I am curious to hear from any people that acquired a Zune DAP-does the device support WMA PRO and WMA Lossless playback? There were unanswered questions about this last week-now that they are available for sale, has anyone tried out of curiosity? And, are there any AAC playback problems-i.e. itunes aac works better than Nero AAC or something along those lines?
And please, no "I am a poor college student with communist, anti corporate, rage against the machine, open sourced anti DRM zealotry" responses. I am looking for real answers-I could use the info at my retail job.
Thank you in advance.
Full Version: Does Zune has FULL WMA support?
http://www.zune.net/en-US/meetzune/device.htm
QUOTE
Audio
Windows Media® Audio Standard (.wma): Up to 320 Kbps, CBR and VBR, up to 48-kHz sample rate
MP3 (.mp3): Up to 320 Kbps, CBR and VBR, up to 48-kHz sample rate
AAC (.mp4, .m4a, .m4b, .mov): Up to 320 Kbps, Low Complexity (LC), up to 48-kHz sample rate
Pictures
JPEG (.jpg): All resolutions (desktop software will automatically convert to 640x480 at sync time)
Video
Windows Media Video (.wmv): Main Profile, CBR or VBR, up to 1.5 Mbps peak video bitrate, 320 x 240 pixels, 30 frames per sec., with Windows Media Audio up to 192 Kbps, 44.1 kHz, stereo audio; Simple Profile, CBR, up to 736 Kbps video bitrate, 320 x 240 pixels, 30 frames per sec., with Windows Media Audio up to 192 Kbps, 44.1 kHz, stereo audio.
Wireless
Connectivity: 802.11 b/g
Range: Up to 30 feet
Windows Media® Audio Standard (.wma): Up to 320 Kbps, CBR and VBR, up to 48-kHz sample rate
MP3 (.mp3): Up to 320 Kbps, CBR and VBR, up to 48-kHz sample rate
AAC (.mp4, .m4a, .m4b, .mov): Up to 320 Kbps, Low Complexity (LC), up to 48-kHz sample rate
Pictures
JPEG (.jpg): All resolutions (desktop software will automatically convert to 640x480 at sync time)
Video
Windows Media Video (.wmv): Main Profile, CBR or VBR, up to 1.5 Mbps peak video bitrate, 320 x 240 pixels, 30 frames per sec., with Windows Media Audio up to 192 Kbps, 44.1 kHz, stereo audio; Simple Profile, CBR, up to 736 Kbps video bitrate, 320 x 240 pixels, 30 frames per sec., with Windows Media Audio up to 192 Kbps, 44.1 kHz, stereo audio.
Wireless
Connectivity: 802.11 b/g
Range: Up to 30 feet
Way to go MS, not only does your 1st gen DAP not work with your new OS it doesn't support the codecs you developed. Maybe after all the security holes are patched MS will get around with a SP2 for the Zune that will support Pro and lossless. At least it supports the .mov format, baby steps MS... baby steps. And as an added bonus it automatically down samples your jpgs!
Wow. That makes the Zune even more underwhelming.
QUOTE(QHOBBES 2.0 @ Nov 17 2006, 03:56) 
Way to go MS, not only does your 1st gen DAP not work with your new OS
Ummm Vista hasn't been released yet, thus there's no need to support it.
The other stuff you said is valid criticism.
QUOTE(Firon @ Nov 17 2006, 17:01)
Wow. That makes the Zune even more underwhelming.
Good on them for supporting AAC though... well, I guess they had to considering so many people have iTunes libraries full of AAC files.
It's a rather bad joke that Zune doesn't support both of Microsoft's more interesting codecs, Windows Media Audio Professional and Lossless. WMA Standard, MP3 and AAC aren't sufficient for this player to become successful on the worldwide market. May the gods know what Microsoft was thinking when they developed their new baby, at least I for my part can't see any real reason for buying it.
Well, but as usual it's gonna be Microsoft's marketing department which will find a way to bring Zune to the common user, despite its very limited support for Microsoft's own audio formats.
Well, but as usual it's gonna be Microsoft's marketing department which will find a way to bring Zune to the common user, despite its very limited support for Microsoft's own audio formats.
So, I take it from these responses that no one has actually created a WMA Pro file and tried to upload it/play it on a zune? I guess I will have to try it at work once they have a demo unit available that we can try it on.
QUOTE(Sebastian Mares @ Nov 19 2006, 15:22)
Thank you for pointing me here Sebastian. So yes, we FINALLY have a player that makes use of WMAPRO-the hands on test proves it. Would I use it if I were to get one for Christmas-maybe since the encoding time for WMAPRO is faster than Lame -V4 vbr new or Nero AAC on my computer.
I wonder what format they are selling in the zune marketplace. (wma pro?)
BTW: Reportedly the Zune doesn't act as a normal USB mass storage device. That's a big disadvantage. Think twice before buying something like this.
BTW: Reportedly the Zune doesn't act as a normal USB mass storage device. That's a big disadvantage. Think twice before buying something like this.
After Sony Ericsson, this is the second company I see that under-estimates its product. SE claims that their cell phones support only MP3s up to 192 kbps although they work perfectly with 320 kbps CBR and -V2 to -V0, Microsoft claims that Zune does not support WMA Pro when in fact it does (OK, claim that it does not support is wrong - they don't advertise it). Usually, producers over-estimate stuff.
SebastianG:
Thats because MS made UMS support in MTP optional. This renders MTP completely retarded IMO.
Also, I'm guessing WMA Pro support is there for WMV video playback, which is why they don't mention it as an audio format.
Thats because MS made UMS support in MTP optional. This renders MTP completely retarded IMO.
Also, I'm guessing WMA Pro support is there for WMV video playback, which is why they don't mention it as an audio format.
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