Today I was fortunate to be one of only two Zune sites involved in a conference call with Chris Stephenson, General Manager of Global Marketing for the Zune. Along with one other Zune site (Zunerama) I was able to get 30 minutes of time with Chris to ask a variety of questions. I'll be unravelling that information over the rest of today - there's a lot to discuss.
First up, I was able to ask some technical questions about the Zune, because those details were sorely lacking from all the press materials released today. Here are the highlights:
The three inch screen is 320 x 240 in resolution
Video CODECS supported: WMV, H.264, MPEG4
Video is limited to 320 x 240 currently, but they are discussing options for higher resolution video support
Supported bit rates for video haven't been finalized at this time
Chris was unable to confirm if the battery was 700 mAH as the FCC documents indicated, but I believe that will be the case
The battery life is still in flux due to last-minute firmware adjustments, but Chris said that compared to the iPod the battery is quicker to reach full charge, quicker to partial charge, and is "very comparable" to the video playback time on the newly announced iPods - I'm hoping that means around six hours of video playback, which would be impressive indeed
The Zune battery is built-in and not user replaceable
The Zune player is 5.6 ounces in weight, 4.4 inches tall by 2.4 inches wide and 0.58 inches thick. By comparison, the iPod is 0.47 inches thick. By way of comparison, my Zen Vision:M is 5.8 ounces, 4 inches tall, and 1 inch thick. So I can definitely say that I don't think the Zune is too thick, especially while serving up that bigger screen
WiFi is 802.11b/g, and Chris described the WiFi as being "on when you need it, off when you don't" - I assume that means it has a very aggressive sleep state that will minimize the battery impact
Photo support is JPEG so far, I have no further details at this time
That's about it for the technical details - next up I'll talk about the Zune vision and where Microsoft wants to take this product. Any technical details you'd still like to know? Post your questions and I'll try to get some answers!
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It needs larger capacity and support WMA Lossless via Zune Marketplace.
I hope at launch time or shortly thereafter MS releases at least a 100+ Gb capacity version. I'm currently using a 60 Gb Gigabeat S60 that I'm very found of but my WMA Lossless music filled it up with only 288 albums.
I haven't even ripped half of my CD's yet and I've got over 200 Gbs of WMA Lossless music on my desktop machine with about 10 albums that I've downloaded as WMA Lossless from Music Giants so I'm starving for more capacity. Also when the folks start to load, in addition to music, more and more videos and photos they'll appreciate the extra space.
I hope the Zune Marketplace also supports wireless WMA Lossless downloads and not just the lossy stuff that sounds lifeless to hardcore music lovers like me. At a minimum MS should hook up a deal with Music Giants to allow wireless downloads of WMA Lossless music from them.
Does any one know how this thing sounds compared to the Gigabeat S series?
I've got my fingers crossed that it sounds at least as good as the Gigabeat S series and even better. I hope it also includes a real equalizer and not just the presets found on the Gigabeat that, to my ears, took away from the transparency of its sound. I'm fearful that MS won't pay too much attention to sound quality as it seems to be marketed to a pop/rock crowd where sound usually doesn't matter as much since most pop music is so heavily processed and lacks much in the way of acoustic sounding instruments anymore anyway. In the end the sound will be the most important thing to me.
So, if that's really a "big" issue, why is the iPod selling so well? I'm playing devil's advocate here of course - I agree that having a removable battery is great to have, and it ticks me off that the Zune doesn't have one, but the number of iPod buyers tells us that the majority of consumers don't care.
I hope at launch time or shortly thereafter MS releases at least a 100+ Gb capacity version.
As far as I know, the biggest hard drive available on the market today in the right form factor is 80 GB. So what you want doesn't exist...but I'd like to see an 80 GB version myself. But I know what you're getting at.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alvester
I hope the Zune Marketplace also supports wireless WMA Lossless downloads and not just the lossy stuff that sounds lifeless to hardcore music lovers like me.
An interesting question. On one hand, if the Zune really is aimed at music lovers first and foremost, you'd think what WMA Lossless would be in the offering - but I kind of doubt it. WMA Lossless appeals to a very, very small number of people. Perhaps a higher % of people that are interested in the Zune, but most people can't tell the difference between a 256 kbps MP3 and a 320 kbps MP3 - hell, I can't, unless it's very badly encoded, or perhaps is a very specific song that shows some frequency weakness in the MP3 encoding.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alvester
Does any one know how this thing sounds compared to the Gigabeat S series?
That's a big unknown for the moment. There are some music bloggers that we'll be linking to over the next 24 hours that have had some real hands-on time with the Zune, but I doubt they compared it to the Gigabeat S.
3" screen at QVGA for a multimedia device?? It's so close to 3.5" and VGA IS mandatory for such use.
Until August 10th, that product didn't even exist - Samsung just announced it recently. I agree with you that VGA quality would be AWESOME, but VGA brings with it:
1) Hefty battery drain
2) Hefty price price increases
3) Hefty CPU/GPU firepower needed for the 400% more pixels over QVGA
Would I love to see it? YES! Is VGA realistic for the first-generation Zune? Probably not...but hopefully 2nd generation!
So, if that's really a "big" issue, why is the iPod selling so well? I'm playing devil's advocate here of course - I agree that having a removable battery is great to have, and it ticks me off that the Zune doesn't have one, but the number of iPod buyers tells us that the majority of consumers don't care.
Don't you remember the big stories about the ipod's non-user replaceable batteries:
Don't you remember the big stories about the ipod's non-user replaceable batteries...
I do, and I want one too, but it didn't seem to have a negative impact on the sales of the iPod. I'm sitting here staring at a Gigabeat S, and a Zen Vision:M, and neither have replaceable batteries...so it seems to be the norm. Sadly.
Diving Deep on the Zune: Tech Specs
I'm playing devil's advocate here of course - I agree that having a removable battery is great to have, and it ticks me off that the Zune doesn't have one, but the number of iPod buyers tells us that the majority of consumers don't care.
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