zune

Windows Phone 7 and SkyDrive could be awesome together

I'm a big believer in cloud-based music services. As wireless bandwidth increases, there's no reason that my collection of music (or other content, such as pictures) should be limited to the small hard drive that comes with my phone or MP3 player, or bound to various types of swappable memory sticks.

On-demand subscription services like Spotify, Rhapsody, and Thumbplay are one solution. But I'm also seeing more interest in the concept of the "music locker," which lets you back up your computer-based music collection into the cloud--Melodeo is working on an update to Nutsie that … Read more

Hifiman HM-801 vs. iPod, Zune: A sound winner?

Sure, iPods and Zunes can sound perfectly fine, but no one ever claimed they were bona fide portable high-end audio devices. Their "good enough" sound isn't entirely their fault: they're too small to house a battery potent enough to power a high-quality headphone amplifier and a high-resolution 24-bit/96kHz digital-to-analog converter.

The Hifiman High Fidelity Music Player HM-801 is the Hummer of portables; it's big enough to get the job done. It's 3 inches wide, 4.5 inches high, and 1 inch thick; that's about the size of an old Walkman cassette player from the 1980s. Hifiman doesn't say how much the HM-801 weighs, but it feels substantial.

If Apple wanted to build something as good or better, it could, but the potential market for something that sounds better than an iPod is probably insignificant, and certainly too small for Apple or Microsoft to bother with. They're too busy jamming more features into their players, and sound quality never makes the cut. Besides, the market demands ever cheaper products, and real quality is never cheap. so the HM-801 is downright pricey.

That's another way of saying it's aimed at the sort of music lover who's already invested in a set of top-of-the-line Etymotic, Grado, Klipsch, Monster, Shure, or Ultimate Ears headphones. If you have and you're using an iPod or Zune, you're not hearing all the sound quality you paid for with those headphones.

The HM-801 was conceived as an audiophile player, so non-sound-oriented features are pretty scarce. The HM-801 has a user removable headphone amplifier circuitboard/module that makes future upgrades easy as pie. Hifiman already has one such upgrade in the works, a $170 board specifically designed to maximize detail and resolution of high-end in-ear headphones. Looking inside the HM-801--it has removable panels--so you can see it features top quality components, like a Burr-Brown PCM1704U digital-to-analog converter and Burr-Brown OPA627 Op-Amp. This is a level of technology normally found in audiophile home componentry, and never before used in a portable music player. … Read more

Windows Phone 7 won't kill Zune HD

The Zune HD is a strong music player. It's got a lot of features I wish Apple would add to its iPod and iPhone lineup, particularly wireless sync and queuing. But with the impending release of the Windows Phone 7 Series, which will include full Zune HD functionality in its "Music + Video" hub, I've begun to wonder if Microsoft will phase out the Zune as a standalone music player.

Here's one clue: Microsoft developer Michael Klucher on Tuesday put up a blog post about the upcoming XNA Game Studio 4.0. Thus far, XNA Game … Read more

Zune Facebook app update: It works now

Microsoft's long-awaited Facebook app for the Zune HD may not have waited long enough. After rolling out late Monday night, users immediately reported problems with the app's capability to pull down content, as well as a slow performance in general. The Zune team quickly acknowledged the problem and promised to investigate the issues.

Well, I'm happy to report that the issues have apparently been resolved, and it seems the problems weren't entirely Microsoft's fault.

A Microsoft spokesperson emailed CNET the following statement:

"Yesterday evening, the Microsoft and Facebook engineering teams worked together to fix … Read more

MP3 Insider 183: Facebook fake out (podcast)

This week, Microsoft finally launches the long-awaited Facebook app for the Zune HD, but it's wrought with bugs and naturally, the MP3 Insiders have a few things to say about that. Also, Donald mulls over the depressing fact that people are downloading less music from both P2P and legitimate music stores, while Jasmine attempts to offer solace in the form of speculation that music has always been around and will continue to be. Finally, we take a look at a disappointing new Archos product and a cool new remote accessory for the iPod and iPhone, and compare both to the excellence that is Sonos.

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Zune HD gets Facebook app, finally

In what can only be described as the most anticlimactic app release known to mankind, the Facebook app for Zune HD is now available. Originally promised to arrive by the end of 2009, the fabled Zune HD Facebook app has maintained a Yeti-like elusiveness.

Was it worth the wait? Not hardly. An app would need to lay laser-shooting golden eggs to be worth six months of prolonged anticipation. Fortunately, just like Microsoft's Twitter app (which actually arrived in December), the Facebook app is free to download and contains no advertising.

Like any Facebook app worth its salt, the new … Read more

Microsoft hires new firm for Zune Pass

In what is likely a reaction to recent complaints of disappearing music in the Zune Marketplace, Microsoft has hired an outside firm to help clear music for its Zune Pass subscription service.

In an announcement today, Music Reports Inc. revealed an agreement made with Microsoft to "administer the music publishing licensing and royalty accounting for the Zune Pass subscription service in the United States."

The use of an outside music licensing house isn't a new move for Microsoft and its Zune music services. Nonetheless, the change in firms points to shortcomings in the previous arrangement, evidenced perhaps … Read more

MP3 Insider 181: Mobile phones: 742, MP3 players: 0 (podcast)

Donald and Jasmine continue the good fight of keeping the MP3 Insider and Dialed In podcasts as two separate beasts as they discuss the latest music news from MWC: Zune features are officially coming to mobile phones at the end of the year. Also, Jasmine battles depression over the nonexistence of the perfect MP3 player, and Donald weighs the value of iTunes video vs. cable as Apple teases price-cuts on TV shows. And the show wouldn't be complete without some headphone talk, specifically about the supermagnificent Klipsch Image X10i. But are they worth a cool 350 smackaroos?

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Zune services going global with Windows phone

To anyone who has looked at Microsoft's highly rated Zune HD portable media player and wished it were a phone, your prayers have been answered. Yesterday, at Microsoft's press event for MWC 2010, the long-rumored "Zune phone" was finally thrust into the spotlight and treated to approving nods by many in attendance.

To be fair, the Windows Phone 7 Series is more than just a Zune HD with a phone slapped in. We're finally looking at a portable device that melds some of Microsoft's most successful products, including Windows Mobile, Zune, Xbox, and Microsoft … Read more

Music in the next Windows Phone

At long last, the Zune Phone is here. Microsoft isn't calling it that--apparently it thought the name Windows Phone 7 Series rolled off the tongue a bit more easily--but the next generation of Microsoft's smartphone software not only features the entire Zune HD software and services experience (just like the iPod became a component of the iPhone), but the entire user interface itself bears a close resemblance to the Zune HD.

To be clear, Microsoft isn't building the hardware like it did with Zune--rather, partners like HTC, LG, and Samsung will do that work. But a lot of what the company learned from several iterations of Zune design has been rolled into its mobile platform.

Microsoft introduced Windows Phone 7 Series Monday morning at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and there's a lot to wrap your head around. I'll leave the full rundown to others at CNET, but one of the most interesting aspects is the way Microsoft seems to be trying to get rid of the notion of "apps," which have become the iPhone's calling card and are widely imitated by every other smart phone OS out there.

I don't mean that Windows Phone 7 Series phones won't support third-party applications--of course they will. But you won't interact with those applications by selecting a specific icon, opening an app, doing whatever you want to do, then closing it and moving on to something else. … Read more