Happy Thanksgiving!

To all my US readers out there, Happy Turkey Day!  I have a couple of posts comin' down the pipeline including a recap of my past few weeks with Windows 7, a cell phone review (UTStarcom Shuttle for Virgin Mobile USA), and a real-world review of the Sony A200 DSLR camera.  But today is dedicated to the grand tradition of putting on some pounds and fighting the turkey-induced nap!  Gobble gobble!

Zune 3.1

Last week, I officially ended the use of my 120GB iPod Classic.  I ended up selling it to someone who could use it more than I, and I'm okay with that.  I'm back to using a Zune again, though this time an 8GB one.  Yes, I could go back to the 80GB, but I want something that fits in my pocket completely comfortably.  It's also forced me to whittle down my music collection to stuff that I really want to take with me, as opposed to everything I have.  The Zune makes it really easy to "vote songs off" by using a simple rating system.  Anything that I rate "broken hearted" automatically gets pulled off the Zune the next time I sync, making space for other songs that I might want to listen too.  Yes, with the iPod, I could create a Smart Playlist that only syncs songs of certain ratings, but this is much simpler and more intuitive.  The move from Leopard to Windows 7 (watch for an update on that soon) also means that I have wifi-syncing capabilities again (something that was broken while using VMWare Fusion under Leopard).  While not as fast as USB syncing, it is REALLY convenient.  Also back is the Zune Pass, allowing me to download any music I want, and opening up the possibilities of The Social.  Picks and Channels give me weekly updated plalists that expose me to new music.

Yesterday, Microsoft suprised us all with a .1 update that, on the surface, added some more games, but also improved syncing of media between the desktop software and the player.  I'm hoping this means that resume points in videos will now sync; I've been watching movies on my Zune 8 lately, and I noticed that when going to the desktop and watching the video, it doesn't resume (like iTunes and iPods do).  Here's Microsoft's official listing, care of Zune Insider:

"Starting today, Zune gets a little update which will bring a handful of free games, a refresh to Zune Social and incremental improvements to the software.
On the games front, we are giving away three new additions, Checkers, Sudoku and Space Battle, plus a new multiplayer mode and single player difficulty levels for Texas Hold’em.
The team also did some great work the Zune Social visual refresh to make it easier to navigate, as well as adding a new feature called “like minded listeners,” which will let you see how compatible your music tastes are with other listeners and friends.
On the more techie side we focused on improving overall stability and performance in the Zune PC software and device firmware, such as improved play count reporting and content synchronization between the Zune software and the Zune device."

 

They also tossed up a few screens of the new games:

   

While I can't speak for Soduku (I've never played it, IRL or on the Zune) or Checkers, Space Battle is insanely fun.  If memory serves me correctly, this is the game that was shown way back when Games for Zune was announced, and a game I've been waiting for.  Anyway, give it all a check out if you have a Zune and haven't updated yet!

 

Along with this announcement, Microsoft also announced a price drop on the flash Zunes (4, 8, and 16 modesl) along with most accessories.  It looks like they might be taking a serous aim at Apple this holiday season!

EDIT:
Microsoft today announced that Zune Pass subscribers will now get 10 free songs a month to keep forever!  If you have a Zune, why would you NOT be a Zune Pass subscriber now?  It greatly enhances the Zune, and you get free music to keep, even if you cancel your membership!  Microsoft is really turning up the heat, and now with 90% (according to them) of their Marketplace library being DRM free MP3 files, they are really positioning themselves to take on the iPod.  So let's recap: in the past few days, Microsoft has: A) updated the firmware for ALL Zunes (even back to first generation 30s), B) dropped the prices on the flash Zunes (4, 8, and 16 models) and most accesories and, C) added incredible value to the Zune Pass subscription. Apple, are you taking notes?  If Microsoft ever makes the Zune Mac (and possibly Linux) compatible, Apple might have a serious problem on their hands...

Windows 7

Tuesday marked not only a historic day for my country, but also the start of what has been a surprisingly wonderful relationship. I wiped my laptop (after creating a perfect copy of my hard drive with Mac OS X Leopard with SuperDuper!) and installed the pre-beta of Windows 7. Now, I'm admittedly a Mac fanboy, and while I've used Windows, with varying degrees of success, in the past, I was not expecting to play with Windows 7 for more than a few hours. I intended to restore my laptop with Leopard while I was sleeping that night. Well, I'm still in Windows. And for all the right reasons.

While an early, pre-beta build, Windows 7 has been extremely stable, fast, and usable for me. I only hit one compatibility issue, ironically while trying to install Microsoft's OneCare anti-virus suite. Other than that, I've installed Office 2007, Photoshop CS4, Lightroom 2.1, Firefox, Trillian Astra, iTunes, and a slew of other programs with no problem. I have yet to have a crash, and Windows 7 is very noticeably faster than Vista, Leopard, and almost even XP!

The UI has undergone some changes since Vista, most notably with the task bar. The task bar works more like a dock now, with only icons residing there; no more text labels for programs. While that might sound like it could get confusing, the genius is that no matter how many windows of a particular program you are running, only one icon shows. As you can see above, multiple "blades" next to an icon represent the number of open windows. Hovering over the icon pops up real-time thumbnails of each window that are selectable. Hovering over each window preview produces a small red X in the right corner, used to close the window without selecting it. This has vastly sped up program switching for me, which, in turn, has increased my productivity.

Aero has undergone a slight tweaking, making it less resource-intensive (translating to better battery life on a laptop) and looking a bit smoother. Personally, I expect it to be visually tweaked some more to match the new task bar, but I could be wrong. Also receiving some MUCH overdue "tweaking" (more of an overhaul), are Paint and Wordpad. Paint actually becomes a usable program for the first time since it's inception; I used it to do the screenshot crops for this article. In addition to retaining it's speed and lightness, it now has adopted the Ribbon interface from Office 2007 along with an arsenal of tools, making it my new choice for quick image edits!

The dreaded UAC (User Account Control) has been toned down so it's not nearly as intrusive as it was in Vista, while still gently providing the guidance needed to keep the user secure.

These are just a few of the things that I've come across that I've found notable. As time goes on, I'll post more about my experiences with Windows 7. I've read several reports out there saying it's very much a pre-beta, not yet near ready to ship. I contend that it could ship very soon (even though it's not going to) for the average user. It's at least as stable as Vista was when it shipped, if not more. It's my day-to-day system for the foreseeable future.