7th April 2008, 06:37 pm
Having bought the 80GB Zune 2 MP3 player, I treated myself to the 32GB iPod touch from Kuala Lumpur after all that hard work on the Borneo Orangutan Adventure.
The iPod touch is a really sleek design, a joy to hold and look at. However, even with the latest firmware (1.1.4), the iPod touch crashes on a frequent basis. By “crash” I mean that in the middle of web browsing or listening to music (for example) the iPod touch will crash whatever it was doing and revert to the main start screen. Not nice at all!
In addition, the album cover flow screen sometimes doesn’t show the album covers which kinda defeats the main purposes for having the album cover flow screen.
And it seems that I’m not the only one who’s experiencing these problems. A quick web search revealed the extent of these problems. I imagine that Apple will eventually get the bugs ironed-out with future firmware releases but I paid a lot of money for what turns out to be a flawed jewel. So, at the moment, I’m really disappointed with Apple’s latest iPod.
Copyright © 2008 Kulvinder Singh Matharu - All Rights Reserved
2nd February 2008, 11:45 pm
Following my article Great music, Zune and iPod…I finally decided to buy the 80GB Zune 2 rather than an iPod. I think that the main thing that decided it for me was that there was a built-in FM radio in the Zune 2 and also because the display is bigger making watching videos far easier. Mind you, it was a close call between the iPod and the Zune 2.
The Zune 2 arrived a few days ago and I’ve synchronized all my music, a lot of photos and a few videos. The unit looks pretty cool in its blackness, the sound quality is very good and the headphones are pretty decent too. I appreciate the built-in FM radio, and of course WiFi synchronization. I haven’t met anyone else with a Zune so I’m not sure about the “Social” yet!
One thing that I am waiting for is Amazon’s global MP3 download service. That will release everyone from the shackles of DRM infected files and from iTunes and the like…in essence this will allow us all to move between Zune, iPod or any other MP3 player. Come on Amazon, give us some launch dates!
Copyright © 2008 Kulvinder Singh Matharu - All Rights Reserved
27th January 2008, 12:23 pm
There’s a lot of really good music being given airtime by a number of UK-based radio stations such as London’s “Capital Radio”. I do also listen to a lot of classical music, blues and some jazz through Internet-based radio stations but I did want to say something about some songs that I particularly liked at the moment. And why not!
OK, here we go.
- Relax (Take IT Easy) - by Mika
- Chasing Pavements - by Adele
- Superstar - by Lupe Fiasco
- Rockstar - by Nickelback
- Valerie - by Mark Ronson with Amy Winehouse (I like anything with Amy Winehouse!)
- Run - by Amy MacDonald
- Sun Goes Down - by David Jordan - fun
- Ride It - by Jay Sean
- Homecoming - by Kanye West
- Carry You Home - by James Blunt (also “1973″ is still being played!)
Check them out!
Next problem. My dilemma is regarding the purchase of my next MP3 player to replace my Sony MP3 player which has hit maximum capacity on its 20GB drive. I was thinking of getting an iPod but the lack of a built-in radio receiver put me off. The new Zune MP3 players from Microsoft do have FM radios built in and the units do seem to have some very good reviews. They look kinda cool too. Unfortunately the Zunes are not officially available in the UK and if I need to use the Zune Marketplace then I need to be a bit creative with my Internet set up to access the Zune Marketplace from the UK. Also, the iPods have a huge array of accessories available. Dilemmas! I think that I’d also lose any option of getting the Zune customised with those graphics on the back of the units. The word on the street is that the Zunes will be launched in the UK in Christmas 2008! I don’t think that I can wait that long even if we do get new and improved Zunes by that time! I’ll try and get myself an 80GB Zune. Unless anyone has a strong objection!
Copyright © 2008 Kulvinder Singh Matharu - All Rights Reserved
22nd January 2008, 06:11 pm
A device, whether mobile or fixed, such as a laptop, a mobile telephone, a desktop, etc which is used (as one of its functions) to receive “radio” stations from the air (using radio techniques such as VHF/FM, DAB, etc) or “streamed” such as from an Internet connection over xDSL, WiFi, etc. Such a device, using automatic user-matching preferences, or through manual intervention by the user, flags a received song/tune/audio which then actions the device to immediately (or stored later for such action) to access a relevant music download site such that the flagged song/tune/audio track can be purchased (or made available free of charge) and downloaded to the device such as to allow the user to playback the downloaded track at any suitable time.
A simple scenario. Basically, you’re listening to a traditional radio station or Internet radio station on your 3G/WiFi smartphone/MP3 player and you hear something you like. You press a button and the device goes to iTunes or other site and the track gets downloaded to your device. Instant impulse purchase! The device (or even the music store) could also determine that you like that particular type of music or that artist and it could provide recommendations for further purchase.
This is my vision of the future and it doesn’t take any leap in technology as all the buildings blocks are already there. And I’m sure that the idea isn’t that novel as it’s just a trivial and perhaps obvious example of putting such blocks together. I think Apple could put such a system together very easily using the iPhone (but perhaps with a 3G upgrade!). So the rest of you companies out there, wake up and smell the coffee…you’ve got a lot of work to do! And with GPS built-in such a device would be a real killer! Location based services are going to sky rocket but that’s the subject of a different article.
I want now!
Copyright © 2008 Kulvinder Singh Matharu - All Rights Reserved
