To say that last night I got to spend 68 minutes being completely grooved and rocked by a music mix would be an understatement. The good folks at D2E Entertainment pointed me out to a music mix that is done by DJ Tin Tin (who likes to also call herself 5FootTin – follow her on Twitter, folks -- and Ray Mack (hence the name MackTin).

The track runs 1 hour and 8 minutes and blends some great music together including tracks by Kaskade, Taio Cruz and Michael Jackson. Usually, I zone out a song if it’s an hour-long continuous mix, but this one had me from start to finish.

I also had the pleasure of hearing DJ Tin Tin mix at a recent Gamers United event that took place at the end of E3 week. She was great then and she rocks it now.

Herego, dear reader, here’s your chance to sample it for yourself.

MackTiN - Cdj V. Vinyl Mix by 5footTin

Let me know what you think.

What's Jelli? Exactly, this is why I'm alerting you of something interesting that they've announced today. Here's the snippet of the press release that's most relevant to this conversation:

Starting today, in a first for traditional broadcasting, Jelli's social radio platform will take over all of the programming operations of two FM radio stations in Las Vegas, 24 hours a day, under a multi-year agreement. Las Vegas is the first market to launch Jelli as a revolutionary, new 24-hour radio format.

On Jelli 96.7 (KYLI-FM) and Jelli 94.5 (KXLI- FM), listeners can choose in real time every song that plays on the air via Jelli's website (http://www.jelli.com/vegas) or Jelli's free iPhone app (http://www.jelli.com/iphone).

Jelli 96.7 - The New Beat of Las Vegas (KYLI-FM) will feature Top 40 tracks, including a combination of current and remix versions of mainstream and rhythmic hits. Jelli 94.5 – 100% User-Controlled Rock Radio (KXLI- FM) will feature a wide catalog of alternative and modern rock music.

It's up to the Jelli community on each station to decide, in real-time, what tracks get on the air. To participate, listeners simply visit http://www.jelli.com/vegas or download the Jelli iPhone app, sign up for a free account, and begin voting.

We're now in this overdrive mode of real-time music experiences, thanks to startups like Turntable.FM. I even know of malls now that let people choose, in real time what music videos will play on the TVs in the food court. Jelli has just taken it to that next step by letting the consumer act as the DJ.

Anyone else remember jukeboxes and how people could go up and put in a quarter and choose a song to place into the queue? Yeah, Turntable.FM is doing that and now Jelli is doing that. If any readers in Vegas want to let us know about this experience, I'd love to hear about it.

I have to admit, I was quite underwhelmed by the new releases this week. First off, I don’t think there were that many new albums. I decided to use Amazon’s new release page as a reference to see if there was anything I missed, but there really wasn’t that much new stuff out there.

The stuff that *was* out there was very hit or miss. I can’t tell you of any album where I liked more songs than I disliked, but that’s not to say that I didn’t find a few gems amongst the haystack.

Which leads me to the following songs that are my choices for this week. Clicking on each link will take you to that particular album in the Zune Marketplace (software-side).

Let me know what you thought of this week’s new releases in the comments.

1. "Countdown" by Beyonce (Album: "4")
2. "Culture of Fear" by Thievery Corporation (Album: "Culture of Fear")
3. "Little White Doves" by Dirty Vegas (Album: "Little White Doves")
4. "Marvin & Chardonnay" by Big Sean (Album: "Finally Famous")
5. "Up From The Ashes" by Burn Halo (Album: "Up From The Ashes")
6. "Don't Break The Rules" by Norbert Leo Butz & Company (Album: "Catch Me If You Can: Original Broadway Cast Soundtrack")
7. "How to be a Mom" by Taking Back Sunday (Album: "Taking Back Sunday")

Microsoft Windows Phone and Fader TV (Remember, Fader? They once did one of the premium channels for Zune) have teamed up for a series called "Phone Tap". Phone Tap follows interesting people in New York City. The catch is that all footage is filmed using Windows Phones (pretty neat idea).

In the current episode, they visit Heather Millstone, owner of East Village staple Heathers Bar and Greenpoint’s Veronica People’s Club.

