Untapped Potential: Xbox 360 - Zune Connectivity?

[Ze_ro]

The Wii will apparently be able to pull some WiFi tricks with the DS, and the PS3 will do similar tricks with the PSP... This kind of leaves Microsoft as the odd-man-out, having no portable game system to connect with... or do they?

 

For anyone who didn't already know, Microsoft is coming out with a device called Zune, which is essentially meant as a media player that Microsoft surely hopes will overtake Apple's iPod. Of course, someone like me looks at the thing and sees a relatively large screen and a vaguely D-pad shaped device, and I have to wonder if we will eventually see games available for this device.

 

There are already a number of announcements that the Zune will be compatible with the 360 in a number of ways, although all of them having to do with transferring media to/from the Zune. But what do you guys think about the possibilities of future 360 games using the Zune in the same ways that connectivity has been done in the past? Do you like the idea? Do you HATE the idea? Can you think of any games that would benefit from this? (Maybe Otis can leave his message on my damn Zune instead of interrupting my zombie killing?)

 

(Just for the record, this is entirely speculation on my part. Microsoft has made NO indications whatsoever that any of this could ever happen, so don't take this as a rumor... it's just a thought I had)

 

--Zero

[Hyper_Eye]

I have never cared for the portable/console connection schemes. The idea that I am missing out on some aspect of a game I payed full price for because I don't buy portables kind of turns me off to it. Of course, it is usually an aspect of the game I wouldn't be to interested in anyway.

[Starscream]

I thought the Zune was part of the Live Anywhere thing? IIRC, all of your Live Arcade games will be playable on the Zune. But, yeah if they do use it in 360 games I think it will be sucky. I just can't get into that whole thing.

 

Maybe Otis can leave his message on my damn Zune instead of interrupting my zombie killing?

 

Most annoying guy in a game ever

Edited September 29, 2006 by Starscream

[moycon]

(Maybe Otis can leave his message on my damn Zune instead of interrupting my zombie killing?)

 

If this is the case, then I'm in otherwise I don't really care about transfering songs or videos between the 360 and something else, or taking the Live games with me really.

[Vic George 2K3]

One can imagine the Zune resembling a high-tech update to the Intellivision joydisk/keypad controller with touch-screen technology replacing the bubble-press keypad -- IF that thing even has touch-screen technology.

[sega saturn x]

There is only one way handhelds and consoles will ever really connect, badly. It really one of those "because you can" type of things in the first place, it doesn't actually improve the games, or enough to make it worth while.

[Video]

The only way Handhelds and Consoles will ever do good in connectivity, is if they finely make a handheld powerful enough to be a console, and give you a base station to hook it to your TV.

 

Look at Neo Geo Pocket Color, and Dreamcast, a few interesting things, but you had to have the same game on both systems to make it work. The Idea was cool, but the practice sucked.

 

N64, and GameBoy Color, being able to play pokemon games on your 64 might have been cool, but any of us SNESers that was a fan of gameboy probably already had the BETTER Super GameBoy perephrial instead.

 

GameCube and GBA, again, there are a FEW games that were interactive between the two, but still, the Idea was so poor, taht the feature is no longer supported. However, GameCube can play GBA games with the gameboy player, making that an uber cool feature.

 

I don't think the connectivity will ever be very popular, but the Zune thing does sound interesting, especially if I can...say...hook it to my X-Box and download, or upload soundtracks.

 

The thing that will determine if I even get it is of course, price. I won't pay over $100 for it, so if they sell it for that, I'll be interested, especially if it's useful as a standalone. If it's only useful through the X-Box, the feck it, it won't float, just like the other stuff.

[moycon]

Just curious, Does anyone have a Zune?

A few months back I bought a SanDisk MP3 player. It has 4Gig and an expansion slot for Micro SD cards.

Basically I've filled the thing already and many of the micro SD cards I bought (at around $12 for a Gig inc shipping)

We've been been using the San Disk heavily since I got it.

