Adventures With Rockbox or: How I Learned to Stop Caring About My iPod

So I guess I've had my Zune for two or three weeks now, and I'm ready to make the following conclusions.

The player is magnificent. It's amazing. It's great. I love it. I don't know if I could ever return to the iPod. I love the twist interface, I love the big screen, I love all the visual components. It's just a beautiful piece of work.

Unfortunately, the software absolutely blows. I think in my original post I stated that I'd stumbled across some bugs which would hopefully be fixed soon, and that I could probably get used to some of the tagging operation inconveniences. Neither has proven true. Bugs are still quite prevalent, and then oh my goodness the Zune's tagging deficiencies are starting to just drive me up the wall. The worst instance occurred when I tagged an album through the Zune software, only for the mp3s to become corrupted and unplayable. Thanks, guys. Isn't Microsoft supposed to be, like, a software company?

This is great.


This is not.

I really need some third-party software to arrive really soon. Where's EphZune? Where's Red Chair? Where's the Mediamonkey Zune plugin? I need you, I want you so badly, and yet you're a world away from me. (By the way, I've started using Mediamonkey fairly recently, and it's definitely replaced Tag&Rename as my go-to tagger, highly highly recommended).

Reading comments from other Zune users, someone mentioned Rockbox, and that piqued my interest. Going to their site, I found that Rockbox basically provides open source firmware replacements for your mp3 player. I'm not interested in that for the Zune since I think the interface is fine as it is, and it's not available yet anyways, but what caught my eye was new firmware for the iPod. I had fantasies of an open-source Zune-like interface placed on a touch-sensitive iPod scroll wheel, and I got all excited-like.

So with some time on my hands Tuesday night, I decided to give it a shot, and install the Rockbox firmware on my now-unused nano. It turned out to become by far the most hardcore computer tech work I've ever done.



There were four or five archives to unzip off the Rockbox page, with no instructions on any of them, I had to go by the 100-page pdf manual available for download. So with all the pieces eventually in place, I sat down to find out how everything fit together.

Step one, check the current firmware version on your iPod. On my nano, it was Version 1.1. Easy enough.

And then that's pretty much when everything went to hell in a handbasket. I found myself opening command prompts to manually create files and combine others, making direct changes to the iPod firmware code through the command prompts, and other such gloriously fun experiences. Seeing as how I have exactly zero experience with the command prompt outside of playing Mario's Game Gallery in elementary school, which basically only required typing in three magic letters to start the game, this setup was a pretty traumatizing experience.

Game freaking ruled.

All the files I created ended up being located in folders completely different from the ones I intended, which led to intensive search missions using the Find function. That's like planning on building a warship in Annapolis Harbor, only to find out that the ship was mistakenly built in Wyoming. Why me, I asked, why me. I blame my current command prompt skillz. In any case, everything was finally set up, so it was time to turn on the nano.

The rockbox boot screen shows up, great. Then I get the main menu. I see Calendars, Notes, Contacts. Well that's nice, I think. But wait..what happened to my music?

What.

Eventually, after sifting through dozens of pages of the pdf manual, I find that I need to set up a database on the iPod, then jump through another series of hoops to even get that database to appear. About half an hour later, we're finally ready to rumble.

The result? Well, it's basically like a really hideous version of the original iPod interface, except with some extra features thrown in. I really like how I can turn on ReplayGain; since I use foobar2000 on my computer, all of my mp3s already have ReplayGain tags to make sure that volume is normalized. Audioscrobbler reporting is also a nice touch. Well those features are nice and dandy, but oh wow is the interface hideous. I'm not usually one to care about form over function, but this is a case where the look of the GUI absolutely outweighs any positive attributes that the program may or may not have. I play some Pipettes tunes, and I can't tell what half of the symbols and numbers of the screen are even supposed to mean. What in the world does 77% mean? 77% of what? It's not volume or track progress, so what is at 77%? I've been completely unsuccessful at finding an explanation, and there are still a great many mysteries to be uncovered as well.