Check it out. For a Windows Phone, it's a pretty cool vid.

“Over the whole weekend about 250,000 people attended the dance festival. There were arrests made but no major problems from a festival with a huge crowd. There had been concerns because of incidents at past events including the death of a 15-year-old girl at the festival held in Los Angeles last year. About 80,000 people attended the festival Sunday night but there were only 14 misdemeanor arrests, six felony arrests and one traffic citation.”

[8 News Now, Nellis]

This is actually good to read. As I stated before, due to the incidents of the last EDC in Los Angeles, this event was under great scrutiny and I’m sure having it in Vegas just heightened the microscope that this event was under. Knowing that, overall, it did very well for itself and the tourism for Las Vegas says that this event may have found itself a new home.

Oh and that photo was one I took at my very first experience at the Electric Daisy Carnival in 2008. I still think that couple was awesome!

This is the start experience for Windows 8

And this the Quickplay experience for the current version of Zune’s software

See similarities? I’m sure you do.

Folks, let’s start giving Zune more credit for being part of the influence chain than we have been to this point. Think about everything that’s been said about the intuitiveness of the Windows 8 start screen and see how a lot of that could be applied to the Zune software’s QuickPlay experience, right now.

I could see myself using a hand gesture, mouse/keyboard, touch input all on this screen to access the music and media that I want.

Zune, much like EA SPORTS, you’re in the game!

Song: Bass Down Low

Artist: Dev

[Listen to song on Bing!] [Purchase from Zune Marketplace]

"Matchbox Mobile, pioneers of custom software and application development, have enabled users of the Zune HD touch-screen digital media player to send and receive email, by being the first to develop an Exchange email client for the device on behalf of Microsoft"

And so begins a really cool article talking about Matchbox Mobile and how they went about designing the email client that was recently released for the Zune HD. It's quite interesting given that XNA is more of a gaming framework than applications.

Check out the article here.

If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I like to spend Tuesdays using my Windows Phone and mini-speaker to check out new releases. While I love a good mainstream new release, I also like to go into the actual categories to find albums that were released but didn't get the front page coverage.

In keeping with Inside the Circle's goal of expanding your musical palate, here's my 5 favorite songs from this week's new releases. I've linked you to the Zune Marketplace. If you like the recommended song, then I suggest checking out the entire album.

Here's the list:

• "TMZ" by Weird Al Yankovic (link)
• "So in Love" by Jill Scott, feat/ Anthony Hamilton (link)
• "When the Feds Come Runnin" by Dayton Family (link)
• "Push It" by Jessie and the Toy Boys (link)
• "Love On You" by Jagged Edge (link)

I'm also curious to hear what new releases you've been enjoying this week.

If you’ve been a longtime reader of Inside the Circle, then you know one of the things that made our blog so popular was our occasional release of free music that you could download and sync to your Zune HD or Windows Phone 7. Well, it’s time to bring back that little piece of our existence.

By the way, if you want other MP3s that we’ve given out over the years, check out our RSS Feed (it also includes the two free songs given out below!)

Here’s two MP3s that I’ve had on great rotation since I downloaded them. Give them a spin and see if you enjoy them. You’ll most likely be taken to Inside the Circle’s Audio SkyDrive folder. When you get there just use the ‘download’ link in the right-hand column, the folder will already have the clicked song highlighted.

Happy listening!

MesAyah

(Click the icon to download the song “Hustler”)

Norwegian rapper from Oslo whose on a journey of seducing the world with a poetic lyrical approach to music that you have not seen since the progressive rock era in the 70´s.

Ever since he started rapping back in '05, MesAyah has focused on the listeners and provided them with something new. He wants to evoke feelings and thoughts both on a personal and collective level, and let the audience get more out of the lyrics when giving them another listen. MesAyah has an artistic approach, allowing the listener to interpret his music in their own way rather than adopting his beliefs.

