Torres Talking: Digital Media

Pay-as-you-go TV getting closer

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 20:26:49 GMT

Back in September 2006, I wrote about moving to an ala carte model for television instead of relying on the increasingly expensive and unreliable cable companies to provide content for us. With each passing day, I get more anxious about the fact that we're not doing this in our household - because we watch even less TV now than we did before, and we're still paying Comcast monthly for the privilege.

I just looked at my Comcast cable bill. We have HD support but none of the special channels like HBO or Showtime.

$68.23 + $6.80 taxes & surcharges (approximated since my Internet access is on this bill too). Add $10.75/month for Tivo (annual prepay) and you have an astounding $85.78/month just to watch TV. If I were to translate that into iTunes or Xbox LIVE purchases, you're talking an average of about 42 television shows/month for that price.

Yet I think we watch about 8-12 shows monthly depending on the month (Smallville, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, The Office, and maybe a few others). Seriously, why in the world are we paying $85/month when we could just drop $2-3/each to watch the shows we want to watch when we want to watch them? How could things NOT be moving in this direction over the next couple years?

The catch for me is that sports content isn't available through either iTunes or Xbox LIVE - which means I'm either relegated to watching baseball on my laptop through MLB.TV or not watching it at all. Neither is acceptable - so until there's a solution to this problem (and I suspect it will be in the next 24 months somehow) I won't be able to switch completely. And of course, neither iTunes nor Xbox have Smallville... and iTunes doesn't even have TV shows in HD yet :(

So the dream will probably be on hold for a short while. But I'm really looking forward to the day when I'm not paying $85/month for less than 8 hours of television watching. Ugh.

Photo organization - more on tagging, folders, and captions

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 00:52:09 GMT

It's been a few months since I last posted about photo tagging and asked "how should I use metadata on photos?" There were some great responses, both in person as well as in the comments, and I filed that task away for a future project. Well, the future is now. We took over 1700 photos in the last couple weeks alone (having an 11-week old will do that to you) and our "filing system" is starting to show its age. Not having things like ratings, dates, or even the basics like "this is a picture of Stella and Mike" is starting to bug me since I'm spending a few hours each week just dealing with photos.

So this is what I'm going to do with our entire gallery, starting right now:

Keep the photos organized by event in folders. So "Christmas 2007 in Seattle" remains - it turns out that's how my wife and I like to browse our photo collection, and since I'm not a hardcore photographer (yet) it's easiest for us to keep it like this.
Rename all the files to something like "Title (#) mm-dd-yyyy" where title is the name of the folder (i.e. Christmas 2007) and the # is the sequence number.
Make sure all the photos have the capture date set. Since some of them are scans or were taken with a 9-year old 1MP digital camera, there's a good chance dates aren't captured across the board. So I'm going to correct this.
Make the title on the photo the same as the filename for now. There are some instances where I'll type more than this like "Stella laughing at her zebra toy", but just to be consistent I'm going to keep it simple in the default case where there's nothing better to use as a caption.
Add creator and copyright metadata. The creator will be something like "Torres Family" and the copyright is used just in case the photos find their way onto the web. I know it doesn't actually protect anything, but since it takes 2 seconds to add it, why not? I'm also going to use the creator tag to indicate who took the photo since I have rolls from just about every family member over the last few years. So instead of using sub-folders for this, I'm going to use the creator tag and filter on that.
Add two basic ratings to photos - 5 star for amazing, 4 for great. I may have a few that use 3 as well, but to me that's the equivalent of not having a rating at all.
Flat out delete all poorly shot or blurry photos while I'm doing this.
Convert BMPs to JPGs since I have a bunch of images from the mid-90s using the bitmap format.
Opt to write all the XMP data to the file of course!

And finally: 10. Apply tags to all the photos! Talk about tedious :)

I realize that a few months ago I said "I'm not going to go crazy with this and spend hundreds of hours applying tags to previous photos"... but I rethought that [I know Jay is laughing right now thinking "I knew you would"]. But the photos we had pre-baby are all actually pretty easy to apply metadata to, and being the neat freak that I am I knew I wouldn't want to have half of my photos cleaned up and the others just sitting around unusable. So I came up with a very basic tagging scheme based on what I've seen others do online. I'm going to use hierarchical tags (even though most apps including Windows Live Photo Gallery don't visualize them like this) and I'm going to use capitalization and spaces in the tags. This is the basic format I'm going to use:

Places -> Seattle, La Grulla, Glen Ridge, etc.
People -> Full name
People -> Stella Torres -> Birth, 0-3 months, 3-6 months, Smiling, Yawning, Sleeping, etc.
Nature -> Flowers, Landscape, Ocean, etc.
Things -> Car, Plane, Bike, etc.
Portraits -> Pregnant, Fitness, Funny, etc.

To perform all of the steps above, I'm going to use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom since bulk edits like these are cake in that tool... and any changes I make, including applying tags, will immediately appear in Windows Live Photo Gallery for basic viewing/editing. As I get more serious about photography (and trust me, I'm really not that serious) Lightroom is becoming an essential part of my workflow. I love how I can use Lightroom to do all of this and not only does my desktop software (WLPG) pick up the changes immediately, but Media Center does as well!

To illustrate how slick this is, soon I'll be able to pull up pictures of any family member sorted by date in 3 seconds on the HDTV in my living room thanks to Xbox 360 and Media Center. Love it! It's like magic.

Of course, this is going to take me quite a while. But just like I did when I ripped 900+ CDs, I'm going to take it week-to-week ;) I'll spend about 30 minutes each Sunday working through 5-10 folders until I'm finished with everything. It should only take a few months provided I'm disciplined about it. And then I'll never have to do it again; it just becomes about new photos at that point, which is much, much easier. And if it's anything like my encoding all of my music, it'll be boring and tedious... but I'll be pretty thrilled when it's all done. Just in time for CES 2009!

Speaking of CES, be sure to watch Bill's keynote at 630 Pacific at www.microsoft.com/ces! This is my favorite time of the year - CES and MacWorld... geek heaven.

Amazon MP3 Downloads

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 01:02:01 GMT

Where will you soon be able to get music from all of the major labels, without any DRM restrictions, at moderate bit rates? Amazon MP3 of course. Fantastic. Sony BMG has finally entered the fold.

I've spent years berating DRM and buying nothing but CDs, which feature both higher quality sound and zero restrictions on how they're used. But Amazon's MP3 Downloads have me slowly thinking about sacrificing a little quality (most songs are 256kbps variable rate) for convenience [of course, I do wish they would support lossless formats].

I'm not sold on the design of the store - it feels a little bit too much like Amazon.com and not enough like a fun place to hang out (see Zune for this) - but all things considered, it's the best store on the block. As their catalog grows, I can't see anyone favoring the current iTunes model over straight cheap, DRM-free MP3s. The subscription model is still a better value (and I expect music junkies will still use that to sample music) but for ownership, Amazon is doing a fantastic job.

Zune 8 is fantastic

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 22:22:19 GMT

I've spent the last day and a half playing with my wife's red Zune 8 (with a burning heart tattoo on the back) and I love the thing. Yes, I know it's technically my wife's and not mine (I'm holding out for the 80GB) but she's letting me play with it since I ordered it and set it up for her. Yesterday we held the Zune up to my year-old iPod nano which I was so excited about last October, and the difference is remarkable. The iPod with its arcane menu structure and tiny little screen seemed just as outdated as iTunes does compared to the Zune software these days.

