See Windows Vista site has been dead for awhile – now replaced by Windows Vista Innovation Cafe

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There used to be this awesome site, before Vista’s launch, called "See Windows Vista". It had this sophisticated looking guy (with beard and glasses) go through all of the cool things that could be accomplished on Vista. These were mainly specific program made for very specific businesses and research, and even education, though they weren’t targeted to everybody. A lot of cool visual stuff, but I didn’t really see anything of real use for ME out of it. I never even see them in real life. But it was VERY cool what these applications could ‘seem’ to do, and that was awesome enough.

But for month, "See Windows Vista" has been down. Probably because none of that stuff happened. Or were described as too wistfully. So they took the whole site down, sadly.

Now they replaced it with something called "Windows Vista Innovation Cafe". I find it quite lame compared to the old site. It’s uses Flash, but it does so in a very slow way, and I find a LOT of lag when going through it. So annoying. It also uses a lame Microsoft-scenario place, where people randomly walk up to this laptop in this cafe, and play around with some interesting programs. Dumb! Dumb scenario. Just show us the neat programs, not the lame cafe background. Ugh.

Well anyways, it has MOST of what was in the original "See Windows Vista" site.

Some of the companies involved are:

• Accruent
• Lectra
• Right Hemisphere
• Scripps Research Institute
• STANDOUT
• The North Face
• OTTO
• Electric Red
• Eurosport
• ITN Hub
• MatchCast
• The New York Times
• iBloks
• Roxio Central
• TurboNick
• Vongo
• British Library
• Agilix
• Heulab
• Knowledge Adventure (same people who made MathBlaster! – fave learning game in Elementary school)

Well those are the companies so far.

Notably missing are :

• AMG-Mercedes – site with test driving Mercedes cars in a "3D-like" experience
• AREVA – had to do with nuclear energy mapping software
• 90 Degree Software – Couldn’t remember this one

I thought the site was rather weak. The video demos are pretty slow to load up, you have to click a lot, and some of the demos are pretty confusing. Like I would never get how that would work, or why that’s so complicated. Some of them also lack a nice polish.

I just really hate the lame cafe scene. I mean, goofy smiles on those peoples’ faces? Using the same laptop (no name brand), that’s also pretty ugly? Ok, I mean this is LAME. That’s the best way I can emphasize this.

BUT, at least it shows some neat demos. Demos MOST people will NEVER use, but at least they look interesting. Most use WPF/Silverlight in them. I thought that was neat.

But I still think the whole "See Windows Vista" site was a MUCH more better and entertaining site. Sad to see it go.

So here’s the site : http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/innovation/default.mspx

Have fun.

Features wishlist for the Xbox 3rd generation

                                                                            

I’ll be honest, I’m not a console gamer. Frankly, I don’t have the time to spend hours wasting away in front of a TV screen. I use those hours on the Internet 🙂

Well anyways, even I did do console games, the Xbox 360 would probably be my top choice.

I find the Xbox 360 puts itself in a nice good all-around gaming console. I mean, really, the Xbox 360 can do a ton of stuff.

Like:

• Plays the largest # of games, compared to Wii and PS3.
• Cost effective (variety of prices, though too many choices can be overkill)
• Nice design
• Best online platform – Xbox Live – nothing beats that, for now
• Awesome UI
• Variety of extra peripherals, that also work with Windows PC’s
• Does HD-DVD with an add-on
• Great customer service
• Large online community
• Many popular exclusive games
• Tons of faceplate customization
• Availability
• Media Center integration

I could go on and on. Wii is also pretty neat too, for just plain having fun, for everyone. PS3 is my least favorite. Even though it has great specs, the other things are rather lacking. So it’s a non-er for the PS3.

Microsoft usually learns many mistakes from it’s first gen products, and fixes them pretty well in the 2nd gen. That’s nice, though I would feel more confident if they could do so well the 1st time, like Apple does.

So what am I looking for in the 3rd generation of the Xbox platform? Well:

