Artist:  Lil Jon feat/ Ice CubeSong:  Roll CallAlbum: Crunk Juice#ZuneTune: Not Available

I sat down with the piano. When I write a song, it is a beautiful and sometimes painful experience. Usually I’ll sit at my piano, play a chord, and then it gets going. I love to watch it happen. I am a vessel. I am not sure who flows the music through this vessel, whether it is God or my unconscious, or whether these things are anything other than life talking.

As a vessel, I am not absent from the process. I am there. I am the vessel. I have the responsibility to decide what is cool. I design the shape and the sound. I focus on what it is that I am trying to communicate and then the flow begins and I document it. I get excited when the lines are clever or well rhymed but I don’t feel like I deserve the credit for it. It feels more like good luck when things work out nicely. The lyrics don’t always make sense to me when I write them. Like when you wake from a dream and you know that the images are messages, but you can’t figure out what the message is. Sometimes it takes time for the story to become clear.

The same with lyrics. Since my songs are not like anyone else’s, I struggle with myself about whether I have gone too far with this line or that statement. My singing style is not as melodic as some folks would like. Fortunately my voice sounds nice. My weird lyrics can sometimes just slip by on the spoon full of honey.

But as I sat to capture the essence of my education and then infuse it into a few simple songs, I didn't expect it to be so time-consuming and heart-wrenching. The more time I spent at the piano, the less complicated the songs became. And the more simple the songs got, the less I trusted their value. Like, forty pages might be more valuable than forty measures.

In the end, I wrote three songs.

Synthesis: Application, The Table, Paradoxes

“I need to be inspired” is often a familiar mantra of us musicians when we want a new direction in our work or get in “creative mode” again.  We can take an active role into seeking it.  You could imagine the typical scene unfold: One would browse his/her music collection and listen to obligatory artists that have made “high artistic achievement” and “those that changed the world forever with music”.  You listen to their music with the hope that it will move you forward to achieve the same thing yourself.  Maybe you put on Dylan or The Beatles or maybe you put on Radiohead.  But as you grow as an artist yourself you realize that inspiration often comes unexpected or when you’re not looking for it.  It happens just because you are, well…living.  Day by day.  Hour by hour.  Currently, I am writing material for my new album (or next batch of songs because who knows the fate of albums anymore) and I’m finding that the unexpected inspiration hits me more and more. It’s the noise, sights and interactions of what is around me. The small things that make you see big ideas. It’s a beautiful thing. Here are a few scenarios that I have stumbled on recently for inspiration:

I want to be Tommy Lee.  Do let me explain!  I was tinkering about in my apartment cleaning and a recent live Motley Crue concert played on the TV.  Now, I was never a big fan of The Crue and saying I’m a casual fan would be pushing it.  However, I can say this: Tommy Lee on the drum kit was one of the most awesome things I have ever seen.  Besides being an amazing drummer, he’s a great performer. This guy REALLY loves what he does.  I could sense the 8-year-old boy he must have been, playing with such aspiration and big dreams to rule the world. Here he is all these years later and the happiness and heart was still there.  I remember thinking as I wiped off the dust off the television (and envision I’m in sweats and the hair in my pony tail at this point is half out and on the side of my head from cleaning all day), “Now this is exactly the kind of experience I want to give each and every fan of mine”.  An eternal happiness.  A permanent grin.  An association of happiness almost in a conditioned Pavlovian way:  See Tommy play=make fans smile.  See Lisa play=make the fans smile.  Ding!

One song that I have been completely obsessed with lately is “The Hardest Part” by Coldplay. Obsessed defined here as playing the song a few times a day in a row, to and from all locations that I walk to, on my ipod.  I always dug the song on the album “X & Y” but hearing the live (the free bee download from their past tour) stripped-down-piano-only version took it to new heights.  To me the chord changes, arrangement, emotional build and lyrics are at a level of perfection.  The theme is universal: moving on after lost love. We all experience this regardless of where we come from, live, grew up, bourgeois or pauper. It’s perplexing that a song can convey that.  I keep thinking who wouldn’t get this song?  You almost feel that the song was written for you because it fits so well. It’s about you.  So every time I begin to write a new song I think of “The Hardest Part” as inspiration to write a song that someone can connect to and feel it’s for them.

