I got an email a couple of days ago from our friends at SnapStream. they had just released a version of their software (BeyondTV) that works on Vista. I had been a subscriber in the past and I've recently upgraded to Vista, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

So what does this have to do with Zune, you ask? Well, one of the great features about BTV is that they have a profile fir PMCs AND a direct sync option. So, unlike MCE, it is drop dead simple to record shows and take them with you. I thought, this might be a good opportunity to research some partnership opportunities.

For the most part, the software works as advertised. It isn't as elegant as MCE, but it is tremendously more configurable. While it takes a bit of getting used to, the options are great for setting profiles and fine-tuning your recordings.

There was just one problem. When the software re-compresses the files from MPEG to WMV, it introduced a garbled audio track. It almost drove me crazy trying to figure out what was wrong. After digging into the archives, it turns out this issue has been around for several versions. Their solution? Uninstall WMP11. Not really feasible.

Which brings me to the point of this post. I've been thinking. What if we have a "certification" for software encoders? Basically this would be a Designed for Zune program but for programs. You guys think there is any value there? If so, tell me who you think would be likely candidates to reach out to.

I spent most of the week in Florida. What was I doing there? Well, I was visiting hardware partners. And, as a side bonus, I was visiting a few folks in the travel industry. There are some really cool new products coming in the automotive and accessories space. And you just might be able to get a Zune on your next vacation.

I'm in the middle of doing our quarterly business reviews. That's basically where we meet with all the partners and talk about the future roadmaps. It turns out that lots of folks are planning on making aluminium cases. Now, I've never been a fan of them. But I thought I'd ask you guys what you think.

I'm personally getting a huge kick out of the whole debate about whether music should be sold DRM-free. To me, that's like asking is someone would like to have free beer. The answer is, "of course!" The thing I find fascinating is that just because Mr Jobs writes a letter saying DRM should be removed, people think he invented the idea. This is very far from the truth. People have been debating this issue since 1998 AT LEAST. Companies (including the labels) have been experimenting for awhile now in Europe and other regions selling MP3s. Lastly, there are companies that have actually *gasp* made a business out of this practice. Case in point is eMusic. It is a great service (especially if you like Jazz) that is all you can eat DRM-free music. There is absolutely a place for DRM. Things like subscription services couldn't exist without it. But, existing business has shown it is possible to sell DRM-less music and make a profit. Will the record labels eventually come around? Your guess is as good as mine. But, to act like this is something novel is just plain silly in my opinion.

Cesar posted an article today about how the Zune remote can control the 360. While this is true, it is not the whole story. Actually, many different remotes will control the Zune/360. Anything based on the Philips RC6 standard should work. What does that mean? Well, for starters, if you have any "universal" remote sitting around, it is likely to be programmable to control both units. I personally use a Harmony 880 to control my Xbox and it works like a charm.

So I took the plunge and put Vista on my work machine. Yep, if I screwed it up, I'd be SOL for days if not weeks. You know what, it went even smoother than my home machine. I was a bit surprised since I use the VGNTX670P from Sony. It's a tiny ultraportable that is, frankly, a bit underwhelming in the processing department. It only has a 1.2 Ghz processor. But, sure enough it runs fine. In fact, it is actually noticeably faster than XP. One huge downside is that Intel has refused to make a DX X driver available for the mobile 915 video processor. That means no Aero. That's a huge bummer for me and the millions of others with that processor. I read there is a petition online to *ask* Intel to do the port. I think that's a great idea. the chip will support it. I think Intel just got lazy on us. Anyhoo... Sony hasn't been great about updating their drivers to kernal-level drivers for Vista, but what didn't work out of the box (headphones and SD Card) were easily fixed by installing the XP drivers. For me, the best feature of having my work and home machine on Vista is the networking. I've got it set up to share folders, media, stream content through WMP and share network printers. All of the networking took less than an hour to configure. All in all, I am VERY happy to have made the switch.

