[dreyfus]

macless said:

Bet it has cut and paste and a flash player though !

According to some details published here:

http://arstechnica.c...r-microsoft.ars

it will neither support Flash, nor feature additional apps like email, so cut and paste is rather pointless. The browser, btw, is based on IE6... that should really close the deal :-)

[WarrenS]

Now if it only had an app store.

[Photonerd]

At least it looks less retarded than prior generations. Only took them about three years. Way to go, Ballmer & Co! lol

[rab777hp]

This looks pretty sweet- any news on the radar yet of 3rd party apps?

[derekc]

What does the 'HD' in 'HD Radio' mean?
N O T H I N G !
The 'HD' is, IMHO, a marketing SCAM. It has nothing whatsoever to do with 'high definition'. It is in fact a DECREASE IN QUALITY from FM radio audio quality with regards to representation of the audio source. It is equivalent to 128 Kbit/second compressed MP3 audio. For anyone interested in audio fidelity, that compression rate is garbage.
Yes, the radio noise is gone. But the radio power level is also reduced, leading to what I call 'Digital Dropout'. You either have the signal or you don't. If you've upgraded to digital TV via the airwaves, you know exactly what I mean. Sometimes I wonder what is worse: Digital Dropout or image ghosting. You decide.
The only actual benefit of what is really LD (Low Definition) Radio is the ability to piggy back signals so multiple stations can ride within the same frequency space. You get crap for quality, but you get more than one station where you previously only get one.
Leave it to Microsoft to feed off the 'HD' Radio scam as a selling point for their next loss leader technology turd. :-P

[Steve_S]

blankbaby said:

I did forget about the XBox Red Ring of death thing, but I still content that most of Microsoft's woes are traced to software issues, not hardware.

I think it would be better for you to just back off that statement rather than try to defend it. The XBox and XBox 360 were both problematic from a hardware perspective and they also represent Microsoft's only real attempts at hardware. The Zune for example was little more than a rebadged Toshiba Gigabeat device. The keyboards an mice were essentially small modifications to commodity parts. While I agree that Microsoft has had more problems with software, that's only because that's mostly what Microsoft does. In reality, Microsoft has problems in similar proportions with both hardware and software.

>Just because you don't see Surface computers everywhere doesn't mean they don't work well. I seem to recall the iPod was a rare sight when it first came out, and no one thought it was bad hardware (just targeted at a limited audience).

I'm not really sure where you are going with this. Comparing the obscurity of Microsoft's surface to the iPod is bizarre. The iPod was instantly popular even though it was only available to Macs at first. Celebrities were getting iPods even though they didn't have Macs, making them an instant fashion statement. Surface has been around since the iPhone. Can you even site one example where this device is in use. I'm sure it must exist somewhere... Either way, I don't get the connection between the iPod and MS Surface devices.

[MacGod]

Guys, yet again, let me say-we don't need to jump all over every potential iPod competitor and slam them, nor defend the iPod to the death. More and better competition is great-it'll keep Apple on their toes. I hope Apple's dominance in the marketplace does slip a bit, because it'll push them to do what they do best: innovate.

I have a first-gen iPod Touch 32GB and love it, but this iteration of the Zune does do some neat things that my iPod doesn't. HD video out, radio reception (I know, modern radio is crap etc. and everyone here has shockingly more sophisticated taste and blah blah blah, but adding an FM receiver costs about $1, so why not do it?). OLED trumps LCD in many ways, and the full 16:9 ratio is a plus. So there are some nice features here. Let's see how apple responds with the 3rd-gen iPod Touch.

FWIW, the main features I'd love to see implemented in the iPod Touch (unclear whether this Zune HD supports them or not): Flash playback and Java, of course, but more importantly in some ways: DivX support. I have a ton of TV shows encoded in DivX AVIs, and it's a pain to have to transcode them to h.264 if I want to pack them onto my iPod. A native DivX player would do wonder.

[blankbaby]

It is hard to argue that my statement, 'most of Microsoft's woes are traced to software issues, not hardware' isn't true since the vast majority of what Microsoft does (as you point out) is software. Logically they MUST have more issues with software than hardware since they produce far, far more software than they do hardware. My point in the post was that the only thing, at the moment, we can truly judge the Zune HD on is what it looks like (admittedly from press release photos), but I've never had a problem with MS Devices, my woes come from MS software (though I will make the shocking statement that I think MS makes some great software!).

As for my iPod to Surface comparison, it wasn't the best comparison since one is a consumer device and the other is a high end device aimed at shops and hotels... but I was just illustrating that just because you don't see Surfaces all over the place doesn't translate to, "The hardware is crap." When iPods first came out you didn't see them everywhere (at least I was the only person I saw with white earbuds during my commutes to midtown Manhattan at that time), but the iPod was a great little device.

To sum up: it is silly to automatically assume that just because Microsoft makes something means it is crap (I actually think the software on current Zunes is slightly better than that on the iPods, though the iPod/iTunes and all the iPod accessories and such combine to make the iPod the better device overall).

[Different]

I am very excited for the Zune hd. I currently own a Zune 80gig, made the switch after owning several different ipod devices. The Zune HD is the next step for me. I live in NYC and the commute to and from work is where every one on train pulls out their little mp3 player. And guess that? every one looks like a clone......... i refuse..........i want something a little different..........the Zune is a great alternative to the classic ipod and the zune HD looks like it will be a nice alternative to the ipod touch.