Recklessness and hair-in-your-face has always been a major draw for me to take up Rock n’ Roll.  Recently seeing the “Nirvana Live at Reading” DVD ad in a magazine reminded me, as if I saw the ribbon tied on my finger, the reason why I write music.  The image of Kurt Cobain suspended in air jumping put the pureness of rock back into my consciousness.  You can tend to forget or loose sight of it as you see more bands slicked up looking like a million bucks.  Protooled and airbrushed.  A mirage of flawlessness.  Nirvana was full of imperfections, wild untamed energy, and just raw.  They inspire me to abandon all perfections.  Which is in turn perfect (smile).  To roll with it and lead to where it goes.  These are some of the reasons why I learned to play guitar and what set me free.  There’s nothing like smashing your guitar into an amp and feed backing the hell out of it.  Symbolically, it’s like Neil Armstrong staking a US flag in the moon’s surface to declare “This moment is mine”.

It was only a few days ago I had a complete revelation.  I was simply returning home on the subway to my apartment.  Tired and dazed.  Taking a few head bobbing catnaps, being careful not to pass out onto the person to the left and right of me.  I just looked up and saw a 3 second flash of the latest ad from The Whitney museum.   Their new exhibit is “Georgia O’Keefe –Abstraction”.   I repeated those words:  Abstraction.  Hmmm.  Could that possibly be the new working title of my next album?  Right then and there I screamed in my head “Hell yeah!”  It rang so well.  But why?  No, I wasn’t going to write an abstract album with 10 minutes of meandering opuses, get overtly “art rock” and eliminate all guitars out of production. I thought “abstraction” was basically what songs are in a way.  They are an abstraction of a story meant to be interpreted by the listener.  I love that idea.  I went home and wrote it on my little white wash board on my fridge.  I see it everyday.  My daily affirmation.

That is my answer to what inspires me.  And looks like it can be anything anytime anywhere. So turn on, tune in and drop out.  Think, don’t think, pray, meditate, eat cookies, dream and maybe the next best song is in there.

Artist:  Another Bad CreationSong:  PlaygroundAlbum: Coolin at the Playground... Ya, know?#ZuneTune: Not Available

So here I am telling you about my high school teacher and how he's done so much for kids, musically, that he's been rewarded with a performing arts school named after him. Well here's a video showing the John Lennon bus visiting the school. With the help of Jackson Browne and members of the group Fishbone, several of the performing arts students were given a chance to record a song entitled "Impossible to Possible".

I'm telling you this is exactly why arts education is important.

If you want to know more about the John Lennon Tour Bus, click here.

Addendum: What's great about this is that not only were the kids being rewarded for their hard work in studying music, but they also got to learn about song production (working the computers, recording equipment, etc). That's some serious skills to be able to obtain even if you don't end up working in the music industry at all. Kudos to both the Performing Arts School, the John Lennon Bus, Fishbone and Jackson Browne for making this happen!

La 10a entrega de los Latin Grammy fue el 5 de Noviembre en Mandaly Bay en la ciudad del peqado, Las Vegas.

¿Vieron la ceremonia?
Yo si. Bueno, partes.

Calle 13 (en Zune) se llevo todos los premios en que estaban nominados; Grabación del Año y Mejor Canción Alternativa con la cancion No Hay Nadie Como Tú; Album del Año y Mejor Álbum de Música Urbana con el álbum Los De Atrás Vienen Conmigo; y Mejor Video Musical Versión Corta con La Perla.

¿Que pensaron de Juan Gabriel y su mini concierto?
No sabia que todavia podia hacer eso.


Por si no sabian, no tienen alfombra roja para los Latin Grammys. Es verde. Creo porque Heineken es uno de los patrocinadores mas grandes de los premios. Una cerveza Holandés es uno de los patrocinadores mas grandes.

