Zune Tips Weblog

I haven’t been posting much for various reasons:

1. Busy with work and personal matters
2. Not much new Zune news to report
3. Enjoying the use of my Zune!

I have, however, been answering comments posted by readers on a daily basis, so I am trying to stay active with this web blog. Most questions are regarding videos not converting correctly, etc. Again, the usual culprit to videos not converting completely or missing/out-of-sync audio is bad or conflicting video/audio codecs on your system. If you’re having such problems, do a search for “codec” in this web blog for past postings on the topic.

So, everybody have a nice 4th of July weekend.

Sorry for the lack of postings. I haven’t come across any useful tips lately, so I don’t have much to talk about. I’m still using my Zune 80 daily to watch recorded shows while I sit on the couch with my son, when he watches his Max and Ruby and Bob the Builder videos. So he’s got his DVD player and I’ve got my portable video player. I’m also using my Zune at night for about an hour to watch a recorded TV show before going to sleep (sometimes, I shut my eyes for a bit and wake up with the show ended!).

What’s strange, is that my refurbished Zune (which was sent to me when I returned my defective Zune) seems to have longer battery life than my original Zune. I’m not complaining, as I can watch at least 3 hours straight without having to recharge my Zune.

If I come across any relevant news, I’ll be sure to continue posting again. Otherwise, I’ll check the comments sections daily and will try to respond to your questions ASAP.

And, Happy Father’s Day!

Microsoft seems to be a company that imitates other companies that have great ideas. They imitated the Windows OS from Apple, tried to get market share in in the iPod/iTunes space (with the Zune product), and also tried to jump on the PDA bandwagon by producing a competitor (Pocket PC/Windows Mobile) with the Palm OS devices. Recently, Microsoft seems to be competing with Google to gain their success in the area of online advertisement via search engines and web-based applications. In fact, some people have joked with Bill Gates during interviews that he wouldn’t say the word “Google” as they were a prime target for Microsoft’s “innovation” plans.

In the area of cell phones, Microsoft did have a lead on other companies since their Windows Mobile OS was a perfect crossover product for the “Smartphone” (PDA/Phone) devices. Apple recently entered the phone arena with their iPhone product, which impressed the general community with their slick, highly graphical OS and applications. However, it seems that Google is trying to one-up Microsoft and Apple with their upcoming Android project, which will provide a new, free OS for modern Smartphone devices. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s a boring Sunday afternoon. My wife is at an all-day Scrapbooking event with her friends and I’m home having to entertain my 4-year old son. That means I’m not getting anything done today! He’s currently napping, so what am I doing for the next two hours? Converting FLV video files to WMV format on my Desktop PC, and removing crappy video converter programs and old files from my laptop. How nerdy is that? (I think as I adjust my coke-bottle glasses with my index finger). And guess what? When I’m done cleaning up my laptop I’m going to defrag and run some registry cleaner programs! Big time nerd event going on here!!

In any case, everything is going well on the Zune front. With my TV Tuner card/DVRMSToolbox setup recording and converting TV shows for my Zune and my new found veoh/hulu.com videos, I’ve got plenty of videos to watch while on my business trips. What’s nice, is that my Zune has enough battery power to watch about three 45-minute videos (which is about all I can take at one sitting). I’m also going back to watching video podcasts again (particularly the Nova and Comedy Central clips).

So if you’re doing anything more exciting (or more boring) than I am, please let me know!

Enjoy your Sunday.

As you may have read, my Zune 80 stopped working early last week (the video display doesn’t work), so I’ve had to live without the use of my precious Zune. I normally use my Zune for watching a recorded TV Show while I’m in bed before I head off to sleep, so I’ve been using my old Dell Axim X50V (Pocket PC) as a substitute. Since my Axim has a 640×480 high resolution screen the videos look nice, but the lithium battery on the Axim is a few years old and doesn’t hold much of a charge. I can probably watch one 45-minute show before the battery is completely drained. What’s nice is that my Axim has a replaceable battery, so I can pop in my 2nd charged battery if I want to watch two shows in one evening. Still, it was more convenient using my Zune since I could watch about three 45-minute shows before the low battery light came on.

Even without my Zune, I’m still recording my favorite TV shows with my TV Tuner card and having the DVRMSToolbox utility automatically process them and save the converted WMV files into my Zune video sync folder. These new recordings will be waiting for syncing with a future Zune.

Hopefully, this coming week I’ll get the FedEx box that I’ve been waiting for to send my Zune back for warranty repair. Then after that, I’ll cross my fingers and hope my Zune will be repaired or replaced relatively quickly. You never know, if this repair process turns out to be a nightmare, the “Zune Tips Weblog” may turn into a “Pocket PC Video Tips Weblog”!

As you may have read from my previous posting, my Zune 80 is currently out of commission. The LCD display simply won’t turn on, so my Zune is waiting for it’s FedEx box so I can ship it to Texas for warranty repair. I don’t expect to have my Zune back for about a month, and hopefully the Zune I’ll be getting will work ok and not have any problems.

So in the meantime, I’m back to using my old Dell Axim x50v Pocket PC as my multimedia player. Going from a device with 80 GB of storage to 1 GB (SD Card) is going to be tough, but I’ll have to manage. I typically use my Zune in the evenings to watch recorded TV shows just before I go to sleep, so I’ll be using my Dell Axim for that function. With the limited storage, that means I’ll be copying and removing files every other night or so.

Of course, all of this happens just before my out-of-town business trip, where I was planning to use my Zune for entertainment on my flight.

