You know, I’ve spent the last week trying to figure out what I was going to write in my pre-requisite post before E3. Given all of the information that Microsoft has given out in recent days (Zune HD, Zune Video Marketplace, etc), it became easier for me to figure out what I wanted to focus on while I was walking the floors of E3, but at the same time since I know that some would like to find out my impressions and thoughts on what I’m seeing I had to also figure out how best to report information to you.

So here’s what I’ve finally concluded:

Follow Me on Twitter: The best way to follow me and what’s going on is to follow my stream on Twitter. That’s the place where I’ll offer instant reactions to what’s happening at the MS Press Briefing and the show floor. There I’ll also offer pictures of things that I see throughout the show. I’ll also be taking my digital camera so I’ll also be able to have a photo gallery available of the show – the pictures via Twitter will most likely be Twitpic instant shots as I find things of interest.

Press Briefing Excitement: I’m honestly excited about the MS Briefing, itself. I’m very excited to see how exactly Zune is going to make its mark on the XBOX Video Marketplace. I wouldn’t have expected just to see a box that says “Zune” on it. Knowing the people at Zune like I do, I would expect to be something that distinctly says “Yeah, Zune people are running this.” Will it look anything like the Zune Marketplace does now? Will it be a totally different look? How will it blend with the current NXE visual? So many questions and tomorrow we will have our answers.

Keep in mind how the Netflix interface looks. The instant watch title uses that scrolling box look when you figure out which item you want to watch. Do you think Zune will follow suit?

But beyond that I’m genuinely excited to find out what XBOX 360 has in store as a gaming platform for 2009 and 2010. I haven’t actually researched much about Alan Wake, for example, but I hear that it’s been in development for quite a long time and may make it’s appearance (finally!) at E3.

Kid in a Candy Store: Now I’ll admit, I’m a gamer. I love my XBOX 360 and I have loved all of the systems that I have owned in my current lifetime (NES, Super NES, Genesis, Dreamcast, PSP, PS2, XBOX, XBOX 360, Playstation, DS, Game Boy, Atari 2600). I will admit that I’ll be walking the floor of this event kind of drooling, but realizing that I’m looking at stuff that will be coming out later in the year or next year and having a chance to try them out. It can be quite overwhelming.

Like I said though, the same thing could’ve happened to me at MVP Summit. I could’ve went and just had this OMGWTFBBQ!?! expression the whole time. However, for those who are looking to me to let them know of things that I’m seeing they don’t want me to preface everything with “Ok, before I tell you let me get up off the floor..” I do plan on giving you guys the best information that I can.

I want to stand in line to try out the DJ Hero game – everyone should! There are so many games I want to give a whirl, but since I know about lines (I mean hell I live near Disneyland, I’m very familiar with long waits), I understand why it takes three days for this thing – you’ll spend a total of one day in lines for stuff.

I will also say that there are some awesome gaming websites that will be here at E3 as well. I’ve gotten to know some of the people who run these sites and I’ve proudly placed them in the COOL KIDS section of the blog links to the right. Feel free to use them as resources, see what they say about things that they are seeing as E3. Consider this some of the largest team coverage of an event, evar!

Networking Opportunities: Now this is my first E3 event. The initial instinct is to just walk the floor, try out a bunch of games and come away thinking that was awesome. Yet, I have to be smarter than that. Yes, it will be fun to try out stuff, but the more valuable thing in all of this is the chance to shake hands and break bread with some of the key players in this gaming industry. These are people who’s columns I’ve read, pictures I’ve seen, reviews I’ve looked over and people who have become part of my circle of resources when it comes to gaming.

Now I’ll have a chance to chat with these individuals (both on and off the show floor) so it’s an opportunity to get in their head a little – pick their brains as it were. So be forewarned if you see posts/twits from me that deal with a little knowledge about the industry and people.

Blood Drive: As a side note, I think it’s awesome that there’s gonna be a blood drive taking place during E3. I’ve signed up for the drive – and will be getting my blood taken on Thursday afternoon. I hope that others take the chance to participate in the drive as well.

Finally: Get ready, ladies and gentlemen! We’ve seen this thing build to a fever pitch. Information has flown about wildly regarding what the Big 3: Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo will unveil during the next four days in Los Angeles. Now the time for wondering is over. So we will know more, lots will be revealed and twitter will fail whale because of all of the reactions.

Is everyone ready for this?

Track: Lady Marmalade

Performers: Pink | Christina Aguilera | Mya | Lil Kim | Missy Elliott

Album: Moulin Rouge Soundtrack

Zune Marketplace: Click Here

In the last few days, XBOX has launched their official E3 site. Those of us who are avid XBOX 360 gamers who want to get the latest information on not only XBOX news but news from the E3 Expo can get it at this page. I can tell you it’s one of the places I will be referencing during the show and in the days following.

Check it out: XBOX 360 E3 Page.

Seems that people are grasping on to the #zunetune Twitter concept. It’s nice to see folks sharing tracks via the #zunetune hashtag. I’m actually going through that list and sampling what it is people recommended – it’s become another awesome way to discover new music.

By the way, since all you have to do is right-click the buy button next to the song that you want to share (in order to capture the URL), you can right-click on any buy button that you come across. I actually use the BUY button that’s next to the songs that are in the recently played songs feed of my Zune Social profile.

For those who have no earthly idea what I’m talking about check out this post and, if you have a Twitter account, start sharing and participating.

Oh and if you want to see the #zunetune contributions as they happen, click here.