Se pueden fijar en las fotos on la pagina de Facebook, los videos, o en las fotos.

• Para la lista de todos los ganadores, clic.
• Para el Facebook oficial de los Latin Grammys, hagan clic aqui.
• Videos de la ceremonia gracias a Univision.
• Y montones fotografias y mas fotografias.

The 10th annual Latin Grammy awards ceremony was held 5 November in Mandalay Bay in the City of Sin, Las Vegas.

Did you watch the awards show?
I did. Well, parts of it.


Calle 13* (on Zune) won in all of the categories in which they were nominated in; Record of the Year and Best Alternative song with No Hay Nadie Como Tu (There Isn't Anyone Like You); Album of The Year and Best Urban Album with Los De Atrás Vienen Conmigo (The Ones Left Behind Are With Me); and Best Short Form Music Video with La Perla (literal translation is The Pearl).


What did you think of Juan Gabriel's mini concert?
I didn't know he could still do all that.


If you didn't know, they don't have a red carpet at the Latin Grammys. It's green. I think its because Henieken is one of the largest sponsors for the ceremony. Yes, a Dutch beer is one of the largest sponsors. Go figure.

You can see said green carpet in the Facebook page, the videos, and in the photographs.

• For the entire list of winners, click. The page is titled "Nominees" but its a list of the winners; they're denoted by a little red phonograph.
• For the Latin Grammys' official Facebook page, click here.*
• Thanks to Univision, here are galleries of video.*
• And photographs upon photographs.*

*English version of page was not found/does not exist.

The more I see events taking place at Zune L.A. the more I think about "How come they don't have more of an internet presence?". If you watch Twitter and keep an eye out for Zune L.A., you'll notice that events are happening at the space pretty frequently. The caveat to that is that most of the events are private affairs and not open to the public. I guess what I would like to see is more events that are available to everyone, like the recent Mew exhibit. It would give folks a chance to see just how cool this space is. In all of this monumental thinking that I did I came up with a few things:

First off, Zune L.A. needs some sort of internet presence. They need some site (it can be simple) where they could list all of these great events that they have going on. At least then people won't think the space is being wasted and, in a sense, Zune L.A. could boast about the stuff that's going on there. Like I said, most of the events are private affairs or events that you hear about secondhand, but it would still be nice to see some sort of website that has some snapshots of the events, video, interviews and really show how lively the space could be. Again, I point to the Mew event as an example of what could be done, but it would have to be in a more central location to be effective.

Psst, did you even know they had a Zune Social account? They have to listen to more music over there!

Secondly, they could use some social media marketing. I look at the Grammy Museum as a great example of what could be done with social media. I follow them on Twitter and they're always talking about the great events that they're throwing and they have someone giving some play-by-play live during the event. While I'm not physically there at least I have a chance to get a sense of what the atmosphere is like. It's kind of like how I twittered from the Microsoft store opening in Mission Viejo. You're not there with me, but I at least tried to give you a sense of what things was like.

Now of course, we need some public events as well. So I thought about that too and came up with a couple of events that I would like to see take place. Will they happen? I don't know, but if these ideas are picked up by someone and they get the ball rolling, I'd be more than happy to assist with it wherever I can.

Green Room "Live"

I'm sure you know about the Green Room podcast. It's a series where artists are interviewed backstage prior to going on for a live performance. It's a great series and really gives you an insight about your favorite artists, their inspirations and what drives them to do what they do. Well I thought, why can't they bring that to Zune L.A. and call it "Green Room Live". In a sense what you would have is a live audience watching a sort of "Inside the Actor's Studio" interview with an artist, followed by a break, followed by a special live performance by that artist. It could cover several genres: rock, hip hop, electronic, house, grunge, metal, you name it.