Jennings

(Click the icon to download the song “The Darkness”)

Standing just a shade over five feet tall, Jennings delivers a robust and heartfelt sound that is anything but small-scale. Her music reflects an enormous strength and drive that is uniquely hers, combining a deep range of rock and pop influences with an unabashed sense of vintage style that few, if any, could ever pull off. “I believe that the difference between an artist and the average person is a fearless and relentless willingness to expose their quarks, oddities, secrets, and passions for all of the world to see and hear.” says Mary.

Mary’s surge in musical expression started after the sudden death of her mother in 2001. “This tragedy rocked me to the core, but there is so much beauty in what it allowed me to do,” she says. “All of my emotions came pouring out in the form of melody.” At the time, her father, a former musician himself, gave her the option to go through therapy or record an album. He knew both would be equally helpful to her, but by recording her music, she would be able to have something to hold on to and share with others for a lifetime.

It was on that first album that Jennings’ established her creative foundation, crafting music that bonds her to the listener in a genuinely honest and relatable way. That openness, and the raw emotion that she has shared on subsequent records, has attracted praise from fans and press alike. "Jennings' music is sweet, lush, powerful, full of great hooks, intelligent and meaningful to boot! I love it!" said Heather Miller-Rodriguez of 100.1FM KRUU. Platinum award winning producer John Rowe agrees, calling Jennings’ music “creative and original... A breath of fresh air!"

Recent years have seen Mary’s musical aspirations starting to take shape. She has worked with Billboard-charting songwriters, toured with national acts and has had a number of her songs placed on popular television shows. While the professional growth and the accolades that have accompanied it are nice, it is still the simple act of connecting with a live audience that she values the most. “Live performances give me such a rush. It is one of the best parts about being a musician. To me, it was what really brings the music to life. To know that you only have a few moments to capture and audience and keep them engaged long enough to fall in love with you and your music is a difficult task, but one that I wouldn't trade for any other profession.”

Now, that growth continues with the release of Jennings’ latest album, Collapse Collide. It’s a project that reflects an artist, and a woman, who has confidently found her voice over the course of a long, and at times, heart-breaking journey and the beginning of what many have already predicted: a bright and promising future for a truly one-of-a-kind talent.

I like to take notice of certain commercials and I couldn't help but notice the two commercials from Apple and Verizon with their tablets.
First of all, take a look at the first iPad 2 ad to air on television:

Brilliant. Short. Great mood, nice music and very well done. This is a perfect commercial for a good tech product. Now let's look at a Verizon Android Tablet ad:


Do you see a problem with this commercial: First of all, unless your wife works in a tech oriented environment, I doubt she knows what the hell a "Dual Core Chip" is. 4G LTE?? What the hell is that?? I doubt the average tech consumer will know what that is.

Do you see the difference in the two commercials? One commercial does not bother to mention technical specs while the other just goes full blown with it. Even if the iPad 2 was not an Apple product, I for one would be more interested in it if I was an average consumer.

Maybe the Verizon commercial was aiming for the hardcore audience but then why would they suggest in their ad that a guy's wife would know terms like "4G LTE" and "Dual Core Processor"?

I for one don't know why some tech companies let some of these ads air on television and think its smart. Average consumers are not really into specifications. Consumers are really more interested in the "experience". If you want to advertise to the hardcore tech guys, you better go all the way with it.

If I was Verizon, I would choose another advertising agency to do its Android Tablets ads. I don't need to know that your tablet has a dual core processor. I don't need to know that its 4G LTE upgradable. I want to see what it can do. Showcase more of the software and how unique it is.

This goes for all the other commercials that showcase tech products. You need to show the experience and not the hardware that is built in it. Some ads don't necessarily have to showcase exactly what the product can do. They can be memorable like this Windows Phone 7 "Oh Really" ad:
There are other Windows Phone 7 ads that showcase some cool stuff like using the Bing voice. Apple did the same thing with their iPhone commercials.

In conclusion: Tech companies need to take a note when advertising their products: Enough with the specs stuff and show me what your product can do. Make it funny and it can become memorable.

Commercials can make or break a product. Always be sure to make a good first impression.

Yesterday was Father’s Day and to pass the afternoon our family decided to see X-Men First Class. Good movie. Above are the mobile homepages for both Bing and Google as they presented themselves yesterday, while I rode in the car heading off to the theater, with the task of finding when the next movie started.

