Zune HD to get Xvid, Smart DJ (on Device), and Facebook this spring!

[Cruleworld]

Zune MVP Marques Lyons spotted in the zune fact sheet some hidden things.

Originally Posted by Zune Fact Sheet

Because consumers are looking to use social apps, Zune introduced Twitter for Zune HD in December 2009 and will be adding Facebook for Zune HD in January 2010.

Originally Posted by Zune Fact Sheet

Smart DJ (Now on PC, Coming to Zune HD)

And Donald Bell from Cnet is stating Xvid will be coming to the Zune HD as well.

[Olley]

Good news I suppose. Of course the facebook app should have showed up with the Twitter app, and both a month earlier.

[lip]

I bought this for music so I'm primarily interested in the smart dj which is pretty awesome with a zune pass...they still have work to do with the music categorization with marketplace but that will come...
I'd also like to see podcasts (both audio and video) available through wifi...

LIP

[Cruleworld]

I'm looking forward to all three. I can't wait to start downloading my podcasts in xvid

[timmahcheese]

What's so special about xvid? Just curious...

[snanime]

XVID is like DivX, just takes less space and has goregous quality and most files scattered across the internet are xvid files (they usually appear as .avi files).

As for the news, thanks, it felt like they forgotten about zune, at least something's coming!!!

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by timmahcheese

What's so special about xvid? Just curious...

XviD is the highest quality MPEG4-ASP/Part 2 video codec. It surpasses DivX, 3ivX, Nero Digital ASP, WMV9, and such by far. It's free open source software.

[timmahcheese]

ahh... sounds like a good thing to add to this device...

[The DarkSide]

XviD and the Smart DJ feature = WIN!!!!! WooHooo,.............Congrats guys, the Zune HD has just become a damn fine player!!!! When it hits 64gb it'll be almost unstoppable. Now, do the international release, and the world is yours.

[DeadmanIncWorldWide]

Maybe a dumb question here but, when the ZHD gets Xvid what will that do? How will that change the device?

[vtothet]

If Xvid is true I will be very happy! No more spending time converting! Basically anything you download/DVR/TIVO/Whatever will play on it. Makes the anime fan inside of me happy

[epithetless]

Originally Posted by vtothet

If Xvid is true I will be very happy! No more spending time converting! Basically anything you download/DVR/TIVO/Whatever will play on it. Makes the anime fan inside of me happy

Don't get too excited. If this does end up being true, I'm sure Microsoft will still find some way to restrict universal Xvid compatibility (inadvertent or not)...

Microsoft: Prove me wrong!

[clubdirthill]

Xvid will make the device, and the associated dock, very popular with a certain subset of people. It was a really good idea to add this. Smart DJ is nice as well, and will certainly help attack more Zune Pass users and Pandora fans. Of course, any new apps increase the appeal of the device.

But I have a question for Dave: In a live feed of the Microsoft booth, they were in the Zune section. On a TV, they were showing a cool video. It had colored lines surrounding all the colors of the Zune HD (including purple) and ended with "Introducing the Zune". It was, quite frankly, awesome. 1) Can you get this on YouTube or something? 2) Why isn't this on TV??

We're easy to please.

[grommet]

Achieving closer parity to what the Xbox 360 & Windows 7 (WMP 12) supports for video playback out of the box is a good thing. I also hope they expand support to include higher complexity H.264 content. (If the device can't support it, just let the Zune software transcode like it does already for out-of-spec video.) I can't even get b-frame enabled content I encoded added; the advertised specifications say it'll work, but it doesn't.

[DaveMac-MS]

Hey guys:

I'm gonna be self-indulgent here. And since none of you have raised this, I will.

When Zune HD came out, there was a ton of praise on ABI. Then within days it was drowned out by complaints. "It should support Xvid", "where's AVI?", "SmartDJ is great but sucks that it isn't on the device", "why no apps?", "where's the SDK", etc...

And my response was - we're a team of finite resources, we're doing as much as we can, and we're listening to the feedback. Sometimes we'll act on it, sometimes we can't (or won't), but we're listening.

There were whole threads dedicated to how much we suck because Xvid was a "defacto standard" and how MS was just not supporting it because it was open-source and "MS hates open source".

I begged folks to be patient and suggested we were FAR from done with the device. And while today's news is only incremental - I hope folks recognize that 1) I can't always tell you everything I want to, 2) I don't always disagree with your rants, 3) we are FAR from being done with the device and more is to come.

