Addicted to Digital Media

TOOL: IE8 Web Accelerator for Zune

Sean Alexander — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 18:25:20 GMT

This weekend I spent some time assembling new playlists with Zune 3.0 for an upcoming trip. I was visiting a # of websites to look at playlists (e.g. XMFans.com) and an annoyance was the number of steps required to copy/paste between the browser and Zune. So I wrote an Internet Explorer 8 Accelerator to help simplify and reduce the amount of copy/paste actions. According to the IE8 website, "Accelerators let you efficiently complete your everyday browsing activities like mapping directions, translating words, emailing your friends, and more in just a few mouse clicks." In building the accelerator, I discovered a wealth of detail available in Zune Marketplace on the web - you can sample music, read artists bios, browse charts, comments, similar artists and more.

Install Zune Accelerator for IE8 (Beta 2)

To activate the accelerator, highlight the text on a page (Left Click+Drag). You'll see the new accelerator icon (in blue in image to right). When you click on this, it will launch the accelerator window.

I'm sure there are better ways to do this, but it was fun and useful enough for my needs. Other Zune accelerators tend to break out accelerators by Artist, Song, etc. instead of aggregating into one. Maybe I'll try and build an IE8 Web Slice for Zune Social next. More details on writing IE8 Accelerators is available here.

For more accelerators, check out the IE8 Accelerator Gallery

Selling our House in Carnation, WA (Part Deux)

Sean Alexander — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 13:38:29 GMT

They say you can never time the real-estate market. In June we took our house off the market in order to focus on family events - namely three birthdays, eleven out of town guests, a baptism, and an anniversary all in July. Then our friends across the street put their house on the market and we certainly didn't want to compete with them and figured we'd wait another year or so. Now we're putting our house back on the market knowing with the amount of inventory it may be spring before we find a buyer and are comfortable with that. This has been a hard decision again the second time around due to our close friendships in the neighborhood, but I'm confident they can weather our move. We're not that important, nor going that far :).

Here's the listing if you know anyone interested: MLS 28156335. Priced reasonably at $500,000 and includes over $30,000 in documented upgrades. 1yo Hot tub, Stainless Grill and outdoor speakers stay.

Stunning Swiftwater craftsman w/ thousands in upgrades. Charming & inviting w/ radiused corners, vaulted ceilings & painted doors & millwork. Custom window treatments. Warm wood cabinets, slab granite counters & stainless appliances grace the kitchen. Family rm wired for home theater. Bright & sunny 5-piece master bath. Cul-de-sac, professionally landscaped private 1/2 acre lot w/ garden space, fruit trees, shed, play equipment & privacy fence. Large patio w/ ext speakers & hot tub. Much more!

As for where we're moving, we're staying in the area and are watching two neighborhoods but won't do anything until our house sells. We're considering using RedFin as our buying agent given the 2/3 commission back. We know where we want to move and over 130 Microsoft employees have used them so far. We could really use the money to keep expenses in check should any move happen. Our goal is to move to location with more interior space - we don't need as much land as we have now though I'm apprehensive about losing the peace and tranquility. We're looking in a few areas, ideally with just under 1/4 acre.

Roundup: Watching the Olympics Online (and in HD!)

Sean Alexander — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 15:07:58 GMT

Ahh yes, Olympics frenzy is upon us. The time when countries cheer on their athletes in games of sport and goodwill. It's also a time when companies cheer on their contributions to the Olympic efforts and services available to keep tabs on the event which is lining up to be the largest streamed event in history. Since we're Addicted to Digital Media around here, it wouldn't be the Olympics without a roundup of the ways you can keep tabs and this year it's much cooler - with thousands of hours of content available in HD streaming on the Web for Windows and Mac users, perhaps for just a few weeks we'll see some peace and harmony. Unfortunately for my friends outside the US, these services are specific to the USA so apologies.

