Zune HD gets official!

[Demo24]

This looks mighty interesting to me. I've had the 30gb since they first came out and won't let that thing go until it dies, or if I like this new one more. I've always hated ipods for the quite bad UI(has always confused me) and I really hate the scroll wheel. Also HD radio would be cool to have. I have been wanting to tune in to it but not badly enough to buy a new headunit for my car.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: waggy
HD radio? hmm havent really heard much about that.

the new zune looks nice. i been wanting to get something better then my 8 gig sensa

Do you not listen to the radio much? Seems like the HD radio ads have been all over the radio for the last couple of years. It's sort of terrestrial radio's response to satellite radio (which they always mention in the ads). The station I listen to is always talking about their second channel that you can listen to on HD radio. Like the analog-digital TV switch, HD radio allows you to fit more stations into the same bandwidth.

only time i have the radio on is in the car. even then with the kids talking etc i don't pay much attention to i.

we been thinking of satelite radio. i like the idea of the same station wherever i go. i hate searching for a good station while driving. though if i get one i want to be able to listen to it at home. i would think they have a way to hook it up to a home reciever.

though i do get the one station i listen to in really good (have it hooked up to my TV antena)

 

[SAWYER]

I wonder if that extra space on the bottom is where a d-pad and buttons are concealed by a sliding cover? What else would that space be there for?

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: DEMO24
This looks mighty interesting to me. I've had the 30gb since they first came out and won't let that thing go until it dies, or if I like this new one more. I've always hated ipods for the quite bad UI(has always confused me) and I really hate the scroll wheel. Also HD radio would be cool to have. I have been wanting to tune in to it but not badly enough to buy a new headunit for my car.

Wow, you sound exactly like me. I highly dislike the iPod scroll wheel, and have had my Zune30 since the day they came out. I refuse to get rid of it until it dies or another Zune comes along that's worth the upgrade. I'm also interested in HD radio (my local Clear Channel stations are all HD along with secondary stations), but I don't want to buy a new head unit.

 

[Mxylplyx]

You couldnt pry my iphone out of my cold, dead hands, but then again you cant pry my wife's zune out of hers. The zune has one thing that puts it in a class of it's own, and that is the zune pass and zune marketplace. Now that they are enabling wifi streaming from the marketplace with a touchscreen interface, the zune is going to be a portable jukebox that can play pretty much anything you can think of within seconds. How bout that sitting in a sound dock for parties? That is something apple cant do, and probably wont do in the foreseeable future.

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: Mxylplyx
You couldnt pry my iphone out of my cold, dead hands, but then again you cant pry my wife's zune out of hers. The zune has one thing that puts it in a class of it's own, and that is the zune pass and zune marketplace. Now that they are enabling wifi streaming from the marketplace with a touchscreen interface, the zune is going to be a portable jukebox that can play pretty much anything you can think of within seconds. How bout that sitting in a sound dock for parties? That is something apple cant do, and probably wont do in the foreseeable future.

That's a good point, and everyone wins when two giants battle it out in a market like this.

 

[lupi]

Haven't read the entire thread, but does it come with a camera?

 

[James Bond]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
HD Radio Receiver Built-In

I'm sold. Free OTA CD-quality music, sports, comedy and more from my local stations. iPods don't even have FM radio, let alone HD radio.

There are about 20 different different music applications for the iTouch, including Pandora. This has all been running perfectly on 3G for what, a year now?

Just saying.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: James Bond

Originally posted by: jpeyton
HD Radio Receiver Built-In

I'm sold. Free OTA CD-quality music, sports, comedy and more from my local stations. iPods don't even have FM radio, let alone HD radio.

There are about 20 different different music applications for the iTouch, including Pandora. This has all been running perfectly on 3G for what, a year now?

Just saying.

The iPod Touch doesn't do 3G. Just saying.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Sawyer
I wonder if that extra space on the bottom is where a d-pad and buttons are concealed by a sliding cover? What else would that space be there for?

Maybe it has internal components that are too thick to fit under the screen, and they didn't want to make it any thicker? Just a guess.

 

[James Bond]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: James Bond

Originally posted by: jpeyton
HD Radio Receiver Built-In

I'm sold. Free OTA CD-quality music, sports, comedy and more from my local stations. iPods don't even have FM radio, let alone HD radio.

There are about 20 different different music applications for the iTouch, including Pandora. This has all been running perfectly on 3G for what, a year now?

Just saying.

The iPod Touch doesn't do 3G. Just saying.