On my Android phone, I have Bing set as my homepage. While this might be blasphemous to some I think these pictures shows why I made the right decision. Bing is faster and more simple to use. Using Bing and answering the question posed in the title of this post, I found that X-Men First Class was playing at 3pm in our favorite local theater with three taps: Movies > X-Men First Class > More locations -- the last tap was because our location was not listed in the top three local results as organized by time. Literally, where do I start in comparing the three-tap efficacy of Bing to that of Google’s?

Sure there is the iconic Google doodle (it was Father’s Day) and the standard blue search box; however, I already know what I want to search for and, though pretty basic, it is not one of the twenty-six search related links populating the Google homepage. Even when looking into the new places options on the bottom of the homepage, not one of those nine options link to movie times. How efficient is this? How is this better? I know this will sound conceited but with the Google website I have to type ‘movies’ to get local show times. If I am counting the taps, that is seven to merely get into the ballpark of searching for local movie times (six to spell m-o-v-i-e-s, one to tap enter). On a side note, when did the Google homepage get so cluttered?

I know my phone has a search button that goes straight to Google, I use it occasionally. However one of the joys of Android is you can make most of the interface look however you please. As a result I am using ADW Launcher with a custom dock. Above on the left is a picture of my homescreen. One of the shortcuts on my custom dock leads to the browser, see the word ‘WEB' in the lower right corner of the photo? Honestly, on my phone my browser shortcut gets used more than my search button or voice search (I even removed the microphone option from my keyboard via Smart Keyboard Po). Spare Parts –the photo above and to the right– confirms that Internet is one of the top three launched applications on my phone. Google Search is not even on the list -- well once, so I could confirm the name of the application hard linked to my phone’s search button. As it relates to voice search on the phone, the only time I talk to my phone is if I am using it to have a conversation with another person.

Have you ever had a scenario where you realize something is more efficient if you use a process different from what you were accustomed? Surely there are apps that can tell me when and where X-Men is playing in theaters. Factoring in startup time and number of taps are they any faster than the three-tap brilliance of Bing?

It is still June, thus still the month of Zune Nom. After tough judging by Joseph and Kvein, along with a number of private ballot recounts we have the winner and runner up for the Zune Nom prize pack.

Congratulations to Dave Slominski for winning two months of Zune Pass, two bags of Oreos and a Zune HD t-shirt.

High salutations are in order for Jason Richardson for being our runner up and winning two bags of Oreos and a Zune HD t-shirt.

Gentlemen I will be getting in contact with you on Facebook later today. If you submitted a picture but did not win this time around, there is a good chance (well, very very good at this point) that you could win this weeks upcoming prize. Remember, this month is only half over so that means two more prize giveaways! This Friday we are playing for the Xbox Nom Prize Pack of :

• 3 months of Xbox Live
• A Kinectimal
• A bag of Animal Crackers*

One of the above Kinectimals and Xbox Live Gold cards could be yours. As always, a nomming picture posted to the Inside the Circle Facebook page could be your ticket to winning.

 

*Speaking of animals, let’s go Bruins in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup tonight.

Stephen Marley

Damien "Jr. Gong" Marley

• House of Blues San Diego 
• Christopher Martin   
• StephenMarley
• Damien “Jr Gong” Marley  
• 91X 
• Pictures   

• Official Bedouin Soundclash page
• Fiesta del Sol’s official page
• Belly Up Tavern
• My Examiner page  

Yes, I'm writing this story like Fox News does all their journalism: part news, part personal commentary.

I'm mentioning this specifically because I firmly believe the EDC was ran out of Los Angeles and because I've mentioned it here before as a great electronic event to attend. I've had the privledge of attending this show for the past few years (one of which was a memorable first event, attended with Zune employee Jessica Zahn which went all the way to 4am!)

When the EDC left Los Angeles, it had made a couple of formal announcements. This is all in the wake of their 2010 edition which left one girl dead from a drug overdose and a meticulous scrutiny of events of this nature (raves, they like to use the word raves, people!). The first announcement was that they were only going to allow 18+ to attend the events. The VIP section (which has open bars, etc) will still remain as 21+.

