Bluetooth and the Samsung P2

That last few years I've moved all my CD music onto a hard drive, and been exploring how to have easy access to it no matter where I am. Of course that implies putting it on a portable device, so I've been looking into the options there.

I started with a nearly free little MP3 player that uses SD cards with a 2 meg limit. It's only play option was "shuffle", and with no display I found it pretty useless. Yes, it would play music. No, you couldn't choose which of the songs you put on it would play or in what order.

I went in to buy an iPod Nano but bought an iPod Touch instead. Amazing piece of technology. I don't use it much for music, though, as it's main distraction is the wifi web browser and web applications that are available. It also must be parked in a dock or have earphones plugged into it, and those are two negatives in my book. No FM radio either. 8GB capacity isn't quite large enough to hold my entire collection.

I bought one of the new Zunes with an 80GB hard drive. Like it alot. It has an FM radio which proved incredibly useful in the recent ice storm power-outage. Not an easy interface. Compared to the Touch, it takes more than twice as many clicks or strokes to get to business with. It too has to be parked in a dock or used with headphones.

Last week I added the Samsung YP-P2 8GB touchscreen mp3 player to my collection. It has built-in bluetooth and I think I'm in love. I took a trip to BestBuy yesterday and picked up bluetooth adapters for my iPod and Zune docks, a Bluetooth transmitter/receiver for my home stereo and a receiver for my car. I've had a bluetooth headphone set for awhile. The P2 easily pairs with all my docks, adapters and headphones. Instead of parking the P2 in a dock, I park it in my pocket. As I walk around my house, the bluetooth tranmission connects to whichever device is in range, and the music continues playing in the new room. I get in my car and the music starts playing on on the car speaker system. If I'm trying to be discrete, I put on the bluetooth headphones.

Now the P2 doesn't have the best interface. It is better than the Zunes, but not quite up to the simplicity of the iPod Touch screen. Still, this little player from Samsung is by far my favorite player, thanks to it's built-in bluetooth radio. I picked mine up when it was on sale through Amazon for less than $200. Samsung has promised to keep improving it with firmware upgrades. I've upgraded it once since getting it. It's got a beautiful screen, with crisp video resolution (480x272), close to the Touch (480x320). The Zune is lower resolution. The P2 is smaller and much lighter than the touch. Neither is hard to carry around, but to add a bluetooth dongle to the Touch or Zune would make them much more cumbersome. There are teasers on the internet showing a sleek add-on device for the P2 that would add wfi, FM transmission, and an SD card slot to expand memory. If they add wifi and a web browser to this little player, I'll sell my Touch. You can use the stereo bluetooth to transfer files, transmit audio, and potentially allow a bluetooth keyboard/mouse for input and bluetooth printing. I've seen bluetooth used to share internet access too, and wouldn't be surprised if they enable that feature eventually.
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Apple's $40 iPod Touch Penalty

Apple demands $20 from iPod Touch owners for an upgrade.
Many retailers are now selling iPod Touches for $20 less than MSRP, recognizing that if they don't, and a new shipment of Touches comes in wth the software already upgraded for MSRP, they'll have to refund $20 to those buyers anyway.

So, if new Touches are $20 less than MSRP, every early adopter is getting laughed at right now. Apple doing half the laughing, and anyone who buys a new one for $20 less (because retailers think they'll have to pay another $20 to get them upgraded) getting the second laugh.

I could sure use that $40 difference, which the new apps are very much NOT worth. Gee thanks, Apple. I know. I bought the apps.

Just to compare, anyone who was an early adopter of the original Zune got a FREE firmware upgrade which included new functionality when the new Zunes came out. Anyone who has already bought an early Samsung YP-P2 can now update their P2 for free, adding new features and usefullness. Anyone who bought an iPhone can expect free firmware upgrades which will include more functionality. Anyone who bought an early Apple TV will get for FREE the new firmware and considerably better functionality that the new releases will have. Sony Playstation 2 and 3 owners have not had to pay for firmware upgrades that made those machines into what they should have been in the first place, far closer to being worth what they cost. I paid $299 for my Touch, not because it was worth that much at that time, but because of the obvious potential it had to be better. I invested in it's potential. The new apps make it better. By putting those apps on new touches for FREE and NOT raising the price, even Apple admits that the original Touch was overpriced without those apps. They will make their profit by selling Touches with the new apps to a much larger group of people who didn't already buy one and wouldn't have with the lack of those apps.