Err iPhone

 

[jpeyton]

Originally posted by: James Bond

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: James Bond

Originally posted by: jpeyton
HD Radio Receiver Built-In

I'm sold. Free OTA CD-quality music, sports, comedy and more from my local stations. iPods don't even have FM radio, let alone HD radio.

There are about 20 different different music applications for the iTouch, including Pandora. This has all been running perfectly on 3G for what, a year now?

Just saying.

The iPod Touch doesn't do 3G. Just saying.

Err iPhone

I don't want to sign a contract for my digital media player. Let alone a $2000/2yr contract for it. Just saying.

 

[Queasy]

Ars does a roundup of the features and what to expect.

Zune questions

Old accessories: Yes, accessories for other Zune models will interface with the Zune HD, which features the same connector plug.

Multitouch: Yes, Zune HD has it.

Web browser: A full Web browser will be included. It will use now-standard multitouch gestures like double-tap, pinch, and stretch. Seitz told us it would be a "cool browser for the finger." My digits are tingling already.

Flash: The Zune HD Web browser is still in early builds, but Seitz says that Flash support doesn't look likely. "From what I've seen, no," he said, but that might still change before release.

HD: Zune HD has an OLED 16:9 touchscreen with a resolution of 480x272. That sounds sweet, but it's not high-def. The "HD" in the product name refers to support for HD radio on the one hand and, on the other, support for outputting HD video to TVs over an HDMI connector.

HD radio: Past Zune research has shown that owners used the radio feature an average of twice a week, so Microsoft hopes to capitalize on that popularity by adding support for HD radio. Like digital TV, HD radio is a digital format that supports multicasting?one station can now offer multiple subchannels. With few portable HD radio receivers on the market, Microsoft hopes this will set it apart.

HD video: If you thought getting that HD video (720p max) off the device and onto a TV would be cheap and easy, you're half right. The HDMI connection needed to do this will only interface with an external Zune dock, which is sold separately (and if history is any indication, at outlandish prices).

Internet connection: As with past Zunes, the Zune HD features a WiFi connection but no cellular radio. The decision positions the device quite obviously against Apple's iPod touch, though Seitz makes it clear Microsoft is "not trying to play copycat."

Original Xbox games: Some early rumors around the device suggested that it could play 3D games from the original Xbox. Microsoft has "nothing to announce" about games at this time, but clearly has plenty of ideas in the works. More details will be forthcoming over the summer.

An app store: One of the touch's key features is Apple's App Store. Microsoft sounds ready to launch something similar for games, but what about other applications? Seitz says that the company looked at the top 20 apps people used on the touch and found that most were games. Without a cell radio and constant Internet, this makes sense. The Zune team also wants to avoid duplicating work being done by the Windows Mobile team, and it doesn't make sense to have two separate app stores.

Zune death: Are the smaller flash Zunes going away? Seitz says that no final decisions have been made beyond the fact that Microsoft wants to focus more on its next-gen product. Reading between the lines, though, if you want one of the smaller flash Zunes, picking one up this summer is probably a good idea.

Xbox Live: The Xbox Live Video Marketplace will be replaced by some kind of "Zune Marketplace" later this year. Microsoft has spent the last year (finally) doing some heavy lifting on the backend with the goal of combining its sprawling services. While specifics haven't yet been announced, the company does want to move to a model where purchased content resides in the "cloud" and can then be viewed on any device (Xbox, Zune, Windows PC). This would be a welcome and long-overdue change to the current, more limited approach.

The Zune as "platform"

Beyond the spec sheet, the bigger news is that Microsoft has thrown in the towel on its original Zune strategy. The goal was to pump out devices in different form factors while keeping the hardware features the same; that way, every Zune would have the same features and older devices could get feature upgrades via firmware.

That approach has ended. The Zune HD adds HD radio, a new screen in a different aspect ratio, and multitouch. The older devices were nice but never gained much traction in the marketplace, and Microsoft is shaking things up with a serious hardware refresh.

The company has also said for years that Zune would be a "platform" and not just a device, and it finally looks set to deliver on that vision. It has all the tools to be compelling?Windows, Windows Mobile, Xbox, the Zune player, and content partnerships. In a utopian future, the prospect of buying a TV episode through the 360, then watching it on a PC, Zune HD, or WinMo cellphone is powerful.

Right now, a "Zune pass" for music doesn't allow streaming directly to a WinMo phones or the 360, while Netflix support is only available on the 360 and Windows, but not the Zune or WinMo. When every service comes to every screen, the Zune hardware truly will be just one piece in a huge ecosystem, but it will gain tremendous value from all that integration.