So, here's the roundup:

1. Olympics Tracker in the new MSN Toolbar

What: This isn't your old MSN Toolbar. Generally I cringe at installing any toolbar app into my browser, but this new version is both functional and visually slick in part thanks to being built with Microsoft Silverlight. You'll find an Olympics button that presents the latest medal count, photos, video and sport-specific news right from the comfort of your web browser. The button even glows when updates happen to notify you in a polite way. Alternately, Live Search is optimizing search results to include latest stats, news, and medal counts. Details available here.

How to get it: Visit www.newmsntoolbar.com and download the free toolbar.

2. Live and HD On-demand Events on NBCOlympics.com

What: So you forgot to set your DVR to record that amazing football game, or want to watch live coverage but it's not being broadcast on the myriad of NBC/Universal TV stations? Have no fear - NBC and Microsoft Silverlight are bringing over 1000 hours of live and on-demand Olympics coverage to your PC or Mac. On-demand coverage will use a brand-new adaptive streaming technology capable of true HD-quality video over the Web - no stopping and buffering either, the technology automatically adjusts video quality to available bandwidth. Live events are presented using the Emmy-award winning Windows Media technologies. Be sure to check out the enhanced player - in the Control room you can stream up to four events - at the same time!

How to get it: Visit www.nbcolympics.com/video and check out the new player. Note: Silverlight is a required installation for the experience.

3. Windows Media Center on Windows Vista Premium & Ultimate

What: If you have a Windows Vista Premium or Ultimate PC, you can watch NBC Olympics On the Go in Windows Media Center, an Internet-delivered catch-up TV service from NBC Universal powered by Wavexpress’ TVTonic platform, no TV-tuner required. This free download-and-play service differentiates Windows Media Center as the platform with the highest-quality Internet-delivered Olympics experience in the USA. No word yet on whether this works via Extender - I will have to try it later.

With NBC Olympics On the Go in Windows Media Center, you will get:

NBC Sports’ complete on-air HDTV coverage of the Beijing Olympics on the NBC, USA and Universal networks – even when you don’t have a TV tuner for your Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate PC
225 hrs of long-form Olympics video over 17 days
24 sports, full opening ceremony, and a closing ceremony montage
Up to HD quality, with the vast majority of the video delivered in 840x480 progressive scan resolution at 1.5 Mbps bit rate, plus several events per day delivered in 1080i resolution

How to get it: Click here for details or here for the TVTonic app Note: for 64-bit Windows users, hang tight- there's an update going through certification that should provide support before the games actually begin.

There are a host of other ways to get the Olympic experience as well. Google has a summer games page and mobile page and I'm sure to have missed some others. Tell us what you think- how will you be watching the Olympics?

Sonos ZP90 and ZP120 Released with more Wireless Goodness

Sean Alexander — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:27:01 GMT

A few weeks ago I got a call from the good folks at Sonos asking if I would be interested in reviewing their latest under embargo. No problemo I explained. Subsequently I had the good fortune to receive a ZP90 and ZP120 for testing. I had recently written about the frustration I had during a block party that my ZP100 was too far for reliable control from our front yard, resulting in some strange body movements to get it to pick up. The new ZP120 and ZP90 units use MIMO wireless technology and "SonosNet 2.0" to up to double the reception range and I can affirm that this is a definite help- block partygoers will be pleased. The changes also benefit the controller which sadly, hasn't been updated. Another benefit though is the update to the Sonos software, which now supports music collections with up to 65,000 tracks, and $200 in free music offers.

The ZP120 is a much smaller (and cooler temp) package than the ZP100, and I'll be posting a video review over the weekend comparing the two. Between changes to the power amp and losing the 10/100 Ethernet hub (you get two ports, one in, one passthru). I would have liked to have seen at least one extra Ethernet port since my ZP100 doubles as an ethernet hub in my home entertainment system. The overall size is only 7.3in wide by 8.15in deep, a definite improvement and the sound is so good, I would recommend a Sonos to any music enthusiast who A) Loves to entertain and B)Has $499 to burn on the ZP120, or $999 for the bundle including the diminutive ZP90 and ZP120. More over the weekend.