Meanwhile, I notice that the battery is running low, so I plug the iPod into my AC Adapter. Now, things just get ridiculous. Right when I plug the thing in, Rockbox resets the player. We return to the bootup screen. And then...Rockbox resets the player again. We return to the bootup screen. And then...Rockbox resets the player again. We return to the bootup screen. And then...Rockbox resets the player again. We return to the bootup screen. And then...Rockbox resets the player again. We return to the bootup screen. And then...Rockbox resets the player again. We return to the bootup screen. And then...Rockbox resets the player again. We return to the bootup screen. And then...Rockbox resets the player again. We return to the bootup screen. And then...Rockbox resets the player again. We return to the bootup screen. And then...Rockbox resets the player again. We return to the bootup screen. And then...Rockbox resets the player again.

So yeah. Wtf. Is the only way to charge my iPod through USB then? And if I'm plugged into the AC Adapter I can't actually do anything except watch my player reset over and over again? I'll admit, it was kind of fun to watch for about 30 seconds, until my violent tendencies began to emerge, and then five minutes later I decided to blow up the sun.

So now I've decided to uninstall Rockbox. But there's no way I'm going to tackle that tonight. My mind reels at the thought of what that probably involves. I may just stuff that Rockboxed nano into my drawer and let the battery inevitably die. That was without a doubt the most painful installation process I've ever had to endure, but it was worth it, right? And it builds character anyways, right? Suicide.



Fortunately, some other things have been running smoothly lately. About two months ago, I accidentally spilled some Pepsi on my Thinkpad's keyboard. Stunningly, that's the first time I've ever done it. In any case, I did the right thing by shutting off the laptop and turning it upside-down. Unfortunately, some of the sticky liquid still got caught in the keyboard, so for the past two months the left side of my keyboard has been incredibly sticky and stiff, and interestingly enough my left hand has gotten adjusted to it, and I have a tough time using proper keyboards now. I guess spilling that Pepsi gave my fingers a major workout, perhaps I should try some hardcore epoxy super-adhesive next time.

In any case, the 'w' key also fell off some time during that process, and I wasn't able to pop it back in. So in addition to the stiff left side of the keyboard, I've basically been pushing the pressure-sensitive metal underneath the 'w' key for the past two months. I just didn't have the time to call IBM about it, and I mean, it worked fine for a while, I guess.

But since I've got a couple of 15-page papers on the horizon for finals period, I caved in and finally decided to give IBM Tech Support a call, so I could get a proper keyboard. IBM Tech Support is kind of amazing, and I had a replacement keyboard in mailbox just a few days later. Installation was quite simple, and I felt extremely satisfied afterwards; there's nothing quite like successfully fixing something that's broken. This new keyboard feels so perfect, I have no idea how I actually functioned with that nightmare for two months.

The other great thing I've discovered is ClearType. This has completely revolutionzed the way I see my computer. Anybody using an LCD screen with their laptop or desktop monitor needs to get ClearType. This is what it must feel like to get Laser Eye Surgery. Everything is so...clear. Again, I don't know how I could actually function before I found this saving grace.



Sorry about that tech-heavy post, next week I'll compensate and try to kindle a fire from sticks in the woods, and hang out with some wolves for a while. In the meantime, here's some links.

• Deadspin reports that apparently, Gilbert Arenas of the Washington Wizards has his own blog on nba.com, and it's amazing.

  PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii
  Man, I couldn't get it. I stood outside no hours and got nothing. That's when you sit in your room and try to use your celebrityism. I didn't get nothing. I knew I should have called and said I was D-Wade. "Um, hello, this is D-Wade ... This is LeBron ... Can I come over there and get one of them?" Then I would have had one.
  

  Best.
• After posting a short negative review on the release date, the New York Times is now running a longer, but more positive review of Against the Day. I've decided that I'm actually going to try and read it over Winter Break, because I want to spend some time going through Annals of the Former World as well, and that'll be a lighter load for the trip. Or, I could decide to flip them around, we'll see. In any case, I'm really looking for to reading AotFW because McPhee is becoming one of my favorite writers around, and this is reportedly his masterpiece.
• I'm sure that very few of you will actually need this, but for those who do, here's some custom Sunrise and Sunset calendars that will certainly prove to be extremely useful.
• How to get through a traffic jam in the shortest time possible. You will be very surprised by these results.

