Chris Kirby's Inner Monolog : Music

If you use Pandora….

Chris Kirby — Fri, 29 May 2009 22:25:00 GMT

Then stop reading this and upgrade to Pandora One now! The Air desktop app is very nicely done and the higher bit rate (192k) really enhances the audio quality…though I’m not sure yet if it translates to the iPhone app. You also get a few smaller conveniences like unlimited skips and 5 hours of uninterrupted streaming, so really there’s just no good reason not to support Pandora and upgrade your shit.

Why I chose the new Zune over the iPod touch

Chris Kirby — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 00:45:00 GMT

Seems crazy right? I thought so at first considering that the iPod touch was probably the coolest gadget I've held in my hands to date. Not only was it thin, small, and of high quality build components but also had a revolutionary touch screen interface originally available only on the iPhone. With all that said, there were some things that just didn't work for me and my Windows centric lifestyle, and I ultimately decided to return it.

iTunes.
Is there a more bloated and clunky media application for Vista? I think not! it totally pukes on a library as large as mine (16,000 songs) and continually created system instability and crashes. I've literally spent countess hours uninstalling and reinstalling, trying to figure this out, but I think it simply comes down to poor support for a large network library of music (all my songs reside on a local file server connect via gigabit LAN). Previously I used alternative software like Anapod, but there is currently no support for the Touch. And even if it did, doesn't support podcasts and store bought music.

Windows Media Support.
The only way around this is was to literally have iTunes convert all of my wma tracks to aac audio files. Now, initially that wasn't a deal breaker for me, but considering I have over 4,000 wma files in my library, it turned out to be quite an overwhelming task. That, and I'm stuck with 4,000 duplicate tracks needed only for iTunes and the iPod. Third, its overall inability to integrate in to my tech lifestyle. Since the iPod touch is Internet enabled via its built-in 802.11 b/g, it has a couple of the killer iPhone features such as safari and YouTube. While initially great, this created too much gadget crossover for me since I already carry with me an 802.11 b/g and 3g enabled window mobile 6 smart phone which can do both of those things, though admittedly not as well. In addition to that, it has no support for my Xbox 360 (and I'm not talking about the crappy library sharing via iTunes, which does not work with network tracks btw) and no glimmer of future support for a subscription music service via iTunes or the wireless store on the iPod.

Storage And Cost.
The device itself was limited to about 14 gigs of flash storage and cost $400 bucks. At the end of the day, it was just too little and too much to justify.

Now on the the new Zune. I snagged one of the rare 80gb models last Tuesday at a Target near me, and have been very pleased with it thus far. For starters, its a LOT smaller that the old 30gb brick, with nearly 3x the storage capacity, and a cost of only $249 bucks. So already its off to a better start.

The Software.
The new Zune software is a significant upgrade from the original. The interface has been totally redesigned for the better and looks and acts as I would expect a Microsoft developed WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) app to, even though it unfortunately is not WPF based. The navigation is a clean as it comes, and actually reminds me of the iPod touch interface experience quite a bit, less the touch screen of course. The new features included with the software are complete podcast subscription support via Collection or the Zune Marketplace (finally!), integration with the new Social, and wireless synchronization over your local wifi network. The podcast support is great, as of now they have a growing catalog of choices via the marketplace, or you can add the rss feed directly in the podcast section of your collection. Best part is that all iTunes podcast feeds designed for the iPod will work natively on the Zune, no transcoding necessary! The Social has been beefed up as well, which now has a built in messaging system, a new Zune card which shows all your recently played tracks and music prefs to your friends, and has even tighter integration with my Xbox live gamer tag...e.g. friends list and shared MS points. All of that combined point to some pretty amazing things on the horizon for Zune and 360 owners...I'm already envisioning full marketplace and social integration with Xbox. Just imagine being able to stream your subscription music or Zune radio channels on your Xbox while playing some Halo 3! The wireless sync is a very nice feature as well, though when I did it for a fairly decent size sync, it ate most of my battery in the process.

The Hardware.
This time around its got some significant improvements. The most notable are the size and construction, the new touch sensitive dial, and the incredible premium headphones. The size seems half the foot print of the original, and Microsoft used some higher quality components on the exterior. Primarily the change to a glass screen instead of plastic, the extra .2 inches of screen real estate. On the inside they added chip support for MPEG-4 and H.264 a/v an updated wireless adapter which now supports wpa2 security, and a new hard drive that's smaller and allows for 30 hours of audio playback on one charge. The touch sensitive dial is a very nice addition as well, it works just as you would expect sliding in the direction you wish to navigate. It's also a convenient way to adjust the volume when playing music and video...you even have the option to turn it off if you don't care to use it. Lastly, the new included premium headphones were the real surprise for me. They are hands down the best in-ear headphones that I've ever seen included with a media device...and I've bought a lot of music and video players over the years. The earpieces themselves come with 3 sizes of ear fittings and magnetically stick together for storage, which is even more convenient then you would realize. Also, the cord for the headphones are wrapped in a thin rope vs your typical plastic casing, which makes them considerably more durable. Granted, they will not take the place of my uber expensive Bose noise canceling headphones, but they are an excellent and more portable alternative for certain situations.