Granted, the new iPod nanos aren't last year's model... but all things considered, I think the Zune 8 is a much better value, better device, and better looking than the "small, fat" new nanos. I've always been a fan of the candy bar design.

The things that have impressed me so far:

Wireless sync on my semi-complicated Wi-Fi network (WPA2 security, hidden SSID) took 2 minutes to setup and works like a charm. This totally surprised me.
Video is surprisingly watchable on the tiny screen, and it's crystal clear.
The music that comes on the device isn't half-bad. I find myself listening to it.
The synchronization model is great. I grabbed some video of Stella off of our camcorder yesterday, edited it quickly in iMovie on the Mac, and moved it onto my PC. The Zune software immediately found it and was able to play it, so I just dragged it onto the little red Zune to sync it - and 10 seconds later, I was watching videos of our daughter on the Zune. This is exactly how it's supposed to work.
Radio for watching TV in the gym. Love it.
The Zune now supports WMA Lossless so you can get the highest fidelity music possible onto the device. Unfortunately, I have yet to figure out how to do the auto-conversion to a lower bit rate that WMP11 lets you do with portable devices. This is unfortunate but it could just be user error.
The desktop software is still gorgeous and the most intuitive player yet. I've heard more than one person compare iTunes to Excel after seeing it.
The device software is slick and easier to use than the iPod's in my opinion. I felt this way about last year's Zune too, but unfortunately it was a brick.

All in all, I'm really impressed with the new Zunes. Unlike last year, no one can argue that they aren't a viable alternative to the iPod this holiday season. They have a ways to go in terms of mindshare, but this is a huge leap forward with respect to capabilities, brand, and design. A lot can change in one year.

Zune software - gorgeous!

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 06:37:03 GMT

OK, I take back every disparaging thing I ever said about the clunky old Zune device and buggy player software. The new software (oddly named just Zune - not Zune Player) is without a doubt the most aesthetically appealing client application I've used in a long time. Maybe ever; although Windows Vista's Media Center has to be up there. They just got so many little things right. I mean LOOK at the thing:

See that huge transparent image of Chris Brown behind the tracks? The player has those kind of touches everywhere, even for the most obscure artists. Along with subtle animations that make the thing feel "alive", six great artistic themes, the coolest type-down search I've seen yet, and a super-simple sync model with the Zune device.

I don't know if I'm going to use this all the time for playing music as it's still missing some of the basics like mini-mode, smart playlists, advanced metadata, and visualizations. But I do love looking at it. I'm holding out for the Zune 80 and it looks like it's not in stock anywhere yet, so it will be a few more weeks before I can really put things through their paces. But according to the reviews I've been reading, the Zune under-promised and over-delivered overall this time with a lot of people saying they prefer it to the iPod classic and nano. Personally, I'm just looking forward to watching Smallville (for free Apple!) and listening to TWiT on the Connector bus in the morning.

If you haven't tried it, download it at www.zune.net. Not only is it beautiful to look at, it's also light years easier to use than it was before. It makes iTunes look complicated. I dig. If the Zune Pass is really this easy to use, I may never buy music again.

Zune 2 arrives!

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 04:23:48 GMT

I'll admit that I was expecting to be let down by this announcement after Apple's big iPod push. But I've soaked in all the data I could over the last 30 minutes about the 2nd generation Zune and while I'm not blown away, I'm happy with what we're offering. There are a few things about the new Zune that caught my eye, especially considering I don't see a viable video player in Apple's lineup right now.

First, the Zune 80 has a huge (3.2") screen and 80 gigabytes to work with for $249. Those three facts working together can't be underestimated; it means you can carry around full length movies, TV shows, and tons of photos alongside what's probably most, if not all, of your music library. And you get a nice big screen to watch video on for less than $250. Second, the device supports WMA (of course) including (I expect) automatic downsampling which is important if you're weird and use WMA Lossless to archive your CDs like I do. But perhaps more importantly, it supports automatic synchronization with recorded TV via Windows Media Center. The ability to take Sportscenter on the Connector bus everyday is just too cool to pass up, especially because it'll synchronize automatically over my Wi-Fi network! And the long awaited podcast support has hit the Zune too, so there will truly be no need for iTunes anymore in my house. Finally. And since you can exchange podcasts via Wi-Fi, I expect I'll learn about new programs from co-workers.

Zune 2 also carries over the FM radio support - which sounds pretty uninteresting until you consider it's the only way most gyms broadcast sound from the TV sets. Not having FM built into my iPod nano has frustrated me more than once while being stuck on a treadmill.

One thing I'm cautiously excited about is this new ZunePad thing. Touch screens are nice, but I've heard from just about everyone I know who has an iPod touch that not having direct control over the volume is a total PIA. And of course, the screen gets smudged. Now, I don't know how this ZunePad will work in action, but there is a great video of it on the Seattle PI blog. This may be the only Zune 2 video out there. It looks like fun - and I especially love the album art. But it could suck if it doesn't work exactly right, we'll see.

All in all it's a solid, while not revolutionary, v2. I don't expect the new Zune to win over a ton of iPod fans, but having 80gb of recorded TV, podcasts, and automatically downsampled WMA music in my pocket, synchronized over the air while I am sleeping, is probably enough for me... and it probably will be for a lot of people. Again, there isn't a similar model in Apple's lineup at all - the closest thing is the comparatively insanely expensive 16GB ($399) or 8GB ($299) iPod touch. $399 for 16GB or $249 for 80GB... Hmm...

So I expect I'll get a Zune 80 for the bus - and maybe a small, cheap ($149) one for the gym or for my wife. Employee discount service, get ready!

Photo tagging, folders, and captions

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 00:00:55 GMT

The "nesting instinct" has kicked in for both my wife and me with the bebe arriving any day now. While she's focused on the nursery, strollers, and clothes, my focus is in the digital realm. I'm getting ready to share photos and videos of our first born, of course! So far we've upgraded our cameras (and entered the world of digital SLR photography, which before this weekend I knew nothing about - thanks Trevin!) and figured out how we're going to get photos to our family distributed all over the U.S.

But the nut I haven't cracked yet, now that this project has grown beyond its original intentions, is how we're going to organize the billions of photos we're going to take. To-date, our organization system is really pretty simple: when we import photos from our camera, they get a name + date which maps to a folder (something like "Boat ride, August 2007"). We have 805 of these folders now since we've been taking digital photos and scanning others since the late 90s. But is it enough? Will we ever want more than this?

Windows Live Photo Gallery supports tags, ratings, and captions, writes this data to the file via XMP, and has a "truth is in the file" mentality so you can rest easy that metadata you add to your photos today will be useful tomorrow or in another application like Photoshop or SmugMug. This leads to local photos being the "master" copy (aka digital negative) since you can apply captions and tags once, and then use them elsewhere with no additional effort. Spaces doesn't support this yet, but I'd bet people are talking about it in the halls.

