Creative Zen Vision M (iPod's Suck!)

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » June 15, 2006, 1:59 pm

Kelshara wrote:Several governments are going after Apple as well right now due to the way they limit the songs purchased to iPods only. Should be interesting.

Apple also sucks for making everyone convert to the faggoty ass'ed format they use. MP3 is perfectly fine but they make people convert podcasts into some crap format for iPods/iTunes.

It's the same for VideoCasts. WMV/Divx/Mpeg is perfectly fine but they convert all the crap to their shitty quicktime formats.

Thankfully, the pod/zencasters and videocasters are starting to get a clue about how lame Apple is and maintaining copies of open formats like MP3 of their shows to save people the hassle of reconverting these things back to an open standard.

Apple exects are a bunch of greedy bastards. They would have done just fine keeping a standard format but they try to lock their customers in with propietary formats and now they're going to pay for it. Apple blows. Even anti Microsoft people should see that. Quicktime is shit and Mac uses are starting to figure that out.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » June 16, 2006, 1:38 pm

Goodnight now! Snap up those Apple shares!

hate Apple....hate hate.

Microsoft developing a rival to Apple's iPod By Kenneth Li

17 minutes ago

Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) is developing a music and video device to compete with Apple's iPod and creating its own music service to rival Apple's iTunes, sources familiar with the plans said on Friday.

Robbie Bach, a rising star at Microsoft who headed development of the Xbox video game business, is overseeing the project, one source said.

The Redmond, Washington-based company has held licensing discussions with the music industry and is already demonstrating the entertainment device, the sources told Reuters.

The news comes one day after Microsoft founder Bill Gates announced he would ease out of a day-to-day role at the company he built into the world's biggest software maker.

Bach was promoted to president of the company's entertainment and devices division after it was restructured in December. At that time, he wrote in an e-mail to co-workers, "While I will continue to play an important role in the games area, I will spend more time thinking about our broader challenges and opportunities across the division."

A Microsoft-branded music service would reflect a digression from an existing strategy to provide software for other services, just months after the company launched a service with Viacom Inc.'s (NYSE:VIA - news) MTV Networks.

"It seems like a shift in strategy ... (Microsoft) is very committed to it," one source said.

Microsoft's software technology has provided the copyright protection framework for a number of subscription music services globally, some with well financed backers including Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news). But Apple Computer Inc. (Nasdaq:AAPL - news) remains dominant in the multimillion-dollar field of music and device sales.

Most iTunes rivals charge monthly fees to access a catalog of entertainment, but some allow consumers to buy individual songs for about $1 each. Microsoft's service will emphasize the pay-per-download, or a la carte, model, the sources said. A subscription component will also be offered, according to early accounts of the planned service.

One source, who has seen a demonstration of the service, said it was an improvement over iTunes.

"They have been developing technologies that have really good music discovery and community," another source said. "iTunes is the 7-11 (of music stores). You don't hang out there."

Microsoft joins a crowded field of competitors in the music service sector, including an entertainment device and service expected to be launched by Internet retailer Amazon.com Inc.

(Nasdaq:AMZN - news).

Amazon plans to heavily subsidize the cost of the digital device, much like wireless service companies do with the cell phones they sell, one source said. Some of the devices will come preloaded with music.

Microsoft earlier this year denied rumors that it was developing a hand-held video game device to complement its Xbox video game console.

It is unclear when Microsoft plans to launch the entertainments device and music service, the sources said.

Apple and Microsoft could not immediately be reached for comment.

Zaelath · Post by **Zaelath** » June 16, 2006, 2:25 pm

Fuck that, MS has been a driver behind some of the worst DRM around.

I normally love their hardware; keyboards, mice, Xbox, but I wouldn't touch a media player from them.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » June 16, 2006, 2:47 pm

damn it. lost my post.

Summary:

It doesn't matter if Microsoft's player sucks. Third Party developers will be able to make players that work with it unlike Apple's proprietary shit.

Apple and their propietary pile of shit can go fuck themselves as these players will work with Microsoft's service as well as offer open formats...along with already being better players than Apples...you know better sound, better screen, open formats, better UI that wasn't stolen like Apple's,...small stuff like that.

Plus, Microsoft will most likely integrate thier new store into the new Live Anywhere network which will create huge opportunities there as well.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » June 19, 2006, 6:13 pm

A little more on Microsoft's entry into the portable player/online music store markets:

It's Almost Official: Microsoft Developing iPod Killer
Brandon Hill - June 16, 2006 3:29 PM

Source close to Microsoft are confirming that the Redmond, Washington based company is developing its own rival to the hugely popular iPod music/video player. Apple has ruled the portable audio scene for years and has successfully fended off attacks from a number of strong competitors, but can they withstand a full assault from the 800 pound gorilla?

