First, people love apps and that was one thing the Apple iPod Touch had over the Zune HD big time. Second, the iPod Touch had a bigger screen than the Zune and the battery life was phenomenal. And third, Apple and their distributors really marketed the heck out of the iPod Touch while Microsoft and company did squat for advertising. The result– the Zune didn’t really make a dent in Apple’s dominance in the media player marketplace.

Microsoft stated that they will continue to keep the Zune Marketplace alive for use with the Windows Phone 7 devices, which will now take over for the defunct Zune HD. In fact, I predict that if the WP7 devices catch on, Microsoft will release a WP7 device without the phone component (ala, iPod Touch).

So for you Zune lovers out their, it seems your beloved Zune HD may have its days numbered. Once your built-in battery stops holding a charge, you’ll probably have to jump ship to the dark side or wait for Microsoft to release some sort of replacement!

I just confirmed that this does indeed work for my Zune HD device connected to my Apple iMac desktop computer. I now have the option to sync photos from my iPhoto library, as well as videos from my iTunes library. Pretty cool!

Now, the WP7 smartphones were just recently released so there’s only a few models available on the AT&T and T-Mobile networks. Also, they only come with 8GB of storage space (normally) so that isn’t much space for storing your music and videos on your phone. The Samsung Focus WP7 device does have a micro SD card slot where you can increase the storage from 8GB to 32GB, so that would be acceptable in my opinion.

Personally, I would strongly investigate switching to a WP7 device and use it as a replacement for my cell phone and Zune device. So long as I had sufficient storage space and Zune syncing capability, it would be nice to carry around just one single device.

The only bad thing, is that the WP7 devices are only available in the US on the AT&T and T-Mobile networks. So if you’re using Sprint, Verizon, or one of the other major cellular carriers you’re out of luck for now. However, Microsoft did say that the WP7 devices will be coming to Sprint and Verizon in early 2011 so it may not be too much longer before that option is available to more people.

Once Sprint releases some WP7 phones, I’ll definitely check them out and see how well they work as a phone and media player. And the good thing, is that Microsoft released an application that allows Apple Macs to sync music and videos with a WP7 device, so that won’t be a problem for me!

So if the screen doesn’t light up or one of the buttons just doesn’t work, I think you’re stuck with a broken Zune. I’m not aware of any Microsoft-certified place where you can send the Zune in for repair. So what are your options?

First, I know that lots of people who have Zunes have invested heavily in building up a Zune music library that they might not want to give up if switching to an Apple iPod. I’m not a big music buff so I don’t know the specifics to what you can transfer over and not to a different device like the iPod. So here are some possible options:

1. Send your Zune into a repair shop like www.rapidrepair.com. I don’t recommend going this route (especially with one of the cheaper Zune devices) because the repair cost may be close to the price of a new device.
2. Buy a used Zune device off eBay. I did a quick search and found several different models going for around $50 to $100 US. If you’re looking for the cheapest route and don’t mind getting a used device, this may be the way to go.
3. Buy a new Zune HD device. I checked www.newegg.com and they have a Zune HD 16GB for $180 US, a 32GB for $250 US and a 64GB for $340 US. So if you want to stick with a Zune device then this might be a good way to go if you are willing to pay for a new one. The only issue I see, is that we don’t know how much longer Microsoft will be selling the Zune HD. I haven’t heard of any new Zune models coming out, but I suspect Microsoft may have something similar to the Apple iPod Touch which would be a Windows Phone 7 device without the phone component.
4. Switch to a Windows Phone 7 device and use it for both your phone and as a Zune media player. From what I understand, the WP7 devices have excellent integration with the Zune Software so you can use it as your Zune for listening to music and watching videos. I haven’t personally handled a WP7, but from what I’ve read it works well as a Zune-replacement. So if you’re on the AT&T or T-Mobile cellular network and want to switch phones this might be a good option.
5. Jump ship and go with an Apple iPod. There’s lots of models available, ranging from a small iPod Nano up to the iPod Touch. Personally, I recently upgraded to an Apple iPod Touch 64GB (with the high-res retina display) and I love it. The screen is absolutely beautiful. I made the switch because I now use an Apple iMac desktop computer and it was easier to sync with an iPod than my Zune HD.

Now, if you’re into apps I highly recommend switching to an Apple iPod Touch. If you’re not and just listen to music and watch videos/podcasts, then you might go with a smaller and cheaper iPod Nano device. Again, I’m not sure how easily it will be to transfer your music and video collections from the Zune to the iPod, but that is still an option.

Personally, I would go the cheaper route and get a used Zune off eBay. That way, I can wait to see what new products Microsoft might release on the Zune line. And later if I decide to get a new Zune device or switch to an Apple product, I could always sell the used Zune on eBay and recoup some of my cost.

Another show that seems to be on the network bubble for cancellation is Stargate Universe, which I’ll admit started off with a slow pace but is now speeding up a bit. At the beginning it seemed too much like the previous Stargate Atlantis show (i.e., SG team gets stranged far, far away from earth with undiscovered ancient technology and new bad guys to fight), but it now seems to be headed in a different direction. I especially like the character Dr. Rush, who seems to have a very hidden agenda.

