I’m a day late.
- “On The Shoulders Of Giants” – Jennifer Nettles
- “In Only Seven Days” – Queen
- “If I Can’t Have You” – Etta James & Harry Fuqua
- “Plague Upon Your Hissing” – The Mars Volta
- “Alone” – Mary J. Blige
- “Silent All These Years (Live)” – Tori Amos
- “Sweet Virginia” – The Rolling Stones
- “Lonely” – Tom Waits
- “I Got A Woman” – Ray Charles
- “Heartbreak Hotel (Live in ’68)” – Elvis Presley
- “Chi City” – Common
- “A Song For You (Live)” – Donny Hathaway
- “How Much I’ve Lied” – Gram Parsons
- “Trouble Sleeping” – Corinne Bailey Rae
- “Come Down In Time” – Elton John
- “Open Arms” – Journey
- “A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off” – The Magnetic Fields
- “Hurt Me Soul” – Lupe Fiasco
- “Asylum of Dub” – DJ Spooky
- “Matchbox” – Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash
And in other news, the Zune was unleashed to the public today. The most dismissive comment one could make about the Zune is probably something like “I’ve got an iPod, so what’s the point?” Of course, Microsoft is hoping that the general public will get around that logical assumption long enough to see just what they have to offer. After all, does Apple offer a brown iPod? No. Come get your brown Zunes!
This past weekend, a few of us — Nikki, Alyssa, Wendy and I — went to the movies. Saw Stranger Than Fiction. The movie was better than it deserved to be, as it put Will Ferrell in a more serious light than he is usually. When push comes to shove, or maybe when properly directed and surrounded by higher-quality actors, Ferrell can actually act. On the way out, I called Stranger Than Fiction “Ferrell’s own Eternal Sunshine” — and I stand by my observation. The story is great, the soundtrack is exceptional and the message is incredibly sincere and sweet.
Before the film, we were treated to a Zune commercial. One of those with the “Welcome to the Social” message, showing flocks of hip youngsters, bobbing their heads in union, some of them even holding up their Zunes at a concert. Even if you ignore the fact that most folks don’t bring their own music to a concert, the spot does little to distinguish the Zune from any other mp3 player. It’s got a screen? Great. It plays movies? Good for it. And while it appears to have some limited wireless capability, the function only works from one Zune to another Zune and even then the number of shares (and the length of time that a shared track is listenable) is limited.
During the commercial, Wendy leaned over and asked, “What’s that?”
“It’s a Zune,” I said. “Like an iPod.”
She thought for a minute, then added, “But the iPod is still better, right?”
“Yep.” And boy, is it.
But don’t take my word for it. Head on over to Engadget for a head-shaking walk-through of the problem-laden twenty-minute installation procedure for the accompanying Zune software. The way-too-hip splash-screens alone are enough to make me cherish all the more the simplicity of an iTunes interface, even with the occasional memory leaks.
2 responses to “A Substituted Tuesday Twenty”
“Memory leaks”? Dude, (a term which automatically renders me in the bottom 3% of people commenting on Thomas’ site… at least I used the apostrophe correctly) you were there when my iPod wiped not only a file, but all the files… it wiped the entire internet, and I didn’t even know it had a modem!
I sort of feel like I’ve made it in the world when someone posts a conversation they had with me on their blog. I think my free-random-drawing-please-come-to-our-dorky-technology-portal-release-workshops-and-we’ll-put-your-name-in-a-drawing-for-a-fancy-iPod-that-costs-$500-and-you-better-claim-it-on-you-taxes-60 GB video iPod is just fine.