The sources point to Xbox guru Robbie Bach as the project leader for the music player. There is also word that Microsoft has held some closed door talks with representatives for the music industry to work out licensing deals. The new music player would be joined by a Microsoft-backed music service separate from the recently announced URGE music service co-developed with MTV. Reuters reports:

Most iTunes rivals charge monthly fees to access a catalog of entertainment, but some allow consumers to buy individual songs for about $1 each. Microsoft's service will emphasize the pay-per-download, or a la carte, model, the sources said. A subscription component will also be offered, according to early accounts of the planned service. One source, who has seen a demonstration of the service, said it was an improvement over iTunes. "They have been developing technologies that have really good music discovery and community," another source said. "iTunes is the 7-11 (of music stores). You don't hang out there."

Microsoft’s Windows Media Player 11 should serve as a nice launching platform for the new music player and online store. Album management and navigation is already much improved over Apple’s iTunes software in this editor’s opinion so all we need is hardware that both is easy to use and stylish. Microsoft has a large pool of talent to pull from in developing an iPod killer so I hope that we are not disappointed.

My hope is that Microsoft doesn't pull a retarded Apple move and not let other companies develop players for their service. I doubt they would be that stupid. They are smart enough to know that the money is in the service/software, not forcing people to use their own player.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » June 19, 2006, 6:45 pm

There is no brand loyalty that Apple has gained with iPods...people will dump iPods like any other lame fad at the drop of a hat or if some hot hollywood star is seen using another brand.

There are already some that recognize the superior sound, quality, battery length, etc etc etc etc of other brands.

Eighty per cent of iPod users won't touch a Mac

Yet Apple fanboys rejoice

By Nick Farrell: Monday 19 June 2006, 11:00

APPLE FANZINES have cracked open the champers after a survey of iPod users showed that some of them would switch to the Mac.
Mac News World proclaims the survey shows that the messianic leadership of Steve Jobs was correct and that if punters bought gizmos to play proprietary music which fall to bits after a year, then they would eventually splash out on the Mac. This is called the halo effect.

"Evidence is mounting that a potentially tectonic shift in Apple's place in the PC market could be coming in the next few years," the mag gushes.

However looking at the survey, Charles Wolf of Needham and Co says that 7.6 per cent of iPod users say they'd switch computers even if the Mac can't run Windows. If the Mac ran Windows more than 20 percent said would switch.

If this figure was projected onto global sales, says Mac News World, then Macs would command a staggering five percent of the market by 2011, Arabs and Jews would get along together and there would be no more war.

While you have to applaud the extreme optimism of Mac News World you can look at the figures another way. More than 93 per cent of iPod users prefer Windows and 80 per cent of them would not even look at a Mac, even if it ran Voleware.

The survey only asked Windows users if they would consider buying a Mac. It ignored the possibility that many people who are extremely sceptical about Windows might go to Linux before they splashed out on a Mac.

Another crucial figure that the Mac News World boys ignored was that, of 2,400 people surveyed, 300 didn't own a computer but only a 100 owned a Mac.

That such a slim selection of iPod users already owns a Mac seems to indicate that the halo effect, so far, is a bit of myth.

This concludes my anti-Apple rants for today.

archeiron · Post by **archeiron** » June 19, 2006, 8:24 pm

Winnow wrote:There is no brand loyalty that Apple has gained with iPods...people will dump iPods like any other lame fad at the drop of a hat or if some hot hollywood star is seen using another brand.

There are already some that recognize the superior sound, quality, battery length, etc etc etc etc of other brands.

This concludes my anti-Apple rants for today.

I always imagine Winnow frothing at the mouth and talking to himself when he prepares these Apple-bashing posts.

Post by **Xouqoa** » June 19, 2006, 8:45 pm

I think I might need some of these for watching video on my Vision.

http://www.myvu.com/

Kelshara · Post by **Kelshara** » June 20, 2006, 9:18 am

Wow those look awesome heh. Wonder how bad they are for the eyes..

noel · Post by **noel** » June 20, 2006, 9:55 am

archeiron wrote:I always imagine Winnow frothing at the mouth and talking to himself when he prepares these Apple-bashing posts.

I would add that getting to the point where you're a 'passionate advocate' for one MP3 player over another is the same level of silliness as the ATI vs. NVIDIA religious wars.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » June 20, 2006, 12:32 pm

I would add that writing about whether someone is passionate about something is a wasted post. Finding the means to counter their position takes a little more skill.

Sueven, as an example, manages to do it quite often in various forums. Most here are just space takers or regurgitaters though.

noel · Post by **noel** » June 20, 2006, 12:44 pm

I think it's great that you like the Zen. I'm glad you like it. I enjoy reading your opinions about the products you purchase, and I've used your opinions in the past to make some of my own purchasing decisions.

All of that said... going on a crusade against a 'consumer electronic' is silly. It's not that I agree or disagree that the Zen or Ipod is better or worse, it's just that I'd be happy with my own purchase and not really fucking care about the competition.

