Honestly I don’t understand the obsession, but I know a lot of people just love unboxing, so here’s my unboxing of the 80GB Zune in pictures:

You might have heard of the Zune – Microsoft’s “iPod Killer” that came out in the US in 2006. Many wondered when (and if) this media player would cross the border. Well, now we have an answer: Some time this spring (“spring” defined as between March and May so I’m guessing late April). But what is the Zune? And is it better or equivalent to the iPod? We sat down with a rep from Microsoft to get the lo-down.

Media On The Go
The Zune comes in three versions: 4, 8 and 80GB. The 4 and 8GB models are small and thin (like the old iPod nano) and have built in flash memory. The 80GM model is large (like the iPod Classic) and has a built in 80GB hard drive. All models feature three buttons; a “back” button, a play/pause button and a touch-sensitive “Zune Pad” that works both like the regular directional clicker you’ll find on a cell phone and also as a touch-sensitive pad you can slide your finger across to scroll through menus. This is the Microsoft alternative to Apple’s “Click Wheel”.

The Zune is meant to be an extension to your personal media library. It plays music (mp3, wma, aac), plays videos (wmv, MPEG-4, h.264), displays photos and graphics, plays podcasts (both video and audio) and even has a built in radio. All this content is uploaded to the player either through a USB cable, wirelessly from your network or shared wirelessly from other Zunes nearby. And that’s where the Zune differs from the competition. As it’s tagline “Welcome to the Social” indicates, everything about the player revolves around the social aspect: Sharing music, graphics and images from device to device, sharing favourites through the Zune Social website and discovering new songs and artists by finding like minded listeners and related tracks.

Think of it as FaceMusicbook
On first impression it is the social aspect that really stands out. The player itself is on par with the competition (read iPod Classic) both in terms of price (Canadian price TBA), quality, functionality and ease of use. But the “Social” concept could become a major selling factor. Here’s why: In the Zune marketplace you have two options: Either buy each track or album individually or subscribe to the entire library for a set monthly fee. In the US this fee is around $14 and one would expect a similar price for the Canadian users. With the subscription in place you can download as many songs as you want and listen to them for as long as you pay for the service. So when you find an artist you are curious about through Zune Social you can download the tracks without any added cost and check them out. If you like the songs, you have them on your computer. If you don’t like them, it didn’t cost you anything. And it’s all legal! For music fanatics like myself constantly on the lookout for new and interesting (i.e. obscure Islandic) artists, this is a dream come true: Pandora without the crappy sound quality. And just imagine what this would do for a house party. The guests can log in, download whatever they want to listen to and then play it.

Unfortunately the Zune Marketplace (and with it the subscription service) will not be available in Canada until the fall of 2008. But Zune Social will be up and running and with it the ability to discover new artists, share your playlist and become a musical trend setter. And in the interim you’ll be able to purchase tracks from Zune Social through other online music retailers.

Is the Zune for me?
Good question. And we’ll help you answer it. Microsoft was kind enough to give us two 80GB Zunes to test, and we will. We’ll upload music and pictures, watch movies and TV shows on the SkyTrain, share files with other Zuners, stream content to our XBOX360 and really put the device through it’s paces to see if this is something you should buy. At the same time we’ll pressure Microsoft to get the Marketplace – or at least the subscription service – up as soon as possible. So check back here and on our sister site Dabbler.ca to see what we think of the new toy.

I’ve been a mac fanboy for a while now and to date I have owned and sold 5 iPods and am on my 6th, the iPod Touch.

Unlike it’s predecessors, the Touch is a new animal, taking the iPod from the click wheel interface to that of the iPhone. With only 2 buttons, home and sleep everything else is done through virtual buttons or keyboards on the device, which makes it very sleek and sexy.

Lets get into the specifics though. Built on with the same OS and touch GUI as the iPhone, the Touch is really just a thinner stripped down version of the hand set with half the bells and whistles. That shouldn’t detract on getting one though, as shipped and out of box untouched it has a variety of audio and visual treats for any iPod owner.

Music
The Touch has kicked up the GUI to the music side of the iPod by including coverflow right on the device. You can still browse by band, genre, song, etc or turn the device sideways and go by album cover.

Video
Any video content downloaded from the web and converted using a mp4 converter can be added into iTunes and synced to the Touch. This includes purchased content from the iTunes store as well as files found on public torrent sites or video podcasts.

Web
Did I say web? On a iPod? Why yes! Through a fully functional web browser, Safari, which is usable where ever free Wi-Fi can be found. Apple even rolled out a web apps page from their site so Phone and Touch users can access handy tools online without needing to install 3rd party apps.

Pros
Excellent iPod, as we’ve become accustomed to. Video and web is the real gem here though. Being able to Facebook from my local cafe, while listing to the Stones 40 Licks album, drinking a dark roast Americano coffee is what life is about. Video is good enough to watch TV shows, movies or anything else you fancy. The fact it’s all in one tiny unit makes it even better.

Cons
I wish the unit had external volume controls like it’s bigger brother. However Apple has thought of this and worked out a variety of methods that controls can be accessed even if the unit is locked.

The Icing on the cake?
Version 1.1.1 software hack just came out that allows 3rd party apps to be installed. This of course probably breaks the ELUA and warranty of the device but opens it up to a world of possiblities though free open source software. For example you can get a Nintendo emulator, IM applications for AIM & MSN, and a host of other great and wonderful applications.

I don’t think I’ll be selling this iPod anytime soon, it does the job of an iPod, video player, web and a variety of other devices all in one tiny package that fits in my pocket and takes up very little space.

Now if it could only make coffee…..

m4x

It seems like everyone has an iPod these days. Yet the little music players are notorious for dying on their owners rather quickly after the warranty runs out. And Apple isn’t exactly the most customer friendly company when it comes to replacing broken hardware.

iPod Death Clock

The cause for the probe lies in the way iTunes wants to sells music in Europe.  Based on the American model iTunes wants to operate a single store located in one country and sell their music across the borders.  This is in violation of territorial sales restrictions and the end result is that the consumer can only buy songs from iTunes if he or she holds a credit card from a bank in the country where the iTunes store is located.  As a result the majority of European iPod owners will not be able to purchase music from the store.

The centralized approach is Apple’s attempt at circumventing the antitrust lawsuits put against the company by several European governments and consumer groups over their copy protection.

Apple has two months to respond to the probe.

Akash reviews the Griffin iKaraoke – a self contained karaoke unit that plugs into your iPod and helps you realize why you don’t have a record deal.

Perfect for “entertaining” your fellow passengers on the bus or the train. And it’s only $69 so it can be categorized under “cheap thrills”.

Watch the video and catch Akash singing his favourite tune!