• Portable version – Not sure how this would work out. It could just be as simple as putting a games section on the Zune, and be an extension of Xbox Live. Or maybe there will be a separate portable Xbox player. Or maybe you’ll find it on WinMo phones. Who knows. Apple does well, because ALL their products are branded Apple, but Microsoft keeps platforms separate, and it can be hard to merge them seamlessly. It will be interesting how this would work out.
• 45nm chips – I heard these chips would be much more efficient than the older chips currently in Xbox’s. People want that.
• Better hardware – some of the faults of the Xbox 360 "Red Ring of Death" problems can be contributed to the hardware. Like BSOD’s are related to hardware. Quality hardware would solve that really easy.
• Slimmer console hardware – Slim never hurts
• More ports – More USB ports, HDTV, whatever you call them. More ports are cool.
• HDMI port and include the cable – I hate having to buy the cable separately
• Built-in next gen DVD format – dual-player? Or maybe just HD-DVD? Either would be fine. Though it might add a hefty price tag…
• WiFi – Built-in WiFi would be pretty useful
• internet browser – with Flash and other formats built-in to avoid problems. Maybe it can also sync with IE…
• killing off of Microsoft Points
• heavier push for "downloadable" games, instead of scratchable discs.
• Complete backwards compatibility – if a person’s old games can work on there, and get new games as well, that would be great
• Just 1 SKU only – please do not give multiple SKU’s. It’s confusing, and destroys the value of the product. Just ONE great version is all we need.
• Voice recognition
• Touch controllers
• Blu-Ray support – BluRay won, HD-DVD died, so it’s safe to pick BluRay. Personally, I’d put this feature on the most ‘elite’ version of Xbox (I and most people don’t do BluRay, period).
• Hard drive in ALL Xbox consoles – 40GB should be the minimum. And make it possible to go up to 300GB or even store on an external hard drive.
• Gamerscore and Gamertag transferable to other Xbox consoles – Very important if you want to upgrade to a new Xbox. Make it simple.
• More better physical design – Make it sleek and sexy, instead of kid-like and playful. I like the Xbox 360 Elite, because of it’s neat black matte finish. Stuff like backlit buttons, more slim, ease in connect ports, and more color choices would be nice too.
• More support for other devices – If I connect my flash drive, MP3 player, or cell phone or whatever in, I’d like to be able to play any music/video/picture file, and maybe even read documents…
• Windows Media Center – Make the set-up even simpler, and easy to control with the Xbox controllers. Also, make Netflix "officially" work through it.

That’s the best I could think of. Can you think of anymore? If so, add a comment.

Maybe it will tempt me to buy one. But for now, I’ll just stick to regular board games, or PC games.

Top 10 reasons to use Live Search instead of Google

I use Live Search. I don’t like Google, because it’s SO bland, and I’ve noticed the results are starting to get less relevant in some areas. Other people I’ve heard are thinking the same.

Here’s what I really like about Live Search:

1) Clean, simple page with nice UI – The page is very clean to me. It’s simple, and doesn’t show a bunch of nonsense on it. It’s also aesthetically nice. It just works.

2) It’s speedy – Well, actually, most search engines ‘seem’ to be speedy. But Live Search is also very speedy, and that’s still a positive.

3) Instant Answers – One thing that truly sets it apart from other search engines. Like for example, if you type:

"Houston traffic" or "Houston commute" you get:

 

"2049 + 4322 – 50 X 3" you get:

"Chicago pizza" or "pizza Chicago" you get:

"weather"

"Jessica Alba"

"14th state"

"MSFT UHS TWX stock"

"definition token"

"9th largest country in the world"

"Christmas"

Better stop before I go overboard with this. It’s pretty useful.

4) Related Search – I like related search links to the right.

If I’m looking for something, but I’m not certain, suggested search links might help me narrow it down. It’s not as annoying as Y!’s Search Assistant, and as balloon prompted as Ask’s. I’ve found it helped me in the pass to find specific things.

5) Quick Links to other Windows Live services – If you use a lot of Windows Live stuff, the search page also takes you to other Windows Live sites fast. On the header bar, are links to "Home", "Hotmail", "Spaces" and "OneCare". Unfortunately, the Live Orb only takes you to Live.com, instead of a drop down menu of other services, like you may usually see. Maybe they’ll fix that. It’s all in the header.

 

6) Video Search – One of the best Live Search categories. Video thumbnails actually PLAY when you hover over them. Short clips that is (where is this in MSN Video?). You can filter your results by length, date/relevance, and display them in list or thumbnail view. You can even add a star to the ones I like, and see My Favorites anytime I want. (where this for web search results?). VERY useful. This team deserves 5 stars.

7) Image Search – Also one of Live Search’s best and brightest. The results have thumbnail pics, and you can practically scroll endlessly without pressing a link to the next page. Hover hover a thumbnail, and you get the options to go directly to the source, add to ScratchPad, and even put feedback on it. You can filter by image size, and by using the slider to view the how big you want to see them. The ScratchPad also works great for saving stuff, and finding them later. Another ingenious thing from Live Search.

8) Book Search – Even though it’s still in beta (as of 11/25/07), it’s pretty neat. The layout is clean, and navigating is very simple to do. Search in books, and search in the books. Download entire books. It’s all perfect, but wished they had contemporary books as well. At least, even a sample of a contemporary book, and a link to buy it somewhere. That would be nice. I can see Microsoft going into eBooks.

