Updated on October 24 to reflect that Hulu has released this feature for Android devices.

Hulu recently joined the ranks of streaming services that let you download content to watch when you’re offline. This is good news for people who travel or don’t otherwise have ubiquitous high-speed connectivity (i.e., mostly everyone). But there’s a catch. Multiple catches, actually.

Some Customers

First, not everyone qualifies. To take advantage of Hulu’s new download feature, you need to be a $12/month ad-free subscriber. This pretty much excludes anyone using Hulu in a bundle with some other service (e.g., Disney+, Spotify, etc.).

Some Titles

If you’re looking to download the latest episode of This Is Us for a private ugly cry in your hotel room, you’re out of luck—you’ll have to pick an older episode. Similarly, you can’t download current episodes of The Good Place or any episodes of South Park. But you can download older episodes of some. And some current episodes.

Some kids’ content is downloadable, which may be a nice way to ensure you have some shows for the little ones to watch on your wilderness getaway. And some movies. Again…just some of them. Bottom line: It’s too, unnecessarily confusing, just like Hulu’s episode availability and windowing practices. (Blame licensing.)

Some Devices

You rocking the latest Windows tablet or convertible? Well, you’re probably out of luck. Hulu has released the downloading feature on its iOS apps for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad and for Android phones and tablets. Don’t expect to see this feature on Windows any time soon…or at all.

…for Some Time

And, of course, there are even further limits on when and how you can watch these downloaded bits. Hulu downloads expire 30 days after you download them. You’ll need to re-download if you haven’t already watched them by then. Once you start watching something, you have 48 hours to complete it. Otherwise it expires. So don’t expect to start something in the car on your weekend getaway and finish it a few days later on the way back home.

We love seeing services make their content more readily available to customers, so this is generally a good thing. We just wish Hulu downloads didn’t have to come with so many catches. Any content, any place, any device—why is that so hard?

If you’re confused about what you can download when and where, you can review Hulu’s FAQs about the new feature.

The post Hulu Now Lets Some Customers Download Some Titles on Some Devices appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Dish Anywhere—Dish’s popular remote content viewing service that lets you watch linear, on-demand, and recorded content remotely—may soon be coming to a TV near you…wherever that happens to be. At CES 2017, Dish was showing off its first 10-foot interface for Dish Anywhere running on a Fire TV box. The demo included access to the full grid guide, your Sling-enabled Hopper DVR contents, and Dish’s available on-demand movies and shows.

The implications here are pretty big. For example, you could use a Fire TV box in your home as an extender to your DVR, perhaps replacing or supplementing some of the capabilities you may have through a Joey. We’re not expecting 4K video through the service anytime soon, but it could work fine for some use cases. Imagine a kitchen TV, for example. It’s a lot easier to plug a Fire TV Stick into the TV than worry about placing or mounting a set top box—even as small as the Joey actually is.

Or maybe you’re traveling. Savvy travelers are known to pack a Fire TV or Fire TV Stick. Both products enable “captive portal” Wi-Fi login, allowing you to connect your device through most hotel Wi-Fi systems. For under $40, you’d have easy access to your home TV service and DVR, including anything recorded automatically through Prime Time Anytime. Anywhere in the United States.

Dish doesn’t charge customers for its Dish Anywhere service, so we’re not anticipating that there will be any additional charge for this app or its services once it’s available. We don’t have a specific availability date for the Dish Anywhere app on the Fire TV—or if it will come to other platforms—but we’re anticipating this will be out sometime this year.

The post Dish Anywhere…Coming Soon to Any TV Near You appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

PlayOn Cloud expands on the idea of PlayOn Plus, but removes the requirement of having an always-on computer. You can still use it to schedule recordings of your favorite online movies and television shows, but instead of being stored on your computer they are stored in PlayOn’s cloud.

Currently PlayOn Cloud is an iOS app that runs on iPhones, iPads, and IPod Touch devices. They have plans to release an Android version soon. The app itself is free, but you have to pay for each recording. Doing so is as simple as $0.99 in-app purchase.

You can schedule shows you like to automatically be recorded as they become available. Once you’ve recorded something it can be easily downloaded to your device for offline playback. So if you have a long flight coming up you can easily record a few TV shows and sync them to your iPad ahead of time.

While this functionality sounds an awful lot like today’s Netflix announcement, the major difference is that PlayOn supports dozens of video sources including Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and HBO. If you want to try it out for yourself, head on over to the App Store and install it. We’d love to hear how it works out for you!

Source: PlayOn Blog

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There’s been lots of debate about whether it would actually happen or not, but Netflix has officially added offline viewing capabilities to its apps for iOS and Android. Not all of the content is available for download (likely limited by licensing rights), but of the movies, shows, and originals we poked through, most could be downloaded.

The download process is straightforward: Look for a new Download icon in the banner for movies or next to each episode in the newly redesigned episodes list. Tap the icon and the download begins. You do not need to keep the app open to complete the download, and you can even watch other content while the download completes. Your downloaded episodes appear in a new My Downloads section near the top of the slide-in menu, available for you to access in airplane mode or offline.

Customers have been asking to use Netflix offline for years now, and it’s nice to see that the company has obliged. Just remember that not all of the content you can download may be appropriate viewing on an airplane! Now if only we could get Netflix and Apple to play nice for that new TV app….

The post Now You Can Watch Netflix Offline on iOS, Android appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Essentially the HopperGO is a portable hard drive that also has a built in Wi-Fi access point. You connect it via USB 2.0 to a Hopper DVR, and can load it up with up-to 100 hours of content on the 64GB drive. Then while you’re out and about, the HopperGO provides its own Wi-Fi network for your phone or tablet to connect to. Once you’ve connected your device you can view all the content stored on the HopperGO via the DISH Anywhere app. All of this without using an internet connection for the HopperGO or on your mobile device. It’s your own private, portable, media cloud.

The HopperGO has an expected battery life of five hours. If that is not long enough, you can use it while it is charging. In addition, while it is billed as a personal device, you can share the entertainment with others too. The HopperGO supports five simultaneous streams.

DISH’s HopperGO will go on sale late in the first quarter of 2016. It will cost $99, and it won’t require any additional monthly fees.

Source: DISH Network

The post DISH Announces HopperGO – An Exciting Portable Media Cloud appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

While Xbox is currently at gamescom, in Germany, highlighting their 2015 and 2016 games lineup, the team took some time to address some of the entertainment value of Xbox One. Previously, Xbox released a digital TV tuner that allows European, Australian, and North American customers to obtain over the air programming with an antenna. At gamescom, Xbox is taking that to the next step with the inclusion of DVR capabilities.

While this DVR capability comes with some really cool features, taking advantage of the console and Windows 10, it should be noted that an external hard drive is recommended. By including an external drive, you can (for example) record shows while doing other things on the Xbox console.

Some other key features include:

• Watch recorded shows on mobile devices – Using the Xbox App or Smarglass, you’ll be able to stream shows that you’ve recorded to Xbox One.
• Download for later – You can download recorded content to any Windows 10 device for viewing later. Ideal for when you’re going on a plane, as an example.
• Scheduling Anywhere – You can schedule recordings using the OneGuide on Xbox One, the Xbox app on Windows 10 or the Smartglass app.
• Create a collection – Since Xbox One can accept insanely large external drives, you can use that space to create your own collection of recorded content. It stays for as long as you want it to.
• Subscription Free! – This is a big one. To use this feature will require no fees to use.

The feature is slated to launch in 2016, but you can bet folks in the Xbox preview program (and in supported OTA locales) will get to try this early, much like getting to try backwards compatibility early. Note there is currently no timetable for testing by preview members, or when exactly in 2016 this feature will roll out.

For a start, this is great. Hopefully this expands to include multiple tuners, cable TV, and other content sources, but surely that will take a great amount of time and negotiation.

Source: Xbox Wire

The post DVR Functionality Is Coming To Xbox One appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

We were wondering when this would happen…

As Windows 10 does the slow rollout to PCs all over the world, Microsoft has flipped the switch on its new music service.

It is no longer Xbox Music. It is now Groove.

Groove offers pretty much everything you’ve known from Xbox Music. You can get a Groove Music Pass for access to almost all of the marketplace, you can listen to Groove on various devices from phones (like iOS and Android) all the way up to Xbox One consoles. You can even listen to Groove Music at its new web destination. Groove still connects to the music folder in your Onedrive, so you can listen to that music for free (no need for a music pass, for that feature). If you’re on the fence about using Groove Music Pass, Microsoft is offering a 30-Day trial of the service.

Today is a good day. As Windows 10 hopes to upgrade the world, Groove music hopes to make the world dance, too.

For more information about Groove Music, check out their website.

The post With Windows 10 Comes the Sounds of Groove Music appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

I’m not the flashiest person, when it comes to using Microsoft PowerPoint, but there was one slide that I think offers the best summary of what Xbox Music is about:

So, for those who really want to understand why Xbox Music is such a viable entertainment solution let’s breakdown each of these components:

Music Player: First, and foremost, Xbox Music is a music player. Take your unprotected music files (MP3, WMA, AAC) and Xbox Music will present you a nice collection. Stream it, put it into playlists, and play stuff at random. Xbox Music also offers a visually pleasing ‘now playing’ experience that showcases artist art across your Xbox, tablets, and PCs. Phone ‘now playing’ is different, but pleasing nonetheless.

Music Marketplace: While most will admit they don’t purchase much music, anymore, Xbox Music does offer this capability. In fact, some labels/artists won’t allow their music to be available through a subscription, but rather they would want you to pay for their music outright. In addition, Xbox Music offers the “Music Deals” app, which gives you alerts to what’s on sale, without the need for hunting through the apps to discover them.

Cloud Locker: This is one of the key aspects of Xbox Music. You can store your music (up to 50,000 songs) in your OneDrive account, and that music will be available to almost every Xbox Music app you have. The current exceptions are the iOS and Android apps. The cooler part is, your OneDrive songs co-mingle right along with any music you get through the subscription service. From your viewpoint, it is all one big happy collection. Using the cloud locker (OneDrive) is also a free service. You do not need an Xbox Music pass to use this functionality. In that regard, I find it to be a great way for people to try out the Xbox Music service, without any financial obligations.

Discovery Tool: One of the great things about music is that moment when you discover a great new song or band. To that end, Xbox Music offers a ‘radio’ feature. With this feature, you simply tell the service a favorite artist of yours (i.e. Nicki Minaj or Foster the People). Xbox Music then proceeds to (with assistance from the major big data company Echo Nest) to create a playlist based upon that favorite artist. It’s a great way to expand your musical horizons. One thing to take note of is that the ‘radio’ feature requires a music pass subscription. Understandably, this is because it’s about discovery, and having an entire marketplace at your fingertips goes a long way with that.

Subscription Service: Of course, Xbox Music offers an all-you-can-eat subscription service. For $9.99 per month (or $99 per year) you have access to almost everything available in the marketplace. As with purchases, some labels/artists put restrictions on what is available for streaming via the Music Pass, but for the most part you’ll have a chance to dive as much as you want into the music you want. Plus, adding this to the “radio” feature means a greater chance to discover new songs.

Cross-Platform Application: Anyone who remembers Zune would ding it because it was only available on Windows. Xbox Music is bucking that by making itself available on the three major platforms: Windows, iOS, and Android. Currently the iOS and Android versions are bare bones, and they require the Xbox Music Pass to truly function. However, over time, all of these apps will offer feature parity and the same experiences regardless of the platform that you decide to use.

As you can see, Xbox Music has more to offer than many may realize. With the upcoming year, and the march to Windows 10, look for Xbox Music to take some things to new levels and really highlight why it deserves a seat at the music streaming table.

If you want some more information about Xbox Music, here’s some links:

• Xbox Music Pass description, with free trial
• How to use Xbox Music + OneDrive
• Download Xbox Music: Windows Phone | iOS | Android

The post Xbox Music 101 – A Service Overview appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

While most people listen to their digital audio via MP3 files, FLAC files are compressed in a way that doesn’t lose any audio fidelity. FLAC, the Free Lossless Audio Codec, in the past has always required third party applications to enjoy. Presumably they will play right inside of Windows Media Player.

One important thing to remember is that while installing a third party audio player on your desktop might not be a big deal, Windows 10 will also be the operating system available on the next generation of Windows Phones. Once Windows 10 is available you’ll be able to enjoy all of your FLAC files on the go with the built-in Xbox Music app.

You won’t find FLAC support in the January Preview of Windows 10, but it will be coming soon in a future update. Get your headphones ready!

Source: Twitter via Gigaom

Photo by Toshiyuki Imai used under Creative Commons

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Updated 11/18/2014: Confirmed that Disney digital titles now appear in VUDU library but not in UltraViolet library.

Disney’s digital video locker service, Disney Movies Anywhere, will soon be partnered with Walmart’s VUDU streaming service. Disney Movies Anywhere competes directly with UltraViolet, a similar service created by a consortium of industry players. Disney and Apple have quite noticeably not participated in UltraViolet, with Disney instead launching this service of its own.

After partnering with Google Play earlier in November, this is a big move for Disney’s service, and it opens the door for consumers to watch their Disney-distributed digital video purchases on many additional devices. This partnership works the same way as their Apple and Google arrangement. You’re able to buy Disney movies on any of these services—Disney Movies Anywhere, iTunes, Google Play, and VUDU—then access and watch them through any other. With VUDU apps on so many platforms, including Xbox, PlayStation, Roku, and now TiVo, this brings your Disney library to many more devices.

What’s of particular note is that VUDU is also a partner of the competing UltraViolet service. Many have argued even that VUDU may have breathed some much needed life and simplicity into UltraViolet at a point when it desperately needed support. While this dual partnership is interesting, it’s likely it will cause confusion for users who now typically expect VUDU purchases to automatically become part of their UltraViolet library. For example, your Guardians of the Galaxy purchase will not appear in both your Disney Movies Anywhere and UltraViolet libraries.

Broad access is good, but burdening consumers with managing two separate libraries is not. We appreciate the expansion and improvements, but what we really need is one library with access to all content. Or a content sharing agreement between UltraViolet and Disney, creating two libraries with access to all content. And while we’re at it, now’s as good a time as any to ask the DECE, “how’s that common file format coming?”

The post VUDU partners with Disney Movies Anywhere appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Redbox Instant attempted to compete with significantly more popular and entrenched services like Netflix, but its small library of subscription content could barely compete with Amazon Prime Instant. The service never seemed to take advantage of Verizon’s relationship with content licensees, which we had hoped they’d leverage for exclusive, early access to titles. Ultimately, it amounted to little more than everyone else was offering. How they failed to see that at launch remains a mystery.

So Now What?

When they say shutting down, they mean shutting down. At midnight PDT on October 7, Redbox Instant online services will go offline. As of that time, customers will be unable to

• access on-demand subscription content
• reserve movies at a local Redbox kiosk
• rent or purchase online videos
• watch rented or purchased online videos
• download purchased videos
• use Redbox Instant mobile or set-top box apps
• redeem accumulated Redbox kiosk credits

Subscribers will receive a refund for the unused portion of paid subscription fees and unwatched rentals, but at this point, there is no plan for purchased video content. At one point, Redbox had announced a partnership with UltraViolet, but nothing ever became of that. According to Redbox Instant’s Q&A about the shutdown, “We’re exploring options for customers who purchased electronic versions of on-demand movies. You’ll receive an email from us shortly, or you can check back here for an update in about two weeks. We appreciate your patience.” So for now, you’re out of luck.

Redbox Instant’s demise, which comes on the heals of many others with smaller coffers, reinforces a lesson about digital content management, and consumers should take note. This shutdown (again) raises the question, “can consumers buy DRMed content with the confidence that they’ll retain access to that content for the long term?” For now, the answer is “no.”

Check Redbox Instant’s shutdown notice page for more information.

The post Once Redbox Instant Locks Up, So Does Your Content appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

The new layout purportedly makes it easier to browse and navigate content but ultimately looks more like a web or Android app than the modern design language originally inspired by metropolitan transit signage. This design departure is accentuated by the fact that this is an Xbox service. Are we to expect that the Xbox itself may someday see media app updates that work and look nothing like the environment for which they were built?

New Movies screen

Collection screen

What are your thoughts on these updates? Would you rather Microsoft focus on improving the limitations of metro design, or are you happy with the changes they’re introducing to make the user experience more traditional? Let us know in the Comment section.

The post Microsoft Redesigns Xbox Video for Windows appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

It’s an ambitious project, and one that’s likely to be fraught with legal and licensing challenges. Essentially, TiVo (or the cable operator) would be retaining recordings of all shows in their originally-aired form—commercials and all—making them available for time-shifted viewing at a later time. In theory, previously-aired shows could also be “recorded,” or saved for even later viewing. TiVo demonstrated the concept on its best-in-class TiVo app for iOS, but the concept applies to the 10-foot lean-back experience from the set top box itself.

Of course, the amount of previously-aired content, specific channels, and mobile availability will all be subject to operator’s rights to the content. But that doesn’t make the possibilities any less interesting and exciting. This capability would compete directly with Dish’s PrimeTime Anytime feature (though leveraging technology in a different way), and it more-or-less blows Dish’s offering out of the water. We’ve been pondering what the cloud DVR of tomorrow might look like, and if this is indication of what we can expect, consumers might soon see much greater access and catch-up capabilities.

As an added bonus, TiVo’s press kit for the Network DVR included images of a TiVo channel for Roku—not something they discussed with us, but certainly an interesting concept to ponder. Imagine using your Roku as an extender of sorts for your Roamio or Stream-enabled Premiere. The images we saw suggest you could watch recorded or live shows and even record a show.

More Mobile

Android users have long been waiting for an Android tablet version of TiVo’s popular TiVo app. Previously hesitant to discuss specifics, the representatives we spoke with at TiVo did confirm that we should expect to see such an app optimized for 10” Android tablets later this year.

More Apps

While TiVo wasn’t willing to answer specific questions about the (desperately-needed-and-hoped-to-be-soon) release of an updated Amazon app, they did confirm that the Opera TV Store is rolling out to Premiere owners this week. Available to Roamio users out of the box, the Opera TV Store adds many additional over-the-top video sources including Vimeo, TED, and others.

TiVo’s implementation of the Opera TV Store will focus on media content apps, and they expect to more deeply integrate these standards-based HTML apps, including the eventual ability to include them directly on your TiVo menu.

More Control

TiVo also announced the integration of the TiVo with Control4 for TiVo media management in Control4’s integrated smart home environment. In addition to live TV, Control4 owners will have access to TiVo’s show information, recorded shows, and full TiVo remote capabilities.

More Peanuts

Did we mention that the slide remote is back? TiVo re-released a version of its iconic peanut remote with a sliding keyboard earlier last year, and if you’re a TiVo user, you really should get yourself one. In our experience, there is no better integrated keyboard/remote solution out there.

Read TiVo’s press release about the Network DVR.

Read TiVo’s press release about Control4 integration.

The post TiVo Presents Network DVR Concept and More at CES appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

An observant reader pointed out to us that the anticipated transcoding network tuner device is now available for pre-order on Newegg.com.This two-tuner device takes over-the-air ATSC and clear QAM (unencrypted) digital cable signals, transcodes them in real-time, and delivers them over your network to devices in your home.  The new, onboard H.264 AVC transcoding makes wireless streaming to many different devices possible, including iOS, Android, game consoles, and more.

At CES 2013, we also saw a beta Android application from HDHomeRun, so presumably apps that make accessing the streams easier than fumbling with your favorite DLNA Mobile Digital Media Player will also be forthcoming in the near future.

Newegg lists the new device at $199.99, available now for pre-order at $149.99. They list the release date at December 12, and we expect to hear more information from SiliconDust in the next week or so.

The post Transcoding HDHomeRun Available for Pre-order appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

In our tests on the iPad, the experience was intuitive and flawless—dare we say even easier than AirPlay. Of course, Chromecast doesn’t further offer the ability to use a physical remote, as with the Apple TV, to play, pause, and skip. Nonetheless, it’s a great experience. At this time, the feature is available on Hulu Plus apps for Android phones and tablets and for the iPad. An update to support the iPhone is expected soon.

The addition of Hulu’s content library adds considerable value to Chromecast’s already bargain price of $35. The question is, though, how many additional providers might add similar support? Currently Netflix, Hulu, and Google’s own Play and YouTube are the only video services offering native Chromecast support. We’d love to see it on other services like Amazon Instant Video, HBO GO, and even local content library players, but you have to wonder how much motivation developers—particularly smaller shops—have to integrate with Chromecast. How many different remote playback protocols will apps be expected to support?

Read Hulu’s blog post: Cast Away: Hulu Plus on Chromecast

The post Hulu Plus Adds Content, Value to Chromecast appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

This week, Microsoft fulfilled their promise to the Zune faithful with the release of Xbox Music applications for Android and iOS. This release brings them one step closer to being a competitive alternative to Spotify, Pandora, iTunes, Google Music and half a dozen other music subscription services. We spent some time with the release on a couple iOS devices and gave it a quick spin on Android. Let’s see how the Microsoft music experience stacks up against the native offerings from Apple and Google within their respective operating systems.

Android

Initially, the Xbox Music application was available on a limited selection of Android devices. We could only get the original release to load on a Motorola Droid Maxx, and it was un-installable on the [amazon_link id=”B00DVFLJDS” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Nexus 7 FHD[/amazon_link]. With the current version in the Google Play Store, it loaded without issue. Based on the release notes they have expanded support for the HTC One and Samsung S4 to address a majority of the review complaints they received on the first release.

The user interfaces on Android and iOS look very similar, yet on iOS there is one significant advantage that we will get to in just a few moments. You are greeted with a sign-on page upon first launch and it’s clear in the Google Play Store that the application requires an Xbox Music Pass subscription to access any content. Microsoft is running a promotion that allows anyone to try the premium version, ad-free, for 30 days on multiple devices. Once you are logged in, Xbox Music checks your account for any cloud-based playlists and synchronizes those with your devices.

It has visibility to things we downloaded onto other devices, and those are shown in a collections view that you access from the green menu bar.  The normal functions one would expect in terms of playback exist in Android with shuffle, menu shortcut for play, pause, close, etc. Currently there is no local caching or offline mode for Xbox Music but Microsoft is bringing this capability with a future release. On Android today there is no support for ChromeCast, and we are hopeful that Microsoft considers adding support for that as well.

iOS

Xbox Music on iOS is something we took a spin through on an iPad 2 with iOS 6.1.2, as well as an iPhone 5 with the latest beta of iOS 7. On the iPad 2, Microsoft left us scratching our heads a bit with the decision to release this as an iPhone/iPod Touch UI only.

For those of you not familiar with iOS, that means the application runs but does not have a native full-screen tablet interface.  Apple provides a 2x button you can see in the screen shot below, but it isn’t an experience I would want to use on a device with this screen size because the fonts distort, and it is nothing more than a magnified phone interface.

Microsoft still has some work left to perform to provide an experience comparable to what they provide on Windows 8 tablets and lure Apple iPad loyalists into the subscription fold.

On the iPhone 5, things went much better and we discovered some of the advantages over both the Android devices we tested, as well as the iPad 2 on iOS 6.1.2. The biggest advantage with iOS 7 is access to lock screen-based playback controls. With iOS 6, lock screen playback controls are available with the double-press of the home button. With the release of iOS 7 no double-press is required. This is a feature Microsoft will need to address with an Android widget that has lock screen support. Additionally, on both versions of iOS, streaming through AirPlay worked without issue and provides the experience we are hoping Android can mimic with ChromeCast.

The Bottom Line

We feel like this is a decent first effort for Microsoft in their evolution toward becoming a more devices and services-based company. Hopefully they will bring improvements like offline access, SmartDJ, and broader support for media re-direction to Android in the near-term. Give the trial a go, and let us know what you think. Now that Xbox Music has offerings across all the mainstream web browsers and mobile operating systems the service is worth checking out regardless of what device you have.

The post Xbox Music for Android and iOS Hands-On appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Wrong. Digital Copy Plus is different from Digital Copy, but not significantly, and for the most part, not in a good way.

Disney debuted Digital Copy Plus with the [amazon_link id=”B00C7JFIRC” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Oz: The Great and Powerful[/amazon_link] release. So how is it different? Let’s add up the plusses and minuses:

You don’t need to insert a disc to redeem Digital Copy Plus. This is nice, but it’s hardly a plus, since many studios had already moved from the model of including a digital copy on the packaged media and simply allow you to download a copy from iTunes.