Photo Gallery even makes it easy to do this when you import - check it out:

Which leads me to my question: how should I use metadata on photos? I'm not going to go crazy with this and spend hundreds of hours applying tags to previous photos (at least I don't think I am) but I do want to come up with a mental model that works so that when I find a photo that I want tagged, I can tag it on the spot without cluttering some other view up. This is what I'm thinking:

Use the folder name as a title/category (i.e. "Christmas Party, December 2007")
Use the file name as the "name" of the photo (i.e. "Jay and Robin")
Use the caption as the "description" of the photo (i.e. "Can you believe she's gotten so big?")
Use tags to describe the contents of individual photos (i.e. skyline, smiling, happy, funny)
Use tags to indicate who is in the photo (i.e. Mike Torres, Jay Fluegel, Trevin Chow) using standard names. Of course I don't know if multiple words is part of XMP but I'll find out.
Use geotags at some point in the distant future to describe location (once GPS is as prevalent as Wi-Fi as I'm not doing this by hand) In the meantime, use tags for location (i.e. Seattle, L.A., New Jersey)

So the question is: what am I missing here? I'm not even sure this is right. Should the caption be the name and the description be something else? I don't know.

iPod Touch and Zune v.next?

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 06:18:59 GMT

I just finished watching the Apple keynote from earlier today. Two things occurred to me while I was ooohing and ahhing over the iPod nano, iPod touch and the amazing $200 price drop on the iPhone (wow to you suckers who just bought one! It's fun to be an early adopter these days!)

The iPod Touch is great with a nice big screen. And the 160GB model with the tiny little screen is great too - for music, not video. In order to really be an adequate video + music device, they really need to have one device with both a large screen AND large storage capacity. I don't see how only one of these is at all sufficient for a real video + music device. It's a strange choice considering how great the devices are otherwise. I would have preferred a slightly thicker device to accommodate 50GB+.
The real killer application for video (provided #1 is addressed) is to take television shows with you on-the-go FOR FREE. Having to pay some ridiculous fee for a show you're already paying your cable company $59/mo to watch is crazy - but if you can use Tivo or Windows Media Center to record a show and (wirelessly?) transfer it automatically to your portable device nearby, that would be truly great. Forget iTunes lock-in.

Now, I have no idea what's in store for Zune 2. But I think there's an opportunity with Zune to get some of these things right before Apple does. The shareholder in me hopes we can do it because it could be a real differentiator.

Side note: I wish Apple just ditched Wi-Fi completely on the iPod Touch and instead just partnered with AT&T for a cheap data-only plan (i.e. $10/mo). I almost never used Wi-Fi on my PPC-6700 phone for the year that I had it - I had NO need for it whatsoever with 3G built into the thing - and EV-DO was far more ubiquitous, fast enough, and much easier to use. It's a total pain to get onto most Wi-Fi networks ($5.99 hourly fee? Type a 128-bit WEP key?!) but getting onto a cell network is a breeze. I'm sure Apple has something up their sleeves with this (namely bypassing the carriers) but Wi-Fi is just too limited; I wonder how many people will ever use Safari on the iPod Touch.

Also: speculation. Is the reason they called it the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store because it won't work with the iPhone over EDGE? It's pretty dumb to name a product after a protocol codename - will they also have an iTunes EDGE Music Store? Or iTunes HSDPA Music Store? Or is the "one last thing" Steve forgot to mention that the Wi-Fi Music Store will only work if you're connected via Wi-Fi? If so, that would be ridiculous. Anyone know?

Digital books and the trade-in model

Sun, 01 Jul 2007 22:37:39 GMT

The future of books is digital. That much is obvious. There are many people out there who think this is an impossibility, but those folks are probably the same people who once said MP3 would never make it because people "like having CDs". Digital books have so many advantages over paper books - readability, instant search, automatic updates to the content, portability, instant purchase, and so on - that this game will be over much faster once it really kicks in than the migration to digital music was. The technology is just now catching up with the desire, so I expect that over the next decade people are going to switch to digital books en masse.

Note that I don't say "eBooks", because I think the digital book will be dramatically different than the 1999 eBook. The hardware will be much more appealing to book worms - possibly with digital pages that actually flip - and the fonts and rendering technology will be wondrous. The dedicated device will be connected to the net for instant download (via an iTunes-like store, probably provided by Amazon.com and B&N) of new books, magazines, newspapers, and other types of content. Have you ever been on the isle of Bora Bora, where there isn't a bookstore in sight for miles, and run out of reading material 4 days before boarding a plane to go home? I have. Never again.

Of course, this will only be a pleasant transition if used book stores, retailers, or "web 4.0" startups figure out how to provide trade-in value for existing books. As someone who has purchased 100+ books over the course of the last decade, I have no desire to repurchase them just to convert them to the digital format. Instead, I want to be able to drop off the books at a used book store and be given a credit towards the digital book for download. I want to replace all existing paper books with digital books in the year 2012 but I don't want to pay retail for the privilege (although $.50/book would be fine)

Sound familiar? It's essentially what millions of people have been doing with CDs. We've been ripping, mixing, and burning for a while now and many people are finally at a point where 100% of their music collection is digital. It's fantastic not to have CD clutter lining the walls of my home any longer; the CDs I still have are in a CD book filed away in the closet.

If the transition to digital books supports a trade-in model, it could potentially be accelerated. Let's not make people repurchase their books again. This is assuming there isn't some crazy iTunes-like big brother DRM attached to every book, of course. I wonder if there's a business model hidden in here for someone.

Sidebar: there's at least one relatively decent reader out now from Sony with a very crisp display. I'm sure there are others as well, but the "iPod" of digital books is probably a few years out; the device that makes it so painfully obvious why digital books are the way to go. For some people, this might just be the iPhone, a Windows Mobile phone, or the equivalent - something with a nice-sized screen, Internet connectivity, and always in your pocket. For others, it may be a dedicated device.

Media Center, HD, and CableCARD

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 05:54:33 GMT

Update: Chris Morley, Director of Product Development from Velocity Micro added a comment below: "You're absolutely right, we definitely can do a better job of pointing out the basic HDCP requirements on our website, I'll will have something up today. And your changes shouldn't be a problem at all. If it is, just ask for me." I also got an email this morning from my sales exec reiterating this. As expected, these guys are standup - it isn't their fault Cable Labs doesn't understand their customers. The fact that Chris is reading blogs and commenting reminds me of what I said when interviewed for Shel & Scoble's Naked Conversations: you never know who's listening :)

Thanks guys!

-----

I love the Media Center support in Windows Vista Home Premium + Ultimate editions. Love it. I think it's one of the slickest applications this company has ever built and I can't wait to finally use it. When I first played with it at CES 2006, I think I got goosebumps.

Now, the system I use at home is a 5 1/2 year old Dell that has been reconfigured into an XP Media Center 2005 - but given the specs of the system (you don't even want to know), I haven't even thought about installing Vista on it. Instead, I did what all geeks do after that much time has passed; I bought a new PC. A Media Center to go with the new office we have in our place.

I sprung for a Velocity Micro CineMagix Grand Theater Entertainment System - a mid-line media center and one of the few that already supports the CableCARD 1.0 standard for HD viewing & recording. I only got one tuner (they're pricey) but figured that since this was for an office PC, just being able to watch and record a single HD show would be good enough for now. I started to get giddy thinking about watching HDTV upstairs while cranking out a spec, dragging and dropping Smallville onto a Zune or laptop to take it with me on a flight, or using Orb to stream SportsCenter to my Motorola Q while sitting on the bus.

Alas, it wasn't meant to be. Because CableCARD and HDCP, quite frankly, are the most confusing and limiting technologies I've ever encountered. Instead of rehashing my email to Velocity Micro, I'll just include it here and let you know the outcome when I do. In short: I'm downgrading the system. If they accept the changes, the system will no longer support CableCARD and HDCP which means a) no broadcast HDTV, and b) no "special" cable channels like HBO. Which is fine considering most TV I watch will be in a window while working. It's a small price to pay for control over where and when I can watch recorded shows, plus it saves me the additional "Comcast tax" and visit from a technician during the convenient hours of 10-4 just to "rent" the CableCARD to begin with.

