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All posts tagged "suggestions"


Friday, December 21, 2007

Engadget Wants to Know How the Zune Can Be Better

Posted by David Tucker in "Zune Talk" @ 08:00 AM

"Hey, we gave you the opportunity to voice your opinion on Microsoft's original Zune back in August, so it's only fair that the new kids on the block get their turn in the ring, too. This go 'round, however, we're adding a little twist -- focus your attention on the flash-based iterations only. The diminutive Zune 4 and Zune 8 were probably more highly anticipated than their HDD-based siblings, and considering that the rumors were literally all over the map leading up to the release, we can't say anything really shocked us when launch day came and went. Granted, we were a bit bummed to find that these wouldn't feature TV outputs, but hey, at least we got the option of adding more than just two lines of text to the thing's rear, right?"

Engadget wants to know from its readers what they would do to make the Flash Zune even better. I agree with their premise. The Zune 4/8 are a good pair of devices but not perfect. This seems like a good thing to think about on a Friday as we head into a long weekend for many people. What do you all think the Zune needs? I’m not going to limit it to just the flash Zunes. The platform has enough common between the models that suggestions can be applied to all devices. I’ll get this party started with a couple suggestions myself. First, I’d like to see the ability to access the Zune Marketplace via WiFi. The other thing that would be really cool would be for the Zune network to more closely emulate Xbox live. Instead of just Zune cards, let Zune on your buddy list see each other over the internet so you can see what your friends are listening to. That’s what I want!

Tags: zune, suggestions

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Zune Patent App Promises Recommendations Via Wifi

Posted by Adam Krebs in "Zune Content Creation & Management" @ 07:30 PM

http://blogs.zdnet.com/ip-telephony/?p=2388

"A newly posted Microsoft Patent Application appears to describe technology that would provide automatic downloads to a Zune media player if newly tracks from various artists whose work is already stored on Zune or on a user’s PC-based library becomes available....Say you have five Dave Matthews Band tracks already stored on your Zune. Dave puts out some new tracks. A music service could flag a track for promotion, and that track could automatically be pushed down to a Zune- or your PC media library- in much the same way Windows Updates are pushed through to users."

This is really cool. It seems like a logical extension of podcasting, and if it could sync to the device directly, all the better. Granted, I'm typically on top of the releases from my favorite artists, but if it was coupled with an intelligent recommendation system (a la Pandora or Urge's AutoMix), and only pushed ones it really thinks I'll like, this could be amazing. I love discovering new music, Microsoft loves pushing its partners' new songs. It's a win-win.

At the same time, this has the potentially to be really annoying. Let's say I was in the mood for some Dave Matthews one day, and I start downloading his albums like mad. I check my library a few days later to actually listen to the songs, and find I really and truly hate most of them, but the Zune recommendations keep coming.... Ahh!

Plus, if the recommendation system is poorly implemented (which would never happen...right?), I'd be getting hardcore hip hop on my mostly folk-rock Zune or vice-versa. We'll see how this plays out.


Saturday, February 24, 2007

Suggestions for the Zune Phone? List 'em!

Posted by Darius Wey in "Zune Talk" @ 11:30 PM

http://www.zunesphere.com/2007/02/06/suggestions-for-the-zune-phone/

The Zune Phone ideas are arriving in swarms, so in a bid to manage it all, the folks at ZuneSphere have dutifully rounded them up and added their own. So far, Live Anywhere support, wireless sync, ease of use, 3G, and Bluetooth feature prominently in everyone's books, but I know that a few of you have some significant ideas that have yet to be mentioned, so leave your mark in this thread and let's hope the product team at Microsoft is reading.


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