Zune HD: Microsoft’s Answer to the iPod?

It seems as though Microsoft are always playing catch up to Apple. While Bill Gates & Co have always seemed to lead the way when it came to personal computing, they are forever behind in the mobile technology industry, and the iPod consistently outsells the Zune. However is that about to change?

There has been much excitement surrounding the new Zune HD multimedia player. Essentially created to rival Apple’s iPod Touch, the Zune offers some features which the iPod does not:

•    HD Radio
•    HD Video playback
•    OLED display

As well as this the new Zune HD incorporates all of its old features as well. It also supports Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and there is talk of it supporting flash and video streaming through its Wi-Fi.

However one point of contention is its storage capacity. At 32 GB it is well equipped to deal with even the most serious music lovers; however when it comes to high definition things are a little different. If you plan to use the new Zune as a high definition device then don’t count on storing many movies on it as the average HD films is around 4-6 GB in size. As well as this there have been some negative reviews surrounding the size of its screen. At 3.3 inches many feel that it is too small to effectively warrant watching feature length high definition videos, unless you’re near a television and can utilize the video docking station and output it to an HDTV via the HDMI connection.

What do we make of the new Microsoft Zune HD? It is certainly a powerful device. We should have already mentioned that it packs Nvidia’s multicore Tegra processor. It also has a bit of an edge over the iPhone in terms of its ability to transmit HD radio and HD video playback. Also, if rumors are true and it is able to stream online video then this will be another blow to Apple in terms of features and functionality. It remains to be seen how the Zune will be priced, however don’t expect it to be any cheaper than the latest iPod touch.

Forum Weekly Review August 30

In this weekly segment, we cover the top discussions going on in the auto forums. These threads may be the most recent hot topics, or epic threads that we just wanted to dig up and feature.

If you have a suggestion for a thread to be included on the forum weekly review, e-mail it to info@beyond.ca. If you have not joined our forums, register today its free!

Fido Promotions from OmegaCell: $17.50 plan is back!
Fido is offering its back to school promotions effective immediately and OmegaCell, one of our sponsors, would be glad to be of service to you if you are looking to pick up one of the plans. The super popular $17.50 “killer” plan is back and this time it is available to all new customers. Be sure to ask for beyond specials whenever shopping at OmegaCell!

iPod Shuffle - Share your Next 10 Shuffle Songs!
Put your iPod into shuffle mode and note the next 10 songs that are played. Share them in this thread, but try to be honest! Let’s see who has some embarrassing songs to share with other forum members! Check out what others have on their playlist as well. Is rage2 the only person that listens to Ashlee Simpson or is he the only one that is willing to share that?

Ever pick-up a girl sitting next to you on a plane?
an s2k International forum member that goes by the alias jamesk had decided to share an extremely detailed story about how he had picked up a girl while on vacation to London. The story was entertaining and forum members were hooked. Eventually the story blew up and people from all over the place were checking for the latest updates… that is until a beyond.ca member figured out that the story was being copied pretty much word for word from an MMA forum! jamesk was eventually outed by another beyond member using the account “bella”. Nothing gets by the Beyond CSI team!