Nearly 3 years have passed since my first encounter with Kaleidescape. It was the first real hard drive-based movie player, and, at $32,000, monstrously expensive.
When we last discussed Zune, plucky little Microsoft was getting ready to take on mean monolithic Apple with an iPod-really-wannabe but details were scarce. They got less scarce last week with the announcement that the 30GB player, at $249.99, would cost almost exactly the same as the new 30GB iPod video, at $249. At the risk of belaboring the obvious, the 80GB iPod video may better serve a large library at just a hundred bucks more. But the iPod doesn't let you wirelessly share tracks with another user. The DRM catch? Three plays for three days, then the play privilege expires unless you pay. Another thing you won't get in the iPod/iTunes ecosystem is an all-you-can-eat monthly subscription like the Zune Pass, $14.99/month. Like some wacky city-state, Microsoft even has its own currency—Microsoft Points—described as "a stored value system that can be redeemed at a growing number of online stores, including the Xbox Live Marketplace." A track costs 79 Microsoft Points, at 80 to the dollar. Zune accessories include home, car, and travel packs at $79-99 with various cables, adapters, and things. Among many single-packaged accessories are the Zune Premium Earphones ($39.99) which, the 'softie site assures us, "produce superior sound." Finally, if you've had your heart set on a brown player, Zune's got one, along with black and white. Actually, it doesn't look bad. For more details, see the press release. Zune's D-Day is November 14. Wish it luck. Or not. Really, it's up to you.
Who says that Halloween isn't for A/V enthusiasts? In the next few pages, Sound & Vision will present an appropriate selection of ear and eye candy for trick-or-treaters.
Snakes on a Plane: The Album (Decaydance), with emo/rock tracks and Samuel L. Jackson's immortal M-line.
This past Tuesday Universal Studios released <I>The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift</I> day and date on standard DVD, HD DVD, and through <a href="http://ultimateavmag.com/news/040606industrynews/">CinemaNow</a> in a "downloadable DVD version" that can be downloaded and then burned to a blank DVD for just $9.99. The burned DVD is claimed to be playable "in virtually any DVD player," which means CinemaNow users aren't confined to watching the feature film on their computer monitors.
While it may not have the head-scratching cosmic significance of the classic choice between Goobers and Raisinettes, or even the HD DVD vs. Blu-ray format war, the LCD vs. plasma question remains a hot topic. The casual shopper may simply want a flat panel TV no matter what the technology, but the serious videophile wants to know more.
I leave tomorrow for a week in Japan, courtesy of Sharp. We will, of course, visit Sharp factories, but another main event on the trip is CEATAC, the annual "Japanese CES." It actually isn't anywhere near as big as CES, but it is a show with a unique flavor all its own. And while I'm not sure we'll see anything we didn't see at the recent CEDIA Expo, you never know. Products are often introduced in Japan before they're exported overseas.
