Sachin Agarwal: November 2006

Last week Microsoft launched their Zune player and music store, not surprisingly to bad reviews and little fan fare. No one seemed to care about yet another iPod knock off, especially with launches of the Wii and PS3 happening simultaneously. But regardless of how poorly executed the Zune is compared to the iPod/iTunes system, it's not completely horrible and it scares me a little. After all, this is Microsoft and they have tons of resources to throw at this product to make it better over time. And they aren't concerned with actually make a great, innovative product. Currently they are just focused on how they can stop Apple and Google from hurting their bottom line.

And that's what pisses me off the most. Microsoft isn't trying to build a better product and advance technology or the user exerience here. They claim to with the wireless features, but that's a load of crap. At the end of the day they just want to hurt Apple, my company! And not only do they do this by just creating a copy cat player and music system, but they copy the cool box design, the friendly Apple message "Hello from Seattle", and they include a decal like Apple includes a logo sticker. Can you get any more obvious?

My main complaints about Zune:

• Microsoft made it a closed system like the iPod/iTunes system. Even though I work at Apple, I do think keeping systems open and free is a great thing. But at least you can say Apple's closed system means it works flawlessly. This can't be said for the Zune system as I already read about sync problems and other crashes.

• Play For Sure.
Before I get into the Zune, I want to point out this great line from the support page for Amazon's Unbox video system.

If your device is Plays for Sure compliant it may work, but we cannot guarantee performance on untested devices.

So wait...If my device is "Plays For Sure", it might not actually play for sure? Hmmm. So this system Microsoft created to make it easier for consumers to buy music and players doesn't seem to work at all.

One of the most surprising things about the new Zune system is Microsoft is not supporting their own Plays For Sure system. So all that music you bought from Yahoo or Napster won't work. Do you want to trust Microsoft yet again and buy music from Zune? They screwed over their customers and all their hardware and software partners.

• Music in the Zune Marketplace costs 79 points per song. 79 points is the same as 99 cents. Come on! They are straight up trying to trick their customers, of course. How do they even get away with this? I can't wait for some class action lawsuit when people say they spent more on Zune music than they thought.

• Microsoft claims a 14 hour bettery life. This is playing one song on repeat, so the hard drive never spins. Again, lying to the consumers.

• It's bigger and heavier than the 80 gb ipod!

• The WiFi is a joke. You can't sync over it or do anything besides send single songs from Zune to Zune, assuming you know someone else with a Zune.

• They are paying off Universal, $1 per Zune. I don't know if this is because Universal wouldn't give them music rights otherwise, or if Microsoft really decided to do this. But in any case it seems wrong to me. They are paying off the music labels, and will make it harder for Apple in the future.

I know it's not all bad. Zune is more modern than the iPod with a nicer interface and screen, and this does put more pressure on Apple to make their products even better, which is a good thing. But if I see any of my friends with a Zune device any time soon, I'm not talking to them ever again. Most of my friends have switched to Macs at this point, so I can't imagine then buying Zunes.

Hmmm, come to think of it, the only people I know who don't use Macs also drive Hondas. So they need serious convincing (ooh, double diss, sorry Aki). Well, except Eric. He drives an Audi and uses a crap PC. I can't figure him out :)

I hate Microsoft so much.

I was walking back to my apartment yesterday from Gary's place, which takes me down 3rd Avenue from 33rd Street to 6th Street. Alone the way I had to step over 3 pools of vomit and saw 2 other people puking on the sidewalk. That's an average of 1 vomit incident every 5 blocks.

Generally I don't like the term B&T, excluding those who are not from Manhattan. I barely qualify as being a Manhattan-ite myself, living here for less than a year. But I think the stereotype is very true. Every person at the clubs along 3rd Ave and every person puking was not from Manhattan. They were from across a river and came here to party (way too hard).

That's why I never really liked hanging out in the West Village along Bleeker Street. You would always see drunk ***holes. But now it seems they have discovered Gramercy Park as well.

The East Village and Lower East Side are grungier and dirter than the West Village to start, but they don't get dirtier through the night. I think the crowd is way cooler, and more local.

It's actually pretty funny (but also annoying) to see the Jersey folks driving around in their giant Escolades on 20" chrome rims, playing music way too loud. You know people from Manhattan aren't cruising around on a Saturday night.

About a month ago I was taking the Long Island railroad from my uncle's house back to Manhattan at around 10pm. The train was full of big white guys in their 20s drinking Bud. They were being very rowdy in the train and annoying the train conductor. "Wow, he didn't make us stop drinking our beer. Cheers!"

Relax, people. It's just another Saturday night.

Last week Gary and I saw The Album Leaf. I liked one of their songs off the OC soundtrack last year, but I was re-introduced to them a few months ago by Gary and I fell in love with their new album. We saw them at North Six in Brooklyn, a great venue.

But the reason I blog now is I just got home from seeing Imogen Heap at Webster Hall. It was one of the best shows I have ever seen. Imogen has lots of energy, she is funny, and puts on an amazing show. She has one of the most unique sounds and performances I have ever heard/seen. I hate it when I go to a show and the artist goes on stage, doesn't say a word, and plays their music exactly how it is on the album, what's the point of that?

She will be in San Francisco next month and i *highly* recommend the show. Imogen was also featured on the OC soundtrack, the Garden State soundtrack, and on Scrubs. I think if I buy every album for every artist found on those programs I could never go wrong...I haven't so far.

p.s. the opening act, Kid Beyond, also totally rocked.

Amanda Kahn had an awesome party at her place in the West Village which included Patron shots, pumpkin bread muffins, and easy access to the parade. It was a whole lot of fun (the only time I got out this past week since I had a deadline at work). I incorporated my facial hair into my costume by being Teen Wolf. (Nik, lemme know if you want to borrow my Teen Wolf jacket or ears sometime)

Click here for the pictures

I was in the Bay Area last week and I had a great time seeing everyone. I was out everyday for lunch and dinner with friends and family who I hadn't seen in a while. It was a lot of fun.

I really, really miss being at Apple. I love being inside the Apple campus. I miss having an office and showing up to work and being surrounded by my coworkers. I miss going out for lunch and coffee breaks, after work at BJs. I now realize what an incredible group of people I work with and I love going back and seeing them all.

Besides being at Apple, I saw all the Stanford folks as well, which was great. Monday night i took care of my craving for Mexican food and then went to Josh's place in Boulder Creek. Tuesday was the long standing weekly dinner. Wednesday was SFWednesdays, Thursday was Aki time in Mountain View (spending time in "The View" scared me to not want to move back to California), and Friday was casual drinking and hanging out with great friends in Noe Valley.

Usually my photo albums are pictures I've taken, but this time I was able to get other people to take pictures with my camera. I think putting an SLR out on a table makes people want to pick it up and start shooting. I just set it at ISO 1600 and f1.4 to maximize low light shooting.

Click for the pictures (there are a lot!)






When I was off getting coffee on Friday, Eric decided it would be funny to release the hand brake on my car (I don't lock it), push it out of its spot, and feed it some rubber ducks. Such a punk!

Thanks to everyone for hanging out with me last week, and for letting me sleep on various couches across the Bay Area :)