Ok, so I just realized how much I’ve been spoiled by the XBox 360 and it’s online community stuff. Because of the gamercard, things like MyGamerCard.net and 360 Voice are possible, and damnit, I demand this from more of my devices. Or at least, I don’t know, my Wii. Or how about my Zune? My blog needs more hooks to these things for me, and I can’t because there currently isn’t anything in place, and…and…I want it.
Seriously, I never realized how spoiled I have become till I realized I wanted to put what my Mii on my site. Suddenly I couldn’t do that. There’s no slick and awesome way of including my favorite Zune tracks in an email signature (I actually see my gamercard tags in email signatures at work). The Zune thing I find truly funny since the slogan is “Join the Social” Sure, I raved about this when I first go the 360, but I kind of just took it for granted. All this community stuff…I need it. I expect it.
I understand that there are people who don’t want that level of information to be available about them, but there are privacy settings for just that reason. I, on the other hand, like letting people know what I like to play and listen to. Shoot, I actively blog about it.
You have me hooked, XBox Division, you have me truly hooked.
Gadgets, Geekdom, Nintendo Wii, Software, Technology, The Internet, Video Games, XBox 360
So right now, I’m at the office waiting for my zune to finish syncing some music I’ve just grabbed off the Zune Marketplace, and I can honestly say, I’m completely hooked.
For those of you who somehow missed it, I’m a bit of a music junkie. I’ll listen to damn near anything, and often, what I want to hear, jumps rather randomaly. I’m the guy who will jump from Hardcore Techno to Classical Music to Rap to Lynard Skynard and finish up with some…oh..say…Frank Sinatra. I’ve actually gone through this progression much to the amusement of my lead in Seattle.
So now that I have access to music that I can just download at will, I’ve gone a bit nutty.
What makes it worse is that Zune has playlists set up (just like every other service) and those often lead to bad things. Because they will feature new lists every couple of days, if I don’t know what I want to listen to, I just choose one and discover new stuff. Often these lists lead to downloading binges of epic proportions. Last Friday, it was albums of DJ’s scratching and mixing. Today it started off with a Quncy Jones list and ended up with me grabbing music from Q, Tito Puente and Santana. Plus, sometimes I just stream the “Charts” to hear what’s currently big in pop/hip hop/rap/rock.
The Zune Marketplace owns my soul.
Music, Technology
So for those of you who don’t know what that means, I recently purchased a Zune. What’s a zune? It’s the Microsoft personal digital media device. Basically, imagine a video ipod but made by Microsoft. That’s basically what it is, and after having it for about 5 days, I’m really impressed by it.
Firstly, the hardware itself is pretty sweet. The screen looks awesome and the interface is really slick. It also has a nice feel which I prefer to the iPod since it’s not metal. Since I’m going from a fourth generation iPod, the size of the Zune isn’t that big a deal. It’s bigger than a current gen iPod and definitely bigger than a Nano, but it’s still smaller than my DS lite, so it’s fine. I’m not sure about the battery life right now because I tend to keep it charged, but at some point, I figure I’ll have an idea how good it is for me. I’m also a fan of having my photos on the device; it lets me view pictures of good times when I’m feeling down. (Which has been awesome) Now all I need are some videos.
What really gets me psyched about the whole thing is actually the software, or more specifically, the Zune marketplace. For $15 a month, I will have unlimited download access to a great library of music. While I have to keep paying to keep the music, that’s basically the price of one album a month, I can listen to a whole lot more. This will definitely help when my friend Dan asks, “Have you heard , yet?” So now I can just download it and hear it. And it’s all legal. (I’ll discuss the DRM subscription thing at some point)
But yes, I’ve joined the social. I’m a big fan. I’m not sure how cool the wireless stuff will be, but I’ve heard that it will get better from a friend on the team. So for now, this thing is awesome.
Digital Copyright, Gadgets, Geekdom, Music, Technology, The Internet
So I’m not exactly sure when it happened, but at some point, I started doing a lot of internet radio/shoutcast listening. Usually I’m listening to one of the stations on DI.fm; although I recently started branching out. I recently discovered a music station in Chicago that plays straight dance music (bit stretch, I know) all day, and right now, I’m listening to a Top 40 station. It’s pretty funny given that I have a whole crap-ton of MP3′s and yet I’ve gotten into listening to internet radio.
Although, it really isn’t that crazy. I mean, I have a lot of MP3′s, but I don’t have a lot in certain genres of music. There are genres of Electronica that I don’t have a lot of mp3′s in. And I am horrible at staying up with what is current in music. But having these options to listen to while in the office (and without static or commercials) is really really nice.
If you haven’t given it a try, I suggest it. There are a bunch of options in iTunes including the stuff from DI.fm (I suggest the Hardcore and Eurodance stations).
[Edit] Oh, and apparently they don’t have to censor internet radio. So yeah, they play the uncensored copies of songs on IR.
Music, Technology, The Internet
ARGGGGG!!!! I’ve written two posts already, and Cingular has dropped my modem connection for no good reason 3 times. #@#*&(@#*$& If only MSIT would get off their asses and get the new cell phone stuff set up, I could ditch Cingular and move. Bah!
Technology
