Beyond Binary

Microsoft on Tuesday confirmed its plans to take on the iPod Touch with a new, touch-screen Zune that will be able to surf the Web, play high-definition movies, and tune in to digital radio.

The Zune HD, which will be available in the U.S. only starting this fall, features an HD Radio tuner as well as an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) touch screen, Microsoft said. It is based on Windows CE and will use a version of Internet Explorer customized for its touch screen, Microsoft said.

The software maker did not announce pricing or capacity, though it said the device will use flash memory and attempt to take on Apple's high-end iPod models.

"This device is created to go head to head with the iPod Touch," Chris Stephenson, general manager of global marketing for Microsoft Zune, said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. Zune buyers will also be able to play HD content on their TVs via a dock, Microsoft said.

The software maker also said that at next week's E3 trade show in Los Angeles it will announce details on a new Zune-branded video service for the Xbox that will replace the current Xbox Live marketplace for TV and movies. The company didn't announce details or specifically say that content will be playable on both Zunes and the Xbox.

Currently videos purchased via the Xbox can't be played on a Zune, although both stores use a similar back-end infrastructure to serve up content. Over time, Stephenson said the goal is to move toward a world in which content purchased once can be played on a variety of devices.

Microsoft plans to offer the new Zune video service in a number of European markets, in addition to North America.

Microsoft's Zune HD will be released this fall in the U.S. The software maker has not announced pricing or capacity.

(Credit: Microsoft )

As for the Zune HD, Microsoft is doubling down on its bet on a radio tuner as a distinguishing feature. Stephenson noted that the current Zune's FM radio is its second most popular selling point. Adding support for HD Radio, a free over-the-air digital radio technology, represents both a risk and opportunity.

When I misplaced my Kindle last year, I not only lost the device, but also any means of reading several e-books that I was in the middle of.

That all changed on Wednesday. My Kindle is no closer to home, but by downloading the new Kindle app for the iPhone (which also works on my iPod Touch), I was able to recover access to my virtual library. Not only that, but thanks to Whispersync, I was able to start reading right where I left off. Whispersync is Amazon's technology for keeping one's place in a book across multiple Kindles or cell phones.

Although I don't think the "I lost my Kindle" crowd is the target market, I must say it was very satisfying to wake up Wednesday once again having access to books that had seemed lost.

The experience highlights both the pros and cons of the "digital locker" approach taken by Amazon with Kindle content. Although some have criticized the fact that one can't resell or give away their Kindle books, the site does provide other aspects of true ownership. In this case, I didn't need to re-buy anything and as soon as I entered my account information, I had access to every book I had purchased for the Kindle. (Periodicals don't work on the iPhone or iPod Touch.)

As for reading on the iPod Touch (or iPhone), I found it quite acceptable for my 15-minute public transit commute to work. The iPod's small size makes it easy to read on a crowded train. One can even hold the iPod and flip pages in one hand while hanging on to a handrail with the other hand.

Ina Fried's Kindle is still among the missing, but thanks to the new iPhone/iPod Touch application, she was reunited Wednesday with her electronic library.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

That said, I'm not sure I won't go out and buy a Kindle 2 eventually. The iPod Touch reading experience, while fine for short bursts, isn't the easy-on-the-eyes phenomenon I had with the Kindle. It's harder to buy books and I can't read newspapers or magazines. Also, I suspect it will do a number on my iPod's battery.

At the same time, I won't be deleting that iPod app even if I do replace my Kindle. The option of reading on my iPod will help for my commute to work and for those trips where I can't bear to carry an extra device.

Ultimately, the end result is likely to be that I will just be reading (and buying) more electronic books. And, in the end, that's exactly what Amazon wants.

It's one thing to lose a gadget and know where you lost it. It's another thing to have the thing seemingly vanish.

Such was the experience I had last December with the iPod Touch I had shelled out $400 for just a couple months earlier. I had it one night and went to look for it the next day and it was gone. For weeks, I thought it might be somewhere in my house or the friend's house I was at that night. But it never turned up either place.

Missing: One iPod Touch, last seen somewhere around here...

(Credit: Apple)

Newsweek's Steven Levy recently had a similar experience with a MacBook Air he had on loan from Apple.

Now, it's not that losing tech products is anything new. I'm sure the value of cell phones, cameras and other gadgets left in taxis alone would be enough to build a lot of schools and libraries.

The only thing that I think Apple's products have added to the mix is a thinness that makes it possible to lose the things without even knowing you have lost them.

It's not the first time the thinness of Apple's products has wreaked havoc in my household. There was an incident a couple years back where an iPod Nano was left in a back pocket of some jeans and went through the washing machine. It's still a sore subject, so I won't go into details. Suffice to say, it is the cleanest, whitest, nonfunctioning Nano you've ever seen.

Now, I'm not blaming Apple. And I freely (or expensively) admit that I am more forgetful than most. I just think that the next time you see the ad and lust that the MacBook Air is small enough to fit in a manila envelope, remember one thing: it is small enough to fit in a manila envelope.