What should Steve have done? Perhaps he realized that Touch owners don't spend as much money at iTunes store as other iPod owners do. I find the browser far more interesting, and can listen to almost any song I want using it and seeqpod.com. Maybe he's right. IMO he should have offered previous Touch owners a special $20 gift card. Buy the card for $20 and you can also download the new apps for free. Why is this good? The card can still be used as a $20 credit at iTunes, but many people won't use it. Apple makes another $20 either way, and Touch owners aren't paying for what should have been free as they can get new songs (or movies) with that gift card. It is very clear what is fair. It is very clear what is common practice in related electronics industries. What Apple did is neither fair or common. Dangerous is the best word I can think of.

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Altec Lansing M604 Review

ALTEC LANSING M604

The older I get the more I dislike having to wear headphones to listen to music. Of course every MP3 player out there comes with earplug style headphones. The Zune (in my case the new Zune 80GB) is no exception, and comes with a fairly nice set. With each MP3 player I have I want to be able to (relatively) easily listen to the music open-air, through an amplified speaker of some sort. I've picked up an iHome clock/dock for my iPod Touch. I picked up a NextPlay clock/dock/radio for my wife's iPod Nano. I recently picked up the Altec Lansing M604 speaker system for my Zune, and this is my review of it.

The M604 is 14" wide, 8.25" tall, and about 5" deep. The Zune 80GB is 2.5" wide for comparison. In the image above you can see the speakers used (behind the grill). There are two 2" midrange speakers and two small high range tweeters. The 5 dots in a horizontal row above the logo are LEDs that indicate volume level when changing the volume.

On the top are 5 flush mounted buttons. From left to right in the image above they are Power, - (volume), + (volume), Bass and Treble. These controls are repeated on the remote control.

In addition, the remote also includes a Play/Pause button, and Next/Previous Track buttons. There is no button on the remote for accessing menus on the Zune and this feature is sorely missed. A simple
"back" button to emulate the Zune's "back" button would have added considerable functionality.

On the back there is a 3.5mm headphone jack, a 3.5mm auxiliary input, a mini USB jack, an RCA composite video jack, and the connector for the 18v DC power supply.

The auxiliary input can be used with any MP3 player to hear that player's sound through the M604 speakers. The M604 comes with a short 3.5mm to 3.5mm patch cord specifically for this purpose. The M604 includes an accessory plate/bracket that will clip into the front dock and allow you to park any MP3 player prominently in front like the Zune.

The USB jack can be used with a USB cable (not included) to patch your Zune back to a PC for syncing. With wireless syncing now enabled on the Zunes there is not so much need for a direct connection to a PC.

A surprising feature is the composite video output. Using an RCA cable you can pipe your Zune's video content to any TV with a composite video input. With the Zune's video output switched ON (a few steps into the setup menu) your Zune's menu will appear on the TV set. You will still need to use the Zune's controls to maneuver through the menus.

The back also has three threaded holes. These are for an available wall mount. The wall mount does not come with the M604. I like the idea of mounting the M604 on the wall, say above your bed or perhaps below a wall-mounted TV.

For audio quality, the M604 sounds OK, but not great. Better than using the earplugs that came with the Zune. I'm used to listening to my music on my home stereo with full range speakers, and the lack of bass from the M604 is quite noticeable. A few speaker dock manufactures have realized this and added a sub woofer to their docks. There doesn't seem to be any way to do the same with the M604. Audio books and Podcasts sound as good as they'll get, since the human voice rarely goes low enough to exceed the speaker's low limit. FM radio on the Zune requires the earphone cable as an antenna, and without it does not pick up more than one or two channels. As such the dock and Zune look a little odd with the earphones coming out of the top of the Zune, yet the sound coming out of the speakers. 7 out of 10 for audio.

Videos appear soft and without crisp detail when viewed on a modern digital TV. Even the Zune's menu does not look very good on a TV. IN a movie with action of any type the effect is diminished, so I rate video performance via the composite cable a 7 out of 10

Aesthetically the M604 looks fine. I'm a product designer and more critical than most. I give the looks a 8 out of 10, with the potential improvement being a better paint job. A flat black grill and brushed metal surround to match the new Zune colors and textures would have been nicer. An emphasised 6" lower range speaker right in the middle would have been a nice touch acoustically AND aesthetically.

A little better than 7 out of 10 is the best I can do for an all-around rating. It is clear there must be better speaker/docks out there, although ones for the Zune series are hard to find. Remember that 7 is a C and average. I reserve the Bs and As for significantly better performers.

Feel free to leave comments. If you've used this dock or own any Zune I'd love to hear from you.

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