Zune HD

Well, someone that has had a single ipod (1st gen) for years, I recently acquired a Zune HD and I am SO glad.

I had grown very tired of Apples strangle hold on things and never liked the iTunes software ever.  Talk about bloat anymore, Apple is becoming the next MS of yesteryear, how weird. So how bad could the latest Zune stuff be really?

I have to admit after seeing what MS did with Zune interface on the 360 I was not optimistic.  They had made what was intuitive originally on the 360 into something that felt like a bad bolted on application that just didn’t fit. (Still not real big on Zune on 360, but thats for another day.)

However, I download the Zune 4.0 software and gave it a try at the same time I got my hands on the 32G Zune HD device.  I had seen the 1st and 2nd gen Zune’s and they always felt CHEAP and ugly. Just like normal, it took MS 3 tries to get it right (any real long time Window’s users will know what I am talking about 1.0, 2.0, 3.1!)

Zune HD is a different beast compared to its previous siblings.

Even with it’s life sounding like it will be shortened as the result of the recent Windows Phone 7 announcements, I have to admit it is a very nice device.

Love the UI, it is fluid and actually very easy to use and oh so easy on the eyes!  The Nvidia Tegra chip really shows its power and grace.  But I am getting ahead of myself.

First thing you notice, is that Zune HD hardware itself is great size.  Not too small like a Nano or Shuffle from someone else, or too large like some other devices we know.  Construction is excellent.  The case feels very sturdy and well built.  Nice lines, simple interface and uses the touch screen excellently.   The only thing that I can say about the physical device is the volume/track selection button.  It requires you to use the touch screen to change volume / track.  So it takes an extra step or two to do those simple tasks.  Initially I thought it was going to be a serious pain, but I found that I don’t accidentally change things like I could with my old nano.  So that turned out to be a good thing me.  Others will disagree, plenty of folks have chimed in on that since it’s release, fair enough.

The OLED screen is beyond beautiful, except in direct sunlight!  In normal lighting, inside, etc the thing just scream awesome tech and eye candy.  Direct sunlight it almost completely disappears.  Kind of a shame, but I don’t like the direct sun anyhow, hahah, so no issue there either.  Give me shade please.  Next.

The touchscreen is very very responsive and UI matches the fluid response that you would expect.  The device has lots of nice little features that I have a feeling is setting the true stage for WP7 that is to come and whatever they do with the Zune HD2 or no phone devices.  For some the UI might take a day or two to get use to, but once you do, it just makes sense and becomes very easy to get around.

Syncing between the Zune software and the device is great.  Especially the wifi syncing on your own network, I simply love the feature.  I can come home, it finds my network and can sync without USB cables or even touching the default machine.  That works out great.

I have played with some of the apps and games for the device and they are nice and can show some power of the Tegra chip.  However, with WP7 on the horizon and MS making it clear that old apps will not be usable on next gen of devices, I can see a lot of development for the current Zune HD devices being left behind.

Even with the lost love by MS for the current Zune HD, I know I will still love it for the music, video and podcasts that it does so well today.  There is always something better tech wise over the horizon, but you have to jump someday.

Browser:  Yes it has one and it probably works better than my Windows Mobile phone browser, but that is not saying much.  I wouldn’t use it unless forced to, it is IE Mobile after all!

Battery life so far has been great, haven’t ever ran dry, but haven’t used it for days in a row without plugging it in every now and again.  Beats my aging nano, but his battery life has come and gone.

The marketplace and Zune Pass look good, but I already have a huge collection of media that I haven’t decided to give MS anymore money every month ($14.99 to be exact) just for music.  I guess if I gave up the requirement for physical media as my backup, then the ALL digital consumption would be easier, but I can’t drink that Kool-Aid yet.  Not to mention there has been some rumors that things in terms of the Zune Pass will change when WP7 devices are released, but no details yet.

Another feature of the Zune software I wanted to mention is the QuickPlay feature. The best analogy of this is like Pandora with your own music. It finds music in your collection that matches the theme of the Quick Play group you setup. So for example for me, Depeche Mode is my #1 quickplay of course, and it finds New Order, OMD, Love & Rockets, Soft Cell, etc as others to put into the mix that it plays. I have to admit it can come up with some pretty interesting mixes, personally I think even better than Pandora. Not to say this is to replace my use of Pandora! Pandora is great at getting you to get exposed to bands and music you might never have picked.

Last feature that is more “quiet” but pretty slick looking is how the Zune software downloads other facts and pictures related to your artists. Then it shows it as an artistic slide show when you don’t touch the software. It also shows up on the Zune HD itself. Added benefit and I even learned some facts I didn’t know about some artists this way.

