Ask Dave (A Microsoft Employee)

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by copeys

OMG!!! lol. Meat Pie:

Reminds me of an ad campaign run by the cattle industry awhile back. The tag line was "Beef: It's What's For Dinner"
(that does look yummy)

[CrowdAds]

[DaveMac-MS]

Hmm - making me hungry, although I'm coming at you from the Duran Duran concert in Redmond tonight. No meat pies here.

Haven't seen Kenny - will definitely check it out.

Cheers, Dave

[The DarkSide]

Duran Duran, kool!!! One of my favs, enjoy the show.

[copeys]

Originally Posted by DaveMac-MS

Haven't seen Kenny - will definitely check it out.

Shaun Jacobson is Kenny.

lol, I can member that some cinema's in America requested subtitles cause their patrons couldn't understand the aussie slang!? lol!!!!

EDIT:

Originally Posted by Marvin the Martian

Reminds me of an ad campaign run by the cattle industry awhile back. The tag line was "Beef: It's What's For Dinner"
(that does look yummy)

You reminded me of this:

link

link

EDIT II: Couldn't get it to just be a link?!? Sorry

EDIT III: God this is getting off-topic!!! Sorry people

[DaveMac-MS]

Ahhh, Sam Kekovich. Good times, people.

Cheers, Dave.

[Olley]

Dave: I don't need an official spec, but can you give us an idea of how long your HD lasts between charges?

Also, what headphones do you use with yours? The OEM ones, some other brand, or some custom ones you crafted yourself?

Of the HD features you know about, what percent are typical (found commonly on other devices), what percentage are wholey original, and what percentage do you actually use?

Lastly, How good do you think your Zune HD will do in moist environments? Is there a water exposure device in there like they have on iPods?

[codedivine]

Ok so more than "ask dave" its like "tell dave" .. but .. can we please have "over the air" podcast downloads for the Zune without needing to sync with the desktop software? Lets say i am at a cafe with wifi and want to download new podcast episodes, then the Zune should be able to do so.

[DaveMac-MS]

Originally Posted by Olley

Dave: I don't need an official spec, but can you give us an idea of how long your HD lasts between charges?

Well, I really don't want to comment on that since it sets a precedent for a number which Microsoft is not ready to commit to. Besides, once there is final product there are all kinds of official-type tests you have to do before you can quote battery life numbers. Sorry.

Originally Posted by Olley

Also, what headphones do you use with yours? The OEM ones, some other brand, or some custom ones you crafted yourself?

So I get earbuds and headphones sent to me fairly regularly, but for earbuds I use Ultimate Ears TripleFi's for serious listening (on planes, longer periods of time) and for comparison (and to keep in touch with our own product line) I use the Zune Premium Earbuds.

I also have a pair of Bose QC2's and QC3's. I usually give the 2's to my fiancee and keep the 3's for myself. I typically use those on very long flights (SFO-SYD for example) or other times when something in my ear for 5+ hours becomes bothersome.

Originally Posted by Olley

Lastly, How good do you think your Zune HD will do in moist environments? Is there a water exposure device in there like they have on iPods?

Whoa - no idea. I wouldn't go diving with it, if that's your question.

Originally Posted by codedivine

Ok so more than "ask dave" its like "tell dave" .. but .. can we please have "over the air" podcast downloads for the Zune without needing to sync with the desktop software? Lets say i am at a cafe with wifi and want to download new podcast episodes, then the Zune should be able to do so.

Agree this is a great scenario. I've found myself in this situation as well.

Cheers, Dave.

[The DarkSide]

I haven't seen it in the menu (in the video hands-on) but does the Zune HD have "Games" on the home screen?

[codedivine]

Originally Posted by DaveMac-MS

Agree this is a great scenario. I've found myself in this situation as well.

Cheers, Dave.

Here are a couple more usage scenarios:

a) Sitting at home but dont want to boot up ur PC just to download new podcasts.

b) Not having access to the computer with the Zune client (for example at work or when on vacation).

[Moki]

Dave:

Well, I really don't want to comment on that since it sets a precedent for a number which Microsoft is not ready to commit to. Besides, once there is final product there are all kinds of official-type tests you have to do before you can quote battery life numbers. Sorry.

