Dooba.net

These days many of us are getting a lot of music content via streaming. Pandora and the like are great for almost all situations. However, I also subscribe to Rhapsody for a couple of reasons:

- Sometimes I really want to listen to a specific song. Maybe I heard it on a commercial or from a movie or something. Or just in the mood for music from one particular artist. Pandora doesn’t give you this level of control. You could buy the song from iTunes or Amazon. But half the time I have songs I really like for a short period of time, and then sort of move on.

- There are still cases where you can’t stream. Even with near ubiquitous 3G, and lots of WiFi hot spots. On a plane for example, or at some ski areas here, there is no cell service. Or camping, backpacking, etc. Also, I don’t mind my iPod getting a bit beat up if im biking, or whatever. Or running down the batt with music. I’m much more careful of my phone, so that limits my use as my iPod only has WiFi.

So I have rhapsody as it solves both problems, sort of. I can listen to whatever I want on my computer or ipod or ipad, streaming. Or I can fill certain devices with offline downloads. So I have a little cheap MP3 player for that situation. Not the best solution.

Enter the new Rhapsody mobile apps. You can DOWNLOAD to your device now, over the air. No plug in syncing. Just select whatever paylist(s) you want and hit download. Boom, offline listening! This is so great. I can load up my iPad with whatever music I feel like that day and can listen on a flight or wherever without having to find WiFi.

The apps are free, and you just need a $10 a month subscription (for 1 device) or $15 a month (for 3 devices). Doing the math, if I bought 15 $1 songs each month, I would need about 40 months to buy just what I have on my iPad right now. Thats almost 4 years. I think its  pretty good deal.

The only bummer is the Android app doesn’t support this yet, just the iDevice apps.

When Apple first announced the iPas I was solidly in the “meh, this isn’t great” camp. Lets be honest, the launch show with Steve-O wasn’t *that* great, and there were too many uses of “magical” for my taste. Plus, at that time it seemed like an iPod Touch they put on a taffy puller. Why do I need that?

However, the last few weeks I have been trying to solve a technology problem and an coming to realize the iPad just might fit the bill. I switched companies a couple weeks ago and the IT setup is very different. My old company had an external WiFi network that was outside the corporate LAN, and streaming, video watching, etc, was fine. So, I took my laptop to my office and had access to Pandora, Rhapsody, Hulu, etc. My new company’s IT policy is much more strict and prohibits streaming via the company network and there is no public WiFi.

Like most people I need to be entertained while I write code, so I have been trying to come up with a better solution. Aside from streaming music, I listen to podcasts. So I have been using Pandora/Rhapsody on my Android and then have my iPod for podcasts and other media that I own. But this isn’t all that great… I dont like running music on my phone all day as it seriously hurts the battery, and I’m still using 2 devices.

Side note on why 2 devices – lets face it, iTunes is still king of media programs. The podcasting setup is great… and movie purchase/rental is nice as well. The Zune desktop app comes close, but Zune isn’t an option for my current situation as there is no 3G (yet). And Android podcasting is pretty basic.. with no good desktop app for syncing.

So, I went the netbook route and looked at 3G cards. ATT and VZ offer a 5GB/mo plan for $60, with hefty fees if you go over. Cricket offers a no contract “unlimited” plan for $40 a month. Unlimited in that you can go over 5GB, but they will throttle your bandwidth.

With a 2 year contract I can get a netbook from either ATT or VZ for $50-$200 depending on specs. This works out to be (60*24)+200 = $1640 for the two years. Cricket would be less per month, but you have to buy a netbook at full price, so its about a wash.

The problem is, 5GB wont last long spread over a month with lots of music and some vid use. Plus, the majority of netbooks I tried were just blah. Screens weren’t that nice, etc. There is a Sony with a high res screen that is very nice, but it is about $550 and isn’t carried by ATT or VZ. So that puts you at close to $2000 for a two year contract. Thats a lot just to play pandora…

Enter the iPad. I have all my music and podcasts on one device. I can rent movies, I can play silly games.. and use not so silly apps. The battery should be pretty good… and the web surfing experience will be way better than any phone… and I would bet better than the netbooks (except for the lack of Flash). Add to this the $30 a month true unlimited ATT data plan with *NO* contract! You literally can sign up and cancel service at any time from the iPad itself. No need to go to an ATT store even. This is really.

So, the base 3G model with two years of data comes to (30*24) + 630 = 1350. So not only are we cheaper than a normal netbook (and much cheaper than a good netbook) setup, we aren’t limited to 5GB. Plus, I can turn off the data any month that I dont need it, or want to save some cash.

The bottom line is, while I still think some things about iPad are stupid (no flash, no multitasking), it really does solve my current problem quite well and for less money.

So the Zune HD specs are out and all the rumors can be laid to rest. I have not owned any type of Zune before, but I’ve played around with them. The interface is nice for an MP3 player, and it is better than the standard iPod, but obvious no where near the iPod Touch. But the Zune HD might change that.

First, the specs lifted from zune.net:

• Zune HD comes with a built-in HD Radio receiver so users can listen to higher-quality sound than traditional radio on the go. Users also will have access to the additional song and artist data broadcast by HD Radio stations as well as additional channels from their favorite stations multicasting in HD. If you don’t like the song playing on your station’s HD channel, switch to its HD2 or HD3 channels for additional programming.
• The bright OLED touch screen interface allows users to flip through music, movies and other content with ease, and the 16:9 widescreen format display (480×272 resolution) offers a premium viewing experience on the go.
• The HD-compatible output lets Zune HD customers playback supported HD video files from the device through a premium high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) audiovisual docking station (sold separately) direct to an HD TV in 720p.*
• Zune HD will include a full-screen Internet browser optimized for multitouch functionality.
• Zune HD is Wi-Fi enabled, allowing for instant streaming to the device from the more than 5 million-track Zune music store.

First, the screen resolution is slightly less than the Touch. How much that matters, not sure. We’ll have to see. But it is OLED, so that should be very nice.

A built-in HD radio is pure awesome. This is something I wish my Touch had – a radio of any kind. Granted with I Heart Radio I can listen to any of the stations here in Denver that I care about, but its not HD and I have to have WiFi for it to work. Score 1 for Zune.

HDMI hi def output! This is killer as well. I download a video from somehwere… I take my Zune to my friends house… hook it up to the flat panel and bam, movie night. Or maybe a slide show of my favorite vacation pics. Score 2 for Zune.

Full screen internet browsing and WiFi. Nice. And then they say “multitouch”… and all the Apple lawyers start salivating. First Palm and now Microsoft. It will be interesting to see how the Apple patents hold up. This is a good feature, but nothing new over the Touch.

Streaming of music from the Zune store is cool too. But since you can get a SUBSCRIPTION to the Zune store, this is even cooler. I could listen and refill my Zune as much as I want, over WiFi.. or stream anything. This model is very much needed with iTunes.

But the biggest question… will there be any sort of “apps” at all. I mean music and such is nice… but if I can’t play Oregon Trail like you can on the Touch, then whats the point?