Out with the Old Zune, In With the New Zune HD

The Zune is joining the ranks of cast-off technology as Microsoft rearranges its product line to keep pace with morphing media consumption. Paul Thurott recently blogged, “I met with the Zune folks today and one bit of information than I can discuss immediately is that the Zune HD will be the only device type going forward.”

Microsoft currently produces several models of the Zune: 4GB Zune, 8GB Zune, 16GB Zune, 80GB Zune, and the 120GB Zune. All models wil effectively be discontinued. A backward glance at Zune’s history reveals a rocky three years of difficult competition with other media producers. Launched in an unsuccessful attempt to dethrone Apple’s domination of the mobile media market (still unsuccessful), the Zune somehow managed to gain a sizeable following.
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Popularity: 5% [?]

In order to reinvent their already tiny mp3 player Apple has come out with a third generation iPod Shuffle. Going back to their original design only condensed down to smaller than a stick of gum. It holds 4 times as much as the second-generation model, now holding 4GB or 1000 songs.

Another new feature has moved all the controls to the ear bud headphones. This makes it impossible to use any other set of headphones that you might prefer. Crammed in the new control system you can play, pause, change playlist, adjust the volume, and are able to hear the artist and song title.

This model comes in a all aluminum case in two colors black or silver. It also features a stainless steel clip to attach it to your clothing. In order to compress the size of the case they had to sacrifice 2 hours of playback, which leaves you with a total of 10 hours of playback on one charge.
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Popularity: 3% [?]

SanDisk has taken this idea of digital music and ran with it. They have just introduced slotMusic, which plays on microSD cards. Because of the failed attempt to control or stop illegal downloading of music they decided to release a DRM free format for mp3 albums. Many big named record labels have already signed on like Sony BMG, BMI Music, Warner Music Group, and Universal Music Group.

Over forty artists are available now including Chris Brown, Coldplay, Daughtry, Katy Perry, Nickelback, and Tim McGraw. They also released some classic albums by ABBA, Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, and KISS. The 1GB microSD album is priced at $15, which includes high-quality (320kbps) MP3s, artwork, videos, and other digital content. Here is a Press Release from SanDisk talking more about the artists and the slotMusic microSD cards.
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Popularity: 5% [?]

All new instruments are coming this summer starting June 22nd through August 1st. Mad Catz will release wired premium drums, wired guitar, wired bass, wired microphone, and a portable drum kit. This is huge for all of you Rock Band Fans out there. Mad Catz is an officially licensed 3rd party manufacture, backed by Rock Band creator, Harmonix.

First instrument to hit the shelves is the newly designed bass guitar. It is modeled after a Fender Precision bass guitar, with dual strum bars. This allows you to strum up and down simultaneously. It’s coming this Sunday, priced at $69.99.

Portable drum kit is small, with quiet drumstick and noise reducing pads. This is great for bands that love to travel and are always on the move. I’m not sure if it includes a stand or you set it on your lap. It should be in stores July 15th, priced at $49.99.

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Popularity: 4% [?]

Celebrities should not be endorsing things like USB pen drives. Should they? Ok, perhaps we exaggerated a little in the title with the word ‘huge’ but seriously, Jennifer Lopez has put out a USB pen drive!

Now if it stopped at being a drive, we would continue to bash her for it. However, it actually comes in a cool wood look finish and includes her latest album “Brave” on it. Personally we think this is a sad attempt to make money while having the appearance of “reaching out” to the youff of today. Not cutting any slack with us, but the J-Lo obsessives are bound to be jumping all over this like a flea on a trampoline.

The product sounds fine until you get to the $70 weight of a price tag hanging around it’s neck. At that point, a copy of her CD plus a no name drive will be a much better purchase, plus you can store all your fake J-Lo porn shots on the drive while keeping the music on a handy CD that will easily Frisbee out of the car window at a moments notice.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Do we really need another online music site trying to jimmy it’s way into the already tightly packed music arena? NPR think so. The key here is that they may actually have a few unique and interesting features that could set them apart from the pack. Either that or the big music bastards *cough* itunes *cough* will steal the ideas and pass them off as their own. Either way the service is worth a look even if you are not a yank or indeed a music lover as some of the ideas behind the tech are interesting.

Specific sections of the site are dedicated to rock/pop/folk, classical, jazz/blues, world and urban music. In each genre, program and subject area, users can explore NPR’s and the stations’ music news; intimate interviews and studio sessions with artists and bands; NPR’s and stations’ national and regional web concerts; reviews and news; original blogs from critics, experts and artists; and podcasts. Read the rest

Popularity: 7% [?]