Over on twitter, Marques, as Tromboneforhire, is tweeting about the grand opening of the Microsoft Store in Mission Viejo, California. Check him out! If you are at the opening event, shoot him a tweet and say “hi,” it’ll make his day.

UPDATE

Check out our facebook gallery to see the pictures from today! Oh, this update was made from my Zune HD.

I’m anticipating that people are going to notice that my profile at Zune Social is a little different so let me go ahead and fill you in.

Something cool has went down as part of the update to zune.net:

I, along with a few others, have the ability to obtain one-way friends like some members of the Zune Team. Jessica (Jetherealz) has outfitted my profile page with the background that you see above as well as a few others.

So what happens? Essentially if you aren't already a friend of mine on Zune Social, then you can send a friend request. When you do, you'll see that it has been automatically accepted. On my end, I won't know that you've added me (so if you want to send me a private message or comment through Zune Social telling me hi and who you are that's fine). Yet, on your end, you'll see me as part of your friend's list. You can then sync my card to your device and all of that other good stuff that comes with have me as a friend.

I've always felt horrible having to tell people in the zune.net forums that I couldn't add them because I've reached my friend limit. At least with this Zune Social connection they can go ahead and add me if they want to. I'm pretty stoked (and honored) to be given this ability.

My buddies, and fellow Zune MVPs, Mike Stefani, Patrick Hefner and Corey Shuster also can now accept one way friends, so go ahead and add them to your list.

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.

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 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.

So I found this pretty funny little comic, circa 2006. It's supposedly shows the meeting in which the Zune name was created. Haha, pretty funny if you ask me. You can try clicking on the image for a closer look, or checking the source at Joy of Tech.

I didn't know that some folks still didn't know that this was possible, but here ya go: You can sync the Zune cards of your friends to your device. If you have a Zune Pass what happens is that full-length songs will get synced to your device and attached to your friend's Zune Card.

So, for example, I have Jetherealz card sync'd to my device -- I go to her for all of my electronic information. Whenever I connect my device to my PC (and I think this also works if you're in a wireless hotspot and select syncing -- friends from the settings menu), then I get a sampling of some of the music that Jessica is currently listening to. It's not a snapshot in real time, remember that the Zune card is updating every 15 minutes or so.

It's been noted that a typical friend card will take up 100MB worth of space on your device. If you have a Zune 120 that means you can take a lot of friends with you. If you don't have a Zune Pass, you can still sync friends except all you'll see is basically a listing of what they're listening to.

How to Sync:

1. Open up the Zune Software. Your device doesn't have to be connected yet.
2. Click on SOCIAL
3. Click on FRIENDS
4. After a few seconds the Zune Cards of your friends will populate on the screen.
5. Click on one of those cards and hold the mouse button down
6. Drag that card over to the bottom left corner and place it over the device icon
7. When you connect your device you will see Syncing: [friend's zunetag] as part of the process
8. To find it on the device, go to SOCIAL and then over to FRIENDS
   

 

[image courtesy of ABI]

So we’ve seen all of the stories out there: Engadget, Apple Insider, Gizmodo. It’s become the buzz of the weekend. Apparent leaked images of a marketing strategy for something called the Zune HD. The question is: 1) Are we looking at a legit set of images or some elaborate hoax? 2) If it is indeed legit, what exactly are we looking at? Yes, there’s a large screen, but what’s that piece under where the screen is?

I’m sure you can come up with other thoughts and questions as we speak?

So begins the conversation: Are we seeing hints and tidbits of the next phase of Zune?

 So here's the scenario: I'm sitting at McDonalds during my lunch break on Tuesday going through the Zune Marketplace. If you all remember, McD's offers free Wi-Fi for Zune users -- something that I should take more advantage of if I'm gonna be frittering my hour (or so) away on McNuggets and French Fries. Connecting is pretty easy and off I went searching for some stuff to download.

So I find this one new CD by Lily Allen and I decide to add it to my cart. Unfortunately, I actually forgot to begin the downloading process and I just left it in the cart and headed on to finish my workday. My thought process was I was gonna go home, connect my Zune and download it from the cart.

So I get home, I put my Zune on the breakfast bar, open up my notebook and start Twittering (yes, I can be a true Twitterholic). I was also looking through the Ariel PR stuff and downloaded and began listening to a few tracks.

This is where it gets interesting -- keep in mind my Zune is still sitting on my breakfast bar.

