Microsoft’s Zune

What?  You’re suggesting that there is actually another Mp3/podcast/picture/video player out there, other than the iPod?

Yes, yes i am.

For those who don’t know, the Zune is microsoft’s answer to the mega-market giant, the iPod.  I myself own the 80Gb Zune and will be comparing it it’s counterpart: the 80Gb Video iPod (now dubbed the iPod “classic”).

In terms of features, both are about the same. With the acception being that the Zune can play radio, which is very handy at the gym and the tv infront of the treadmill broadcasts audio over radio frequencies. That’s about the only time i’ve personally ever used it.  Another “feature” the zune has over the iPod, is that it can connect wirelessly to other Zunes and “share” music with them. In concept this sounds great. Sadly, in reality it doesn’t work very well. You can technically share music with other people, but once you transfer that data it only lasts for 3 days or 3 plays…thank you copyright laws for that one. Also keeping wireless on costs battery life BIG TIME. The few time I’ve turned on my wireless to see if anyone else around me had a zune, I was sad to find that there was no one connected. I’m still not sure if this is because no one owns a Zune, or if everyone who owns a zune was like me and turned the wireless off the moment they took it out of the box.

Both the Zune and the iPod have a touchpad for navigation. Both respond very well to touch and are easy to navigate with. The only difference between the two is that on the iPod scrolling is controlled by moving your finger across the pad in a clockwise or counter-clockwise motion, and scrolling on the Zune is a simple up/down, left/right motion. I give the points to the iPod though, because circular scrolling means that you don’t have to pick up you’re thumb and repeat the motion agian if you want to continue scrolling.  But I die a little on the inside every time a friend picks up my zune and tries to iPod spin on a pad that was clearly not meant for it.

The selling point for most people comes with screen size. The iPod’s screen is noticeably smaller than the Zune’s. The Zune’s screen dominates the front of the device while the ipod’s seems almsot secondary to the touchpad.  The fact that the screen on the zune is bigger clearly comes into play when watching movies or viewing pictures, but what people don’t think about is when listening to music. When music is playing on a music device with a screen, a reasonable person would assume that it would display the artist, song, and album. And maybe, just maybe, the album cover. On the iPod the album art is scrunched on the side while song/artist/album take center stage.  Not on the Zune. The Art dominates the screen in all it’s magnificent colorful detail (depending on what album it is), while the artist/song/album is scrunched in at the bottom. For me this is a plus.  When 99 Red Balloons starts playing (Goldfinger) I really enjoy seeing the detail in the lightning being shot from the bassist’s eyes.

When it coems right down to it, i would choose the Zune every time. Not just because of the screen size, but because i really, really hate Apple’s marketing strategies. Ask any soccer mom in American if they know what an iPod is, and they will instantly know what you are talking about. But, ask them if they know of any other Mp3 players on the market, and they will respond with, “what’s an Mp3 player?”

Forgiving the fact the iPod is made by Apple, and judging the Zune on it’s own.

I give Microsoft’s Zune

4 out of 5

Failed ideas, like music sharing, can cost you Microsoft.  Fire your lawyers and try again next time.

Cold Stone Creamery

Recently, through a night of unfocused sweet tooth cravings, I found myself in line at Cold Stone Creamery.

Being my first visit to the ice cream shop, I didn’t know what to expect. The line curving out the door gave me a feeling I was in for a treat, granted I could endure the lengthy line.  Optimistic as always; I noted the warm weather, the alternative rock music playing from unseen speakers, and the smell of freshly baked waffle cones.

The facade of a pleasant line journey was quickly smashed when the girl standing in front of me uttered the phrase, “Then Jerry was like, ‘ I’m totally not gonna go to prom’, he’s so….ehhh…he should totally go, ’cause Alison needs a date…” etc.

My first reaction was to scan the length of the line, looking for anyone like myself; Alone, hungry, and clearly screaming on the inside. What followed wasnt much better than “oh my god! like, totally.”

A person would be hard pressed to find a bigger collection of Trailer trash, Preppy people (aka future trailer trash), and fat kids begging their parents for the stupidly ridiculously large size as opposed to just the stupidly large size.

Some time in the distant future, I reached the end of the line.  Deeply annoyed and still brooding, I told the clerk that I wanted a “medium cup of chocolate.”  The clerk shot me a quizzical look and pointed at a sign/diagram detailing the relative size of the cups and the cute names attached to them by the corporate office. “Medium” I said again. Still the worker refused to move.

So here I was, in a stare down with a person who’s sole job, at the moment, was to scoop chocolate ice cream into a cup that was somewhere between the smallest and largest cups. No one willing to make a move.

With my hand firmly attached to my face, I pointed at the picture of the size I wanted.

The ice cream itself was sub-par. I don’t care if they can mix in things to the ice cream; it won’t make shit ice cream , not shit.

I am unable to comment on the dining area, as I would not put up with the Cold Stone patrons anymore. I ate at home.

I give Cold Stone Creamery a

1 out of 5

P.S.

Support your local creamery, and stick it to the Cold Stone Man.