Vista "Mojave Experiment" Site is Now Live

Sean Alexander — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:34:45 GMT

One of the hits of the Financial Analyst Meeting was a series of focus group study videos of XP users who had never seen or used Windows Vista. They were told they were going to be evaluating a future OS code-named, "Mojave". When I first saw the video during a FAM run through I cringed at the beginning but was pleasantly surprised by the end. Check it out for yourself at www.mojaveexperiment.com. My only complaint about the site is that the audio in the focus groups wasn't the best in the world and some of the clips could use some audio re-mastering, particularly the "You can't please everyone" clip. I'd also like to see them show the complete demo presented to the attendees. A few interesting data points:

84% of participants were XP users, 22% Apple, 14% pre-XP Windows, 1% Linux
Of the 140 respondents polled, on a scale of 1:10 (10 highest), the average pre-rating of Vista was 4.4. After the demo it rated an average of 8.5. Many respondents would have voted higher but wanted more time to play with it.
89% of Vista users are satisfied with it, 8 out of 10 would recommend it to a friend.
Vista users are 60% less likely to be infected with malware

Note all these data points are available on the site. I would also like to see a clearly labeled clip with the demo of what was shown - that would be a nice follow up touch.

Dell Studio Hybrid sips power, doesn't disappoint on style

Sean Alexander — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:05:57 GMT

Dell just released the new Studio Hybrid- a "first step" in a series of eco-friendly PCs. Noting that most tower PCs use about 300 watts of power (which I can attest to with my quad-core behemoth), the Studio Hybrid sips less than 65w and is 80% smaller than a ~~Mac Mini~~ desktop. Add Blu-Ray, HDMI out, an 8-in-1 card reader and tuner option (including Digital Cable) and this looks like a winner. Even in the processor department, a 1.73 Dual-core, 1GB of RAM, and 160GB HDD w/ Vista will set you back only $499, beating back Apple on performance, size, price and a run at style.

I hope Dell succeeds with this design and I'm now drooling over it as a possible HTPC or Windows Home Server. This may also make a great replacement for my father's ailing WinXP system. I worry about fan/drive noise though- any in the wild reports/feedback are appreciated.

More at Electronista

Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 Released

Sean Alexander — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 02:56:02 GMT

Power Pack 1 fixes the data corruption bug as well as delivers significant new functionality including:

1x64 support for home computers running Windows Vista
Home Server Shared Folder backup
Improved remote access experience
Improvements to power consumption and performance
Localization support for Japan and China

HP has also started pushing an update to their Windows Home Server powered HP Media Smart products timed to coincide with Power Pack 1.

Congrats to the Windows Home Server team. I really like WHS and would run it instead of Vista Premium + Drobo as my primary home media hub if they'd support Windows Media Center & OCUR recording as a service. Then I'd truly have a headless home media server that does it all (as I sit here dealing with my wife's system requiring a backup...) How would you improve Windows Home Server after this release?

Q: Does "In Case of Emergency" (ICE) contact info need to be default feature on Smartphones, even if you don't know the device password?

Sean Alexander — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 18:17:33 GMT

According to a study done by Vodaphone, less than 1 out of 4 people carry information on who to contact in case of emergency or serious accident. A movement over the past four years encouraging users to create an emergency contact entry in your phone under "ICE" has also been working its way around the world. But what happens when that information is locked in a password-protected phone or mobile device?

Is it time for mobile OS makers to offer an ICE contact feature that's accessible, even if you don't have the device's password?

ICE Background
The ICE concept started in 2005 by British paramedic Bob Brotchie:

"I was reflecting on some difficult calls I've attended, where people were unable to speak to me through injury or illness and we were unable to find out who they were. I discovered that many people, obviously, carry mobile phones and we were using them to discover who they were. It occurred to me that if we had a uniform approach to searching inside a mobile phone for an emergency contact then that would make it easier for everyone." (BBC Radio 4 Today)

Sadly, it was only after the London Bombings that the concept really took off worldwide. ICE is a great idea and the ITU Standards Body has also gotten behind the concept, outlining a language-independent format for storing next of kin information and applications are available for both iPhone and Windows Mobile for ICE details. The problem is that it doesn't go far enough with today's phones.

