“So I was like. What could I do that could really just, you know cause them to go; he is physically and mentally unstable ”

From YouTube

This is part 1 of a video series that will chronicle my name change to:
First name: Microsoft
Last name: Zune

Part 1: I called Microsoft in this video to ask about the legal side of my name change. I didn’t get the 100% go ahead I was expecting but they did give me the legal department’s address to send a letter to. But the individual at the end of the call did let me know something neat..

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OK, our site has been down or messed up for over a month now. It’s not exactly all my fault although I could have probably done a little more to get it back up sooner. We had a list of issues but most of them were from spammers and scammers trying to hack our Zune site. The hackers installed an IRC bouncer and were using it to ping our topsite script and replay spam to all the wonderful folks online.

Our web host took a dump on me at the same time. I have been with the same dedicated hosting plan for over 4 years before all these troubles came up. It was the last straw as far as I was concerned and I had to find anew hosting company for this sie and all of my other sites also. It was a real hassle but with some help from a good web hosting comparison site at Web Hosting Choice and their handy newsletter I was able to find a new host and move on rather quickly.

We’re back up and running and our new hosting company has some cool new tools I can play with to add things to the site.

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I am rebuilding the ZuneMAX database and getting rid of some of the unused features of our site. During the process you may notice things chaing rapidly and errors popping up as I modify the new template and create a more fluid look for the new site.

I will be looking for some writing partners who want to write about their Zune players. If you own a Zune and would like to discuss a position writing for ZuneMAX.com please contact me for more details.

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Zune players now come in five colors and new players rumored to be released soon.	Free Wallpapers in the Zune gallery and Free Zune Tech Support in the Zune Forums.

Zune is to be a family of wireless media devices from Microsoft that allow users to play and share music, movies and pictures. The first generation plays music and video with features like an industry leading 3 inch large screen on a 30GB hard drive model with a wireless chip which permits Zune to Zune music sharing. ZuneMAX was one of the first Zune blogs and community forums online since June 11, 2006 with just about everything you ever wanted to know about the Microsoft Zune and the Zune MarketPlace beginning with our news blog below or in the Zune message boards.

Zune wireless players are made for sharing and so is ZuneMAX.com. File uploads and downloads and music sharing are encouraged and we share loads of new music and video content from the top of the charts to up and coming artists and unsigned bands or musicians including new stuff from our fan base in the Zune forums. Join the Zune forums today and enter to Win a Free Zune in our next Zune Giveaways.

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Today is the last day of 2006 and wow has it been a wild year for me and this website. When I first found out about the Zune I had no idea how much it would change the rest of my year. Since July 11th I have been here at this site almost every day working with some of the best people online to build the greatest Zune community we can and I believe we have done an incredible job in such a short time.

Our site is alive and active with loads of very talented Zune fans. We have musicians and artists of all mediums present with a desire to share their work with Zune users everywhere. Our dedicated community leaders are busy each day helping out new Zune users with tips and suggestions on working with the Zune and more. Without them our site would be a mess and my thanks goes out to them and everyone who has helped out over these past few months.

The response to Zune by the press has been mixed but Zune users and members of our forum are sure happy with their Zune players and so am I. MAX may have some issues to work out yet but I feel confident Microsoft has heard the message and the fixes for Zune troubles are on the way.

I’m most excited about what we’ll see from the Zune community in 2007 as we respond to our new media players with more personalization and insight into our Zune experiences. I love the creative output we’ve seen in things like the Zune Wallpaper contests and the selection of new music for Zune fans is great. I think my favorite part of my first mp3 player has been the incredible amount and diversity of new music Zune fans have shared with me and my Zune.

I look forward to having some serious fun this year with MAX here at ZuneMAX.com and I invite you all to do the same. Please enjoy our site and share your thoughts on the Zune and more with your new friends at the Social.

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Do you blog? Do you have a Zune? How would you like to be a Zune blogger for the one of the webs leading Zune bloigs? Well no is your chance because ZuneMAX.com is in search of a few good bloggers to help us manage all the articles that need to be wrritten about Zune players and accessories.

If you think you can blog and are willing to work cheap then you are invited to Contact Us about blogging for Zune MAX. Join the webs coolest blog team and help us “Take your Zune to the MAX”

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Welcome to the first ZuneMAX.com Zunecast Episode #1. It’s not a podcast but you iPod fans can still watch it. You may call it a Videocast although it’s not an Audiocast and Netcast sounds so 90’s I won’t bother so I produced my first Zunecast instead. It’s more a tutorial that I’m not totally happy with it but it’s done and I’m looking forward to trying it again.