1. What type of Zune do you currently own? Three Zune 30s (Brown, Black, and White) and the Citron Zune 16 (Zune Employee Ship Gift for the 2007 release). I really love the Citron one which I have named after my favorite cartoon character… “Darkwing”.

2. What have you learned from your friends at Zune Social? Wow, I have learned so much. I think I’ve seen the passion that we have for our product reflected back at me from all of the people on my friends list and around the Zune Social. It makes me so much more passionate about the Zune as a whole. I think you can see the cyclical process here!

3. Tell us about the origin of your ZuneTag? My ZuneTag is TyrenDes. Tyren was a silly name I made up in high school to be my handle on Bulletin Board Systems (BBS). I liked it so much that I made it my son’s middle name. Now, however, when I signed up for Xbox Live, Tyren was taken… so I just added the first 3 letters of my last name to it. “Des”, and thus TyrenDes was born.

4. What type of music do you listen to (name as many as necessary -- genres/groups)? I listen to lots of stuff, but I like to say my tastes are eclectic. I pretty much like all genres except rap and hip-hop. So: country, rock, classical, new age… the list goes on and on. As far as bands that regularly top my charts? Pink Floyd, They Might be Giants, Enya, Enigma, and cover bands like Me First and the Gimme Gimmes.

5. What's your favorite thing about Zune (favorite feature)? My favorite feature is definitely XNA. I’ve been involved in my free time with the XNA team since before 1.0 shipped and when it first started working on the Zune, I began working on samples that pushed it to its limits. I was fortunate enough to tech review a book for XNA development on the Zune. I really think that this young technology has yet to fully mature and I’m excited to see where it can go.

6. Tell us about some of your day-to-day duties at the Zune offices? I’m a software development engineer (SDE) and I’m one of the rare early birds on the Zune team. I usually get to work at about 8am. Everyone else tends to come in after 10! Slackers!? I always do a fresh build in the morning to ensure I have the latest code. The rest of my day really depends, if we are in planning phases, I spend time documenting and costing the features I need to deliver. If we are in the coding phase, I throw on the headphones and go to town doing the code thing. Currently this consists of working on the catalog API backend that is used by the Zune software to retrieve information for the marketplace. However, I used to work on the Social site. If you have uploaded a custom Zune tile and used the image cropper tool… well, that was me. Finally, the other phase is stabilization. During this stage, I check my bugs and try to work on the highest priority issues. I code up fixes, submit them for review, and move on to the next bug.

7. What are some of your hobbies? What's your life like away from Zune Social? I have too many hobbies, but some of them include camping in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), playing D&D on my custom built game table (http://livednd.wikidot.com/) and of course Geocaching with the family. I’m a gamer through and through, so I’m always getting some game time on Xbox live playing a variety of games from RPGs to puzzle games. I like to play all kinds of board games too. The surprising thing about my hobbies? I love to spend time coding. I’ve coded a lot of side projects for myself. Sometimes it’s a small, “can I make it do this?” and other times it’s a practical application that my family can use. One example of this is an allowance tool that we can put in chores for the kids, and when they complete them, they go to the page and check them off. Then we get an e-mail that links us to a page to accept this and it automatically gives them credits. Later they can use these credits for cash.

Last year, I had the pleasure of being a part of a 12 hour extravaganza, known as the Electric Daisy Carnival. Thanks to Jessica Zahn (jetherealz) and her friends from Seattle, I was able to discover great live acts like Paul Van Dyk, Rabbit in the Moon, and others. I came away from this event (which ended at 4am, mind you) thinking A) God, this is such a late hour to be going home on the bus and B) I really really need to do this event next year.

Well that "next year" is upon me. The Electric Daisy Carnival again invades the Los Angeles area on Friday and Saturday June 26 and 27. I'll be attending the show on the 27th which has a lineup that includes Kaskade, Paul Van Dyk, Benny Benassi, David Guetta and more. I'm very amped for this event -- I just have to make sure to drink more Red Bull earlier in the evening. It helps later on.

So if you're an electronic fan, keep an eye on the Electric Daisy Carnival site. They'll be making announcements of performers that will be rocking the stages for both days. If you happen to go to the event and you find me, say hello. In the meantime, check out the official HD trailer for the event.

Here are some tunes to load up on your Zune and kick out the jams as we creep into the warm, gentle cocoon of summer.

• Grab David Byrne's "Fuzzy Freaky" over at Underwired.
• Fluxblog has a track from Phoenix.
• Lead singer of the Cardigans, Nina Persson, fronts the group A Camp in an MP3.
• Discover two tracks from Donny Hue and the Colors.
• Check out the experimental pop ravings of Micachu and the Shapes.
• Download a remix of the Field's "The More That I Do."
• Here are two tracks from Sunset Rubdown.
• Enjoy a 3-track Jazz sampler from Amazon.com featuring classic tracks from 1959.
• Download a wicked mixtape featuring the Stone Roses, the Cure, Joy Division, Primal Scream, and more.
  

Enjoy the music and have a great weekend!

One of the Zune team members, Shane and I are starting a little program on Twitter. Through this program we hope to get the Zune Users on Twitter sharing music that they’re listening to and rocking out on. Ready to participate? Here’s how.

 

Step #1:

To directly link you go to:

http://social.zune.net/searchsummary.aspx and search for the track/artist like this:
http://social.zune.net/searchsummary.aspx?keyword=hello+eminem

Then you expand the track you want and right click the BUY button and COPY SHORTCUT:

http://social.zune.net/my/ContentRedirect.ashx?mid=7534bf01-0100-11db-89ca-0019b92a3933&mtype=Track

Step #2

Take that URL and make it a TinyURL. Feel free to use any program you like to shorten it. Obviously if you’re gonna put this on twitter, you can’t use the entire URL that’s presented to you through the zune.net search. I think pretty much any Twitter client will shorten it for  you, but just make sure that it’s a small URL so you can fit the rest of the information in.