It's basically our portable music system. I have a speaker set it plugs into that can run off batteries and we use it almost every week-end.

Initially I got it for a cabin we recently purchased. My thought was we could have plenty of music in a small package. Now that I'm out of room on the thing, I'm wondering if I should keep investing in SD cards, or upgrade.

The Zune might be perfect as it can also interface with the 360...Altho the 360 already has a connection to my PC so if thats all it'll do is play the songs off the Zune...It's not really a selling point for me.

Does anyone have a Zune? What can the thing do? Pros and Cons?

[Lord Helmet]

To me, the Zune is an iPod without the easy to use interface. I like the screen on the Zune, but the iPod just works better. The iPod can also interface with the 360, but only to play music and look at pictures.

 

As Mp3 players go, I'd probably rank players that I'd own like this:

 

iPod

Sandisk Sansa (though the hd is a little small)

Zune

 

 

There is a pretty good comparison with the Zune and iPod here:

 

http://dapreview.net/zune_vs_ipod_vs_zvm.html

 

and

 

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/portable-media/...oney-215107.php

[FastRobPlus]

Just curious, Does anyone have a Zune?

A few months back I bought a SanDisk MP3 player. It has 4Gig and an expansion slot for Micro SD cards.

Basically I've filled the thing already and many of the micro SD cards I bought (at around $12 for a Gig inc shipping)

We've been been using the San Disk heavily since I got it.

It's basically our portable music system. I have a speaker set it plugs into that can run off batteries and we use it almost every week-end.

Initially I got it for a cabin we recently purchased. My thought was we could have plenty of music in a small package. Now that I'm out of room on the thing, I'm wondering if I should keep investing in SD cards, or upgrade.

The Zune might be perfect as it can also interface with the 360...Altho the 360 already has a connection to my PC so if thats all it'll do is play the songs off the Zune...It's not really a selling point for me.

Does anyone have a Zune? What can the thing do? Pros and Cons?

 

My wife has one. We use the FM tuner almost exclusively.

 

Funny story - I gave it as an Xmas present along with the round dock. When we hooked the doc up to the TV and then docked the Zune, it said something like "I know you are trying to connect me to a TV but I need a downloadbale update to do that."

This was just after some severe storms knocked out the local telco so we had no internet to download that update for a week. By the time the internet came back, we had already made permenant home for the Zune in that (ugly)Altec-Lansing speaker dock and have never actually connected it to a TV.

I'll use this more frequently when/if they let me copy my Xbox Live TV shows and movies down to the device.

[Starscream]

Just curious, Does anyone have a Zune?

A few months back I bought a SanDisk MP3 player. It has 4Gig and an expansion slot for Micro SD cards.

Basically I've filled the thing already and many of the micro SD cards I bought (at around $12 for a Gig inc shipping)

We've been been using the San Disk heavily since I got it.

It's basically our portable music system. I have a speaker set it plugs into that can run off batteries and we use it almost every week-end.

Initially I got it for a cabin we recently purchased. My thought was we could have plenty of music in a small package. Now that I'm out of room on the thing, I'm wondering if I should keep investing in SD cards, or upgrade.

The Zune might be perfect as it can also interface with the 360...Altho the 360 already has a connection to my PC so if thats all it'll do is play the songs off the Zune...It's not really a selling point for me.

Does anyone have a Zune? What can the thing do? Pros and Cons?

 

Here.

 

That's my take on it. I really like the Zune, I just wish I could get the Halo 3 LE one....

[moycon]

That's my take on it. I really like the Zune, I just wish I could get the Halo 3 LE one....

 

Why can't you? Are they sold out? Is there any difference with the Halo 3 version other than the shell and the Halo soundtracks and videos included?

 

Based on the reviews on dapreview.net, Creative Zen Vision is the best of the bunch, altho, they all seem pretty similar and the reviews are pretty close so I guess in the end it's just a matter of preference. Too bad you can't do more with the Zune in regards to it interfacing with the 360.