9) Extended branch links – Ok, so Google has had this for awhile. But it’s nice for Microsoft to finally put this in. Anyways, it’s a postive feature, and it’s very helpful, and I like it. You see this on a lot of the major sites.

10) Advanced Search & Options menu – I find them to be far better than Google’s. Live’s Advanced Menu appears instantly on the page, instead of a separate page. Though Google’s offers more options, I find Live’s to be quite adequate, and very straightforward to use. Both Google and Live offer the exact same things, in their user options page, but I find Live’s to be more friendlier to use, and Google’s to have a pretty ugly page. Live options are also worded better as well. So Live overall wins in this category as well.

That’s my top 10 reasons why I love to use Live Search. Hopefully, this helps give you some insight, without boring you to death. Sorry for the super long Instant Answers reason, but I thought I should show as many as I could think of, to show the possibilities.

So give it a try yourself : http://live.com/

get.live.com – no real name – is a pretty sucky site and so is Windows Live Betas

Another classic example of how Microsoft just doesn’t "get" how websites are suppose to work.

                                     

That’s the current homepage (as of 11/24/07) of get.live.com. Isn’t that such a blechy homepage? I’ll point out the mistakes:

1. No Windows Live Orb in the left header – Shouldn’t Windows Live be a more unified search & service? Like how about putting the Windows Live Orb across the header of ALL pages?
2. Classic "human snapshots" add in – doesn’t Microsoft get it? Throwing some photographs of ‘real’ people will only attract first attention to the people in the photo, than what else is on the page. And then there’s thoughts like "Oh, I can’t believe they actually put her in there" or "What’s the point of these photos?" and so on and so on. Putting a real human is only done well in videos, usually. Otherwise, just use simplistic humanoid icons.
3. Doesn’t offer ALL the current Windows Live offerings – Where’s Search, QnA, Translator, Maps and all the other Live goodies? Yeah, another pretty pointless page if you can’t "get" all the Windows Live stuff.
4. Icons! Where’s the icons? – How come only a few of them actually have icons? Icons are pretty important. They’re sort of a visual representation of a program/service a user may want to know. But only a few have actual icons? Sad.

That’s some of the basic stupidities of the site.

Here’s a page for describing Live Hotmail:

         

Mistakes? Well, you have that stupid picture of a girl. Features are lackluster sounding – there’s nothing really eye-catching, just a boring text list of features. Maybe if it said "30 reasons to get Live Hotmail" with screenshots of each feature, and more bolder text with description, and some colors, it would really be representable. And the so-called features list doesn’t represent all the the capabilities of Live Hotmail sadly. I know you can do much more than that. There’s not even a Live Hotmail icon on the page. Really useful, huh?

Oh, and let’s take a look at Windows Live Betas.

Pretty much the same mistakes as the first one. Throwing in a stupid grinning guy on the front page – WRONG. No Windows Live Orb. Relatively little info. And why are there extra link in the box on the right? Couldn’t those betas be dropped on the main page as well? Microsoft just has to make it a few steps further than it should be.

Ok, enough Windows Live ranting. Just had to get that out. Does anyone agree with me? I mean, are these sites just so ridiculously dumb?

WMP 11 and Zune program – putting together the best of both worlds (WMP 12)

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I love both WMP 11 and the Zune program. They both have their advantages and disadvantages.

WMP 11 – I love this media managing/playback program. Has a wonderful graphic UI, simple to use, does many functions, supports many devices and online stores, and does supports a ton of add-ons.

Zune program – The newest one is SO easy to use. You don’t even need to be an expert to use it. The UI moves very fluidly, marketplace offers a ton of artist info, and the whole experience is very nice.

However, they both have their flaws.

WMP 11 – doesn’t support podcasts, doesn’t do internet radio, included visualizations are kind of bland and ugly, help files are still an ugly mess and hard to decipher, many online stores are rather weak, and doesn’t support the Zune.

Zune – no 5-star rating, no auto/smart playlists, things are not easily editable, supports far less formats than WMP 11, no official add-on site, no dynamic search, and there’s just not as many ways to customize your Zune player.

So wouldn’t it be awesome of Microsoft would make their next Media Player do the best of both players? And fix the cons of that affect bother players?

Yeah, that would be awesome. So, let’s say that Microsoft did a WMP 12.