"Sir, please wake up. What is the password on your phone?!"
Not likely to be the first thing you want to hear after an accident. Concerns surrounding privacy, theft, and overall security of personal information have created a social and organizational culture that places a premium on secure access to the device. As cell phones increasingly become mobile information worker devices, corporate policies are "pushed" down to the phones, requiring a passcode to gain access to corporate email servers in order to protect the organization in case of device theft. This is a great feature, as is "remote wipe" with Exchange servers where the remote device can be erased in case of theft, but the phones features as an emergency device haven't kept up with the times. E911 requires that mobile phones be able to make emergency calls in the US. But as far as I know, no requirements exist for making emergency contact, doctor, or allergy information accessible.

Is it time for ICE to become a Standard on Mobile phones?
The concept is simple - have a feature in the mobile OS that allows you to select an ICE contact and a standard way for emergency personnel to

So the questions I'm putting out there are:

Does this feature actually exist on any smartphone platform? and
Should it be standardized and mandated by the Government, similar to 911 calling on locked phones?

Pushing the Envelope - Phone of the Future
It's a slow Saturday so I'm going to riff here a bit. In the future, one could imagine that phones will start to implement features that work together to protect their owner in case of injury. In recent months, there have been stories that social messaging tools such as Twitter and Facebook broke news of the devastating earthquake in China, beating out traditional outlets. Imagine if your phone could similarly report an incapacitating injury? For example, accelerometers like those in car airbag systems that can detect the massive G-forces associated with catastrophic car crashes could combine with location based services to notify emergency personnel. Laptop hard drives have for years had accelerometers to lock the HDD heads in case of an accidental drop. Of course, there would have to be sufficient safeguards against the occasional dropped phone (e.g. Phone telling the owner "I'm okay, are you?"). If the user doesn't respond in a given time, emergency personnel are notified with last known coordinates taken from the GPS.

In major disaster events such as earthquakes or building collapses, emergency reports from multiple phones could combine to notify emergency personnel of major life-threatening events in near-realtime, pinpointing the location and potential severity. In additional to dialing 911, a "Panic Button" on the phone could notify 911 of your location and secondary information if you can provide about the type of emergency. And 911 would have the ability to enable an audible "chirp" beacon on your phone, similar to what Firemen and emergency personnel wear today in case of building collapse or low visibility.

These are just a few ideas. Just imagine what we can (and will do) as location based services move from being trivial people movers and notifiers to people savers. Isn't it time we start in that direction with benefits? Today you can get a discount on auto premiums if you have a car alarm. How about a discount for an E911++ enabled phone on my life insurance? :)

TiVo adds YouTube, H.264; Amazon gets Video On Demand

Sean Alexander — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:18:48 GMT

Courtesy of Dave Zatz, TiVo is indeed pushing out support for H.264 for TiVo Series3 and TiVo HD owners (requires hardware support, sorry Series 2 owners). New service features include accessing YouTube, and CinemaNow will reportedly be available soon as well as the 2.4 update enables.

No official reports if this update will allow you to stream H.264 content from your home network though it would be a wise thing for TiVo to enable for enthusiasts.

In other news, Amazon.com is (re)launching their online store for movies and television called "Amazon Video on Demand" according to this NY Times article. This is a smart branding move on their part - most consumers (and industry types) understand the concept of VOD, and "Unbox" requires more explanation. Amazon's service will offer streaming and while it wasn't in the announcement, I'd expect this new update to work its way into the TiVo shortly where Amazon Unbox already exists. It's been confirmed to be available via Sony Bravia Internet Video Link but at $300, I'm skeptical this will have mass-market appeal.

Discussing DVD Streaming with Media Center

Sean Alexander — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:03:24 GMT

Ian Dixon locks on to Charlie Owen (of the Media Center team)'s new post discussing DVD Streaming from a Media Center PC to Media Center Extenders such as Xbox360. Many have lamented the fact that the same theatrical releases are available in streamed from via PPV, Amazon, NetFlix, iTunes, Xbox Live, PS3 and others, but if you own a physical copy, you cannot stream it around your home. The same holds true of personal DVDs you burn but in that case, most enthusiasts can rip the DVD (legally) and keep it on our HDDs in a matter of minutes.