One pet peeve I have determined I don’t really like with the Zune software is the use of Windows 7 library feature.  Zune software uses Library’s from Windows 7 to find your collection.  This means all your MCE content will become part of the Zune software as well.  Normally not a big deal, but this can become a problem if you have a large set of video, music, etc.  You are forced to have it all in Zune now as well.  Some might not care, some might.

Final comments:  IMO Microsoft is really getting it’s act together when it comes to media and entertainment.   Be it on PC, XBox 360 console and now a real portable media device (ignore Zune 1st & 2nd gen) they are finally producing some nice software and hardware.  I can only wait to see what they actually accomplish this year with Windows Phone 7 release and dev tools (XNA Game Studio 4.0 instead of 3.1 for Zune HD)  for full game integration, Live integration and a common platform across devices. The Apples of the world might want to actually start paying attention, this could be a deal changer.  It will be amazing to think you could use a WP7 over wifi and unlock achievements in a XBox live game from the hand-held and then go to your 360 console and have your save point and achievement already there.  Personally this is all thanks to the Zune HD & Xbox 360.

Next couple years will be very interesting on the entertainment front from the Microsoft.

It’s always interesting to see what other developers use as their real workspace when they have control over it.  (Unlike cubical heck).

Once such sweet space is something Mitch Haile built.  I stumbled across it in one of me RSS feed consumption extravaganas and have to admit the space is really, really nice, but I have to say the screen real estate and mini server room/closet is very nice for a home build.

Just had to share the nerd eye candy for others to consume!

http://www.biscade.com/office/

Snaps on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bwa32/sets/72157607284828899/

Very nice work Mitch!  Kudos

There is a great Coding Horror write up by Jeff which gives a interesting perspective (most likely management.. but still the same) on the trade off of what your developer costs you and what new more powerful hardware costs you.

Hardware is Cheap, Programmers are Expensive

The post eludes to several key points, many of which I try to get management on numerous efforts to understand all the time.  Some hold true, but there is a point of no return.  Sometimes just throwing iron at it will only make more of mess (especially in the energy conscious era we have stepped into these recent years.)

Remember the quote, “To make money, you have to spend money.”… well the spin I see here is, “To save money, you have to spend money, sometimes.”

This directly ties into the The Programmer’s Bill of Rights.

I remember the days of Windows development that I heard that they did not want to give the development team too fast of machines, since then the code they wrote would never perform well on “normal” hardware that end users would have.  That was some what true, but much less important (excluding fancy fancy stuff) in a web centric world.  Now it has to deal with the size of the pipe and not the engine.

Over the years I have seen more times than not, is not about optimizing (as eluded to by Jeff) but cleaning and/or refactoring.  I usually find 9 out of 10 times if I refactor code when trying to make more out of it I get more bang for the buck.  But that also means you live a life of refactoring (which all good developer should).  This helps with:

• Stop the code decay / erosion.  All code dies over time.  (Try to get management to understand that one right?  Some developers don’t even understand it sadly enough.)
• Make the code more clear and concise for future developers who will have to read it.  (If it doesn’t you probably refactored wrong).
• Enhance the current functionality with less code (more bang for the buck).  Yes Virgina, there is a Santa Claus and this can happen to you too.
• Evolve the code to newer library/standards/technology.

The last bullet point is something I have found very important in the Java world.  You find that you have (or someone else) has written code for a project 5,6,10 years ago based upon JDK, lib, etc at the time.  If you evolve the code to use more modern JDK run-time libraries or even specific 3rd party libs/projects that didn’t exist back then, you can get some great windfall.  (Of course done with great scrutiny).

As always, there is not just black and white.  There is not just one solution to all problems.  Find the right shoe and make sure it fits.

This is an interesting read on a Google perspective on Mobile computing and the future.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/future-of-mobile.html

The excerpt that interested me the most was…

Sensors everywhere: Your phone knows a lot about the world around you. If you take that intelligence and combine it in the cloud with that of every other phone, we have an incredible snapshot of what is going on in the world right now. Weather updates can be based on not hundreds of sensors, but hundreds of millions. Traffic reports can be based not on helicopters and road sensors, but on the density, speed, and direction of the phones (and people) stuck in the traffic jams.

In my current consulting role, I see interaction with weather sensors, traffic data and other things dealing with transportation.  The thought that we could have devices (like your phone or other connected devices) have a cloud mentality and provide that data back in a collected form to state and local DOT or SHA could be very valuable.  But ultimately the long haul problem will be making heads or tails out of the huge flow of data, but that is what Google is good at right?

Final question though….

Will you like your device talking to other devices?

What if your shower radio started talking to the toaster and the phone about how good you sing in the shower?  What if they started sharing that info with the neighbor’s blender?  Hmmmmm