[Starscream]

The Halo ones are available at GS I think. I can't get one because....well, I don't know. A buddy of mine wants mine so I could just do that but I really don't know if I wanna part with extra $$$ just for a different case. Besides, my Zune is going to be my car stereo in my 73.

[Video]

Just curious, Does anyone have a Zune?

A few months back I bought a SanDisk MP3 player. It has 4Gig and an expansion slot for Micro SD cards.

Basically I've filled the thing already and many of the micro SD cards I bought (at around $12 for a Gig inc shipping)

We've been been using the San Disk heavily since I got it.

It's basically our portable music system. I have a speaker set it plugs into that can run off batteries and we use it almost every week-end.

Initially I got it for a cabin we recently purchased. My thought was we could have plenty of music in a small package. Now that I'm out of room on the thing, I'm wondering if I should keep investing in SD cards, or upgrade.

The Zune might be perfect as it can also interface with the 360...Altho the 360 already has a connection to my PC so if thats all it'll do is play the songs off the Zune...It's not really a selling point for me.

Does anyone have a Zune? What can the thing do? Pros and Cons?

 

I'd say, stick with something that has a memory expancion of some sort, reguardless of it's hard drives size.

 

I can get any of the cards up to 8 GB for escentually $10 per gig. This time next year, you'll be able to do the same with the 16 GB cards, and the 32 GB's should be hitting shelves. Why pay a big price for soomething with 20-160 GB when next year, you'll be able to just buy that much memory for less? The Zune is still $250...isn't it? and has what 20 GB memory? So for less than the zune costs, I can currently replace all it's memory and add a little more right now, and next year, I can more than double it.

 

I mainly keep track of memory prices due to the fact, that, well, I'm an amature photographer, and use memory for that, and like neat crap like the MP3 and movie players for handheld systems (all of which...well...all the good ones, use external memory)

 

The last memory card I bought, was an 8 GB Compact Flahs cart, and I paid $60 for it. I thought about the 16, but it's almost triple the price. Maybe the end of the year or so.

[moycon]

Thanks for all the advice

Well I broke down and decided to go with the Zune.

Basically all 3 of the top players had their pro's and cons.

I was definately wanting an FM tuner build in. Also I figure if MS does ever come up with funky stuff to do between the 360 and a handheld media player, they probably will focus on the Zune first.

I found a brand new black Zune for $175. That was only $50 more then I paid for the San Disk and I get 26 more Gig of space. I plan on keeping the Zune around the house and using the San Disk on the road and on trips out. The small size and lack of hard drive make it the perfect choice for on the road.

 

Does anyone know can you rip your CDs like on a PC and send them to your media player? Preferable a file size that isn't huge? I would like to put all my CDs on the Zune if possible.

[Lord Helmet]

Does anyone know can you rip your CDs like on a PC and send them to your media player? Preferable a file size that isn't huge? I would like to put all my CDs on the Zune if possible.

 

I believe you can use the Zune with Windows Media Player 11. Rip all of your music to mp3s of the size you want, then sync your music up to your Zune. I rip all of my mp3s to 320kbp, but you could probably use 192kbp and be happy with the quality.

[moycon]

Does anyone know can you rip your CDs like on a PC and send them to your media player? Preferable a file size that isn't huge? I would like to put all my CDs on the Zune if possible.

 

I believe you can use the Zune with Windows Media Player 11. Rip all of your music to mp3s of the size you want, then sync your music up to your Zune. I rip all of my mp3s to 320kbp, but you could probably use 192kbp and be happy with the quality.

 

This worked awesome. I ripped every CD I had over the week-end and added probably 80% of them to the Zune (The rest I knew I probably would never listen too so I just left them on my PC)

Then I decided to put a bunch of movies on it.

I found a decent site with lots of free public domain movies that work on the Zune and don't take up much space.

 

http://retrovisiontheater.blogspot.com/

 

Just sift through the blogs an doon't forget to check the older posts. Lots of good stuff.

[Lord Helmet]

Cool! Glad it worked for you. Being able to carry around that much media is pretty cool.