But based on your experience with your Zune HD maybe you could provide a subjective measurement of battery life compared to the competition:

Poor
Fair
Good
Great
Fantastic
Off the Charts

You're are a good sport Dave. I'm impressed with the finesse and diplomacy you use in response to some of the back-handed and not-so-back-handed insults aimed in the direction of Microsoft. If you reflect the attitude and posture of the company as a whole, then that's a big positive statement for Microsoft.

[DaveMac-MS]

Originally Posted by Moki

But based on your experience with your Zune HD maybe you could provide a subjective measurement of battery life compared to the competition
<snip>
You're are a good sport Dave. I'm impressed with the finesse and diplomacy you use in response to some of the back-handed and not-so-back-handed insults aimed in the direction of Microsoft. If you reflect the attitude and posture of the company as a whole, then that's a big positive statement for Microsoft.

Well, you have an arbitrary scale there - let me just say that I'm absolutely delighted with the battery performance of my unit. I'll leave it at that.

I appreciate you compliment too - I'm happy to just be helping folks understand our business and the industry as a whole. It's a lot of fun to be in this space, and I love the back and forth on here.

Cheers, Dave.

[Olley]

Any chance you could reveal how many people are offically on the ZuneHD team?
Anyone else dublicating your job, or are you the lonely soul working with accessory manufacturers?

And I'm curious why both MS and Apple wait until September before releasing new products. Any theories on that? If not, facts will be OK. September is AFTER school starts around here. I'd think having the latest tech out when kids were shopping for back-to-school supplies would make more sense, or maybe the wait is so college kids can have their loan money in hand.

[suffer1989]

Originally Posted by Olley

Any chance you could reveal how many people are offically on the ZuneHD team?
Anyone else dublicating your job, or are you the lonely soul working with accessory manufacturers?

And I'm curious why both MS and Apple wait until September before releasing new products. Any theories on that? If not, facts will be OK. September is AFTER school starts around here. I'd think having the latest tech out when kids were shopping for back-to-school supplies would make more sense, or maybe the wait is so college kids can have their loan money in hand.

Maybe because of the christmas shopping period in December ? There will be enough time for it to gain a market presence.

[Marvin the Martian]

This isn't Zune-related, but Dave, who is responsible for this abomination known as Windows Media Player 11? I would like to know why I can't simply clear the library on it. It needs to be done, and yet it seems impossible to do.

I uninstalled it out of frustration last week even though I wasn't using it for any of my devices, or playback. But given that I am getting an MTP device in a day or so, I just re-installed it for the necessary drivers that it would provide. And surprise....the old library is still there

I have re-ripped a ton of CD's in the past week, and as a result, they are different file types and different locations. So now, WMP has double listings for all those files, and as you would expect, only one of each is valid.....so why can I not delete the invalid ones? I went through and removed the folders to monitor,etc.....no luck still.

I really hope that the drag and drop option works, so that I never have to start WMP again, even to grab album art. I'll cheerfully manually add album art to every new CD to avoid this steaming pile of

Sorry about the rant, and I know it's not your fault Dave.

[Nicole]

I don't know why your library didn't update automatically, but it usually does. You can manually tell it to update, but it's easier to just delete your WMP library and let WMP reindex it.
http://zachd.com/pss/pss.html#medialibrary

[epithetless]

Originally Posted by DaveMac-MS

I'm happy to just be helping folks understand our business and the industry as a whole.

I have a question: Beyond explicating the present workings of Microsoft and the DAP industry, are you interested in using our feedback on these forums to help guide Zune product development? Or do you see your presence here as more of a one-way "spokesperson for the organization/we've done our research and it's final" type of deal?

[potomac]

Dave,
I do not own a Zune but am interested in your new product and possibly in the subscription model. I love the Zune desktop software. I have one major concern about the Zune Pass. What is the thinking behind not letting unused song credits carryover?
Thanks and your commentary on these pages has been enlightening.

[cubanresourceful]

I've got more questions for you Dave. Hopefully you can answer them.

Is it possible that the Zune software will accept plugins/enhancements from outside parties? Like how WMP11 has plugins? (Like Album art display and Minilyrics).

If not, is it possible, in the future, that the Zune will be able to display lyrics? Maybe make lyrics submission a social thing? I would love to be able to see lyrics in the Zune player and on the Zune itself!

[alexiznumber1]

hey dave how many more feautres do you know about? like i dont need to know what they are but just a number would be cool.