What that would do is allow people to periodically come to the space and get an up-close look at their favorite musicians. Hear from their own words what their motivations are for continuing their craft. The interview portion could be live streamed so that people via Twitter or Facebook, for example, could submit their own questions and hear them answered. Zune is sorta doing this with their Ustream series, but I think it could go a step further, plus the Green Room name is already synonymous with their excellent podcast series.

Finally, after the interview, the live stream is turned off and those who are attending the event live will be treated an actual full on live performance by the artist.

The Zune L.A. House Party

My second idea is an official Zune L.A. "House Party". What would that entail? Well, I imagine basically a mixer, where people can come together on a Saturday night, network and have fun. What you would have is house music DJs performing in the performance space (I'm a huge fan of house music), DJ Hero "booths" set up in the exhibit area for people to try their hand at running the show and have the event benefit some sort of charity (in keeping with the name, I would recommend Ronald McDonald House!)

Now if the original idea was to keep Zune L.A. low-key, that's fine. Yet, if the idea is to turn the place into a music and cultural hub, then let's do some things and make that happen. LETS GO!

While having fun with Fiddler and the Zune software, I downloaded something cool. When browsing the Zune Video Marketplace I started teasing out links to where the movie trailers, intended for streaming within the software, were located. I noticed they were WMV files. Now, I wanted to see if I could download the trailers outside the Zune software. I copied the address out of Fiddler and pasted it into Firefox. Success, I now had the trailer for Star Trek on my PC.

After downloading a few more trailers I realized that some of the movie trailers had cover art attached to them while others did not. Others were not trailers at all –- only brief scenes from the movies themselves. One was categorized as a ‘Movie.’ The split in trailer type seemed to breakdown by movie studio or film age as older films tended  to show only scenes or lacked the cover art (though not always the case). The process of adding cover art to WMV files is not too well known. Because of this it seems like someone put in a little work to make this happen. Also all the files are in a Zune-friendly WMV format.

I wonder though, since all three platforms (Zune.net, Zune software, and Xbox  360) stream these trailers, does it stand to follow that the ability to download the trailers might be coming? Or, is this just me finding the location of the video trailers in the new unified Xbox 360-Zune Video Marketplace. If the latter, why add the cover art if nobody is going to see it? I mean the Austin Powers clip has additional summary info added as well. It seems like too much work to ignore but not consistent enough to make sense.

Artist:  PitBullSong:  I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)Album: I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho) [Maxi-Single]#ZuneTune: Click to Download

I’ve had experience in a few pro recording facilities earlier in my recording career. I’ve worked with some very experienced producers and engineers in some very well equipped studio facilities where I’ve learned from the best of them first hand how to create, record and mix a great song.

Which brings me to an experience I had earlier this year where I went to one of LAs multi million dollar studio facilities to re-record and mix an existing song of mines. The end result was… well…  a  piece of crap.

A former business associate (FBA) and I scouted studios and settled on “the one”. At the urging of FBA, we hired a world class engineer, with a resume that read like a Grammy award winners top ten list, and off we went to the magical “Studio”.

The evening started simple enough with quaint greetings and smiles and small talk. I whipped out my trusty Macbook, fired up Logic Pro 8 and exported waves of the track. The engineer called on his flunky, umm excuse me, assistant and together they began powering up the mother ship and patching this thing to that thing. What a production?! (no pun intended)

Anyways, I was pleased to hear my production banging out of those expensive monitors in that pristine room. But then Mr. Engineer starts in on the knob n slider tweak fest. Things started to sound funny to me but I figured he must know what he’s doing, right? Right! Booth time!

I went into the booth and tested the mic.  Mr. Engineer says “let’s get it brotherrrr” and a couple takes (or couple dozen takes… I cant remember) later we had what we needed. I came back into the control room and the “knob n slider tweak fest” continued. Mr. Engineer was doing lots of sliding around in his chair on the hard wood floor and blah blah blah. It seemed more like a show than anything real happening with the music.

