadget has, the battery in those pics look like it has tape around the edges, and there was plastic covering the battery itself.
It most likely gonna have a pin connector like the battery on the 360.
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Where are you getting 4 hours from?
08/13/09
Seriously. How do they actually get away with calling this thing HD? No mobile device is HD.
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08/13/09
Honestly, I still think this is ridiculous. I'd just as soon hook my computer up to my TV, playback HD video from whatever source I have a drive for (plus web streaming), and skip the Zune altogether.
But then I have a phone that can play music and videos and have no need for a Zune/iPod. If hooking your music player up to the TV is the best way for you, sure go ahead.
Though, if you're storing HD video, even the high-end 32 GB is gonna fill up fast.
Just seems too problematic to me.
08/13/09
08/13/09
If I were to get a Zune, first order of business would be getting all my music on it, as my music collection is still horribly disorganized. For even the average user, how much of that 10 hours of video is left? Pretty soon, you're scrambling to fit maybe one or two movies on there.
It would do the job in a pinch. But it's not nearly the ideal situation. Certainly not worth spending $300 to count on that kind of functionality. Just as soon get a netbook and a cheap flash drive if that's what I'm after.
08/13/09
08/13/09
I'm with you, it's annoying, I wish that I could just drop .avis on my iPhone without re-encoding. And now that VisualHub has been set adrift on autopilot by its dev, I only see it getting a little bit worse the day it won't run because of some update to the OS.
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The sad thing is that iPods, from a hardware standpoint, can handle FLAC just fine (5.5G or earlier can load RockBox) Apple just chooses not to support it... which is stupid.
04/11/09
High rez video gets all the love, but high rez audio formats got washed away by the tidal wave of MP3 convenience. And most people don't know or care.
I for one welcome our future high resolution consumer distribution audio formats (almost said it... almost...)
04/11/09
192/24 albums!
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04/11/09
I'm worried about lossy downloads taking over and not being able to purchase lossless PCM anyhwere, even at 44.1/16
04/11/09
Ultimately, high-res audio formats are inevitable. It's just a matter of when internet speed and storage make them as convenient as MP3s, so they become commonplace and not "fussy."
04/11/09
Oh... Thanks for the other info. :)
04/11/09
It's a still capture from the original TV commercial:
04/11/09
I use Rhythmbox for my music (well over 70k tracks), and not only did it load the library really fast, its also extremely snappy at handling the collection, i don't remember iTunes having anywhere near that stability and performance.
04/11/09
:oD
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