So what should be in WMP 12? Well, let’s think of WMP 12 as the best of WMP 11 and Zune. There would be:

• Merging together the best of WMP 11 and Zune player – they’re both way better than iTunes, that’s for sure. And they both have definite strong features, so why not put the best and the best together? Instead of keeping two separate brands? This would be feasible if the Zune Marketplace was imported to WMP, and all the Zune syncing features, libraries, all just worked off of WMP instead. Just bring the Zune stuff over to WMP
• Internet radio – A lot of people really do like listening to the radio (even terrestrial). So can’t we have it be able to stream via the internet? I think it is out there, but in a low quality way. How about Pandora Radio integration (they do it on MSN Music)? Or how about getting deals with Sirius/XM radio to make their desktop version work on WMP 12? That’s really bringing it to the next level.
• Better burning/ripping feature – The burning/ripping feature in WMP 11 works well for the most part. But I’ve heard it doesn’t do as well as for other people. So if Microsoft could enhance the burning/ripping feature as much as possible, that would be awesome.
• Podcasting feature – this is already here for the Zune program, but WMP needs it too. A podcast aggregator would also be awesome as well.
• Better help files – The help files for both prove to be rather useless. The ones in WMP 11 are ugly, bulky and hard to navigate and use. The Zune doesn’t have enough. I want help files that work right in the player (not taken to another site/window), have a useful search feature to find help, offer visual elements like screenshots or even a quick video stream, and actually be useful. And if that doesn’t work, a simple phone number for support, or even online chat with a helper would be awesome.
• Tagging feature – Another extension of the popular web 2.0 feature. I think a lot of people would love to tag specific songs, albums, videos, podcasts and what other media content they have. Makes it much easily searchable if you identify a type of media with something other than what’s there.
• Support practically every format (VERY IMPORTANT) – Microsoft HAS to support many of the codecs out there, even if it’s not in Microsoft’s best interest. People are going to alternatives like VLC Player, because they have problems with playing their files with WMP, and don’t know about getting codecs from the official WMP add-on site. So sooner or later, Microsoft’s going to lose on this one. So why not just put all the codecs to work on WMP, instead of encouraging users to find alternatives, or have them suffer to find downloadable codecs? It makes no sense Microsoft. Just make it work with WMP from the start, and have built-in native support.
• Better pre-installed visualizations and skins – Seriously, many (or all) the visualizations that come with WMP 11 are UGLY. Namely the "Battery" series. Thankfully, I found this nice set of visualization pack, called Pyschedelia, from Long Zheng’s post. I think the best one is the "Ribbons" set, and the "Bubbles" come a close second. The included skins as well, really do suck. Although I’m not a really heavy user of skins in the first place, for some reason. You can find some right here. I use the Xbox Live/Xbox ones. I’m really looking forward to where Microsoft pre-installs Pyschedlia by default, and includes even better ones like a lava lamp, a moving strand of light (like in Sprint Speed ads), and so on. Something new. And maybe better skins, none that I can come up with.
• More better layout views – 5 layout views should be : list (just a simple list of media, preferably similar to iTunes style with different color bars every 1 row), album art + list, panes (similar to Zune browse style), carousel view (similar to CoverFlow, but in a carousel fashion, can improve off of CoverFlow), and Space (random floating album/media art that comes based on similarities to previous media). Those 5 layout views are definitely a must need.
• Better internet streaming version – WMP 11 in an internet browser is just plain ugly. Sometimes it can be very hard to get it to just work and stream the media. It can feel rather bulky on a webpage, and takes a long time to load. The layout of the buttons is also depressing, compared to the real version. That’s why more people are using Flash and even the latest Quicktime to display video on the web. WMP on the web needs to be less bulky, less slow, and look more simple and easy to use. And all in a way that’s visually pleasing.
• Bar stacks – I just simply want to see bar stacks (graphics that visually show a string of bars moving up and down, along with the music), in a more larger sense on WMP, than in the small one on the bottom left.
• Silverlight-made – I don’t know the true capabilities of Silverlight, but I would love to see the next WMP done this way.
• Custom lyrics support – There is a way to put lyrics for your songs, but it’s so complicated that I can’t even do it. I wish there were a way to easily put lyrics for your songs. In fact, it would be nice if Zune Marketplace offered lyrics with the songs, or MSN Music took care of the web version of that. Just saying.
• Allow more edit options – give the user the power to edit as much as they can on the track
• Audio editing – I’m quite sure many people want an official audio editor from Microsoft. Could it come in WMP? I heard there was a project called Monaco, that would beat the heck out of GarageBand, but have yet to seen it. So can we get that ability in WMP?
• Zune Marketplace and Zune are PlayForSure – Since the Zune stuff is now in WMP, that would make Zune Marketplace and Zune a PlayForSure group, right? I’m quite sure that if Microsoft offers more content and makes it more convenient to use Zune Marketplace, they don’t have to worry about that under the PlayForSure program. Such as offering TV shows, movies, and games, and putting a WiFi Store version of it on the Zune. And the Zune should sell hotcakes itself.