One of my new favorite shows is The Walking Dead on the AMC cable channel. I’m normally not too keen on zombie or un-dead shows, but this one seems really different. Kinda creepy with the thought that anyone can become a zombie if they are infected. I really like the characters, and the fact that the show’s writers haven’t fully explained what happened to cause this worldwide (I’m presuming) epidemic. I hope they slowly reveal the cause over the course of the season and make it suspenseful. Note, that this show reminds me of the British movie titled 28 Days which had a very similar premise.

Another of my favorite shows is The Event on NBC, which is moving along at a slow pace. I think the writers will need to pick up the pace or it might fall victim like the show Flash Forward (which was cancelled earlier this year).

Note, that HandBrake is available for the Microsoft Windows OS, and I in fact used it a few times on my Windows 7 machine in the past. However, when I used my Zune HD I primarily converted my videos to WMV fomat which is something HandBrake didn’t do too well. So if you’re looking for a robust and fast video conversion tool for either the Mac or Windows machine, I recommend using the freeware Handbrake product and converting to MP4 format (for the Zune or iPod device).

For example, with the Zune HD you can see much more metadata for TV shows than what you see on an iPod Touch. The Zune HD will show the show’s title, description, date aired, etc. while the iPod will only show the show’s title and a small part of the description. Also, the iPod Touch doesn’t have fast-foward/back buttons to allow skipping ahead in a show. All you have is a slider bar control that is really sensitive and difficult to use at times. In addition, when playing music all you see is a static album art image with the iPod while for the Zune you see a very nice animated graphic with moving text. Although most people don’t stare at these graphics while listening to music, it does show that someone at Microsoft had put in a lot of thought to make the Zune more polished.

Another disappointing thing is that the 4-generation iPod Touch does not have an FM radio while the Zune HD does have an HD radio built-in. So it seems to me that an iPod Touch is a a good device if you want to do more things than just play media, but a Zune HD is a far superior media player device.

Finally, I find using the iTunes software somewhat unintuitive, where I don’t understand how to control what is synced to my iPod Touch. I do see small symbols and checkboxes next to my media files, but I don’t know what that they do or mean. So, I’m having to watch some recorded training material to understand how to use iTunes more effectively. So I give the Zune Software an edge over iTunes.

What would be really great, is if the new Windows Phone 7 device could serve as a smartphone and as a Zune HD replacement. If the 7 phone had 32 or 64 GB of storage, then it would for all intensive purposes be a Zune HD that could sync with my iMac system. And to top it off, if the 7 phone had the high-resolution “retina” display that would be the icing on the cake!

So, it seems that Microsoft is still keeping their Zune devices segregated to the Microsoft PC world, but opening up their Phone 7 devices to the Mac platform.

UPDATE: I just downloaded and tested the Windows Phone 7 Connector app for the Mac, and it does indeed NOT work with a standard Zune HD device. It will only work with a true Windows Phone 7 unit.

That’s a really good question, as there has been very little talk of new Zunes appearing for the holiday season. Currently, the only offering is the Zune HD and I’ve seen very little of those devices at my local stores. I so see lots and lots of iPods and iPads at stores like Best Buy and Target lately.

Will the Zune HD fade into extinction? Or will Microsoft take a wait-and-see approach to how well Phone 7 works out, and then build upon that technology and platform for a next-generation Zune? Similar to what Apple has with their iPhone and iPod Touch?

My desire is to shutdown my Windows 7 desktop at some point, so I needed to find a way to record TV shows on my Apple iMac. Now, my new iMac desktop is a fully integrated system, with a 27″ LCD screen that houses the main motherboard, hard drive, and DVD drive. So I needed to find a Personal Video Recorder (PVR) device that uses a USB connection to the computer. The best device for the job is the Elgato EyeTV HD, specially designed for the Apple Mac systems. I’ll talk more about the EyeTV HD device and software on my Coho Site, but basically I’m able to do the same thing as with my Windows 7 machine so far as scheduling TV shows for recording and automatically convert the recordings to iPhone/iPod/iPad format (m4v).

As I’ve mentioned in a previous posting, I’ve decided to switch from a Zune HD to an Apple iPod Touch for easier compatibility. This was before Microsoft’s announcement about the native Zune software for the Mac OS X, and it’s a bit too late as my wife has already purchased an Apple iPod Touch as a birthday gift for my birthday next week. In any case, I’d rather have a simpler, fully integrated system and than try to hack a system together that ties a Microsoft Zune to an Apple iMac system. I’ll certainly try out the Mac Zune Software, but in the end I’ll probably stick with an all-Apple solution.

One thing to note, is that the EyeTV’s software is very similar to Window 7′s Media Center software. You can download TV schedules from TV Guide (free for the first year) and search for specific shows to schedule recordings. You can also specify which shows you would like the software to automatically convert to iPhone format and have it dump the video file into the iTunes folder for syncing with your iPod Touch. So I basically have the same functionality as with my Windows 7 system setup. Once I officially get my iPod Touch I’ll report back on the differences I see between my old method and the new Mac method for recording and syncing TV shows to a multimedia device.