Man do I loathe DRM. 1997-quality standard def television, here I come! Of course, I'm still excited to use Vista Media Center in all its glory despite the lack of HD. Anyway, I'm sure Velocity Micro will do the right thing; they seem like a stand-up company. Here's the email:

Hi XXXXXX,
We spoke last week about order #YYYYYYY.
Since I placed the order, I’ve learned quite a bit about how CableCARD works – basically how it limits the transfer of ALL recorded content from the PC’s hard drive to portable devices (including the Zune) and other PCs, how recordings can’t go to network attached storage devices, and how you need an HDCP-compatible monitor to even view the content at all.
To be honest, this fine-print should probably have been clear to me – but it took 4-5 hours of scouring the Internet to decipher it all. All three of these things are non-starters for me as I intend to use a Zune and a laptop in conjunction with the PC, I use a NAS exclusively, and I don’t have an HDCP-compatible monitor.
For what it’s worth, I couldn’t find an explanation of any of this on your website, which is disturbing as I don’t see how people who are less technically inclined could possibly grasp the intricacies of all of this. I would recommend posting an FAQ on CableCARD and HDCP immediately to avoid confusion and further customer dissatisfaction.
I’m still interested in the system, but I would like to see if changes are possible given this new information. Although the website claims that systems are non-refundable 3 business days after the order is placed, I’m still hoping that despite the total lack of information on this, that this change can be made free of charge.
The change is simple really: I’d like to revert the ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner (with CableCARD support) to the ATI TV Wonder 650 Pro HDTV/SD/FM and then add a 2^nd tuner, the same ATI TV Wonder 650 Pro HDTV/SD/FM to the system.
Based on the details I can gather from the web site, this should only be a -$5 price difference as I’m removing the $155 DCT and adding another $150 basic tuner. Please let me know if this is feasible. From the looks of it in the online tracker, the system hasn’t been configured yet.
Thanks,
Mike

Of course, this solution will only work so long as my cable provider continues to broadcast shows in standard definition. I'm confident it will be a while before they go HD-only. I'll cross that bridge when we get to it. In the meantime, let's see what VM does with this.

More information on CableCARD, HDCP, and Windows Vista: http://msmvps.com/blogs/chrisl/archive/2007/06/10/954764.aspx

Talking about Zune TV Spot

Mon, 14 May 2007 01:41:52 GMT

I have to admit, I don't long for the current generation Zune; I actually went out and bought an iPod nano in October instead of the Zune and love it. The current Zune is just too big to fit in my pocket and I have no real need for video on-the-go most days. Having said that, I think the team did some great things with the first version of the device and I have very high hopes for subsequent versions. I think the "platform" of Zune is much, much more interesting than the device sitting on store shelves today - and platforms can take a long time to get right.

Regardless, I freakin LOVE the new commercial for the thing. After watching this commercial, I immediately knew what made the Zune different from the iPod (big screen video, FM tuner, Wi-Fi sharing) and the spot even used a fun, catchy, popular song to boot. All around, this commercial is a definite improvement over all the Zune marketing I've seen to-date and I'll bet it actually makes a difference to some discerning buyers.

Zune TV Spot

Video: Zune TV Spot

Which reminds me: I was out to dinner with some friends a few weeks ago and the conversation turned to iPod vs. Zune. While I was pretty honest about the fact that I couldn't recommend the Zune over the iPod yet, a friend of mine said that a co-worker of his swears by his Zune. He says he uses it on flights every week for video and absolutely LOVES the thing. He even said that the last time he was on a flight, a song transfer popped up on his Zune - and when he looked around to see where it was coming from, there was a guy about 6 rows up smiling and nodding over the seats. They spent the rest of the flight trading tunes. Now THAT is a commercial in the making right there.

I'm very much looking forward to the day when I can say "buy a Zune - absolutely" without a twinge of regret. I know it'll happen - Microsoft is taking this market seriously and when we do that, I know great things are around the corner. But for now, at leat we finally have some cool commercials.

ABC: full-screen HD for FREE?

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 05:28:17 GMT

I almost missed this one. According to Webware, "ABC.com has launched a new full-screen, 'HD' quality video player, and the 'broadcast' looks shockingly good". How cool is that?

ABC is now offering Lost, Grey's Anatomy, Brothers Sisters, and other top shows for free on ABC.com in HD (or at least almost HD) quality. Guess I don't have to use iTunes afterall ;) Of course I will probably end up on iTunes if only to keep from having to click "continue" during commercial breaks - and to go truly full-screen, removing the browser chrome. It's the little things.

BTW, those saying I'm a Microsoft fanboy on Scoble's blog (and here) need to realize that I've been a Mac user at home for over 5 years now. I'm writing this on a MacBook Pro connected to an Airport Extreme with an iPod on the desk in front of me. Sure, I do run Vista on it... but not all the time :) Besides, it's not the first time I've been accused of cheerleading by folks who don't read my blog regularly enough to know better. Take a look through the 2.5 years of archives; it's never been all glowing praise of things MSFT. And you should have seen my last blog!

My critique of Apple TV has nothing to do with my employer... it's my truth. And the Apple fanboy in me hopes they do up the quality of those iTunes videos soon to make that $299 purchase make sense to those of us who don't just want to watch Rocketboom or fiddle with BitTorrent.

Apple TV... nope!

Sat, 31 Mar 2007 23:33:20 GMT

I anticipated this here.

I swung by the Apple Store today to a) buy a charger for my nano and b) checkout the Apple TV since Scoble and others were raving about it. What an utter disappointment. The interface looks like a weak version of Media Center and the video quality was so poor I couldn't even make out Capt. Jack Sparrow's grin in Pirates from less than a few feet away from the TV. I must be spoiled by HD - or even DVDs - because I'm at the point where picture quality that looks straight out of 1975 just doesn't interest me anymore. Blurry TV isn't always better than nothing at the price of this thing + the price of the show. I expected more from a company that pushes the envelope on HD in other areas (displays, iMovie HD, etc.)

Having said that, I find myself wanting to buy videos from iTunes more and more just because it's convenient. As mentioned a few weeks ago, iTunes saved us when our Comcast DVR ate an episode of Lost. And now that we're approaching the end of Season Two of Grey's Anatomy, we need a way to catch up on Season Three before the DVDs come out 6+ months from now. iTunes provides crappy quality shows at a relatively high price, but it provides them instantly. Which is something. So I may find myself buying a season pass to Grey's Anatomy (wishing the whole time I could do this from the Xbox). Blurry faces and all.

Someone has to do better than this. Someone has to provide direct-to-the-screen commercial-free HD television immediately after the show airs. Comcast OnDemand doesn't do it well enough and Xbox doesn't have a big enough TV library yet - when it does, I will be all over it; it's HD quality, it's easy to use, and it's already wired to my TV and surround sound system. And it's a much better value than a standalone set-top like Apple TV.

Anyway, now I'm going off on a tangent. The point is: I won't buy or recommend an Apple TV to anyone. If you want to know what the picture quality is like, do a couple Tequila shots, spin around a few times, bang your head against the floor, and then watch broadcast TV on an old 19" JVC. Don't skip a step.

BTW, expect a series of posts about Windows Live Spaces coming up soon. I have a bunch of stuff piling up in my head to write about.

