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Zune 4.0 Internet Radio (UPDATE)
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So, it seems you can get the Internet Radio to show itself. After giving up a couple of days ago after my initial investigation after concluding that the Zune Team had probably not left enough resources in the software for it to work, I came across a picture from Rafael Riveria showing it working. My first thought, “BUGGER, why did I give up?!”. Of course my second thought was well, lets get it working. And its pretty much exactly how I thought it would work when I tried two days ago, except I had made one little error… here’s how to do it yourself, though be warned, it has practically no functionality at all.
Open RegEdit, Navigate to HKCU/Software/Microsot/Zune/Shell, and modify the value of “StartupPage” to “Collection\Radio”. Then, relaunch your Zune Software, and say hello!
Seemingly me and Raf have achieved it slightly differently, presumably he hacked his way in, meanwhile I just kinda tricked the software into doing it. Though his way does seem a little better considering he can actually get the word “radio” to show up along side podcasts and channels
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Zune 4.0 was/is going to support Internet Radio?
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![](http://qihndw.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pSATeliS_rQz6YTnGstpT5eZXR7OsOe5OSl2KRMHn1G92ZivHvpxXwZcuPBecCfDpPac5dvSG0fj9fY3ySTOQQA/18%2001.jpg")
Upon my various ventures into checking out the Zune Software I’ve learnt a few things. For example, those 4 new Zune HD colours, or the fact that “Smart DJ”s original, and frankly more accurate name is “QuickMix”. But something far more interesting is a little something that I skipped over through my initial search, until I came across this “Radio” entry in the registry under the Zune tree.
As you can see, listed under the Radio tree are three radio stations, and in each entry? Why a link to their Internet Stream of course! Now obviously the only reason you would actively save a radio stream is if you were going to use it… for say streaming Internet Radio!! So uhh where is it? Well lets take a looksie shall we? Also listed is what we’d naturally assume to the Image source for the station logo in side the ZuneShellResources.dll, unfortunately however as you can see on the left of the image above, such files aren’t actually present. However, there is a NEW resource not found in previous Zune Software’s, simply called “RADIOPANEL.UIX”. I wonder what this is for…? (To avoid any confusion here, RADIOBUTTONS are those little circular checkbox-like buttons, not buttons for a radio!)
Now see if this were the previous Zune software we could easily see that this “panel” did, as before all UIX files followed basic XML structure, unfortunately now Microsoft seem to have decided to compile them (probably in an effort to boost GUI speed… or to stop nosy people from freely customising the software UI) and now all we’re left with is a lot of hex. Bugger.
But it’s saved Internet Radio streams on our computer, and there’s a mysterious new resource with Radio in the title, and the station logos are missing. So this could mean either:
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They cut the feature earlier on, and removed the logo images, but forgot to remove the creation of registry keys?
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They didn’t have enough time to finish the feature, and it’ll be implemented in a future release.
Personally I’d like to believe the latter, but only time will tell. In the meantime however, I’m going to crackdown and try and see what this RADIOPANEL does…
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Zune 4.0. Now.
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At approximately 7AM GMT, Microsoft finally let loose the Zune 4.0 desktop software for us, with a host of new features.
We’ll have a full in-depth review with lots of pictures and a few videos up within the coming days, but for now, here are the juicy details, straight from the horses mouth:
Greater Access to and Control of Music and Videos
Quickplay, matching the menu available on the Zune HD device is featured on the PC software, allowing favourite content to be displayed along with most recently played and added music, video and podcast content.
Smart DJ feature showcases the power of the Zune software and services by creating endless playlists using any artist, album or song as the starting point. For Zune Pass subscribers, Smart DJ will queue song recommendations from both the customer’s collection and from more than 6 million tracks in the Zune Marketplace. Nonsubscribers will get Smart DJ recommendations from the user’s music collection. And what’s more, it does actually create very good playlists, which I’ve found better than any other automated playlist generator I’ve ever used!
Zune Marketplace has also been updated with a slightly tweaked layout (for the worse I reckon), but also now includes full Movie rentals in both HD & SD, though they can only be synced with Zune HD. There’s also now an apps section for downloading Microsoft made apps to the Zune HD.
 
There’s also a handy new Mini-Player, and a Taskbar toolbar, ala Windows Media Player 11.
Now as Zune Pass subscribers, not only can customers enjoy access to close to 6 million songs from the Zune Marketplace catalog for $14.99, the price of one CD a month, but they can also log into Zune.net and stream full albums and tracks through a computer’s browser. Customers will also find the Smart DJ feature on artist pages in Zune.net, which means they are one click away from starting an endless playlist to keep them rocking through the day.
Download the software now at http://www.zune.net
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Windows Live Movie Maker to feature Zune encoding profile?
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Whilst writing up the newest entry for the Video Conversion guide, I decided to take a little nose around inside the code for Windows Live Movie Maker BETA. Not very interesting stuff for the most part I can tell you.
One little tidbit I did come across though is shown above: A video Publishing encoding profile, just for the Zune!! What this means that any video can be set to encode with this profile with settings specially tailored to Zune. Unfortunatly this profile isn’t enabled, and can’t be enabled through the options. (I succeeded at one point but it went on to crash the program). Hopefully in future versions though we’ll see this option enabled.