The second announcement was that they were moving to Las Vegas.

On the surface, it makes sense. Las Vegas is a city built for something like the Electric Daisy Carnival. It's loud, never sleeps, bright, vibrant, inviting and now rivals events like Coachella to be one of the hottest festivals (temperature wise). Recently, Insomniac announced that the EDC would be taking place at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway (which frankly is an interesting choice).

With three days of music that includes headliners such as Tiesto, David Guetta and Swedish House Mafia, the EDC looks to not only regain it's footing after the events of last year, but frankly flip the bird and moon the City of Los Angeles for quickly giving up on their event and allowing them to leave. The EDC was a consistent cash winner for Los Angeles, but the stigma of electronic festivals, namely that they're just about drugs and orgies caused L.A. to buckle and, at one point, put a moritorium on festivals of this type.

All-in-all, I'm happy to see that Insomniac and the Electric Daisy Carnival is moving forward and will continue to produce hours of entertainment for concert goers. In this world that has events like Bonnaroo, Bumbershoot, Coachella and the like, an event like the Electric Daisy Carnival can continue to prove that you can have a great time with 1000s of screaming people listening to 808s and angelic souful vocals.

If you're in the Las Vegas area from Friday, June 24 - Sunday, June 26th, I highly recommend attending the event. Oh and get the VIP tickets if you can. You won't regret that decision, trust me!

How to describe describe Truntable.fm… Remember how we showed you how to tweet your current song so others could enjoy what you were playing on your Zune? Remember how that evolved into Zune Tune playlists where your suggestions were compiled into playlists others could download? Think of Turntable.fm as a live Zune Tune playlist. This is a website that allows you to listen to music picked by other individuals, live. At its core Turntable.fm represents an interesting take on the idea of social music listening and sharing.

Turntable.fm is still in a private alpha phase, meaning you can only get access if you have an invite or a Facebook friend who was already invited. Fortunately I had the latter. Once inside you are in the lobby, a list of rooms that lead to music. Some rooms have categories like, Old School Hip-Hop or Coding Soundtrack. Other rooms seem to belong to companies like Foursquare, Twitter-HQ and Zynga. Your friends are shown in different rooms in a separate column to the right of the room titles.

In a room there are up to 5 DJ spots and an apparently limitless number of listener spots. I have seen 125 people “cram” into a singe room. As a DJ you are responsible for coming up with the music everyone in the room will hear. If you want, you can upload your own tracks. Instead of playing a full set, you play one track at a time and then pass off the DJing responsibility to the next person on stage. As a song plays everyone has the option to provide feedback as to whether the current track is ‘awesome’ or ‘lame.’ Too many ‘lame’ votes and the song gets skipped. As more people like the tracks you play you get DJ points. You can use DJ points to upgrade your avatar. If people like you enough they can choose to become your fanl. Generally people play old school hip hop, electronica (house & dubstep), and underground remixes. I have discovered quite a few remixes and gotten a little deeper into dubstep as a result of the site. To that end, Zune Pass, Smart DJ, and Mixview have helped in serving up a number number of tracks I have DJed as well as in downloading new artists and songs I have not heard before.

Thinking about social music listening experiences I think turntable.fm is up there. It provides something that has been missing in the Zune Tune experience, a live component. The fact that songs are being played while listeners have the ability to provide immediate feedback, as a group, is something I have not seen before. In reading some of the chatter in the rooms – each room provides a chat wall- MuMu Player came up as a similar service. I have not used MuMu Player, so I cannot speak for the site. Others have noted Turntable.fm beats out iTunes’ Ping service.Hip Hop artist, Max Tannone, known for mashup albums such as Mos Dub and Jaydiohead (on which Jay-Z liked a few tracks) has played some of his tracks on Turntable.fm to positive crowd reviews. When I asked him if he has released new tracks on the site, he said it was “an awesome idea.” Aside from discovering music you might not have not heard before (or in 10 years) Turntable.fm can be a platform for artists to launch new tracks. Such an idea highlights one of the potential uses for this site. This live social music listening experience can enable an artist to play their work in a more conversational setting with fans that are not necessarily local. Thanks to the immediate feedback of voting and the chat walls in each room, users can tell an artist if their tracks sink or swim right away. Though such a conversational setting might get out of hand as room crowds grow larger.