At exactly 3 months of ownership, my Zune 80 stopped working.

So how did it happen? I was syncing my Zune to my PC this morning and noticed that the Zune Software on my PC displayed an error message. I pulled the Zune from the cradle to take a look at it, and the screen was black. I looked closer, and noticed that the screen was very dimly lit (and nothing was displayed). So, I tried everything I could think of including:

• Doing a reset
• Erasing all content button sequence
• Erasing all content and firmware button sequence
• Full charge from wall outlet charger

What’s strange, is that I can hear the scrolling sound effects as I scroll using the center pad, and I could blindly play music on my device. The only issue is that the screen was blank. At times the display did show a brief pixelly screen when I blindly pressed the center pad button (maybe when it was trying to display something on the screen), but nothing I tried fixed the blank screen problem.

So, I called the 1-877-GET-ZUNE support line help. I’ve never had to call this support line before, but I have read several postings on forums that describe wild horror stories (e.g., having to talk to people in India with thick accents, or talking with a support person that has no clue what a Zune really is). Fortunately, the person I spoke with (Michael) was able to understand the issue I was having and proceeded to set up a repair order for my Zune. The steps for sending my Zune in for repair (under warranty) are as follows:

1. Microsoft sends me an empty box via FedEx in 3-5 business days
2. I put my Zune in the box and ship it to their repair facility (in Texas?)
3. After about 10-15 business days, I should get my Zune back via FedEx

Michael did ask me if I had damaged my Zune (e.g., dropped it, spilled liquid on it, have a cracked screen, etc.) and noted that if it did have damage they would not repair it and would simply send it back at my cost. Since my Zune is in pristine condition, this wouldn’t be an issue for me. Also, Michael stated that depending on how busy the repair shop is, it might actually take longer than 15 business day to repair my device. In addition, I might get a refurbished unit as a replacement if that was deemed more appropriate. Since I’ve taken such good care of my Zune, I hope they can repair it, as I’d rather have the same unit back than get a refurbished unit that could have other problems.

So here I wait for the FedEx box to take my baby away. It will be tough not having my Zune for a while, and I’ll let everyone know how the process continues…

In case you’re interested, here are a few links to some Zune repair horror stories:

Just how long does it take for the repair center to return your item?

The Twilight Zune, or the ongoing Saga of Zune repair and (non) customer service

It seems that people using the Internet feel they have anonymity, where no one can find out who they are. So, some people will use applications like Bittorent to download illegal music or software applications, make forum postings with nasty or belligerent comments, and do whatever they want thinking no one will know it was them. Let me inform you, that you are never anonymous on the Internet. Whenever you visit any web site, the site’s server records the IP Address of the computer you are using for the connection. It can also record what kind of browser you are using, and the operating system of your computer. So what, you might ask? Well, the IP Address identifies YOUR specific computer on the Internet network, so you can definitely be tracked down. Your particular Internet Service Provider (ISP) knows exactly what your IP Address is, so they can very easily identify you if someone tells them you are doing abusive activity.

For example, someone tried to make a comment posting on this web blog with the message, “LOL YOU SUCK”. Fortunately, the WordPress software that I’m using requires new postings to be moderated by me, so this comment never made it to my web blog for others to see. Apparently, this person thought he or she was anonymously making this posting, however, I know exactly who their ISP is, what their computer IP Address is, and in what city and state they live in (since WordPress records such information). I also know the email address of their ISP to which I can send notification of abusive activity. So guess what, “bob@bobmail.com”? Your ISP may be contacting you soon about your adolescent behavior (or maybe your mommy and daddy will have a little chat with you?). LOL.

So those of you surfing the web from your work computer, be aware that your employer can easily record and track the web sites you visit. Of course, there’s anonymity software available where all your Internet activity is funneled through their independent servers (which is slow), however, don’t be surprised if they are tracking your activity and could be forced to release that information by court order.

So the moral of the story is that you are definitely not anonymous when surfing the web, so be careful what you do and post on web forums (especially you, Bob).

I think by now, everyone knows that Microsoft’s headquarters is in Redmond, Washington. But did you know that if you live in the Redmond area, you can get free stuff from Microsoft? I learned about it from a friend over lunch the other day, who mentioned the Microsoft Usability Study Program. He said all I needed to do was visit the Microsoft web site and signup as a potential participant. Microsoft routinely selects people from various demographics to help get feedback on software, applications, and hardware. I was told it usually takes from 1-2 hours on the Microsoft campus, where they have an assigned Microsoft person ask you a series of questions regarding a product or hardware. When you’re finished, they compensate you for your time by giving you a coupon good for an item sold at the Microsoft company store. Software such as Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office 2007, and full Software Development kits are available, along with hardware such as mice and keyboards. I’m not sure if Zunes are included as available items, but you never know since MS-Project goes for $500 and some of the Software Development kits go for $1200.

Read the rest of this entry »

Sorry guys, but I’ve come to the conclusion that the ZuneDVDMovies.com web site isn’t selling movies legally and legitimately. As per Jason Dunn’s comment on my original postings about this web site, it appears their file servers are in Canada and this company believes it can get around the US copyright laws. So, my recommendation is that you avoid this site and not support the purchase of their movies.

We’ll all have to wait until the Zune Marketplace has videos and TV shows available for purchase and download. In the meantime, it seems that using a TV Tuner card to record and convert aired shows is the best way of getting videos on your Zune. Now, if I only had a TV Tuner card and cable outlet in my home office…