So everything is working now. Most of the issues I've had were pilot error on my part. After living with the new OS for the last week or so, I'm really impressed. The superfetch feature really speeds things up. Security has really been ratcheted up, even if it is a little bit annoying being asked all the time if I want to do things. I know it is good to ask others (like my wife) for permission to do things. The best testament to the OS is I accidentally left it on (and not MCE) and she didn't have a single problem. That doesn't happen (even on MCE). I'm liking Vista more and more!

So I tried the service today. It's really quite good. Here is a snippit of a mail I sent internally today regarding my experience:

I purchased a movie today to test the service. While the web-based interface was a bit lacking, the download manager was very good. For one price, it delivered a portable copy for my (non-zune) device and a larger file that streams to my 360.... The selection was very good, with movies and shows from the 6 major studios. The pricing was good ($9.99 for second run and $14.99 for first run). Encoding was very good... File size was relatively small. The download for both files took less than a half an hour... All in all a very good experience.

The one thing I did not try was migrating from one system to another. I did burn a CD from WMP. Unlike with audio CDs, the files remain DRMed. That means I'd have to have a way to authorize on two different machines. I'm going to give that a shot tonight.

Boy do I feel silly. I been saying for the last few days that I couldn't get my front-side sound card detected by Vista. Well...It turns out it was recognized just fine. It just thought it was a headphones jack, which is a logical conclusion for the vast majority of users out there. I just switched the setting from speaker to headphone and POOF! Works like a charm.

I said I'd periodically check in after living with Vista for awhile. First a correction. I originally said I couldn't get Aero to work. well, that's because the build I have had it turned off by default. It turns out, it works just fine on my Radeon x300 series. Very cool. Second, I was worried that some of the streaming features I've got in MCE wouldn't work. not only does the basic streaming that is built into the OS works like a charm, one of the readers pointed out another streaming client called TVersity. It works like a champ under Vista and does real-time transcoding to the 360. Lastly, someone else asked me if the Zune software is faster under Vista. While I have no scientific proof of it, it certainly feels faster. To be precise, it sure feels like Marketplace loads faster. I'll see if I can put some benchmarks in place to test it. I still have issues with my front side audio port and I'm trying to get the hang on not having domains. Other than that, things are going very well.

So I bit the bullet and installed Vista today. Why do I say I bit the bullet? Well, frankly, because I bought into all of the hype in the blogosphere that it was going to be some sort of nightmare. I was wrong.

Now, it may seem strange that this is the first time I've installed Vista. most of you know I'm a total geek and gadget hound. It would seem logical that I would have been running it for a long time. Well, the later part is true. I have had it for awhile. I've just never installed it. It has always come preconfigured for me. So, for me to do it on my home machine by myself, is kind of like walking a tightwire without a net. If it went wrong, I'd be completely SOL.

Fortunately, the install went very smoothly. It took about half the time an XP install usually takes me (and yes, I've done that many times). It took about an hour and ten minutes total including the Office install. It didn't give me a ton of choices as to where/how to install it, but it did allow me to dual boot. I just created a new partition and installed there. It worked like a charm and I could roll back if something went horribly wrong.

After several reboots, it finished installing. It immediately checked for updates and found several. However, install was painless, but did require a restart. It was missing some drivers (a common complaint from what I read, but did have a new nifty driver download service that found all but one. Ironically, it was the Zune driver that failed, but that was easily remedied when I installed the Zune client.

I only have two complaints. my old machine is not powerful enough to run Aero (technically it's not new enough to have a DirX 10 driver). The other nit I have is it didn't fine my front-side audio port. It found the one in the back, but not the front. Really, it was no big deal.

I'm very happy with the results. It seems faster and more stable. Clearly there is a focus on security (you'll understand when you install it yourself). My test is whether I could give it to my parents have have them install without my help. I think the answer is yes. Trust me, that's a huge endorsement since there is nothing I hate more than being tech support. I plan on a follow-up once I've lived with it for awhile.

One more interesting thing. The install didn't wipe out my other installed OS. Yes, I run "that other" operating system as well. It's a triple boot machine. Vista recognized it and updated the master boot record accordingly. I have to say it is pretty slick.