I think there's a Zune opportunity is the way Apple partners with retail (poorly). The image to the left illustrates this. The Crutchfield catalog came today, and as they enter the holiday season they've got no iPod images. Why? Because Apple didn't bother to tell them what was coming this holiday, so they had to go with this bland image to avoid showing last year's video iPod and iPod nano.

Hola amigos. Been a while since I rapped at ya. (Bonus points if you get that reference. . . without looking it up). Things are crazy busy around here, so I only have time for a quick post. Thanks to...

It was just a few days ago that I brought you my award-winning shots of the first Microsoft Zune ads to hit the means streets of New York, and today brings us the first ads for the Sony PS3. Once again, not much is learned about the PS3 from the ads other than that we're encouraged to "Play B3yond" and that the PS3 is so powerful is causes clocks to melt. It kinda remind me of Dali. There's a few more shots of the ad after the jump.





There you have it. Enjoy the majesty that is the corner of Lafayette and Bond. – Nicholas Deleon

Filed under: Announcements, Gaming

Happy friday, everybody! Let's kick off the weekend by giving away a friggin Xbox 360! Before we roll on this one, we have to let you know who won the last: Kev, you've got a 360, homeboy! (To all the other Kevs that entered -- we've already contacted the winner, so if you didn't hear from us, sorry, you didn't get picked this time!) So, the prize is an Xbox 360 Premium bundle, which, just in case you haven't been reading Engadget for the last year or so, comes with:
Xbox 360 console (soon with 1080p output!) 20GB drive add-on Wireless controller Xbox headset Component high def AV cable Ethernet cable We're also throwing in a PowerSquid black Surge3000 for the winner to make sure you've got enough juice and plugs for your console, HDTV, etc., courtesy of our pals at Flexity. You'll have until Thursday the 12th to enter; we'll pick somebody at random who tells us in the comments what their most antici...

When I first heard that Starbucks was working with Apple on an iTunes deal, I wondered if they would put Apple kiosks in their stores.
But apparently it's just another music distribution deal -- Starbucks-produced music will get promoted and sold on the iTunes store. Starbucks has been in the music business since 1999, and this is another channel for their distribution. Here's the press release and some background.
It seems kind of odd to encourage people to buy Starbucks promoted music online, instead of buying CDs at a coffee shop. I wonder if Starbucks knows how frustrated more established record labels are with Apple, a situation that has opened the door for Microsoft's Urge and Zune music services.
Starbucks kiosks were ahead of their time. By comparison, selling music on iTunes is kind of ho-hum.

After I voiced some doubt about whether the sharing feature of Microsoft's Zune player really works, I was invited over to the Bear Creek offices for another demo.
Sure enough, I was able to send songs back and forth between two devices. It was probably the ideal setting to share songs wirelessly though -- I was sharing music with a Zune product manager, Matt Jublier, in a conference room with the devices about a foot apart. I'm still curious to see how they work in the real world, especially places with a lot of wireless activity.
BRIER DUDLEYTesting the Zune at the Zune team's offices in Redmond. You're only supposed to be able to play shared songs you receive three times, after which you have to buy your own copy. I was able to start a shared song more than three times, but didn't play it all the way through.
Microsoft is still doing builds of the Zune's embedded software, even though the device is already being manufactured and goes on sale next month. It seems ...

The new version has improved features for sharing digital content in the home, but I wouldn't touch the software if I was using Media Center to record TV shows.
Actually everyone should read the release notes before installing this one, or maybe just wait until the final version that will presumably be done when Vista's ready next month.
Apparently there's a glitch that makes some recorded TV shows vanish after three days, degrading the TiVo-like experience of Media Center.
I wonder if there's some link to the copy prevention software used in the Zune media player, which also places a three-day fuse on licensed content. The Zune lets you share purchased songs with friends, but they disappear from friends' Zunes after three days, unless the friends buy their own copy.

Filed under: Portable Audio
Now that Microsoft has semi-abandoned PlaysForSure for their new closed Zune system in a bid to dethrone the iPod, all those puny device manufacturers, music store operators, and retail chains are starting to look rather silly for their commitment to "open standards" and "interoperability." So now SanDisk and Real are teaming up to integrate a special Sansa e200R Rhapsody-edition lineup of the #2 DAP manufacturer's popular Sansa line with the new version 4.0 of the Rhapsody music store, one of the more popular subscription-based services. The respective market shares of both companies pales in comparison to the complete dominance of Apple's iPod/iTunes combo, but the team-up might be necessary to survive in the current market climate. Having Best Buy's weight behind the partnership shouldn't hurt either. They'll be offering their own "Best Buy Digital Music Store," which will be powered by Rhapsody, and will be offering a free two-month unlimited sub...

Cesar from Zune Insider gets a Microsoft-sanctioned field trip to Souped Up Cafe tonight to show off the Zune to the nose-breathing masses. If you're in the Seattle area and want to feel what the Zune is like before it's on store shelves November 14, head down there to 7900 E Green Lake Dr N, tonight by 6:30 PM.
If you do go down there, take some pics and videos and send it over to us via tips at giz. Also be sure to tell Cesar that we know where he lives, so he'd better send us that review Zune soon. – Jason Chen
Attention Seattleites: See Zune in Person [Zune Insider]

Undoubtedly fake, this mockup of the Zune with WiFi headphones not only gets the thickness of the Zune wrong, but the whole concept of WiFi headphones is a bit weird and impractical. Imagine losing yet another pair of headphones because someone bumped into you on the street, not to mention where the power source for the headphones are going to come from.
Oh well, it is a pretty render. – Jason Chen
Thanks Carlos!