When I start up the software, I see this thing Inbox (2) Cart (1)... wait a sec, Cart (1)? So I click on Cart and there sitting there is the Lily Allen CD that I had selected when I was at McD's earlier in the day. Next to it were two buttons (cancel) and (download). So I decide to hit the download button and the CD downloads to my computer. Yet, it didn't go away. I actually had to hit 'cancel' in order for it to be fully removed from my cart.

This tells me that there's some connecting going on between the Wifi connection and my account. I should've known something was up because my play counts in Zune Social would update too whenever I was in Wifi mode somewhere -- unless I'm totally seeing things.

So remember that next time you're wireless somewhere. Even if you don't have time to finish all of your downloading you can still just simply pick stuff and let it appear in the software -- connected device or not -- when you get home. Pretty sweet, man.

And if this is something you already knew, just humor me and nod :-)

Trixie 360, the community manager for XBOX put together a special community playdate for this Sunday, April 5th. She gathered up a bunch of us who are on Twitter and we're all gonna host XBOX Live Gold Members is a few rounds of Major League Baseball 2K9.

This is actually one of my favorite video games (I'm a fan of 2K8. I thought it was well-done), so I'm pretty excited to be chatting with new gamers over a set of 9 innings. If you're around during the playdate hours, hit me up. We'll see if you can crack the bat against my change-up.

Oh and if you're wondering, I'll be picking either the Anaheim Angels Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (that name is retarded, I'm sorry!) or the Seattle Mariners. Rock on!

We’re now a few weeks removed from the small updates to zune.net. For those that haven’t noticed you’re now able to stream podcasts through the zune.net website and you have the ability to create your own music quizzes. I’m sure some of us have had a chance to tinker around with both features. Here’s my opinions/thoughts on both of them.

Streaming Podcasts

Personally, I think being able to ‘test drive’ a podcast is a good thing for the podcasters. Right now when you go into the Zune software and head into the podcast directory, you really don’t have much of an opportunity to try a podcast – outside of subscribing and then trying an episode. By being able to stream via the website, you have a chance to test it and see if you like it. From there you can hit a subscribe button and pick it up straight from the software.

It’s a wonderful move for podcasters who want to have greater visibility.

Music Quiz

I think the music quiz is an awesome little game for the Social. Considering that it was the Zune Social itself that picked the music quiz, to be able to finally see their choice come to fruition on the site should be an awesome feeling.

Creating the quiz was a bit straightforward. You can use songs, artists and albums to help people sample the possible answers to your questions. I know some people are a little dismayed by the [BUY] button that’s next to the albums, but I understand that it’s a contractual thing with the record labels. I know though that people don’t want someone getting sidetracked with a purchase when they’re in the middle of taking their quiz.

I created a quiz of my own and I’ve noticed that the more and more people take it, the worse the average score becomes :-) I guess that’s the point of the quiz though is for people to learn more about you. What fun is a quiz if people know all of the answers beforehand?

I have to tell you guys this though. When we were at Summit, the MVPs were testing out the quiz design section with Jessica. She decided that my question was going to be “If Marques was a song, which song would he be.”

“Shaft,” was the first thing I said. There was laughter in the room, but I had thought “Hey, why not?” Looking back on it I wish that I had said “Superfly” but that ship has sailed. When Jessica went into the second box, I immediately said “White and Nerdy”.

“Man, he’s good at this.” was one comment in the room.

The final choice, and the one that seemed most logical as the answer, was “76 Trombones”.

But that got me thinking… why not a group quiz?

I almost wish there was a way that a few Social users could get together and create a quiz using different aspects of their musical tastes. For example, why can’t there be an MVP quiz – find out new and different things about the MVPs. Or a Zune team quiz with collective questions from all of the participating members of the Zune team. And I wonder what Steve Ballmer’s Zune quiz would look like?

Both, the streaming podcasts and the music quiz make a nice step forward for zune.net. It’ll be interesting to see where these features go, because I would think that they wouldn’t stop there. With podcasts now able to be streamed on the site, what’s stopping anyone from making it available via Wi-Fi to the Zune device (It’s something I’ve always wanted so I could update my MSNBC Headlines podcast throughout the day).

But tell me, what do you think of the podcast and quiz features?

Say it loud... I'm Zune and I'm Proud!

I told this Zune story on Twitter and was informed that because of its length, it should be blogged :-)

So I'm riding the bus this morning on the way to work. I'm carrying my Zune and my Zune tote bag is over my shoulder. At the time I was checking out a pre-release CD from Lisa Bianco (fabulous stuff, by the way!) and just sat down to enjoy the next 30 minutes of the ride. Now, prior to this there were these pretentious teens who would get on the bus and stare at me for the first 5 minutes. I thought nothing of it until I realized that they essentially were trying to figure out why I would have a Zune, of all things.