That’s the best I can think of. It took me a long while, but that’s my list of features for WMP 12.

I’m quite sure if Microsoft followed a path similar to this one, WMP 12 would definitely be the top-notch media management/playback program there is. For sure.

So it’s really up to Microsoft to see if this all fans out. Hopefully, it will.

The Best of WMP 11

 I can’t believe nobody talks about WMP 11. I mean, it’s the best media management/playback program ever.

There are many reasons why:

• Tons of add-ons – Microsoft has this official developers site, and you can a ton of things from codecs (including DivX, etc.), visualizations, skins, etc. Find the site here.
• Works with a ton of players and many online stores – One of the best things about the PlayForSure program. I just checked, and there’s at least 17 online stores to choose from. Amazing. Imagine how many PMP’s actually work with this.
• Beautiful graphical UI – For the most part, the UI moves pretty swiftly, and graphically. It’s just a beauty
• Less bloat than iTunes – iTunes takes forever to load up
• Works fully in the Windows Taskbar – it’s amazing, works in mini-mode on the taskbar.
• Simple to make quick playlists and auto playlists
• Has visualizations/bar stacks
• Media enhancement tools (Graphic Equalizer, SRS WOW effects)
• Dynamic Search – a must-have feature. Type in a few letters, and results come up instantly as you type
• Compact Mode is nifty – although I think taskbar mode is much more useful
• Pane menus – comes really handy for drag-n’-drop stuff
• Plays DVD’s! – Love that feature.

That’s off the top of my head. Probably more if you dig deeper.

Here’s some of my favorite things on WMP 11:

Playing a song on WMP 11 with gorgeous visualizations. ^^

PayPlay.FM is one of my favorite online stores. It’s so easy to use. And you can choose between a high quality WMA or a DRM-free MP3

Do you see that Color Chooser box on my player? That’s one of the many neat tools you can use to display the audio and video parameters. Pretty neat. It works really well. Click on the arrows for more choices.

This is Taskbar mode. As you can see, it works fully functional right from the taskbar. You can even view a video with it. Comes in handy when you multi-task and surf on the web.

Large Video thumbnails ^^

List view. I so wish I could show you Dynamic Search. Finds media instantly.

Full screen mode. ^^

Compact mode – much better than the iTunes version, but I still find myself using Taskbar mode more.

I also have a neat download that EVERY WMP 11 user should install.

It’s called Psychedelia. It’s pretty much a package of visualizations, but they are far better than anything you’ll find in WMP 11 by default. They have a Vista ‘aurora’ look to them, with swirling colors and ribbons and all. It’s much graphically better, and if you like that stuff, you can get it right here : http://www.istartedsomething.com/20070831/psychedelia-wmp-visualization/

You can see some of the screenshots on Long Zheng’s site and download it there. I love it. Best visualization schemes ever. Same as the ones I used in my screenshots above.

It’s a wonder why Microsoft didn’t include that in the first place.

Well I thought I should share with you some of my favorite things about WMP 11.

It’s by far the most best media managing program out there right now, and if Microsoft could just tweak it some more, it would be the best.

What’s a ZunePass? What’s a (online) music subscription service?

                                                                     

I thought I should explain this to newbies, to get it straight. Since the Zune team isn’t effective in communicating this.

So basically, a music subscription service is paying a flat monthly fee and "renting" the music for that time period.

So if you don’t pay the next monthly fee, then you lose the music tracks you downloaded. Because you’re renting them for a limited time.

Newbies (iPod users) get confused on how the system works.

Just because you downloaded them, doesn’t mean you can’t keep them forever. You’re just merely renting them for awhile. Once the time is up (usually a month for these services), then you can’t use them anymore. There is the option to pay the next monthly fee (or even more), and you still get to keep the tracks.

What are the benefits? Well…

• It’s great if you’re cheap – not in a bad way. If you can’t spend a lot of money to (legally) purchase tracks, the next best thing is to rent them. That way, it’s still legal, and you have ‘almost’ practically the whole ZMP library to download, at your choosing.
• You can ‘discover’ more music better – Listening to 30 second samples doesn’t really give you a clear knowledge if you really like it or not. I mean, it’s not as good as listening to the ‘whole’ track. So with ZunePass, you can listen to the ‘whole’ track, and download it if you like it. Maybe some other day, you can purchase it to keep. You just really discover music better this way.
• Almost like an all-you-can-eat buffet – It’s almost exactly the same thing. In one of those all-you-can-eat buffets, you pay one flat fee, and you can eat all the music you really want. Same thing for ZunePass – Pay one flat (monthly) fee, and you can have (almost) any music tracks you want. It really works good that way.