Final thoughts.
Overall, I'm extremely happy with my decision. Not only did I save $150 bucks, but I now have a music player and software that tightly integrates with the OS and gaming platforms that I already use. And, as much as Apple has done to make the iPod at home on Windows, it just isn't enough to compete. And honestly, I don't think they care. They would much prefer and have certainly designed for their devices to function in their world of the Apple desktop and the Apple TV, which is fine considering the Zune is equally targeted to the Microsoft universe. Though, i would love to have one of those 17" Macbook Pro's running Leopard and Vista, they truly do make some, usually unrivaled, hardware.

Guitar Hero III...I don't want it, I just need it!

Chris Kirby — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 01:20:00 GMT

I've only had the game for a few days now, but I'm already hooked. Granted, I suck something horrible, but that hooks me in even more ;) Any game where you get to battle the devil playing the "Devil Went Down To Georgia" is a guaranteed hit in my book! I especially love the 4 skill levels so a noob like me can get in to it right away on easy, and work my way up...though, I can't even fathom handling expert mode on any song, that's just pure insanity. I haven't check out the xbox live stuff yet, but I plan too as soon as a soon as I can hold my own a few of the songs at a higher skill level. I get pwned enough in H3 as it is ;)

Though, with that said, I was utterly shocked and demoralized when I saw this video below. All I can say is hallelujah, and holy shit!

First day with the Zune

Chris Kirby — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 17:08:00 GMT

I was planning on getting a Zune sometime next year, once they beefed up the software/firmware a bit, but to my surprise, Santa decided hook me up with one on Christmas morning! I guess those cookies and Jager I left for him paid off...

My first impression of the Zune and the companion software was very reminiscent of hooking up the 360 or more recently, the Wii for the first time. In that, that hardware seemed solid and full of potential, but the software was nowhere close. I believe that this is both a good and a bad thing. The good being that you now have a device which is capable of achieving a countless number of additional features, given its unique hardware features. Specifically the onboard wireless and the windows live integration. The bad being that this potentially great device is quite limited for the time being, and may not be up to the standards of the veteran Creative players or even the iPod. Which, unfortunately, has become common place in this 'beta' software age we now live in.

With that said, I think there are some specific things Microsoft will need to do to in order for the Zune to be successful. First, it needs to ride on the coat tails of the Xbox 360. Meaning that it should have wirelessly integrated with my 360 out of the box...giving all 6+ million 360 owners an immediate need to ditch their iPod and pick up a Zune. Second, clean up the DRM mess. Do i use Urge or Zune marketplace? Why doesn't my Zune work with Windows Media Player 11? What do i do with my PlaysForSure tracks? Will it DRM uninfected tracks share via wireless? Finally, get me the features that will bring the Zune up to par and eventually set it apart. We need podcasting support, games, and a video marketplace just to catch up to the competition...and real wireless functionality with tighter live integration to surpass it.

So, buy one or not? Well, for me, the potential and the quality of existing features was enough...but i'm not conviced that its ready for the masses just yet. Afterall, its the hardware that sells it, and the software that keeps it.

Windows Media 11 Beta

Chris Kirby — Tue, 16 May 2006 20:52:26 GMT

<<Look Out iTunes, Here's Windows Media Player 11 

I don't know if iTunes has anything to worry about, but I do think they should just plug their music store directly in to Windows Media player (like Napster, MusicMatch, etc) instead of making people download their stand-alone app... The same goes for the Yahoo Music Engine. Having music store variety is great, but having multiple music libraries is a pain in the ass. And, out of all of the apps, (YME, iTunes, MMJB) I think WMP 11 has it right.

Anyway, check out the WMP 11 beta, which I believe starts tomorrow publicly along with their new MTV joint venture URGE; I know you wont be disappointed with the player, but I cant vouch for URGE because I haven't used it yet. I do know it will cost the same as Rhapsody and Napster so I'll most likely have to pass...you just can't beat Yahoo at 60 bucks a year.

The Rock Show

Chris Kirby — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 21:37:54 GMT

The Black Clouds and Underdogs concert last night at the Palace was awesome! Hamaze even has the battle scar to prove it ;) If you like any of these bands then I would definitely recommend checking it out. I just wish the All American Rejects set was a little longer... but they rocked never the less.