  Amazingly enough, it is not necessary that EVERYONE do this.

• I get the chills every time I watch this amazing commercial. It's so rare for a non-humorous commercial to be so effective; it was such a breath of fresh air to see this for the first time. On the flipside, those Volkswagen 'Safety Happens' spots like this one are also serious and effective, but in a totally different sense. I haven't talked to anybody who likes those Volkswagen commercials, but you can't deny that they're effective.
• The large South American woodpecker Celeus obrieni is known from only a single specimen from 1926, but it may have been rediscovered, for now the article is only in Portoguese only, unfortunately.
• This looks like the best chair.
  
• And for some reason, I'm really in love with this calendar. Somebody talk me out of buying it, shouldn't be too difficult.
  

With Against the Day

Thomas Pynchon's new novel, entitled Against the Day, was released this week, nine years after his last novel Mason & Dixon. I preordered Against the Day when it first became available on Amazon, but to be completely honest, I almost forgot that it was supposed to come in around this time. Books are difficult to hype up; the critics who receive them in advance will require a lot of time to finish, especially a dense tome such as this; I'm not even convinced that every critic was able to finish the thing before the deadline forced them to toss up a 'Pynchon is brilliant' review or a 'Pynchon is pretentious garbage' review. Advance copies of books can't be easily pirated and downloaded like music and movies are these days, and even if they were, even the fastest readers would require some time to hype it up. The final Harry Potter book is probably the only book I can think of which could potentially reach that stage, just because the interest in it is that high. Then again, I read an article somewhere which basically stated that Against the Day is the only other book which could rival Harry Potter in terms of release-date-anticipation and hype. Understandably so. Yet despite this, any hype that existed was largely beneath my notice, and so I nearly forgot that it was supposed to arrive.

Instead, I've been expecting something like five or six packages to arrive around the same time, so yesterday morning I checked my mailbox about nine or ten times, each time coming up empty. For some reason though, just before I left for class, I decided to check my mailbox yet again, almost as a conditioned reflex I get from being in Parrish at all. Yet, lo and behold, a package slip sat quietly in my box.

Could it be printer toner? Could it be a replacement keyboard for my busted Thinkpad? Could it be a band's t-shirt? Or could it be...isn't Against the Day supposed to arrive around this time? Well...GUESS WHICH ONE IT WAS?!

Wait, I guess that wasn't much of a surprise. You're right, it was the printer toner.

No really, here's my unboxing of Against the Day, performed surgically on the round table in the Underhill Music Library.



Heck yes.


The goods exposed. If you're curious, I added James Joyce's Dubliners as a cheap filler to get free shipping. Thanks SlickFillers! Not a bad filler at all, I'll probably read it on the flight back home or something.


Amazon's new packaging method, shrinkwrapping your items against a slab of cardboard. I ordered one CD from them, and they did the same thing, and gave the contraption its own large box. Hey, whatever works, the shipping was free I suppose. I'd love to goto an Amazon warehouse and see the machine that performs this shrinkwrapping, it's probably the best machine ever, I think it would give me beautiful dreams.


The Book. The Book!!! THE BOOK!!!!!!!!!!! By the way, those are actually drop shadows behind the title, not an artifact of an unstable hand on the camera. I'm not sure I like the shadows too much, plain and simple would've done it better for me.


Close-up of that stamp/seal on the cover's lower-right. It also makes an appearance on the cover page inside. Something tells me that it may be integral to the book's plot. Or, more likely, not. The plot probably has nothing to do with this seal. Or, more likely, there is no plot. Knowing Pynchon, the dude probably found this at some remote monastery in the Cambodian jungle which used to be the home of the guy who invented gunpowder.


The spine, replete with additional drop shadows and a section of the stamp.


The back. Lookin' pretty good there, Thomas.