Step #3

Paste that new tiny url into your twitter box, give the name of the song and the artist and the hashtag #zunetune. When you do post your twitter you have to make sure that you have all of the elements intact: #zunetune, link to song, name of song/artist, comments (if you have space left).

I format mine, for the most part like this:

http://tinyurl.com/mye3pj - #zunetune - "Hello" by Eminem {You can totally tell he's back on top of his game}

Step #4

When done, your twit should look something like this.

Come join us and have fun.

Source:
Zune HD Video Hands On from Gizmodo on Vimeo.


The guys at Gizmodo have created a video highlighting some of the functionality of the Zune HD?

So what does everyone think?

Microsoft has announced today that their XBOX 360 system has experienced record growth for 2009 ( a year that hasn't even reached it's halfway point yet ). Sales of the console have reached the 30 million mark, globally, while members of the XBOX Live community have gone to 20 million ( up from the 17 million we've been mentioning in earlier posts ).

It's starting to look like having that Zune Video Marketplace integration is going to bode well for Zune given that the community on XBOX Live is steadily growing. I'm happy to say that I'm a proud member of the XBOX Live community and it's a very well done system ( software+services hard at work again ).

It also looks like things are picking up steam heading into the XBOX/MS Press Briefing event taking place this coming Monday. Stay tuned, folks. For more information, check out Microsoft's official press release. [Press Release]

When news of the Zune HD broke, people immediately started to fill in holes where the press release and on-the-record interviews stopped. Around here, we have been wondering about a number of things. Zune Thoughts has a good idea of the size of the Zune HD. But we are still left asking a few questions. How much will it cost? Will another model will include a hard drive? Does it blend? Blogger Long Zheng, of istartedsomething.com fame, had a look at one of the high resolution photos and twittered something interesting:

on a closeup of the ZuneHD home screen you can see "playing, fav's, history, new" in the background. zoomable UI? http://is.gd/GbTa

-longzheng

I responded (yes, I’m on Twitter) with an inquiry of my own:

http://twitpic.com/61ee1 - @longzheng I wonder what's under the 'more' section

-Solar257

Paul Thurrott’s preview of the Zune HD has a higher resolution image of the same photo featured on Zune’s new Zune HD teaser page. If you look below, there is a slight difference between this photo and the other two we posted previously. I have put together the three shots. Notice, there are words underneath the music, video, pictures, and social headings in the left-most image of the Zune HD.

The sub headings are what you see when browsing the Zune interface now, artist, albums, playlists, songs, and channels for ‘music.’ All, TV, and movies for ‘videos’ and friends and inbox under the ‘social’ heading.  While it is possible this is a simply a difference in press materials, I think we should cogitate on these subtle changes and connect them to the others noted by Long. It will be interesting to see Zune’s first take on a touch-centric media player interface. What factor will multi-touch play in the new interface? Is it zoomable? Will a new interface come to all Zune devices? I am sure Marques will give us some insight next week as he will be live at E3. Be sure to follow him on the Twitter for all the latest E3 updates.

Point of interest: The screen on the Zune 30 has a higher refresh rate than that of the 2nd generation Zunes (60Hz vs. 30Hz). The Zune 30 also has a higher clocked processor (524Mhz vs. 399Mhz). So when it comes to handling more processing intensive tasks such as those that may come with new firmware updates to older devices, I think the second generation Zunes will be the lowest common denominator in terms of processing prowess.

Image source [Zune Insider]

For those of who you who are still clamoring for information about the newly confirmed Zune HD, Ars Technica managed to sit down with Brian Seitz, Marketing Manager for Zune to discuss the Zune HD, it’s capabilities and the future vision for the Zune brand. It’s definitely worth the read.

I’m most excited about about the section on XBOX Live which begins to put that ‘cloud’ vision into view – remember MS is really digging into that software+services and ‘in the cloud’ stuff.

So go check out the Ars Technica article, leave them some comment love and soak it in. You can also feel free to discuss what you’ve read here, as well.

Article: Ars Technica Talks with Brian Seitz

Have we all come down from our Zune HD highs yet? No. Well I thought I'd ask.

Actually the reason for this little post was because now that we know some things about Zune's next entry on the hardware front, there were a couple of things that went through my mind considering what we know about both the device (so far) and the software+services front (so far).

Podcasts: Rob Greenlee has already made it clear that Zune will still support podcasting. That's an awesome thing. Recently, to help move that forward zune.net began streaming all available audio podcasts via the website. So let me see if I understand something: If we're to have this rich browser experience on the Zune HD, does that mean that I can browse over to zune.net and listen to streaming audio podcasts from there? While I would totally prefer to be able to update podcasts that I already have on my device over the Wi-Fi, being able to stream them using the web browser would be interesting as well.

HD Radio: Now I'll admit, I didn't know that much about HD-Radio prior to it being part of this announcement. I had heard some inkling of it because one of my favorite radio stations, KKJZ offers both an analog and a digital stream. Now what I thought was that people had to pay for the digital stream, much like satellite radio. However, the analog and digital streams are actually sent together from the same place. If you happen to have an HD receiver (looking at Zune HD) then you'll be able to pick up that digital stream.