 

[jpeyton]

Originally posted by: Chris
And less than half the market share of the Wii.

With the Wii having an installed base of roughly 50 million, how is 30 million less than half that? Wait, doesn't your i(Insert Name Here) have a calculator built-in?

I see the target demographic of Zune to be Xbox fanboys and anti-Apple sorts. The rest of the regular world buy iPods (thank goodness we outnumber the Xbots a thousand-to-one).

And PC users outnumber the blow-Jobs 97% to 3% worldwide.

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: Sawyer
I wonder if that extra space on the bottom is where a d-pad and buttons are concealed by a sliding cover? What else would that space be there for?

Maybe it has internal components that are too thick to fit under the screen, and they didn't want to make it any thicker? Just a guess.

Yeah, sounds like this will be the most powerful device of its type to come out so far, meaning that it needs more processing power / memory. Hope it doesn't get too hot while running, that would suck.

 

[Deeko]

Originally posted by: Chris

Originally posted by: jpeyton

Originally posted by: Chris
Apple is going rape this thing at WWDC, LOL.

Announcing the new iPod Classic; it's like the old iPod Classic, but .03mm thinner and with 20GB more space.

Announcing the new iPod Nano; it's like the old iPod Nano, but we changed the shape slightly and added some colors.

Announcing the new iPod Shuffle; it's like the old iPod Shuffle, but we removed more buttons and added robo calls...I mean VoiceOver.

Yeah because the iPhone/iTouch were just incremental upgrades to the iPod line, and the Zune HD is *not* just a me too clone of the Touch with a bunch of shit nobody wants (HD radio, 720p out).

dude what? HD radio is an AWESOME feature for an MP3 player! Have you actually heard HD radio?

 

[KeithTalent]

Old accessories: Yes, accessories for other Zune models will interface with the Zune HD, which features the same connector plug.

One of the things I always hated about Apple/iPods is how every gen required new plugs and accessories. Constantly fleecing you out of more money. :frown:

KT

 

[jpeyton]

Originally posted by: Deeko

Originally posted by: Chris

Originally posted by: jpeyton

Originally posted by: Chris
Apple is going rape this thing at WWDC, LOL.

Announcing the new iPod Classic; it's like the old iPod Classic, but .03mm thinner and with 20GB more space.

Announcing the new iPod Nano; it's like the old iPod Nano, but we changed the shape slightly and added some colors.

Announcing the new iPod Shuffle; it's like the old iPod Shuffle, but we removed more buttons and added robo calls...I mean VoiceOver.

Yeah because the iPhone/iTouch were just incremental upgrades to the iPod line, and the Zune HD is *not* just a me too clone of the Touch with a bunch of shit nobody wants (HD radio, 720p out).

dude what? HD radio is an AWESOME feature for an MP3 player! Have you actually heard HD radio?

But then you wouldn't have the privilege of paying $1/song, and that severely affects your ability to get the Jr. Jobs merit badge for willingness to submit financially to Apple's top-down business model.

 

[FeuerFrei]

Originally posted by: ChaoZ
I hate this trend where music players no longer have buttons.

Amen! Don't want a touch screen. :thumbsdown: Otherwise I might consider.

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: FeuerFrei

Originally posted by: ChaoZ
I hate this trend where music players no longer have buttons.

Amen! Don't want a touch screen. :thumbsdown: Otherwise I might consider.

Everything is going to that touch screen trend. I am not a fan either (I'm OCD about cleaning smudges on any display surface, and constantly touching = constantly cleaning).

But since it's going to be the standard for the foreseeable future, whether Apple, Microsoft, or otherwise (at least in the higher-end PMP segments), we either get left behind or deal with it.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Originally posted by: KeithTalent

Old accessories: Yes, accessories for other Zune models will interface with the Zune HD, which features the same connector plug.

One of the things I always hated about Apple/iPods is how every gen required new plugs and accessories. Constantly fleecing you out of more money. :frown:

KT

Yes, because that never happened with the Zune. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of my 80 GB Zune, and I haven't looked back since I got it, but I'm still a little pissed that I wasted money on a 1st generation docking station (per Amazon's recommendation no less) that was not compatible with the 2nd generation Zunes. Bullshit, I say. And that experience makes me skeptical that everything will work; hell, the article even mentions needing a new docking station for the HDMI output for 720p. So no, it's not 100% backwards compatible. But it is still closer than the iPod, I'll grant you that.