The exception would be if I'd purchased a product, decided it was a piece of shit, and posted to warn others of my findings. I can pretty much guarantee that'd be limited to a single post though.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » June 20, 2006, 1:24 pm

noel wrote: The exception would be if I'd purchased a product, decided it was a piece of shit, and posted to warn others of my findings. I can pretty much guarantee that'd be limited to a single post though.

The next time I post an opinion and I get a single post back saying, "You're right Winnow, no arguement here." I won't continue the discussion on a message board.

What's wrong with picking a popular item that I can't stand, expressing my detailed opinion as to why I chose something else, and then allow a debate to form with follow ups?

This is an "energized" message board. A basic review is boring. I'd rather have a little discussion on the merits of several products as useful info is typically divulged on both sides.

Most here have figured out how to blow right by my colorful metaphors and get the useful info out of a review type post from me.

Cnet.com might be a good place to go for generic reviews that won't offend.

APPL blows but their marketing department is great. Take their current commercials for instance...they have a grungy "cool" looking guy (representing Apple) standing beside a fat dude (representing PCs) and outright lie about their product being able to do things that the PC can easily do. It's a great ad if you don't have a fucking clue about computers and believe everything you see. It helps sometimes to get the facts.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » July 14, 2006, 1:14 pm

"Hello World"

Ah, another Creative player that's better than Apple's offerings. To be expected these days I suppose.

Creative Zen V Plus reviewed

Posted Jun 21st 2006 10:38AM by Paul Miller

Looks like CNET managed to get a Zen V Plus from Creative a while ago, and have already put the thing through its paces and posted their glowing review of the device. First, and fairly notable: for sheer value, the Zen V and V Plus really have the iPod nano beat, since not only do Creative's new players feature similar capacity for a good bit less, but the players also have the quite convenient line-in capability, and V Plus adds in FM and video playback for a bit of extra nano smackdown. As for design, CNET seems to be a fan; noting its cute, Tamagotchi-like feel and form factor as a definite asset. They also felt more confident with the sturdier design of the player in comparison to the nano, which is thinner but taller than the Zen V, and didn't complain about the "bulk" in regards to pocketability...

... Apparently, the 1.5-inch OLED screen is looking good, with a bit of an visible pixel grid, and some bright sunlight problems, but overall "vivid" performance. We can't say that changes our mind about the actual functionality of video playback on this thing, but if you need to know, the V Plus supports MPEG-4, WMV, DivX and more, and comes with the ToolBox software to convert files for playback. The device of course supports MP3, WAV, PlaysForSure WMA and Audible audio, and you can nab podcasts with Creative's ZenCast software. Other than USB host capability, or WiFi, the Zen V Plus has about every feature you could ask for, even PIM functionality with Outlook syncing. As for what really matters, Zen V shines with 20 hours of batter life (5 more than Creative's 15 hour rating), and solid audio quality and volume. Sounds like Creative could have a winner on their hands, and CNET's Editors' Choice award can't hurt...

There are also plenty of articles out there discussing Microsoft's new player as well. Lets see how that's impacting Apple's stock and the no-features-but-lots-of-gloss fans:

Lets take a look at the last six months since Apple was at that hyped up 86+/share and people were screaming about 100/share:

ouch. getting closer to that year low.

Syenye · Post by **Syenye** » July 14, 2006, 1:38 pm

Winnow wrote:Ah, another Creative player that's better than Apple's offerings.

how is it better? it doesn't come with those sexy apple stickers. i still love apple for what it does best: computers. i'd much rather lug around a powerbook/macbook than either an ipod or the creative products. and yes, i'm more than willing to pay 10x as much. i'd wait to see what they have to offer after WWDC and with the release of leopard before i'd write apple off.

but you have to remember that the ubiquity of the ipod really made the portable music player market what it is today.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » July 21, 2006, 7:42 pm

Keep up to date on all the Microsoft Zune news you can stomach!

http://news.google.com/news?q=zune&sa=N&tab=wn

mmmm Zuncasts...zTunes

ZOWIE!

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » July 23, 2006, 6:24 pm

The WiFi part sounds interesting:

Microsoft has confirmed the existence of the Zune portable music player and says that it will be out by the end of the year. In an interview published in this week's Billboard Magazine, Microsoft GM of Marketing for MSN Entertainment Business Chris Stephenson says that Zune is "a family of hardware and software products" targeting various digital entertainment services.

The Zune has been rumored to be capable of playing digital music, video, gaming, and downloading music over an 802.11b/g connection. Right now, however, Microsoft says the primary focus for the device will be on music. Zune will indeed have the rumored WiFi capability as well as an internal hard drive. Stephenson declined to divulge the full tech specs for the device, saying that those have yet to be decided.