But there are some disadvantages:

• You can’t keep them – NOT unless you continue paying the $14.99 monthly fee. Otherwise, they’re wiped right off.
• You don’t get the ‘whole’ library – Sorry, but there are some restricted tracks. You can’t download DRM-free tracks (duh!), you can’t download songs if an artist/recording company won’t allow you to (even if it’s DRM).
• You can’t copy them on a CD – sorry, but obviously NO online store would allow you to download hundreds of songs for a measly $15 just to basically keep them all.

That’s really mainly the things anyone should know.

Overall, a subscription music service is nice. It’s cost-effective, and you can download almost anything. You may not be able to keep them forever, but just keep paying the flat monthly fee, and you’re ok.

But there can be improvements to the ZunePass system, like:

• Make it cheaper – compared to other online stores, ZunePass does come up a few bucks more on subscription. I’d suggest making the ZunePass cost $10-12 monthly.
• Promote it better – some people still don’t get it’s a ‘music-rental’ system. You can’t keep it, really. Explain it better and show the benefits that I told about a subscription music service. Also explain the Zune supports ‘a la carte’ AND subscription, the best of both worlds. Instead of just only-‘a la carte’, or only-subscription.
• Allow ALL DRM songs be available for subscription – If it has a DRM tag on it, why can’t it be allowed in the subscription service? I found some songs that wouldn’t let you do that. If it has a DRM, nobody can really steal it. So allow it legally in the subscription service.

That’s really all there needs to be.

So I hope anybody new to this format, understands that a subscription music service, is really a music-rental system.

But personally, I still prefer ‘buying’ my music, than ‘renting’ it.

I hate Microsoft Points (MP), do you?

                                                                      

I really don’t like Microsoft Points. The idea behind it is so stupid. Really.

Is there anything wrong with using regular currency? All other major online stores use actual real currency.

With Microsoft Points, you really have to calculate points to cents, to know if you’re really getting what you want.

Microsoft Points is used in Zune Marketplace, Xbox Live, and Games for Windows – LIVE

Here’s an excerpt where Paul Thurrott is really hating the Microsoft Points infrastructure in his Zune 2 review:

"Hey, at least that cost is calculated in US dollars. Figuring out the cost of individual tracks and albums on Zune Marketplace is as confusing as ever because Microsoft is employing the same micro-payment system that they use on Xbox Live Marketplace. Here’s how it works: Basically, you can’t buy an individual song on Zune as you can via iTunes. Instead, you must purchase something called Microsoft Points, which come in packages of 400 ($5), 1200 ($15), 2000 ($25), and 4000 ($50) points. Because the points are abstracted from the actual amount you’re spending, it’s often unclear what the heck is going on. The cost of an individual song is 79 Microsoft Points (MP), or roughly 99 cents. But since you don’t purchase MP in 79 point increments, you’ll always have extra left over. That’s a little gift you’re giving Microsoft, I guess, on top of the loan you already gave them when you purchased a MP package. It’s a stupid, stupid system.

Albums are worse. REM’s latest album is $12.99 on iTunes, but its 1000 MP on Zune. What the frick is 1000 MP? Thanks to various online converters (here’s a good one), I can discover that 1000 MP is $12.50. So it’s a bit cheaper than at iTunes. But why do I have to do math to make a purchase like this? Math is hard!

With the understanding that no amount of complaining on my part is ever going to change this, Microsoft really needs to rethink the whole MP system. It’s horrible, because it hides the true cost of things, makes you put money into Microsoft’s pockets up front, and then is built to ensure you’ll never be able to spend all of it. This is not consumer friendly. I’m curious that it’s even legal as currently implemented." – Paul Thurrott

Obviously, he HATES Microsoft Points. It’s too confusing, a waste of time, and it’s just plain stupid.

Like, how many points = 1 cent? How many = 4 cents?

The answers are: 1 point = 1 cent. 3 points = 4 cents. Does that make sense? No.

I read one of my comments, and this sounded interesting:

"Microsoft Points will not go away – nor should they. It would be too difficult for Microsoft to keep changing the prices to match exchange rates that change daily. In addition, not using Microsoft Points would mean that people would have to purchase with a credit card, and Microsoft is charged for every single credit card transaction. Rather than dealing with multiple credit card transactions, and their associated fees, and driving the price point of the Zune platform up even further, Microsoft is keeping costs down by allowing us to make one credit card transaction that provides for enough points to make multiple purchases without dealing with the credit card companies." – Jeff Ferguson

He does have a point. I think.