My first try at Zunecasting is a continuation of my Meet MAX article and I spend a few minutes running through the Zune firmware for you. You can tell I had some notes to keep me on track because the first two times I tried to do it on the fly and I kept messing it up. I realized if I was going to properly cover all of it I would have to have notes to keep me focused and still I messed it up. I barely go over the FM tuner and there is one mistake in the video. We’ll see if anyone catches it.

Since it’s my first Zunecast I am trying a few new tools with our blog software. You have the choice of watching the Google Video you see here now or you can use the player located at the top of this blog post to watch the movie now or you can download the entire file for playback later.

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I’ll preface this by saying that I have never owned a portable mp3 player of any kind and I do not consider myself any kind of expert on these things but I do own a Zune so I’ll tell you what I think about it. I think all mechanical devices have a life/mind of their own and my Zune will not act like your Zune or her Zune or even his. My Zune is mine and unlike any other, his name is MAX but you can find him on the Zune network as zunemax-com.

MAX is a sexy man with an executive look and sensible styling. He’s a tough guy that can handle a fall from 3 feet high to the floor below without skipping a beat and has been 35MPH on my 4 wheeler up and down some pretty rough trails and never cried once. MAX fell off my desk to the carpeted floor twice and rolled from my lap onto the parking lot when I parked the car the other day. I thought all of that was tough until MAX took a swim in the glass of water next to my desk last night and came out with little more than wet skin. That’s right, my Zune took a dip in my drink and came out perfectly fine. Yes, it was playing when I snatched him back from death by his earbud cords. It was literally nothing more than a dunk but he came out fine and still rocks on. No troubles yet. I think I jerked him out so fast he never really got wet but he did go underwater. I told you guys I was tough on my equipment and MAX has handled the worst of it thus far with no trouble.

MAX carries my Zunetag which is affordableweb, I could not get my old Gamertag from Microsoft on this Zune because it’s been reserved. Of course it was reserved for me but they can’t seem to find that information yet. This may have something to do with the fact I don’t have an Xbox 360 yet and my original Gamertag has been retired or something. I don’t really know, I’m hoping for an Xbox 360 from Santa Cuz this year so we’ll see how that goes. Maybe I’ll set my old Gamertag up on it and use it for my next Zune player I guess. I understand I’m not the only person that had trouble securing an old Gamertag for use as the Zunetag so at least I’m not alone at the social.

Setting up MAX and the Zune software on my PC for the first use was pretty painless. The Zune software CD installed fast and easy. I never received any errors or had any issue besides my Zunetag registration. It appears some have had worse luck than I and even got some Sexy Zune Errors that I was not privy to. That’s a shame as I would have loved to have seen that womans face on my monitor. Whatever she’s going through it looks like fun. I would have enjoyed writing about that one but its done now. It’s just my opinion but I think someone staged that photo. I just fail to believe it passed through unnoticed from artwork through development, testing and then into production without anyone seeing it. I think it was inserted somewhere in the process by someone for nothing more than bad PR. I mean did no one ever actually look at that photo? How was it selected for inclusion in the Zune software and how did that end up on the installation error page of all places? That’s simply to convenient for me to believe as random and not setup.

I have a very limited music collection and have decided to give the Zune pass a shot. I realize I don’t own the music but do we ever really own it? I mean even a CD has restrictions and limitations. I figure for the money I can experience quite a bit of new music and if I really like something I am still free to purchase the CD. I do not think purchasing digital music is the way to go for long term storage of your collection and keeping it on something as delicate as a harddrive is risky to say the least. The convenience of the Zune MarketPlace and Zune Pass will hopefully offset my monthly cost. I plan on having two players and we already have two computers. If I get the Xbox 360 and can actually sync music on all the devices then its well worth the money. Everyone in my family will have a different use for the Zune MarketPlace and I’m sure we’ll enjoy it. I’ll let you know how that goes in further reviews.