Microsoft hopes to use the built-in WiFi to foster a community around the Zune, enabling users to see one another's playlists, send track recommendations wirelessly, and even share music with one another. In addition, users will be able to send and receive content between the Zune and other Microsoft devices such as the Xbox 360, Media Center PC and mobile devices running the Windows Mobile OS.

Billboard confirms that "additional Zune-branded devices will follow, including a portable video player and, potentially, a portable game device," as well as an initial device offering WiFi and drive-based storage.

At work:

MS Zune Owner: Hey, I got the latest Metalica song, want it?

iPod Fanboi: Sure!

MS Zune Owner: Here you go *searches for nearby portable players to send song to*

MS Zune Owner: Sorry dude! Looks like your glossy player can't receive songs wirelessly on the fly! Guess you need to go hit iTunes when you get home! (that's the music service like all the other ones out there only it's propietary to iPod players with its own goofy format)

iPod Fanboi: Man, your player has a better screen, sounds better, transmits wirelessly, and doesn't require iTunes but CHECK OUT THIS FUCKING LAYER OF GLOSS ON THE CASE! Sweeeet! I hear Bono did another iPod commercial too!

MS Zune Owner: Didn't you get the Xvid movie I sent you about the Zune player two months ago? Lisa checked it out on her Zen Vision and was impressed enough to buy a Zune for her boyfriend. Huh? Oh, sorry dude, I'm not taking the time to convert every fucking movie to that quicktime shit.

MS Zune Owner: Sec, Joe next door is sending me a song he grabbed off his Xbox 360 and wirelessly sent it to his Zune to take to work. Check for it on your iTunes store later. I'll already be playing the new 360 Halo 3 on my 360 cross platform with some PC Halo 3 friends. Jump in the game after you unjack your iPod from iTunes...huh? You have a PS3? Oh dude, you're out of luck. Go play with yourself as I think the PS3-Net is down again.

Zaelath · Post by **Zaelath** » July 23, 2006, 8:58 pm

I love how everything is the Day After Tomorrow techpocalypse if you don't have the gadget you like this week

The bald assumption that Microsoft, the kings of pointless DRM, will allow you to just "beam" a metallica song to a workmate is a little far fetched too.

In fact, it's only slightly less believable than them deciding, "There's no money in consumer IP any more, so we're giving away our desktop OS for free (as in beer)"

Overall, I give your roleplay 8 out of 10. Would be a 9, but there was no boobies in it.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » July 23, 2006, 10:11 pm

Zaelath wrote:Overall, I give your roleplay 8 out of 10. Would be a 9, but there was no boobies in it.

I guess you didn't get the XVid movie referred to in the roleplay

Chmee · Post by **Chmee** » July 24, 2006, 11:44 am

Any idea if they will be coming out with a 60GB version of the Creative Vision M anytime in the near future?

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » July 27, 2006, 5:33 pm

Chmee wrote:Any idea if they will be coming out with a 60GB version of the Creative Vision M anytime in the near future?

I found this on one of the forums. Unnofficial but promising...bigger drive and ever better audio that the already better-than-iPod audio:

Un-officially it looks like a 60 gig ZVM will be released sometime in August... and December we will most likely see a version with X-fi technology included..this is as it stands now.. though Officially you won't find any confirmation of this... we'll have to wait and see...

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » August 4, 2006, 5:40 pm

We need a recent stock update!

Syenye · Post by **Syenye** » August 4, 2006, 5:57 pm

yes! one before and one after WWDC!

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » August 4, 2006, 6:05 pm

LOCK THIS THREAD!

Pump and Dump! Watch it drop like a rock afterward! I can report that AAPL is down -1.29 today! : )

Syenye · Post by **Syenye** » August 4, 2006, 6:27 pm

the whole options fiasco hasn't really helped them. but you know what would? THE IPHONE. also something to do with nintendo.

miir · Post by **miir** » August 4, 2006, 8:53 pm

Ford, General Motors and Mazda announced yesterday plans for portable MP3 players connectivity/integration into over 70% of their 2007 models....

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » August 4, 2006, 10:32 pm

miir wrote:Ford, General Motors and Mazda announced yesterday plans for portable MP3 players connectivity/integration into over 70% of their 2007 models....

That leaves all the good car companies for Creative!

Truant · Post by **Truant** » August 5, 2006, 1:55 am

Winnow wrote:
miir wrote:Ford, General Motors and Mazda announced yesterday plans for portable MP3 players connectivity/integration into over 70% of their 2007 models....
That leaves all the good car companies for Creative!

Not so much, as several Euro developers already have developed ipod compatability from the factory.

Btw, I received an iPod. Please go pray for my soul or whatever stupid fucking thing you do.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » August 5, 2006, 3:52 am

Truant wrote: Btw, I received an iPod. Please go pray for my soul or whatever stupid fucking thing you do.

