Would you beleive it?! The Zune is starting to get some positive press! Everyone knows that it’s been completely slammed in the press since its launch a few weeks ago. I even contributed to the slamming myself in a previous article (The 10 things wrong with the Zune Player). But how many of those nay-sayers have actually tried it?
In his article at Shoutwire, Leander Kahney discusses his personal experiences from owning a Zune player. Here’s a summary of the reasons he came up with on why the Zune is as good as, if not better than the iPod…
- It has built-in Wi-Fi for peer-to-peer song sharing
- The Zune’s interface impressed him the most: It’s much slicker and easier to use than the iPod
- The Zune’s UI makes great use of 3-D effects and animation
- The Zune’s navigation scheme is better-designed and easier to use
- The Zune is much more intuitive
- You can move sideways through the menu hierarchy
- The Zune’s case is attractive and well-made
- The screen is absolutely gorgeous. It’s just half an inch bigger than the iPod’s, but it makes all the difference. Video looks great. Photos too.
- For $15-a-month, you get an all-you-can-eat subscription service. The marketplace is easy to navigate and has a good choice of songs.
Does this make you want to change your order with Santa this year? 
Technorati Tags:
ipod,
leander kahney,
mp4,
MP4 Players,
mp4 player,
peer to peer,
wi fi,
zune,
zune playerTags:
ipod,
leander kahney,
mp4,
MP4 Players,
mp4 player,
peer to peer,
wi fi,
zune,
zune player
Written by David on December 13th, 2006 with 3 comments.
Read more articles on MP4 Players.
First, it was Microsoft with their limited edition pink Zune Player. Next, it’s the Soundwave 2GB pink MP4 Player.
This MP4 Player has lots of great features including an FM Radio and a Voice Recorder. Here’s the full spec:
- 2 Gb Flash Memory
- 4.6 cm TFT LCD Full Colour Display
- FM Radio Tuner
- Digital Picture Viewer
- Voice Recorder
- Rechargeable Battery via USB
- Plays formats: MP3/WMA/DRM10 Supported
- Plays Movies: WMV/AVi
- High Speed USB 2.0 Connection
- Manufacturers 1 Year Warranty
Although the 2GB Memory is pretty meagre (it’ll only hold around 4 movies), it’s price is fantastic. At around £55 ($100) it’s a steal.
Purchase link: Duck.co.uk
Technorati Tags:
2gb memory,
fm radio tuner,
mp4,
MP4 Players,
mp4 player,
pink,
soundwave,
voice recorderTags:
2gb memory,
fm radio tuner,
mp4,
MP4 Players,
mp4 player,
pink,
soundwave,
voice recorder
Written by David on November 29th, 2006 with 1 comment.
Read more articles on MP4 Players.
The new 5th generation iPod has arrived, and with it comes 80GB of hard drive – enough to store over 100 hours worth of movies.
This could be the iPod that converts the remaining few. Some people must have been waiting until it could store everything – from music to images and movies. Now it can. So what are the main improvements?
· Up to 20 hours(1) of battery life
· 80GB storage
· Improved video playback time, iPod keeps you entertained for up to 6.5 hours
· You can even view photo slideshows complete with music on iPod or on a TV via the optional iPod AV Cable
· A brand-new, built-in search function lets you use the Click Wheel to type out the name of the song, artist, album, audiobook, or podcast you’re looking for, and your iPod returns results instantly as you select letters
The iPod had to choose a new direction to continue to outpace the evolvement of mobile phone technology. With Sony Ericcson bringing out a phone (the W950i) with a 4GB hard drive – capable of holding up to 4000 songs – the portable media player marketplace is hotting up.
Technorati Tags:
ipod,
mp4,
MP4 Players,
sony ericcson,
w950iTags:
ipod,
mp4,
MP4 Players,
sony ericcson,
w950i
Written by David on November 27th, 2006 with 1 comment.
Read more articles on MP4 Players.
Thanko are bringing an MP4 Player Watch to market. What next! The MP4 Player watch may catch on though - how many people do you know that still wear watches even though? Many people do.
The chances are though that it’ll still be a children’s product. An extremely portable MP4 Player without a phone could fill a gap in the market. But maybe not. We’ll see.
Technorati Tags:
mp4,
mp4 player,
MP4 Players,
mp4 watch,
watchTags:
mp4,
mp4 player,
MP4 Players,
mp4 watch,
watch
Written by David on November 22nd, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on MP4 Players.
MP4 is short for ‘MPEG-4’. The official file extension for MPEG-4 is .mp4 – hence the shortened name MP4.
MPEG-4 technology has been developed to provide DVD quality audio and pictures in an extremely small file size – ideal for playing on portable MP4 players such as the iPod Video.
MP4 is here to stay. The Apple Corporation themselves describes MP4 as “the global multimedia standard, delivering professional-quality audio and video streams over a wide range of bandwidths, from cell phone to broadband and beyond”. Thy go on to say that “hundreds of researchers around the world contributed to MPEG-4, which was finalized in 1998 and became an international standard in 2000”.