You can't be serious. How much did this hack get paid?


Book appears to be relatively lengthy. Also, beautiful.



That's my copy of Against the Day. So what are my thoughts on the book? Haha, you thought I might've finished it already? Yeah, lol. I'm not convinced that anyone will actually ever finish this book, sort of like Finnegans Wake or something, except three times longer.

No, but seriously, I'll probably try and make a dent into it on the flight to Australia next semester, since that's crossing half the globe latitudinally as well as longitudinally. I'm sure it'll make me look like an obnoxious and pretentious jerk, which I guess is the only problem. Then again, who else would even try to tackle this thing? I can't blame anyone for the typecasting, maybe it's even somewhat accurate. Nonetheless, I'll have to work through it at some point, and a long flight is as good a time as any.

For now, I got through the first page, and it was basically incredible. Quite a contrast from the stunningly poetic opening page of Gravity's Rainbow, this one opened with this fun, lightweight scene of dirigible enthusiasts heading off in their airship, en route to Chicago and the World's Fair. I'm looking forward to seeing how the second page matches up. If I had one complaint about The Crying of Lot 49, it's that the opening two pages are really boring, so I'm glad that Against the Day has avoided that pitfall. Hopefully its quality will continue to arc upwards. I like how I'm micro-analyzing individual pages of Pynchon novels, but that's sort of given to you by the writing style.


Before I get to the links, just thought I'd point out that I've made some changes to the sidebar links, as I doubt that many of you were interested in reading more about Ornithology in Pennsylvania (sad as that is to me, haha). Not that these are any more interesting, but at least they're more relevant to what I'm doing with the blog now. Also, on the campus birdlist, I'm now noting updates at the top of that page, so that you can actually tell when stuff happens.


On with the links:

• New Scientist has asked 70 of the world's most brilliant scientists to offer their predictions on what the next fifty years have to offer.
• Various surveys have been conducted over the years, but this Wikipedia article compiles the results to rank the Presidents of the United States. Unsurprisingly, Abraham Lincoln and FDR top the list, but where do Bush and Clinton fall? Or William Henry Harrison? Reading this article reminded me of how much I loved history in high school, what in the world happened?
• If you're at the store for holiday shipping, and you want to know if you can find a certain item cheaper online, try Frucall, where you can check online prices from your cellphone. I haven't tried this yet, but it sounds like a great idea, and others have gotten it to work.
• Forbes has just published its annual list of the 15 wealthiest fictional characters, and this year, they shook things up by taking Santa off the list! After all, he's not really fictional, amirite. Witness the aftermath by checking out the list.
• I've never watched CSI: Miami before, but this compilation of hysterical one-liners really makes me want to start, one of the better YouTube videos I've seen. The Roger Daltrey scream is what totally makes the video. "You don't spend $1000 on clothes...that you're never gonna wear...YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
• Equally hilarious is the Nietzsche Family Circus.
• And finally, the Madagascar Pochard has been rediscovered!
• Have a great Thanksgiving. Enjoy the turkey turkey.
  

Zoom Zoom Zune

A few weeks ago, after viewing videos of interface walkthroughs, and researching lists of features, I decided to take the plunge. I bought a Microsoft Zune. Or, rather, I preordered one from EB Games, since they weren't to be released until the 14th, this past Tuesday.

Knowing EB Games, I wasn't expecting to get my hands on my Zune until Friday at the earliest (if ever, haha), but stunningly they came through in the clutch and got it to me overnight! Clearly, EB Games is ready for the NBA. I opened my mailbox on Wednesday morning, there was a package slip, I giddily strode over to the post office window, and exchanged a piece of paper for a small box containing a Zune.

The box, ready to be opened. Oh man.


We get our first, tantalizing glimpse of the treasures within.


Packaged air has to remain the greatest invention of all time. Seriously, are people actually making money by selling air? It's even more amazing than bottled water. On the right however, please note the second greatest invention of all time.


The minimalist box in all its glory.


Inside the box, you find...another box. Brilliant.


