flatfish+++ wrote:
> High Plains Thumper wrote:
>
>> I asked my daughter about Zune. She is not interested.
>> Concerning vendor lock-in, it only supports Microsoft.
>> iPod is more flexible and is not limited to Apple's iTunes
>> website. Thus, she wants an iPod.
>
> My teens say Zune is a dud.
> They have iPods of various models.
> They all work fine under Linux with no iTunes.
That is good to know. Here is something I found out of
interest, which seems to point towards vendor intentional
lock-in:
http://wentnet.com/projects/xnjb/
| Microsoft Zune
|
| There has been much excitement in the last few days about
| getting XNJB to work with the Zune. Unfortunately Microsoft
| have put some protection on file transfers so the Zune has
| to authenticate with the host computer before files can be
| transferred. So currently XNJB will only show a list of
| songs and files on your Zune. You cannot (yet) upload or
| download anything. If anyone knows how to get around this
| then please let me know. If anyone wants to donate to the
| project, I might be able to get hold of a Zune and work out
| how to do the transfers.
Apple OSX has the XNJB music software as described by the
webpage.
>> Meanwhile, I am working on getting her 30 GB Creative Zen
>> Nomad Xtra to work in Linux.
>
> I have a Creative Zen Micro Vision M 30GB and since it is
> an MPT box I have yet to make it work with Linux.
> I thought I had it working with kUbuntu, but then
> discovered that Kubuntu thinks it's a digital camera and
> fails.
>
> I would suggest sticking with an iPod.
> The Creative Zen Vision M blows the iPod away in terms of
> features, battery time,resolution, brightness etc but it
> has it's bugs. Frequent lockups are common and many people
> are complaining but Creative does nothing.
So far what I have gathered browsing the net, is that the
downloadable upgrade to Microsoft compatible PlaysForSure has
broken some Zens, making them unusable. Unfortunately, Creative
does not permit backward compatibility by being able to download
an earlier ROM flash image. Since Linux has communication
engines for the Zen like Gnomad, there is no need to upgrade
firmware.
--
HPT
|
|