Signing in with the Zune Pass free trial was pretty fast and easy as well and I experienced no troubles at all with this process. No one has asked about a credit card yet so we’ll see how that process goes next week sometime I would guess. The pricing plans are limited and you get no breaks for paying for 3 months. I would think they want to sink some long term buyers and would offer a discounted annual package but no go. Sad as I would have laid down $100 for a full year, I assume they would rather milk me for $14.99 in monthly installments. The $44.97 for 3 months is silly as it offers no benefit to me for the additional investment. Of course a certain percentage of us will not even bother to do the math and realize there is no price break and we’ll pay it anyway. Those are most likely the same people that won’t really use it either but I’m looking forward to a world of new music risk free from my Zune pass.

Some folks in the Zune forums stated it would have been better for Microsoft to offer Points cards with each player to get people into their Microsoft Points system and I would have to agree. I think they should have offered either a choice or even both. Offering even $5 worth of free music in the Zune MarketPlace with a free Points card would have kick started the Zune MarketPlace. The subscription service will probably find limited acceptance in the beginning and an incentive like some free music to keep might help draw attention to the store. I have not gotten into the Microsoft Points program yet so I’ll wait to review that later also.

For being a wireless device Max sure is attached to my PC an awful lot. I have to use the PC installed Zune software for such mundane things as creating a new playlist and deleting files from the player. Each of these is a rather simple task I would think the player should do on its own. I’m not real sure why it doesn’t but it may be related to the sync process. Either way it would be nice to delete items from the device and have the software ask me if I want to delete from just the device or the library as well on my next sync. Zune software lets you add songs to your Quick Playlist but you cannot create a Playlist without using the PC software. I don’t really understand why you can’t create a list using music already on the device but you can’t.

I was also bummed that MAX can’t play music on the player and sync at the same time. It doesn’t seem unreasonable to ask that when I have my Zune attached to my PC and it is syncing that I be able to listen to the player with my earbuds but I can’t. I have to listen through the Zune software and my PC speakers, time for new speakers obviously as MAX cannot play while in a sync.

Of all the things I love about my new Zune the PC software is the one I don’t care for as much. The Zune MarketPlace is nice and the user interface is clean and easy to navigate but the software is buggy. I have had some real issues in updating MAX and it seems I can’t keep the software up and running for more than 2 hours without it crashing. At first I assumed this was due to PC memory as I run lots of programs so I restarted and ran just the Zune sync but that really offered little help. When I first entered the store I added quite a few full albums of music that I expected I could download in one evening. Man was I wrong. It has taken me 5 days to download just over 1GB of content from the Zune pass and storefront. I have yet to even complete my first sync and this creates even bigger problems.

I cannot delete a song from my sync list until after the song has been downloaded to the device. I can’t seem to delete the entire list either so for now I’m stuck downloading all the albums I wanted on that first evening last Friday. I selected over 2GB worth of music and in 5 days I have managed to sync less than half of it. I have not experienced much in the way of new music on my Zune yet because it can’t sync the old stuff I tried loading the first time as of yet and I can’t delete the sync list.

I tried to sync MAX by installing the software on a second PC but you can only login as a guest or if you chose to move the installation you must replace all your Zune content with that on the new PC which then becomes the home base for your Zune. It says its a full replacement of all content and I am assuming I will lose all the preloads etc. I really wanted to review some of the preloads and so i don’t want to chance losing them yet and have decided to tough it out for now on this PC.

The Zune MarketPlace has loads more music then i’ll probably ever need. It may lack in some areas but i personally think it will make up for this in may others. I’m open to suggestions on new music from the Zune MarketPlace. Tell me what I should be listening to and I’ll definitely check it out as soon as I can get my Zune to sync.

The Zune Operating system or firmware is really rather simple and does not offer much at all in the way of extra features or anything. I was totally shocked not to even find a clock in my Zune player. I realize that the iPod is known for it’s simplicity but the Zune seems lacking in this area. I suppose I expected it would do lots more as most Microsoft software often does. The graphical user interface (GUI) is very clean and easy to navigate but its a straight forward media player, no extra bells and whistles yet. The 400 MHZ Freescale processor clicks through the menus so fast it’s a breeze to move across a large number of files easily.

The control pad is also easy to use and the entire device and navigation controls fit my hand well. The Zune is a man sized player and not made to hang on your lapel like the Apple Shuffle did for Soledad in the CNN Zune review. This bad boy has a 3 inch screen plus an FM Tuner and WiFi antennae to pack in under the durable rubberized finish when compared to the 5G Video iPod . It ends up less than half an inch in width and one ounce in weight more than the iPod in order to carry these features and the buzzword for slamming it is “clunky”. I think it’s just because they can find little else wrong with the device itself and had to go with its slight difference in size as an issue. I’m an average sized guy and the Zune fits me fine, it carries easy enough in my jeans and even a T-shirt pocket with no problem. It’s not heavy but it feels well built and sturdy.