There she is. I'll admit, I got a bit emotional here, but I couldn't let my tears drop onto the Zune.


Let's get started! It's kind of funny that I managed to focus on the reflection of my hand, rather than on the beautiful piece of technology right in front of my face.


Hello from Seattle! Also note the doubleshot.


Slightly better shot of the doubleshot. Otherwise, this is a completely useless photo.


Fast forward 24 hours, after all the setup. Here she is sitting on the desk, biding her sweet time.


It's alive!!!!!!!!!! Note that I'd already changed the wallpaper to a photo I took at the Pine Barrens on an Ecology field trip.


Playing some music, since that's what a music player is supposed to do, apparently.


Listenin' to the radio, in this case the immortal WSRN. At this point, I believe Michelle Crouch was spinning some sweet Xiu Xiu tunez.



So that's my baby. I can't wait for her first day at school, her first kiss, her first boyfriend, prom, leaving home to goto college, and becoming an independent Zune. Fortunately, I get to keep her for awhile before all that happens, except, obviously, the school bit. She's been at school since the beginning. She's just that smart, man.

But seriously, what are my impressions of the Zune? I've now spent a little more than a day playing around with the Zune player and the Zune software, and I jotted down my thoughts on a piece of paper, basically transcribed here. Here are the Pros and Cons of the Zune, as I've experienced so far:


Pros:

• Just picking the thing up, you can definitely tell that it's hefty and thick. But I don't think that's a bad thing, because I always feel like I'm about to break my nano in half, just by putting it in my pocket. This is not a fragile machine. Obviously that doesn't mean that I'll throw it out my window because I'm too lazy to carry it down the stairs, but I'm certainly less worried about breaking this than I would be about an iPod.
• The thing doesn't pick up fingerprints. The back of the player is a nice matte material, the same as on Thinkpads, which is basically fingerprint proof. Let's compare that to the iPod, which seems to get cloudy from fingerprints without even being touched.
• The little slipcase included with the iPod was this incredibly cheap rubbery thing, that I've never seen anyone actually use, other than myself. The material feels cheap, and it looks cheap. The Zune , meanwhile, comes with a stunning suede slipcase. My slipcase was brown, matching the player I bought, and I'd imagine that owners of black or white Zunes have respective black and white slipcases. Let me emphasize that they are suede, and are very sexy-looking-and-feeling. Not quite on the level of a premium leather case like a Vaja, but it's a significant improvement from the cheap iPod case. I'll be keeping this case fo sho.
  
• The 'doubleshot' feature, which adds a complementary-colored trim, is really beautiful. My brown Zune is complemented by a forest green trim, the black Zune has a blue trim, while the white Zune has a translucent doubleshot. Every time I see the light catch that doubleshot, I feel like I'm watching a Scarlett Johansson film and falling in love all over again.
• You won't look like a stupid yuppie/hipster/stupid-person for carrying this around. Every time I see someone walking around campus with those white earbuds and cords emerging from their pockets and wandering up to their ears, I've developed an instinctual urge to destroy their face, even if it turns out to be a good friend. Just for that one split second, I want to kill. I hate those stupid white earbuds. The Zune comes with these sleek black-and-silver buds that look a good deal slicker than the iPod buds. Of course, I won't be using them, as the sound quality in them is about on par with the atrocious iPod buds, but it's just the principle of the thing. The white iPod earbuds have evolved from being a hip fashion statement into a sign of blissful ignorance, bandwagoning, and sheep-like bridge-jumping. And it's not just the buds, but the iPod itself that's evolving. I'll admit: one of the main reasons I was attracted to the Zune was because it was different. And that's all. Having the iPod as your only reasonable option for an mp3 player felt absolutely restrictive to me. Now you have options. Take advantage of them.
• The big screen. It's really super nice looking you guys.
• The ability to set your own wallpaper is a really nice feature, and certainly a refreshing break from the monotonous Mac interface of the iPod.
  