You can redeem your “Magic Code” [ugh] on a mobile device. Arguably, this is a plus since you can then access the video in your chosen mobile format.

You redeem your code at a special web site—not in iTunes. This is a minus, not a plus. Consumers are used to going to one place (or in the case of UltraViolet one of two places) to redeem codes. Disney just added yet another place. Result: confusion. Many consumers will still try to redeem the codes in iTunes.

You can redeem a digital copy at iTunes, Amazon, or VUDU. While this adds flexibility, it’s actually more limited than what some other studios are offering. Paramount and Universal, for example, offer both an iTunes copy and an UltraViolet copy. And choosing a Digital Copy Plus format is like an exercise in hieroglyphics (see below). So plus…minus? This one’s a wash.

[one_half]

[/one_half][one_half_last]

[/one_half_last]

VUDU titles are not added to your UltraViolet library. Don’t be fooled by the fact that VUDU is one of the redemption options. Not all VUDU titles are created equal. Even if you only use VUDU for UltraViolet, Disney’s VUDU titles are only good in VUDU and will not show up in your UltraViolet library. This ultimately limits the portability of your VUDU titles—for example, you can’t play them offline on your iPad—and the devices on which you can play them. Even if you’re not a huge fan of UltraViolet, this is clearly a minus. If nothing else, it’s confusing since most other VUDU titles are UltraViolet-ready.

So…where’s the plus? Basically there is no plus. It’s more confusing than traditional digital copy, it’s less flexible than UltraViolet, and it’s not on par with what a lot of other studios are offering today. Disney’s new digital service might be more accurately labeled “Digital Copy Minus”—or at least something more honest like “Digital Copy Different” or “Disney Digital Copy” (harkening to Disney’s self-branded Blu-ray and DVD brands). Oh, but they can’t call it that since they’ve somehow also roped Dreamworks into this approach, too.

The post Disney Launches Digital Copy Plus—But Where’s the Plus? appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Lest we forget, Warner Brothers’ UltraViolet outlet is through Flixster, and while Flixster has had a Windows Store app for a while now, only recently have they added the ability to watch movies from your UltraViolet collection. Flixsters’ new My Movies feature lists the movies you own as well as those you’ve rated through Flixster or indicated that you want to see. You cannot redeem UltraViolet codes or purchase movies through the app, though—you must do that online.

Like VUDU, one of the benefits of Flixster as an UltraViolet service is that Warner Brothers has negotiated licensing arrangements with most of the studios, allowing you to play nearly all of your UltraViolet titles from one service. This one-stop shopping is certainly more consumer friendly than the every-retailer-for-themselves approach of most UltraViolet participants, and it’s likely the thing that’s helped UltraViolet gain ground as a cloud video service.

Paramount has also released a Windows Store app that lets you play Paramount movies (only) from your UltraViolet collection. As a result, Paramount’s app is less useful—almost redundant—when compared to Flixster, and between its poor design approach and the problems we experienced while teseting, you may just be better off skipping it altogether.

The Windows Store app is choc full of bad reviews, with users claiming that the app doesn’t play the movies in their collection. This is because, while the app will only play Paramount titles, it lists all of the titles in your UltraViolet collection, and it doesn’t give you the ability to filter out those titles that are not from Paramount as their own web site does. Unfortunately, our testing proved current conditions to be even worse, with the app not showing any of the titles in our collection—even our Paramount titles.

The good news: Both of these apps are available for free in the Windows Store.

Now the bad news: Unlike their iOS and Android counterparts, neither of these apps lets you download movies to view offline. While Paramount’s site indicates that such an update is in the works, Flixster’s Apps page doesn’t even seem to know about their Windows Store app. Once these app add offline viewing capabilities, then

The post Flixster and Paramount Bring UltraViolet to Windows 8, RT appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Central provides many of the core features you’d expect in a shared home storage solution:

Shared media storage and access. Central shows up on your network just like any other shared storage solution. Copy or move media files from your PC or Mac to Central to consolidate your content in one place. DLNA and iTunes servers provide access to your media from devices around your home, the Seagate Media app for iOS and Android gives you access to your media from your mobile devices, and a Samsung Smart TV app lets you view or listen to your media on the big screen. Don’t have a Samsung TV? How about Apple TV or an AirPlay-compatible audio/video device? Seagate Media on iOS will let your stream audio and video using AirPlay.

Computer backups. While Central doesn’t offer full-PC backups like we’ve come to know, love, and rely upon with Windows Home Server, it will let you back up any combination of folders from the PCs and Macs in your home on a scheduled or continuous basis with its downloadable Seagate Dashboard software. Additionally, Central is compatible with the Mac’s Time Machine backup software.

Remote access. Seagate’s online access bridge lets you log into your Central storage device using the Seagate Media mobile apps or any web browser. Browse and stream media on Central from anywhere—as if you were in your own home. You can even share files with friends and family.

So as a shared storage device, Central stacks up nicely. And then there’s all of this:

Connected USB storage. With the built-in USB port, you can connect any USB storage device to Central to transfer content or introduce additional shared storage to your network. A connected drive will show up on your network as just another shared Central folder.

Facebook archive. You can connect Central to any number of Facebook accounts to automatically download and archive photos and videos shared on Facebook.

File uploads. Use the Seagate Media app or a mobile or desktop web browser to upload files from any computer or mobile device…anywhere.

Slightly smaller than most external hard drives, Central is a discrete storage solution that fits equally in your closet or entertainment center. It attaches to your home network and WiFi with a standard 10/100 Ethernet connection.

At a list price under $230 for 4 terabytes, Seagate Central offers lots of storage with a ton of features for home media enthusiasts (and hoarders). On one hand, it’s not quite everything that Windows Home Server can be; on the other, it’s significantly less expensive than most shared home storage and backup products out there today for PCs or Macs—and it serves both. We hope to get one of these units in for review, but judging by specs and documentation alone, Seagate has a solid offering for those who still favor local storage solutions.

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The Viewdini app aggregates over-the-top TV shows, movies, and online video available from services on iOS and Android devices. This gives you the ability to discover content across numerous services, including those that offer paid or subscription content. We’re not entirely sure why Verizon Wireless, in particular, is offering this app. Use is limited to Verizon Wireless customers on Android, even though Verizon is not providing the actual content, but you do not need to be a Verizon Wireless customer to use it on iOS.

The numerous views and curated suggestions offer granular browse and search capabilities. Once you find what you want to watch, you can choose which provider to use to watch the video. So if a TV episode is on HuluPlus and the iTunes store, you’ll have the option to choose the service that makes most sense for you economically (like through Xbox’s Bing search). And if your device doesn’t already have the app for the selected provider, you’ll be taken to the app store to download it.

Overall, we’re excited about the capabilities this application provides. As a portal to video content available through multiple third-party services, it gives consumers something very close to universal search and discovery for any video content available from their devices. The updated tile views make discovery easy and interesting, and the “consumers’ choice” approach that lets users select where to watch may be the first of its kind for iOS and Android devices.

We’re far less excited about the implementation of the app. They’ve made some progress from the previous version, but there’s still a lot of room for improvement. Many of the views are slow to load, and they’re cluttered. On smaller devices, like phones, it’s even worse. Multiple levels of navigation make some views unnecessarily complex, and episode browsing is cumbersome.

As for the UI design, it’s kind of a mess. The app sports a star field theme, which seems largely out of place, the pixel-imperfect framing of provider and content images makes things look sloppy, and filter effects on toolbar icons and a barely-noticeable back “button” just seem like design at the expense of utility. And overall, design and interface elements are clearly more intended for Android than iOS. If there’s anything that perfectly summarizes this app’s failed attention to implementation detail, it’s the blocky application logo.

If you’re looking for product information, you probably won’t find any. Verizon’s published close to nothing about this application besides its original press release last year. There’s no in-app help except a tips overlay that’s hidden within settings and hindered by the app’s slowness, no product site or documentation, and no support except an email address in the Google Play store.

Disappointing issues aside, this app does offer utility and promise for anyone who uses their mobile device to consume over-the-top video content by providing a one-stop portal to multiple video services. You can download it now from Google Play or the iTunes App Store. Thankfully, it’s free.

The post Verizon’s Viewdini App Update Promises and Disappoints appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

The new app uses the familiar Windows Phone sliding panels to present recent stations and genres with a persistent search field to find new music at any time. The Pandora live tile shows you what you’re listening to right on your Start screen, and you can pin any number of your favorite stations to Start. Music purchases are powered by Xbox Music, and of course you can refine your station with the familiar thumbs up and thumbs down options.

Parents will like the app’s integration with Kid’s Corner. Open Pandora from Kid’s Corner, and explicit content is automatically filtered out.

As an added bonus, Windows Phone 8 users get ad-free, all-you-can-hear access to Pandora through all of 2013 at no cost—whether they have a paid, Pandora One account or not. Note that this is only available in the U.S. at this time, and Windows Phone 7.x is not supported.

Read more about it on Pandora’s blog.

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Ford SYNC-compatible vehicles equipped with AppLink include the recent model year C-MAX, Focus, Fusion, Fiesta, and Mustang, plus the F-150 and Super Duty trucks. In all of these vehicles, you can now enjoy any song or playlist from your Amazon MP3 cloud library, whether it’s on your Android phone or in the cloud. And with Amazon now adding MP3 copies of many of your CD purchases from the past 15 years with AutoRip, this has the potential to make a large music library readily available in your vehicle—all from the cloud.

Like all good SYNC features, you can control the Cloud Player from your Ford’s head unit, from steering wheel buttons, and with voice commands. You can get the Amazon MP3 Player app from [amazon_link id=”B004FRX0MY” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Amazon[/amazon_link] or from Google Play.

Amazon isn’t talking yet about similar integration plans for other vehicles or mobile OS platforms.

Read: Amazon’s product announcement.

The post Amazon, Ford Add Your Cloud Music Library to SYNC appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Last year, the press scratched its collective head and the masses largely ignored Walmart’s in-store disc-to-digital conversion program. By taking packaged DVDs to a nearby Walmart, consumers could acquire a digital copy of each movie on VUDU for a nominal two dollar fee or upgrade to HD for five dollars a disc. As it turns out, VUDU may have been the best thing to happen to UltraViolet. VUDU’s ease of use combined with its extensive library of licensed content has made UltraViolet redemption easier, and Walmart brings that service to a broad customer base.

VUDU’s new beta program extends this service—in its entirety—to consumers’ homes. The prices are the same as Walmart’s in-store conversion service ($2 and $5, plus tax). HD conversions are provided in VUDU’s excellent 1080p HDX format, and unlike CinemaNow, VUDU also offers a $2 Blu-ray conversion option. All titles are automatically added to consumers’ UltraViolet libraries.

The VUDU team is currently sending invitations to this limited beta to VUDU customers. Participation requires downloading and installing an updated version of the VUDU To Go app to a PC with a DVD or Blu-ray drive (Blu-ray conversion obviously requires a Blu-ray drive). The updated application is not yet available for the Mac, even though it’s built on Adobe’s runtime platform, AIR, like the earlier version.

In our tests, the conversion process was flawless. We tried each combination—DVD to SD, DVD to HDX, and Blu-ray to HDX—without incident. With the first purchase, VUDU prompted us to go online and add credit card information to the account, and even that process was easier and more polished than in our CinemaNow test.

Shortly after we completed our purchases, all the titles properly appeared in our existing UltraViolet library (are you listening, Best Buy?), available to stream or download on TVs, set-top boxes, computers, Android and iOS devices, or on the Web.

Overall, our test of VUDU’s new at-home disc-to-digital conversion service was successful. With one hitch. Curiously, the one Warner Brothers title we converted, The Last Samurai, is not available for playback in Flixster—the UltraViolet retailer that Warner Brothers itself owns. And there’s the rub with UltraViolet or any cloud-based media service: the dirty, convoluted game of content licensing. So maybe UltraViolet is a decent solution for hosted digital video content…because at least we still have our discs to play when we want and where we want.

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In this short video from the show floor, we walk through the app’s two main features—downloading and playing video.

See our complete coverage of CES 2013.

The post Hands on with DISH Network’s Hopper Transfers App for iPad appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

But in V-Cast, Verizon Wireless appears to have learned a valuable lesson: if you’re going to be the pipe, be the best pipe that you can be. At least that’s what Verizon’s latest OTT offering would seem to be targeting.

Viewdini, available to Android and iOS mobile users for tablets, phones, and other devices, is a new(ish) app that acts as an aggregated content discovery tool, offering universal browse and search across multiple online video services. It tells you where you can find the movies and shows that you’re looking for—across services, so you can decide where to watch and what (if anything) you’ll have to pay to watch it. Verizon doesn’t attempt to proxy the content in any way…it just launches the relevant third-party video apps on your device to play the chosen content.

The app is (ironically) currently optimized for Comcast xfinity customers, which perhaps suggests that Verizon is over its proprietary approach toward content and apps. A new version of the app demonstrated at CES adds optimizations for Time Warner Cable and FiOS customers. But anyone can use the app—these optimizations just help their service deliver more relevant results to you based on services from your provider and, possibly, other TV Everywhere offerings going forward.

The viewdini update demonstrated at CES also introduces some welcome cleanup to the user interface and the addition of new content partners. A notable exception to the partner list is any sign of UltraViolet retailers, which Verizon isn’t yet supporting.

After our brief demonstration in Verizon’s CES booth, we left wondering, “why haven’t we heard about this yet?” Viewdini brings universal search to mobile OTT content, letting customers choose the most economical viewing options.

See our complete coverage of CES 2013.

The post Verizon Wireless Shows Viewdini OTT App Updates appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Amazon just announced its new, free digital copy service for CD puchases, AutoRip. AutoRip is now included with many (but not all) CD purchases through Amazon. When you complete an eligible CD order, Amazon automatically adds the corresponding digital MP3 tracks to your Amazon Cloud Player library. Elegible titles are identified on product pages with a new AutoRip logo and messaging.

Perhaps more surprisingly, Amazon is also adding digital copies to your library for previously-purchased CDs. In our initial tests, loading the Amazon Cloud Player web page resulted in a delayed load and a message indicating that previous purchases were just added. Even CD albums and singles purchased many years ago now appeared in the library.

Of course, the big question is “Why?” Are there still enough consumers purchasing CDs for a service like this to make sense? The other oddity is the continued disparity between physical and digital pricing of similar content. You might expect CDs to cost the same or even slightly more than digital music tracks, but label-dictated digital pricing has created an unusual situation where it’s often cheaper to buy CDs. This hasn’t changed since the launch of Amazon’s new service, which suggests Amazon could be largely subsidizing AutoRip.

Visit Amazon’s AutoRip information page

The post Amazon Unveils Free Digital Copy Service for CD Purchases appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

At Monday’s CES press conference, DISH’s President and CEO Joseph P. Clayton had no qualms about mocking the broadcasters’ efforts to block DISH customers from using Hopper’s popular features. He called attention to AutoHop’s Innovations award from the CEA and went so far as to show off photographs of him posing with their mascot in front of ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX broadcasting buildings.

Legal issues and awards aside, customers seem to love Hopper. In little more than nine months, DISH has placed two million Hopper and Joey extenders in consumers’ homes. This year is about making Hopper even better.

Sling. The big news from DISH is that the next generation Hopper, due out later this month, will have Sling baked in. As with other Sling-enabled devices, Hopper with Sling will allow DISH customers to watch live and recorded content from their Hopper DVRs remotely but with the added benefit of PrimeTime Anytime content and AutoHop features.

The new Hopper also has a faster processor, more memory, and new services—including Pandora and SiriusXM radio and several multi-screen games.

Offline. The second big announcement from DISH is the addition of offline viewing capabilities for Hopper through a new feature and app called Hopper Transfers. Like TiVo Stream, Hopper Transfers will download individual shows or series to an iPad. Unlike TiVo Stream, it doesn’t require extra hardware at an extra cost. It’s built in, and it’s free. Customers are limited to one download per recording, though. For some reason they didn’t just incorporate offline video into the existing DISH Remote Access app—customers will have to download and view offline video from a separate app.

Social, et al. DISH’s least interesting/most disappointing announcement for Hopper is the immediate availability of DISH Explorer, a free iPad app that integrates social features, content and sports discovery, and remote control capabilities into a second screen experience. Shows being watched are automatically identified and appear aside related tweets and Facebook posts, allowing you to interact with others about what you’re watching. Curiously GetGlue—the social network that’s specifically designed around content consumptions—isn’t integrated.

Vivek Khemka, vice president of Product Management says of DISH Explorer, “what we’ve done is develop an integrated, seamless experience between the tablet and the television.” Ironically, this seamless experience is delivered through yet another app— separate from DISH Remote Access and from the newly-announced Hopper Transfers app.

Conclusions

DISH Explorer is available now in the iTunes App Store. Hopper Transfers is expected with the release of the new Hopper later this month. Pricing is not yet announced for the new Hopper, nor do we yet know what upgrade opportunities might be available to existing Hopper customers.

We’re happy to see new features added to the Hopper DVR, particularly the ability to sling live and recorded content and download content for offline viewing at no additional cost. But these features and the addition of yet another app for second screen experiences creates an unnecessarily splintered app ecosystem for DISH that we hope they soon remedy. DISH could take a lesson from TiVo here, which still has the best, integrated app experience for discovery, control, management, and viewing.

Watch our hands-on video walkthrough of the Hopper Transfers app.

See our complete coverage of CES 2013.

The post DISH Adds Sling, Offline, and Social to Hopper appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Update: The VideoLAN team has met their Kickstarter goal, but you can still contribute to help fund their efforts. Read on….

VideoLAN, the team that built and maintains the Swiss Army Knife equivalent of media playback tools, VLC, is hoping to bring VLC to Windows 8 as a Windows Store (a.k.a. “Metro”) app. This would potentially bring playback of multiple additional video formats that are not natively supported on Windows RT tablets or in the modern UI—including DVD!

The team has shared a video and initial screen mockups from the contract designer they’re engaging to create the user interface. And from what we’ve seen so far, we’re impressed!

You can help the VideoLAN team build VLC for Windows 8 by contributing to their Kickstarter project before Saturday December 29, 7:54am EST. They’re trying to raise £40,000, and they’re still working to hit that target. Since VLC is typically a freeware product, don’t expect any fabulous goodies for your pledge, but isn’t adding versatile media playback capabilities to your Windows tablet reward enough?

The fine print: Remember that if you pledge to a Kickstarter project, you’re only charged if they hit their fundraising goal (of course, we’re hoping that VideoLAN does). Kickstarter projects are essentially crowd-sourced venture investments. While a company may have every intention of completing the project with the raised funds, it’s entirely possible that some projects will not be completed and you will not see any product for your investment.

The post Help Bring VLC to Windows 8 appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

If you’re keeping track, that’s six separate accounts you need now if you’ve purchased content from each of the studios offering UltraViolet content. Oh wait…we’re keeping track. In fact, the table below gives you an idea of just how convoluted the online UltraViolet world is. For seven movies purchased with UltraViolet, here’s how you can (and can’t) access the films on each of the different online sites. This is just the online stuff—we haven’t even begun to address mobile and living room device access.

	Being John Malkovich	Cowboys & Aliens	Green Lantern	Harry Potter 7 II	The Hunger Games	The Ides of March	The Italian Job
UVVU
Flixster
Sony
Universal
Paramount
VUDU	X	X

Most sites let you see all of the films in your UltraViolet library, but not all of the sites do. Some sites let you stream movies from multiple studios—but not all of the sites do and those that do don’t let you stream from all of the studios. Some sites link you to other sites to watch certain titles, requiring you to log in again to the other site.

It’s a confusing mess, and it’s getting worse…not better. Fox joins the fray in October with Prometheus. If the DECE (the founding fathers and backers of UltraViolet) want to salvage this fledgling system, they’re going to have to clean this up. Every site should provide streaming of any content simply because you’ve linked the site to your UltraViolet account. Anything else is just going to confound consumers and undermine the supposed convenience of this system.

The post And VUDU Makes Six appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Lionsgate recently released The Hunger Games on [amazon_link id=”B0084IG8TM” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]DVD[/amazon_link] and [amazon_link id=”B0084IG7KC” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Blu-ray[/amazon_link], with combo packs offering Digital Copy and UltraViolet. This marks Lionsgate’s first UltraViolet offering, and from what we can tell, they’re doing UltraViolet right.

The Hunger Games combo packs include an iTunes Digital Copy plus an UltraViolet copy. The packaging suggests that you can redeem either, but you actually get both.

Rather than standing up their own UltraViolet site, Lionsgate has wisely partnered with VUDU for UltraViolet redemption and streaming. While this a good consolidation move, it still adds yet another account that you have to create if you’re not already a VUDU customer…and another account to link to your UltraViolet account.

Where Lionsgate gets a gold star is that the video quality of the iTunes and UltraViolet copies you get with your combo pack purchase is based on whether you purchased the DVD or Blu-ray version. The downloads that come with the Blu-ray pack are in HD! The iTunes Digital Copy includes HD, SD, and extras (nearly 12GB of content), and the UltraViolet copy is in VUDU’s HDX 1080p format with Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 audio. And since you can watch VUDU’s UltraViolet movies on any VUDU app, you can easily watch Hunger Games on your big screen with an Xbox, PlayStation 3, or VUDU-enabled TV or Blu-ray player.

Lionsgate may be late to offer UltraViolet [only Fox remains of the big studios who’ve signed on], but clearly they know how to play this game. It’s about making it easy to use and making customers feel like they’re getting something extra.

The post Lionsgate Brings The ‘A’ Game to UltraViolet appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

The box, roughly the size of an Apple TV or Roku, can transcode and stream recorded video from any (physically connected) Premier DVR in your home to up to four mobile wireless devices simultaneously on your home network. If you want to watch something “live” your TiVo Premier will actually record it, and the TiVo Stream transcodes the recorded stream on the fly. For offline viewing, you can download individual shows to play later in the TiVo app—subject to the usual broadcast flag restrictions, of course (so don’t expect to download any premium channel movies for the plane).

$130 for Streaming

People have been clambering for a streaming feature in TiVo’s iOS app since it was first released, but it’s doubtfulanyone expected it to cost an additional $130. Most people expected that the newer TiVo devices would get a firmware update or something to just add the ability to stream. But that’s not the case. If you want to stream (unprotected) recorded shows to your iPad, you’ll need to add yet another device to your network, and it’s going to cost you. There’s no arguing the convenience of the seamlessly integrated experience they’ve created in the TiVo app…but $130?

Or Not

Depending on what you want to watch, there could be cheaper ways of watching it on your iPad. Time Warner Cable offers live streaming of some channels within your home, and Comcast lets you watch many shows on demand from anywhere—not just inside your home. HBO GO, MAX GO, and Showtime Anytime all let you watch their shows and movies anywhere and any time on your iPad, provided that you subscribe to their premium services through a supported provider.

And despite TiVo’s somewhat inaccurate claims that the TiVo Stream lets customers “watch recordings on their iPads for the first time,” if you just want to download recorded shows to your iPad or other mobile devices, you could consider TiVo Desktop Plus. This somewhat abandoned but still fully functional PC software program lets you convert shows for offline viewing in formats compatible with many devices. TiVo Desktop Plus costs just $24.95, compared to the $129.99 for the TiVo Stream. It doesn’t stream content, and the quality is not as good as what you can get from the Stream, but how good does that video really need to be to catch up on your shows during a flight?

While the TiVo Stream adds some great features to TiVo’s already solid offering, we’re disappointed that this capability isn’t just built into the box. By requiring yet another component at $130, in addition to their already pricy service fees, TiVo may have just priced themselves out of the streaming business.

The post TiVo Adds Streaming, Offline Viewing to Mobile Apps appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

So the immediate response to the idea of the Surface RT starting at $199 seems completely unbelievable. For one thing, what would this price do to the already shaky relationship that the mere existence of this device has already caused? If the Acers of the world were already upset with simply having to compete with the great hardware and design of this device, how much more angry would they be at the thought of Microsoft releasing the Surface at a potentially huge loss?