The site is not without its faults. There are times where the site will show the wrong DJ order at the DJ table, play an incorrect track from your queue, or fail to play any music at all (it is pre-beta). A simple refresh of the current page fixes these problems, though you will loose your position at the DJ table if you were serving up tunes. Still, Turntable.fm is definitely worth checking out. So much so that sometime tonight I will be spinning some tunes online. I should be in the Turntable.fm Zune room on Truntable.fm if you are my Facebook friend and want to stop by.

As we know, June is the month of Zune Non (i.e. post Zune Nom pictures to our Facebook Page, win prizes). Unfortunately, we did not have any noming submissions last week. Fortunately our lack of win is your double delight. Minus the rhododendron and porch, what you see in the photo above could be yours. This Friday, June 10th, we are doubling up the Zune Nom Prize Pack. This weeks top winner will receive two months of Zune Pass, two bags of Oreos, and one Zune HD t-shirt. The runner-up will receive two bags of Oreos and one Zune HD t-shirt.

All you need to do for a chance to win your music and cookie hookup is post a picture of Zune (be it on PC, Xbox, Windows Phone 7, Zune.net, Windows Media Center, or Zune devices) all nomed out*, to our Facebook page.

*A proper Zune nom, includes the eyes, mouth, and the phrase Zune nom nom nom (or some variation of the phrase thereof).

According to recent reports, Joe Belfiore sent out a tweet (is tweets becoming the new press release?) saying that some of the key services of Windows Phone (namely Zune Pass and Speech) will be traveling beyond the borders of the US and the UK. Should this fully flesh out this would be great news to everyone who will be picking up a Windows Phone with the international expansion expected this Fall with Mango.

But then I want you to think about something else too. Back in a previous episode of Windows Phone Radio, Matt Akers alluded to something that he said he fought hard for and that it would definitely please international customers. If one was to connect dots, could he have been referring to having Zune Pass available in more areas?

Having Zune Pass available in more places can only make sense as you don't want a key differentiator for Windows Phone to lag behind the widespread release of Windows Phone devices. Eventually Zune Pass would have to catch up and it looks like things will be making a nice leap forward come Fall.

Skype
The Microsoft/Skype deal has sort of been underrated. I've always thought the ability of Kinect to chat with others would be huge. The inclusion of Skype is going to sweeten this. Imagine being able to Skype with your Kinect with friends and family members. They don't even have to buy a Kinect to talk to you. They just need their computer. I think that the TV conferencing trend has been going up slowly. If Microsoft perfects the implementation of Skype in with Kinect, it could be big.




Bing




Bing. Microsoft's search engine is being implemented into the Xbox 360. Its a nice addition. With voice search ability with Bing, there's no use for a controller for find what you're looking for. All I have to do is just say "Xbox Bing [Insert Movie/game]" and it finds it. I'll find it convenient to simply speak to my Xbox than use my controller to flip through menus to find what I want. Its a nice addition.


YouTube on Xbox 360

A couple of things to note before reading this article. One, it was written entirely using the Office hub on my Samsung Focus while on the plane ride back home (yep, using that virtual keyboard -- minus the inclusion of web links and photos) and two, well, it's not a half-bad article. :)

Currently the Windows Phone product is only available in a few countries: Japan isn't one of them (at least not until Fall with the release of Mango). Still, I decided to forgo the insane international data and minute plans of AT&T and use my Windows Phone in WiFi as much as possible. The strategy required that I keep my phone in airplane mode, thereby turning off the cell network and keeping the WiFi on. This actually would've been a successful venture had Japan not been so lockdown with the WiFi (but that's another story). 

When WiFi connections were established my windows phone performed swimmingly. Since all of my accounts are US based I was able to access my hotmail and my Zune Pass, and let me tell you...Zune Pass is great when getting ready for long trips or outings that mean a lot of walking.