• The ability to view photos and videos in landscape-mode is just beautiful, and really takes full advantage of that massive screen. In general, this is a very visually-focused player, with a lot of emphasis on the album art, wallpapers, photos, etc. In this age of digital music, that visual aspect is often lost, and that's really sad to me, as the visual component is an important aspect of the artist's presentation of their work. Plus, I mean, it's pretty.
• Personally, I really like the 'twist' interface of the Zune. I don't have to repeatedly go back to the previous menu if I want to switch artists or albums, instead I can just move to the left or right to goto the next artist or album.
  
• FM Radio. Why does the standalone iPod not have this? I've never understood.
• Also, why won't iTunes let you transport files from your iPod onto your computer? New iPod users ask how to do this on a constant basis, to the point of annoyance. Why would you let the iPod act as a removable storage device, if you need backdoor means of accessing those stored files? Blows my mind. Doing this is easy on the Zune software.
  
• On the Zune, you can easily 'flag' a song, for whatever reason at all. This may sound like a silly and minor feature, but I've already used it quite a bit. Say you're listening to an album for the first time, or a playlist that a friend sent over. If there's a particular song you enjoyed, and you want to remember what it is, just flag it. When you plug the Zune back into your computer, your inbox will tell you what your flagged tunes are, and then you can listen to them further, purchase them from the store, do whatever you want. I know it sounds silly, but I mean, why not include it? It doesn't hurt the Zune experience at all, but for those who do use it, it's quite helpful.
  
• Microsoft is really pushing the wireless capability of the Zune, and how you can send and receive songs from other Zune users over a wireless connection. A lot of commentators have pointed out that this will only be a useful feature if lots of people buy Zunes, but then if the wireless is useless at first, who would buy a Zune? It's a bit of a catch-22. I think it's important to remember that the Zune was built with upgrades in mind. There are many features of the Zune that have not yet been unlocked, though the hardware to pull them off are already present within these first-generation Zunes. What if you could use the wireless capabilities to connect to the internet to buy tunes, or to be a Virtual DJ streaming songs to your friends with Zunes, or to get updates on the weather or the stock market? You won't need to wait for the second-generation Zunes, these are features easily incorporated in the first generation, and in fact Microsoft has already hinted at plans for these. Well, except for the weather and stock quotes, I made that up, but really, how hard would that be to incorporate? That's just software, easily upgradeable while you're syncing up your Zune with your computer. It won't require a substantial hardware upgrade. A lot of key Zune features will just be added through firmware and software updates, meaning that really, there's a lot potential for very cool features.
  

Cons:

• Though the screen is larger, the resolution is the same as the iPod's. The result is an image that isn't quite as sharp as the iPod's, but is still more than acceptable. If you hold the screen six inches away from your face, you'll certainly notice some blocky curves and pixelation, more so than on an iPod. But hold the Zune a foot away, and it's like watching HD.
• For some reason or another, the resolution on album art is quite low. Pixelation is far more evident on album art than on photos or videos, which fortunately can be quite pristine. There's visible problems with the album art though. For example, I tagged Deerhoof - The Runners Four with a massive high-resolution album art tag, in fact it could be my laptop's wallpaper without any empty side space, that's how high the resolution is. On the player however, the resolution is substantially lower. I'm not sure if that's an issue with the Zune , or an issue with mp3 album art tags, but in either case, the album art will not be as pristine as the press photos have likely led you to believe. I have a hunch that it's the tags themselves, which sort of bites, but what can you do.
  