So on this particular bus ride, one of the kids decided to grow some grapefruits and ask me. "Excuse me," he said "May I ask if that's a Zune". Of course, I replied in the positive. Couldn't he tell based upon the fact I was wearing a Microsoft Jacket, carrying a Zune tote bag and using a touch pad instead of the screen that it just might not be an iPod?!

"Why do you ask?" was the response I gave him and he proceeded to whip out his iPod Touch. "Well, I'm asking because I just want to know if your Zuuuuuunnnneee can do this?". He then proceeds to touch the screen and show me some contact list or whatever. Now, ok. Why is he going through this whole charade!?

I decide I was gonna whip out my Blackjack II, hit the 'contacts' button and say "No, but my phone shows contacts just fine. Actually, my music player is for just that.. music. I don't need a PDA at this time". No other words were said. He decided to sit down (smart move).

A friend of his, who had an iPod Classic decided to distance himself from this whole exchange. He kind of knew that if the comparison went where it was supposed to (iPod Classic vs. Zune 120) he wouldn't have much legs to stand on.

Now let me say this. Yes, I'm a Zune MVP and I'm a damn proud owner of a Zune, but I don't hate on anyone simply because of what device they use to listen to music or get their entertainment. I didn't hate on this kid for being proud of his iPod Touch. I hated on this kid because he seemed to think that I should be ashamed or apologize for having a *Dear, God!* Microsoft Zune.

Let me be clear: I'm a damn proud Zune owner. I do not apologize for having a device that satisfies my needs as it should. If you're an iPod owner, you should be proud too but don't ever expect me to feel bad when I stand next to you. I probably won't be able to hear you speaking anyway, because I'll be too busy listening to the plethora of podcasts I synced the night before.

That is all.

When you open the Zune Software and you click on Marketplace, you're taken to your PICKS page. Everyone knows that this page is designed to help you find like-minded listeners and new music that might be of interest to you based upon what you've already been listening to.

Now, me personally, I don't really use this page all that much. Sure, I'm curious to see what it tries to "sell" me, but then I end up going through the music tab and genres on my own and seeking out stuff. The like-minded listeners? I don't think I've become friends with anyone that was suggested on that list. Not because I don't want to, but maybe it's because it really doesn't tell me why I should make the effort to connect with them -- maybe that's just me.

So tell me: What do you think of the PICKS feature of the Zune Marketplace? Can it be improved? Should it be improved? How often (if at all) do you use it?

I've finally gotten around to uploading the photo gallery for the 2009 MVP Summit that I attened in Early March. These pictures highlight some of the things that went on in and out of the conference arena.

If you wish to not attend the Grammy museum portion of the meetup, that's fine. You can join us for the second leg of the event.

1:30pm - Meet at the L.A. Live Starbucks. At the Starbucks, we'll share coffee and conversation. I want to hear your questions, comments and thoughts about Zune and the overall music industry. Bring your devices and we'll also engage in song sharing and wi-fi (device to device) gaming. This portion of the meetup will run til roughly 3:00pm.

Then you are free to enjoy the rest of your Saturday! For more information about L.A. Live, click here.

So Microsoft has this software called SongSmith. What it does is essentially take you, as a singer, and write music based around what you sing into the microphone. Cool in thought, but the execution? Well, here. Take a look at the official commercial for SongSmith and you tell me how practical such an application would be.

Personally, I think this does nothing to beat the old standby of a songwriter at the piano or guitar, mapping out their next great hit. Maybe, this application was really just meant for the casual person who wants to try to see if they can create a song.

You think the people who run American Idol would mind being sponsored by SongSmith? Just sayin...

One of my coolest friends on Twitter, Yukino, and I share a love for the music of Hikaru Utada. Yukino has gotten an advanced copy of Utada's second U.S. release and did her own personal review of the CD. She's comparing it to some of the R&B that you hear nowadays -- which, for me, is kind of expected if you want to do well in the U.S.

If you want to read the full review, available at the all-kinds-of-awesome Gaming Angels website, click here.

Note that this question is being simulcasted over at Twitter, so I thought I would toss it out here as well: For those who shop through the Zune Marketplace and find those free tracks (or even those free tv shows): Do you download them simply because they are free? Does it matter to you who the artist is? Does making it free give you incentive to try that artist (or genre) if you've never tried it before?

Sound off!