But what if Microsoft’s plan doesn’t involve selling millions of Surface tablets for years to come? We’ve already speculated in the past that Microsoft’s primary goals with the Surface tablets must be to (a) show their hardware partners how good a tablet really can be and (b) generate a huge amount of interest from the press, tech enthusiasts, and developers for the new Windows 8 operating system. Given that, what if Microsoft’s plan is to sell a very small amount of Surface tablets? What if their plan is to ship a few hundred thousand on the launch day, and then simply be done with production?

On the surface (pun intended) this idea sounds as crazy as the rumored price! However, it would help to achieve the goals that we think they are looking for. It would generate huge interest and buzz from the people who live on the cutting edge of technology, and it would most likely be a big enough story to make a splash on the 6pm news and other mainstream news outlets. The people who bought them would then be able to show all of their friends and family which would of course lead to consumers looking for comparable devices. At this point, the only options would be tablets produced by Microsoft’s hardware partners, like Acer, Asus, Dell, etc. This would please those OEMs, as they wouldn’t have to do as much up-front marketing since Microsoft would have already taken care of that. Another benefit to this strategy is that some of those early adopters would probably be developers who would then be interested in creating more applications for their new toy.

We still need to try to keep our excitement in check. The idea that the Surface RT will launch October 26th for $199 sounds fantastically crazy. Is it just crazy enough to actually work?

Update: Phil posted his thoughts on this topic too. He doesn’t think there is any chance of the Surface RT launching for $199. Honestly, as I tried to state earlier, I don’t think we should get our hopes up for it either. Phil did a great job of explaining why he doesn’t think it will happen.

The post The $199 Surface Tablet – Could It Be a Reality? appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

The Nexus Q was originally pitched as a “Social Streaming Media” device—a device that would allow you to stream any of your Google Play Music, TV, Movies, or YouTube straight to your TV via the cloud and controlled all from your Android Device. If you read that and you thought to yourself that the Q doesn’t do much and wrote it off right away since there are tons of other little boxes out there that do the same thing (just not Google Play). Then you find out that it is $300, and if there was any thought in your mind that you might want this it is probably gone.

This is exactly what others thought, and they hacked it up and destroyed it in reviews before the device was even out. Personally I got really excited because I use all of these services (especially Google Play Music) and the Nexus Q is an extremely SEXY device [some may debate this].

So no review—not yet because, to be honest, everyone who received the Nexus Q is now part of a big Beta Test even though Google isn’t calling it that. Every single person who pre-ordered the Q got one for free, and it is now completely off the market as Google attempts to figure out what they need to change to make it a full blown product that everyone will pay for. With only a few days with the device I can say it isn’t ready at all—not because it is limited in functionality, but the software just isn’t ready.

Design

It is always good sign when you are extremely impressed with the box a product comes in and  the Nexus Q box alone really blew me away. It had a similar box style of the Nexus 7, but just everything seemed elegant and really well thought out. To me this is pretty impressive as Google hasn’t really made any physical goods for the masses. Their design team really hit it and made me feel like I really got what I would have paid for. The Nexus Q is a sphere obviously and it looks fantastic with a beautiful matte finish. It has a circle of lights that light up as you play back content and a little tiny single LED dot that faces towards you. To me the design of the Q is absolutely gorgeous to look at and is a standout piece in any room of the house.

There is a subtle beauty to something that doesn’t stand out in a design, but is extremely functional. The top half sphere can be twisted to the right or left to adjust the volume, and you can simply tap it to mute the device. Little things like this or the fact that the banana plug inputs are staggered in height to curve with the sphere. You can really tell their Industrial Design team at Google really thought about this device. Something else that a lot of people aren’t talking about is the built in 20W amp. This means if you wanted to use the Q as a dedicated music device you could place it anywhere with a set of bookshelf speakers and you don’t need a receiver at all.

Software

Setting up the Q revolves completely around your Android device as the Q has no remote or other input method. It may seem a bit janky but the setup goes a little something like this.

1. Download Q App
2. Turn on Bluetooth (detects Q devices)
3. Turn on Wi-Fi (Send SSID to your Q)
4. Enter Wi-Fi password for the Q
5. Name and finish setup

When I was setting up the Q I didn’t fully understand why I needed to do all of this, but then I started thinking about it as basically the Q was just sitting there waiting for someone to say hello. Sending the Wi-Fi network via Bluetooth was really innovative and something I haven’t seen before. For a normal user this seems completely understandable. From there there isn’t too much to do in the Q app. You can adjust the color of the LEDs, the name, or even change the Wi-Fi network, but that is about it.

Google pitched the Q as a device that streams Play Music, Play Movies & TV, and Youtube. If this is all you ever wanted from a device then the Q is the perfect device for you because it does these three activities absolutely better than any other device on the market. On any Android 2.3+ device these apps have been updated to be able to communicate with the Q. When you have Wi-Fi on and you enter these apps on your device a new “Play/Send to” icon will appear. Selecting this tells the app to automatically send any content to the Q. If you have multiple Q devices then a popup will appear asking you where you would like to play it. I tested these apps on both my Nexus 7 and Galaxy Nexus and the initial experience was a bit odd. The Nexus 7 had a hard time initially connecting and detecting the Q until I gave it a restart, and my Galaxy Nexus could only detect it in Play Music for a while and then a day later everything seemed to detect it.

So once everything is actually working on your devices everything just seems to work. You press play and nearly instantly playback begins on your TV or speakers. If you are listening to music you will get a nice visualizer on the screen and also the cover art and track appear. Adjusting the volume on the phone will also adjust the volume on the Q which is pretty cool, however there is one glaring issues, which is the volume display on the TV is huge and is pretty annoying when watching video. It sort of amazes me that since the Q is running Android (4.0 ICS) under the orb that Google didn’t take a few moments to customize this display. My hopes are that they take al input from users and tweak this immediately.

Wrapping it up

The Q does exactly what Google said it would do, nothing more and nothing less. This means no Netflix, no Hulu, and none of the other Android apps out there. Everyone seems to be knocking on the fact that it doesn’t do more than that and that it is $300 currently.  Google is pausing sales on the Q until they figure out a way to add more value to the Q from initial feedback. I want to make this clear after using the Q for the last 2 weeks it is obvious that controlling content playback from a phone or tablet is the best way to do it. No need to fumble with clunky user interfaces on the TV, just look down at your tablet and play around with the Youtube app or Google Music & Movies/TV their User Interfaces are beautiful and elegant. I hope that Google keeps with this method and doesn’t try to cram Google TV on this device. I want them to release an SDK for developers to put in more support for the Q. Imagine searching Netflix from your tablet and pressing play, or a full chrome browser one to one on your TV. This method works and it works extremely well, I look forward to seeing where Google goes from here as my first initial impression has been pretty fantastic. I can see why everyone would be so angry over the price and limited features, but the Q just does it so much better than any other little $100 box that you are going to throw under your TV. I see the Q as a platform and I see it only getting better from here as long as Google sticks to its guns and keeps your Android device the remote.

[The Nexus Q was provided free to all users that pre-ordered the device, including the one used in this first impressions.]

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First was Ice Cream Sandwich on the Galaxy Nexus. Right when my Droid was feeling ancient, my two years was up on Verizon, and it was go time. ICS was a game changer. It felt polished, looked beautiful, and just simply worked. Then Google started figuring things out with services like Google Drive and—most beloved to my heart—Google Music. These two thing blew away Amazon’s offering and I still believe are the best at what they do [though I am sure some will argue]. So when I heard Jelly Bean on a $200 tablet, I preordered day one. After playing with my Nexus 7 for two weeks and attempting to answer the age old question, “what do you do with a tablet?” I decided to sit down and write a review—a review that I am actually writing on my Nexus 7 inside of Google Drive. So here are my findings.

Design

I have held and played with a lot of tablets in the last few years, from iPads to Galaxy Tabs to Xooms to even the Samsung Windows 8 dev tablet, and they all felt a bit odd to me. The Kindle Fire and other 7-inch tablets seemed to get it right. Not too big and not to small. But I always seemed to struggle with the weight after holding it for a given amount of time. The Nexus 7 seems to have nailed the weight at just 340 grams. Holding it right now typing, reading a book, or streaming Netflix doesn’t seem to really bother me much. The Nexus 7 has a nice bumpy rubber texture on the back as well a nice grip. Hidden in back is a small speaker (that gives off pretty good sound). With only three buttons on the side and a front-facing camera, there isn’t much else to it, and that is alright. It doesn’t feel cheap and looks sexy. The screen overall is nice, while nowhere close to my Galaxy Nexus though. Compared side by side ,you can tell that the 7 is much lighter as the darks and colors really pop on the the phone. Overall though, I am impressed.

Some might be mad that there is no back-facing camera, but I haven’t had a need for one yet. The bigger issue might be that it is WiFi only.

The Jelly Bean Difference

I have been using pure ICS on my Galaxy Nexus for seven months now and love it. The love continues with Jelly Bean as everything seems more refined, snappier, and just a great operating system. There are new features like Google Now, music recognition, new notifications, and others, but they aren’t anything special. I want Google Now to be useful but it isn’t yet. What is best about it is the default apps that are optimized for tablets. Even though these have been around for a while, they feel tight and extremely useful. Gmail is a stand out right next to Calendar, and boy is Google+ amazing. These optimizations and the tweaks in the user interface are welcomed.

One thing that is great about Android now is the setup. Simply enter your Google account and bam…your settings sync (even my WiFi settings), Gmail is good to go, and all your purchases are available. It was such an easy, flawless experience it was kind of scary to be honest. However not everything is great in 7-inch land as not everything is optimized for tablets. Twitter for instance or the Comixology app—which you want to be awesome—just aren’t (*Note that they have now updated the app on 8/2 after this review was written and it is a bit better, but not perfect). They feel stuck in a phone world. The potential is there, which makes me excited every time I see a new update. Jelly Bean on a Google device is great, but as it rolls out to more and more devices, I am sure it will get skinned, bloated, and just not as pretty, which is sad. One other note here is that unlike a lot of larger tablets the home screen is only in portrait mode. This might be a bit problematic for some as it can lead to a lot of rotation of the device, but it has not bothered me much yet as I mostly used the device in portrait mode.

What is this thing good for?

So that is the question. And where Microsoft has positioned Windows 8 as a productivity platform, Google has followed Apple a bit more and said the Nexus 7 is a media consumption device. This is pretty apparent seeing the thing comes preloaded with the latest Transformers movie, free book and magazine, and $25 credit in the Google Play store which you can use on anything including apps. If you engross yourself in the Google ecosphere, then everything is great. Play Music is the same great experience that I loved on my phone. I am actually starting to read again with Play Books, and surprisingly Play Magazines actually makes reading a magazine in digital form not that bad. Play Movies and TV is coming along slowly, though, as one of the newer services, and I think is a bit behind Amazon, Apple, or even Netflix for that matter. One odd omission is that there is absolutely no video out on the Nexus 7 via HDMI or adapter or anything. So heavily focused on media, you think that you would want to hook this guy up to a TV, but I guess that is what the Nexus Q is for (hands on coming soon).

So on a day to day basis you do get everything, and you do have access to all of your favorite android apps, which is great. For media though, there is one huge issue, and that is PRICE. I find it hard to pay $12+ for a newly released album, or $5 for a magazine issue. Movies are up there too from $3 to 6 for a rental. For a one-off purchase or impromptu movie, it’s no big deal, but as a full time service no way. Google must hit Amazon prices to really get this thing going, and they are heading there with weekly specials and deals, but I feel like it just isn’t good enough. This may sound like a gripe with Google, but it’s the backbone of the Nexus 7. You will be in and out of the Play Store constantly (which is a great experience by the way and is amazingly optimized for tablets). You also have local content, though, such as your AVI files or in my case a bunch of M2TS files. With such limited storage it seemed fine to load up a few SD TV shows, which all played back just fine, but throwing an HD movie will almost fill this sucker up. Playback was flawless, except, for some reason with my M2TS files, the scrub bar didn’t work in the default Play Movies app.

So besides media content, you also have games, and the Nexus 7 is no slouch. I tried out a few Tegra-optimized games like Dead Trigger, and they ran great. My personal problem is I don’t think the tablet or phone is super great for games. Nothing can replace physical control and unfortunately my Nexus 7 will not replace my Nintendo 3DS any time soon. Then you have productivity. If you want to take notes or tasks well that is pretty simple as there are TONS of apps out there, heck I even I have an app I made called Tasks Simplified that I use. I am writing this in Google Drive, but that is where it about ends.There are no other default apps that really go towards productivity, and I even had to download Google Drive, which I found odd, and unless you save documents for offline use you are a bit out of luck when you want to edit on the go.

Wrapping it up

So overall this little thing is great, and I bought the 16GB model even though I feel like 8GB would be just fine. Battery life is great on this thing, as I have only charged it twice in two weeks with pretty moderate use. I have no problem shoving it in my bag and pulling it out to read a chapter of a book. The biggest issue is there is no 4G. This means no Google Maps, search, or even writing a Google document without a WiFi hotspot. Sure I can tether my phone, but I don’t want to do that all the time. Google chrome is amazing on Jelly Bean, and I don’t really get to use it.

So should you buy one? If you love android like I do but are stuck with an older phone, I think Jelly Bean will blow you away. If you are already an ICS user…perhaps not so much. It is better, but you won’t be blown away. Should you buy this over the Fire? Absolutely. I am still on the fence on this one, but I think what you benefit from getting a Nexus 7 over other Android tablets is that it is from Google (manufactured by Asus), which means you will get the latest updates, and it will be a pure Android experience—which is the best Android experience.

You can pick up a Nexus 7 directly from Google on the Play Store.

James Montemagno
Follow @jamesmontemagno

*Google Nexus 7 reviewed was a 16GB model and was purchased for full price of $249.99 on Google Play. It should also be noted that after I drafted this up on my Nexus 7 Richard heavily fixed grammatical errors…

The post Nexus 7 Review appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Content

Amazon’s new Instant Video app gives Amazon customers access to a variety of content from the Instant Video corpus. Customers who have purchased or rented movies or TV shows can watch any of those videos from their Video Libraries. Additionally—and perhaps more usefully—Prime customers can browse and watch movies and shows from a selection of featured Prime Instant Video titles.

Unfortunately, the Instant Video app doesn’t offer any means of searching for titles in the Prime Instant library. Instead, Amazon has curated two collections of “featured” videos: one for grown ups and one for kids. It’s a pretty substantial collection, but the more obscure titles are clearly missing.

But here’s where it gets weird. The app includes your Instant Video Watchlist, and if you’ve created a watchlist, then those titles also show up in the app. So it’s not as if they can only deliver specific content to the device—it’s more like they just couldn’t figure out how to get search working in this first release of the app. We have to assume that they’ll add this capability in a future update, particularly considering how Amazon’s library continues to expand as they sign new content deals.

Unlike Amazon’s online storefront and its apps on some set top boxes, the iPad app doesn’t differentiate between HD and non-HD content. The video quality is good, but it doesn’t seem like it’s HD, and we suspect that Amazon would be touting that if it was. As far as your library and watchlist go, it doesn’t matter if you have the HD or standard def versions listed—the titles will appear in the app either way.

The app also lacks Recently Watched and Recommendations sections to help guide you to content you might find most interesting.

Connections

In addition to watching streaming video from Prime Instant Video, Amazon’s new iPad app also allows you to download videos you’ve rented or purchased to your device for offline viewing. This is something neither Netflix nor Hulu Plus offer, but of course neither of those services offers a transactional model whereby you’d have any rights to watch the video except by streaming. Nonetheless, Amazon does offer this feature, so you can watch in planes, trains, and automobiles, or anywhere else you don’t have a Wi-Fi signal.

Oh, right…did we forget to mention that? Video streaming only works on Wi-Fi. Not over 3G, 4G or even LTE connections. This is particularly surprising since Netflix and Hulu have eliminated those restrictions in their respective apps. And for some people—particularly those grandfathered into original “unlimited” plans, that may seem pretty restrictive. Open the app without Wi-Fi, and you’re greeted by a not-so-friendly message about the need for Wi-Fi, then quickly escorted and restricted to a view showing only the titles you’ve downloaded from your library to the device. If you haven’t downloaded any videos, you’re just nagged by Wi-Fi warnings.

Second screen use is also limited, too. Did we say limited? Sorry…we meant restricted…forbidden…unavailable. Pop up your AirPlay menu, and the options you’ll find support audio only. Failing to support AirPlay video sharing is disappointing, but perhaps not surprising. Netflix and Hulu Plus do offer this capability though (but in a convoluted way requiring you to use mirroring, even though neither app actually mirrors the video in that mode, but instead sends it only to the second screen).

More disappointing is Amazon’s seemingly intentional blocking of video output over HDMI. HDMI! This borders on HBO and Showtime-caliber paranoia. With Netflix and Hulu of course offering this capability, this puts Amazon at a distinct disadvantage to those services for, say, watching a movie or TV show in a hotel. Even Flixter’s Movies app—part of the disappointing, DRM-laden UltraViolet ecosystem—lets you watch your movies over HDMI.

Management

As far as managing your Instant Video account and library goes, Amazon seems to have missed a few opportunities here. While you can add and remove movies and TV seasons from your watchlist, that’s about all you can do, and even that’s a bit buggy in this first release. You can’t rent or purchase titles. You can’t delete, or restore titles from your library. You can’t send or share information about what you’re watching.

Presumably Amazon excludes the ability to purchase or rent titles from within the app to avoid Apple’s 30% agency fee for in-app transactions. But what about everything else?

You can physically delete titles from your library that you’ve downloaded to your device, but the inability to delete (or, more accurately, hide) titles in your library from within the app seems like a big miss that would be useful and fairly easy to implement.

There’s also no integration with social networks or messaging channels, so Amazon’s also missed a chance to let customers promote its service by sharing information with their friends about the videos they’re watching on Instant Video.

Platforms

The new Instant Video app for iPad is Amazon’s first step into mobile device support beyond its own Kindle Fire. They have not yet released a version for the iPhone and iPod touch. And besides the Fire, Amazon doesn’t offer a version of the application for other Android tablets. Although you could previously watch Instant Video from Amazon’s web site, it takes some side-loading tricks to force the requisite, but now unsupported, Flash player onto newer Android devices, like the Nexus 7, running Jelly Bean (Android 4.1).

Amazon’s been pushing aggressively to expand support for Instant Video in TVs, set top boxes, and Blu-ray players over the past year or so. We can only hope to see that same push for mobile now, adding Amazon Instant Video to Google’s Play store and Microsoft’s Marketplace soon.

Conclusions

We’ve wanted to see Amazon make its Instant Video service accessible to mobile users for a long time now, and I’ve personally been ranting on Twitter about their failure to support iPad since the first generation of the service, then unfortunately named Amazon Unbox. Well Amazon has finally delivered on that request, but this is clearly a 1.0 product release, hobbled by a lack of features and severe sharing restrictions.

That doesn’t mean we won’t use it. I, for one, am glad it’s finally available, and I’ll be happy to refresh my memory on some of last season’s Doctor Who on my next cross-country flight. But for the time beeing, it looks like I’ll be sticking with Netflix and Hulu Plus at the hotel.

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With the recent announcement of their updated Cloud Player service, Amazon took a page right out of Apple’s iTunes Match book, enabling users to use their “scan and match technology” easily and quickly to get the majority of the tunes they already know automatically up in “the cloud.”

It works like this:  Amazon scans all the music on your hard drive. When it detects a song that it already has in its massive library, it won’t upload the file; it instead places an existing, high quality (256kbpbs) file in your “Cloud Player” account for you to access on up to 10 devices. If a tune on your hard drive cannot be matched, it will be uploaded to your Cloud Player account (at, of course, the original quality of the file).

A full list of enhancements is available on Amazon’s Cloud Player web site, but here’s a brief overview of the changes beyond scan and match:

• Prior purchases of music from Amazon’s MP3 store will automatically appear in your Cloud Player.  Oddly, there may be some tracks that need to be manually imported using their music import tool.
• Any tracks you’ve previously uploaded to your Cloud Drive (which remains but will be a separate product) will be automatically upgraded to 256kbps audio.
• Users will now be able to edit metatdata (information about the track, including title, artist, etc.) via the web.
• Ability to utilize the service from up to 10 authenticated devices, including PC, Mac, Kindle Fire, Android and iOS devices.  There is unrestricted access via the web, but only from one web session at a time.

One significant improvement in Amazon’s strategy is their focus on the music-specific Cloud Player service. Prior, users would need to use Amazon’s Cloud Drive to store songs, as well as other digital assets — more akin to DropBox. In order to compete in music, Amazon seems to have realized that in digital music, services and apps need to be tightly defined.

With all of these changes, Amazon is clearly marketing this as an alternative to iTunes and not Google Play. While Cloud Player users get 250 matched and/or uploaded songs for free, there’s a $24.99/year service fee to go beyond 250 tracks and up to 250k tracks (all of these numbers exclude MP3s purchased on the Amazon MP3 store).  The pricing and the scan-and-match technology appears to be identical to Apple’s offering, with the big delta being that iTunes Match has a limit of 25k in comparison to Amazon’s 250k maximum tracks stored.

Google’s Play cloud music service is taking a different route entirely, offering 20k track uploads for free, but not offering any scan-and-match services.

The post Amazon Cloud Player Updated appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

The line currently (and possibly always will) consists of two different models: Windows RT and Windows 8 Pro. The RT model will go head-to-head with the iPad, the Pro model, essentially, goes up against ultrabooks and laptops. Both feature 10.6-inch, 16:9 screens, are slightly heavier and thicker than the current iPad (the Pro model more so), feature an integrated kickstand, and come in 32 and 64 GB (RT) or 64 and 128 GB (Pro) versions.

They will also both work with a pair of ingenious keyboards that might have actually stolen the show from the main hardware, the Type and Touch Keyboard Covers. Doubling as both an ultrathin cover (3mm or 5 mm) for the tablet as well as a full keyboard with touchpad, this was something no one saw coming and is possibly one of the more brilliant innovations in tablet computing. Full specs here.

Since the announcement, Microsoft has gotten its fair share of (deserved) praise for delivering on the promise of a major announcement, and for the quality of the hardware unveiled. However, there’s been near-universal discontent thrown at Microsoft for leaving many questions open in the wake of the announcement.

This isn’t the first tech introduction that was light on details, and I think in many cases Microsoft had good reason to deliver the news the way it did. Here are some of the questions left open, my take on why they remain unanswered, and a guess at what the answer might be.

Screen Resolution – We know that the Pro version claims Full HD, which means at least 1920×1080, so that answers that. As for the RT version, it was shown last night using Windows 8’s multitasking “Snap” feature, which requires at least 1366×768, which means at least 720p. I’m sure people will want to argue Retina Display and pixel counts, but we can be sure that each device measures up to modern tablet resolutions.

Battery Life – The specs tell us the RT uses a 31.5 W-h battery and the Pro a 42 W-h battery. Microsoft didn’t detail battery life in hours last night, and that could be for several reasons. Very likely they are still working on a final battery spec and tidying up last-minute details that could affect battery life. Why quote battery life that may under or over-promise? We do know the new iPad uses a 42.5 W-h battery, so we can surmise that the Pro model certainly won’t extend past what the new iPad does. It’s possible, due to the larger power draw of the full Intel processor, it will fall short. We also know the RT version uses the more battery-efficient ARM processors, hence the smaller battery. My guess, both tablets will be nearly equal in battery life, but not quite reach iPad levels.

Processors and RAM – We’re 99.9% sure the RT version will be using an nVidia Tegra processor. What’s inside the Pro model is anyone’s guess. RAM was also left undetailed for both versions. Both RAM and processor specifications tie directly into battery life, so it’s no surprise we didn’t learn much about either of these factors. And though Microsoft will no doubt still rely on OEMs to help steer the success of Windows 8, they weren’t about to give out a playbook for someone to build a competing tablet in the 4-5 months before the release of the RT model (the Pro model will be out about three months after RT). Microsoft stood to gain nothing, other than satisfying the tech press’ curiosity, by giving full tech specs, but it stood to lose a lot by detailing every minute detail. In short, keeping specs tight to the vest was a shrewd business move. It’s also possible, as I mentioned above, the final decisions on processors are still not done (though they will have to get made very quickly to hit the release date). I won’t pretend to be a processor expert here but I’ll bet that the Surface tablets will be powered at or above what ASUS, Acer and friends revealed at Computex.