• The Zune can't be used as a mass storage device like many other mp3 players. Personally, I think I've only used that feature once in my entire life, so it wasn't a huge deal for me. For others, it may well be. I dunno, I just use pen drives, or my external hard drive. To each their own.
• There aren't any calendars, games, or alarm clocks on the Zune. It's just music, pictures, video, and radio. What I want to know is: who used those calendars and such? Anyone who did was entirely too dependent on their iPod, and should be slapped. I hate to stereotype, but these are probably the same people who probably went jogging with their iPods, dropped it on the pavement, and then wondered why the hard drive failed. They probably also own RAZRs, PEBLs, or whatever the hell the newest fashion cellphone is. They also like either Dave Matthews Band or U2, or even BOTH!
  Sorry for that rant. Society should not be as infatuated with the iPod as they currently are. But yeah. I didn't use the calendar or contacts on the iPod, and I don't know anyone who did, so who cares if it isn't on the Zune.
• There are far more accessories for the iPod than the Zune. Accessories?! You mean like a little purse and cute earrings for your adorable little iPod? Shut up. Let's think of what accessories are somewhat important, if not necessary: AC Adapter, Car Adapter/FM Transmitter, Dock and maybe a nicer case. Those are not necessary by any means, but they may be nice to have for certain individuals with certain needs. These are all accessories easily obtained for the Zune . What else do you need? A case made from a kid's sock with Elmo stitched on it? A set of speakers which also happens to have a disco ball and flashing strobe lights on top? A remote control since you're too lazy to carry this pocket-sized gadget in your, well, pocket, which also happens to control your HD TV, Tivo, DVD player, car alarm, and sprinklers? Get real. I think that the Zune has as many accessories as you really need, while the number of iPod accessories is just getting ridiculous. Where's your head at?
  
• One major problem I have with both the iPod and the Zune is the On-the-Go/Quicklist playlist feature. On my old Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen, the On-the-Go playlist was incredibly fluid. If I wanted to change the order of tracks, delete a certain track, or anything else, that was easily accomplished. The quick playlists now present on the iPod and Zune are really stiff to me. You just add albums or songs, then clear when you're done. The art of the mix is completely gone on these players, which makes me a bit sad.
• Now, the big issue. The Zune software. Before you start flipping out, let me first qualify my forthcoming statements. The Zune software is great. It's basically just like iTunes, except black instead of chrome, and you can move stuff from your Zune onto your computer (what a brilliant concept!), so it's not a bad piece of software. I've just encountered a lot of small quirks, which I'm sure would be easily fixed in a new update, but they're worth pointing out regardless.
• Unlike iTunes, you can't edit the tags of songs that are currently on your player. What you have to do is delete the song off the player, edit the tags in your library, and move them back onto the Zune. That's pretty annoying for me. It's not a huge hassle, but it'd still be nice to just edit tags directly.
• The software doesn't seem to handle bands with the '/' character very well. Both Akron/Family and Pas/Cal show up two or even three times on the artist list, I guess it interprets the slash to represent a new folder. That's kind of silly. I've found quite a few other small bugs with the tagging and other software functions, but those are relatively easily ironed out.
• I guess there's the whole DRM thing too. Meh. It makes sense, legally. If you want to change the law, that's a whole different issue. The fact that songs can be shared at all is a great feature, so enjoy it legally.
  

The album art here has pretty clearly been sharpened up.

So which is better: the iPod, or the Zune? Neither is perfect at all. Like I said earlier, I'd love to have more flexible playlists, and neither can record sound without an accessory. Neither iTunes nor the Zune software are perfect either, and I'm anxious to see what kinds of third-party software comes out for the Zune; perhaps a company like Red Chair will jump into the mix.

Given that neither is perfect, I have to say that at this juncture, I prefer the Zune. Ultimately, it has more features that I actually care about, and all of its early bugs and problems can easily be fixed with software and firmware upgrades. Perhaps I'm putting too much faith in Microsoft to come out with timely and effective upgrades, just look at IE7. But at least the potential is there, and that's important to me.

So has Microsoft successfully created an iPod-killer? As all the bugs and quirks point out, it's exceedingly difficult a piece of technology as solid as the iPod. For a first-generation player however, Microsoft has made up a lot of ground. At least, in terms of quality, in my eyes. How will it sell? I don't have a clue. Outside of the blogosphere, I haven't really heard of anyone in the general public who was terribly excited about the Zune. Everyone is perfectly content with their iPod, and why not, it's a fairly good player. It's just that nobody knows what their options are. Microsoft will really have to ramp up its advertising in order to outperform those flashy iPod ads, and get the Zune name out into the market.