MAX does not have a cheap or plastic feeling like so many consumer electronics devices these days and I’m not scared to scratch it up although I am very careful with that gorgeous screen. It’s a thing of beauty. They say size does not matter but when you’re watching portable movies it surely does. The Zune screen is sweet. It’s super bright and very colorful. I realize the processor and TV chip can handle higher resolutions and would probably be nicer but with a sacrifice in battery consumption and that’s where we can’t afford it. The battery life is not up to the 12 hours advertised. MAX seems to get between 10 and 11 hours of actual play time on audio only using the random song feature on a loaded player and making volume adjustments. Regular usage, which includes viewing all the preloaded video clips and pictures at least once and listening to music ends up at 9 to 10 hours.

I can’t tell you what the battery life is after a feature length movie because I’m having some issues ripping DVD’s to my Zune. I’m fairly proficient in the use of software but I have never really messed with DVD recording for more than data storage. I decided to rip the longest movie I had recently seen and pulled out the widescreen version of King Kong. I wanted to see how MAX handled a full length movie and what it was like to sit through 3 hours of Zune video but my rip failed using a popular open source method and I’m trying it again. I need to find a decent DVD to WMV software application but I have not had the time to find one. I’m open to suggestions on that one and I’ll get back to you on a Zune software review soon.

The one thing MAX has done for me is open me up to hearing music I would normally tune out. I listened to everything on the Zune and although I’m not buying anything on it I liked it enough to listen to it more than 3 times. Would I buy it? Who knows, maybe I would but with the Zune pass I won’t have to. I am looking forward to more from BitterSweet (what a sexy voice) and CSS. I’ve been a fan of Kranked videos since the first one and have had up to the first 4. Those guys are absolutely nuts but inspiring to watch. Every time I ride my bike I think of some sick things I would never dare on the trails around here and the ease with which some of these people do it. It’s blows my mind to watch a man jump a bicycle off a mountain like that with what seems like no fear at all. I haven’t taken MAX for a ride on the bike but I will soon. I’m thinking about one of the sports arm bands for the bike thing but the earbuds have to go first.

MAX has a lock button on the top that disables any changes to the player. If you don’t read the Product Guide, which is little more than a liability disclaimer as it offers nothing about how to operate your Zune in real world because its too busy telling me not to walk in traffic during a lightning storm with my Zune on, you may not notice it. This can lead to a mini fit when you don’t understand why your Zune is locked up. Don’t worry these are easy enough to get over but they can aggravate your day.

The USB port on the other end stays open if you have no case and that seems bad to me. Leaving this port open for dust, dirt and grime is not the best design and should have been covered with something similar to the lock on the top. A small sliding hatch would keep MAX clean on the inside. The Zune USB plug has small tabs that lock the cable into place on the player when inserted. It’s a nice tight fight and probably helps save the port but these clips can get stick if you don’t remove the plug properly and are a hassle if they stick. Don’t yank it out, just firmly depress the tabs on the plug and it should slip free.

MAX is a music player and he does this well but they stuck him with this set of cheap earbuds which can numb the ear canal after a few hours of listening to them. The Zune earbuds seem pretty large also as they do not fit in my wifes ears at all. We’ll have to find her a more suitable set for extended play. Any suggestions from our lady Zune fans would be appreciated. I think I’ll go for a pair of nice headsets myself. I can’t handle the earbuds much longer. The cord has to go also, it just gets in the way. The first company with a decent set of wireless headsets on these has a hit for sure. The Zune rocks and it rocks loud. I’m not an audiophile but I like loud music and with 20 settings you can get some volume on these things. I ran my ATV off road with the level at 20 and could hear it over the motorbike. I was pretty impressed with that and the Zune makes a trip through the trails just a bit more fun.

Beyond that I’ve become familiar with what is known as gapless playback and I wish my Zune supported it. It really makes a difference on Live Shows and when listening to a full CD. The gap sucks! Some complain about a lack of support by Microsoft of different formats or codecs as well as the Mac OS. I don’t quite understand the logic in it but they must have one. Even with only 6% of the OS market they should still be recognized as valuable consumers and Zune should work on the Mac. I don’t have many music files so I’m ok with wmv and wma files primarily because I don’t know any better as I imagine most of us don’t.