The vocal recording was good and clean but I immediately noticed that the vocal recording from home had more soul and feeling. Probably because the music was changing more and more with every tweak. With the music changing the song began to morph into something less conducive to a soulful vocal recording. Not to mention, FBA suggested to Mr. Engineer that the drums should punch more. So rather than properly mix them they decided to layer new drum sounds on top. Bad idea considering the drums, sampled from Bob James's "Take Me to the Mardi Gras" (also heard on Run-Dmc’s “Peter Piper” and LL’s “Rock the bells”), were the inspiration for the song in the first place. I know, I should’ve samari sworded them (FBA and Mr. Engineer) both at that point but I continued on because I figured they must know what they’re doing, right? Right! Break time!

I spent the break playing beats and songs from logic sessions on my macbook through the studio monitors. Meanwhile, Mr. Engineer and FBA rested their ears in the next room. What I began to notice is that my mixes and beats and logic sessions were all pretty true to what I created them to be and they all translated quit nicely in the million-dollar room. As we, the assistant engineer and I, listened to the tracks we began to discuss the esthetics of hip-hop and, of course, the genius of J Dilla. We were interrupted by FBA and MR Engineer … “let’s get it brotherrr”… and the “knob n slider tweak fest” continued on once again.

Well, by the end of the night I had a great sounding bad vocal, some sort of loud mechanical rendition of the freshness that I previously created and a bill for approximately $2000. Which, by the way, was “a great deal for the facilities and an engineer of this caliber” so says FBA.

The next day FBA called me and proceeded gloat about how great the song sounded now that we’d performed open heart surgery on it. Well I sort of explained to him that what we did was open the heart of the song and remove the soul right out of it. I think this is the conversation that made this guy my former business associate. OMG he makes me LOL.

Back to the home lab I went… I pulled up the original session and mixed it as I knew it should be mixed. The vocals were good and soulful and they had character even without the million-dollar glitz and shimmer. I listened to the mix on several different sources (i.e. studio monitors, car stereo, boom box, ipod headphones.) I sent a wav file of the mix to a couple of trusted homies for 2nd and 3rd opinions of the mix. Noble Dru in particular, gave it a good listen and agreed that the mix was on point.

Now that I’d completed a great mix. I proceeded to send the mix off  to a professional, reliable and economical mastering engineer. My man warmed it up and blamed it out and sent it back sounding lush and large. Now I have a finished song ready for the market place (or bootlegging blogger cyberspace) and I didn’t need a million dollar recording facility. Nor did I need the all knowing big budget, old school Mr. FBA. Nor did I need Mr. Engineer’s Grammy mix n magic BS. All I needed was my gut instinct, my Macbook, Logic Pro, my controller and my Adam A7 monitors.

Bottom line is that no one knows my music better than me. I should’ve trusted my own better judgment and skipped that mad circus experience. I think this is the sentiment of many of my fellow “would-be-pro-studio-clients” who dwell in carefully crafted bedroom/basement studios. We changed the industry ourselves for independents sake.

Today 3D gaming comes to the Zune HD. As anticipated for quite some time, and as a postlude to last Friday’s 4.3 firmware update, six new apps are coming to the Zune Marketplace. This brings the total app count to fifteen apps. To be able to take advantage of these new apps you need a Zune HD with the optional 4.3 update installed. The applications are Audiosurf Tilt, Checkers, Lucky Lanes Bowling, Piano, Project Gotham Racing: Ferrari Edition, and Vans Sk8: Pool Service. The Twitter and Facebook apps are still cooking and will not be released at this time.

Not only are there games, but there is another fun little app as well, Piano. What is important to note is that all these games are free downloads from the app marketplace. These games are free because they are supported by advertisements. So be prepared to see 30-second ads before getting into the game. You should not have to switch regions to to get these games to appear. Checkers is two-player multiplayer capable on the Zune HD. Texas Hold ‘em is multiplayer capable with up to six Zune HD’s wirelessly. Bowling is also a wirelessly multiplayer game, supporting up to four players.