The digital stream also allows for a better feed of the song and album information that allows us to better use the Buy from FM feature that Zune implemented a few releases back. Together HD-Radio and Buy From FM could be a quality experience for Zune users while they're out and away from their comptuers.

XBOX Live Integration: I'm sure now that people are beginning to understand this whole software+services thing that Microsoft is very animated about. Having Zune be the forefront brand for XBOX Live's Video Marketplace has just bumped up it's visibility from 3 million to 17 million in one fell swoop. That's a definite way to get your name out there. I'm very excited to see how this plays out in real time at next week's E3 expo. Most reporters are making note that the integration was actually the mainstay of the press release and the device seemed more like the afterthought. Could that have been the actual plan?

The Older Devices: So what happens to the older devices? Zune was always fantastic about giving the older devices enough of a firmware update that they could feel new again and do what the newer models could do. Yet, with the introduction of the Zune HD, do we expect to see that kind of firmware in the older devices? Could you imagine Zune HD functionality in a Zune 30? Personally, I thought what separated Zune from others was that ability to tell the older generation users that they weren't going to be left behind. Now I don't know what the plans for this may entail, but I would tell current Zune users to hold onto their devices (and continue to use them, haha). I would venture to think that they would still be useable even after the Zune HD's general availability.

Yet it also seems like the devices may have a bigger generation gap (read: experience) than it was to jump from a pad to a squircle, for example.

McDonalds: Will I now be able to browse the web while at a McDonalds for free, much like I'm able to shop the Marketplace? Just thought I'd toss that one in there for shizz and giggles :-)

So these were just a few things I had swirling around in my head. I'm sure E3 will answer some questions people may have and as time goes on to the actual release date we will find out more of what Zune has in store.

Last week I discussed the tenuous Zune / videos relationship, and ways to get new video content onto your Zune. One method that I did not discuss last week (and decided to make into its own column) is loading YouTube videos onto your Zune.

First off, you'll have to thank the Apple megalith for being able to download videos from YouTube. YouTube videos come in two flavors: Flash-based and MP4 format. The latter is for the iPhone / iPod Touch, since they don't support Macromedia Flash. Lucky for us, we can make use of this.

First off, I make no warranties or legal advice regarding this option. Don't share videos, kids. And make sure your passport to South America is on standby.

First off, there are multiple ways to do this, but I'm going to focus on two of them. One involves the site KeepVid.com, and the other is for users who want to place a bookmarklet on their toolbar (Firefox, Safari) or create a bookmark (Internet Explorer, Opera) for even easier access.

The more universal option, KeepVid, is pretty simple:

1. Pull up the YouTube video.
2. Copy the complete URL link (e.g.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu_moia-oVI).
3. Go to the KeepVid site.
4. Paste the link into the textbox labeled "URL."
5. Click the Download button.
6. A new page will come up with two download links below. One is "Low Quality" (the Flash .flv file). The other is the "High Quality" video, with a .mp4 extension. This is the one you want. Click on the Download link.
   
7. You will see the standard Save As... dialog box. You should know what to do from here.

The other option is, in my opinion, much more convenient. It is detailed at the Google Operating System blog (described as "unofficial news and tips about Google"), and instead of regurgitating the information, I will simply link to it here. Basically, it involves dragging a shortcut to your toolbar, so that when you are on the YouTube video page, you click the link / button, and you receive the Save As... dialog box instantly. Well-worth investigating.

So... anyone else already doing this, and if so, what method(s) do you use?

The Device:

The Specs:

• HD Radio receiver
• Find stations in your area at www.hdradio.com
• Regular FM still works as well
• OLED multi-touch screen
• 3.3 inch screen, 16:9, 480x272 resolution
• HD video out capabilities
• Up to 720p using a HDMI A/V dock
• Optimized internet browser for the device and touch
• Tap to zoom technology,
• Built-in accelerometer
• Touch screen QWERTY keyboard
• Significant browser customization based on IE
• Wi-Fi enabled
• Wireless streaming
• Browse Zune Marketplace
• Thanks to the web browser you can now connect to airport Wi-Fi and other sites that require a web page to login

The Takeaway:

Things just got interesting boys and girls. Along with a new device the Zune service is also heading across the pond (Europe) via Xbox Live (in addition to Canada and the U.S.). Welcome to the Social everybody! More details as we get them. Steve was not too far off when he said to pay attention to E3 this year.

It does look like there are at least three colors so far, Black, Silver, and a Bronze/Champagne Platinum tint. The latter two colors could be the difference between RGB and CMYK coloring. Also, zune.net/zunehd is live and I recommend you have a look at portable perfection. It looks like these puppies, along with the spread of Zune to Europe will be landing this fall. However, stay tuned next week as Marques will be live at E3 will all the latest Zune and Xbox updates.

Press Release

 

Photo source [Zune HD] [Zune Press]

Here’s some news that’s out there on the internets:

• PMP website AnythingButiPod has a great article outlining audiobooks on MP3 Players. (ABI)
• Billboard has a story about the band Queen considering American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert as their new frontman (Billboard)
• MSN Music takes a deep look at Eminem, hot off the release of his newest record “Relapse”. (MSN Music)
• Zune Thoughts has found a story where Zune will be sponsoring a summer tour by DJ Class. (Zune Thoughts)
• Rolling Stone makes a case for the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Do you agree with their list? (Rolling Stone)
• Blender Magazine highlights 28 Sexy Music Moments in TV. Look, cause you know you want to. (Blender Magazine)
• The Source Magazine interview London hip-hop artist, Marsha “Poni” Bryant. (The Source Magazine)
• And finally, Down Beat Magazine lists the new NEA 2010 Jazz Masters recipients. (Down Beat Magazine)

Check back next week for a special Pre-E3 edition of Speaker Wire.