Microsoft has promised more to come in the way of firmware updates and their seems an ever increasing number of accessories for the Zune. I’m ho ping to see some great things from the updates and expect we can get max up and above a 9.5 some day soon.

I have not gone searching for a Zune to share with yet. I will soon enough so the wireless is off for now. I’m working on a second player for myself and I’m going setup a local Zune users group with the help of the kids at Walmart.

That said, I’m in love with my new Zune. His name is MAX. He’s not perfect but he’s good enough for me. On a scale of 1-10 I think MAX is an 8.5. You’ll be seeing more from him in the days and weeks to come. I think I’ll tackle the Zune PC software next and try a reinstall. Maybe I can get my Zune synced and loaded with some new music suggestions from you Zuners before the weekend.

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As ZuneMAX.com has become more popular the number of critics has increased as well. On occasion I have received random emails and now comments in blog posts about Zune MAX being astroturf. The
first time I heard about astroturfing was from these emails. According to Wikipedia astroturfing is as follows:

In politics and advertising, the term astroturfing describes formal public relations (PR) campaigns which seek to create the impression of being a spontaneous, grassroots behavior. Hence the reference to the “AstroTurf” (artificial grass) is a metaphor to indicate “fake grassroots” support.

ZuneMAX.com is not astroturf because we lack the "formal public relations" tangent and whether you can believe it or not we are in fact a genuine "spontaneous grassroots behavior". Until the day before the Zune launch I had never been given one single thing from Microsoft except a link on Zuneinsider.com and an interview with Dave Caulton and Bill Wittress which they offered to every Zune fan in the universe. When I was invited to attend the free concert on the beach to cover the event for the real PR campaign I was given a tshirt by a chick in the bar across the street because I chased her down for one and at the end of the evening myself and three friends were treated to dinner with a few others by the Microsoft representative as thanks for our help that day. I had a Chicken Cesaer salad and two rum and cokes, my friends kicked a few beers and seafood on "Uncle Bill". I’m gonna give the tshirt to a Zune fan in the forums. We talked Zune and Xbox over a meal and a drink on the beach. We talked as much about the beach the people and the weather as we did Zune. No secrets, no gifts, no promises and no information beyond whats publically known except that Microsoft is supposed to send me a Zune to review someday.

I passed out $200 worth of my own promotional materials to people on the beach to build our Zune community free to Microsoft because I am having fun with the community and I want to see it flourish. One might think they would offer some support to Zune fans but maybe they are smarter than that and see no reason to because they know that fans will exist on their own. I have not seen Microsoft do anything for this site more than what I have admitted to above. If it exists its anonymous and pretty stealth because I simply do not see it, at least not here.

ZuneMAX.com is a fan site which can easily be construed as astroturf because of my real interest but its not. I’m not making a conscious effort to sway opinion nor am I a Microsoft fanboy. If I were this site would not be built almost exclusively on open source software like Wordpress.org and SimpleMachines.org and I most likely would not program in PHP using a MySql database on my FreeBSD / Apache webserver.

I do run a PC with XP because Windows is what I learned on and its a superior business tool that runs a variety of applications most linux toys can’t run. This PC does not have Word or any other Office application installed on it except Frontpage which I used back in 1998 for web dev and still keep around for some reason. I run Openoffice.org for office productivity and I run Firefox exclusively. I only keep IE installed and up to date for testing my sites which I often times neglect. This is why my design looks like crap in IE most of the time. I build for Firefox now and I let IE users suffer their own choice.

I use Thunderbird for email and cannot stand bloatware like Outlook. Microsoft software often times does too much for the average user. This causes bloated code and heavy applications. I think they should break software apps up into much smaller modules that can be installed individually based on need by the end user. I am not a coder but a 10 year pc/internet veteran and I think they should reduce the amount of code by giving me exactly what I need which I feel is what Firefox does best. I have dozens of extensions that do exactly what I need them to do and its sweet.


is awesome and if you are not using it you are missing out.

I own a black Zune that I paid $267 for because I was actually interested in the device. No mess about it I bought 10 domains on July 11 and built this site on the same day with the thoughts of capitalizing on this Zune announcement and Microsofts investment. I became a fan of the device after learning more about it and primarily after my articles on the future of the Zune DRM which I need to update soon because I have so many more ideas about where Zune can go its amazing. I see Zune more for what it can be later then what it is today.