But this sounds like hard work for Microsoft, not the consumer. Microsoft is a company, they’re suppose to handle these kind of things.

Instead, they’re dumping the hassle onto the consumers. That’s not very nice. MOST people hate the MS Points system.

If other online stores can do regular credit card transactions, why can’t Microsoft? If other online stores can use regular currency, why not Microsoft? That’s what I’d like to know.

I also happen to use prepaid cards a lot. Just buy one at a store, enter the code on the computer, and there you have it. No credit card transactions took place. That also works for iTunes cards as well.

So the point is, is that Microsoft Point is a dumb system. It’s confusing, it’s annoying, it’s hard to convert, those extra cents/points stay in Microsoft for a long time, and it’s a hassle.

People are not happy with MS Points, and Microsoft should get rid of them, fast.

The Ultimate Zune 3 wishlist

                                                                         

Zune 2.0 definitely rocks. Even though there were a few minor negatives, for the most part, the new Zune systems rock!

But of course, it could still stand to do better.

So I made a list of things that I think should be in the new Zune device/firmware/software.

First, my device wishlist:

• 16GB version – some people think 8GB is too little, and 80GB is too much. Somewhere in between would be a nice option. That’s why news of the yellow Zune 16 got some tounges rolling.
• 30GB version (with new updated look) – Many people also still want a 30GB player, but with the new updated look. Just update the look, it’s not that hard, right?
• User-replaceable battery – Many people want a PMP that allows a user to be able to change their own battery, without sending it somewhere to get fixed, and pay big bucks. And some people find it more convenient if the user can change the battery, in case there’s no way to be able to charge the Zune on an airplane trip, and be bored to death. But at the same time, many of us would like a way to recharge it in the device as well. Do the best of both worlds Zune team.
• Make it slimmer – as if the Zune wasn’t slim enough, it still can be, right? To the point where the device’s width is 6mm or less.
• Make it smaller and more portable – Some people love the iPod shuffle, because it’s tiny and it works to just play audio. Even though the Zune’s all about video and a screen interface, they ought to offer a super tiny version, that holds a lot of music.
• Light-up Zune logo – Silly feature. I know. But it would be neat if the device had a light-up Zune logo.
• Touchscreen version – People are really into touchscreens these days. Let’s see a touchscreen version of the device. Multi-touch?
• More engraved design options – The text you can choose is nice, but I would like my own pictures or art to be engraved on the back.
• Cheaper – Cheaper is always nice.
• Headphone jack at the top – they did this with the 1st gen, but not with the 2nd gen? It makes more sense, in case you need to dock your Zune somewhere.

Firmware:

• Visualizations/bar stacks – I would love to see some visualizations or bar stacks graphics to display when my music is playing.
• View Word, PowerPoint, PDF, etc. files – I want to view .doc(x), .ppt(x), .pdf, etc. files on my device.
• More media format support – Maybe DivX, XVid, or some of the other popular formats going around.
• AM Tuner – if there’s an FM Tuner, how about AM Tuner?
• Speedier – I noticed a small lag, compared to the firmware before 2.2
• Bluetooth
• High-res picture viewing
• Grab/Sync podcasts via WiFi
• share video podcasts via WiFi
• audiobook/e-book support
• gapless playback
• playlist sharing
• WiFi connect to the Xbox 360
• Windows Sideshow support
• No 3-play limit IF you are a ZunePass user (unless the song is not approved for sharing)
• Extend 3-play limit to maybe 5-10?
• clock
• get business partners to set-up a store music kiosk, where listeners can flag a music track they hear, to look up later
• Live Messenger support
• Wi-Fi Music store (will get more people to use ZMP)
• Gaming
• Use as a portable hard drive
• scrolling lyrics support
• RSS feeds updated by WiFi
• edit songs on the go
• FM recording
• EQ settings
• video out (for all Zunes, not just Zune 80)
• internet browser (simple)
• video playlists

Zune software program

• Tweak WMP 11/12 with Silverlight or something, add all the benefits of current Zune program, and put that all together. Perfect
• 5-star rating of music
• more extensive ZMP, with games, audiobooks, TV shows, movies, about a ton of things
• ZMP to offer ‘official’ lyrics to songs – Must have feature! I would do anything for that. They should offer it for free up to .30 cents.
• Visualizations/bar stacks graphic art
• PlayForSure compatible
• smart/auto playlists support
• carousel view that matches the wonders of CoverFlow
• Way to resize thumbnails
• Dynamic search – used to. Still in WMP 11
• back AND forwards button
• List view to have different shaded bars for each media piece, similar to the layout for list views in iTunes  
• graphical look similar to WMP 11 – or heck, drop it into WMP 11
• show more additional artist profiles – add more for details for ALL artists and get some more history into it
• Put ZMP onto the MSN Music site! Make it on the web! Sign-in, and do what you need to do!
• Get RID of Microsoft Points – for MOST users, it’s a hassle that we don’t need to deal with in converting
• International versions
• More media formats support
• Allow developers to tap in, and allow them to make extra skins (same level of customizability of WMP)
• Help files embedded into the software, instead of external Zune site.
• View Zune Social profile in the player, and be able to edit it
• Zune wallpaper site
• Does everything WMP 11 can
• faster install
• OS X support – just do it, to keep the Apple fanatics at bay
• ability to edit ID3 settings