Release date – Microsoft hasn’t given a release date for Windows 8, so why people expected to know the exact date of release for the tablets is beyond me. People forget that Windows 8 hasn’t even RTM’d yet, so expecting a release date was foolish. That the Pro model would come out three months post-Windows 8 was a surprise, and might point to some back office wrangling with OEMs to allow them to get their wares out before the Surface Pro model hits stores. No need to guess here, RT comes out with Windows 8 general availability, Pro about three months later.

4G/3G – Microsoft didn’t even HINT at connectivity other than Wi-Fi yesterday. Most likely, they’re still working with carriers to hammer out data plans and policies. Expect that Windows Phone BFF AT&T is the initial launch partner, but I wouldn’t be surprised if data connectivity didn’t hit right at the RT’s launch in the fall (which would be disappointing but not fatal).

Pricing – Apple is famous for its pressers that end with “and it’s all available today on the Apple store.” This has led to the expectation that any tech unveiling should come complete with pricing. But, as stated above, final details are likely still in flux, and we’re months away from launch. How, then, would Microsoft have final pricing ready this far in advance? And even if they did, why would they let it slip? Apple will introduce a new iPhone in the fall, have they told us how much it will cost? No, of course not. Microsoft said it would be competitive with tablets for RT, and ultrabooks with Pro. That leaves a big window, but in the end the RT version will be within $50-100 of comparable iPad versions, if not the same price, and the Pro will settle in at just above the mid-level of Windows 8 ultrabooks and other Intel tablets running Windows 8 Pro. Why? Because they have to. Microsoft would be INSANE to go this far and ruin it all on pricing. They simply can’t come to market with a 32GB RT device that costs $200 more than a 32GB iPad. The OS doesn’t yet have the cache to charge a premium, and consumers wouldn’t go for it.

Apps – Other than Netflix, no apps were shown last night, nor was there any discussion about the Windows Store. This event was focused squarely on hardware, as it should have been. Many posts today have fallen back on the “there’s no apps” line for the Windows tablets as a reason they will fail. A quick reminder to those people: The Windows Store isn’t officially open yet. The software is in beta still, and only people with an explicit invite from Microsoft can get apps into the store in the release preview. It’s like complaining that the new local grocery store doesn’t carry your favorite brands the day the shelves are installed five months before it opens. Will it be as mature as Apple’s? No. But for goodness sake, to take points away for something like this is pretty silly and shortsighted.

What about OEMS? – There’s a lot of speculation that Microsoft OEMs like Dell, HP and the like have to be fuming at this announcement. I don’t buy it. Were they surprised? Possibly. Is there feverish hand-wringing over this? I don’t believe so.

First, Microsoft hasn’t entered the laptop or desktop market, a space that OEMs have sold MILLIONS of PCs in over the past several years. Despite Microsoft touting the enterprise features of Windows 8, corporations around the world are still going to buy desktops and laptops for their employees, and Microsoft won’t be selling that hardware to them. Does this change the tablet landscape for Windows 8? Without a doubt. Microsoft instantly becomes the lead maker of Windows 8 tablets, but do their OEM partners really care that much? Many of them have struggled mightily with Android tablets as Mashable pointed out earlier today, and they’re likely worried about the same thing with Windows 8. Surface will no doubt take sales away from OEMs, but at the same time, Microsoft’s hardware may lead to new sales they might have never gotten. Assuming Surface is priced as a mid-level to high-end choice in the Windows tablet arena, OEMs still have lots of sales to capture in the low-end market. And seeing Microsoft’s offering, along with the extra marketing that will come with it, could lead to new tablet sales that ASUS and other partners would never have gotten. If OEMs decide to cry and take their ball and go home, I think they’ll be missing a big opportunity.

For its part, Microsoft isn’t biting back at some of the unfair criticism lobbed at Surface. This is the world we live in now, and Microsoft knows it pulled off a major coup yesterday, planning an event with Apple-like secrecy and doing it with nary a leak. It clearly was prepared to take some heat, and within a few days that heat will die down and people will be left with the excitement of the device’s full unveiling in the fall.

With Windows Phone, Microsoft hit the home run on the OS, but thus far has failed on hardware and marketing. They have a chance to avoid the same fate with Windows 8, and they took a HUGE step in the right direction last night.

The post Why Microsoft left questions unanswered at the Surface unveiling, and why it made sense appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Pick Your Flavor

Before getting into the rest of the specs, you’ll need to understand that it comes in two flavors. One version runs Windows RT, and the other comes with Windows 8 Pro. Basically that means that the Windows RT version only runs the new Metro style apps, with one major exception: Office. The Windows RT version of the Surface will include Office which runs as a standard Windows desktop application. The Windows 8 Pro version of the operating system includes full Windows desktop support. That means it will run all of the apps that you already use on your Windows 7 PC now.  The processor is the primary reason for the difference. The Windows RT version uses an ARM processor, while the Windows 8 Pro Surface will include an x86 processor, similar to the one powering your current Windows 7 PC. For the rest of this article we’ll shorten the names to RT and Pro.

The RT version of the surface is smaller and lighter than the Pro. It is 9.3mm thick and weighs 676 grams compared to 13.5mm and 903 grams for the Pro. The displays are also different. The resolution on the RT is listed as “HD” while the Pro is described as “Full HD”. This leads me to believe that RT is probably running at 1366×768 and the Pro at 1920×1080. The Pro’s display also has an active digitizer to facility a pen. Don’t get this pen confused with an ordinary stylus though. When using the pen, the touchscreen is actually disabled (just by getting the pen close to the display) so that you can comfortably rest your hand on the display while writing or sketching with the pen. I use a pen with my touchscreen laptop now, and I can tell you that Microsoft has superb handwriting recognition. This feature alone could cause some people to upgrade to the Pro. Another area where they differ slightly is connectivity. The RT Surface has microSD, a USB 2.0 port, and Micro HD Video out, while the Pro has microSDXC, USB 3.0, and Mini DisplayPort video out. The last difference is the size of their internal storage drives. The RT will be available with either 32 or 64 GB, while the Pro will have either 64 or 128 GB.

Putting it all Together, Literally

Microsoft didn’t just announce a couple of beautiful tablets today. They also announced two accessories that could really shape the future usage of tablets. The two accessories are keyboards with trackpads. Before you write this off on the notion that keyboards already exist for the iPad and Transformer Prime you’ll need to take a closer look at these offerings. First is the Touch Cover. If you’ve seen the Smart Cover for the iPad you’ll get an idea of how the Touch Cover connects. It attaches magnetically to one of the long edges of the Surface. In addition to being a cover to help protect the display, it is also a keyboard, a keyboard that is only 3mm thin! Not only is it a keyboard, it also has a multi-touch touchpad! So the cover, when combined with the built-in kickstand, gives you access to a keyboard at any time without the hassle of dragging around an extra accessory, or having to connect a bunch of bulky accessories, in addition to offering added protection for the device! If you don’t need the keyboard, the cover just wraps around the back of the Surface like a magazine cover would. And you don’t have to worry about accidentally hitting the keys while the cover is open, because Microsoft integrated an accelerometer into it. That means that it knows when you’ve opened the cover, and can intelligently disable the keys and trackpad!

Maybe a multi-touch keyboard doesn’t sound like it will work all that well for you because you type a lot. Microsoft has an answer there too. The other accessory announced was the Type Cover. The Type Cover has physical keys and buttons on the trackpad, just like you would find on a normal laptop keyboard. Only on the Type Cover it’s still incredibly thin, and attaches magnetically to the Surface.

The Sum is Greater than the Parts

What really makes the Surface special is how it all comes together. With Windows 8, the Surface tablets, and either the Touch Cover or Type Cover, you truly can replace your current laptop AND tablet, with one device. For years Microsoft has been saying that tablets are PCs, and the mainstream tech media has laughed at the idea. Microsoft has now proven them all wrong. A Surface tablet will give its users the ability to do so much more than the current crop of tablets, even the iPad. Think for a minute about photographers. They love the ability to take photos and immediately being able to show them on a beautiful tablet. Well, on an iPad, how does the photographer get the photos onto the iPad? There isn’t a quick or easy way to do it. With the Surface they can slide in the SD card, or attach the camera via USB and instantly access all of the photos! What about the road warrior who travels constantly and demands something thin and light, but still needs access to all of their productivity apps and a good keyboard to use with them? Before, that person may have carried a laptop for getting work done, and a tablet for entertainment. Now that person can simply carry a Windows 8 Pro Surface with a Type Cover and get all of their work done, enjoy their entertainment apps, and do it all on a device that weighs less than the smallest Ultrabook! Do you just want to watch a movie on the plane? Forget about holding the tablet up for next two hours. With the integrated kickstand you can simply prop it up on the tray table and watch the movie comfortably. Once you’ve reached your destination wouldn’t you like to watch the content that you actually care about, instead of the limited line-up of television offered by the hotel where you’re staying? Since the Surface has HD video-out you can simply plug it directly into the TV and watch the movies or TV shows that you brought with you. Or, because it’s also a tablet, open the Netflix app and stream whatever you like!

With Windows 8 and the Surface tablets Microsoft has ushered in a change in how we’ll use computing devices. With a Surface you’ll be able to take your primary computer anywhere, but still have the comfort and fun that a tablet offers. The RT tablets should be available this fall and priced competitively with other ARM tablets. The Pro version should be available about three months later, and it will be priced similarly to Ultrabooks. I know I can’t wait to get my hands on one!

Source: Microsoft Surface

The post Microsoft’s Surface Tablet Could Change Computing appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Phone

As I mentioned in my recount of week two, Nokia doesn’t offer a reasonably priced headset accessory for the Lumia line, so I found myself having to talk on the phone the old fashioned way: by holding it up to my face. That’s all well and good when you’re riding in a train, but it’s far less convenient when taking business calls at a computer. I wasn’t going to annoy everyone around me and the parties on the other end of the line by using speakerphone mode like a reality show diva, and today’s mobile phones are nearly impossible to cradle, so I ended up relying on Skype more than I anticipated—on my computer…so I could use my headset.

Volume

Using the phone more this week for media and communications, I soon learned what limited control I had over volume, compared to the very granular control that you have in iOS. While the iPhone allows and remembers separate volume settings for each output option (speaker, headphones, etc.), Windows Phone offers only two volume settings—one for media and one for calls. So if you’re listening to, say, a podcast using the internal speaker volume cranked up so you can hear it, then later plug in your headphones to listen to music, you’re likely going to blast out your eardrums. The phone’s lack of integrated volume support for Bluetooth just compounds this issue, again requiring you to crank the volume on the phone for any reasonable output.

Alarms and Docks

When I travel, I use my phone as an alarm clock. I’m typically confounded by the overly confusing clocks in most hotel rooms, and I’d rather use something I’m familiar with. The Windows Phone has an excellent Alarms app with numerous melodic alarm sounds. These aren’t sound bites that may or may not work to wake you up like on the iPhone but actual alarm tones intentionally designed for that purpose. Nokia’s designers even added one of their own. 

The first time I used the alarm, I requested a backup wake-up call. I wanted to be sure the alarm worked properly and that it would be audible even in vibrate mode. It did. I wish there was more differentiation between the actions to snooze and cancel the alarm, but overall, it worked great.

One thing I miss for this use case is the ability to dock the phone. Windows Phones use micro-USB connectors to charge and sync, and as far as I know, none of them comes with, or offers, a dock. With my iPhone, I could just sit it in the dock to charge it and use that dock or a similar stand to position the phone on its side at my bedside, displaying the time. Connecting the Lumia is a two-handed endeavor that has already resulted in numerous scratches on my phone’s casing.

Notes

I often use my iPad to take notes in meetings and at conferences, and I carry around a collection of notes with information like dimensions, sizes, and patterns from around the house that I might want to remember if I’m out and about. In Apple’s ecosystem, the Notes app works great for this, synchronizing seamlessly across devices and computers through MobileMe or iCloud.

Windows Phone threw a wrench into this for me, since I no longer have an easy way to access those notes on my new device. I looked for utilities and apps that can sync Apple’s Notes with other applications, but I’ve found nothing. (If you’ve been more successful here, please leave a comment!)

I know that many people use Evernote to capture and share notes between platforms, but I never have found the right workflow for Evernote, and what I do use it for wouldn’t mesh well with note taking.

Instead, I turned to an old favorite, OneNote. With built-in support on Windows Phone and new apps on nearly every other platform, OneNote now offers cross-platform, synchronized note taking better organization and formatting options than Apple’s notes. There are two big holes in this solution that I’m learning to work around: you can’t re-organize notes on any of the mobile or web platforms, and there’s still no OneNote for Mac. My only solution to rename and shuffle notes between section and notebooks has been to run OneNote in a VM on my Mac. I’m hoping Microsoft soon enhances their mobile and web OneNote apps to provide the same functionality.

Receipts and Expenses

As a business traveler, I accumulate receipts for expenses, and I often used my iPhone to capture those receipts while traveling, rather than waiting to scan them when returning home. On the iPhone, I used Genius Scan to capture receipts. This app does the best job of anything I’ve seen to “scan” pages by letting you take or select a picture, giving you tools to deskew the image and convert the image to a black and white image. This is great for saving crisp copies of receipts and documents—even for capturing drawings and notes from whiteboard presentations.

But Genius Scan doesn’t exist on Windows Phone. And from what I can tell, no similar application does. Expensify seems to be the king of cross-platform receipts and expense tracking, but the Windows Phone app is ugly and cumbersome, and it lacks any image editing tools. Handyscan has good tools for correcting skewed image captures, but it doesn’t have any option to save as black and white. Ultimately, I stayed with Genius Scan, installing it on my iPad and using it on that device instead of my phone.

Batteries

My biggest concern when planning this trip with my new phone was battery life. The Lumia 710, in my opinion, has woefully poor battery life. There are hints all through the user manual about how you can save battery life—how you can turn off all the useful features you expect on a smart phone like push email, location tracking, Bluetooth, and notifications. Exactly what’s the point of having this thing if you have to do that?

In fact, my concerns were justified. I used the phone more than I might at home and I didn’t have the ability to charge the phone during the day. As a result, the phone either reverted to battery-saving mode or completely lost power every day of my trip.

There is good news, though. The Lumia 710 has a replaceable battery. This isn’t true for all Windows Phones, but it makes the limited battery life on those phones that do more tolerable. When I returned home, I ordered a spare battery from Amazon.

“Why Yes…This is a Windows Phone!”

Something strange happens when I pull out my Windows Phone in public. It attracts attention. It seems new and foreign to many people, and they’re interested in seeing it and playing with it. Most of the people who’ve asked about my Windows Phone have never seen or tried one before. My phone hasn’t seen so much attention since I had the original iPhone. Or the Motorola Q before that.

I love demonstrating this phone. Its beautiful, responsive UI puts some of today’s most popular phones to shame, and the live tiles engage people’s interest. But nearly every time I show off the phone, I get the same responses: “I’m a Mac user,” “I just got this new phone,” or “but I just switched to _____.” It’s my belief these responses all point to two things: Microsoft is late to market, and they’re not getting the right message out there yet.

The Honeymoon is Over

Three weeks into using Windows Phone, one thing is certain: the honeymoon is over. Yes, I still love the fresh look of the UI, I enjoy showing off some of its unique features and clever interface patterns, and I think the live tile dashboard approach toward exposing information challenges the other phone OSes. But at the same time, the little things are starting to bug me…and I’m finding lots of little things.

Does that mean I’ll end up leaving Windows Phone? I don’t know. I’m afraid of long-term commitments—to phones, anyway. And cars. But that’s another story.

Related

• Preparing for the Great Windows Phone Experiment
• The Windows Phone Experiment: Week One
• The Windows Phone Experiment: Week Two

The post The Windows Phone Experiment: Week Three appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Crapware

First things first. This device has a pretty small amount of on-board storage and no options for adding to that with external cards. After learning what apps I want to use and what apps I don’t need, I’ve started to cull. It turns out that Nokia and T-Mobile have both “customized” the phone by adding some of their exclusive apps.

While most of Nokia’s apps add value, T-Mobile’s apps are largely expendable. T-Mobile TV is a paid subscription mobile video app that looks and works nothing like a Windows Phone app but was instead likely ported from some other platform. Uninstalled. Slacker Radio is a service I don’t use. Uninstalled. TeleNav GPS Nav is a paid subscription navigation service that is redundant to Nokia’s very good (and free) turn-by-turn Nokia Drive app. Uninstalled.

The Weather Channel app is pre-loaded on the phone, but I almost immediately swapped it for the less heavily branded and better designed AccuWeather.com app. And Netflix is pre-loaded, too, but I can’t imagine ever watching a movie or TV show on this size screen now that I own a tablet.

Pictures

The Nokia Lumia 710 has a decent 5 MP camera with a flash. Perhaps more importantly, it has a dedicated camera button that you can use to both wake the device into camera mode and take pictures. The phone also takes 720p HD video.

Like iCloud for iOS and Instant Upload for Android, you can automatically upload photographs to your Microsoft SkyDrive account as you take them. Like iCloud with Apple TV, you can view these photos on Media Center as they’re uploaded. We posted a Media Center quick tip earlier this week with easy instructions on how you can set this up. With Nokia’s beta Play To app, you can also stream pictures and videos from your phone to a compatible Play To target (e.g., an Xbox in extender mode).

Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 Connector software for Mac can sync pictures to your phone from iPhoto or Aperture. You can choose from albums and events in your library. Connector can also optionally sync the pictures and videos you’ve taken from your phone to your Mac. That’s something you still can’t do with iTunes and an iPhone.

Syncing to iPhoto is a bit cumbersome since it launches iPhoto every time it finds new pictures and videos to offload, and even though you specify the name of the event for your pictures, it creates a new one (with that same name) every time.

Skype

Microsoft released its official Skype app for Windows Phone last week, and it seems like a huge missed opportunity. I talked about this—more like ranted about this—quite a bit on the latest episode of Entertainment 2.0, but I’m still scratching my head, trying to understand what Microsoft has been doing with Skype for the last year.

Google has its Google Voice product baked into the core of Android phones, and Microsoft’s failure to do the same for Windows Phone with Skype just baffles me. Skype is a premier brand, and they seem to be wasting it.

With Skype for Windows phone, you can make voice and video calls and send instant messages to other Skype users. It does not work with Bluetooth. You cannot send SMS messages. You cannot receive Skype calls unless you have the app open and active. One more time for effect: You cannot receive Skype calls unless the app is open and active.

Ridiculous. But the biggest missed opportunity here is that Skype contacts don’t integrate with your People hub in any way. Microsoft intentionally designed a phone platform that provides for integration with third party directory services, but it is either not extensible enough to support Skype or Microsoft just decided not to take advantage of this capability for Skype—the leading consumer VoIP platform. That they own.

Ridiculous.

Other Apps

For the most part, the major apps that you’d expect on a phone platform are available in one form or another. As I mentioned in last week’s review, Google’s presence is all but nonexistent, but there are numerous apps that take advantage of Google’s APIs to make Google services available to Windows Phone owners.

There are a couple of great apps I’ve come to like a lot. Foursquare has a very good app. Sports Tracker is a great activity monitor for running, walking, and exercise tracking. Evernote and OneNote give me access to saved snippets, and the rest of the Office suite gives me access—even the ability to edit—Microsoft Office documents. I also like Amazon’s ubiquitous Kindle app, Spotify, and OpenTable.

There’s no official app for GetGlue (and the third party app is crap—it’s just a wrapper to GetGlue’s mobile web site that’s actually harder to use than the site itself). There’s no Google+ app, but their mobile site works fairly well in IE. There’s no app for my bank, no apps for my favorite airlines, and no Pandora.

TripIt has an app that’s compete crap—it’s less capable than TripIt’s own mobile site, and it seems to have been developed by someone who’s never read Microsoft’s Windows Phone user experience guidelines. There are several third-party TripIt apps that are far better than TripIt’s own. I’ve chosen My Trips.

I’ve realized pretty quickly that there are many crap apps out there. Metro introduces a new way of thinking about user experience and UI design, and a lot of developers clearly just don’t get it or haven’t bothered trying. I’ve passed over or already uninstalled numerous apps that have offended my UX sensibilities.

To Unlock or Not

I realized last week that I haven’t been receiving text messages sent to my old number since I can forward calls but not text messages. Between that and the disappointing service that I get in my neighborhood and home from T-Mobile, I decided to try unlocking the phone so I could swap in my old AT&T SIM card.

I quickly learned that while my AT&T SIM gave me a working device with my old number and much better phone service, I couldn’t get any data service. It turns out that T-Mobile and AT&T use different 3G bands, so I had a decision to make: better, more convenient phone service, or data service. I chose data. But hey…now I have an unlocked phone. That’s good, right?

Headset

I’ve been spoiled by the hardware ecosystem that’s grown up around the iPhone and iOS devices. I can go to pretty much any corner store and pick up a cheap set of earphones that work with an iPhone for calls. Nowadays many of them can even control music and trigger voice prompts.

Nokia’s Lumia 710 doesn’t come with earphones. So I tried using some old iPhone headphones I have lying around. I can listen to music, of course, but I can’t use them for phone calls or voice prompts, and the buttons don’t seems to control anything on the Lumia.

I went to Nokia’s web site. Nokia’s documentation for the Lumia says “you can connect a compatible headset or compatible headphones to your phone.” They don’t, in any way, define compatible. Nokia lists two Monster-branded (read: expensive) options on nokia.com, the cheapest of which is about $90. Not gonna happen.

So I contacted Nokia support to find out what headsets might be compatible. They told me that the only headphones they know will work with the Lumia phones are those listed on their web site…for about $90 and $200, respectively. They do not offer a less expensive alternative, and they don’t have any information about any other compatible products.

If for no other reason than to say that they promote safe driving, Nokia should either offer an inexpensive headset for the Lumia or be prepared to recommend some compatible options. Bluetooth? Well that would be an option, but Nokia’s own product manual recommends using Bluetooth sparingly to conserve battery life. And Skype won’t work with Bluetooth, remember?

The Experiment Continues

When I started this experiment, I said I’d use the Windows Phone for two weeks, then I’d decide whether to continue using it for another two before making the big decision: stick with my iPhone or switch.

I’m two weeks in, and at this point I see no reason not to keep going. Sure, this week was bumpier than last, between my frustration over Microsoft’s Skype swing-and-a-miss, a mixed bag of app support for services I use, and my astonishment over Nokia’s failure to either offer or recommend an affordable headset. But there’s still a lot that I like about this phone and this OS.

Next week introduces an added challenge: I’m traveling for business. I’ll undoubtedly turn to my mobile devices for different needs than I might at home and around town. I should also get a much better sense of this thing’s battery life.

Related

• Preparing for the Great Windows Phone Experiment
• The Windows Phone Experiment: Week One

The post The Windows Phone Experiment: Week Two appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

The biggest surprise here is Microsoft, coming in with more free storage than any other service and offering the most economical paid storage plans. Existing SkyDrive users even have a limited opportunity to claim 25GB of free storage. But SkyDrive—even though it’s integrated into many Live products, Windows Phone, and the upcoming Windows 8—just doesn’t have the mindshare or reach of these other products.

Here’s a brief comparison of how the big players in this space stack up against each other:

	Apple iCloud	Dropbox	Google Drive	Microsoft SkyDrive
Free storage	5GB	2GB†	5GB	7GB*
Pricing
20ish GB plan (/year)	$40	–	25GB for $29.88	27GB for $10**
50sh GB plan (/year)	$100	$99	–	57GB for $25**
100sh GB plan (/year)	–	$199	$59.88	107GB for $50**
Typical annual cost/GB‡	$2	$1.99	59¢	50¢**
Desktop Folder Syncing
PC		•	•	•
Mac		•	•	•
Linux		•
Mobile Support
iOS	•	•	•	•
Android		•	•
Windows Phone				•
Blackberry		•

†Dropbox customers can increase their free storage to as much as 18GB through referrals and other offers.

‡Annual cost is based on the cost per gigabyte for the majority of plans from a provider

*Current SkyDrive customers can get 25GB of free storage for a limited time.

**Microsoft’s paid SkyDrive plans are in addition to the free storage allocation.

Bottom line: While Dropbox offers the best desktop and mobile support and compatibility, Microsoft’s SkyDrive offers the most amount of free storage and the most economical paid plans on a pennies-per-gigabyte basis. If you’re a Windows user, SkyDrive may be your best option.

