Interview: Zune and Design

Red, Double-Shot In This Year’s Lineup

Zune Insider — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 22:29:56 GMT

Lots of folks have asked me “hey, what happened to the double-shot ?” Short answer: we still have a double-shot,

Industrial Design Magazine: Brown is the New Black

Zune Insider — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 22:13:50 GMT

Industrial Design reports on something that Zune owners have known for a long time: brown is the new

Keith’s Amusing Musings :: 2006 :: November

Keith’s Amusing Musings :: 2006 :: November — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 10:37:38 GMT

PingBack from http://lesia.com/2006/11//

Vinny — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 13:50:29 GMT

I am sorry to say just a little disappointed with this forum. Are we not at a Zune development blog? I post a significant issue that strikes at the heart of Zune development and no one seems interested. Here’s another interesting piece I found, I would be interested if someone who is familiar with development of Zune to comment, the could be big news if picked up by a enterprising journalist. Getting back to E.digital, Atul Anandpura was their CEO in 2005. If you review the application link below you will find several instances where claimed inventive technology is oddly exactly the same as the Zune’s new capabilities with regard to digital media transfer, storage, encryption, and real time clock management thru wireless 802.11. Examples follow: “A real time clock operatively connected to the multimedia device can be used to determine the length of time that a digital media file is stored on the digital storage medium.” “A digital media storage system as in claim 1, further comprising a real time clock operatively connected to the media processor, the real time clock configured to enable the media processor to disable specific digital media files stored on the digital storage medium after a predetermined amount of time.” “A digital media storage system as in claim 13, wherein one or more specific digital media files are deleted from the digital storage medium after the predetermined amount of time has passed.” “A method as in claim 15, wherein the step of using a real time clock further comprising the step of using a real time clock operatively connected to the multimedia device, wherein the media processor is configured to disable access to specific digital media files after they have been stored on the digital storage medium for a predetermined amount of time.” “In another embodiment, digital media files from the media source can be transmitted wirelessly to the multimedia device. A wireless format such as the IEEE 802.11 wi-fi specification can be used. Other wireless formats such as Bluetooth, Zigbee, or Ultrawideband, as described in the IEEE 802.15 specification, can also be used to wirelessly transmit digital media files to the multimedia device. The wireless format can include encryption to enable the transmission to be secure such that the digital media files cannot be easily intercepted by unintended users.” “In the present invention, a predetermined file format can be used to store the digital media content. The predetermined file format can be configured to be incompatible with the file for mats used by major computer operating systems, such as Windows, Linux, Unix, and Apple's operating system. The predetermined file format can allow digital media content to be saved on the digital storage medium 114 without allowing easy access to the digital storage medium by external devices controlled by these operating systems. Since the predetermined file format is not compatible with the storage format used by these operating systems, the digital media files stored on the digital storage medium can be substantially secure.” (Research E.digital’s MicroOS and Forth language history) “This assurance can encourage more digital media content providers to allow their products to be transmitted digitally, thus providing a new market for providers to sell their content.” (Zune’s social network, and the hook for the media industry) “The media processor can be configured to disable specific media content stored on the digital storage medium according to the predetermined amount of time. For example, a media content provider may allow a song to be downloaded for one week. One week after the song has been downloaded the media processor can either disable the song from being played, or optionally delete the song from the digital storage medium. In another embodiment, a media content provider can allow a media file to be downloaded and played a predetermined number of times. The media content provider may allow a media file to be downloaded and played for a predetermined time or for a set number of times when a proper authentication code is not received from the multimedia device. If a propel authentication code is received, the media file may be allowed to be played for a longer duration, or even indefinitely.” http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=Anandpura.IN.&OS=IN/Anandpura&RS=IN/Anandpura Those skilled in the art, please enjoy.

juice — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 09:08:51 GMT

"there are so few philosophically new viewpoints informing design aesthetics." great interview.

Izzzie — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 11:53:37 GMT

Hi there. I've been one of the fence-sitters on Zune for a while, and I've been checking back to this site a fair bit to see what's going on, and it hit me; there are almost NO girls posting on any of these sites! Ooops... maybe Zune needs to rethink some of it's sex appeal. Or maybe it's just the deadpan marketing guys delivering the insider interviews that turns us off. Also, dave has raised an interesting point - when is the Aussie release date? If I get really annoyed I suppose I could just buy it off Amazon.com, but it'd be nice to have a support network set up in Aussie first. Something like the Apple Stores that seem to have sprung up on every corner here. Thanks for all the information - it's certainly keeping me interested! Izzzie.

Vinny — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 16:20:42 GMT

Hi Folks, Please checkout this link, I think Microsoft is infringing E.digital's patent using this multidirectional switch on the front of the new Zune. Cut and paste into your browser: http://www.wipo.int/patentscopedb/en/wads2.jsp?IA=US1995005054&LANGUAGE=EN&ID=id00000000659240&VOL=9004&DOC=003228&PAGE=1&WEEK=46/1995&WO=95/028711&TYPE=A1&TIME=1239123231&DOC_TYPE=PCT Has anyone had contact with MS product design team concerning decisions to use this type of controller? I recently watched Robert Scobelier's interview with Matt Jubelier, and was pretty amazed that the feel, comfortablity, ease of manipulation, etc... were some of the talking points Matt discussed. Just sharing for those Ipod and Zune enthusiasts who like to follow this stuff like me. Cheers

damien — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 18:19:37 GMT

Hey C, Is there anyplace that we can see a demo of Zune Marketplace?

dave — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 10:09:09 GMT

please tell me the australian zune release date cheers

Smith — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 12:22:45 GMT

This is a good article talking about Zune Design. I am not so sure that MS did a good prototype/market testing. Cause there are a lot of people out there who dont like the design from the looks of it. There is even a site dedicated to make fun of Zune http://www.zunehumor.com/ Hopefully those folks will talk some sense into MS for a better design for the Next Version/Release of Zune

Woody56292 — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 22:11:28 GMT

Yeah, just want to say, I like the black d-pad/wheel and the zune actually looks really sweet now.

TomT — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 15:55:27 GMT

Speaking of feature set, I hope you will work quickly to expand your Wi-Fi features beyond Zune-to-Zune sharing. (Sirius satellite radio recently announced a radio that uses "Wi-Fi connectivity for listening to live Internet radio whenever you’re in range of a wireless network.")

Rick Lawson — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 13:28:57 GMT

Cesar, Great interview! I've been scouring the page figuring out how to email you. If possible, PLEASE EMAIL ME!!! I would like to talk with you about a few things. Thanks. -Rick

Brian — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 12:01:58 GMT

Good video post there Charlie. I am still debating getting one of these. I think it will be great but ipod is WAY ahead of them in technology and experience. The only thing that attracts me to this is the FM tuner and wifi.... but no one has said if it is just an 802.11 wifi connection so you can share it over a network or if it is JUST a zune to zune connection.

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 00:55:35 GMT

Sweet interview, keep it up Cesar! I love hearing about the various team members, as well as the process of developing the Zune. Anyways...I think I have found the most in-depth Zune video thus far. http://zunecorps.com/?p=64 Enjoy, -Charlie