While Charlie's post (and mine) should not be interpreted as insight into future features in Windows Media Center and do not represent any formal position of the Media Center team, Charlie outlines a number of speed bumps to delivering a comprehensive DVD streaming solution. The legal issues alone would make this highly prohibitive at a time when the industry is moving to direct digital (vs. physical-digital) distribution. Is it a niche feature? Depends on your perspective. Personally I'd like to see the MCE team first address codec support issues (my Vista MCE still can't stream home movies captured on a Canon Powershot to my Media Center Extender but can playback fine on the PC).

Lots of discussion happening on this on Charlie's blog. Feel free to post your thoughts over there.

Terminator Salvation Prequel Trailer now up

Sean Alexander — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:58:15 GMT

Looks like Yahoo! Movies just posted the trailer for "Terminator Salvation", the prequel starring Christian Bale coming out next summer. Finally, the Terminator franchise is going to do more than dance around the apocalyptic future, rather send Christian in to de-fibrillate it much like he's done with Batman. Star Trek and Terminator prequels? Summer 2009 can't get here fast enough.

Check out the trailers here:

TiVo Summer Update (9.4) Updates

Sean Alexander — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:53:15 GMT

Tip o' the hat to Dave Zatz for details on the new TiVo update being rolled out. Reportedly all boxes are being updated by the end of the month. Here are the details:

Play or Delete a Folder
Play or delete an entire folder of programs with a single button press (including kids shows, music videos ext). Highlight a folder and press PLAY to play all the shows in sequence. Pres CLEAR to delete the entire folder.
Browse the Guide Any Time
Press the GUIDE button to display the program guide over what you’re watching: live TV, a previously recorded program, or even a video download.
Jump Forward in the Guide
When the Guide is on-screen, press the ADVANCE to jump 24 hours ahead. Press INSTANT REPLAY to go back 24 hours.
Find a Station in the Guide
Now you can search for a station “call sign” within the Guide, e.g. KQED, WPIX, MSNBC. When viewing the program guide, press ENTER to bring up Guide Options, then SELECT Find by call sign.
Toggle Closed Captioning On and Off
The Closed Captioning icon in the Channel Banner now toggles closed captioning on and off.
Review Thumb Ratings
To display a list of all programs that you have rated, select Find Programs, then TiVo Suggestions. Press ENTER to bring up the Review Thumbs screen

Dave notes this is probably a prep update for the SDV Tuning Adapter a # of us are sure to need soon. I completely agree with Dave's assessment - it would be good to get an updated roadmap on HD support and additional service offerings in the future. Music, Photos etc. is looking pretty stale these days. If the iPhone can deliver such a anexperience in a small package, certainly TiVo could do some pretty amazing things.

iPhone 3G will not charge with most adapters by design, including Apple's own iPod HiFi

Sean Alexander — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:23:53 GMT

Lots of reports of issues with battery life on the 3G in the Meme the past few days. Adding insult to injury comes confirmation that most 3rd party adapters can't charge the power-hungry thing. I got bit by this yesterday for the first time when I plugged my iPhone 3G into my VAISTech SoundLinQ adapter in my Toyota Prius. As soon as I did, I got a wacky message on the device that it would not charge.

Firmware problem? Not likely. Reports are trickling in that the original iPhone charged via Firewire pin-out while the new 3G only supports USB 2.0, breaking compatibility with many devices including Apple's on pricey and discontinued HiFi sound system. This is most disappointing given I depend on my daily commute to charge my phone up on days when I'm using the iPhone instead of my BlackJack II. A visit to the VAISTech forums and subsequent iLounge extensive review notes:

Another difference Apple snuck into the iPhone 3G is the latest change to its ever-shifting definition of Dock Connector accessory compatibility.
This time, Apple has quietly discontinued support for certain types of charging accessories, namely ones that used the FireWire standard rather than USB. Unlike the video accessory change, developers should have known that this one was coming for a long while, so you’re less likely to be affected if you’ve made a recent purchase.
Because of this change, in addition to old accessories such as Belkin’s Auto Kit and Bose’s original SoundDock—identified by one of Apple’s hand-selected reviewers as no longer capable of charging the iPhone 3G—you’ll find that more recent accessories such as XtremeMac’s RoadShow have also stopped working in any way. They’ll bring up a passive screen that says “Charging is not supported by this accessory,” then a new nag screen that says “This accessory is not made to work with iPhone - Charging is not supported.” For RoadShow, which only did two things—AV-out and charging—this change kills any last vestige of utility the old accessory might have had, requiring the purchase of at least a new charger.

So I can't listen to my iPhone via the integrated system and charge it at the same time and doing so at the office isn't really an option since I'm in meetings most of the day. WOW. Adding insult, the in-car adapter cost more than the iPhone 3G! Talk about forcing an upgrade cycle.

Apparently others are having issues with this as well:

At that cost, I might as well sell my SoundLinq on eBay and use my Zune all the time in the car. At least then I can sync and charge from my garage and get the benefit of a ZunePass Subscription for years of music at a cost still cheaper than buying a new in-car adapter.

Update: VAIS Technology rapidly responded to my email inquiry noting they will be offering compatible cables for SL2i in about two weeks. VAIS will also have an adapter available in about a month for SLi and SL2Vi owners. No word yet on pricing. Thanks Eugene!

Review: TuneUp for iTunes fixes it fast

Sean Alexander — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:26:03 GMT

A few weeks ago, I was asked if wanted an opportunity to review a new software app under embargo that is designed to solve one of the great remaining problems with any music library - fixing album art and metadata. Over the years between WMP/Zune/iTunes conversions of my library, converting all of my tracks into 160kbps MP3, migrating between HDDs and just plain idiosyncracies with ID3 tags and where album art gets stored, my library has become a severe mess. TuneUp promised to fix it and I have to say aside from a few minor nits, it does a commendable job and is now available for download in two versions: TuneUp and TuneUp Gold but more on that later.

Around the UI
TuneUp is a companion app to iTunes for Windows (Mac coming this Fall) - it rides shotgun, snapping to the right-hand side of iTunes and listens into your library via iTunes' scripting engine. The UI offers four options - Clean, Cover Art, Now Playing, and Concerts. The first two options - Clean and Cover Art are the meat of the app. The second two options- Now Playing and Concerts are similar to other solutions offer links to YouTube, Stubhub, Amazon, Google, and eBay searches for artist information and concert listings in your area (via Ticketmaster/Stubhub). But what sets TuneUp apart is the cleaning feature. My library started off with about 40% accurate information (horrible!) and by running through TuneUp's algorithm, was able to successfully match the majority of my songs.

Taking it for a Spin
After backing up my music library, I did a series of ad-hoc tests to determine the accuracy of the service. TuneUp representatives tell me it works by applying a heuristic evaluating ID3 tags, filename, and even samples the audio of the song to create a fingerprint of the content. From there, it's matched against Gracenote's massive library of songs. Gracenote is now a subsidiary of Sony and they've been making great strides in accuracy since their grass-roots efforts as user-supported CDDB so many years ago.

TuneUp correctly found a large # of U2 songs in my library that had missing album art or inaccurate media information, mostly a mix-match of Genre information. Results are listed in one of three categories - Matches, Likely Matches, and Processing. All display by album and can drill down to You can then choose to save each track.

Not Perfect, But Closing in on the Target
Most of my issues with TuneUp are easily solvable. First the UI has layout issues with the progress bar often colliding with text. Here is a good example:

Another issue is accuracy on Live Sets or rare tracks. The library does a good enough job of identifying the songs, but normally matches them to studio recordings. As of right now, I wouldn't recommend TuneUp for eclectic music libraries.

Also, I've noticed the Genre naming is quite a bit different across the industry - U2 suddenly went from a mix of Pop and Rock to Adult Alternative. I don't know if that's a bad thing though I'm not sure Bono would agree. Sheryl Crow's "Good is Good" genre became, "Singer-Songwriter". Huh?! I actually started using it as an indicator for when content had been cleaned in my library.