The post Cloud Storage Services Compared appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Aside from Media Center, though, I’m largely a Mac guy. I’ve been using iPhones for years, and I’m heavily invested in Apple’s ecosystem, so I hadn’t considered actually using a Windows Phone as my primary mobile device. But when I “lost” Microsoft’s competition and received a Windows Phone of my own, I decided to try an experiment: I’d use the phone exclusively for a few weeks to learn first-hand how it would fit into my Apple-centric life.

And so it begins….

Nokia’s Lumia 710 on T-Mobile

I chose the [amazon_link id=”B006U0X7UY” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Nokia Lumia 710[/amazon_link] as my Windows Phone, primarily because it was available on T-Mobile’s network, and T-Mobile offers pay-as-you-go voice and data plans that don’t require a contract. I’ve played with the device in stores more times than I can count, and though it’s not one of the hot, new 800 or 900 models, it’s quite attractive and capable.

The phone itself is light and solid, but it feels somewhat plastic-y with a rubberized, removable back panel. That back panel exposes a removable battery—a nice change from the factory-sealed iPhone. And the removable battery may be more necessary I than first thought, too, because so far the battery life on this thing seems pretty terrible (I’ll be able to better test that when I take this phone on the road with me in a few weeks). The 710 is about the same size as the iPhone 4 that now sits neglected on my desk, but the corners and back edges are more rounded, making it more comfortable to hold and pocket.

Despite the nearly identical dimensions, the Lumia’s display is larger than the iPhone’s, sporting a widescreen profile when turned on its side. The 800 x 480 resolution doesn’t live up to Apple’s so-called “retina” display at 960 x 640, but I can’t say that’s worth all the attention the tech press has been giving it. The Lumia’s display is bright and beautiful, and it’s more readable in sunlight than the iPhone’s.

As it turns out, T-Mobile may not have been the best service choice for me. I often have no signal in my house, and my neighborhood overall has pretty lousy coverage. That’s disappointing for a major metropolitan area, but my mobile phone isn’t my primary phone. I’m one of those holdouts who won’t give up my land line, so the percentage of time that I typically use a mobile device as a phone is pretty low.

The Phone

As I mentioned earlier, this is an experiment. I have no idea whether I’ll continue to use the Lumia as my primary mobile device after this review period, so I didn’t port my number to the new device. Instead, I’m forwarding my old number. That handles phone calls, but not text messages. For now, they’re getting lost and ignored.

For my work number, I use Google Voice. There’s no native app for that on Windows Phone yet. In fact, there’s no app support from Google worth talking about, and many of Google’s mobile web offerings look like crap in the phone’s mobile IE browser. Some third parties have released compatible apps for Google Voice, but here’s where my distrust kicks in.

Your Google Voice number is inherently linked to your Google Account—communications, schedules, contacts, financials, browsing history, and a ton of personal information is accessible via your Google password. Why would you trust that password to a third party? You’d think these apps would leverage Google’s native authentication interface, but they do not—they pass it through their own UI, and you just have to trust the developer (or not).

Google’s 2-factor authentication allows you to create an application-specific password that you can revoke at any time, but even that authorizes more access than you may feel comfortable sharing with a third party. In my opinion, this is an area where Google needs to improve its authorization model. Like with Reader, apps for Google Voice have no need to access anything other than the limited scope of information and APIs supporting very specific functions.

The other communication channel I use regularly is Skype. Microsoft’s late-to-the-market beta offering for this wholly-owned service provides adequate access for making Skype calls, but not for receiving them. Microsoft’s beta app has no background or live-tile support, so your only option for receiving inbound calls is to use Skype forwarding to your mobile number.

People

Windows Phone does a surprisingly good job of integrating contact lists in the People hub. Contacts from Microsoft (Windows Live), Exchange, Google, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are listed together, and you can hide specific account’s contacts from your list (e.g., to avoid cluttering your address book with everyone you follow on Twitter or Facebook). Windows Phone also integrates and links contact information between accounts—even those that you’ve hidden from view. So, for example, the real-life friends in your address book will include their Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ account information—even their profile pics if you haven’t assigned one.

The phone does not import groups from these accounts but instead lets you create groups of your own, incorporating contacts from across services. And you can pin any contact or group to the Start screen, which is handy for family, friends, emergency numbers, etc.

There’s no way to directly sync contacts from a Mac’s Address Book to a Windows Phone, so you’re left with two options: transfer or sync through the cloud. Nokia’s phones include a Contacts Transfer app that uses Bluetooth to download contacts from your old phone. I tried this approach literally dozens of times before I gave up on this option with my iPhone 4, even though customers on Nokia’s support forums reported eventual success.

That left me with syncing through the cloud, which is probably a better option anyway, because it’s continual—not just a one-time download. Mac users have three cloud syncing options for contacts: Google, Yahoo, and iCloud, so to Sync with Windows Phone, you have to use Google. Since I’ve never hosted my contacts in the cloud before, it meant doing some cleanup. I quickly learned that merging, deduping, and archiving is easier once your contacts are online. I’m still doing some housekeeping, but using Google to sync contacts brought all my contacts into my phone, including relationships, notes, and contact photos.

One annoying thing I’ve noticed is that profile pictures imported from Twitter appear crisp and clear, while those assigned in my Address Book or synchronized from Google look terrible in comparison, especially when enlarged to identify an incoming call. So here’s a tip: If you have real-life contacts with Twitter profiles, edit their information on your phone and choose the photo from their linked Twitter profile.

The Social

The People hub gives you limited access to updates from your Twitter, Facebook, and Windows Live accounts, but you can only register one of each one of these accounts on Windows Phone. This probably isn’t a limitation for most people, but it can be a problem for people who have multiple accounts—either for themselves or because they maintain a page, a blog, or an account for work or another organization.

One great feature is that you can limit this so-called What’s New stream to only show updates from people you’ve chosen to include in your contacts list. So if you’ve filtered your contacts to only show your friends in real life, you can similarly limit these updates to that same list. I love this!

Posting messages and checking in via Twitter, Facebook, and Windows Live [does anyone do that?] is done through the Me tile—not the People hub. This separation of incoming and outgoing messages seems like an odd juxtaposition. I just can’t get the hang of it, but I haven’t worried about it too much, since the phone’s own Twitter support is too limited for my needs.

Instead, I’ve spent a fair amount of time looking for a decent Twitter client. My requirements: support for multiple accounts, live tiles, and notifications. Twitter’s own app is pretty clumsy and useless and has no integrated notifications. Seesmic and Rowi both offer live tiles, but only at the lowest account/feed level (in other words, you’d have to pin separate tiles for mentions and direct messages for each account). My pick: Carbon. For $1.99, it does everything I wanted plus some. The UI is a bit sloppy and cluttered, and their insistence on overusing a ridiculous and dated dot-notation on every feature and heading is tiresome, but it notifies me and integrates all my feeds, making it easy to switch between my different .accounts to read my .timeline, .mentions, .messages, and .retweets. [See what I mean about .tiresome?]

Mail

Windows Phone handles mail beautifully, offering push delivery from IMAP and Exchange services and variable periodic polling for all others. Accounts can be merged together to create a Linked Inbox, but unlike the iPhone, it’s not an all-or-nothing deal. For example, you can combine your personal Windows Live, Google, and Yahoo accounts into one inbox, while keeping your work email separate. Each linked and unliked inbox automatically appears on the start screen as a live tile and on your lock screen, showing the number of new messages since you last checked your mail.

I had some initial difficulties configuring my Google accounts, but after the first day that problem went away, so it may just have been a glitch on Google’s side.

Audio and Video

The Zune media experience has always been a great one all the way back to its roots in Microsoft’s now-retired Zune device line. That DNA is obvious throughout the Windows Phone UI, and the Music + Video app is no exception. It brings together your music, video, podcasts, with radio, the Zune Marketplace, and other media apps. I’ll run through my experience so far with each of these.

Music. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t sync a Windows Phone with your Mac. It frustrates me to no end when I hear even the tech press concluding that these two platforms are incompatible. Even as recently as last weekend, they mis-stated this on This Week in Tech.

You can sync Windows Phone with Mac, and Microsoft created the Windows Phone 7 Connector program for this very purpose. It’s not as full-featured as the Zune software for Windows, but it’s not designed to be. It’s designed to synchronize content from the media libraries you already maintain on your Mac—iTunes and iPhoto.

Connector lets you sync playlists, genres, artists, and even specific albums from your iTunes library. Copy-protected music isn’t transferred, of course, but not many of us have copy-protected iTunes music anymore.

Video. Connector also syncs your videos, movies, and TV shows—sort of. Videos are synchronized from your iPhoto library, which is perfect for home videos. Movies and TV shows can be synchronized from your iTunes library, but you’re not going to see any content you purchased from the iTunes Store on your Windows Phone since it’s copy protected.

But if you’ve archived content from a DVR or video library to iTunes as H.264-encoded MPEG-4 video files with a tool like Handbrake, you can sync those to your Windows Phone. You can also sync videos you’ve downloaded from iTunes U. Unfortunately, Microsoft’s interface for selecting videos to sync is a disaster. Files from your Movies, TV Shows, and iTunes U libraries are all mixed together. They’re sorted alphabetically by episode name, without differentiation and without being grouped by show name or any similarly useful attribute.

Podcasts. Windows Phone offers mixed support for podcasts. It’s often praised for its ability to natively subscribe to podcasts from the Zune Marketplace directly on the device. I’ve yet to figure out how this works.

It’s likely that if you subscribe to podcasts in iTunes, though, you don’t just watch or listen to them on your phone but also on a computer, on an Apple TV, or on other iOS devices. So you need iTunes to keep your subscriptions and play positions in sync. Connector does a decent job of incorporating your Windows Phone into this ecosystem.

There are several ways to sync podcasts with Connector. You can sync all podcasts or a number of the most recent podcasts. This may work fine for most people, but I have a number of podcast subscriptions for which I’m a number of episodes behind. While iTunes has options to sync the oldest or newest available episodes, Connector only syncs the newest. If you’re conserving space on your device, this means you may be catching up on your favorite shows in reverse order.

An unpublicized feature also lets you synchronize podcasts from a playlist. You can select the playlist while selecting your music playlists, and Connector will sync all of the podcasts in that playlist. This is great if you use iTunes’ Smart Playlist feature for quick access to your favorite daily shows.

While Connector will sync the podcasts in a playlist, it won’t also sync the playlist itself since the Zune software doesn’t support playlists for podcasts. This seems like a huge oversight, and I can’t imagine why this isn’t supported. Podcast playlists can not only be used to organize your podcast content, but they can make your drive or commute safer by simply queuing up a series of shows. Microsoft: Fix this!

Radio. My Windows Phone comes with built-in FM radio support. It gets pretty decent reception, but it only works when you have earphones plugged in since it uses those as an antenna. I have to wonder: is that good for you to have the tips of an antenna stuck in your ears?

Zune Marketplace. Among other things, you can purchase music and download or subscribe to podcasts in the marketplace. Purchases are billed to a credit card or to your mobile provider’s account. As a Mac user, you don’t need to worry about Zune software to access the marketplace or to take advantage of the Zune Music Pass for $10-a-month access to the entire Zune music library. It’s all accessible right on the phone. Having just started my free trial, I’ll probably have more to say on the Zune Music Pass later.

Apps. Microsoft does a nice job of integrating playback and access to third-party media apps into the Zune software, so you can get to all your services from one place. Of course you can still pin Slacker, Spotify, and other media apps right to your Start screen if you’d like, but access to these apps from within the Zune environment is incredibly convenient.

Overall, the media experience on Windows Phone is very good. The album art is beautiful, playback is straightforward, and the integration of third-party media services is fairly seamless. Frankly, this integration is a refreshing departure from Apple’s latest trend to segregate its audio and video experiences on iOS devices.

The biggest drawback for Windows Phone as a media device is the lack of third party product support. As best I can tell, there’s no way to connect the phone to a hotel TV, for example, to watch Netflix or YouTube videos like you can with an iPhone. There’s no onboard DLNA support, though Nokia’s released a beta application that promises to bridge that gap for Lumia customers (I’ll address this more in a later post). Perhaps most significantly, there’s no connectivity beyond basic A2DP Bluetooth streaming for automobile integration. This is a huge issue for me, and I imagine it would be for anyone who does any significant driving or commuting.

Enough For Now

I’ve spent an enormous amount of time acclimating myself to my new Windows Phone, the ecosystem supporting it, and methods of integrating it into my current digital lifestyle. Over the next few weeks, I’ll chronicle other aspects of my experience, using the device for reading, working, exercising, and a variety of other activities.

If you have specific questions or would like to see me cover a particular aspect of my experience with the phone, please leave a comment below, and I’ll do my best to answer or include your request in an upcoming post.

The post The Windows Phone Experiment: Week One appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Listeners to Entertainment 2.0 may know that I recently “lost” Microsoft’s Windows Phone Challenge—which means I’ll be getting a new Windows Phone soon. For well over a year I’ve talked about just how impressive (and important) Microsoft’s reboot of Windows Phone has been, but I’ve also been concerned that they’re late to the game.

I’ve been using an iPhone for nearly five years now, and that platform has served me (and a few million more) quite well. It’s my phone, it’s my instant camera, it’s my calendar, notepad, and address book. It’s my media (and, perhaps more importantly, podcast subscription) player, it’s my social tether, it’s my bank. It’s more things to me than I ever imagined one device could be.

At home, I use Mac desktop and laptop computers (I switched about five years ago), and I have an iPad that I use every day. I use Airport Express and AirPlay to channel audio and video to different speakers or TVs around the house, and my iPhone integrates tightly with both cars. I’m clearly deeply invested in Apple’s hardware, software, and media ecosystems.

At the same time, I’m not a complete Apple geek. I have a Windows Media Center home theater PC in the den and other PCs around the house. A Windows Home Server backs everything up and hosts my complete music and photo libraries.

Nonetheless, integrating a new phone/camera/calendar/… into my daily life is going to be tricky at best, so I’ve been doing a little up-front research, and here’s what I’ve learned:

• Microsoft released a Windows Phone 7 Connector app for the Mac to sync media from iPhoto, iTunes, and other sources.
• I’ll need to rely on cloud services to sync calendars and contacts.
• I’ll have limited connectivity options in the cars—an auxiliary input cable at worst, Bluetooth at best. Neither is ideal.
• None of the financial or travel institutions with which I do business have apps for the Windows Phone platform.

So here’s how this is going to work: I plan to use my new Windows Phone for two weeks after completing the initial configuration and data transfer. If I’m satisfied, I’ll go for another two weeks, after which I’m going to ask myself the big question: should I switch?

This is not going to be about divorcing the Apple ecosystem but instead an experiment in blending ecosystems. Can a Windows Phone exist in symbiosis with the rest of my digital life? I expect I’ll rely more heavily on my computers, my iPad and other devices around the house for media consumption and distribution…and that’s OK. What’s more important is whether the Windows Phone can live up to what I need and expect to carry around in my pocket.

The post Preparing for the Great Windows Phone Experiment appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

The benefit and convenience of digital content is undeniable. We carry dozens of photos of loved ones in our pocket and a library of reading in our bag. We can catch up on movies and TV while traveling. The limits of 24 or 36 images imposed by chemically-processed film are a thing of the past—we now take hundreds of pictures on vacation and view them on our televisions.

This is all incredibly convenient, right? Absolutely. But digital technology also introduces new problems. Problems with persistence, curation, transfer, and legacy. Remember that shoebox of photos you found in your grandparents’ attic or the collection of vinyl records your older brother gave you? Too young for that? OK, how about the university textbook you occasionally still use as a reference or the DVDs on your shelf?

Physical items often have a life of decades—even centuries. Hundred-year-old photographs help us better understand the lives of our ancestors. Libraries of books and music get passed down in families. Digital items? Not so much. Files get lost or corrupted, file formats become obsolete, digital licenses are often non-transferable, and all of this is exacerbated by the abundance of content resulting from our lack of curation. We always figure we’ll identify our favorite pics from that trip sometime later. But before you know it, we’re just taking more pictures.

This is a problem that many people have been thinking about, but there isn’t a good solution yet. Online services help, but what’s to guarantee that they’ll stick around? History would show that most don’t. File formats change or go away over time, and conversion isn’t easy. Think about how many different digital photo formats, including model-specific RAW formats, have come and gone in the past decade or so.

The fleeting convenience of digital content presents problems not only at the personal level, but perhaps also at a sociological level. In addition to preserving memories for our own and our family’s future enjoyment, how will we enable our descendants to learn about life in the early years of digital content?

At SXSW (South by Southwest) this year, data issues were front and center, and a discussion facilitated by musician and photographer Jesse Chan-Norris addressed this issue of legacy head-on. Jesse suggests that there’s no easy answer yet, but that this is something we should be talking about and aware of. This doesn’t mean we become luddites; it just means that we should be thinking about content preservation as we enjoy the conveniences of digital.

Jesse was kind enough to speak with me after his talk at SXSW, and the audio of that interview is included in this post.

/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Chan-Norris-interview

The post The Elusive Digital Shoebox appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Firmware upgrade for existing iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch devices. iOS 5.1 adds improved (read: changed) camera access from the lock screen, face recognition in the Camera app, Japanese support for Siri, podcast playback improvements (that had been previously removed), call quality improvements, and fixes for more bugs that were causing battery drain. It also adds the ability to remove individual photos from your photo stream. The update is available immediately.

Movies in the iCloud. Your iCloud account now lets you access movies you’ve purchased from the iTunes Store, rounding out Apple’s cloud services to give you access to nearly all of your media purchases from connected Apple devices.

1080p HD. Select movies and TV shows are now available in 1080p HD quality in the iTunes Store.

Updated Apple TV hardware and UI. The Apple TV streaming device has been updated with a faster processor—now capable of playing 1080p HD content—and a freshened UI that feels more app-centric. Online services like YouTube and Netflix are no longer buried in the Internet menu, but exposed as tiles on the screen. The UI update is now available to owners of current-generation Apple TV, and the new-generation device ships next week. It’s still just $99.

The new iPad.While Apple appears a bit flaky on the name of the new iPad, they were very clear about all of its new features. For the exact same price structure ($499 to $829, depending on capacity and connectivity), the new iPad has twice the resolution of the previous generation devices. At 2048 x 1536, that’s a higher resolution than most monitors, HDTVs, and projectors—all packed into a screen under 10″. A quad-core graphics processor drives the new display. The device also has a 5 megapixel rear camera with image stabilization and 1080p video recording capability, a new voice dictation feature, and 4G LTE support (including a personal hotspot feature, where supported by providers). Apple claims the new device still gets between 9 and 10 hours of battery life, depending on connectivity. All this capability comes with a little additional heft, as the new device is half a millimeter thicker and 50 grams heavier then the iPad 2. The new iPad ships on March 16.

The old iPad. The iPad 2 is now available in 16GB models only at $399 for WiFi only or $529 with 3G.

iWork and iLife for iOS. Apple has updated the current iWork and iLife (Garage Band and iMovie) apps for iOS, adding iPhoto to the suite to round out a complete iWork and iLife offering for their mobile platform. These apps are all available now in the iTunes Store.

The post Apple Announces New iPad, Apple TV appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

As a result, unlike Apple with iTunes and Amazon with their music and video services, Microsoft is simply not thought of as being a media company. Of course, that’s not for a lack of trying. MSNBC, after all, was a partnership between Microsoft and NBC (which has since dissolved on the cable news side).

Which leads us to Microsoft’s Zune service. Zune is a solid and proprietary media distribution and e-retail service that evolved from a failed portal media device strategy. The service was fairly innovative when it was initially designed and launched, but so much has changed in the past few years, it is questionable if Zune can practically compete in the rapidly evolving digital media landscape. Which begs the question: should it compete? Should Microsoft maintain a closed content distribution and e-retail system based primarily on the similarly-closed iTunes model?

Today’s Zune service shares features with a few of the major competing service out there—including music streaming (Zune Pass) and music/video content purchasing (Zune Marketplace). Despite this unique combination of content streaming and purchasing, Zune still does not provide a transparently compelling value proposition that itself would drive the adoption of Zune-enabled clients. For instance, what percent of consumers do you think buy a Windows Phone or an Xbox 360 due to Zune service integration? By comparison, Amazon (and, increasingly, Google) provide client applications across multiple platforms to encourage as many people as possible to access their content, while also selling devices themselves that provide seamless consumption of their content. This approach is “open” as compared to Zune and iTunes. And it’s working.

Due to the lack of market success of Zune portable media players, combined with the lackluster sales and market penetration of Zune-enabled devices like Windows Phone, the Zune service itself feels a bit out of sync with the current media distribution landscape. It might be a different story if Windows Phone devices had huge market share, which drove the mass adoption of Zune, which would therein drive demand and new innovation. But that’s just not the case as things stand today.

When discussing media distribution systems, it’s hard to avoid talking about digital rights management (DRM). There was a time not long ago when Microsoft felt that they had an obligation (to their position as industry standard-bearers and to the industry at large) to roll out the universal standard for DRM. Remember PlayForSure? Zune represented a full-fledged retreat from this “solution for all” position to a walled garden, safe-house model—mimicking Apple’s iTunes model. There’s an argument to make that Microsoft serves itself best when going with their unique strengths vs. emulating Apple’s approach, but it is also understandable that Microsoft felt they had to respond to a failing model of PlayForSure and the roaring success of iTunes. However, with emerging players like UltraViolet looking to make headway in video DRM, while audio DRM has all but disappeared from the scene, it truly puts Zune’s walled garden approach into question.

When considering the evolving dynamics of DRM, the newer, more socially-aware audio streaming services like Spotify and Rdio, and combine this with the continued growth of video services like Amazon, Hulu and even YouTube—it is becoming increasingly challenging to see where Zune fits. And, strategically, it makes one wonder if Microsoft would better serve itself if it were a software innovator that focused on media aggregation and delivery vs. being a media distributor and e-retailer.

Sure, Zune is Microsoft’s proprietary walled garden that ensures a simple content acquisition experience for compatible devices, including Windows PCs, XBoxes, and Windows Phones (and, disappointingly, not Windows Media Center). But is that going to be satisfying enough if the options outside the walled garden start looking more appealing than what’s going on inside the safe-house?

The post Should Microsoft Really Do Media? A Look at Zune appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Meanwhile, Fox, a member of the consortium behind UltraViolet, revealed at CES that they do not expect to release titles with UltraViolet until late 2012. According to a report by the Las Angeles Times, Fox executives want to see more retail outlets, more compatible devices, and a common downloadable format.

Accounts of UltraViolet’s success are varied, with representatives from the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE), the consortium of vendors behind UltraViolet, lauding it’s success to date and downplaying consumers’ initial frustrations. The president of Warner Home Video, Ron Sanders, states that “consumers are excited about the prospects for streaming and mobile device use with [UltraViolet]” while the press continues to report consumers’ complaints. Meanwhile, Warner’s [amazon_link id=”B001UV4XIS” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2[/amazon_link]—the most successful movie of the year—continues to receive nearly as many one-star ratings as five at Amazon.com…largely in response to UltraViolet.

The post Paramount Introduces UltraViolet Titles While Fox Waits appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Actual product announcements were few and far between. Really there were only three things announced. First they discussed Fox apps coming to the Xbox. They are mostly on-demand video streaming from the various Fox brands including regular Fox (Glee, Simpsons, etc.), WSJ Live, Fox News Channel, and IGN. The second announcement was also for the Xbox: Sesame Street TV. It offers interactive episodes of Sesame Street. Now your kids can play along with Elmo and the gang. Release dates weren’t given for either of these products had. The third, and final, announcement of the night was that Kinect on Windows will be launching on Feb 1st. It can be [amazon_link id=”B006UIS53K” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]pre-ordered from Amazon[/amazon_link] for $250.

We decided to chronicle the keynote in images. Peruse through the gallery  to see how the pictures tell the story of this year’s keynote.

Be sure to check all of our CES coverage at The Digital Media Zone.

The post Microsoft CES Keynote 2012 in Pictures appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Create a New Account…Again

Like Warner and Sony, Universal requires you to create an online account and link it to your UltraViolet account. That’s four accounts you need now for UltraViolet. Unlike the other UltraViolet sites, you can’t use an email address for your username, so if you were trying to coordinate your account information to make things easier on yourself, you’re out of luck. Also, your Universal account password must be 6-8 characters, which seems oddly insecure considering everything the studios are going through to lock down and protect this content.