Artist: Janid

Song: Twisted

Album: Twisted

With all of that moaning, anyone else need a cigarette after watching this? :P

It's Friday. Memorial Day weekend is upon us. Food, music, and fun will undoubtedly ensue. Rev things up with these free tracks:

• Grab yourself some Iron and Wine to start the weekend.
• Fluxblog has a track from St. Vincient.
• It Came From 1977: 3 Bill Cosby Disco MP3s. Yes, someone had to.
  
• Get the folk out with Blue Roses.
• Wilco, one of my newly favorite bands, has a new track available.
• Check out the indie stylings of Tamara Nile in 3 MP3s.
• Amazon.com has an 8-track Urban Jazz sampler available for $0.00.

That's all for now, folks. Enjoy your 3-day weekend!

I put out this announcement on Twitter that Creed is gearing up for a new album and a new tour. That got me and one of my twitter buddies to talk Creed's music when I realized there was a MAD TV sketch that made fun of the similarities between Creed and Pearl Jam (and a couple of other artists). So I'm posting the video here so you can see the sketch for yourself.

And man, that dude that plays Scott Stapp (from Creed) really nailed it!

You may notice a change next time you go register your Zune device -- a new refresh of Zune Service site. Now instead of all of this text, you get a more graphical representation of what's going on. You'll see a picture of your device -- in this case, an 80GB, warranty information and more. The drop down menu on the right highlights some of the most key issues people face.

Other parts of the feature set includes:

    * Zune Player Registration
    * Purchase Extended Service Contracts
    * Dispute Warranty Expiration Date
    * Online Troubleshooting
    * Cancel Service Request
    * Online Order Status Check

Check some of the screenshots below {click to enlarge}.

Oh and please re-tweet :-)

Those of you who have been following myself and some other folks on Twitter may have noticed our penchant for talking smack when it comes to baseball. Just so you are all aware, there’s a friendly rivalry between some of us – the bulk of which involves me (as a fan of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) and, ahem, some members of Zune Team, Microsoft Staff and overall Seattle community who are pulling for their Seattle Mariners.

I call it the Zune Baseball League because this really started with me and Brian Seitz having a small friendly head to head whenever the Angels faced the Mariners. Now it’s grown so that Brian has a small army of people with him :-) and I stand wearing the proud Red!

MVPs, Mike Stefani and Neville Williams, are Red Sox guys. They’ve started this little game where whenever our respective teams meet, whichever person’s team loses the series that fan has to sport the winning team’s logo/background on their Zune card. So far – as of tonight – I’ve been lucky!

I also mention it because if you want to go ahead and flash your team pride, either on your Zune card or wherever you want – in the comments, also, go ahead. If you’re a baseball fan, let us know who you root for.

Those that know me know that I love music. As a student of the art I've come to appreciate the hard work and dedication that goes into not only producing good music, but getting your name out there. Many well deserving artists go unnoticed because they don't have the backing of some giant Corporation or marketing machine that could pump their names all over the place and get them boatloads of radio play. So when I find the opportunity to do my part, even if it's on a small scale like this little blog here, I take great advantage.

Especially for a blog like this because here we're about letting you know of good free music for your Zune player -- and even offering such music when we're permitted to do so. We do this because there's always the hope that the one song we put out there may inspire someone to try a new genre, new style and one can never know where that 'snowball down the hill' will lead.

Having done this for a while, it's always still amazing to be recognized for doing what you love. It's the same feeling that I had when I was awarded the MVP award. While I appreciate the recognition, I got that because I was doing something I loved -- helping people in the zune.net forums get the most out of their Zune and, by extension, their music.

So imagine my face when I saw the little snippet above from Ariel Publicity's recent newsletter.

I came to know about this organization because they were representing one of my friends, Phashara, back when I had my own personal blog. Since that time they have introduced me to some wonderful artists: Shalone, Omar Alexander, Trina Elle, Lisa Bianco, The Simple Things, Daydream on Autopilot, the list goes on and on.

What's most awesome about this latest recognition is that in the time I've started working with Ariel Publicity and promoting their artists, which I think was Fall of last year, we've already been mentioned three times in their newsletter as a featured blog. I've been deeply honored each time I've seen it.

I do take an active role in working with their online database of artists. I download their tracks, give them a couple of good spins, offer them up to you when available and leave feedback on the artist's page telling them what I think of their music. What Ariel Publicity does for their clients is nothing short of outstanding and I'm glad to be part of their network.

Seeing us recognized for the third time (in a short amount of time), makes me proud of this blog, these writers I work with on a daily basis and the artists who continue to strive to put out good music for us to enjoy. If you haven't had a chance to try out some of these guys, just hit the "FREE MP3s" tab at the top and get to downloading.

Obtaining video content for your Zune can be a tricky proposition. There are not a lot of freeware tools to assist in the task of converting your DVDs to a video format for your Zune. There are a number of paid ones, but they can, at times, be finicky (I had to obtain a refund for the one I bought because it flat out did not work on half of my movies and crashed half of the time for the rest). The one I do use regularly, and love tons and tons, is a freeware version of DVD Catalyst 3. It works great, it's fairly fast, and I can be converting a DVD in just a few clicks. There is a premium version for $19.95 with more features, but thus far I have not found a need to upgrade. Even so, DVD Catalyst 3 is not an easy find. If you Google "freeware Zune DVD Converter" you have to dig through a bunch of junky links and there's no guarantee you'd find it.