I'm takin'em all back

Chris Kirby — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 01:47:00 GMT

I just listened to the new Yellowcard album for the first time today and noticed a song titled "Martin Sheen or JFK"...the hook even has dialog from that scene in the movie. Quality reference for us hardcore Goonies fans!

btw... the new album is awsome.

Yahoo music raising rates

Chris Kirby — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 00:14:00 GMT

If you are or were ever interested in subscribing to the yahoo music engine service then I suggest you do it by the end of the day...as of tomorrow, Yahoo will be nearly doubling their rates to $11.99/month or 119.88/year ($9.99/moth avg)...so if you sign up or upgrade by the end of the day you can get an entire year for $59.88, by far the best deal in subscription music. Even with the raised rates they will still be significantly cheaper than Napster or Rhapsody but, even so, is still too high...after all, you are just leasing the content. I'm pretty sure there tracks for "purchase" will still be $.79 but I will still NEVER purchase a drm'd track. I don't understand the purchase sales model anyway, they should just add another level of subscriptions that have burn credits associated with them. That way users that sill need to burn their tracks to cd can do so as part of their subscription. Anyway, I don't want to rant on that again because I will just go on forever ;)

Happy Halloween!

The Ultimate Gadget, Creative's Zen Vision

Chris Kirby — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 02:13:00 GMT

I found out about this new gadget on Creative's website and was blown away! Its supposedly not available in North America yet (according to Creative) but I was able to get it online and under msrp from Digitally Unique. Basically after you take a look at creative's site and check out reviews like this, you will forget all about silly iPods that play QuickTime videos.

I've had the unit for a few days now and, so far, theres not much this thing cant do. It plays video, plays audio (including subscription drm), views photos, tunes fm radio, has a built in PIM that syncs with outlook, supports compact flash (and other with adapter), has A/V out (via cable or opt. dock), and has a stereo voice recorder. So, not only does it have the guts, but the looks to boot. it measures 124.2 x 74.4 x 20.1mm and is encased in black or white magnesium, packs a 3.7 inch 640x480 high res screen, and supports accessories like the optional dock, ir remote, and CF adapter... iPod what??

The video...It played all of my DivX, Xvid, and Windows movie files with no problem. There was no chop and any of the bit rates and resolutions I tested, and they all stretched or shrunk to fit on the screen. Really very impressive, so much so that you have to see to believe. The only issue I ran into was the lack of QuickTime support, shocking right ;). If you do have a lot of QuickTime or non DivX or Xvid mpeg 4 files, then you can opt to convert them, which I found rather painless when re-encoding a few of the vidcasts I listen to. DVD video may be an issue as well too, if thats your thing... the unit supports mpeg2 but not VOB files directly, so you have to convert those as well if you want them to play on the zen...I would re-encode anyway due to the sheer size, this thing only has 30gm after all ;)

The music...This is really a no-brainer for Creative. All of their players that I've owned have played music beautifully. The noticeable differences with this player, coming from the Zen Xtra, are the beefier headphone amp (which drove my Sennheiser HD 580's with no problem) and the much improved navigational interface. I've loaded up about 15 gigs of songs thus far both from my private collection and from the Yahoo! Music Engine subscription service with no difficulty, every thing plays and sounds great, as you would expect.

The photos...This is by far the best mobile solution for viewing photos. I could actually see photo enthusiasts buying the vision just for this feature; its ability to organize by folder, its thumbnail viewer, its slideshow and custom slideshow abilities, its composite video output, and most of all, its support for importing your photos (and videos) right off the cameras memory card are second to none. Basically, I'm now able to take my entire digital photo library with me wherever I go! Very cool feature...

The rest...The FM radio support is awesome and is of more use that i though it would be. Sometimes it just nice to let someone else be the dj for a change...The voice recorder works well and has a nice visual line level on the screen, though I'm not sure how much I'll use that feature. Its just cool to have when you need it...The personal organizer is really a nice touch too, its great having the ability to take my calendar and especially my contacts with me. And finally, the battery holds out 13 hours listening to music (with hold button on) and 4.5 watching video, on the standard battery. There is extra beefy battery available as an accessory that bumps those numbers to 26 hours for music and 9 hours for video! I'm sure it will add some bulk but thats really negligible its worth it when longevity is the key.

You will not believe this

Chris Kirby — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 23:09:49 GMT

<<	Most amazing home theater setup I've ever seen.

I've dreamed of having my own home theatre but I could have never imagined going all out like this guy did...you really do have to see to believe. Anyone have a million bucks I can borrow?