Universal’s site is wisely badged with a “beta” flag, and it features a prominent “Let us know what you think!” button to provide feedback. The intent is good, but they appear to lack the support necessary to handle the feedback: we received an irrelevant, generic troubleshooting message in reply to general comments we left about the site.

Plenty of Options

Unlike Warner and Sony, Universal isn’t eliminating its other Digital Copy formats in favor of UltraViolet. Instead, UltraViolet is an available option in addition to a Digital Copy through either iTunes, VUDU, or Amazon Instant Video. That’s right: you have a choice. How customer-friendly! Warner and Sony should take notice; Paramount may already have, since they recently announced the January release of a new Dark of the Moon combo pack with UltraViolet and Digital Copy. This not only gives consumers options, it gives the studios metrics they can use to determine which format(s) their customers prefer. Now we just have to hope that the studios are watching.

Universal throws in a second UltraViolet title for free when you redeem your Cowboys & Aliens code. In our test, the selection was limited to picking between Dazed and Confused and Being John Malkovich.

Streaming and Downloading

Universal’s UltraViolet titles can be streamed on all UltraViolet streaming devices, including Macs and PCs through a browser with the Flash plug-in and supported mobile devices and Google TV through Flixster. Video quality in the browser is good (nearly a 2 Mbps bit rate), but we experienced jerks and tears, even on a powerful, Gb Ethernet-connected computer. Universal’s site shows titles from other providers, but they’re presented in a way that seems unnecessarily disjointed.

Universal’s UltraViolet titles can also be downloaded, but here’s where it gets confusing. From Universal’s site, you can download the purchased title, Cowboys & Aliens, to a PC, but you cannot download the free title. You cannot download titles to a Mac from Universal’s site, but you can download both titles to a Mac from Flixster.com to play offline in the Flixster Collections desktop software. You can also download either title to your mobile device through Flixster.

Downloading the UltraViolet copy of Cowboys & Aliens to a PC requires that you install yet another desktop application, and it’s an arduous process requiring the following steps:

• On Universal’s site, click Download.
• Download and run the installer file CowboysAndAliens_UV_3.exe.
• Click Install once the installer runs.
• Sign in to your Universal account.
• When the installer completes, the Download Manager will run; wait for the download to complete.

By default, Universal’s UltraViolet titles download to the Public Videos folder on your Windows computer. Unlike the downloadable content from all of the other studios offering UltraViolet, these are in Windows Media (.WMV) format, and the video quality is surprisingly good. Cowboys & Aliens is a 720 x 320 widescreen video with a bit rate of over 6 Mbps. The digital rights on the file include the ability to sync to a device capable of playing subscription files, so presumably you could play this on your Windows Phone and legacy Zune devices. And unlike the titles from any of the other UltraViolet partners, it will appear and play in Windows Media Center.

Conclusions

Universal’s first UltraViolet offering seems like a cautious test, complete with a low-budget toolset and plenty of digital alternatives. And while the differentiated online and download experience might further confuse the market, this may well be a studio’s best UltraViolet adoption to date solely because Universal is not abandoning previously-offered Digital Copy options. If anything, they’re giving you more options than ever before. With just one combo pack purchase, we received unlimited UltraViolet streaming, a downloadable UltraViolet copy (that plays in Flixster’s clunky software), a downloadable Windows Media file, and a downloadable iTunes movie with iTunes Extras (similar to DVD bonus features). Plus Universal threw in an additional movie for free.

Clearly Universal just raised the bar. Now can someone please work on making it all usable? This is all still way too complicated for mere mortals.

The post Universal Hedges on UltraViolet, Gives Consumers Options appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Sony Enters the Market…

Sony released its first two movies with UltraViolet digital copies, making them the second studio to support the UltraViolet ecosystem. Like Warner Brothers, Sony’s first titles, [amazon_link id=”B004EPZ0BQ” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Friends with Benefits[/amazon_link] and [amazon_link id=”B003Y5H5AQ” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Smurfs[/amazon_link], seem strategically chosen to gently test the company’s UltraViolet infrastructure. (Remember, each studio or retailer is responsible for delivering its own content from the cloud.) Unlike Warner Brothers, Sony has included UltraViolet digital copies in their Blu-ray and combo packs only. The DVD-only versions of these titles do not include UltraViolet copies.

Sony’s UltraViolet experience is similar in some ways to Warner Brothers’ and different in others. Similar in that you need to create an account with Sony Pictures. If you purchased any of Warner’s UltraViolet titles and you’re keeping a tally, this is your third account—one for UltraViolet, one on Flixster, and now one for Sony Pictures. It’s similar in that, when registering, you have to link your Sony account to your UltraViolet account. It’s similar in that you can stream the movies online but different in that Sony offers HD streaming from its site (but only for PCs; not for Macs). It’s different in that you can stream to your iPad or iPhone, over WiFi and 3G, right from Safari.

Like Warner Brothers, Sony lets you download your UltraViolet content to your mobile devices using Flixster’s apps. This is good news, because it was unclear if you’d need a different mobile app to watch each studio’s offerings. Like Warner Brothers, you also need to download a desktop program to then download (standard definition only) copies of your purchased titles to a computer. Unlike Warner, Sony’s software uses Silverlight, not AIR—so it’s a different desktop program.

Sony’s site shows and gives you access to all of your UltraViolet titles, regardless of the provider. Based on Sony’s FAQs, it sounds like all of the providers’ sites will do the same. The idea is that you can see and access all of your titles from one place, regardless of where the content resides and where you’re logged in—at uvvu.com or at one of the studio’s sites.  It’s a good idea, and it should help to make the experience less fragmented, but Sony’s language choice when selecting a non-Sony title adds some confusion back into the mix.

All in all, if you’re buying into the UltraViolet world, Sony’s offering seems pretty good. The differences between the studios’ products and services add confusion to the market, but in all fairness you can’t blame that on Sony—that’s how UltraViolet works. And Universal joins into the mix this week with [amazon_link id=”B004EPYZSU” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Cowboys & Aliens[/amazon_link]. Another soft hit to test the waters? It should be interesting to see how they’re implementing UltraViolet.

…While Warner Brothers Appeases an Angry Mob

While the start of December marked Sony’s UltraViolet debut, earlier in the week November’s end had Warner Brothers scrambling to ease consumers’ frustration and confusion with [you guessed it!] UltraViolet Digital Copy.

Accounts of consumers spending 30 to 45 minutes getting started with UltraViolet, angrily contacting Flixster and Warner Brothers, or just giving up altogether were quickly spreading on the web. So Warner Brothers released a how-to video to walk customers through the registration and download process.

Then a bug in Flixster caused downloaded videos to disappear, and reports started surfacing of Flixster giving customers who experienced registration, streaming, or download difficulties redemption codes to download their purchased titles on iTunes.

Since we experienced the disappearing videos issue firsthand, we decided to test out this customer service experience. Within an hour of reporting the issue, an email from Flixster included an iTunes redemption code for one or the two reported titles and a note that more information would follow for the other. Three days later, an email message requested a mailing address so they can send a disc that will provide iTunes and Windows Media digital copies of the second title.

So things are so bad in Warner Brothers’ camp that they’re resorting to iTunes—the incumbent (and still dominant) Digital Copy marketplace—to allay customers’ concerns and sending discs to customers in the mail? Sounds like things don’t look so rosy for UltraViolet.

The post Sony Releases First UltraViolet Titles, Warner Brothers Backpedals appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

iOS

Apple’s mobile OS, whether used on an iPhone or the iPad is safe and comfortable.  The app store is huge, even on the tablet side.  The size of the app store is the biggest advantage that Apple has going for them.  That and marketing.  And really, that’s where Apple has succeeded.  They didn’t invent the category of product.  They simply made it easy and marketed it properly.  That’s not to say the iPad wasn’t a revolutionary product when it released.  The combination of ease of use along with massive developer support helped make tablets a real possibility, not an also ran.

iOS is easy to navigate.  You have app icons and well, you have app icons.  Folders are nice but not really necessary.  Customization is limited without jailbreaking.  In fact, doing anything outside of Apple’s prescribed system is frowned upon.  They control the experience and while it’s not for me, it made tablets accessible to millions who don’t want to deal with complicated setup and maintenance.  Install approved apps, use said apps, done.  It really is that simple.  Yes, Apple decides what apps you can use but let’s face it, with the support they have, the average user can do pretty much anything they choose.

It is, however, the lack of customization that made me walk away from iOS and the iPad.  Great device, don’t get me wrong.  It’s simply not for me.  The rigidity of the system means that even though the app store is packed with a ton of options, it didn’t do everything I wanted it to do.

Android

After using an iPad I moved on to the Acer Iconia A500.  Loved it!  Loved it so much that after having to return it (wanted a tablet, needed a laptop), I’ve recently purchased a new one and won’t be giving it up.  A lot of the experience with Android does come down to the hardware.  I won’t review the Iconia here but suffice to say that it provided the hardware needed to let the OS come through.

Android is interesting as a tablet OS since it wasn’t really a tablet OS until recently.  Google took a bit of time to get to 3.0 and manufacturers simply weren’t going to wait.  They began using the phone OS on tablets and it was a bit wonky due to this fact.  Now that most tablets are moving to 3.0 via updates, the OS is shining on the platform.  One issue is a lack of apps however.  Oh, the Android app store has thousands upon thousands of apps, but not a ton that will run well on a tablet.  The bigger form factor makes phone apps look simply horrible if they don’t scale correctly.

What Android does correctly however is add some benefits such as more freedom to do what you want with your screens and the ability to allow developers to make certain changes.  This translates into widgets and other screen enhancements that allow you to see certain information without actually opening an app.  A small thing but something I loved when compared to iOS.  As well, the Android notification system is tops among the tablets I’ve used.  Notifications stay in the notification bar until you clear them.  This feature requires jailbreak and a third party app on the iPad.  The notifications don’t get in the way while at the same time sticking around so you don’t forget that you got an email in the time it took you to finish reading that article you were on.

Overall, Android has been my favorite tablet OS so far.  Enough functionality to make the platform shine and (without root) easy enough to use that most people shouldn’t have an issue.  It still has some issues but those are being ironed out and hopefully the OS will continue to grow and develop into something awesome.

WebOS

Poor HP.  WebOS is awesome.  Such a lightweight and simple to use backbone to the HP Touchpad.  So why is it my least favorite tablet OS?  Simple.  I couldn’t do half the stuff I could do on an iPad or Android tablet.  This isn’t really WebOS’s fault as again, as a backbone to a platform it’s great.  It’s the fact that apps don’t exist for WebOS that do for the others.  Even the ones that are there are either slower or crippled in some way.

Example:  I love reading on a tablet.  The Kindle app for WebOS doesn’t allow sideloading of mobi (or any kind) of files.  Since many of the books I read are either in my Calibre library or borrowed from the New York Library, I’m kinda hosed.  The only other ereader app I found for the platform was so slow and hard to use that I gave up on it.

The lack of apps is what killed the Touchpad.  What good is an awesome OS if nothing runs on it.  Yes, there are a good number of apps in the WebOS market but most of them aren’t from the major players.  I found one decent twitter app (Spaz HD), a single version of Angry Birds, and again, the ereader front is almost completely dead.

As far as usability of the tablet itself?  A mostly enjoyable experience.  I loved the home screen.  Having the ability to have running apps right at your fingertips is great.  Of course, this comes at the expense of not being able to put app icons or widgets on the home screen.  The bar at the bottom would only allow me to place five icons.  Great if you only ever use five apps but after that you’re heading into the full list to find things.

All that said, hopefully HP won’t fully kill off WebOS.  Given the right amount of attention, it could be a fantastic option for people in search of a tablet device.

Conclusion

In the end, a tablet OS’s job is the same as a PC’s OS.  Give the user a smooth experience and then get out of the way of the applications.  All three of these OSes do a decent job at that.  The one you choose for your tablet experience should really come down to what you want to do with your new toy.  If you don’t mind being a bit locked down then the iPad is a great experience.  Excellent hardware and the OS is snappy and responsive.  If you want more freedom in what you do and want (to me) a more robust experience, find the Android tablet that’s right for you.  I can even recommend WebOS if you can still find a Touchpad at the $99 price point.  Totally worth it but understand that you won’t have the same options that iPad and Android owners do.

For me, Android is where it’s at now.  While not as smooth as iOS, the added ability of widgets, the notification system and the fact that you have a choice of hardware are all features that add to the experience.  Once you root, you have an even more powerful device.

The tablet landscape is continuing to develop and where it goes from there is anyone’s guess.  iOS will become more Android-like and Android will continue to add features.  Microsoft is working on Windows 8 which will more than likely run on tablets as well as PCs.  This is the OS battleground of the 2010s and it’s just getting started.  Options will only expand so enjoy it!

The post Adventures In Tableting appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Setup

If you have setup Netflix on any other device before then this will not be new to you. Simply boot up the Netflix app on the 3DS, go to netflix.com/activate, enter your code, and boom you are good to go. It is like magic basically and it works just as you would expect.

User Interface

When I heard Netflix was coming to the 3DS I thought that they would simply implement instant queue mode and be done with it. However, I was extremely surprised to find out that they implemented the entire Netflix UI (similar to Roku) with Instant Queue, Recommendations, Recently Watched and more. Surprisingly having 2 screens allows the Netflix app to show a log of data at one time on the small screens. The bottom screen is dedicated to navigation through the different titles, while the top screen displays information and rating for the selected title. I will say that it does take a bit of time to load the main UI, but once it is loaded it is relatively snappy. It loads all cover art on demand so the box art will pop in as you scroll through. I honestly think they are displaying too much at one time and it can slow down and get a bit laggy in my opinion, but overall it’s pretty impressive.

You are even able to search inside of the app if you cannot find anything to watch on the main screen. It will start searching for content as soon as you start typing which is a nice feature, but it does take some time to search through the directory. You can navigate through the menu by using the d-pad or by busting out the stylus (no chance of using your fingers here). Navigating through just about all the panes left me wanting it to be faster. It is all going to depend on your internet speed, but I feel as though it all could have been a bit snappier.

One of the things I really liked is that when you select a title you are able to rate, play, add to instant queue, and even enable or disable subtitles for it.

Streaming

Once you have selected a title you can simply press play and it will buffer and start playing. Since the Nintendo 3DS screen is relatively small, 400x240px, it doesn’t really need to stream the highest quality video to make it look half-way decent. I was actually pretty surprised by the quality that was displayed on the 3DS. It was 100% very watchable. Not very pixelated at all and I could honestly say that I wouldn’t mind watching it on the tiny little screen if it was my only option. One bigger issue though is that the Nintendo 3DS speakers are actually pretty quiet. I never really realized it until now, but on some game titles and especially Netflix the audio is very quiet. If you are not in a silent room you will absolutely have to plug in headphones. I actually recommend that you do no matter what. If they happen to be Beats By Dr. Dre then so be it :).

While you are streaming a video you are also able to pause, stop, rewind, and fast forward just like you would expect. You even get the cool frame by frame rewind/fast forward. You can simply press on the touch screens timeline to skip ahead or back. It will buffer the movie again and start streaming.

Battery Life

The big question really is how long will the battery last when streaming video? The 3DS battery isn’t a powerhouse and only last up to 5-6 hours when playing games if you are lucky. So let’s just say I was pretty worried that I wouldn’t even make it through a full length movie. I decided to fully charge up my 3DS and start a stream of the 2 Hour long Halo Legends movie. After it was all said and done to my surprise Netflix only drained 25% of the battery. Of course there is no way to tell if it was closer to draining 50% of the movie, but after watching Halo Legends again I still had 25% battery, which means you should be good to watch around 5-6 hours of content on a full charge. I think this is pretty impressive.

Issues

I will say that I have had some issues with Netflix on the 3DS. Sometimes the UI will freeze up or refuse to start buffering a video. I have found a simple work around which is to perform a full shutdown of the system, turn it on, and then boot up Netflix. My feeling is that I always keep it in sleep mode and perhaps something is hogging up the internal memory. So before I start up Netflix I simply perform this reset.

Conclusion

Alright so it might not be perfect, but it totally works and that is surprising. I wouldn’t say that it offers the best Netflix experience, but if it is your only option for the time being it is a pretty decent alternative to nothing. The real incentive will come in when they start to offer 3D movies and television through Netflix which I am sure they will do at some point. For now it is nice to have just incase you want to watch some Netflix on the go (and WiFi is around.) Oh it is also a free app, so you can’t go wrong there.

And now for some awesome Videos!!!
Netflix running on Android and Nintendo 3DS:

Here is Netflix running on my Windows Phone 7:

The post Netflix 3DS Review appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Hello my name is James and I enjoy purchasing over priced headphones. I know that that is the first thing you thought of when you read the title of the post. However if you have have read my review of the Beats By Dr. Dre Pro then you will know that they are simply amazing headphones with mind blowing bass. My main issue after months of use was that they were not exactly portable headphones which is something that I was lacking. I had cheap buds that I could toss in my bag or use for riding my bike, but I didn’t have a pair that were light weight that I could throw into a bag and get amazing sound out of. I was extremely happy with my Pros and I will use them all the time, but right before I left for Romania once more I accidently packed them up. I was too lazy to go through all my boxes so at the last minute I ran up to Best Buy and bought my second pair of BBDs. So after 14 hours in the air and several weeks of watching movies and listening to movies I have finally decided if my purchase was worth it. Read on..

Features

The BBD Solo HDs have a lot of features built right into them, but also lack a lot of features like their big brother the BBDs Pro. The Solo HDs were built for portability and you can tell because they are able to fold in completely and reduce their size by half. Additionally they come with a nice pouch which you can completely zip. The pouch also has a few pockets to store cables in and even a nice little handle to carry it around with you. These headphones also come with Monster’s ControlTalk attachment which is simply another cable which plugs in and allows you to control playback & volume on your iPod, and it can also allow you to make hands-free calling on your iPhone. Unfortunately for me I do not use any of these devices at all so I could not make use of them, but from what I understand they work great. The big HD addition here as far as features go is their new design/material which basically makes them unbreakable, and also a great improvement in bass over the standard Solos. Unfortunately these do NOT feature the swivel design of the Pros or the Y-Splitting capabilities.

Design

I am honestly blown away by the design of these headphones. They are extremely light weight and I would say almost too light weight, but I can not complain. The tri-fold collapsible design is great for storage and the storage pouch is really nice. They do have a shiny design to them however which is extremely finger print prone, but I haven’t had too many issues with that so far and I am using them non stop. They are marketed as “Over-Ear” head phones, but do not be fooled they are definitely “On-Ear”. At your local Best Buy you should be able to try these out. One thing that you will not be able to judge is the comfort. Since they are on your ear Monster has provided a lot of cushion to comfort your ears. The main cushions on the ear almost have a suction feel to them which is odd at first, but after a few listens you will really start to enjoy them on your ears. After 14 hours in the air I can honestly say that they did not hurt my ears at all. I did move them around from time to time, but this is expected with any pair of headphones. I also feel like they are extremely sturdy even though they are plastic. The Pros are all metal and crazy and I was fearful of buying plastic headphones, but I was able to completely bend them out with no issues at all just like the videos on the official Beats website.

Sound Quality

Just like the BBD Pros these things hit HARD with the bass. I listen to a lot of hip-hop and rap music and they sound absolutely astonishing. I did not honestly think that a pair of on ear headphones could handle so much bass. This is the first pair of headphones that I can honestly say will blow your mind when you put a bass heavy track on. Obviously the BBD Pros hit harder, but if you are looking for bass then you have found the right pair of headphones with the BBD Solo HDs. Additionally I listened to a lot of rock albums and also watched a good deal of movies for The Movie Podcast and they sounded absolutely great. Highs, lows, sound effects, and even that great surround sound effect are all here. These things will make you want to listen to more music hands down.

Value

Headphones are an investment and these will set you back around $200. Even on Amazon they come in around $180, but they are about $180 cheaper than the Pros which is nice. I spent a lot of time at best buy and any decent pair of headphones were anywhere from $150 to $200 so even though these were at the high end I honestly feel as though they are great value. They will last you a long time, look stylish, and have the best bass you can get out of any pair of headphones in this price range.

Conclusion

Even though I hate Monster as a company for their over priced cables that they pushed on just about everyone I have to give it up to them for hooking up with Dr. Dre and creating some of the most amazing headphones that you can buy. I will be rocking them Beats all over Munich this weekend, that is for sure, and I can honestly recommend them to each and everyone of you.

BBDs Solo HDs are available on Amazon right now!

Bonus photos (cause you love me so much):

The post Beats By Dr. Dre Solo HD Review appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Good news is I can now simplify that phrase (well not yet, but in the future). Much like when Microsoft hired a 22 year old marketing intern and realized that Windows Phone 7 Series wasn’t the best name, Qualcomm has decided to ditch the random string of numbers in favor of a more Bavarian style system.

However, the big news is hidden in the picture that might end up in a lawsuit, unless it was intentional. They appear to be marketing their “S3” line towards cameras, gaming consoles, and HDTVs. The real question here is, are they going to make a push for next generation consoles? Playstation 4 and Xbox 720? They seem to think that their graphics have the potential to compete. Only time will tell. Check out the wonderfully outspoken nerd in the promo video below.

Source: TechCrunch via Engadget

The post Qualcomm Simplifies Naming Scheme appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

You can’t lump an entire product group into a class after just one experience however and I’m glad I came back to trying FM transmitters.  My current job means I spend about half of my day driving and not being able to listen to my music or podcasts was simply killing me.  Since it’s a company vehicle, there’s no option of hard wiring a solution in place.  A wireless transmitter was the only way to go.  Couple that with the fact that this particular vehicle has wiring issues that prevent me from charging my phone while listening and well, there you have the reason for wanting Bluetooth.

After searching around for a economical solution, I stumbled across the BCT8 Bluetooth FM Transmitter on Amazon.  I’m usually wary of ordering these types of devices online since I’m not sure how they’ll work and going through the return process is always a hassle no matter how easy the company makes it.  Once I read the reviews however, I decided it was worth it to give the device a shot.

Hardware

The BCT8 is a full featured device that should provide everything you need to use your phone or other media player in your vehicle.  Besides receiving Bluetooth connections, the device also has 3.5mm in and out ports and a USB port for charging your devices.  The gooseneck is flexible and allows you to position the BCT8 where you need it.  As well, I have yet to have an issue when moving the gooseneck as far as losing power.  The connection to your car’s power port is solid and the BCT8 shouldn’t move on you.

Setup

The BCT8 ships with the device itself and a small instruction booklet that helps you get it connected with your phone or other device.  This works like most others however and is quick and easy.  Just tell your phone to search for devices and hold down the phone button on the BCT8.  Done.  Once setup, your phone should connect each time you turn on the BCT8 and are in range.

Usage

The fact that the BCT8 handles both media and phone connections was a bonus for me.  I was really only looking to listen to media but being able to take hands-free calls while driving is great.  Using the BCT8, you can connect to the last call made as well has hang up on your current call.  Media controls allow you to skip forward and back while listening as well as play and pause your media.  A dial on top of the device sets the FM frequency.  Simple controls but really all you need.  Depending on the layout of your vehicle, the gooseneck design keeps the BCT8 in easy reach so you don’t have to take your eyes off the road to use the functions.

One complaint I have about the layout of the device is the frequency knob.  It sticks out far enough that you can end up hitting it while changing tracks or pausing your media.  I’ve done this several times and it gets annoying when you’re suddenly hearing static due to turning it slightly.  Once most people have a frequency set, they tend to leave it so it makes more sense to me to place this somewhere else.  Put the thing where I’m not going to change frequencies by mistake.

There are occasional delays when changing tracks.  At times I would have to hit the skip button twice to get my phone to respond.  Whether this is a phone or BCT8 issue is unknown but it’s rare occurrence and doesn’t take anything away from using the device.

Quality

I must admit, I was thoroughly surprised by the quality of the audio I get using the BCT8.  The FM transmitter is strong enough to over power most local stations even where I live.  (We get signals from both the US and Canada so the dial is pretty crowded.)  You may have issues if you’re in a large metropolitan area but so far so good.  Not a bit of static or radio station bleed through.  The only time I’ve had an issue is (again) when changing tracks and mistakenly hitting the frequency button.  When it’s on station however, you shouldn’t hear anything but your media.