Comcast DVR and iTunes = More silliness

Fri, 09 Mar 2007 19:43:02 GMT

My woes with the Comcast DVR have been beaten to death by this point (#1, #2); so I'm going to to try and go easy on the little guy this time. Even though it doesn't deserve my mercy because this is the fourth (maybe fifth?) box we've had and it's still skipping on HD playback, not playing any audio every third Tuesday, and worst of all, forgetting to record season passes.

When the last episode of Lost was missed inexplicably by mi pequeño amigo, I decided to just download the show off of iTunes and eat the $1.99 charge so we'd be able to watch the show on our flight yesterday. Since this is a new MacBook and I hadn't purchased any iTunes content from it, I had to type in my Apple ID and password and then update my credit card. About thirty minutes later the show was downloaded to my drive despite my brand new Apple Airport Extreme rebooting three times during the process (also inexplicably; and a subject for a future post about the state of wireless routers supporting Windows, Xbox 360, and Macs with WPA/WPA2).

I packed my laptop in my bag thinking we were going to have an hour of Jack, Kate, and Sawyer to keep us occupied on our flight. About 20 minutes into the flight, I setup the laptop with two sets of headphones (for my wife and me) and double-clicked Lost from iTunes. iTunes balked. It couldn't play the show because the machine hadn't been authorized yet, and since I was on a flight and didn't have an internet connection, it couldn't be authorized. Someone doesn't want us to watch this show.

Does this sound ridiculous to anyone else? I bought the show off of iTunes with my account... why wasn't the machine authorized at that time? I could use this opportunity to describe just how broken the state of DRM is today if this is the best option we have, but instead of doing that, I'm going to hope a cheaper HD Tivo is actually in the plans this year so I can use Amazon Unbox with Tivo and ditch both iTunes and the Comcast DVR at the same time.

Xbox HD

Thu, 23 Nov 2006 01:36:25 GMT

The Xbox 360 really should have been called Xbox HD. It sounds cooler and it's a lot more descriptive of just how pervasive HD content is in the new Xbox world. Games are in high-def, DVDs are in high-def with the HD DVD player add-on, and starting today you can download HD movies, trailers, and television shows. And it works exactly as it should - it's simple and any rights management on the content doesn't interfere with the experience.

The only nits I have are consistent with most others: the use of Microsoft Points totally confuses me (why doesn't 240 points just map to $2.40?!?) and the hard drive is way too small for game demos, game add-ons, and HD downloads. I expect both of these things are just short-term pain points and will be corrected in some way soon. And no, I don't care that it doesn't work with the Zune (yet) as I pretty firmly believe that watching video on a 3" screen is something people think they want - and once they have it, they never use it.

This past weekend I got my hands on an HD DVD player for $159 using the freely available (via Live Search) Circuit City $40 off coupon. The picture quality is outstanding; I almost didn't believe my TV was capable of that kind of color richness before watching King Kong in HD. And the sounds were so realistic, I think my cats thought a huge gorilla was coming to eat them... they bolted up the stairs at 125mph as soon as Kong showed up. HD DVD was surprisingly MUCH better than standard DVD. No contest really. And to say that $159 is a steal would be an understatement compared to very pricey standalone HD DVD or Blu-ray players... including that overpriced PS3 thing ;)

HDTV/HD movie downloads for Xbox 360?

Tue, 07 Nov 2006 04:48:18 GMT

Update 9:31pm: It's true.

Holy... mother... of...!

This may sound a bit familiar to those paying close attention, but on November 22nd -- the year anniversary for the Xbox 360 -- Microsoft is announcing something fairly momentus, not for the gaming community, but for the CE industry. The Xbox 360, along with Akimbo, will be among the first mass-market devices able to download high def television programs -- and the first we know of in the states able to download HD movies. The service is called Xbox Live Video, and the fall update enables customers to spend their Microsoft points on standard and HD television from CBS, MTV, Comedy Central, VH1, Turner, and UFC, as well as HD movies from Warner Bros., Paramount, and so on.

Source: Microsoft's Xbox Live Video: HDTV and HD movie downloads for your 360 - Engadget

Disclaimer: I have absolutely zero information on this. I don't know if it's true or not.

But let me say that if it is, this is the single biggest consumer electronics announcement this year, bar none. Forget that puny little iTunes format (640x480?) and that silly little iTV set-top box. This would be huge news. HDTV and HD movies on the Xbox 360? MAN. I talked about this a little bit back in September - this is what I use my Xbox for 95% of the time already, but I'm limited to movie trailers and game videos. With this potential announcement, TV shows and movies will be available in SD AND in HD? This is truly game-changing.

And if the launch titles are to be believed, they know me well - 50 fights from the UFC, M:i:III, and Superman Returns?! I almost don't know what to say. I just hope this isn't some joke. Either way, if you don't have one, go get yourself a 360 ;)

Now, I wonder what this means for the Zune -- the Microsoft device optimized for video launching next week? Hmmm...

More on placeshifting

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 18:37:18 GMT

A year ago (wow, was it really that long ago?) I talked about how cool Orb is. It's still incredibly cool (although it hasn't changed much) but I'm beginning to wonder if the Slingbox is the better bet for people who just want to watch television. Orb is great for music, photos, and home videos - but from what I've seen of the Slingbox over the past year, it's highly optimized for TV whereas Orb flakes out the second you try and rewind/fast forward or drop signal for a second.

Both Orb and Sling Media really do demonstrate the power of Windows on the desktop and on mobile devices. On10.net has some great Sling Media videos if you're interested:

Watch Part One
Watch Part Two

The demo of the SlingPlayer Mobile on a Sprint Pocket PC phone in Part Two is mind-blowing.

On the Windows Mobile front, I also found a fantastic write-up of Live Anywhere (in this case, it's placeshifting for games). Check your friends list, view gamercards, compare achievements, etc. Too cool.

Read about Live Anywhere here.

Pay-as-you-go TV

Sun, 24 Sep 2006 05:11:58 GMT

I lied the other day when I said I would stick to DVDs over using the iTunes Store. Because if our Comcast DVR keeps *skipping* on HD recordings and *forgetting* to record things on a weekly basis, I might actually be motivated to pay someone other than Comcast for the right to watch a television show and ditch this horrible, horrible set-top box. Right now, the only place to buy quality television is the iTunes Store.

When I said I hated the Comcast DVR over a year ago, I wasn't kidding. Now I loathe it and abhor it and want to throw it off my balcony.

But it did get me thinking about pay-as-you-go television. What if us folk who don't actually watch $50 or $60 of monthly television could still watch (and "own") their favorite TV shows by purchasing them online as they're aired and get right of cable completely? Speaking for my household, we would *easily* be net positive by doing this - there's no way we watch 30 hours of television each month. We watch a few shows regularly: Lost, 24, Smallville, Entourage, and The Sopranos. Given an average of 15 episodes per show per year, we'd end up paying approximately $150 annually to stay up to date. Which would cost less than just *three months* of HD cable (without the quality). Wow. Something to think about.

Zune and why I'm actually excited now

Fri, 22 Sep 2006 22:59:46 GMT

My perspective on Zune has morphed a bit in the last few days. Actually using one will do that. Of course, I wasn't chosen to be a beta tester for some reason, but that didn't stop half the people in my hallway from getting the nod and laughing in my face. And no, I'm not bitter that I was like the only one around here not chosen.