Outside of converting your own DVDs, you can purchase video content off of the Zune Marketplace. I'm of a mixed mindset on this. First, look at cost. Why would I spend anything close to a DVD version of a movie / pilot if I can own an actual DVD copy with more features? Second, and most importantly, is the DRM.

After having jumped into the online music fray years ago, I can say I will never purchase another DRM-protected track again. If your computer dies, you don't have access to the DRM license server of the provider you purchased your track from (say, they went out of business), or you may have used up your 3 allowed installs... yeah, you're FUBAR'ed. Thanks to the record companies smartening up, MP3-formatted tracks are readily available.

Unfortunately, there is no similar relaxation of DRM on video. So what's my point? As much as I love the Zune ecosphere, how do I know it will be around in 5 years? The last thing I want is to invest a lot of money in music videos and television shows, only to have the DRM servers shutdown on me one day (MSN Music, I'm looking right at you). If videos were sold in DRM-free formats, I would have purchased a number of videos already. As it stands, my only videos downloaded from the Zune Marketplace to date are the free ones (thanks, Zune!).

So what are you options to obtain video content for your Zune? Here are a few you may or may not know about:

• The aforementioned DVD Catalyst.
  
• The Internet Archive has a video section, with tons of free content to download, including public domain movies. Lots of classic stuff to be found.
• Liketelevision offers downloads and a subscription service. Videos come in MPEG format.
• Of course, the Zune Marketplace.
  

How about you? Where do you find / purchase videos for your Zune? Is DRM a concern for you?

Over at the Windows Blog came news that users of Windows Media Center will be able to log into their Netflix account and watch movies directly through WMC. For more information check out the Windows Experience Blog. For my money, this is pretty awesome news. It puts this service on two of the three screen MS was talking about (PC and TV – via XBOX 360).

I should also mention that this is only available for the users of Vista (Premium and Ultimate). Which means all of us on Cloud 9 (er Cloud 7) with our Release Candidate can't even try it out. Boo...:-(

As Marques reported recently, Zune has a new advertising campaign focusing on Zune Pass. This time, instead of letting artists do the talking, we are receiving advice from Wes Moss, a certified financial planner. All jokes aside about financial planners and their relationship to current economic conditions, I think this campaign does what is necessary to raise the profile of music subscription services, specifically Zune’s music subscription service. The video clips are direct, using terms that are clear and understandable. The question of $30,000 vs. $14.99 will get through to a lot of individuals. Differing from previous Zune ads, they do not try to interpret the Zune experience in abstract terms. Has anyone seen these spots on TV?

Industry watchers have pointed out that the idea of subscribing to music has not caught on with the public. In part, they are right. One could point to the closure of the college-centric Ruckus Service (did anyone notice?), the demise of Yahoo! Music, or the inability of Napster or Rhapsody (+ Yahoo!) to make an impression on consumers, in terms of market share. Do these examples point to the failure of the idea of music subscription? Not at all. The idea of subscribing to media is viable. Look at Netflix and cable TV. As I have stated before, the idea of subscribing to music is great, it is the implementation that could use a little work. Would you put up with certain episodes of a TV show being only pay-per-view even if you added on-demand viewing to your cable subscription plan? Even with these shenanigans, Zune Pass is the best in its category of music subscription, partly for these three reasons:

1. It is easy to use
2. Has a tight integration with all Zune devices
3. Is suited for impulse downloads that you can take with you and discard just as easily

The utility of subscribing to music for impulse downloads is something I touched on before. A new section of the Zune Marketplace makes a stronger push for the case of subscripted music through the idea of being able to always listen to the most popular tunes without buying them. It asks a simple question, “Why pay $100 for their top 100?” This section has playlists of the top 100 songs from the Rhapsody, Amazon, and iTunes store…whoa, treading on the competitors’ turf. It gets better. The blurb for the Amazon playlist is classic, “we’ve got your one-click shopping right here.”  Did that just happen? Yes, yes it did. Conspicuously absent is a top 100 list from Napster, considering its recent $5/month + Keep 5 shot at the Zune Pass idea of $14.99/month + Keep 10. If I could change one thing, I would ask the ‘$100 for 100’ question in more places, like say in a Billboard newsletter perhaps.

<ahref="http://www.zunepass.net/calculator.html" target="_new" title="Zune Pass - unlimited music for $14.99 a month">Zune Pass - unlimited music for$14.99 a month</a>

This is big, not only is Zune pushing one of its advantages, Zune Pass, it is sticking it to its competitors. The above calculator is from the new zunepass.net website. Zune (Microsoft) is advertising its features and asking consumers to think about the merits of their purchase. For what it’s worth, on the new site, the only place you see the word ‘Microsoft’ in a substantial way is at the end of the 30 second video clips. I once read that there is a whole segment of advertising devoted to reinforcing a customer’s original purchase decision. In essence we feel better about our purchase when we see advertisements featuring the item after we bought it. Given enough time and some air play (ok, a LOT of air play) I think these ads could have a disruptive effect on that cognitive process. If editorials are any type of indicator, some are starting to engage the idea.

People have been quick to question Zune’s math. Sure in the long run it takes longer and is more expensive to achieve the same ownership parity using Zune Pass + Keep 10 than outright purchasing your tunes, but, as a famous economist once said, in the long run we are all dead. How likely is it that you will you be alive 100+ years from now? Second, how likely is it that you will be listening to the same music, over those 100 years, if you live to see 2109? Lady Gaga will still be p-p-p-popular then right?