Speaking of playback, the music and podcasts I’ve listened to have sounded great.  Obviously the quality of the vehicle’s sound system plays a role here but I can’t complain about the quality of the audio I’ve been listening to.  Podcasts are crisp, clear and easy to hear.  Music maintains its fidelity in the system.  Again, the quality of your music and the vehicle system come into play but I really can’t complain.  I get zero interference and the tunes never drop out.

When it comes to phone calls, the BCT8 performs perfectly.  No matter how loud I’ve had someone coming through the vehicle speakers, they don’t get an echo and can hear me well.  Mileage may vary depending on your vehicle’s layout however.  My work vehicle is arranged as such that the mic isn’t far away.  If you’re power connection is low (such as in my car) there could be issues.  Suffice to say that I have yet to have anyone complain to me about the call quality while using the BCT8.

Conclusion

The fact is that a hardwired connection is always better and if that’s an option for you, I would suggest you take it.  That said, if you don’t have that option, the BCT8 is a solid Bluetooth FM transmitter that will allow you to listen to decent quality media while obeying those new laws popping up regarding phone calls and driving.  I’ve been using the transmitter for approx. 4 hours a day for over a month now and I love it.  Enough so that I’m considering a second one for the family car.  If you need a wireless solution for music in your car, the BCT8 is exactly what you’re looking for.

The post BCT8 Bluetooth FM Transmitter Review appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

• • Alerts: View any and all alerts from your WHS right on your WP7
  • User Management: Manage your users right from you phone including Enabling, Disabling, and changing Passwords.
  • Device Management: View all devices and their backup status and also start or stop a backup on any of your devices right from your phone
  • Media Streaming: Stream all of your MP3 files (non-DRM of course) right to your phone. All of your album art will also available and it is fully searchable.
  • Pictures: All PNG and JPG files will now be available right on your phone. Download or upload any picture to and from your WHS and your WP7. Downloaded pictures will be available in your Pictures hub on your WP7, however there is no mention of a Sync.
  • Video Streaming: Stream all (some) of your videos from you WHS straight to your WP7. From what I can tell there is a large amount of Codecs and containers supported however I am not 100% positive that recorded TV will stream as I do not see the container supported.  A full list can be found right here. I did test the test “Landscape.wtv” file and it played fine on my WP7 I am not sure about a recorded show.
  • Live Tile Support: When you pin the app on your WP7 you will be able to see your health alerts, server name, and storage usage of your main disk.

It is available now in the marketplace and also the server side add in located here: http://connect.microsoft.com/windowshomeserver

via Windows Team Blog

The post Windows Home Server Windows Phone Connector RC Released…But Will it stream my recorded TV? appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Check out the Android Market page for more details

The post Redbox Android App Released appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Built-in software:

Battery Life:

According to the Japanese Nintendo website you will also be able to transfer your downloaded DSi and DSi LL software to your new 3DS. This is great news as many people might have been worried that all the money they spent downloading titles on the DSi might have gone to waste. The 3DS will also support memory cards up to 2GB, which overall is a bit disappointing, however 2GB cards are extremely cheap and from the look of it might be included in the packaging.

Speaking of packaging the first pictures have leaked of the 3DS game box art, cartridges, and packaging.

We also have a list of Japanese launch titles:

The games will range in price from 4,800 to 6,090 yen.

Sources: Famitsu, @VOOK64, Nintendo

The post Nintendo 3DS Launch Details Emerge appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Features:

The post DMZ WP7 App Now Available! appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Features:

So this is a pretty big feature list. The Windows Phone 7 App basically takes the entire byRemote silverlight browser application and brings it to your hand held device. Not only does it mimic the features of it’s browser counter part, but it does it with style, speed, and great value. To get going with byRemote for WP7 you will need to install byRemote for your HTPC, which is a pretty simple process by downloading it from BigScreenGlobal.com. After you install it on your HTPC you are good to go for local browsing of EPG data. As you can tell from the feature list there is a lot going on here. You can view all of your EPG data in a nice UI, record shows and series, cancel recordings, search for shows, view show data (pictures, descriptions, ratings), and even manage your recorded shows with a click of your touch screen. To top it all off it is all flawless.

User Interface:
The user interface on this application is simple and beautiful to look at. They have completely themed the application to the theme color of your phone, so in my case it is nice and pink, but whatever you have it set to the app will turn that color. Everything is displayed in a nice panorama display with nice animations, and easy to read lists. Everything just comes together perfect on this app.

Setup:
The local setup was simple, install the server app, enter the IP on the phone and boom done. You can even have multiple servers and it will pull in data from all your sources. I have tried a few other apps already for “remote” functions that had a similar server and this was the easiest. The only thing that bothered me was that I had to sign up for an account on their site. I spent a bit more time setting up the “internet” access for the app. This was a bit more complicated as I had to manually forward a port on my router that went to the IP of my WMC7 machine. After about 20 minutes I figured everything out and had it working. It is relatively simple if you have done port forwarding before, however it would have been nice if the install would have done it for me.

Value:
The server app is completely free as it works with the “basic” byRemote. The WP7 has a free trial which is pretty limited, but allows you to check out all of the features. If you want to buy it, it is only $4.99! I think it is a great value for everything you are getting here. The ability to view all of your EPG and schedule recordings from ANYWHERE is where it is at.

Summary:
Let’s get this straight, this is not a “REMOTE” application. You can NOT control your WMC7 with this application. You will need another application to do that (reviews coming soon). However application sticks to what byRemote is and does it extremely well with a great user interface. My recommendation is download the Trial and then download! For more information checkout the apps page at http://bigscreenglobal.com/bgbyrwp7.aspx?PID=BSRV1.

Video Review:

The post Big Screen byRemote Windows Phone 7 App Review appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Places is simply added to the main navigation and allows you to view where all of your friends are, search for nearby location, and check in at them. The user interface here is pretty nice. When searching for a location you can actually see immediately under the name of the place if there is a deal when you check in. Checking in is as simple as hitting check in, selecting friends, and check in again. You can also add a little description of what you are doing, just like on the other mobile platforms. One really nice feature they added when searching for a place was the ability to simply hit “directions” and it will pull up Bing maps and direct you to where you want to go.

The second addition here is the ability to tag photos from your phone. Simply select a photo and under more options there is a “tag photo” option. Selecting this will put you in an edit type menu, where you can tap on the photo of where you want to tag and then select the friend you are tagging. It is really simple to use and is nice on the go. I don’t really tag anyone in photos so for me this isn’t a huge deal, but it is welcomed.

Some new options are also available under “settings” which are “run under screen lock” and “allow Facebook to access your location”. These make sense for the new features and I believe are welcome.

Update Summary:
Windows Phone 7 users finally get some new features added to the application, however it is still not up to date with the other mobile platforms as iOS and Android just added integrated chat into the apps. Perhaps WP7 users will get this and live tiles in the next update…one can only hope.

The post WP7 Facebook Update v1.1 Adds Places + Photo tagging appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Check out the full blog post at his development blog.

The post Sneak Peek of DMZ Windows Phone 7 Application appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

You’ll find all the relevant screenshots here but I can tell you from using the app for the last 24 hours that it’s quite nice.  You do have to upgrade to My Movies 3.13 in order to be able to use the syncing features but this is a painless process.  (And one I was able to complete using RDP on a secondary user account.)

Once you’ve install the latest version, you need to update your web collection.  With that you’ll be all set.  You can then go to your device and sync your collection.  With mine coming in around 330 titles, syncing with full coverart took about two or three minutes.  Of course you’ll have to do this on a regular basis to keep it up to date on your device but with it being this fast, it’s really no big deal.

You get the majority of your metadata on the device and it’s nice to be able to browse and decide what you want to watch before actually going to your HTPC.

The “Lite” version of the app is currently free and without restrictions until August 1st.  At that point you’ll be limited to 100 titles unless you have 2,500 points on your My Movies account.  Prior to that August 1st cutoff date, “My Movies for iPhone Pro” will be made available for purchase.  Brian hasn’t released any details on what will be included in the Pro version but hopefully it’ll be worth whatever the cost is.  While this is a worthwhile app, going overboard on pricing (2,500 points is $100, and this does get you unlocked features in My Movies) would put it clearly in the “I can live without it” category.

The post My Movies 3 iPhone app now available appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

We’ve put together an application for both the Apple and Android platforms.  Both are free and while they’re not perfect yet, we’ll be working to improve them in the future.  There are just a few issues that need ironing out but using it myself, I find it much easier to read than in a browser.

You can use the link below to get your iPhone app right in the app store or, for you Android users, simply scan the QR barcode to the right.

For those of you on other mobile platforms, we hope we can have something for you soon!

We had these apps developed by an outside company so if you have suggestions, please let us know.  We’ll pass that info on and hopefully get them changed as quickly as possible!

The post Get your mobile DMZ fix appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Streaming

Let’s first discuss remote streaming.  This app is one I’ve talked about before but I’m rediscovering just how easy it is to use.  I’m talking about Orb.  These guys have been around for a good bit of time now and it seems to just be getting better.  You’ve been able to stream content to other net connected PCs for quite some time and now they’ve developed their own iPhone app which allows you to do the same.  With Orb, unless you’re not going to be connected to the internet, there’s very little need to actually sync your music or video to your device.  The app (along with the PC installed server) grants access to your entire media library from anywhere in the world.  Music plays perfectly.  You can even look at pictures and documents.  With the former, you can download them to your iPod or iPhone and use them as wallpaper, send them to people, etc.  I use Orb mainly for video streaming.  In this area you get about what you’d expect.  Standard Def TV shows and movies stream relatively well.  Very little buffering and they start quickly.  HD MKVs are a bit of a different story.  For the most part I’ve found this has everything to do with your connection.  (I’m using a Touch so no 3G testing for me)  Most of the time, they run just fine but I have had a few which either had to buffer constantly or had audio sync issues.  Kills the experience a bit but if you have a persistent connection, it’s the easiest way to get your DVR-MS or WTV files on a portable device.

Orb will also allow you to stream live TV to your portable device but the tuner needed is pretty specific.  I have yet to have any success even with MPEG2 hardware encoding tuners, which they say should work.

Remote Control

When I wrote the article about buying a Touch, I had only tried one Media Center remote control solution.  I have two separate apps that will let me control my HTPC from the device now and while they’re both remote control programs and operate in similar ways, each has features I like.

Remotely Possible

The first app I tried was Remotely Possible.  Created by ValidBit, this app will provide you with a simple but effective remote control solution for your HTPC running Windows Media Center.  Like most, if not all, of the remote control solutions available, Remotely Possible requires you to install a server (Free) on your PC and then to purchase the app from the Apple App Store.  The program will run you $2.99.  It’s also fully customizable and has the ability to control other applications on your HTPC such as Hulu Desktop or Boxee.

Remotely Possible is a simple, clean, and efficient remote control solution.  Setup isn’t too difficult and the creator has provided everything you need right on the site.  The walkthrough on getting everything working is straight forward and from then on, as long as Media Center is running, you can use your phone or device to control menus, volume and transport.  The app works well and is extremely responsive over wi-fi.   The app and server will give you good control from within your network for skipping music tracks and changing volume as well as sitting on the couch controlling whatever video content you’re watching.

vmcMote

After using Remotely Possible for awhile I came to the conclusion that what I really wanted was an app that would provide me with some sort of two-way communication.  Being able to remote control my HTPC from anywhere in the house was great, but I wanted to be able to do so without having to run back to the living room every time I wanted to change songs or perform some other task.  Since we have two-zone audio in our home we had to be able to see what Media Center was doing and if possible, make changes to what was playing.

That’s when I found vmcMote.  Much like Remotely Possible, you get full remote control capabilities and then some.  Really, you have to look at the screenshots I’ve included to appreciate everything this application can do.  As a remote control, it’s on par, and in some ways better than Remotely Possible.  I do like the fact that the remote control portion of the application is all on one screen so I don’t have to move back and forth and try to remember where each button is.

My favorite part about vmcMote.is the two-way communication.  Using the iPod Touch/iPhone you can view coverart, browse your music collection, select artists, albums or songs to add to the queue as well as build complete playlists.  All without going back to the room where your HTPC is connected to a display.  This would allow me to sit outside during the summer and have full access to our music collection.

While the vmcMote server is free, it will run you a bit more in the app store, $7.99.  The good part is that there is “Lite” version which you can try out for free.  It is a bit feature limited but it will let you get a sense of whether the application is right for your needs.

Conclusion

When it comes to streaming, Orb is really the way to go at this point.  While it’s not perfect, it’s as close as we’re going to get until someone thinks of a better option.  It allows you to basically take all of your content with you no matter what size device you have.  With a persistent connection, you’re all set.

With remote controlling your HTPC you have a lot of options and I’ve only used two of them so far.  While you’ll typically pay for the application, it’s well worth the cost if you want to be able to control your content from somewhere beside the couch.

The post Streaming and remote control of Media Center with iPod/iPhone appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

I’ve been a Zune owner since the Zune80 was released.  I liked the fact that it was from MS since I use a lot of their products in my home and the fact that 80GB was a ton of space for music.  At the time, that was my concern.  Music and podcasts.  Video was there as well but was more secondary to the audio side.  A lot has changed since the Zune was introduced.  It’s now possible to have something much more than just a music/video/podcast player and the fact is that Microsoft hasn’t kept up with the Joneses.

Once the Zune HD was released, I knew I’d be looking to pick up a new portable device.  At this point the iPod Touch had been around awhile.  For the most part I had dismissed it as nothing more than another player with some fancy apps.  I still didn’t feel the need to move away from my Microsoft universe especially considering that much of my music was in WMA format, something not supported by the iPod.  MS lost me though when they saw one of the main reasons the iPod Touch was so popular yet ignored it.  Apps.

Apps, apps, apps.  I’ve gone from having a portable media player to having what amounts to a very small computer in the palm of my hand.  I use the Touch for:

• Twitter
• Email
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• IM
• Skype
• News
• Xbox Live messaging
• Weather
• Pandora
• Slacker
• Last.fm
• Netflix
• Kindle
• TV.com
• Blog comment moderation
• Ordering prescriptions for my son
• Games
• Windows Media Center remote control

And these are just the apps I’ve installed.  That’s not taking into account web surfing, music and podcasts or video if I so desire.  What could you do with a Zune HD?

• Twitter (one choice)
• Web
• Weather (one choice)
• Piano (??)
• Calculator
• Choice of 12 games

That’s it.  Somehow, Microsoft misses the fact that app developers for the Touch and iPhone are not only making money themselves, but drawing people to the platform.  The apps I use are only a small sample.  The fact is there are literally over 100,000 available in the App Store and that has to be the biggest reason that people continue to buy iPods instead of Zune HDs.  The biggest irony is that Apple’s product, due to 3rd party development, is BETTER than Microsoft’s at working inside the Microsoft ecosystem!  I have an app that allows me to send messages on Xbox Live and another that will remote control my Microsoft Windows Media Center home theater PC!

Pretty big flip so far right?  When it comes to PMPs, Microsoft sucks and Apple rules?  Not quite.  While Apple has done a fantastic job with the hardware and platform, they can’t write PC software for the device to save their lives.  iTunes is the most piggish, worthless platform I’ve ever seen.  It’s a dog when it’s running but that’s only until it crashes.  Granted, I’m running it on a slower PC, however, I have never had trouble running the Zune software on the same hardware.  It’s faster, easier to navigate, and just plain nicer looking.  If I could have an iPod Touch and use the Zune software to keep it synced, I’d be in PMP heaven.

As well, the Touch isn’t perfect.  I don’t like the fact that I can only run one app at a time.  This means that I can’t run Slacker Radio and check email or send a tweet while listening to Pandora.  I understand the underlying reason for this but I hate it.  Also, I can’t stand the fact that my podcasts are trapped under music.  They should have their own button making them easier to get to.  Little things I know, but they bug me.

Conclusion

Don’t get me wrong.  I haven’t totally succumb to the charms of Apple.  You’ll still never see a Macbook in my home nor an Apple TV under our HD.  But when it comes to PMPs, the company had really done something right.  While Apple typically runs a very closed ecosystem (and do even with the Touch and iPhone) they’ve opened the platform up just enough to make it so that you can use the device for pretty much anything you want.  For once, Microsoft is the one with the closed ecosystem.  And they wonder why no one is jumping on board.

To be honest I’m a bit disappointed that I couldn’t keep Zune as my choice in portable media players.  It seems at times as though everyone has had a taste of the Apple koolaid lately and I have tried to stay away from it.  Once in awhile however, the crowd actually points the way to the best option.  In this case the best (current) option is the iPod Touch.  I’ve been extremely satisfied with my experience so far and while I know I’m late to get on the train, well, even us old dogs can learn new tricks.

The post Why a Microsoft fanboy would buy an iPod Touch appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

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The IceTouch appears to be the higher end model with a 2″ AMOLED transparent touchscreen. Yes, transparent. What this means is that when you are looking at the back of the device you can still see the screen, its just reversed. It’s an interesting feature, I’m just not sure how useful it actually is.

The 16GB IceTouch will handle just about any format you choose to throw at it though. It supports MP3, WMA, OGG, FLAC, AAC, , WAV and MP3HD for your audio needs, and MPEG4, WMV, H.264, Xvid and Divx for video. Although with a two inch screen you have to wonder how much video you’ll actually want to watch on this device. It also has a built in FM tuner, and Samsung’s DNSe 5.1 channel sound enhancement technology. Also, if you are familiar with the TouchWiz user interface found on many of Samsung’s smart phones you may feel right at home with the version of it used on this PMP named Sweep.

If you can frequently be found at the gym then the MyFit might be right up your alley. It is loaded with all sorts of “wellness-promoting” features that have yet to be detailed. Included in those are fat and stress sensors, and a tool to help you quit smoking. There is also a calorie burning tracker that uses the built-in accelerometer.

Both devices will be available in the first half of 2010.

The post Samsung Unveils New Portable Media Players appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Scosche is bringing a great range of products to the show including the tapSTICK, a protective cover for the Shuffle with a three-button design for playback. 

The company will also be bringing the reviveLITE II, an iPhone/iPod charger which features an additional USB port for charging additional devices.  The reviveLITE II also includes and integrated nightlight.

Rounding out the offering from Scosche are the flipSYNC:  a portable charger and sync cable and the IDR655, a pair of noise cancelling earphones with 11mm drivers, integrated mic and tapLINE II remote.

via ipodnn

The post Scosche readies new iPhone and iPod accessories for CES appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Obviously not a well known name, we’ll have to see if mobile TV and HD radio are strong enough draws to get people to drop the $199 that the PMP will run when it releases.  The device also ships with an accelerometer for re-orientation and a 480MHz processor.

Sporting a 2.9” touch screen, you can expect 4GB and 8GB versions to be available in 2010.

via i4u

The post Cydle PMP coming in 2010 appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

If you’re in the market for some new tech gear or gadgets for that special someone, you have a ton of options and sometimes that can make life difficult when you’re at the store on December 24th.  Luckily a few sites out there are ready for you and have provided targeted gift guides.

First up is Crunchgear.  They’ve provided several holiday shopping guides including one I found covering portable media players.  With a selection from seven manufacturers including Sony, Apple, Microsoft and others, you’re sure to find that special someone the PMP they’re looking for.  The site also has guides covering computers, gaming, cameras, audio/video and several others.

If you have someone in your life who’s more into home theater and you think it’s time for them to join the HD revolution, look no further than Audio Video Revolution.  The site has put together their Blu-ray buying guide.  Featuring over 10 of the best players on the market today and covering all the price ranges, AV Rev has also linked to full reviews of the players they’ve covered.  This should ensure that you find the best player for your HD lacking friends.

Buying gadgets and geek-ware is always hard.  You want to make sure you get a good product and one that the person is going to enjoy.  Hopefully these guides will help find the best match.  And remember, you can always leave the pages open where someone might see them and think of you!

The post Geeky Holiday Gift Guides appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Overview

Much like the iPod Touch, the Archos 5 provides access to all of your media: music, video and pictures.  Using the Android OS also turns the device into a full featured net tablet, albeit a small one.  Before we go any further we might as well take a look at the full spec sheet.

With a 4.3” TFT LCD Touch screen, the device is controlled completely through the screen.  No slide-out keyboard here.  The only buttons are the volume control and power button located on the top of the device.  The 5 also comes with several storage options.  The one I had a chance to use is the 32GB flash version so we’ll stick with that when talking about it.  Reviewing an item like the Archos 5 is hard for me due to the sheer number of things it wants to be for you.  Media player?  GPS?  Internet device?  Because of this, my review is going to follow exactly that pattern.  Because each function has it’s good and bad points, it’ll be easier to talk about each one separately.  First up though is the hardware.

Hardware

The first thing I noticed about the Archos 5 was its heft.  It’s not that it’s bulky or unwieldy, but more that I felt like it wouldn’t break if I set it down too hard.  While heft is the best word I could come up with above, the device is anything but bulky.  Even with a larger screen than most other PMPs, it easily fit in my back pocket.  It does take up a good bit of space in your hand but I certainly wouldn’t have any trouble keeping it on my belt if I wanted to walk around for the day.  Overall, it just felt substantial, something I actually like in this day of smaller/lighter is better.  The one comparison I can make is to the Zune.  The Archos 5 is certainly bigger and I liked it.  Particularly for video.  PMP starts with portable and it seems to me like Archos has struck a good balance between screen size and portability.

If there’s one thing I didn’t like in regards to hardware was the touch screen.  It seems to me to just not be as smooth as other touch screen devices I’ve used.  There were several occasions where I had to slide my finger two or three times to get the screen to slide.  That being said, overall navigation was easy.

The device does include b/g/n Wi-fi which makes browsing and apps that require the internet very quick.  I run a “g” network in my home so testing the “n” functionality wasn’t a possible.  But even at “g” speeds, websites load quickly and app updates happen fast.  I mention this under hardware because I had an interesting issue with the 5.  It seems that I had to turn off my WPA2 security in order to get the device to connect to my network.  It connected with security turned on, but couldn’t actually connect to anything.  No websites, no twitter, nothing.  As soon as WPA2 was turned off, the device worked flawlessly.  Something I hope Archos remedies with a firmware update as soon as possible.  I shouldn’t have to go without security on my home network to get devices to connect.

Software

The Archos 5 ships with the Google Android operation system.  This seems like a good choice for a media player as it allows the company to add applications without having to write their own OS.  It also seems like Archos has thought about what people use the internet for at this time and have pre-loaded some applications for buyers which will get them started right.  The web browser included is great.  Navigation, zooming, etc. are all extremely smooth and intuitive.  This was also the first place I had a chance to use the on screen keyboard.  Perfect.  Again, very responsive.  It took me some time to get used to but that has more to do with my inability to thumb type than anything that has to do with the Archos.  Shipped, the device also included a Twitter client, Facebook app (which basically loaded Facebook Mobile in the browser) and an IM client than handles multiple accounts and logins.  There’s also an email client included.  All of these apps, as well as the collection of those available from the Archos marketplace, makes for an enjoyable experience.  You’re not going to find the sheer number of apps that you’ll find in the iTunes Marketplace, but I didn’t find myself lacking basic internet functionality.

Another piece of software that Archos provided me was the N-Drive GPS software.  While the 5 did a great job hardware-wise with tracking my location, the software was a bit different.  I found it hard to navigate and general usage wasn’t as smooth as the Archos itself.  This isn’t really something to blame Archos for since it’s not their software but I do with they would have picked a better solution.  The GPS software isn’t included and will run you $39.95 to add the functionality.

Media

Using media (video, music and pictures) with the Archos 5 was a pleasant enough experience.  Again, to me, navigation is key and Archos ensures that it’s easy to find your media.  With dedicated media buttons on the home screen as well as an easy to navigate menu, you’ll be playing your favorite content in no time.

Out of the box, the Archos 5 supports:

• MPEG-4 HD (up to 720p)
• MPEG-4 (ASP@L5 AVI, up to DVD resolution)
• H.264 HD (up to 720p)
• WMV (MP@ML, up to DVD resolution) including WMV protected files
• M-JPEG (Motion JPEG Video) in QVGA resolution

If you want to add support for MPEG-2, WMV HD (720p) or VOB, it’ll run you an additional $20 or so.  Having to pay for codec support is a little cheap.  I think this is the first time I’ve heard of having to pay extra to unlock all of a device’s potential and it’s not something I’d want to have to do.

