Ask Dave (A Microsoft Employee)

[Chocolate Truffle]

Originally Posted by Ricardo Dawkins

Samsung M1

Well, there is many reasons that many of Korean users are trying to get Zune HD:

1) Touch 3G price is simply too crazy - almost $500 for 64GB and $370 for 32GB. Korean forums are pretty much filled with questions about buying Zune HD through external service. I'm not kidding. I got more than 20 PMs in past 2 days.. there are tens and thousands of members in that forum. You get easy 100 views within few minutes. If they feel like $370 is ripped off, they won't pay high $300 for M1.

2) General users will buy Samsung because it's Samsung (ala brand loyalty) but many users like us who browse through these electronic forums have been disappointed with M1 in so far and Samsung's approach. To add to that, price isn't that great either. Looking like 16GB will be in the high $300s. Slow touch response, album art.. bad integration using Tegra compared to Zune HD. Look at M1 and Zune HD.. both used Tegra chip. Only thing M1 stands out is being able to play many audio/video codecs w/o conversion.

3) It's cheaper to buy Zune HD from U.S., pay custom fee, service fee, and tariff to ship it to Korea than buying Touch in Korea. U.S. users are mainly disappointed about camera, but Korean users have to think not only about existence of camera, but enormous upgrade in price. If they sold their 2G 8GB thinking of buying 3G, they'll end up have to pay more for same new 2G 8GB.

4) They still want to get Zune HD even if they can't get their units repaired.. and it will cost them close to $50-100 range to get it shipped to U.S. to get repair each time. They could simply get Samsung and go to nearby repair center which should be nearby many user's home unless an user lives way down in the countryside. Samsung usually just fix it for free even if it's after one year.

Just like Apple is trying to rip off Korean users, Samsung is ripping off Korean users.. look how cheap Samsung/LG products are in U.S. I got my P2 8GB for $199 few years ago when it cost them more than $300 in Korea. Ever seen $2000 Samsung phone w/o Wi-Fi in U.S. selling directly from mobile company?

It's just how it is in Korea right now.

[Chocolate Truffle]

Just few questions:

1) What if I have no artist background picture for each artist? Does it matter? Will it display fonts if there is no background picture set?

2) What is the album art size for Zune HD? 300x300? 250x250?

I didn't have plans for 32GB but since I got it, I have to tweak some backup music's unorganized ID tags too..

[Olley]

I think it's already been mentioned that the background artist images come from the web based on what the Zune client can cull from your ID3 tags. The screen is 480 x 272. If you've seen any screenshot with the album art full screen, then 272 x 272 should be plenty large.

[Chocolate Truffle]

Originally Posted by Olley

I think it's already been mentioned that the background artist images come from the web based on what the Zune client can cull from your ID3 tags. The screen is 480 x 272. If you've seen any screenshot with the album art full screen, then 272 x 272 should be plenty large.

I wanted to know the optimized size so it doesn't take up time to load album arts. So it is 272 x 272? Which in that sense would be great because all of my album arts are in 272 x 272 size from P2 set up.

[Olley]

The HD does some clever graphic tricks with art, so I can't say for sure if it would prefer a larger size or not. The screen is definitely 480 x 272 though. I've seen images panning slowly across the screen. They might take advantage of larger art for artists backgrounds for that though.

[Chocolate Truffle]

Any chance of Office Mobile, Bing Mobile Client and Google porting their GMail/Google Map for Zune version happening?

[Curiouss]

so no tab browsing means no multiple windows at once?

and another question, if the Zune HD's web browser is IE, would the full-paged ebuddy work?

[BlindBandit]

Originally Posted by Curiouss

so no tab browsing means no multiple windows at once?

and another question, if the Zune HD's web browser is IE, would the full-paged ebuddy work?

ebuddy will work since it work on the X series but you can use the web msn messenger on the Zune HD untill the MSN messenger app comes to Zune HD.

[DaveMac-MS]

Originally Posted by Olley

Thanks, Dave! Do you have permission to leak a little more since we're in the final days before launch? We've seen it playing games. How many will the launch version have onboard maybe? Secondly, did MS get paid a promotional fee by the record label to put specific "free" demo songs on the HD? Third, Have you slept any in the last 48 hours? Lastly, how's your fiancee dealing with this business crush?

So first of all, nobody is leaking anything - even an hour earlier than we'd planned. We might be able to talk about a few more things - but there'll be no "leaks".

No comment on your games question. Not sure about what songs (if any) come with the device - I know that is a complex licensing arrangement. I know that if I wanted to get MY music pre-loaded on to the device, that would be very problematic.

I've slept well in the last 48 hours - I was down in San Francisco on Friday for a 3/4 of meetings (managed to get back to Seattle in time for happy hour - yay!). I spent a few hours in the office yesterday, but nothing serious, and I didn't go in at all today (although I can pretty much do everything from home that I can in the office). The past few weeks have been crazy busy, but not the kind where I'm spending nights and weekends in at the office.

Lastly, fiancee (Allison) is dealing well. I have a few projects going on right now - not the least of which is getting married in about a month, so that's keeping us both busy. Thanks for asking though!

Originally Posted by d_headshot

Why isn't FLAC supported? After searching through the thread, it seems that you're ignoring that question

Sorry - not ignoring. FLAC isn't supported because it didn't make the feature list. That isn't to say we couldn't add it in later in a firmware update (like any of a substantial list of feature ideas this forum could come up with). We also have really good data on what codecs people are attempting to use, plus what they actually do use - so we can prioritize pretty well should there be future updates.

Originally Posted by Dan12R

Do you know the maximum and minimum recommended storing temperatures for the HD? I tend to forget my device in the car which means it could be in an incredibly hot car in the summer or a below zero car in the winter.