Because of the Zune Team’s desire to keep the keep Zune HD app development an invite-only affair, there is still no way for developers to get their apps into the Marketplace, via an SDK or app approval process. Though side-loading through XNA Games studio is still an alternative for those interested. While fun and entertaining, these games also do not represent Microsoft’s foray into the portable gaming space. The Zune HD is a media player with gaming capabilities. And while PGR is a different iteration of an available Xbox title, I wouldn’t expect more Xbox game ports to come right away. As it relates to Xbox, this update is purely about gaming on Zune HD and isn’t tied to any deeper focus on Xbox360 integration.

So, sit back, relax and enjoy some 3D Tegra gaming on your Zune HD.

November 12 Update:

Here are a few more things I discovered after some more analysis of the new Zune HD apps. In total, all fifteen apps take up 302.2MB of space. Bowling has a local multiplayer component, supporting a total of four players using the same Zune HD. The Piano app, along with the Calculator and MSN Weather app are now ad-free. This is great news and should probably put a smile on some faces. Finally, I added videos and pictures of Checkers and Piano to the end of this post.

 

Project Gotham Racing:

    

Lucky Lanes Bowling:

 

 

Vans Sk8: Pool Service:

The game features songs by The Methodones, Penukle, Slowride, and The Dwarves

 

 

Audiosurf Tilt:

 

 

Checkers:

 

Piano:

 

I've known Grahm Skee for a while now, but I've always known about his site AnythingbutiPod. It's one of the coolest sites out there for getting a deeper understanding of digital media (players, music formats, etc). Recently, ABI was acquired (read: purchased) by CrowdGather, a company that likes to centralize where people can find forums and communities for different types of technologies.

I'm very proud of Grahm and what he's been able to accomplish with ABI. I guess now the BOOMSHOTS in Gears 2 will be just a bit more sweeter :-)

Best of luck with the next chapter, buddy.

[Graphic comes from ABI. You can hear it from Grahm here!]

I give you Urban Outfitters' Music Mondays' five free songs for the week.

So, over the weekend, I was finally able to get the firmware update for my 16GB Zune HD. Now I know the update was only released on Friday, but the reason I say finally is because it didn't involve me just simply plugging the device into the computer and having it update. It involved me traveling to Canada. It appeared for me (and apparently for Neville as well) that by changing the region location to Canada we were instantly prompted for the 4.3 update. Weird, I know, but this also explains why our buddy Jason Dunn was able to get it immediately and not us [See, sometimes being Canadian with Zune does have advantages, haha].

So what's in the new firmware update. The general rundown is this:

• Support for the upcoming 3D games and applications.
• Auto Suggest feature for text input.
• Faster web browsing experience.
• Landscape keyboard
• Keyboard option has been added in the settings section.
• New toggle between seek and presets under Radio.
• Under the internet settings, you can now toggle to default mobile or desktop webpage layout.
• Artists bios are updated; embedded links to other artists in text.
• Other bug fixes.

I will admit that the browser does run much snappier and having it suggest words to you, as you're typing is a much welcomed improvement. And it prepares Zune HDs for the impending arrival of new games and applications.

Now we already know that games like Audiosurf and Gotham Project Racing and applications like Twitter and Facebook are on the way, the question is when? Some are suggesting that it will happen the day of the XBOX Live update, given that Zune and XBOX are becoming closer together (see: Zune Video Marketplace). Will that be the case only time will tell?

By the way, the embedded links in the artist bio is actually more useful than I had imagined. One of the great bios to try this on is the one for Prince (considering it's talking about movies and whatnot). What I found when I clicked on "Purple Rain" as a movie title was it tried to go into the Marketplace and a message came back and said "This video is not available in the Marketplace" -- well gee, why would it tell me that? When I clicked on one of his album names, it went directly to the Marketplace and to that album. That cuts out some time needed to reach content.

But yeah, what do you all think of the 4.3 firmware update...?

Artist	Breaking Benjamin
Song	The Diary of Jane
Album	Phobia
#zunetune	Click here to download

Common takes us cross-country for a whirlwind promotional tour. We're Embedded with him at morning radio shows, record store signings and on stage. Then we head to his old neighborhood in Chicago where he explains how Barack Obama has raised the bar for all of hip-hop. Along the way, Mos Def, Pharrell, and Will.i.am testify as to why Common is one of the greatest in the game.