I apologize for not posting for the past few weeks, but things have been pretty busy. I'll toss out some of the really old links I'd stored away, here's some relatively new ones:

• Uncle Mark has just released his 2007 Gift Guide. Instead of listing 'The Top 10 Digital Cameras' or anything like that, Mark lists the One Digital Camera which came out on top after massive amounts of research, and he'll give his suggestions for other gifts, such as toys, computers, and...mp3 players. Yes, Uncle Mark still recommends the iPod over the Zune, but well, to each his own. I'm not sure if he's used one yet, so whatever. In any case, the guide is very well put together, and has some fun tips at the close as well.
• An absentee voter in Florida used an incredibly rare stamp to submit their vote, the 1918 Inverted Jenny. Unfortunately, the sender did not leave their name, meaning that the vote will not be counted, and because of election rules, will also be sealed away for 22 months, so the story can't be verified. The Wikipedia article on the Inverted Jenny and other rare stamps are really cool, seems like a fascinating hobby to get involved with. Frickin' stamps?!
• If you'd like a nice meal to sit down with, why not try out the most expensive pizza in the world, sprinkled with edible flakes of gold? This is most definitely what the world needs right now.
• Great tip on how to capture the airplane armrest from your pesky comatose neighbor.
• Do a Google search for 'worst band in the world'.
• Holy cow, I really wish I could visit these sorts of corn mazes. This reminds me of a discussion we were having in my Sociology of Law class. For some reason or another, we were talking about drugs, specifically the differences between crack cocaine and powder cocaine, and the socioeconomic classes which use each type. One member of the class stated that, "When this homeless black person smokes some crack, he gets this instant, intense high, and it makes him want to go kill somebody or rob a convenience store. But when this affluent white guy snorts cocaine, he just goes outside and alters his hedge maze." I could not stop laughing.
• Kettle Brand potato chips are trying to determine what their newest flavor should be. So, they're letting you decide! But wait, this isn't just some lame survey you take on their website, where you decide just based on the names. They're letting you sample the chips themselves, with the Passport To Flavor Party Pack. I already picked one of these up, and I'm planning to get everyone's opinion at a study break later in the semester. The presentation is amazing, each flavor has their own fancy placard, along with a recipe for a complementary drink. You even have to taste them in a specific order. So to sum up: this is pretty much best.
• What are the Top 10 most common computer passwords in England? Obviously things will be slightly different here in America, but it's still pretty sobering. I completely approve of the football team-related passwords.
• Gang of hippies re-enact protein synthesis. We watched this video in Bio 1, and it was the highlight of the semester. This video makes me so happy. Look at all the hippies!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!11!!1111
• Dennis Rodman pulled a hysterical publicity stunt at his latest book signing in NYC. Deadspin's got the story covered. Meanwhile, here's a photo of Dennis Rodman dressed up like one of the dudes in KISS, surrounded by miners. The sad part is that apparently, this was not for Halloween. Edit: Rodman's agent has asked Deadspin to retract the story, and it's one of the most amazing emails ever. The comments are classic as well.
• You know Rock Paper Scissors? Did you see RPS-25, with a full 25 hand gestures to choose from. Well, that dude went even more overboard with the brand new RPS-101. The ramifications of this have still not been comprehended.
• Rapping Paper is wrapping paper with rap lyrics printed on them. This is why I love the world sometimes. Give me a hug.
• Two amateur Scrabble players in Kentucky miraculously played the highest-scoring Scrabble of all-time, got the highest-scoring word ever recorded, with a carpenter named Michael Cresta emerging with the highest individual score ever. This board is blowing my mind in every single way.
• I mentioned Vaja cases earlier when talking about accessories, but it should be worth noting that they just started making messenger bags. I just noticed that they've already started making a Zune case as well.
• Best. Burglary. Ever.
• Here's some cool videos of guitar fingertapping, more extended techniques, and finally some fun with tuning pegs.
• VERY cool clock/calendar for your computer. I've set it as my screensaver as well.
• These dudes have major coin-balancing skillz. Most definitely ready for the NBA.
• That's all I've got for now. Peace out.