10-25-2006, 06:11 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Robert Scoble Interviews Matt Jubelirer
"Microsoft’s iPod competitor, Zune, will be released on November 14. Matt Jubelirer is product manager for the Zune project. We spoke with him to get an in-depth look at Zune."
Robert Scoble made it back to Seattle to interview Matt Jubelirer, Zune Product Manager, on various aspects about the Zune. The video is 40 minutes long, and I've just finished watching it so I can comment on it. All in all, someone needs to tell Jubelirer to get a bit more excited about his own product! There were plenty of opportunities to poke fun at the iPod, but Jubelirer was apparently too polite to take any of them. He also didn't know the screen resolution, which is a bit odd - I've seen a couple of interviews with him and there's always a few technical details that he doesn't know (last time it was whether or not the WiFi data is encrypted). Watching this video, I feel like the Zune team needs a pumped-up, excited Zune evangelist type that really knows the device top to bottom, and can deliver the message with enthusiasm. Sorry Matt, it's nothing personal, but if you want people to get excited about the Zune, you need to show some yourself.
In terms of things that we learned from the video, there's not much that's new here. At the 32 minute mark they start to talk about how the Zune will work with the Xbox. Scoble asks if he can put HD video on the Zune and look at it in full resolution using the Xbox. Jubelirer responds by saying that the files can remain at their native resolution - which seems to support what Scoble wants to do - and Jubelirer says it's a "flexible option", which means it might be an option in the Zune Marketplace to control the transcoding. At the 33 minute mark Scoble picks it up and says it's lighter than the "competitive products", meaning the iPod, which echoes what Jake Ludington wrote when he compared it to his iPod. The reality is that the Zune is the same weight a a 30GB iPod, but it must be better distributed over it's larger frame in order for so many people to think it weighs less.
Buzz from Activewords (amazing product by the way) was in the room and asked if it could be synched with Outlook, and Jubelirer said no - the Zune is centered around the entertainment experience only. I can understand the team wanting to maintain the purity of the experience, but on the other hand this would have been low-hanging fruit and fairly easy to integrate. My Zen Vision:M can sync with Outlook, and while it's not a feature I use (it's incompatible with Outlook connected to an Exchange server), a friend of mine bought a Zen Vision:M instead of a Pocket PC because he only needed very basic, one-way PIM data sync along with his music storage.
At the 34 minute mark, Jubelirer discussed the Zune desktop software, and how it imports music, photos, and videos from the PC. I have a lot of questions about how this will work - will it simply monitor folders, or will it try to import, transcode, and duplicate content like iTunes does by default? How well does the folder monitoring work - is it better than the ultra-lame monitoring that Windows Media Player 10/11 does? What about network resources for those that have all their media content on a big NAS drive? Scoble also asked about subscribing to Podcasts, and how the Podcasts would get into the Zune software. The answer wasn't surprising: there are no RSS/enclosure features at all. It simply monitors the folder, and if your RSS software downloads the audio/video file, the Zune software will see it and sync it over (remember though it won't transcode, so the source download has to be 320 x 240 and in WMV, H.264, or MPEG4 formats). That begs the question of whether or not the synchronization relationship experience has been improved - in Windows Media Player 10/11, the whole "auto playlist" system is confusing and unfriendly. There may be things I dislike about the iPod, but the experience of just saying "fill my device with stuff" and "make sure new stuff gets put on there" is pretty seamless. The Zune desktop software needs to nail that out of the box.
If you're still drooling for Zune news, check out the video. I wish Scoble would have asked harder questions, or drilled Jubelirer on why the Zune team made the decisions that it did. The "why" is what interests me the most when I hear a decision that makes no sense - why didn't they decide to allow video sharing? Why did they force the 3 day/3 play DRM onto files that are meant to be shared?
Oh, and here's something a bit ironic: Scoble's Podtech show would apparently not ever make it onto a Zune. It's in H.264 format, but it's 480 x 270 resolution, and from what we know the Zune desktop software does absolutely no transcoding of content. So not only can one Zune user not share content like this with another Zune user, but they can't even put it on their Zune. If I understand the lack of transcoding correctly, this is going to be a big issue for Zune users that want to take in video content from a variety of sources that dish it up in different resolutions and codecs.
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10-25-2006, 06:46 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 676
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jason Dunn
The reality is that the Zune is the same weight a a 30GB iPod, but it must be better distributed over it's larger frame in order for so many people to think it weighs less.
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Actually it's the same weight (slightly heavier in reality) than an 80GB iPod - big difference. A 30GB iPod weighs 4.8 oz and with its slimmer profile and lighter weight is unlikely to appear anything but svelte in comparison with the Zune.
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Early 2011 MacBook Pro 13" (dual boot with Windows 7), Early 2009 Mac Mini
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10-26-2006, 03:32 PM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jason Dunn
Oh, and here's something a bit ironic: Scoble's Podtech show would apparently not ever make it onto a Zune. It's in H.264 format, but it's 480 x 270 resolution, and from what we know the Zune desktop software does absolutely no transcoding of content. So not only can one Zune user not share content like this with another Zune user, but they can't even put it on their Zune. If I understand the lack of transcoding correctly, this is going to be a big issue for Zune users that want to take in video content from a variety of sources that dish it up in different resolutions and codecs.
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Since he only supplied it as a .mov file (with no other options clearly visible), I won't be seeing, sharing, or revisiting his site in any case. And that not a Zune issue.
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