The BBC confirms that MPEG-4 is used to compress video and is the successor to MPEG-2. They also explain that the version that can turn massive movie files into a handier size has escaped on to the Internet thanks to Microsoft. Microsoft developed the software to compress and decompress video, which is called a called a codec. (A codec is a device or program capable of performing encoding and decoding on a digital data stream or signal. The word codec means Compression/Decompression algorithm)
The codec helps the Windows Media Player program handle moving pictures sent over the web. Other web based media players such as the Real Player will also play the MP4 file format as long as you have the latest version downloaded. You have to download the latest MP4 Codec to your own digital media player to ensure MP4 file playback compatibility.
However, an MP4 file doesn’t only refer to video content – an MP4 file can also be an audio file. Many people think that the MP4 format will be both the visual and audio standard file format of the future.
The iPod Video is by far the most popular MP4 Player on the market. But iPod don’t want us to call it an MP4 Player even though it plays MP4 file. Why? It might be because you might then choose another MP4 Player instead!
Another high-profile recent MP4 Player launch is the Zune Player by Microsoft. Surprisingly though, ZDnet.com discovered that at the time of the launch, Zune devices only play protected files from the Zune marketplace.
This is where Microsoft and Apple are both arguably guilty. Both companies are dubiously controlling certain markets. However, this can give the advantage to the MP4 Player consumer. If you take the time to convert your video files to MP4 (for which there is free software available) then you can play them on your cheaper MP4 Player, which probably has more functions than the Video iPod. Even if you choose to move to the Video iPod in the future, you can still transfer your old MP4 files.
The MP4 file format will be integral to the future of web based videos and portable media player videos. It is a global multimedia standard, every increasing in popularity. It is the file format that best insures the mass acceptance of your own media files on various types of media players.
Technorati Tags:
mp4,
MP4 Technology,
mp4 codec,
mp4 format,
mp4 player,
mpeg 4,
portable mp4 players,
video mp4Tags:
mp4,
MP4 Technology,
mp4 codec,
mp4 format,
mp4 player,
mpeg 4,
portable mp4 players,
video mp4
Written by David on November 16th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on MP4 Technology.
As mentioned in Tweblog, an excellent free MP4 converter tool has been released that converts YouTube videos (in their standard ‘Flash’ format) to .mp4 format.
Designed by Benjamin Strahs, iTube (the free MP4 converter) is an easy to use Windows program that will enable you to transfer any YouTube video onto your iPod video or MP4 Player. Remember to donate to Benjamin if you find iTube useful.
CLICK HERE to DOWNLOAD iTube for free.
Technorati Tags:
convert mp4,
flash format,
free mp4 converter,
itube,
mp4,
mp4 converter,
MP4 Technology,
mp4 format,
youtubeTags:
convert mp4,
flash format,
free mp4 converter,
itube,
mp4,
mp4 converter,
MP4 Technology,
mp4 format,
youtube
Written by David on November 15th, 2006 with 1 comment.
Read more articles on MP4 Technology.
As discussed back in June in MP3 News Microsoft’s planned iPod killer - The Zune - is due for release in the States on November 14. Just in time for the holiday season!
However, as mentioned in MP4 Soup on October 25, iPod aren’t scared about loosing their market share. “It takes forever,” Apple Co-Founder Steve Jobs told Newsweek in an interview when discussing the introduction of a newbrand into a market.
So should Apple be scared? Possibly. If anything, it might be positive for consumers. Greater competition should at least motivate Apple to increase their iPod functions and reduce their prices. That’s the theory anyway.
Technorati Tags:
apple,
consumers,
ipod,
market share,
microsoft,
mp3 news,
mp4,
MP4 Players,
newsweek,
november 14,
steve jobs,
Uncategorized,
zune,
zune mp3,
zune mp4,
zune playerTags:
apple,
consumers,
ipod,
market share,
microsoft,
mp3 news,
mp4,
MP4 Players,
newsweek,
november 14,
steve jobs,
Uncategorized,
zune,
zune mp3,
zune mp4,
zune player
Written by David on October 26th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on MP4 Players.
According to Apple, this is the definition of MP4…
(MP4 is short for MPEG-4)
"MPEG-4 is the global multimedia standard, delivering professional-quality audio and video streams over a wide range of bandwidths, from cell phone to broadband and beyond."
"MPEG-4 is designed to deliver DVD-quality video (MPEG-2) at lower data rates and smaller file sizes. And the same folks who created the popular .mp3 file format — a.k.a. MPEG-1 layer III — developed the new Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) codec, providing much more efficient compression than MP3 with a quality rivaling that of uncompressed CD audio."
"Like MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 previously did for CD-ROMs and DVDs, MPEG-4 promises to create interoperability for video delivered over the Internet and other distribution channels. MPEG-4 will play back on many different devices — from satellite television to wireless devices."
"MPEG-4 provides an open playing field. As an open industry standard, anyone can create an MPEG-4 player or encoder that will work with other manufacturers devices."
So remember than an iPod Video in an MP4 Player. And you can get many different brands of MP4 Players!
Technorati Tags:
apple,
mp4,
MP4 Technology,
mpeg 4Tags:
apple,
mp4,
MP4 Technology,
mpeg 4
Written by David on October 25th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on MP4 Technology.