Actually, I don't but I have email out to find out. Given all the certifications we need to get, I know we have to meet certain standards - just don't know which they are. I'll find out for you.

Originally Posted by oppizzippo

Is it be possible at 12:01 a.m. the 15th to start answering all of our questions you couldn't answer? Or do you have to wait until a certain time on the 15th?

So I'm not going to pre-announce anything before the official announcements go out, BUT... if the official announcements go out at midnight it would be fun to have a "meetup"...

Originally Posted by strangesweet

That sucks. As much as I know, forums like this in Korea are flocking about purchasing Zune HD and having them shipped to Korea, which likely will cost more than $400 for 32GB after custom fees/service fees that help them bring it to Korea, but many already have done that so far.

Any possible upgrade for those keyboards in the future?

I think it is very unlikely you'll see a native Korean keyboard on the device before we would launch the device in Korea. Imagine the outcry on this forum if we shipped an update with a Korean keyboard but no flash support or 64GB version, or, or, or... it's always a tradeoff.

Originally Posted by oppizzippo

sad thing that it will be 3:00 a.m. here in Indiana when he could start talking. I hope he will start spilling the beans at midnight. Maybe we should start a list of things we want answered at midnight.

Dave you up for it?

So here's what I'm thinking - start putting a list together (separate thread - no discussion, just a list of questions) and I'll see what we can do on my side. Maybe we can make a bit of an occasion of it - I do have some Zune v2 and v3 accessories I can give away as prizes, etc... Lemme look into this tomorrow and see what I can do.

Cheers, Dave.

[hc2]

I am looking forward to recieving the HD tomorrow. Will this Zune.net update affect Live being up tonight? I haven't seen any announcements about Live being updated. Will there be a Zune Marketplace on Live right away?

[epithetless]

Originally Posted by DaveMac-MS

Sorry - not ignoring. FLAC isn't supported because it didn't make the feature list. That isn't to say we couldn't add it in later in a firmware update (like any of a substantial list of feature ideas this forum could come up with). We also have really good data on what codecs people are attempting to use, plus what they actually do use - so we can prioritize pretty well should there be future updates.

I'm curious: Where does this "really good data" come from? Software "phoning home"? Partnerships with entities whose software phones home? User surveys? I'm anticipating a cry of "Trade Secret!"...but it's worth asking, no?

Also: Can you speak at all about what Microsoft will be doing to promote/advertise the Zune HD? Even to simply say whether there will or will not be ads and commercials? As much as the device/"experience" is shaping up to be a pass for me personally, I'd love for the Zune HD to make a splash, succeed, and reinvigorate market with some long-needed competition...and I have trouble imagining that occurring -- especially with your non-tech-savvy, has-no-idea-DAP-forums-exist target demographic -- without a sweeping marketing push. Apple floods the Boston subways and commuter stations with iPod posters every time a new generation is released (if not more often), for instance. It would be great to see that kind of commitment to the Zune HD.

[John566]

I'm so disappointed that there are no hard buttons to control at least Play/Pause. No tabbed browsing is also a let down. I've really been looking forward to the ZuneHD and now I'm not even sure if I'll pick one up.

I don't understand Dave how you can say that an In-line remote "Drives you nuts". It's not like it has to be used and the one on my iPods and iPhones has always worked flawlessly. I also love the hard buttons on the top of my X-1000 and the Cowon S9. How is someone supposed to quickly pause their music or a podcast while driving or when walking around with it in their pocket. Huge oversight in my opinion. Even when I'm lying in bed at night now I have to light up my screen and bother my wife (she needs it really dark to sleep) if I just want to see to change tracks or adjust volume.

[Leroy Bad]

Originally Posted by DaveMac-MS

Sorry - not ignoring. FLAC isn't supported because it didn't make the feature list. That isn't to say we couldn't add it in later in a firmware update (like any of a substantial list of feature ideas this forum could come up with). We also have really good data on what codecs people are attempting to use, plus what they actually do use - so we can prioritize pretty well should there be future updates.

Cheers, Dave.

So this phantom data says that more people use WMA Lossless over FLAC?
Thats really hard to believe.

[jmerrey]

dave, is it too late to bribe you with money and gifts to get bt added? I'm so spoiled with bt headphones now, but I really want this device

[oppizzippo]

Originally Posted by DaveMac-MS

...
So here's what I'm thinking - start putting a list together (separate thread - no discussion, just a list of questions) and I'll see what we can do on my side. Maybe we can make a bit of an occasion of it - I do have some Zune v2 and v3 accessories I can give away as prizes, etc... Lemme look into this tomorrow and see what I can do.

Cheers, Dave.

Just to let people know I started a thread called "Midnight Zune HD PARTY" post your questions for Dave there that he hopefully will be able to answer at midnight.

Cory

[epithetless]

Originally Posted by jmerrey

dave, is it too late to bribe you with money and gifts to get bt added?

Yes. It was too late when the device began development.

[AirSUpply]

To Dave:

I just wonder that is there any obvious improvement in sound quality of Zune HD in comparison with the older Zune version?

[112wicked112]

Is it a fingerprint magnet? Does it get scratched easily? Do u think I would need to invest in a case?

[Machiventa]

^ any glass screen will be a fingerprint magnet. You can see lots of fingerprints in one of the ZHD hands on vids. The brushed aluminum resists fingerprints though. I personally recommend a cover for the screen such as an Invisible Shield or BSE (Best Skin Ever). Even though glass is virtually scratch resistant is does happen.... my 80's screen is pretty dang scratched from just being in my pocket with nothing else! Over the course of months mind you.

[cubanresourceful]

I see that you're online Dave, can you answer this question four minutes earlier? Are you excited that you can finally see the ZuneHD released in all of its glory?