We have all seen enough open the box Zune reviews. I have not owned a portable music player since my Sony Walkman Cassette player back so long ago. I’m not a tech guy or a gadget head or an audiophile of any sorts. I like music and I think the Zune is a cool player with innovative features. I’ve had mine now a few days and I’m taking my time to write a thorough and honest review from a novices viewpoint. I’m a first time mp3 player owner schooled on the Windows platform and an original Xbox owner. I think I fall into the demograpohics of most likely Zune buyers but I’m not a fanboy.

I’ll write an honest review of my Zune experience for the community that’s been built around my interest in the device. I’ll tell you what I like and what I dislike in a fair and objective fashion with the hopes I can help some fans learn more about the player so they can make a better informed choice when they are ready to buy. You can buy just about anything you want through our relationships with Amazon and Walmart including a Zune, an iPod or the many other devices on the market. If we’re lucky Microsoft, Apple and the others will listen to us and make improvements on all sides. In the end its best for consumers and that’s us, the regular people who actually buy these things.

The political implications of Astroturfing are scary to say the least. The capabilities to sway public opinion are a powerful mechanism and all of us should be aware of who controls the grass we walk on. Astroturfing exists and its a nasty thing by any description but it’s not happening here, at least not yet. I’ll be sure to keep you posted on further developments

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It’s been a long time coming but I finally got ZuneMAX.com setup with a Translator for the Zune blog at least. I’m working on translating the Zune forums next but that may take some time. Using the flags above the header for navigation users can now read all our wonderful articles in their choice from 9 different languages.

Our site receives traffic from all around the world with lots of users from all over Europe, Asia and Australia specifically but members in over 50 countries now I belive. Zune MAX International I suppose we should call it. I’m personally very excited about all the new Zune fans we’re making from around the world and I think it can only be good for Zune MAX and the Zune community as a whole for there to be such global interest in all things Zune.

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When the guys from Zune started granting interviews we wanted to do one Zune MAX style. We decided to interview each of the Microsoft Zune employees with a blog in one huge interview but that may be too much. We figure there must be more then these three great people working on the Zune but these are the ones with Zune blogs and they were the only people that would answer our questions anyway. We could probably make this the longest blog post ever but you really want to get to these interviews. Theres some juicy tidbits of Zune information in here for those of us starved for some Zune news.

Without further delays ZuneMAX.com brings you the first installment of the Zune Crew Interview series.

Our first interview is with Dave Caulton who manages the Zunester blog. Dave gets to be the first Zune Crew interviewed because he returned the questions first and thats the only reason. Daves’ blog tackles the more technical side of Zune. He’s got some great information on transcoding files for Zune as well as the low down on Zune Sharing. Dave is a multi talented man with an eye for cool pictures and would probably make a great photographer. Dave has excellent taste in coffee he enjoys hiking cycling and has three kids.

His blog has some unique flavor to it much like the coffee he drinks. We found some amusing irony in the Google contextual advertisements on this Zune blog selling "Apple Imac Computers" as well as "Unlock you Ipod" services but the "Apple 60GB iPod with Video" for $299.99 and the "Apple 30GB iPod with Video" for only $229.99 from Amazon are simply priceless. If we choose to buy an iPod for $229.99 instead of a Zune for $249.99 this holiday season it’ll be from Daves’ blog for sure.

Daves’ a busy man it seems but he took the time to answer a few questions for us and we appreciate it. Thanks Dave.

1.) Has running the Zunester.com blog been what you expected or more?
Can you tell us what your goals and plans are with your blog?

DC: It was really a lark that started when I grabbed the Zunester domain name. I thought this was the obvious thing to do with it. The reception has been great – both the subscriber numbers and tone of the responses. My biggest fear was always that a blog would be useless; every post would have one of three results:

• Bore everyone to death (Blah blah I went on vacation, my kids are cute, etc…)
• Irritate folks with useless marketing fluff (“gee, everything my team does is AWESOME!”)
• Get me fired. (“hey, here’s a cool legal secret nobody knows!”)

It turns out there’s a real thirst for info and insights that are ok to talk about, so it’s been fun. As for plans, I like to think it fills a need for folks that want an inside view and more technical/strategic details than Bill (Zuneguy) and Cesar (Zuneinsider) necessarily offer. I’ll continue that going forward.

2.) How exactly is it that Zune is able to claim 100 hours of video time on the same size HD as the iPod and they can only claim 40 hours?