I'm far from he praying type! I weep for your ears!

Siji · Post by **Siji** » August 5, 2006, 11:08 am

Zaelath wrote:I love how everything is the Day After Tomorrow techpocalypse if you don't have the gadget you like this week

This pretty much sums up all of Winnow's posts. Zen, X360, Microsoft, HDDVD, Copernic, Newsleecher, etc, etc..

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » August 5, 2006, 12:37 pm

Siji wrote:
Zaelath wrote:I love how everything is the Day After Tomorrow techpocalypse if you don't have the gadget you like this week
This pretty much sums up all of Winnow's posts. Zen, X360, Microsoft, HDDVD, Copernic, Newsleecher, etc, etc..

It's like my old roommate...I called him a SOTAboi. It's like a fanboi, but has to have everything State Of The Art (SOTA). If it's more than a month or two old, it's outdated.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » August 5, 2006, 7:03 pm

Boogahz wrote: It's like my old roommate...I called him a SOTAboi. It's like a fanboi, but has to have everything State Of The Art (SOTA). If it's more than a month or two old, it's outdated.

I don't know about that. The C64 is still better than the latest Mac! I like to discuss apps, etc. It doesn't matter to me if you disagree and I enjoy debating some of the reasons why.

With apps, it's a question of ease of use, power, and efficiency. If that means "state of the art" so be it. It's certainly not a question of money as some of the best apps are free. Your arguments are pretty much shot as many times I argue for a cheaper product that performs better than the latest plasma, DLP, etc. In short, you're full of shit!

I'd rather have an opinon and post about something than sit back and just bitch about everything.

It also doesn't matter to me if a product I like or dislike is popular among the fanbois...makes it more entertaining. I've had the opportunity to piss every person on this board off at one time or another. If I was worried about that sort of thing, I'd go join a cliqué!

PS, Siji is about the least worthwhile contributer on this board on any forum. All bitch, no solutions.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 18, 2006, 6:04 pm

For Zen owners, if you used the ZENcast organizer and didn't like it due to the slow conversion times, try the latest updated version. It's much much faster. 4-5x faster, probably even faster than that on large files.

The only issue I have with it now is that it converts everything to AVI, even pure audio casts. The big deal about this is that it wears the battery down faster. Instead of the 14 hours, you get like 4-4.5 because the screen remains active

It's nice to look at the screen and see the topics of discussion for the current cast and some casts are "enhanced" where images are integrated to display during a certain part of the cast, but I'd prefer the battery time over that.

4-4.5 hours should be long enough for most people but if I forget to recharge it after a day or two, I run into battery issues. I recently turned my screen brightess from 80% to 40% as the extra brightness isn't really needed unless movie watching and burns battery juice.

BTW, I've mentioned it before, but pod/zencasts have made my 30+ minute drives to and from work and hour lunch so much more enjoyable. It's 100% info on the topic you're interested in. Every Sunday I download 6-7 hours of pod/zencasts and transfer them to my Zen (automatically organized nicely into Zencast/Subfolders for me.)

If you haven't given Pod/Zencasts a shot and you have a lengthy commute or some other time that needs filling, head over to http://www.podcastalley.com/ and check some out. You'll eventually find some that you like. Sure, a lot suck as many podcasts are just someone sitting at home like you that decided to make one, but others have a little better info and might be associated with a magazine, website, etc.

Here's a few to try.

1UP Yours

This is a gaming podcast. Three guys discuss the latest news about consoles, PCs and games. Mostly decent info. One guy is an asshole, one with british accent and other ok.

http://www.podcastingnews.com/forum/lin ... ow&id=5651

Aggravated Gamers

Another all encompassing gaming pod/zencast. It also has three guys. One guy, fairly annoying and sounds like he's speaking through his nose all the time while limiting the use of his voicebox. He says "you know" aftr every sentence. Another guy has an english accent, but unlike the other cast's english guy, this guy is annoying and doesn't know much. The last guy is fairly normal. Decent info, I'd rank 1UP ahead of this crew though.

Gaming Steve

This is the best Console/PC news pod/zencast. It's by one guy, semi annoying east coast accent, has some quirks like saying "that being said" a lot while transitioning between his initial opinion or news and his second take on it. Anyways, this guy is older, maybe around 40+ and has a mature take on the gaming industry and gaming reviews. His homemade intro and transition music is korny but you'll get over it.