So, enjoy Xvid/AVI support, enjoy on-device SmartDJ, and enjoy the Facebook app when it officially launches. And please remember - the Zune team is actually in your camp, on your side. We just can't talk too much in advance about what we're working on, and we definitely can't do everything - even as much as we'd love to!

Originally Posted by clubdirthill

But I have a question for Dave: In a live feed of the Microsoft booth, they were in the Zune section. On a TV, they were showing a cool video. It had colored lines surrounding all the colors of the Zune HD (including purple) and ended with "Introducing the Zune". It was, quite frankly, awesome. 1) Can you get this on YouTube or something? 2) Why isn't this on TV??

We're easy to please.

Actually, you lot are pretty far from easy to please - but that's a separate discussion.

I haven't been to the booth, I'm holed up in partner meetings over at our suite at the Palms Hotel - so I'm not sure. I'll ping the team over there now and see if I can get something for ya.

Cheers, Dave.

[McDougal]

Originally Posted by DaveMac-MS

Hey guys:

I'm gonna be self-indulgent here. And since none of you have raised this, I will.

When Zune HD came out, there was a ton of praise on ABI. Then within days it was drowned out by complaints. "It should support Xvid", "where's AVI?", "SmartDJ is great but sucks that it isn't on the device", "why no apps?", "where's the SDK", etc...

And my response was - we're a team of finite resources, we're doing as much as we can, and we're listening to the feedback. Sometimes we'll act on it, sometimes we can't (or won't), but we're listening.

There were whole threads dedicated to how much we suck because Xvid was a "defacto standard" and how MS was just not supporting it because it was open-source and "MS hates open source".

I begged folks to be patience and suggested we were FAR from done with the device. And while today's news is only incremental - I hope folks recognize that 1) I can't always tell you everything I want to, 2) I don't always disagree with your rants, 3) we are FAR from being done with the device and more is to come.

So, enjoy Xvid/AVI support, enjoy on-device SmartDJ, and enjoy the Facebook app when it officially launches. And please remember - the Zune is actually in your camp, on your side. We just can't talk too much in advance about what we're working on, and we definitely can't do everything - even as much as we'd love to!




Cheers, Dave.

I fully understand your response here. From now on I will wait patiently without complaining and see what you guys can come up with and hope for the best for the device.

[Olley]

You have to squeak the wheel to get anyone to notice it needs grease. Would we now be getting Xvid/AVI, SmartJ, and whatever else is on the way if we hadn't begged/pleaded/argued for it?

I am delighted to know the Zune team listens. My thanks to all of them. Keep listening please.

[DaveMac-MS]

Originally Posted by McDougal

I fully understand your response here. From now on I will wait patiently without complaining and see what you guys can come up with and hope for the best for the device.

Actually, please don't! I still want/need to hear your feedback, I'm just suggesting that perhaps the level of cynacism that is levelled here is unhelpful. Let's engage in discussion and debate - mindful that we're doing all we can over here to create the best device we can. We're gonna miss the mark on some things, but we're going to nail other things and hopefully enough of the right things to delight you guys.

Originally Posted by Olley

You have to squeak the wheel to get anyone to notice it needs grease. Would we now be getting Xvid/AVI, SmartJ, and whatever else is on the way if we hadn't begged/pleaded/argued for it?

I am delighted to know the Zune team listens. My thanks to all of them. Keep listening please.

Yes, absolutely. This has been in the works a while. Not that raising the profile of the request online isn't a great thing - it is - but we too also have lots of stuff we want to do with this product.

And yes, I'll keep listening, for sure.

Cheers, Dave.

[VagabonDOOM]

All of these are good, .avi and smart dj especially.

Video is great on this thing, and any more types of files it can support the better. Plus smart DJ will get lots more people into the Zune Pass for sure.

[lip]

I am actually quite shocked about xvid...I guess MS might be following Sony in this regard by not trying to force people to use standards set by them that have not panned out in real life. I'm still curious if it will work like other devices work with xvid but it would definitely make me use the video on this device more...kudos...

If MS are smart, they will try to leverage this device with the zune pass onto the next generation windows mobile 7...I would make the next mobile version highly integrated with zune. I cannot believe they will not do this but this is MS we are talking about and after what I saw last night by Ballmer, no level of stupidity by MS would surprise me...
I was ignorant about the Zune pass before as it's not marketed at all...however, when people realize what an awesome deal it is, coupled with a data link that is not limited by wifi, they would have a shot against the apple monster itunes (which from my perspective is a piece of crap software...I actually have ipods and don't mind them but the software is just plain garbage...)

LIP