Now of course, I can't say anything that isn't already public knowledge. But I will say a few more things about my first actual reactions to the Zune experience. First of all, after playing with it for a bit, I started to get that weird excited feeling that I got the first time I connected my Xbox to the Live service. The "oh man, Microsoft actually gets this space" feeling. The "wow, we could actually be best in class at some point" feeling. I can't tell you how comforting that was as Microsoft employee and shareholder - because more often than not recently, I actually haven't been getting that feeling about a number of things we're doing.

The things that jumped out at me:

It's a very "v1.0" size and hasn't been refined yet. Meaning: it's definitely too big for me, but there's a class of users that just won't care. But understand this also means that the screen is large... and it's gorgeous. Viewing videos or photo slideshows feels exactly how it should feel, and while I was mesmerized by the screen I started to think, "I gotta have one of these".
The user interface is very similar to the portable media center interface - and this is a very good thing. Scrolling through albums or pivoting on genre/artist/etc. is a lot more intuitive than it is on the iPod. You aren't constantly navigating through layers upon layers of hierarchical menus to get to what you want - most things are a few taps away. You can see more on YouTube if you're one of the few who hasn't already watched this video.
The lack of a scrollwheel is a feature. For those of us who've used a Creative Zen Micro or an Apple iPod for years, this one takes a little while to get used to. Almost everyone who I saw pick the device up started to simulate the iPod scrolling action on the pad. Yet even though it feels cool to spin your thumb around a pad to navigate large lists, it's actually not the most practical thing in the world. How many times have you been trying to navigate just one more entry down a list and have had a hard time getting to the one you want? Or you accidentally crank the volume up and blow out your ear drums? Buttons don't have those problems.
I'm an album art junkie. And the album art integrated into almost every aspect of the experience is truly slick.
I love the personalization features. I won't go into more detail on this one as I don't know what's been announced yet and what hasn't. But let me just say that Zune is a lot more like a cell phone in this regard than an iPod (one size fits all interface) and this is refreshing.
Integrated Wi-Fi is cool for what it can do in the future more so than what it's able to do currently. I don't want to say any more on this, but I do think that within the next couple of years the wireless capabilies are going to open up doors in terms of must-have scenarios. This space is going to get pretty exciting.

Will the first release of Zune win over die-hard iPod lovers? I don't think so. But it does have a lot of potential to change the way we experience entertainment in some fundamental ways. And I expect the Zune folks will be very Apple-like with their approach to both firmware and hardware updates if Xbox 360 is any indication. I probably won't be getting one just yet, but Zune is a lifestyle brand and this is just the first release of many. I now have a lot of faith in its future.

iTunes Movie Quality

Wed, 20 Sep 2006 22:38:56 GMT

Hacking NetFlix feels about the same way as the iTunes movie downloads as I do.

I paid $14.99 for a movie that is lower in quality than the DVD, lacks the special features, takes about an hour to download, and is basically unplayable on my television. I can understand renting a movie like this for $2 - $4, but paying close to the retail DVD price for something that is of lesser quality will be a hard sell, even for Apple.

Source: Hacking NetFlix : iTunes Movie Quality Reviewed

Except they left out the part where you have to spend $300 on a device that doesn't yet exist, set it up on your wireless network (have fun remoting in that WPA/WEP key) and then get it working with your A/V equipment which is always a nightmare. Oh, and you can't trade or sell these files like you can with DVDs... nor can you easily take them on the road (without knowing how to network drives and authorize another machine for iTunes).

Apple is surely onto something here as the place with the most content is the place people are going to spend the most time. I already find myself spending more time in iTunes because of their great podcast directory. But not enough to get suckered into buying low-quality music or video that doesn't support my definition of fair use which is basically "allow me to trade this puppy in when I'm done with it".

I think I'll stick to standard DVDs for another year or so.

Zune: First take

Thu, 14 Sep 2006 18:55:48 GMT

I thought about writing up a much longer detailed post on Zune. Instead, I'm going to reserve real judgment until I can actually hold it in my hand, sync songs, and take it to the gym.

You can learn everything you want to know about Zune here: http://zunethoughts.com/

My first reactions:

"Why brown and not silver or something cool?"
"Why do we always announce things before people can buy them? When new iPods are announced, you can run to the store and pick one up the next day."
"That sharing feature is slick as something I would totally use provided other people around me have one."
"BIG gorgeous screen - YES!"
"Bigger than the iPod? Barely pocketable? Not good."
"This is a decent v1 in a long, long battle"

More to come when I can actually play with it.

Apple iTV: Cool... but yet another remote

Wed, 13 Sep 2006 01:20:04 GMT

I just finished watching the Apple event. Once again, Steve Jobs was a master showman. I'm not going to detail all the announcements - I don't work for Apple PR and I'd be a little late to the game anyway. So just a couple of random thoughts.

The iPod announcements were nice. Nothing revolutionary really, but some fun enhancements here like casual games, new colors, a smaller Shuffle, and instant searching. Probably enough to keep people interested... but no "big screen" iPod as rumored. I'll continue to pass on an iPod for video purposes no matter how nice the packaging is (and it IS nice) - the screen is just too itty bitty for movies and I value my eyes. But there's no question that Apple continues to be the pace setter in this space.

The changes to iTunes were long overdue. Cover art is very 2001, so it's nice that Apple finally made that happen; while the album view looks awfully similar to WMP 11, the Cover Flow view is gorgeously delicious. It remains to be seen how practical it is with large libraries (or how speedy) but it just makes you want to look at the screen all day. I dig.

Of course, you STILL can't play WMA, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, or other high quality formats in iTunes/iPod natively without converting them first to MP3 or AAC. Which means tons of duplicate copies of music everywhere and inflated storage costs. Lovely. If there's one feature I wish iTunes/iPod had it would be native support for other codecs. If Apple doesn't want to do it, they should at least open up their apps so someone can build that support in via plug-ins or extensions. I'm surprised people haven't figured out a way to get WMA to work yet given that no one I know who cares about music still encodes their music in low-quality formats or Apple Lossless.

Side bar: the two things that have always made me nuts about iTunes weren't fixed either; lack of multiple artist support (which is even more apparent with the new views) and inability to sample 30 second clips in the store while continuing to browse (you have to just sit idle and listen!)

Nice that they've increased the resolution on video to 640x480. The next step will be HD in another year or two, but they've probably made the right tradeoffs between bandwidth/portability and quality for now.

Now, the interesting move was iTV. First reaction: I don't want yet another remote! I don't want yet another set top box. I don't want yet another thing to switch on and plug in. I already have an audio receiver, an Xbox 360, and a cable DVR - and I don't think I'm all that abnormal; lots of people have a cable box of some sort. I had to buy a Logitech Harmony remote because managing those things was such a pain. Now, Apple is telling me that in order to play iTunes music, shows, or movies I'm going to need to buy YASTB (yet another set top box) instead of just playing nice with Xbox 360, PS3, DVRs, or Tivo. Grrr. Maybe there's an Ace up Steve's sleeve here. Or maybe Microsoft/Xbox or Tivo will figure out a way to stream the purchased content without Apple's involvement [disclaimer: no insider knowledge here]. And is this thing going to be able to stream recorded television like Media Center extenders or do I have to pay $1.99 for the privilege of watching content I'm already paying for on cable?

Of course, I'm unaffected by all this for now because I would personally never pay $12.99 for "near DVD" quality video that I don't truly own when I can pay just a little more for the actual DVD that doesn't require YASTB. Sure, it isn't as easy to get that content onto an iPod (yet still possible) but if I'm going to watch a movie on-the-go (i.e. on a plane) I would use a laptop anyway. And laptops already have built-in iTV-like functionality; it's called a DVD player. Although of course, as has been made obvious over the years, I'm really not the target audience for the iTunes Store [note: they actually stopped calling it the iTunes Music Store].

