Zune Tips Weblog

On one of the Zune Forums I visit, there are numerous postings by people who brag about getting “free stuff” from Microsoft and various online vendors. From what these people explain in their postings, they are not really getting free stuff, but rather are being deceitful and dishonest so they can steal from vendors. For example, one person explained how he lied to Microsoft Support so he could get them to send him a new set of Zune Premium Earbuds. He also encouraged others to do the same, as he was proud of his accomplishment. Another poster bragged how he lied about not receiving merchandise he had ordered so that he wouldn’t have to pay for it. Note, that most of these posters are adolescents, so it doesn’t surprise me that they feel proud or entitled to this “free stuff”.

So what ever happened to personal integrity or being an honest person? Why do young people brag about stealing, or wear their thievery as a “Red Badge of Courage”? I would certainly hope that these few individuals who are lying and stealing are in the minority of their peers, but I’m afraid that is not the case. Aren’t parents teaching their children to be honest people?

Of course, it’s this kind of stealing from corporations, defaulting on credit card debit, etc. that contributes to the increasing cost of consumer goods. I also believe in Karma, so what you do to others will eventually come back around and get you. Read the rest of this entry »

As you can tell from my previous postings, I frequent the different Zune forums on a regular basis to get information and help others with answers to their questions. Often, I’ll find questions concerning video conversion which I answer with a suggestion to visit this forum for more information. But I’ve noticed that a lot of people are using shortcuts, Internet acronyms, and simply misspelled words in their postings that really irritate me. Something like the following:

lol. I need hlp converting vids becuz i want to wtch vids on Zune lol. Plz hlp lol cuz my Zne is sad wo vids lol.

Just typing that sentence is irritating to me! And, why the need to put in all the “lol” jargon? (I’m assuming that lol = laugh out loud). I can only guess this type of posting is written by a teenager who is too lazy to type out full words or use correct grammar. I wonder how do these teenagers graduate from Junior High or High School? If they are so use to writing in this manner (probably text messaging on their phones), how do they write term papers for class? That must be a big problem, unless MS-Word can correct all their grammar for them.

For me, this type of writing is just as bad as writing a posting or email in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS!! (That’s a whole different pet peeve topic…)

If you’ve been searching for free video conversion tools on the Internet, I’m sure you’ve come across a lot of “Free Download” applications. They’re advertised as “Free”, but essentially they are not really free. They are crippleware versions that can be downloaded for free. So you think you just downloaded and installed a freeware application, but instead you have a trial version that is crippled or has a big watermark across your converted video. Now, there’s nothing wrong with shareware or crippleware, just so long as they don’t advertise it as “Free” and trick you into wasting your time downloading and installing it. Read the rest of this entry »