 

Quip of the day:

Zune Pass saves so much green I’m nominating it for environmentalist of the year.

I came across a hot mix of music by Freeland [zune.net] during my afternoon's musical search. There's a mix available as a download and as a flash player. Personally, I find it to be quite interesting -- of course, I have very eclectic taste as anyone who's seen my Zune Card at any given time could tell you. Maybe it also helps that they have Tommy Lee on drums.

If you find that the music you're listening to is worth being in your collection, feel free to hit the download circuit and pick it up.

Here's some interesting music news from around the internet:
Pictured: Stephanie Carcache

• Martin Scorsese will direct the biopic of Frank Sinatra (DownBeat)
• Over on MSN Music, Green Day gives an interview and offers commentary about their new album "21st Century Breakdown" (MSN Music)
• While you're over at MSN Music, check out Zune's current ignition artist, Chester French (MSN Music)
• The Source Magazine is offering a free download of a mixtape by Rock City. Go make ya head nod (Source Magazine)
• Brian Williams? Music Freak? You betcha! Go check out his interview with Rolling Stone about his new music venture (Rolling Stone)
• Here at Inside the Circle, we hope that you're enjoying the avalanche of free MP3s that we offer or point you to. If you've missed it, I suggest you get in on that Stephanie Carcache action. Check out her single "Mr. Playa" (Inside the Circle)
• While not *totally* music related, Zune LA hosted a "Save the Seals" event. Check out some snaps from the event (944 Magazine)

It's Friday. It's the weekend. It's free music time...

• RCRD LBL has a remix of Magic Wands' "Black Magic."
• For the cost of an email address, you can download Coldplay's latest live album for free.
• You can grab "Fools" by the Dodos over here.
• Discover Dubious Ranger with 3 tracks by the band.
• Fingertips has a track by New Ruins.
• Grab this new live track from Animal Collective.
• Rock out with a new MP3 from Dinosaur Jr.
• Amazon.com is offering a Death Cab for Cutie track for free.

That's all for now. Have a great weekend!

Brian Seitz has made it official today: The Zune Insider podcast will return. However, your new hosts will be Jessica Zahn and Matt Akers (jetherealz and skipdeez, respectively, in Zune Social). Personally, I'm gung ho for the idea. As someone who knows both of these guys, I think they have the personalities and charm to really give the podcast some kick -- nothing against Cesar and Rob, of course.

They seem to be placing some finishing touches on it. I'm looking forward to it's relaunch!

Get to know the hosts via Social Spotlite Interviews they did for Inside the Circle:

Jetherealz (Jessica Zahn) and Skipdeez (Matt Akers)

A few weekends ago my roommate and I hosted a party. Towards the end of the party, I met a Zune owner and I asked her if she would be willing to say a few words about her Zune. First, this is the first interview I've ever done with my Omnia (yep I got a Windows Mobile phone after all). Second, following drunk girls with a camera is a difficult task. Third, the song playing in the background is "Lay Back" by Rick Ross [Zune Social], from my Zune of course.

For those who didn’t catch that, she has a Zune 30, loves it more than the new Zunes, listens to quite a few rock bands, and most of her friends have Zunes. And, at the end, she has a little something for Apple too. How’s that for Zune pride?

Let's face it: when you think of Microsoft, you probably think of two things: monopoly, and the accountant-looking, corporate line-towing guy from the "I'm a Mac" commercials. In other words, Microsoft does not exude the cool, chic, and open-minded vibe that Apple has so carefully and ironically developed. This goes beyond who has the largest market share for MP3 players; this is about image. This is about perception.

So, is Microsoft's image hurting the Zune?

In reading a recent article on the release candidate for Windows 7, the writer commented that some of the wallpaper artwork included was unusually artsy for Microsoft. Said wallpaper reminded me of artwork one would see in Zune-related advertising or as part of Zune Originals. And yes, it was cool, and different, and completely unlike Microsoft's image. Because their image, you know, sucks.

Really. Microsoft reeks of corporate monolithism. It reeks of uncool. And this doesn't go back to the days of Microsoft Bob, or the Office Paperclip, or Windows ME. Just look at the faces of the corporation. In the past, it was Bill Gates. And he can't help his demeanor or how he is; but Gates failed to achieve cool until he was about to retire and the company had a special retirement video for him. But now? Now we have Balmer. Who is Not. Cool. At least, not in a way Zune identifies with. Yes, he loves developers, and he is a great sales guy, and he is not the most humble of men... but Balmer is not going to ever match Steve Jobs' level and image of perceived cool. To the younger generation out there, he's that Uncle you don't want invited to your party, much less chill with and discuss music and pop culture, or even Kafka's The Trial.

That's part of what's unnerving about the Zune. The Zune concept, from device to artwork, is quirky and different, and yes, cool. In other words, it's completely unlike Microsoft. It's like a bunch of college fine arts graduates set up shop at the Redmond campus, tricked their way into getting on Microsoft's payroll, and started building the platform. I can almost imagine what it would be like when they were discovered:

STUFFY EXECUTIVE: What are you gentlemen doing here?

ZUNE DUDE: Hey bro. You're like, killin' our mojo here.

(A smoky haze dissipates and all the cool concept art becomes visible)

STUFFY EXECUTIVE: I think we can market that!

ZUNE DUDE #2: Whatever. Just let us keep our, you know, vision and integrity intact.

So, seriously... do you see Microsoft's name and image as hurting the Zune? Were you hesitant to purchase a Zune because it was made by Microsoft? As always, inquiring minds want to know.