You know though, Apple is truly at the top of its game these days. Even more so than a year ago - or 4+ years ago when I bought my first-gen 10GB iPod. As much as I critique their lock-in model, they never cease to wow me with how much they're able to do, and the innovation and quality bar they set for others. I applaud them.

iTunes 7 gets cover art

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 17:43:36 GMT

I know it's probably obvious to those paying attention, but I totally called this one yesterday.

iTunes 7 has been updated with album view and "cover flow view" amongst other things. And it will FINALLY update your cover art if you are missing it. I haven't seen any of this in action yet, so I have no idea how it compares to Windows Media Player 11. What I wrote just yesterday is here. Since iTunes is a cross-platform application, I wonder if Apple is able to take advantage of any Mac-only goodness for 3D visualization, or if it will be the same on both Windows and Mac. Either way, I should be a prophet!

Of course, I'm likely wrong about the Tivo thing - but I knew that was a long-shot.

I'm not live blogging Apple's event (I have a splitting headache so even staring at the screen is hurting my head) but I will probably write something up later on this afternoon after I've seen everything, provided my head returns to normal. So far, lots of interesting announcements but nothing unexpected just yet.

Windows Media Player 11 & Album Art

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 23:45:52 GMT

I'm a sucker for album art.

Before Windows Media Player 11, I found myself opening up Windows Media Center just to see the cover art for the album I was interested in playing. Now that Windows Media Player 11 supports album art natively (like the Windows XP explorer... but better) that's no longer an issue. It's a subtle improvement but one that I don't know how I was managing without for so long.

With thousands of songs ripped from hundreds of CDs, I simply need a visual indicator to parse all that data. And rows and rows of text like iTunes and Windows Media Player 10 just wasn't doing it for me. Now I can scan it all in no time, just looking for the yellow Counting Crows or the dark blue Eminem. Much faster! And it's much easier on the eye in terms of aesthetics.

Of course, the reasons I'm telling you this are two-fold:

To make a prediction on the record based on zero insider information that Apple "copies" this feature in iTunes 7 (due tomorrow?) It's logical that Apple would move iTunes in this direction, but it sure is comforting to know that we shipped it first this time. Of course, everyone bites from everyone and what goes around comes around... and all that. But expect a bunch of people oohhing and ahhing at the keynote tomorrow (or whenver it's ultimately shipped) if this feature is finally included in iTunes. If it isn't included, iTunes will continue to remain that nice little application in my start menu that I use to sample 30 second sound clips of CDs I want to buy.
To alert you to the fact that WMP11 Beta 2 is available as of last week. Omar takes the WMP team to task for not outlining what was fixed - and I'm right there with him. As much as I love the new fancy features, there were bugs in Beta 1 that made it close to unusable for me for some reason. But so far so good with Beta 2. This one is worth checking out. So check it out!

But the fun doesn't stop there. If you havent seen the Media Center functionality in Windows Vista, it's freakin gorgeous. Of course, pictures don't do it justice. You need to actually see it in action. When I saw it for the first time back in January at CES my jaw hit the floor. There's a short video on YouTube.

Judge for yourself.

Video on Demand - Xbox 360 and Apple + Tivo (?)

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 20:18:52 GMT

Xbox 360 is truly a work of wonder. I've had my 360 for some time now, but as you can probably guess from looking at my Recent Games list, I don't play many games at all. I follow the same patterns as I did when I owned the original Xbox - I buy games the day they come out, play them for a couple of hours, and then I put them away never to look at them again. So now I've pretty much stopped buying games just to own them - I'll just rent them at Blockbuster across the street if I have the urge to wear out my thumbs from now on (except the Superman Returns game of course).

But the fact that I don't play games doesn't mean I don't use my Xbox. As a matter of fact, I love the damn thing. We use it just about every single day for something. It's become more and more apparent to me just how powerful the Xbox is as a digital media endpoint - for content delivery, for streaming music and video within the home, and for casual gaming.

For example, yesterday Melinda and I watched Munich (fantastic movie) using the 360 as our DVD player. Just before that, we downloaded the new Jessica Simpson video (don't ask) and the trailer for Heroes on NBC (awesome) and watched them on a 42" screen instead of on a 15" laptop screen. And last weekend we used the 360 to stream music from the PC upstairs into the living room/kitchen while we were making dinner... and an hour later we were using it to play a slideshow of our trip to Italy for Melinda's sister!

So, forget gaming. The Xbox 360 is my digital media hub. It's the only way I'm able to watch movie trailers in high definition, stream lossless music, and have fun with digital photo albums on a big screen in my home without connecting a laptop to the TV. And the more cool content that becomes available (like that Entourage teaser from a few months ago) the more I'll use my Xbox during downtime instead of the absolutely atrocious Comcast DVR.

Now, the landscape could change dramatically tomorrow with Apple's "Showtime" event where they're expected to announce iTunes integrated movies and the long-awaited iPod with a large touchscreen. But if Apple doesn't solve the "how do I get media to my living room?" problem in as elegant a way as the Xbox 360 has, then the fact that they'll be offering movie downloads simply doesn't matter. No matter how cool the new iPod is, moving pictures are meant for watching on a big screen, not a handheld.

So here's a long-shot prediction. Instead of simply updating the Airport Express to support video, Apple will partner with Tivo for content delivery. You'll be able to authorize your Tivo with the iTunes store and fill up your hard drive by both a) browsing iTunes directly and downloading files or b) streaming/copying the content from your PC or Mac. Of course, if they do this, they will have to opt for HD content over the low-quality stuff they're selling now, as when you watch any of those Lost episodes from iTunes on a big screen these days, it's pretty obvious where they're cutting corners.

This makes sense for a number of reasons; not the least of which 1) it's aligning two immensely popular brands, and 2) it's a lot easier for customers than buying a new piece of hardware and dealing with yet another remote. Of course, it would be very unlike Apple to entrust a small company like Tivo with their bread-and-butter, so an acquisition would probably be more likely - and Apple doesn't do many of those, preferring instead to just build in-house.

OK, so I said it was a long-shot. But there's a "wild rumor" that Tivo will be releasing the Series 3 on the same day as the Apple event, so you never know. Well, not until tomorrow at least. In the meantime, I'm still loving my Xbox 360 ;)

tags: apple, tivo, xbox

OPML for music subscriptions

Mon, 05 Jun 2006 01:49:51 GMT

I'm a big fan of subscription music services. Yahoo Music Unlimited is my current favorite with URGE a solid contender once they build up their library a bit. But while I think subscription music could be the "next big thing", I know not everyone is in agreement... Actually, most people I talk to are almost religiously opposed to the idea of not owning their music.

The biggest (actually ONLY) complaint about subscription services I've heard over the past year or so is that music on your hard drive won't play anymore once you stop paying. This is true (although people fail to realize that there are scarier truths with iTunes music). Still, this is the single biggest roadblock preventing subscription music services from picking up steam... people don't want to invest time (and money) into something that could just up and disappear someday. They don't want to be locked in to $9.99/mo forever when a better deal (or a better service!) might come along.