Then there's the pricing. The app appears to be ad-supported, with an American Apparel banner ad at the bottom of the screen.

Pricing and Advertisements
TuneUp is free to evaluate with over 500 song clean-ups and 50 album covers. This is a commendable # for testing and the price of $11.95 for an unlimited version is reasonable. What I don't see noted here however is whether the Gold version removes the advertisements at the bottom. I'd like to see more details about how TuneUp intends to use this space and exactly what information is shared with advertisers. Right now this appears to be limited to American Apparel - I don't see much of a fit between the ad and the content though, it would be less annoying if they did some frequency capping and targeted the ads to my interests. I suspect this is to come in a later release.

Features I'd like to see
TuneUp isn't perfect- but it's pretty darn close. Here are a few features I'd like to see included:

View ID3 Tags and Fix. iTunes will offer, but I can only see all of TuneUps changes after they're applied.
Duplicate finder. Yes, iTunes has a similar feature but is largely dependent on you as the user to go through and find
Lyrics finder. Gracenote offers the service, would be good to see here.
Offer to Remove Missing Songs from iTunes. WMP and Zune talk directly to the file system and know when files are removed. iTunes tries to play and then gives you the dreaded "bang". Nuke em all as an option.
Zune/WMP Media Bridge. Ensure media info is correctly set in the places Zune & WMP look, and offer a sync option for playlists, playcount, and ratings. (Check out MusicBridge as a good proxy)
Genre Mapper. Ability to rename a Gracenote genre (e.g. Adult Alternative) to Pop or whatever you wish. It's a highly contentious and subjective topic.
Faster indexing and better notification. TuneUp normally works well with ~50 tracks loaded but I decided to ~~try and break it~~ load in over 1000 tracks at a time. It actually held up remarkably well but the UI updates started getting slow and I wasn't sure if it died or not. A countdown time or est. time remaining option would be a big help.

Summary
TuneUp solves a major problem of most music enthusiasts, though if you're fastidious about your ID3 tagging, have invested hours in genre matching and the like, you may find continuing to manually update to be right for you. Also, if you wear a tin foil hat and are concerned about personally identifiable information such as track names, playcounts and personal ratings being uploaded to TuneUp, you may want to scrub through the privacy statement. TuneUp assures us this is used for improvements to the service and personalization features such as concert listings (e.g. they won't give you a suggested concert for a one-star rated artist you hate). For the mainstream music lover, TuneUp is a worthy addition to your toolkit, even in this first release with one caveat- back up your library before you try. It's not perfect, but it's major improvement over in-app solutions. Be sure to tell us how your experiences are going in the comments below.

Xbox 360 to get new Dashboard - MAJOR updates for Holiday

Sean Alexander — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 03:07:19 GMT

Here's a roundup of announcements today. I was off playing with the family on Bainbridge Island otherwise I would have posted earlier.

Xbox 360 is getting a totally new Dashboard (Engadget) complete with Avatars. This is one of the many cool things being cooked up but haven't been announced/released yet. The funny thing is a few months ago, having James Cameron on stage at the Advance conference talking about his upcoming movie project, "Avatar" caused a few heart palpitations in
Xbox Live gold members to get NetFlix on-demand, complete with shared viewing experience with your friends. Now if only you could record your own RiffTrax ala MST3K. There's an idea Lance!
Xbox Live Party System. Friends stick with you- watch a movie together, share a slideshow, go from game to game etc. Finally- make it a game night with your buddies!
Improvements to how Xbox 360 works overall. Improvements include running games from HDD - no more whirring during games, 16:10 output via VGA or HDMI for those of us connected to 16:10 displays (vs. 16:9) and you'll be able to make Xbox 360 purchases over the Web.
Mark Whitten details it all in an email that went around our group like wildfire later today.

More details and video at www.gamerscoreblog.com and www.majornelson.com. There's even more goodness waiting in the wings which I can't talk about. But for now, off to go play with new package that just arrived under embargo. More on that later ;)