Zune unveiled a new web campaign featuring Wes, a financial planner who helps you understand the value of having a $14.95 $14.99 (I'm so used to writing .95 for everything) Zune Pass versus purchasing the music straight from iTunes.

For my money, it's a pretty interesting way to show the value of Zune Pass -- but it also reminds me of the recent MS campaign that shows people finding out that PC's are the best value for their dollar -- ah, the parallels...

You can check out the Wes campaign here.

By the way, Wes is an actual person :-)

Addendum: Here's the video that's on display at the zunepass.net site starring Wes.




&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br/&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=684af04d-ab7a-4eef-ac52-bfcb127036a5" target="_new" title="Zune-Capacity"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Video: Zune-Capacity&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

If you're a fan of the music that you've heard in various Capcom games, you're in luck. Capcom has partnered with Sumthing Else Works to release game soundtracks digitally in North America. I've always thought that video games have some of the best soundtrack music out there, so now having a chance to own it is a great thing.

The game soundtrack roster includes:

• Bionic Commando®
• Resident Evil® 5
• Street Fighter® IV
• Dead Rising™: Chop Till You Drop
• Dark Void™
• Monster Hunter Freedom Unite™
• Spyborgs™

"We are very excited to partner with Capcom in bringing their video game soundtracks to the North American market," said Andy Uterano, President of Sumthing Else Music Works. "Our mission as a label is to support and enhance the lifestyle experience of the gamer by offering the latest and greatest soundtracks so they can enjoy and revisit their favorite gaming moments through the music." -- as told to Music4Games

For more information on availability dates, check out Sumthing Digital, which is also a website where you can purchase various video game soundtracks for your music collection.

If you haven’t noticed I usually gush about the people who’s music I share with you guys here at Inside the Circle – matter of fact, I think the other writers also feel a little warm inside when they have a chance to hip you all to some awesome stuff that they find. Well I’m here again to offer you a chance to sample Miss Trina Elle.

What I particularly liked about this song, People, was the smooth vocals. Given that the song seems to be about people living together in harmony, it’s nice that the voice giving the message is someone worth listening to. Miss Elle does a great job with the song. The song is very minimal in its instrumentation, but that helps the effectiveness of the track. It gives you a chance to focus on Miss Elle’s voice and the lyrics – cause after all as far as I’m concerned any song about uplifting, harmony and the like needs to have the words heard.

I especially got a kick out of the middle interlude which takes on a Caribbean vibe. I've always enjoyed songs with that sort of island vibe and this song used it effectively.

As the song is I find it one of those relaxing Sunday afternoon tracks. You could picture a family in the backyard, kids frolicking in the pool while neighbors chat about the week that was and the week ahead.

So here, you give it a go and run this through your Zune software:

Speaker Wire is a new segment which will highlight some interesting reads from music magazines and sites around the web. Ready?

• Billboard Magazine talks Spinal Tap including a stream of new song “Back from the Dead”.
• Blender gives the low-down on a video game starring David Lee Roth (it even includes Sammy Hagar as an enemy) – wow, that’s bold.
• MSN Music is offering readers a chance to sample “No Surprise” the new single by the band, Daughtry. After giving a listen I can say he’s still got it.
• The Source Magazine premieres Lil’ Kim’s new song and video for “Download”.
• VIBE gives us a rewind on Eminem. In preparation for the new album dropping, VIBE re-prints an article circa 2002 about Em and his music.
• Finally, for this week, NME has a story about an Honorary Ph.D. for Dolly Parton.

Get out there and educate your musical mind. More stuff next week.

“Pay attention to the stuff we’re announcing in the next month on XBOX.” - Steve Ballmer, Dallas Regional Chamber, “The Role of Innovation in a Challenging Economy”

What’s curious to me about this statement was that Steve didn’t elaborate on what he was talking about plus he didn’t make himself available afterwards for interviews, which someone may surely have asked him to go in-depth about what’s happening with XBOX 360.

Now the talk that he gave for the Dallas Regional Chamber wasn’t about XBOX but about the role of innovation. Mentioning XBOX 360 at something like this and coupling it with checking out E3 would say to me that some serious stuff is going down at the big convention in Los Angeles. Of course, what exactly that stuff is, is up for discussion around da internets.

For my money, seeing as how E3 wants to get back to the glory days of awe and given this little tidbit from an article…

"Microsoft is gearing up for a big presence at E3 which will completely transform how people think about home entertainment," said Don Mattrick, senior vice president for the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. "We're excited about the momentum that is building in the industry in anticipation of our June 1st media briefing, which will kick off E3 in blockbuster style."

…I’m thinking this is going to definitely be a year Microsoft fans will enjoy.

Story Source [ Technology Blog – Dallas Morning News ]

Another week, another free music update. Rejoice, my music monkeys. Rejoice...

• Fluxblog has a track from Basement Jaxx.
• Any band that is compared to New Pornographers is bound to get my attention. Check out three tracks from a such a band, Wild Moccasins.
• Go old school with a track from Bettye LaVette.
• Grab two tracks from Tortoise.
• Fingertips has an MP3 from the Sweet Serenades.
• Check out Woodhands' cover of Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl."
• Love dream pop? Then feed on Indie Rock Cafe's two-part lovefest on the genre, which includes Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Odawas, Blind Man's Colour, ISAN, and more: Part 1, Part 2.
• Obscure Sound has put out their Best of April 2009 collection, ten tracks in all featuring God Help the Girl, Two Door Cinema Club, Neon Indian, and more.

Enjoy the tunes and have a great weekend!