http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/ Engadget Comments for Microsoft Portable Media Center, RIP: 2004 - 2006 http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/May 8th 2007 8:23AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/
PMC was actually a pretty good idea, just badly implemented (with the exception of the phenomenal Gigabeat S). Hopefully the Zune will eventually turn out better.]]>May 8th 2007 8:25AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/
"...after very disappointing sales, and the introduction of the iPhone, Zune 2.0 is the last version you're gonna see, so wrap up your devices now, we're not supporting it anymore..."]]>May 8th 2007 8:29AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/
--They're always on sale. (currently 219.99)
--I never see anyone buying them.
--Store space for the Zune continue to shrink.
--At launch there was a flurry of accessories...now that has slacked of too.

The writing is on the wall. I happen to like the Zune, but unless they open the WiFi feature more....this product is as doomed as the Gigabeat.

]]>May 8th 2007 8:57AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/
Compare that to the popular Nintendo DS Lite, which has been $129 as long as it's been sold in the US (quite a while now).]]>May 8th 2007 9:14AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/It's "gist", not "jist". Spelling counts, sir.

Oh no, it's a Spelling Nazis!

Personally, I'd prefer the "jist" spelling as the letter "g" should IMHO only have one way of being pronounced, (that's the "g" like in "good"), and the other "g" pronunciation should be reserved for the "j".
]]>May 8th 2007 8:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/
No one cares. Your personal opinions are irrelevant, unless you happen to be the editor of a major dictionary. I was right, the poster was wrong, and the matter is not up for debate. If it was something in the comments, I would not have remarked upon it.

When you don't spell properly on a blog posting, it sends a message: "I was too lazy to run an automated spell-check, so do you think I actually did any fact-checking?" Appearance counts, and on a professional website, it counts for a lot. I criticize Engadget because I love Engadget, and I want them to have high standards.

As for the Zune turning out like the PMC - it may happen. But since Microsoft is controlling the hardware this time, there's more organizational buy-in. I think it'll do better.]]>May 8th 2007 9:03AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/May 8th 2007 9:38AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/May 8th 2007 9:34AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/When you don't spell properly on a blog posting

HA! Spelling Nazis!!!
I may not be an "editor of a major dictionary", but languages are very fluid. If I and others like me (including the poster of this article) keep spelling words the way that they SHOULD, eventually words like "thru" will be considered correct and "editors of major dictionaries" will eventually add our spelling as one of the correct spellings in their dictionaries.

neener, neener!]]>May 8th 2007 9:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/
Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!]]>May 8th 2007 11:29AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/May 8th 2007 9:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/
Zune will be next.

Whatever happened to those big stupid watches they were hocking a couple years ago? LOL. ]]>May 8th 2007 9:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/"me fail english? thats Umpossible!" :)

Gigabeat S is great - but if I knew it was gonna get killed off for the zune I probably would have gone with a Creative, just for more support etc.
There is now literally squat for the S.]]>May 8th 2007 9:55AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/May 8th 2007 3:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/May 8th 2007 10:52AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/
They've even managed to make me shy away from their PDAs and Smartphones, because of the lack of ability to upgrade the software. There are reasons (it costs the vendors to support it) but as a consumer, I could not care less what those reasons are.

The one exception here is the XBox, because we consumers accept that those become obsolete after five years.

Oh and I agree with the spelling 'nazis'. Just because we can figure out what you meant to say doesn't mean you still don't sound like a total moron. Sorry if some of you are offended by that, but it's true. When you grow up someday and enter the workforce, you will learn that lesson. I've learned it the hard way, maybe you can avoid that. Learn to write properly and well and you will go far.]]>May 8th 2007 11:08AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/
We have a very nice new MCE in Vista, but only noisy xBox 360s to use as extenders for it.

Now the PMCs are no more and there's no ability to sync to Pocket PC or Windows Mobile devices as an alternative (I'd like to play DVR-MS on mine, I'm sure others would like to too).

And where does the Zune fit (except for limited penetration in the US market, it isn't even on sale in Europe).

So for Europeans, all we have at best is Vista MCE and even that has limited support for our methods of TV transmission (DVB-S and DVB-C are tenuous at best).

MS is VERY lucky that Apple so far hasn't brought a better alternative to market, otherwise, they'll quickly lose those who are still staying loyal to MCE.]]>May 8th 2007 11:19AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/
Once again, had potential but implemented badly. With it's many divisions, if this company truly had someone with vision working for them, they would gather everyone together and creat a killer product!
]]>May 8th 2007 12:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/
Just relax, Vista Media Center is going to be re-released this xmas and the Zune 2.0 will definitely support that.

All of the hardware vendors (except Toshiba) couldn't produce anything that would stop the I-Puke goliath so MS had to go their own way.

You don't think they are going to let Media Center falter do you?

Patience...]]>May 8th 2007 1:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/May 8th 2007 10:24PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/
Second, GypJoe, we already have Vista Media Center, it's built into Vista Home Premium.]]>May 8th 2007 2:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/
The manufacturer's that produced h/w to run PMC dropped the ball and the I-Puke continued to steam-roll the market with their late-to-market, crappy, I-pod video.

MS will add Vista Media Center support later this year and definitely by the time the RE-RELEASE Vista Media Center at x-mas - there will be a roll-up available as well.

You can already sync your media center content with Zune but it takes some extra work - check out the Green Button.]]>May 8th 2007 2:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/
Stop making excuses for Microsoft. You SHOULDN'T have to jump through a bunch of extra hoops to sync your recorded Windows MCE content to the Zune, it should just WORK like it did on the Gigabeat. When you're going up against an competitor as deeply entrenched as the iPod, a company like Microsoft shouldn't be making huge mistakes like this. You don't subtract functionality in your Next Big Thing, you add it.

The only reason I can think that MS took away the MCE syncing functionality was that they were trying to woo the studios into selling them downloadable television and movie content for the Zune Marketplace and bowed to their demands, but MS should have had the video downloads available from the get go if they were going to cripple the Zune loike this (like Apple did with the 5G iPod). Seriously, what good is it to have a better screen than an iPod for video when it is hard for an average person to get video content on the device?]]>May 8th 2007 2:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/
They had a hard enough time just getting the Zune out-the-door before x-mas - nevermind getting it to seamlessly integrate with MCE - Vista wasn't even ready at that point.

There are third party tools you can use in the meantime.

Besides, the HD in the Zune is too small for a music library and tv - the 2.0 product should fix this.

Until then, I'm getting a 60GB Gigabeat S on E-Gay...]]>May 8th 2007 2:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/
Umm, they already had this fuctionality available in the PMCs like the Gigabeat. It would have actually had been LESS work for Microsoft if they hadn't thrown out the work they already did and made the Zune a Plays For Sure PMC device with special skins and URGE integration, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel by creating a custom Zune-only syncing software and online store.

Microsoft has failed with the Zune because they have turned their back on their own pre-existing brands, software and products instead of extending and enhancing them with tight integration across Vista, WMP 11 and the WM-DRM online stores like Napster and Yahoo Music. By redoing everything from scratch with the Zune brand they are pissing on their previous customers and hardware partners. The Zune is a total, unmitigated disaster of product design and marketing. They may be able to fix it in a Rev. 2 or 3 version, but I think they'll wind up pulling the plug way before that, just like they did with the PMC devices.]]>May 8th 2007 7:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/Mar 24th 2008 11:18AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/May 11th 2007 2:30AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/08/microsoft-portable-media-center-rip-2004-2006/]]>Nov 23rd 2007 3:27PM