Unfortunately, this guy has slowed up his pod/zencasts from weekly to monthly lately.

http://www.gamingsteve.com/index.xml

HDTV and Home Theater Podcast

This is a weekly 30 minute show discussing the latest technology wars (HD-DVD vs Blue Ray, latest HDTVs, and latest home theater technology. It's PRETTY informative. The two man team does a decent job although they stumble over each other and keep saying sorry to each other for doing so. Very slight annoyance factor and sometimes the topic isn't that interesting like this week's trip to COSTCO and their review of the HDTVs available there. Can always skip the ones that aren't interesting and move onto the another one for the week!

http://feeds.feedburner.com/HdtvPodcast

Fringe Science:

Mysterious Universe

This is an australian guy that has a weekly 4-60 minute show discussing random topics from ancient mysteries to paranormal stuff. He's pretty good and not too opinionated.

http://www.sohpodcast.com/muniverse.xml

Beyond Science

This guy is also fairly professional and has some interesting guests. He tends to focus on more political type topics like smoking bans and brings controversial guests on for interviews.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/BeyondScience

Cryptic Universe

The most annoying voice of the three pseudo science offerings on this list. He tries his best to provide an informative show though! When he strays and attempts to explain things instead of just report them is when he runs into trouble. He also has the most whacked out topics.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/crypticuniverse

Extra Points: Fantasy Football

There's an excellent chance these two very well may be butt pirates or secretly want to be but if you're desperate for some fantasy football commentary each week, these guys are one of the few pod/zencasts out there worth listening to. Annoyance factor can run high with these two as they will say something and then bust up laughing at their own comment or take a dramatic pause after making a prediction/forecast as if we care.

http://www.extra-points.com/rss

Comic Books

Comic Geek Speak

This is the original comic pod/zencast. It's a group of four or five guys that sit around and talk comic books non stop. They pump out several shows a week that can range up to two hours in length each. A typical show will include that week's comic news, the current comics they're reading, an interview with someone from the comic industry (publisher, artists, writer, etc), a specific topic for that show (important things like what's better: the fake city names in the DC universe or the real cities used in the Marvel universe. Amazingy, they'll talk about that for hours) geeks! It's great most of the time.

They'll also have special shows that deal with hot topics like Civil War, Crisis, or have a multi part series of shows covering the latest Comic Convention along with a bazillion interviews they had while there.

They act exactly like comic nerds should and are a crack up when they play comic book trivia.

http://www.bryandeemer.com/cgs/rss.xml

Around Comics

This is another group of four or five comic nerds that also provide at minimum, a 90-120 minute show a week that follows pretty much the same format as Comic Geek Speak but they have different topics, their own style/takes and guest interviews. The last few episodes have a several hour interview with John Byrne (the artist that drew Uncanny X-Men from #108-#144 (i think 144 was last one). It's a great interview. Byrne's popularity took a dive and is known as a "grumpy old man" these days but his interview is outstanding and provides excellent insight into how the comic industry has changed over the past 20 years. Kitty Pryde was originally going to be called Thunderbird! Where else would you get that kind of info!?

These guys are almost as good as the Comic Geek Speak crew. One guy is obsessed with monkeys in comics and has pretty useless comments but that's why having 4-5 guys chatting about topics is more informative. One weak guy out of five doesn't hurt the program that much.

Word Balloon

This pod/zencast is dedicated exclusively to interviews. For that reason, it's best to take a look and see is the person being interviewed interests you before grabbing it as they last a few hours each.

I can recommend everyone of the Brian Michael Bendis interviews. He's done two 6-hour (three part) interviews and basically the Word Ballon host takes a huge thread of questions posted on a Bendis' forum and he answers everyone. He gets plenty of serious questions but also off the wall ones as you're prone to get on an uncensored public forum but Bendis has fun with them anyway, even the ones that criticise him. Very informative as well as funny.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/WordballoonPodcasts

CSNsider

http://rss.mac.com/cliffbig/iWeb/CSNsid ... st/rss.xml

Pipeline Comic Book Podcast

http://www.comicbookresources.com/rss/p ... peline.xml

These two are short 10-15 minute weekly podcasts that cover the comics being released that week. They usually come out the Monday prior to the Wednesday comics are released and will discuss the top ten or so books of interest for the week.

Rocketboom

This is a video podcast. Recently there was some controversy when the female host quit over a dispute with the producer. She was pretty funny. The new lady is less entertaining but the stories remain odd. It's a five minute daily show with oddball topics. Last episode, the host went to the New York Jedi Lightsabre Enthusiasts Collective and learned how to use a light sabre properly.

http://www.rocketboom.com/vlog/win_medi ... osures.xml

Diggnation

Whenever you have two hosts that are pounding beers while talking about the latest tech stories, there's a high potential annoyance factor. These guys cover a wide array of tech/culture news originating from the Digg.com site. Sometime entertaining, sometimes annoying.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/diggnation

Attack of the Daily Show

Another video five minute format random current tech/culture news show.

http://www.g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/pod ... odcast.xml

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Your interests may be different..fly fishing, origami or something else...but if you find a show or two one something you're interested in, it makes for a much more entertaining commute.

Ahhhh! This post made a nice chunk of the work day go by!

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » October 17, 2006, 12:19 pm

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=4566

FM Recording being removed from Creative Products...