 

[FeuerFrei]

Originally posted by: Arkaign

Originally posted by: FeuerFrei

Originally posted by: ChaoZ
I hate this trend where music players no longer have buttons.

Amen! Don't want a touch screen. :thumbsdown: Otherwise I might consider.

Everything is going to that touch screen trend. I am not a fan either (I'm OCD about cleaning smudges on any display surface, and constantly touching = constantly cleaning).

But since it's going to be the standard for the foreseeable future, whether Apple, Microsoft, or otherwise (at least in the higher-end PMP segments), we either get left behind or deal with it.

I'm sure some manufacturers realize that tactile interfaces are still much valued, and thus won't jump entirely on the touchy screen bandwagon. I don't foresee us, the consumer, not having at least some non-touch screen options.

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: destrekor

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: Chris

Originally posted by: jpeyton
9 years later, the X360 has a 30 million unit install base and a solid lead over the PS3.

And less than half the market share of the Wii.

I see the target demographic of Zune to be Xbox fanboys and anti-Apple sorts. The rest of the regular world buy iPods (thank goodness we outnumber the Xbots a thousand-to-one).

Wow, you sounds like a foaming at the mouth anti-Microsoft fanboy -- sheesh.

Who cares if the Xbox 360 has half the install base of the Wii? They don't cater to the same gaming titles. I'd like to see you try to play something like MGS or Gears of War on the Wii.

I personally have a Wii and a PS3 because neither can wholly satisfy the broad spectrum of games available on the market.

Stop stooping to the "There can only be one" philosophy, be it with Apple vs Microsoft or Microsoft vs Nintendo/Sony -- it's absolutely STUPID an CHILDISH.

That's all I have to say about that -- the rest of you, just ignore this troll.

This.

And, you don't have to be anti-[insert company here] to just not like their products. I'm not anti-Apple for anything, other than the idiotic pricetags, but I just don't care for a single product Apple offers. Oh sure, it's a little fresh compared to other things, and oh everything is white. Hmm cool. The design is so minimal it's worse than minimalism, and I can't stand the UI.
Zune, while the Zune 30gb wasn't going to win any beauty pageants, had an excellent UI (and that got improved upon too), and while the software at first was garbage, they made it a strong package over time. But the best part: audio quality. The Zune 80/120, I'd argue soundly defeats any HDD player from Apple. Now, the iTouch might be a nice product, I love the thinness because it almost disappears in your pocket, and the Touch UI is relatively solid... well, that's it. Storage is a major deal breaker (and price along with storage), and that is the one thing I worry about the ZuneHD. I'm sold at this point, but the details on price/storage are going to decide whether I eventually upgrade. I'd love to have a multi-touch OLED screen, 720p video out HDMI through dock, wifi with browser, and HD Radio. But if it's on the same level of price gauging as the iTouch, hell no, especially if storage is maxed at 32gb, or a 64gb version retails for $500. One problem I hate about flash, it just contributes to high prices.

Other than the cheapest MacBook and the 16GB iPhone, what other main Apple products are available in white? I can't really think of any (well, maybe the Air Port or some other peripherals).

That being said, the only thing that is gonna pry my 32GB iPod touch 2G from my hands is the next generation iPhone being announced next month

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: Atomic Playboy

Originally posted by: KeithTalent

Old accessories: Yes, accessories for other Zune models will interface with the Zune HD, which features the same connector plug.

One of the things I always hated about Apple/iPods is how every gen required new plugs and accessories. Constantly fleecing you out of more money. :frown:

KT

Yes, because that never happened with the Zune. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of my 80 GB Zune, and I haven't looked back since I got it, but I'm still a little pissed that I wasted money on a 1st generation docking station (per Amazon's recommendation no less) that was not compatible with the 2nd generation Zunes. Bullshit, I say. And that experience makes me skeptical that everything will work; hell, the article even mentions needing a new docking station for the HDMI output for 720p. So no, it's not 100% backwards compatible. But it is still closer than the iPod, I'll grant you that.

My bad, I did not realize that.

KT

 

[Deeko]

Originally posted by: FeuerFrei

Originally posted by: ChaoZ
I hate this trend where music players no longer have buttons.

Amen! Don't want a touch screen. :thumbsdown: Otherwise I might consider.

Yea. Much of the time I'm using my MP3 player is when its inconvenient to look at - driving, running, at the gym, etc. I really like the ZuneHD but I'll never get one.