The New Zune Wireless Sync: This is Killer!

[Jason Dunn]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHPiTOM3ItQ

Perhaps the harshest rational criticism of the v1 Zune was how limited the wireless abilities were. Here you had a media player with a WiFi chip in it, and the only thing it could do was interact with other devices just like it - and as the network effect teaches us, you need to have a lot of devices in a network in order for that network to be useful. Zune marketing videos aside, there just weren't enough Zunes out in the wild to make the WiFi sharing much more than a novelty. Sure, if you and a friend each bought a Zune, the feature was really cool - at least until the music timed out on you after three days.

With the new Zunes, Microsoft finally added something useful: wireless sync. You walk in your house, you plug in your Zune to recharge it (or press a few buttons to manually kick off the sync), and when you next pick it up it will have all your new content on it. Completely killer. This video shows how the wireless sync process works, start to finish. Questions about this? Let me know in the discussion thread.

[Jason Dunn]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHPiTOM3ItQ

Perhaps the harshest rational criticism of the v1 Zune was how limited the wireless abilities were. Here you had a media player with a WiFi chip in it, and the only thing it could do was interact with other devices just like it - and as the network effect teaches us, you need to have a lot of devices in a network in order for that network to be useful. Zune marketing videos aside, there just weren't enough Zunes out in the wild to make the WiFi sharing much more than a novelty. Sure, if you and a friend each bought a Zune, the feature was really cool - at least until the music timed out on you after three days.

With the new Zunes, Microsoft finally added something useful: wireless sync. You walk in your house, you plug in your Zune to recharge it (or press a few buttons to manually kick off the sync), and when you next pick it up it will have all your new content on it. Completely killer. This video shows how the wireless sync process works, start to finish. Questions about this? Let me know in the discussion thread.

[Rocco Augusto]

this makes perfect sense after seeing all of those microsoft surface videos way back when. i'm glad this feature actually works as i hate plugging my zune in to sync when it doesn't need a charge

[aaronb532]

So is the software update for the Zune 30 going to include this also? Or is it only for the 80's?

[Rocco Augusto]

Originally Posted by aaronb532

So is the software update for the Zune 30 going to include this also? Or is it only for the 80's?

to my knowledge. the only feature that is not included with the new firmware for the Zune 30 is MP4 playback.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by aaronb532

So is the software update for the Zune 30 going to include this also? Or is it only for the 80's?

You bet, it's included!

[USArcher]

It does seem that wireless throughput is not all that fast. However, I wouldn't be surprised if the Zune wireless module has a power saving mode when in runs off battery (as in your demo). Try doing the same test while Zune is plugged in the AV docking station (not physically connected to a PC).

[aaronb532]

Originally Posted by Rocco Augusto

to my knowledge. the only feature that is not included with the new firmware for the Zune 30 is MP4 playback

Originally Posted by Jason Dunn

You bet, it's included!

Awesome, I just bought two 30's off Woot.com for $85 each and this was one of the features that I wanted.

I joined this forum just to ask that question, thanks for the quick answers. I'm sure I'll be checking in a lot more often once I get my players.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by USArcher

It does seem that wireless throughput is not all that fast.

Yup, it's not very fast - that's why I was wondering about what type of speeds it was connecting at.

Originally Posted by USArcher

However, I wouldn't be surprised if the Zune wireless module has a power saving mode when in runs off battery (as in your demo). Try doing the same test while Zune is plugged in the AV docking station (not physically connected to a PC).

Indeed, good point. I'll do up a test and we'll see what the results are...watch the front page (man, I'm never going to get my review done at this rate ).

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by aaronb532

I joined this forum just to ask that question, thanks for the quick answers. I'm sure I'll be checking in a lot more often once I get my players.

Glad to have you as a member of Zune Thoughts - I hope you'll come back often.

[Citezein]

Can anyone tell me if the Zune can do a scheduled wireless sync? I'd love for my Zune to automatically wake up and sync every morning before my daily commute. This way it could download new podcasts for my subway ride. Does anyone have any information on this feature? It would be a really killer feature for me.