Zatz Not Funny!

Question of the Day: Repair or Replace iPod?

I get a decent amount of questions via email covering a variety of topics — Believe it or not, I try to answer everything that comes my way. I don’t know why I didn’t think of doing this sooner, but I’m going to start running selected questions and answers. Perhaps my response will be useful to a larger group, and perhaps you readers will have alternate suggestions worth considering.

First up we have a question from a long-time supporter of the site. The last time I heard from John he was debating between television models at Best Buy. We had a few back and forths and then he didn’t take my advice. Ha! This time around, I think John and I are in agreement:

I bought an 20 gig iPod 2 yrs ago but now it has some sort of – can you believe it – frown face. Apple wants $250 to “fix” it. I have all of my tunes backed up so it’s not a problem to start over. What do you recommend? Also, have you ever heard of the frown face icon on the iPod? Weird I know.

Hands On With Netflix Downloads

I wasn’t one of the lucky 250,000 to receive Netflix’s new movie download service, but my buddy Matt got the hook up. Matt and I go way back and he’s always kept me current on the video game industry. As roomies in college he made sure we had 3DO and the Japanese Nintendo 64 months before US release… not to mention the Sega Saturn and the first Playstation, plus a huge Mitsubishi monitor to game on.

Anyhow, Matt’s Watch Now tab is active and he spent some time playing around with it:

It works fine — easy installation, no interruptions during the stream. Video quality is good. But the library of titles SUCKS right now (all old stuff). And uhhhhh, sitting at my desk to watch a movie… sucks too. Kinda cool overall, but I don’t see myself using this. I’m sure you’ll find a way to make it better!

Storing Stuff, Part 1

Whether or not Microsoft has the right solution, the company has hit upon a problem in need of solving: how to store your digital stuff. Microsoft launched its Home Server at CES with the goal to create a storage hub for your media files. Some folks wonder whether consumers will buy into the idea of a home server, but with the explosion of storage-worthy digital media, there’s no question. In fact, I’m a little surprised there hasn’t been more mainstream coverage of the Home Server announcement (you know, beyond Engadget and Ars Technica) given its importance in signaling a new trend.

Let me give you my own house as an example. We have two active laptops (1 Apple, 1 PC), one active desktop (Apple), two digital cameras and three iPods. All of these devices generate and store media files that we want to preserve, preferably in our own home rather than on a remote server. My husband has managed this in a couple of ways, first by rigging an old Apple G4 tower to act as a server, and then by buying a Western Digital USB hard drive. Both solutions have worked (the USB hard drive is excellent), but the general public probably wouldn’t consider either, simply because the general public probably doesn’t think about digital storage at all.

Microsoft has the power to change that.

TiVo @ CES Odds & Ends

MusicChoice
While at CES, TiVo announced a partnership with Music Choice to provide music videos. I was informed that this will be a free service for TiVo customers powered primarily by TiVoCast technology.

One True Media
One of the broadband initiatives announced in November may launch as soon as February. In a partnership with One True Media, folks can upload home video (fees yet to be disclosed) to the OTM website. Once uploaded, video can be “published” to the web, to DVD, or to a TiVo. Recipients will enter a code via their TiVo interface to receive the video, which should show up within 15 minutes.

TiVo Web Page
As reported on a few other blogs, the TiVo website is undergoing a facelift. More than just a new color scheme and Web 2.0 look, the updated site includes an enhanced personalized area and new features such as listings of the weekly top shows. Sounds like somewhere down the road, info from TiVo units may make it onto the site… such as pointing out scheduling conflicts.

Digital Media Bytes: Satellite Edition

A periodic roundup of relevant news… There’s only so much one can see and do at CES. Sadly, I missed out on catching the satellite TV and radio announcements up close and personal. Sirius unveils Backseat TV: Orbitcast DirecTV announces Sat-Go portable satellite TV system: Engadget VIP622 HD DVR introduced at Echostar press conference: LiveDigitally … Read more

Netflix Adds Streaming Video (PC only)

For some time Netflix has indicated they would announce their download strategy in January… and here we are! Initially, they will offer about 1,000 streaming movies (via their web page, Windows PC required) at the rate of 1 hour of video for every dollar you spend on monthly Netflix service. Depending upon your available bandwidth, quality can scale up to near-DVD quality. Deployment begins today and will be available to all customers by June.

Netflix has come up with quite an innovative pricing strategy. In its current form (PC-only viewing), I’m not sure how many new customers they’ll acquire… But perhaps this service will limit some (high profile) defections to Blockbuster. Though they’ve introduced a pricing inequity issue with a staggered roll-out: Mike gets “Watch Now.” Dave does not. We both pay the same, yet his service is now superior to mine. Netflix better be prepared to activate everyone who requests the feature or risk alienating customers.

Details on Digeo’s Upcoming Moxi DVRs

At CES, I sat down with Digeo CEO Mike Fidler for a briefing on their new retail strategy. In the second half of 2007, they plan to release two Moxi dual tuning HD DVR models. The units on display (shown above) were enclosure prototypes, with no actual working hardware.

The first Moxi box will tune digital cable programming via a multistream CableCARD (“M-Card”). Unlike the two CableCARDs (1.0) used by the TiVo Series3, the Moxi box will require just one M-Card for dual tuning. (I’m told the S3 is physically capable of M-Card support with a software upgrade.)

The second Moxi box forgoes the M-Card, in favor of clear QAM and over-the-air (OTA) dual tuning. This higher-end unit will incorporate a 5.1 audio receiver and is built on the “AMD LIVE! Home Cinema reference design.”

Solved: Mystery Of Missing Mac TTG DVD Theme

Roxio’s Mac TiVoToGo shipped last week… without the promised custom TiVo DVD menu theme. I pinged both TiVo and Roxio last week, but it took a little time to hear back with all the ongoing CES and Macworld nuttiness: Toast 8 ships worldwide with a single multi-lingual build and the menu styles are several MB … Read more