Practically, this really doesn’t make much difference, as both default encoding profiles already in WLMM Beta are perfectly configured for encoding videos for Zune, both for the device and TV-Out, though one specially for Zune is always nice for that extra piece of mind… even if the settings are basically the same! (For the record, the Zune profile encodes at 320×240 resolution, with settings very similar to the “Windows Media portable device” profile)
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VCG: Windows Live Movie Maker Beta Encoding Guide
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So, the first major entry into our Video Encoding Guide, I give you a quick and easy 3-step rundown of how to encode your videos suitable for playback in Zune, for both device viewing and TV-Out optimized, using Microsoft’s new Windows Live Movie Maker Beta.
“Say hi to Windows Live Movie Maker. Designed by Microsoft’s Windows Live team as the successor to the popular Windows Movie Maker, it’s aim was to simplify editing and publishing of videos, with a special focus on web publishing. Re-built from the ground up to improve performance and usability, many of the older features from the older Movie Maker’s are currently missing at the moment (though are due back at some point before its finished).
What’s there now however is a very easy to use, if somewhat extremely basic, video editing program. For Zuner’s looking for quite literally the simplest way to convert your videos, look no further. It really is just a 3 step process here. No settings to configure, no confusing menus to deal with. Just some nice big colourful buttons to play with!”
Read Encoding step-by-step for Windows Live Movie Maker…
Look forward to Extensoft’s Free Video Converter’s guide over the weekend, and Expression Encoder 2’s the week after, along with an update to the guide’s front page to make it more user friendly and easier to use, and then I’ll hit it up with the YouTube downloading guide and other tips. Stay tuned!!
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My ZuneCard Viewer 2.4.0.5
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So I’ve finally got round updating everyone’s favourite Zune themed gadget with some long awaited performance updates, which should result in faster start times!
For users of Windows Vista’s sidebar (and now Windows 7 Desktop Gadgets), “My ZuneCard Viewer” allows users to input a Zunetag of their choice, and then have their fully interactive ZuneCard displayed on their desktop or sidebar using their chosen display theme, including the ability to play music, and thanks to the sidebar framework, you can run multiple instances of My ZuneCard viewer, each displaying a different ZuneCard!
For the full changelog, download link,and a list of future enhancements, just click on though!
Continue reading My ZuneCard Viewer 2.4.0.5…
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My ZuneCard Viewer 2.0.1.0
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Well I’ve finally got around to updating everyone’s favourite Zune themed Vista sidebar gadget to version 2.0.1.0, fixing up some of the outstanding issues people have brought forward to me.
For users of Windows Vista’s sidebar, “My ZuneCard Viewer” allows users to input a Zunetag of their choice, and then have their fully interactive ZuneCard displayed on their desktop or sidebar using their chosen display theme, including the ability to play music, and thanks to the sidebar framework, you can run multiple instances of My ZuneCard viewer, each displaying a different ZuneCard!
For the full changelog, download link, screenshots, and a list of future enhancements, just click on though!
Continue reading My ZuneCard Viewer 2.0.1.0…
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Posted by Johnny on 19 Oct 2008 in Software |
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Zune 3.0 Desktop software review
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 After playing around with the new Zune software for over a week now, I’ve finally gotten around to writing my review about. What’s new, what’s good and what’s bad? Click through to find out!
As Microsoft and its Zune platform move into its third year cycle of business, Microsoft has bolstered up their already impressive Zune platform into one, that quite undoubtedly offers more to music enthusiasts than even Apple themselves do. How did they achieve this? Through an excellent understanding of what a music listener wants, and needs, and then putting them to practice into a wonderfully made piece of software. Sure, there are gaps in the framework, but by and large, this is quite the achievement.
Continue reading Zune 3.0 Desktop software review…
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Zune Software 3.0 Photo Gallery
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To coincide with the recent release of the new 3.0 desktop software, we’ve uploaded a new photo gallery showing off some of the new features included, whilst we chalk up our review. You can check out shots of the new now playing screen, albums view, mix view, and more.
You can check out the Photo Gallery now by clicking here!
If you still haven’t upgraded to the latest version of the Zune Software, we highly recommend you do so now by visiting the Microsoft Download page or by choosing to “Check for updates” within the settings menu of your Zune Software.
Our full review of the brand new Zune 3.0 software, and our review of the new firmware will be up within the next few days hopefully, so keep your eyes peeled to the site!
Zune Software 3.0 Photo Gallery
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Zune 3.0 Release
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 Finally, the Zune 3.0 software is now live download!
Downloading this new software also includes the 3.0 Firmware (225) for the Zune devices (All Zunes will be required to update after the install)
New to this update are music Channels (enhanced automatic playlists which automatically download and update from Zune Marketplace), Picks (song, album & artist recommendations based on your playing habits), Mix view (a graphical representation of songs, albums and listeners related to your current album), an enhanced Now Playing screen (which automatically downloads full screen image data and artist facts from Marketplace) and more!
On the Zune Firmware side, enhancements include integration of a wireless Zune Marketplace, FULL song streaming for Zune Pass subscribers, official integration of games (including two built in, Hexic and Texas Hold Em’), support for Audiobooks, as well as other enhancements.
To download the new software, either click “Check for Updates” inside the Zune software, or download it from Microsoft here
Continue reading Zune 3.0 Release…
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Site Design Copyright 2008 Johnny M.D. Westlake.
Certain design elements based on those used in the official Zune software, no
copyright infringement intended. ZUNE and the ZUNE logo are Trademarks of Microsoft.
This site has no affiliation to Microsoft. News posting powered by WordPress.
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