I was also able to use Birdsong for Windows Phone which is my current favorite twitter client. My friends back home could, on occasion, keep up with the things I was doing. Given that this was a two week trip keeping in contact with important people back home is very necessary.

What intrigued me about keeping my phone in wifi and airplane mode was that i would sometimes get hotmail error messages that would tell me because i am in airplane mode i can't sync my email, only for the device to turn around and sync my email anyway. I don't know if that's a fluke or what but that is something that needs to be explained. In fact, there should be a podcast about using a Windows Phone (or a Zune HD) on an international trip. Many would like to know that Zune Pass will follow them, for example, and not stay behind in the US.

I staved off talking about the WiFi situation in Japan because I think that warrants a written piece of its own, suffice to say that it is not friendly for the average American traveler, but understandable since citizens of Japan are always connected via cell phone and don't find WiFi an immediate need.

Let me bring up another aspect of windows phone and that's the camera. When you are traveling a wondrous and beautiful country like Japan having great images to show friends and family back home is critical. My Samsung Focus performed beautifully with all of the pictures and video i wanted to take. From shrines and temples to nightlife and talented monkeys my phone was able to give great quality under most conditions. Under some lighting the results were less than optimal but overall I was impressed and satisfied with the amount of imagery that i could share with everyone upon my return.

I noted at one point during my trip that windows phone should go over well in Japan. Given the always on nature of its people and the consumer centric focus of its features, windows phone can make a great splash in the Far East. It probably won't overtake the iPhone force but it can make a strong statement.

All in all windows phone did a commendable job in Japan, again given the lack of free WiFi that was available. Without having to lug a music player, camera nor notebook computer my Windows Phone played the role of all on one and definitely deserves a nice tall glass of Sapporo.

Kanpai!

Marques and I are trying out the new music service from Google, known as Google Music Beta. Part of the setup process in using the Google Music service is uploading your music collection to Google’s servers so that you may have access to it via any web browser or authorized Android device. Since my Zune Pass tracks (a.k.a. #ZuneTunes) reside in a folder within my music collection, the files were bound to be scanned at some point by the app responsible for uploading my music to Google, the the Google Music Manager.

Looking at the picture above, the Zune Pass files in question were scanned but not uploaded to Google’s music servers. As you can see I am missing out on 4,848 tracks in my total collection of roughly 9,600 tracks. These 4,848 tracks are my Zune Tunes. Looking at the “01 – Track Name.wma” file nomenclature and the “DRM” status reported by the Google Music Manager, I can tell these are Zune Pass tracks; Amy Winehouse is pictured to be specific. Zune Pass tracks use DRM to manage their subscription status when they are downloaded via the Zune Marketplace. Since Google Music is not an authorized Zune player -like the Zune desktop software, Windows Media Player, Zune devices, and Windows Phone 7- the Zune Pass subscription tracks are incompatible with the Google Music service. For all music purchases (different from subscription downloads) made within the Zune Marketplace, a DRM free mp3 is provided that is compatible with Google Music.

Am I mad I will not be able play roughly half of my collection when using Google Music? Not really. I usually carry my Zune HD with me and it always has a portion of my Zune Pass tracks as well as a selection DRM-free music. If I cannot find something I like in the music I have on my Zune HD, I am not using my Zune Pass correctly.

To get around this apparent content limitation, the argument could be made that Zune should provide a Zune app for Android, or iOS. However, considering the vertical integrations of Google Music on Android, Zune on Windows Phone 7, and iTunes Match on iPhone such a proposition does not make sense. In particular these services are different from cross-platform options like Rdio, Rhapsody, and MOG namely because the latter three options do not have phone operating systems to call their own. Those apps need  to be multi-platform to survive whereas the former three have an established user base and dedicated media playing hardware on which to draw upon for a user base. I am happy with Zune Music on my HD and Google Music on my Android phone.

Different apps and platform comparisons aside -pretty sure those comparisons will come later from the both Marques and myself- Google Music does not work with Zune Pass tracks and now you know why. Now to wait for the other 5,000 or so tracks in my collection to uploaded, thank goodness for FiOS.