Plus, Swedish phenom Lykke Li storms San Francisco thrift shops to find an outfit for her show, and Bloc Party performs "This Modern Love" acoustic on a sidewalk in Paris.

Current Music Presents: Embedded is a six part special that puts you on the ground and behind the scenes with unrivaled access to your favorite musicians. We've traveled the world, going beyond performances to bring you the most intimate and unfiltered moments in artists' lives. When others stop the cameras, we capture the real story of today's top musicians.

Get more at http://current.com/embedded.

[Information taken from the Current TV site]

Hoy, a las 8pm/7pm Centro en Univision desde Mandalay Bay en Las Vegas, NV, es la 10ma entrega de los Premios Latin Grammy.

¡Que no se les pase ver la ceremonia!

Y de las 2pm hasta las tres de la tarde, pueden ver el pre-telecast en vivo. Pero no se si son las 2pm-3pm tiempo Este, Oeste, Central, o que onda..






The 10th annual Latin Grammy Awards is tonight at 8pm/7pm Central time from Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, NV on Univision.

Don't forget to watch!
You wouldn't want to miss Alicia Keys, would you?

You can watch the live pre-telecast from 2pm to 3pm today. However, I don't know which time zone that is under... Eastern, West Coast, Central, or what.

I have to thank Grahm Skee over at AnythingButiPod for a little package he put together, making a certain wallpaper possible. Yesterday we posted a review about DLO’s Jam Jacket CordSaver. In a few of the pictures you saw our new branded background picture. Marques posted a comment about it after the article. That picture was possible because of the Zune HD Wallpaper Development Kit (WDK) created by Mr. Skee.

There is a thread in the ABi forums showing you how to use the WDK. In this thread it includes a compressed (zipped) folder containing what you need to make your own wallpaper. Within the compressed folder are some templates to help get started making your own background. The templates help you plan your design around the Zune HD’s screen elements such as the battery gage and clock. There are templates for Photoshop, GIMP, and a transparent png for those without either of the aforementioned photo editing programs. From the same ABi thread, it appears the Photoshop file works with GIMP, Corel PhotoImpact and Paint Shop Pro 2 -- good to know if you are rolling with any of those programs instead of Ps. Finally, there are a few examples of completed wallpapers.

To see our full collection of branded Zune HD wallpapers check out our thread over in the AnythingButiPod forums.

Along with the Zune HD I received a few new cases to check out and sample. One case is the Jam Jacket CordSaver by DLO. Notice the ‘Designed for Zune’ logo. You can be sure that products carrying this logo have gone through strenuous product testing to ensure the item works properly, does not damage your Zune, and is of sufficient build quality.

 

Hence the “CordSaver” title, one major feature of this silicone case its integrated cord wrap, located on the back of the case. The case covers both the media button, on the side, and the power button, on the top of the Zune HD. The button covers rise above the profile of the case. This differs from the flush nature in which the buttons lay on the Zune HD, without the Jam Jacket. The only uncovered button is the home button. Already slightly raised, this button sits on the front of the device. Also, the case leaves the bottom-facing headphone jack and sync port exposed. Even when using the case, the provided openings allow for easy access to both ports. While the screen is left unprotected, the silicone framing around the front of the Zune HD does recess the screen just a bit. This allows one to leave their Zune HD face down on a table, without worrying about the screen coming into contact with the surface.

 

I decided to try the case for a day to see how it worked as fashion accessory and item of utility. As you can see in one of the above pictures, my current headphones (Sennheiser CX-400’s) come with a cord wrapping accessory. For the day, I decided to trade-in the included cord wrap accessory for the one attached to the back of the Jam Jacket CordSaver case.

