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Showing posts with the label Zune

2010 Tech Predictions

2009 was a very difficult year for our economy, and many friends and colleagues lost their jobs and/or their homes. While I can't very well predict how our economy will do in 2010, I will try to out due my 1 for 3 predictions of 2009 with my 2010 predictions. In no particular order, here are my 5 top tech predictions for 2010. With the number of players increasing in the eBook Reader arena, Amazon will adopt the ePub format as a supported file format. The next version of the iPhone , announced this spring, will be available on Verizon . Similar to the data loss that occurred for Sidekick users in 2009, a significant data loss or corruption will happen on a Cloud platform . Though hopefully like with the Sidekick data being recovered, even if the data is recovered, it will send a strong message to CIOs and others considering moves to the Cloud. Depending on the reports you read, the browser war statistics can vary widely. Regardless, Internet Explorer continues to dominate, despi

Don't Get Caught in the Zune Hype

Microsoft just released their new Zune player -- will it be a hit? My bet is no, and here is why. The software is difficult to install; it has crashed for many people. Does not support Microsoft's PlaysForSure music platform, including Windows Media Player. Therefore, you cannot play music you bought from other stores that used the PlaysForSure music platform. Microsoft closed their music store and opened a new one specific to Zune ( Zune Marketplace ). To buy music, you need to buy points from Microsoft in $5.00 increments. Each song is 79 points, which is about $0.99. So you will loan Microsoft $4.00 (or more), each time you buy more points. Yet another DRM in isolation . Supports video, but there is video available from Microsoft's Zune Marketplace store yet. Does not support podcasting. Paying Universal an undisclosed sum for each unit sold since all users are pirating music. Wireless only works between 2 Zunes with DRM music. Does not allow you to sync with your PC or