The RIAA strikes again

It looks like the RIAA's war on music pirates continues to affect not only legitimate consumers but music companies as well. This week, Creative announced that it will be removing FM radio recording from its portable music players from here on out. Creative has released a new firmware update for its Zen MicroPhoto and Zen Vision:M players that removes FM recording. We're finding it baffling that owners of the above products would rush to download such an update.

Earlier this year, XM Satellite Radio was handed a lawsuit by the RIAA for allow its subscribers to record satellite radio broadcasts onto portable XM players. XM argued that while users were able to record whatever they pleased, the songs were not transferable and users were not able to move data onto a computer. Despite this important detail, the RIAA pressed forward anyway, indicating that it wanted XM to pay a hefty $150,000 for every song that XM users downloaded.

MP3s, satellite radio and FM radio are all part of the RIAA's music portfolio. Companies are now facing stricter regulations and consumers continue to face ongoing lawsuits.

Besides removing FM recording off its new Zen firmware, Creative also introduced several minor fixes such as video zooming and language support.

If the files being saved were individual recordings of specific songs only, I could see the point in this. As the downloads are actually full "shows," I don't see where anything is being lost.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 17, 2006, 12:54 pm

I haven't updated my Zen firmware since I first got it. I'm not going to update the firmware to remove FM recording (which I don't use) unless they add something I'd want like gapless playback or support for AC3 recorded xvid/divx movies...not for the sound, but just so they don't have to be converted.

The most important update Creative has released is the speed improvement on their Zencast software. I think it's the best netcasting app out there now for organization/ease of use. As with most things, if it's not easy, people won't use it. It only takes a few minutes of my time each Sunday now to load up my Zen Vision with over a week's worth of pod/zencasts. (~10 hours)

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 18, 2006, 4:32 pm

Good work there Apple! Way to check your software!

Apple says shipped iPods carrying computer virus

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Some of Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod digital music players shipped in the past month carry a computer virus, according to a posting on Apple's technical support Web site.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061018/tc_ ... _ipod_dc_4

miir · Post by **miir** » October 18, 2006, 7:29 pm

less than 1 percent of Video iPods left the company's contract manufacturer carrying the virus RavMonE.ex

So far we have seen less than 25 reports concerning this problem.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 18, 2006, 8:11 pm

miir wrote:
So far we have seen less than 25 reports concerning this problem.

oh, no biggie then! I guess it wouldn't matter if only 25 people died from food poisoning either. Probably shouldn't even recall the food! Hell, it's less than one percent.

Siji · Post by **Siji** » October 18, 2006, 8:23 pm

25 out of at least hundreds of thousands.. probably a higher percentage of people die via stubbing their toe and getting an infection.

And of those 25, any of them w/o antivirus software but savvy enough to connect their iPod to the computer and use them for anything more than iTunes, are idiots anyway.

Zamtuk · Post by **Zamtuk** » October 18, 2006, 8:28 pm

Winnow wrote:
miir wrote:
So far we have seen less than 25 reports concerning this problem.
oh, no biggie then! I guess it wouldn't matter if only 25 people died from food poisoning either. Probably shouldn't even recall the food! Hell, it's less than one percent.

food poisoning has nothing to do with food unless there is poison in it, you fucking dumbass. an outbreak like spinach most recently is something differently entirely. food poisoning is mostly due to people's bodily reaction to food.

Zamtuk · Post by **Zamtuk** » October 18, 2006, 8:28 pm

Winnow wrote:
miir wrote:
So far we have seen less than 25 reports concerning this problem.
oh, no biggie then! I guess it wouldn't matter if only 25 people died from food poisoning either. Probably shouldn't even recall the food! Hell, it's less than one percent.

food poisoning has nothing to do with food unless there is poison in it, you fucking dumbass. an outbreak like spinach most recently is something differently entirely. food poisoning is mostly due to people's bodily reaction to food.

btw, whats the count on units sold between ipods and zens? just wondering.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 18, 2006, 8:44 pm

Zamtuk wrote: btw, whats the count on units sold between ipods and zens? just wondering.

So the best selling product is always the best? I hope you enjoy McDonalds because they sell the most burgers..must be the best! What logic!

Zamtuk · Post by **Zamtuk** » October 18, 2006, 10:27 pm

where did i say that ipods were the best? you really are a fucking idiot.

what logic indeed.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 18, 2006, 10:28 pm

Where did I say you said it? I'm just saying random shit like you. You fucking iFag!

Zamtuk · Post by **Zamtuk** » October 18, 2006, 11:21 pm

I'm really at a loss of words. I expect this kind of argument from Cartalas or Midnyte, but really, you? I really would say that we should give you your own forum so you can gay it up like you gay up every other thread you've ever posted on, but then I read the front page of this forum and see you already have one, given that 60 percent of the posts here are from you.