 

Installation was simple; open packaging, remove case, insert Zune HD into case, enjoy. As I started my fifteen minute walk to class I spent some time figuring out the best length and orientation of the headphone cable to give myself adequate device mobility. The question is, how best do I manage that extra foot of cable left over after going from my ears to my hand/pocket? On the back, There are notches at the top and bottom of the cord wrap utility that allow you to decide which way to orient your headphone cable after wrapping it. At least with my CX-400’s, the CordSaver cannot accommodate the entire length of cable (well, not comfortably). Instead, the CordSaver does is allow me to wrap up enough headphone wire to create a manageable length of cord without having to stuff a handful of headphone cord into my pocket along with my Zune HD. As I reached campus I tried slipping the Jam Jacket + Zune HD combo into my pocket. I did not notice any extra bulk as a result of the case and wrapped headphone cord. Like silicone cases I have used before, this case also attracts pocket lint.

 

As I walked from class to class, with the Zune HD in my hand, I found that the raised media button made it easier to access track and volume controls. Also, I noticed the raised edges of the Jam Jacked CordSaver prevented me from inadvertently touching the screen, while playing music. When I hold the Zune HD in my hand, my thumb rests across the row of playback buttons below the album art. With the Jam Jacket, my thumb rests on the raised silicone edge around the screen, just enough to prevent it from unintentionally rating a song or skipping to the next track.

 

The only thing that bothered me about the case was the ‘CordSaver’ aspect. In the day that I used the Jam Jacket, my CX-400’s cable did not like to stay in either of the provided notches on the back of the case. I noticed it generally came unnotched after spending time in my pocket (i.e. during class). After the day-long trial, thinking it had something to do with the thickness of the headphone’s cable, I tried my Sennheiser HD-201s and the headphones that come with the Zune HD. The cord on the HD-201 is roughly twice the thickness of the CX-400’s. These too did not ‘notch’ well. Knowing length of cable wrapped around the sheath calls into question ones ability to notch the headphone wire, I only wound the 201’s once before trying to notch the cord. The Zune HD headphones faired the best. While they too would become unnotched, the cable was able to remain notched while supporting the weight of the device something neither of the other two headphones could manage. Know that in all cases the headphone cord never came unwound from the cord wrap; they just would not stay notched.

The cord wrap accessory I use with the CX-400s also has a tendency to occasionally come unnotched, though not nearly as frequently as the CordSaver case. Overall this is not too big of an issue. I think the problem has something to do with the case resting in my pocket and the design of the notches themselves. The CX-400’s wrapping accessory is tailored to one pair of headphones. With the Jam Jacket CordSaver, DLO is selling to a larger audience and trying to accommodate headphone cords of different thickness. Also, on the Jam Jacket, the silicone used to create the notches is thinner than that of the Sennheiser cord wrap accessory. Perhaps this contributes to the Jam Jacket’s inability to hold thicker cords well.

Overall, the Zune HD and Jam Jacket CordSaver work well together. The case had a nice feel as I held it. It also looked good doing its job, saving cord and Zune. It also provided easier access to the media button than simply using the Zune HD by itself. Do not let the case’s occasional inability to retain headphone cord deter you. The case is worth purchasing because the cable wrap feature is super useful. Constantly wrapping and unwrapping your headphone cord around your Zune, is bad for the wires in your headphones. The friction from the constant bending and unbending around your Zune will cause the wires to fray internally. This leads one or both channels to stop working, with little sign of damage to the outside headphone cord. I think this is the reason why Skullcandy recommends against this practice. It looks like the Jam Jacket CordSaver tries to prevent internal shearing (Cord-Saver, get it?). I think it does a good job by allowing you leave yourself just enough cable to get from your hands to your ears without forcing you to wrap extra cord around your Zune HD. If you have headphones with a thinner cord you might get better wrapping and notching results. For longer periods of storage, and depending on headphone cord length, you can wrap the entire length of your headphone cord in CordSaver utility, creating a compact yet organized Zune HD + headphones package. If you are looking for a silicone case with a little added functionality, the Jam Jacket CordSaver by DLO is not a bad choice.