Video playback was good however.  The device handled both HD WMV files and AVI containers that I threw at it without a hitch.  The device did seem to have some trouble with the HD MKVs I tossed however.  These contained h.264 video at 720p resolution.  The ended up being choppy, laggy and provided an all around bad experience.  It’s my understanding that Archos has released a firmware update which is supposed to address this issue, but I hadn’t seen it by the time I sent the unit back.

Music was however, a seamless experience.  From selecting artists or tracks, to creating playlists, it was an all around easy and enjoyable task.  The supported formats are:

• Stereo MP3 decoding @ 30-320 Kbits/s CBR & VBR, WMA, Protected WMA, WAV (PCM/ADPCM), AAC(except protected content), AAC+ stereo audio files, Flac and OGG Vorbis.
• With optional software plug-ins (downloadable from your tablet or on www.archos.com):   AC3 stereo audio and 5.1 sound files (via SPDIF output of DVR Station )

There really isn’t much else to say about music playback except for one thing.  I wanted to try out the GPS software which was included with my review unit.  I brought the device along for a drive and put some music on, then entered the GPS software.  While my music indeed continued to play, I had no control.  In order to change tracks, fast forward or rewind, I was forced to exit the GPS.  Not exactly optimal while driving.  There really needs to be an audio control overlay at the bottom of the screen.  That or put the buttons to control skip on the unit as opposed to being on the screen at all.

The one glaring thing the Archos 5 did lack was any sort of sync software, instead opting to use Windows Media Player to handle sync.  While this is a good solution for owned content, it’s not optimal for podcasts and other episodic content.  The one thing I love about my Zune is that when I plug it in to update, all of the podcasts I listen to get updated as well.  With the Archos, I was forced to either add them manually through WMP, or use the included RSS reader.  While the RSS reader could be a good solution, I found that it streamed the content as opposed to downloading it which meant I had to have an wi-fi connection.  Again, not the best thing to use while driving.

Conclusion:

At the end of the day, the Archos 5 is a nice little PMP that’ll handle a lot of other tasks for you.  The 5 will get you online, give you access to your music and other media as well as let you tweet, Facebook, or any other internet related activities you’re looking to take care of.  While the Android interface does have some “clunk” to it and just isn’t as smooth as other touch screen devices on the market, overall I was happy with my time with the 5.  All that being said however, the Archos 5 is currently selling for around $379 for the 32GB flash version.  When you compare that to the current generation of iPod Touch at $279, the differences get a little more glaring.  For that price you can get double your storage space and get access to sync software as well as a marketplace full of apps.  Taking all of that into account, Archos seems to have stopped short of creating a piece of hardware that will challenge or even put a dent in the iPod’s dominance.

The Archos 5 Internet Tablet in this review was provided by Archos as a review unit.  This unit was returned to Archos within the time requested.  Please see The DMZ policies and terms of service for more information.

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The guide not only covers all of the latest iPod models, including the good and the bad of each, but you’ll also find detailed information on all of the accessories you’ll find out there including speaker systems, remote controls, and anything else you can plug your device into.

Follow this link to grab the full PDF file.  iLounge has provided several versions depending on which device you’d like to read it on.

The post 2010 iPhone and iPod Buyers Guide appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

In the few days I’ve had with the device so far things are going well.  Setup was quick and easy, and I’ve been using it for a myriad of tasks.  While you won’t be doing any heavy computing, the Archos 5 allows you to connect for simple net tasks such as surfing and email as well as Twitter and Facebook.  It’s also a fully featured portable media player so taking your music and videos on the go is a give in.

So far I’m enjoying the usability of the 5.  It’s a good size:  large for a PMP but not so big I wasn’t able to slip it into my back pocket.  The few videos I’ve played so far look good and music sounds great.  The included and installable apps give you a lot of functionality.  The device runs Android so as the platform develops there will be even more available.

Expect a full review before the end of October but so far I can say that Archos may just have a great alternative for people who don’t like the iPod Touch or who live outside of the US and can’t get a ZuneHD.

The post Archos 5 Internet Tablet First Impressions appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Now I’m not against warning people of the dangers of hearing loss from various sources but come on!  People have been damaging their hearing ever since the first Walkman hit the streets.  In the early 90s when portable CD players ruled the busses and subways of cities I seem to remember hearing something similar.  It never got that far here in the US though.  What I can’t figure out is how mp3 players are so different than previous devices.  Because more people have them?  Using that rationale, the only way something is bad for us is if enough people are doing it.  That doesn’t make a whole lotta sense to me.  To be honest I was surprised that this didn’t come from the UK.  They appear love the nanny state and this seems right up their alley!

Either way, legislating behavior rarely works and while I don’t see it as being a huge deal, I do see people importing players to get around the law.  I’m not a politician but it seems that that might be more important things going on in the world right now.  It’ll be curious to see how far this gets before either being passed or slapped down by the EU commission.  Hopefully good sense will prevail but somehow I doubt it.

So what’s your take?  Do you think you listen to your music too loudly?  Do you believe that the government should step in and fix the issue?  Let us know in the comments!

The post EU to Limit MP3 Player Volume. People Everywhere Miss the Announcement Due to Tinnitus. appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Pricing and other specs are nil at this point.

via Engadget

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Archos today released to retail the Archos 5 internet tablet.  Part media player, part PC, the Archos 5 provides a 5-inch high-resolution touch-screen, a full fledge Internet browser, 3D GPS navigation, and integrated applications.

“With the steady growth of mobile Internet adoption, easier ways to access the Internet and digital media, and an increasing need for device customisation, ARCHOS brings it all together by integrating GPS, HD and the Android platform,” said Henri Crohas, ARCHOS chief executive officer. “Android offers to the consumer unlimited ways to customise the tablet with thousands of apps, all easily available on the device or through the AppsLib Store.”

The device provides the following key features:

• 16GB to 500GB capacities: Provides enough storage to hold up to 710 full-length, HD quality movies, 3.2 million photos or 190,000 songs.
• HD capabilities: Consumers don’t need to make compromises concerning their videos. The ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet can handle the widest range of video formats even at HD 720p resolution (H.264 HD, MPEG-4 HD, and WMV HD).
• Web TV and radio: Users can stream thousands of Web TV channels and more than 10,000 radio stations directly to the ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet.
• TV recording: With the optional DVR station accessory, ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablets offer a fast and easy way to record live TV and play back favorite HD movies directly on the Tablet or TV.
• ARCHOS Media Club: The easiest way to access content on the go, the Media Club features the latest movies, TV shows, music and games from a host of providers.

The device of course features Wi-fi and when away from a connection, you can use the included Bluetooth connectivity to tether it to your mobile phone.  The Archos 5 also ships with built in GPS allowing you to use it to navigate while in the car, on foot and even includes “adventure mode” for off road excursions.

While Archos may not have the brand recognition of the ZuneHD or iPod Touch, it seems as though the company has put together an interesting device.  If any of our UK readers have a chance to play with the device, let us know your impressions in the comments!

full Press Release

The post Archos Provides Option to Media Junkies Across the Pond appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

According to Zunerama, Microsoft is saying that more apps are coming including twitter, facebook and more games.  There are only a few there now but hopefully we’ll see this opened up to developers soon.

While I think the device and software should have been opened to developers long before now so that there would be more selection upon launch, hopefully it won’t take long and we can have a fleshed out place to make the ZuneHD more than just a fancy media player.

Image courtesy of Zunerama

The post ZuneHD Getting Apps, Just Not Yet appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

While Microsoft has yet to show apps or or games for the ZuneHD, the video clearly shows a 3D racing game being run on the device.  The user who posted the video is calling it a Forza 3 port though I’d be surprised if that were the case.  For all we know, this could simply be video preview designed more for developers rather than end users.

Either way, hopefully it points to the device getting some sort of app store/games. The iPod Touch is the main competition here and I just can’t see the ZuneHD taking even a small chunk out of the market share of the device without the ability to run applications.

Have a look at the video below:

via Kombo

The post Zune HD Shown With Games appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Kumatek announced earlier this week that Apple has approved the Ncontrol app for their touch devices.  Ncontrol will allow you to use your iPhone or Touch as a remote control for your Media Center as well as extenders.

Not being an iPhone or iPod Touch owner, I can’t say how well the app works but it’s nice to see some integration with other devices that people use every day.  You can follow this thread over at TGB to see how people are getting on with the application.  Hopefully we’ll see more development in this direction with the ZuneHD should MS announce an app store.

Watch the installation video below to help get started!

The post New iPhone/iPod Touch Media Center App Approved appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Here’s everything we’ve found so far:

The post ZuneHD Accessories Hit Pre-Order Today Too! appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

I’m personally surprised it’s taken this long to get the pre-orders started but dates and pricing just broke earlier this week so it makes sense.  The pricing rumored on Monday has stuck.  You can pick up the Zune HD 16GB for $219.99 and the Zune HD 32GB for $289.99.

How many readers will pre-order today?  Let us know in the comments!

The post ZuneHD Pre-Orders Now Being Taken appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

First up is the S315i.  It looks sleek, weighs in at 1.74 pounds and provides 20 hours of playback on a single charge.  That’s just about enough for a weekend in the woods or on the lake with friends around the campfire when no one knows how to play guitar.  Pricing out at $129.99 hopefully it sounds as good as it looks.  Considering it’ll recharge your iPod/iPhone at the same time, it just might be worth the price.

Next is the step down s125i.  This little bundle will get you 10 hours of playback on four AA batteries.  Only about half the play time but hey, it’s easy to pick up batteries while you’re at the store filling your cooler for the weekend.  At only $69.99 you’ll have to buy a good number of AAs before you get to that $129.99 price tag of the S315i.

via BigPictureBigSound

The post Logitech Releases S315i and s125i For iPod appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

First there was the pricing leak from Best Buy.  Apparently this has been backed up by a listing on Amazon.com for the 16 and 32GB versions that match what was shown the other day.  I can’t find the page anymore but I saw the screenshots earlier this morning.

Today Gizmodo shows off pictures of what looks to be a store display at Best Buy which shows a September 15th release date.  I was starting to have my doubts that Sept 8th would be the day and it looks as though I may be right, albeit by a week.  Either way, the September launch makes sense and I still can’t wait.  All it means is that Microsoft has forced me to harass my wife for one extra week.

So, will you be buying a ZuneHD?  Do you think it could cut into the iPod Touch’s marketshare?  Share your thoughts in the comments!

The post More ZuneHD Details Emerge. Confirmation of Pricing and Dated? appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

With the 16GB showing $219 and the 32GB at $289, that puts the price under current iPod Touch pricing.  Something Microsoft is probably banking on to help cut into Apple’s massive market share.  Here’s to hoping it works!

Screenshot of the 32GB ZuneHD showing a $289.99 price tag.

via Gizmodo

The post Possible ZuneHD Prices Leaked appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

By now we know most of the specs for the device and they’re very impressive.  But, that said, actually getting to hear from someone who’s held and messed with it adds more info.

Speaking of Wi-Fi, the Zune’s new Web browser smokes. Not since first using the iPhone have I been this impressed with a mobile web browser. There’s no branding on the browser, but I was told it was cooked up by Microsoft’s Internet Explorer team (makes sense). Page load was snappy, and pinching and reorienting pages work just like the iPhone and iPod Touch. You also get a fast on-screen keyboard with a nice little magnifier effect with each keystroke. The only bad news on the browser is that there’s no support for Flash audio and video content. So Pandora and YouTube are out, but I was able to get onto Facebook and Twitter.

I didn’t have time to go too deep with features such as video, Social, HD radio, photos and Marketplace, unfortunately. I also couldn’t shake a price out of the Zune reps, although I was reassured by the incredulous looks I got when I told them how much Sony is charging for the X-Series. I also couldn’t nail them on battery life, but it’s safe to say this is going to be a big step forward for Zune users accustomed to daily charging breaks.

I have to say that I’m hyped.  I doubt I’ll be able to get my hands on a ZuneHD on day one but I’ll be doing everything I can to make sure it doesn’t take long.

Donald has a lot more to say about his time with the device so be sure and head over to read the full pre/review!  Also, take time to head over and look at some of the latest pictures of the ZuneHD that were recently released.

via CNet

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You won’t be able to pick this bad boy up at your local Best Buy but instead have to call the company directly to get pricing and to order.  Below, Parasync shows us just how easy the device is to use:

via CNet

The post Keep ALL your iPods Up To Date appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Panasonic

The new service will allow customers to:

• Browse and shop for their favorite movies and TV shows from Amazon Video On Demand’s selection of more than 45,000 commercial-free titles, including the latest new releases and over 1000 titles in HD.
• Enjoy instant playback streamed to your player, no downloading, no waiting and no subscription fees.
• Access and add to their virtual library of purchases, via Amazon Video On Demand’s Your Video Library, and re-watch them on any of Panasonic’s critically acclaimed line of VIERA Cast-enabled Blu-ray Disc players or online with a PC, MAC or other compatible device.

While an internet connection is of course required to make use of the service, VIERA Cast is available on all of the company’s 2009 Blu-ray players including the B15 portable player.  Never again will you be stuck watching local programming while staying in a hotel room across the country!  Not that you were before but at least now you don’t have to pack the discs with you if you don’t have the room.

The post Amazon VOD Comes to Panasonic VIERACast Enabled Blu-ray Players appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

The Samsung Yepp was discovered on the company’s Korean website and the specs are running right inline with my next personal must have gadget.  The Samsung R1 and M1 will each feature a 3.3 inch OLED touch screen, Bluetooth audio, Divx playback as well as an integrated voice recorder and microSD expansion slot.  In fact, although I can’t read Korean, the only difference I see between the R1 and M1 is that one is for women and the other for men.

No pricing is available yet and who knows if the device will even make it’s way to the US but could it really compete with something like the iPod Touch or ZuneHD?  Something tells me no but that doesn’t mean Samsung won’t give it a shot.

via CNet

The post Samsung Yepp to go Against the Zune HD? appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

The Creative Zii Egg has launched and you can have a 32GB version for around $400 but don’t look for it to be the perfect portable media player.  That $400 is covering the SDK, the device is free.  The touch-screen, HD device is a developers edition that Creative is hoping developers will run with.

The Android driven device features multi-touch, HD video playback as well as dual cameras and is basically set up to go right after that iPhone/iTouch market.  It’ll be interesting to see how this happens since it appears that Creative may never actually sell the devices themselves but release them as OEM to other companies to label and rebrand.

Take a look at the spec for the little handheld:

• Capacitive 10-point multi-gesture touch display
• Hardware GPS receiver
• 3.5” 320×480 true-color display
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• X-Fi audio processing
• 3-axis Accelerometer
• Up to 32GB Internal Flash Storage
• Ambient light sensor
• 32MB NOR Flash (Linux Kernel Boot ROM)
• SDHC slot (supports up to 32GB of external SDHC Card)
• 256MB Mobile DDR RAM
• USB 2.0 Mini-B (MTP and Charging)
• Supports 720p and 1080p HDTVs via HD cable
• Universal Docking connector (USB, Audio)
• Composite video out
• Headphone socket, built-in speaker and microphone
• Dual cameras
• Supports Plaszma OS and Android
• Forward facing VGA camera
• Rear facing HD camera
• 1200mAH rechargeable lithium-ion
• Light weight: 108grams
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
• 115 x 62 x 12 mm

It’ll be interesting to see who picks up the device and actually releases it to the public.  From looking at the specs it seems to have what it’ll need to take a chunk out of the iPod market but only if the right company can market it properly.

Take a look at a demo of the product.  I do find it interesting that they use HD video from Microsoft’s Smooth Streaming to showoff an Android based device.

via CNet

The post Creative Zii Officially Launched, Not for You appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

While most people use bluetooth to make calls with their phone or to listen to music with wireless headphones, LG is using the tech in a different way.  By adding the Broadcom chips to their TVs, they will allow consumers to stream music from Bluetooth enable smartphones and PMPs to their TVs for playback.  Consumers will also be able to share pictures directly from their phones.

Both companies also see this as a way for people to use their phones as remote controls and as QWERTY keyboards for text input into built in TV widgets.  Might make it a lot easier than using that standard TV remote, that’s for sure.

While no mention of specific models from LG was mentioned, these sets are apparently shipping now.  To me it’s not worth it to stream music to TV speakers but, with HDMI 1.4 providing a reverse channel back to other components, such as A/V receivers, it could get a bit more interesting, especially if it’s a multi-zone receiver.  Then you could keep all of your music in one place and play it on the go or at home anytime you’d like.

The post LG Adds Bluetooth to TVs Using Broadcom Tech appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Though there are 3rd party apps that’ll do the sync for you, a ton of people enjoy using iTunes and it looks as though Palm is serious about letting you use it.  We’ll have to see what happens next in this battle of the sync.  I wonder how long it’ll take for one company to sue the other?

via iLounge

The post Apple Says No, Palm Says Whatever. Pre iTunes Syncing Restored appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Sonic

Once you connect online with the drive on your PC, you’ll also be able to move the content to your “CinemaNow Digital Locker” enabling you to watch it on other ecosystem devices to include networked Blu-ray players and HDTVs.  You don’t actually have to upload the content though.  Once it’s in your digital locker, you’ll be able to play the content back on up to four other devices with each one receiving a stream that has been tuned to be compatible with that device.  The CinemaNow ecosystem includes PCs, connected TVs, set top DVRs, Blu-ray Disc and mobile media players from Archos, Dell, HP, LG, Microsoft, Nintendo, Pioneer, Samsung and TiVo.

This I think is something I could get into.  I know CinemaNow used to be Media Center compatible.  Not sure that it is any more but I plan on calling the company to find out.  Knowing I could buy a movie one time and legally use it on 5 devices (technically more if I move the drive around) is great news.  I’m not limited to just my living room TV anymore.

The post Sonic and Widevine to Deliver Movies via USB Flash Drives appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Luckily there are options whether or not your want to continue to use iTunes.  1:  Don’t update.  It’s not required and version 8.2 will continue to work just fine.  2:  Use a different software.  PreCentral.net lists several options.

As I said, I think Pre owners saw this coming.  I just think it’s a bad move on Apple’s part.  I get that you want people to buy your hardware but they’re obviously not doing that if they’ve already purchased a Pre.  Is it really so bad that they want to use YOUR software to buy music?  Heaven forbid they still want to give you money.  Can’t have any of that!

Head over to Cnet to read a response from Palm.

The post Apple Kills Pre/iTunes Syncing appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Woot has the Zune 80GB (normally $250) with the home A/V dock (normally somewhere north of $50 online) for $149.99 today.  That’s a great deal on a great PMP.  I have yet to have an issue with my Zune80.

As well, if you head to Sellout.woot, you can pick up the car charger with FM transmitter for $9.99 today.  I know this adapter can run you up to $60 in the store. 

A full setup for only $160?  Not a bad deal if you just can’t hold out until September.

The post Zune80 $149.99 With A/V Dock at Woot.com appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

iTunes is now offering you the chance to pick up what they’re calling D45’s.  Sold just like the 45 RPM records of old, you get two tracks.  A single and then some type of B-side track from the artist.  Taking a quick look, there are packs from Prince, Van Halen, Rod Stewart, The Doors, and a slew of others.  All mainly older groups that you young Whipper-Snappers probably never heard of.

The new two track packs price between $1.49 and $1.99 and you can jump straight to them by clicking here if you have iTunes installed.

via iLounge

The post iTunes Offering 45s. Huh? appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

Long Zheng

Trademark application 77775625 for the trademark “ONEAPP”, refers to “online retail store services facilitating the download of computer software for use on mobile phones, media players and other portable electronic devices”.

The bold on “media players is Long’s, not mine.  I’ve expected apps for the ZuneHD since it was rumored so this really doesn’t surprise me.  You can get simple apps on the current Zune with a little hacking and some extra programs installed on your PC.  What this give hint to is that apps will work across multiple devices from ZuneHD to WinMo phones and who knows what else.  A unified app between devices would be great!

Let’s hope this is pointing towards Microsoft finally getting organized and starting to bring ecosystems which should communicate with each other, together.

via I Started Something

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The NS-HD01 is the first portable HD radio to hit the market and at around $50 it’s not a bad deal.  If you only want to listen to the radio.  Coming in a little bigger than most MP3 players out there, that’s all it does.  You won’t be bringing all of your own music with you since Insignia has decided that 1GB of storage would just be too expensive. 

The device has a 1.5 inch color LCD screen and 9 buttons for setting presets and controlling all aspects of your experience.  One thing HD radio does do is provide a lot more information and the screen should be able to display it for you if you want to have a look.  It also picks up analog transmissions in case the station you’re tuned into has switched to digital yet.

Much like digital television, HD-Radio allows for use of the extra bandwidth to transmit side stations, dubbed HD2 and HD3 where available.  How stations are going to use this I don’t know since if I want to listen to Classic Rock and that’s what is on the main station, switching to a sub-channel may not give me what I want.

It’s not that I have anything against radio any more than I have a beef with television but just like television, it’s too linear for my world now.  Besides the fact that I listen mostly to podcasts, when I do listen to music, I pick my artist or pick a playlist.  I can then skip forward, backward, fast forward, etc.  That’s not possible with radio, I don’t care how HD it is.  It’s no secret that radio is struggling in the US and I don’t see it going “HD” saving the industry.  The one great use I do see for this technology is talk radio, news and sports.  Being able to transmit extra information to someone’s radio while they listen to a news story or a football game could have potential.  Imagine listening to your favorite college football team while driving somewhere and getting real time stats on the screen of your radio.  That’s something I see people wanting.

You can find the Insignia NS-HD01 at Best Buy stores now.

via CNet

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I hate that last sentence.  It makes the device sound like its a slouch when its not.  The reason I say “lacks in power” is because the 9PCTablet ships with the Intel Atom Z515 which runs at 1.2 GHz instead of the 1.6 Atom processor I’m used to seeing in netbooks now.

The 9PCTablet will also ship with the following specs:

• Integrated US15W graphics chip
• 60 or 120GB HDD
• 1GB (DDR2 400/533) RAM
• 8.9’’ touch screen (Resistive)
• 1024 x 600 pixels max resolution
• Realtek ALC269 audio
• WiFi: PCI-E interface, 2 Antennas, Support IEEE 802.11b/g
• Bluetooth 2.1
• 1x USB 2.0 High Speed
• 1x Audio/headphone output
• Built-in 1.3MP camera

Again, the specs seem a bit lower than the standard netbook you’ll find on the market today.  That doesn’t mean I don’t want one.  To me, this is what a net tablet should be.  Light (around 28 oz.), small (10.07’’x5.27’’x0.62’’) and easy to carry around.  It’s not that my Aspire one is heavy but it just like the tablet form factor.  I could easily see myself sitting outside reading the news from this device.  And actually, I like the specs!  I’m hoping that it will keep the price reasonable.  Must UMPCs are way over priced for what they do.  This machine keeping the netbook specs will hopefully mean a netbook price.

My real hope is that since this is shipping with Windows 7 it’ll be perfect for Media Center use.  I don’t see it running as smoothly as my HTPC, but do you need it to on the road?  With Windows 7 built in internet streaming this is perfect for those times stuck in an airport waiting for your flight, or even for me to use when we have my son at his doctor’s appointment and we have to wait for an hour.  I can start a show, hold it for my boys and they can stay a bit more occupied.  Right now, I used my Aspire One for this and yes, it works.  This would allow me to entertain them and get some work done at the same time.

Only time will tell if this kind of design can work.  I certainly hope so.  For me it would be a great portable media player as well as net tablet.  Of course my Zune is much more portable but it doesn’t handle Media Center.  My netbook is better for working but I don’t need a full keyboard and laptop form factor to surf the net and check email.  Then the 9PCTablet launches, the question will be:  Do people want a more portable netbook/less portable media player?  We’ll see!

The post Archos 9 To Change Netbooks, Media Players. Maybe. appeared first on The Digital Media Zone.

The device shows a music and video player, will sport and HD camera and support wi-fi B and G.  A, what is not becoming standard, touch screen is a give-in.

All that’s available so far is a rough outline of the device but it’ll be interesting to see how it does against the other similar players on the market.  iPod is of course dominating right now but while Creative has run second up until now, maybe, just maybe, a device like this could nip away at that Apple market share.

via CNet

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