Other:

• Get Zune Social cards onto places like Facebook, Live Spaces, and other web places.
• Rename ‘Favs’ on Zune Social, to "Faves"
• Allow users to use the word "Zune" in their profile status
• more specific site for ZunePass

Ok, that’s the best I could think up. I borrowed a few ideas from other sites too. So what do you think? If you have any extra additional wishes that aren’t in my list, comment about this. I might add it up, if it’s worthwhile.

*NOTE anything highlighted in red has been resolved before Zune 3.

So that’s my ultimate wishlist. I may edit this, if features do come, or I find features worth adding.

Give it a read, comment.

The importance of the 5-star rating system, and the stupidity of the like/dislike system – Zune software

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The Zune does not support 5-star rating systems anymore.

That’s a BAD thing.

Why do many people like the 5-star system? Well because:

• Very detailed – You might like this song a lot, so you give it a 4 star. You might think it’s excellent, give it a 5 star. Another song is awful, so you give it a 1 star. The 5-star system plays along from dislike to like. Yet, it show "how much" you may dislike a song, compared to "how much" you love this song. You get 5 choices in the variety of like/dislike, than you would with only 2 choices, being like and dislike. The point is, that 5-stars allow the best representation of how bad/how good a song is.
• It’s effective – People know that 1 star is bad, 5 star is the best. People see that, they know.
• It’s everywhere – when you rate an article, you usually get a choice to rate it on a 5 star scale. When you see a user-video, you give a ranking on the 5 star scale. It’s ubiquitous.
• It’s universal – There’s 3 main rating systems : 1-10, 5-star, and like/dislike. The 1-10 rating system, is where 1 is the worst, 10 is the best. Some user review sites (CNET) do a 1-10 ranking. Sometimes, the score may be a 8.4. But there’s too much calculations in that. The 5-star system integrates the 1-10 system AND the like/dislike system. A 1 on the 1-10 system, would be 1/2 a star on the 5-star system. A 5 on the 1-10 system, would be a 2.5 star, on the 5-star system. Not hard. A like, in a like/dislike system, would be a 3 or higher star, in a 5-star system. The 5-star system works both ways.

Why do many people hate the like/dislike system? Well because:

• It’s too simple – You either like it or you dislike it (or have no opinion). But that doesn’t leave you with options to say "how much" you like it, or "how much" you dislike it. Not very detailed.
• It’s vague – Like I said before, you may like it, but "How much do you like it?". A lot? A little? You hate? How much do you hate it? The like/dislike system is just too vague to put a little detail in it.
• On a real media managing/playback program, it’s a must-NOT – The like/dislike system, is pretty good for a website such as iLike, but it’s not in a real media management/playback program. These programs are also for real music fanatics, and a simple like/dislike will not describe their taste for what music they like. The 5-star just works better at help a music fanatic differentiate what he likes, and what he dislikes. That’s all there is.

Well that’s the main reasons for each.

And it’s not just me who think the 5-star system is better. It’s everybody. Take a look at the comments on ZuneInsider’s post about the change : http://zuneinsider.com/archive/2007/11/06/like-it-don-t-like-it-the-new-zune-rating-system.aspx#comments

As  you can tell, most users are NOT HAPPY about this change. Many review sites also see this as a negative thing, in putting the like/dislike system. Obviously this is a bad feature.

Why did Microsoft even bother changing it for? Nobody complained about it before. Maybe, users did want a more simpler interface and setup and all, but nobody said the rating system was bad. So why fix what didn’t need fixing? Sigh. Microsoft.

The BEST thing Microsoft can do about this is:

a). Revert back to the 5-star system – This is my definite choice. Like many other people would want. It just works out.

b). Allow the OPTION of letting users pick – Let the user decide, "5-star or like/dislike?". It’s up to the user to choose. The Zune team did it, so that 3 stars above is a "like", and 2 stars or under is "dislike". And no rating = no heart at all. So the user can decide, and the rating will still generally show the same thing.

Is that hard, Zune team? No. Please fix it to allow what we, the users, want.