10-16-2006, 02:52 PM
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Developer & Designer, News Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 12,959
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Jobs on Zune's Sharing: Too Slow
"I've seen the demonstrations on the Internet about how you can find another person using a Zune and give them a song they can play three times. It takes forever. By the time you've gone through all that, the girl's got up and left! You're much better off to take one of your earbuds out and put it in her ear. Then you're connected with about two feet of headphone cable."
That's a quote from Newsweek's interview with Apple's head honcho, Steve Jobs. While the Zune's wireless sharing feature is a little crippled in its current form, I do think it has potential, yet Apple appears to not even embrace the concept. Could this say something about future iPods? Will they never incorporate any sort of sharing capabilities?
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10-16-2006, 04:48 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 797
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Keep in mind, the lord and master Steve Jobs, producer of all things brilliant and amazing (praise be upon him, Steve) has started investing his company in the 802.11N market which is infinitely faster than B and G. Now, does that mean an iPod with N is coming? No, but it does raise the possibility because you're going to have the iTV (barring some miracle it'll have N) and the new iMacs (reports are surfacing that their built-in Airport card is N) using the technology, it would almost make sense that he's downplaying the sharing on the Zune because an N device is in the works from the mecca of half-eaten fruit.
Of course this is rampant speculation, but Steve is a very calculated guy, and when he says something like, "it's slow," it's not just because he thinks "it's slow," but probably more like, "it's slow, and what we're doing is much faster."
If history is any indication, this is going to prove to be a prophetic statement on Apple's future for wireless in iPods.
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10-16-2006, 05:02 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 14
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Steve obviously does not have problems with ear wax like many of us do. Nobody wants to share one of my earbuds 
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10-16-2006, 05:24 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 172
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Yeah...same thought here. Apple will of course come out with their own version where Apple 'Does it Right'.
Until then, he'll say how bad everyone else's is.
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10-16-2006, 05:39 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 316
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While N is faster, it's hardly _infintely_ faster than G. G, especially at the distances that the Zune is designed for, should work just fine for it's sharing capabilities. I would think that if the sharing features of the Zune are slow, it would be because of the actuall process of sharing, rather than the wireless standard it's using. Besides, would N be a poor choice for such a device? Would not the MIMO technology of N be a bigger power drain on already power sensitive devices?
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10-16-2006, 06:23 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 797
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It's not infinitely faster. Sorry, I have a tendency to overstate things. It's at the very least twice as fast in the real world, and something tells me that they aren't using G, they're using B, in which case it's quite a bit faster.
That being said, we don't know what's coming down the pike. N might be a big drain, but who would've thought G would be showing up in Pocket PC type devices? Or phones?!
We don't know everything, but we do know one thing. Steve Jobs doesn't knock something unless he has something better up his sleeve and while MIMO may be a big power drain, nothing says it has to be on all the time, only when sharing. Just because the Zune sits there in promiscuous mode, doesn't mean competitors are gonna buy into that model.
Who knows. Speculation is fun, though.
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10-16-2006, 07:42 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 52
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I don't think Mr. Jobs is talking about the speed of the actual transfer when he says that it's slow, I believe he's referring to the complexity and number of menus that need to be traversed in order to send the file.
A point well made, but you wouldn't expect him to be praising his rival anyway. 
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10-16-2006, 09:08 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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The harsh reality of Zune sharing is one that few people seem to be talking about: the Zune's sharing abilities are useless unless another Zune is nearby. It's the value of the network. Front-page post time...
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10-16-2006, 11:13 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 316
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sage
I don't think Mr. Jobs is talking about the speed of the actual transfer when he says that it's slow, I believe he's referring to the complexity and number of menus that need to be traversed in order to send the file.
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Without having seen it myself, that's my gut feeling too...
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