Since your abilities to even follow the silliest of arguments is yet to be developed, I would think that posting any such response to whatever the fuck you posted above -- most likely in between masturbating to pictures of 16 year old girls -- would be a wasted attempt. Oh well, just continue being the douchebag we all know you are and post some more retarded drivel.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 18, 2006, 11:54 pm

Really, what useful info did you provide in this thread? Your one comment about sound quality and loudness gave the impression that you were a clueless retard on he subject. (go back and look) And what were you trying to get at by asking

Zamtuk wrote:"btw, whats the count on units sold between ipods and zens? just wondering."

Who cares? This thread was originally about which player is better, not which player has sold more units to the consuming iMonkey public that are awed by flashy advertisements of neon/shadow people dancing with their headphone cords flapping about instead of actual sound, video, battery, etc etc quality. Apple is able to sucker the unknowing consumer. Good for them! The whole fucking reason for this thread is to offer an opposing opinion to the love fest people have with iPods.

I suppose, given the market caps of Apple and Creative, that Creative is pretty happy with the 100 million Apple gave them for stealing their user interface and being able to use something along the lines of "Creative Inside" on future iPod products is a pretty nice deal.

Calling me an idiot while not really giving me anything useful to debate between the iPod and Zen is laughable. So I, in turn, offer gibberish right back at you.

I've detailed the ZenCast software, the capabilities of the Zen, and provided multiple reasons why I think it's a better choice over the iPod. I don't care if you agree, but I've at least contributed to the debate instead of just asking my grandmother what MP3 player I should buy or buying a player based on the shelf space allotted to it.

Sure, the virus post was a minor jab at Apple and that should have been obvious. No need to go all Mr Wizard on me over food poisoning.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » October 19, 2006, 12:28 am

Actually it says there's only been 25 reported cases at this time. It also says 'less than 1%' which I read as basically 1%. I'm sure the number that went out with the virus is much greater than 25. Reading comprehension, people. I guess the question is 1% of what number? 2,500? 10,000? Sounds like a mystery!

An Apple spokesman declined to name the contract manufacturer or specify how many iPods were affected.

I think it's awersome how Apple tried blaming Microsoft though.

"As you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it," Apple said on its Web site.

Zamtuk · Post by **Zamtuk** » October 19, 2006, 12:40 am

Winnow wrote:Sure, the virus post was a minor jab at Apple and that should have been obvious. No need to go all Mr Wizard on me over food poisoning.

No shit jackass, that is why I, in turn, made my last comment about untis sold. It was a jab at your drooling fanboi'ism over everything zen. At which, you took into consideration (don't ask me from where) that I was claiming iPods were better.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 25, 2006, 4:26 am

fuck

After doing some research, I found some apps that will sync iTunes with non iPod players so decided to take a look at iTunes because I'm a podcast-a-holic and lets face it, iTunes is the best place to find podcasts.

I can't beat around the bush. iTunes is pretty slick.

I'm impressed with iTunes and it's ability to preview music, TV shows, movies, audiobooks etc in a quick and easy manner. I found myself somewhat entertained by just playing the previews for various media.

So anyway, I had no idea that I could manage my podcasts in iTunes and then scoot them over to my Zen Vision. The only issue so far is that some podcasts are in the ubergay m4a format while most of the smart people have converted their podcasts to standard mp3. Issue two is organizing the podcasts on my Zen Vision so I don't have to search all over the place as ipods have a podcast directory and Zens have a Zencast directory but you can't just drag mp3's into the Zencast directory and have them show up. My solution is to create the genre, 1-Podcasts, and then select all the podcasts in my iTunes directory and group convert their genre to 1-Podcasts so i can quickly go to that genre using the patented Creative UI *which Apple now licenses legally* and find all of my casts organized under that genre.

I can find a m4a tp mp3 converter but that may be a pain depending on how many podcasts turn out to be in that format (only one so far).

iTunes is an impressive piece of software. All I really care about are podcasts though and those are free so I don't have to demean myself by getting an iTune store account or anything. Considering how easy it is to deal with podcasts on iPods using iTunes, I'm surprised I haven't heard more of you iPodders talking about them. These thing rock. No matter what your interests, there's most likely a few podcasts out there that could fill in some wait/drive time better than a song sometimes. The issue for independent, non ipod users is that podcasts haven't been easy to organize and listen to up until the Zencast software came along and that's still not up to snuff yet. Eventually, in this unique area, the world will catch up. While surfing around today, I found a few more MP3 players that have podcast handling software so things are improving. Apple, pissing everyone off by trying to claim "podcast" as a trademark, should spur the podcast community to move away from iTunes...yet another retard move by Apple to lose something good by being greedy or proprietary.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » October 25, 2006, 9:45 am

We gave up on telling you anything about the iPod and iTunes when the foam started to actually fall out of your mouth.