And what are the subscription services doing about this? It doesn't look like they're doing much at all actually. They've spent a lot of time improving their user interface and building up their obscure indie music selections, but they haven't done anything to alleviate or otherwise address the single most prevalent fear in the minds of their potential customers. And there's a pretty simple solution to the problem: just let people export and import their subscription libraries natively via OPML.

Think about it; it isn't the actual bits on your hard drive that you care about - it's the fact that you spent 43 hours last month searching, previewing, and selecting that music. It's the metadata associated with the songs that's important; the actual WMA files aren't where the value is. You don't want to repeat the effort. Why treat your music subscriptions any differently from your RSS subscriptions? Those are portable. Your email archives and bookmarks are portable. Your music subscriptions should be too.

If switching from Yahoo Music to URGE and then back was as simple as export/import just like switching from Outlook to Thunderbird, Bloglines to NewsGator, or IE to Firefox, more people would be inclined to use these services... They would know that they are actually building something of lasting value in the choices they're making.

Music is an emotional thing. You can't expect people to invest emotionally in a service knowing that there's a chance it could all be for nothing. Supporting a standard export/import model could go a long way here.

Windows Media Player 11: WOW

Wed, 17 May 2006 05:54:56 GMT

OK, so I decided to give the latest version of Windows Media Player a try a day before it's made available to the general public. I've been anxiously awaiting this release for at least six months now - and I can say that it was WELL worth the wait.

(FYI: Windows Media Player 11 will be available here tomorrow, 5/17)

In short:

The new user experience is light years better than the complexities of Windows Media Player 10. It's a lot more iTunes-like but without the endless rows of text (and laggy performance). For music lovers like myself, having album art integrated right into the core experience evokes a very visceral reaction. It's a much more... emotional experience. It's a great adjunct to the Media Center interface actually.
Navigating a 10,000 song library is finally fixed - and the search feature is MUCH better than it was before. And it's contextual, so searching URGE (the MTV music store built-in) is just like searching your local library. It actually does type-down completion on millions of tracks; as you start typing "Backst", album stacks with Backstreet Boys, Backbone, the Backyardigans, and others automatically appear like magic. Love it.
Creating playlists is finally... understandable.
URGE so far is exactly what you'd expect from an integrated online service. You have to try it to see what I mean, but this service will really go a long way to introducing the (far more cost-effective) subscription model to the millions of people who continue to pay $.99/song for limited rights/shady quality music.

Before you think this is Microsoft fanboy speak, there are a bunch of positive reviews floating around out there:

Ten reasons to love Windows Media Player 11 (CNET). "There's no doubt that WMP 11 and Urge are a dynamic duo. The two are linked at a genetic level, offer modern and thoughtfully designed interfaces, and have the kinds of useful features that one should expect in a fast-maturing digital music world."
The Windows Media Ecosystem (CNET). "...never before has the Windows music environment looked so appealing. Today, Microsoft, MTV, and iRiver announced what we're calling the Windows Media ecosystem, which consists of a media jukebox application, a music service, and an MP3 player: Windows Media Player (WMP) 11, Urge, and the Clix. (Well, technically, WMP 11 was announced at CES, but since it's a critical piece to this puzzle, we're including it here.) Even with the media player and the music service still in beta, these products make a fabulous team, with the type of superb integration usually associated with Apple products. If you're looking for the Windows Media answer to iTunes and the iPod, this is it. "
Windows Media Player 11 Review (WinSuperSite). "WMP 11 does feature a far more visual user interface than previous WMP versions, and it seems lighter and faster to boot. Indeed, when you compare the basic WMP 11 user interface to that of iTunes, Apple's entry looks hopelessly archaic, more dBASE III+ than media player, with line after line of boring text. Microsoft may just be on to something."
Windows Media Player 11 (PC World). "Apple has been amazingly successful at winning over PC users and infiltrating their machines via iTunes, but with Windows Media Player 11 (WMP 11), Microsoft says "No more." The new release, launching Wednesday as a public beta download, beats Apple iTunes in many aspects. It acts as a repository and player for all your music, video, and images, unlike Apple's popular player. And while WMP 11 doesn't integrate with the iTunes Music Store, it also doesn't lock you in to one purchasing source. In fact, it integrates numerous stores including Napster, audible.com, Movielink, and MTV's new Urge service."

I haven't played with the portable device integration yet, but I've heard it's much improved. Of course, it doesn't support the iPod due to Apple's kung fu grip on their antiquated business model... but this might not matter... at least for people who want flexibility when it comes to music choices. The new iRiver Clix, designed specifically to work with WMP11 and URGE, looks pretty hot. Here's a more complete rundown and an Editor's Choice/Excellent rating from CNET. Ummm... I want one.

If you care about music like I do, you should give WMP11 a try. You may be pleasantly surprised.

For the record, I'm still a huge Yahoo Music fan and have no plans to give that up anytime soon. That's the service to beat in my mind, not iTunes. I'm not switching to URGE just yet as I still think Yahoo Music Engine + Yahoo Music Unlimited is the most functional music service on the planet. I'm just not a fan of running a separate application (that has real performance and stability issues) to listen to music. I do hope that Yahoo decides to go the URGE route and build their store directly into WMP at some point, even if it's a "downlevel" version. You can read more of my thoughts on Y! Music here.

Orb File Browser

Sun, 23 Apr 2006 19:42:24 GMT

Sure, this might only excite about 0.0001% of the population but it's pretty cool. Orb, one of my all-time favorite services, now has a standard file browser built-in with upload support.

Lots of cool new features along with this upgrade as well, like the ability to download an entire folder of photos on a remote PC: "A copy of the original files, with full size and resolution, will be compressed and downloaded to the remote PC. "

I''ve been using it for the past week from work PC -> home PC and just today decided to give it a whirl on my Windows Mobile device. Works beautifully. I navigated to a couple Office documents and with one tap was able to open them in Pocket Word & Excel. I will never feel disconnected from my files again ;)

(image courtesy of Pocket PC Thoughts which has a good write-up and podcast on Orb)

It would be nice at some point to have native support for Orb's tunneling ability inside the apps that I use most frequently. When I pull up Windows Media Player at work (or on my Pocket PC) I would love to see my entire music library at home. Same with photos and Picasa or the new Windows Photo Gallery in Vista. And instead of shoehorning me through a browser interface to navigate my remote files, I want it built right into Windows Explorer.

But beggars can't be choosers - I love this thing.

Amazon Podcasts

Mon, 03 Apr 2006 19:31:17 GMT

A friend of some of us here on the Spaces team is the host of a new podcast on film, music, and books called Amazon Wire. Congratulations to Pat!

This one has an interview with Steven Soderbergh and an audio essay by Freakonomics author Stephen J. Dubner. Lots of fun to listen to if you're an entertainment junkie.

It's also great to see Amazon.com branching out beyond just being an online mall through podcasts, "plogs", and other community features.

Anyway, check it out at www.amazon.com/podcast.

Consumers warm to Media Center PCs

Tue, 14 Mar 2006 03:27:24 GMT

This article is pretty telling: Consumers warm to Media Center PCs

From the article:

PCs running Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center Edition finally entered the mainstream consumer market last year, Current Analysis has claimed.

The media PCs claimed eight per cent of the US retail market in January 2005, and soared to 48 per cent in December, according to data collected by the analyst firm.

Increased demand was sparked by a drop in price after manufacturers started omitting tuners which allowed the systems to receive and record television signals.

It just goes to show you that even when you have a best-in-class solution, price is still the ultimate factor when it comes to decision making. Go media center PCs! It's going to be an awesome couple years for media junkies...