It’s all about the bitrate. Apple went to high bitrate 640×480 files, which are really overkill for a portable device with a 320×240 screen. There’s some merit to higher res for the video out scenario, of course. But we chose to optimize for the most video at the optimal quality for its screen.

3.) In your blog post titled "Zune’s transcoding feature - ’splained!" you mention "Once the transcode is complete, it transfers the copy over onto the device - voila, you’re ready to play. It saves the copy in the cache so the next time you need to sync that movie, you don’t need to transcode it again."

DC: Does this mean we’ll need to keep a copy of all movies on our Zune players on our PC harddrive as well? Will we need 30GB of HD space on our PC just to keep a copy of our Zune data for sync?

No, only for the files that need transcoding. Music files will almost universally play, so there’s no need to transcode. Video files will transcode, and thus end up in the cache. But the cache has a maximum size limit (that the user can set) so old stuff gets dumped to make room for new stuff.

4.) How long does it take to transcode a feature length movie?

DC: I’ve got a smokin’ machine, so it’s much faster than real time. A more typical PC will take about real time; 30 min for 30 min of video. This definitely makes filling your device with non-native video an overnight process, but it’s worth it to have 8 hours of Dora and Cyberchase on my device before going on a flight with my kids.

5.) In your blog post titled "Zune Sharing explained" you list searching for nearby Zune owners to interact with as a feature. Will we have the ability to hide from or ignore other Zune users? Will the search function work on "Zune tags" and allow us to search for users by name as well as proximity?

DC: Yes, you can hide from or ignore other Zunes, and also turn off the WiFi. For now, the feature gives you a nice list of all nearby users; no filtering is enabled. Hopefully there will soon be so many Zunes that filtering will be needed

6.) The same blog post also states "Zunes will not (at launch) connect to the internet via your home base station network. Zunes can not download songs over the air from the internet service." Realizing the strong demand for both features can we expect the functionality will be added in the future via a software update?

DC: I’ve definitely heard this feedback, but can’t talk about future product plans.

7.) There has not been much said or shown about the Zune applying DRM to or sharing video. Will Zune apply any DRM to video files like it does music or remain DRM free like images? Will Zune be able to share videos the same way it does music?

DC: We looked at this, but the file sizes involved in video make sharing across the current WiFi impractical. That said, stay tuned. As an aside, “DRM” isn’t applied to files in the sense of encrypting them, rather there’s a device side limit on what you can do with sent audio files. It’s a fine technical point that won’t matter to 99% of your users, but it’s an important one.

8.) Is the DJ mode an actual broadcast or does the Zune act more like a server and require a file download for playback? Is there a streaming capability with the wireless or can there be in the future?

DC: At launch, Zune doesn’t have a “DJ Mode”. Standard answer about future roadmap comments applies.

9.) Do you consider the Zune to be a platform like the PC and Xbox or somehow different? Will Zune development be opened up to the first generation device?

“Open up” is a very big term. It’s really a continuum, and finding the right point is very important. Too open and you end up with a compromised user experience. Too closed and the community can’t add value.

DC: I think the best comparison is Xbox. We’ll open things up, but only very carefully and strategically.

10) What can you tell us about Pyxis?

DC: We’ve actually been talking about Pyxis all along. Pyxis is the code name for the first Zune device.

11.) Is there anything you want to add that no one has asked of you yet?

DC: Just to thank you for the opportunity to talk. The whole blogging thing has been a fun experiment for me, and the community of users and bloggers have been really great.

12.) What do you like most about working for Microsoft?

DC: I’ve worked at Microsoft for 10 years in various roles. Different parts of the company have had different good things about them. Before Zune, I worked on an established business (Office) and a hotly competitive part of the Windows business (Windows Media division). Zune is very different.

Once in a while Microsoft makes a serious run at creating a new consumer business from scratch. I had the good fortune to be a founding member of the team and to observe the building of the business from the ground up - a tremendous learning opportunity for me.

Look for the Zune MAX Interview with Bill Wittress coming soon

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Word! ZuneMAX.com got a mention in the latest Zune article to hit the NY Times today. We decided to copy it here for you to read while we go over the article for review later today.

IMAN HAYWARD is an 18-year-old college student and self-confessed contrarian. She likes to mix Cyberdog T-shirts with platform boots. She prefers vintage horror movies to modern remakes. And she does not like the Apple iPod.

You can read the rest of the article here.

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