Wondershare Launches Video/DVD to Zune converter

(Found in PR.com) Enjoy your favorite Videos and DVDs on Microsoft Zune Player. Wondershare Zune Video Suite help you rip DVDs, convert DVD, AVI, DivX, XviD, WMV, MPEG, MPG, DAT, RM, RMVB, MOV, ASF, IFO and VOB to Zune video WMV, MP4, MPEG-4, MP3, WMA.(PR.COM)-- As Microsoft release Zune player which is your connection to the world of media and to entertainment-loving people like yourself, Wondershare, Inc., a leading developer of digital video editing and multimedia software, today released Wondershare Video to Zune Converter 1.0 and DVD to Zune Ripper 1.0. They can make you enjoy your every favorite video on your Microsoft Zune player easily.

Wondershare Video to Zune Converter is a professional video converter for Microsoft Zune. You can easily and quickly convert videos in all popular formats such as AVI, DivX, XviD, WMV (Window Media Player), MPEG, MPG, DAT (VCD), RM, RMVB (RealPlayer), MOV (QuickTime), ASF to Zune WMV, MP4, MPEG4 with high quality. Wondershare DVD to Zune Ripper is a One-Click solution to convert DVD movies to Zune video. They both can extract audio track from DVD/Video to Zune supported audio MP3, WMA, and M4A. They also allow you to trim the excrescent or special parts of videos and caption of videos as you like. You can also convert entire movie, or just one or several chapters, even some part of a chapter.

About Wondershare Inc.
Established in 2002, Wondershare software is a multimedia software company creating and marketing multimedia Windows applications for both business and home users. Wondershare Software is dedicated to be a professional digital software developer and provider in the area of graphics, and audio & video multimedia applications system. Wondershare Colors your digital life. For further details, please visit us at their corporate web site: http://www.wondershare.com

Film studios want some iTunes changes before allowing movie downloads

The studios – Universal, 20th Century Fox, Paramount and Warner Bros – are in talks with Apple about making their films available for digital download on the iTunes Store, according to a Financial Times report.

However, the film companies are wanting to change the operating system of the iTunes platform in regards to digital piracy, the article adds. The studios want Apple limit the number of devices that can use a film downloaded from the iTunes Store. The talks between Apple and the studios come as retailers are scrambling to get to grips with digital delivery of film content as Wal-Mart, the largest US retailer, enters the market, challenging Amazon and Apple with a different model that ties digital downloads to the sale of DVDs, according to the Financial Times.

Customers buying the newly released DVD of Warner Bros’ Superman Returns at Wal-Mart will be able to download a digital version of the film on to a portable device, a personal computer, or both for a small extra payment.

Crayola Launches MP3 Player

[MP3 newswire reports] Disney's line of MP3 players are a success, even if they are no iPod killers. That's because their target audience, which is the under 10 crowd, is more drawn by Mickey Mouse ears on their players rather than WiFi. This success is drawing other makers to also release MP3 portables, those who likewise target the young. The latest is Crayola.

Simple dubbed the Crayola MP3 Player, the unit is a blessedly simple affair that runs on a common AAA battery, holds 256MB of built-in memory plus an SD slot for expansion, and has two headphone jacks so the kiddies can share in the listening experience. The player also comes with both a set of earbuds and headphones, in matching colors, natch. This player is now shipping for $50.

iPod manufacturer reportedly wins iPhone contract

Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision, which has long manufactured a number of Apple products including the iPod, has reportedly won a contract to manufacture 12 million mobile phone handsets for Apple, The Commercial Times reports.

Citing industry sources, the paper said the phones will launch in the first half of next year and will "also function as music players", in line with a September Think Secret report. Sources have said Apple is hoping to have the pieces in place to launch the iPhone at Macworld Expo San Francisco in January.

The Commercial Times also reports that Hon Hai has won a contract to manufacturer Apple's "new 15-inch 'MacBook' personal computers which it will deliver starting next month or in January." It's unclear if the story is referring to an entirely new MacBook model, all of which currently feature 13-inch displays, or Apple's recently upgraded MacBook Pro.

iPods help kids plug in to schoolwork

[Founded in "The Des Moines Register"] Louisa-Muscatine educators are using the digital audio/video players to help students with learning disabilities.

Some educators might bemoan the sight. Not Scott Grimes. He calls it the future of special education.

Grimes is the principal at Louisa-Muscatine Elementary School, the latest proving ground for the use of Apple iPods and other MP3-type players as learning tools. School officials this semester are using the devices to help students with learning disabilities take tests. "It literally came out of an 'Aha!' type moment that this could happen now," Grimes said.

The trend began more than a year ago at the college level, led by professors at Duke University who made lectures and study materials available on iPods. But more K-12 educators have become convinced that the devices can help students learn everything from math and music to foreign language.

Louisa-Muscatine officials decided this year to apply the digital approach with special education students such as fourth-grader Samantha Garcia, who was asked to experiment with an iPod to take a test.

Like most young people, Samantha was already familiar with the device. She said it would be "cool" to use it in class.

The test was scanned into a computer and transferred to an iPod. Audio was added. The questions popped up on the screen as Samantha heard them in the headphones. She then matched what she heard and saw to the written questions on the paper test in front of her.

She reported that the test went more quickly. The best part, Grimes said, is that Samantha and the others could stay in the regular classroom and take tests with their peers. Previously, they were moved to a different room, where a teacher would read each question aloud, wait until the students completed their answers, then move on to the next question.

"That's uncomfortable for the kids," Grimes said. "They want to be in that classroom as much as they can."

Grimes said Samantha's success inspired the school board to spend $10,000 for an additional 30 iPods for other students with learning disabilities.

Sixth-grader Tiler Jones, who uses the technology to help with math and language, said the iPod "helps me get through the test a lot faster."

Though aimed at special education students at Louisa-Muscatine, the iPods are also used to download videos for use in mainstream classes. Scores on worksheets and quizzes have improved, teachers report.

"If the teacher would show the same video on the TV, students all have to learn the same information in the same amount of time," Grimes said. "When you individualize it, they're able to go back to certain parts and find out information on their own."

The experiment gets passing grades from fourth-grader Ian Barnhart.

"We get to watch the movie and it teaches us to rethink over stuff," he said.

There is a way to beef up your Zune to a 40 gig or even more.

[Zuneinfo posted yesterday following info] Yes there is a way to beef up your Zune to a 40 gig or even 60 or 80 gig, but sadly this is not an official thing and does lead to you voiding your warranty. The guys at iPodMods.com (strange for them to be messing with Zunes..) have manged to crank the Zunes hard drive capacity up a notch. However, if you goto 40gig then it will still all look normal, but on their 60 and 80gig mods they have yet to find a way to put the back cover back on. This really isn’t for the average person, you would have to be quite the tech savvy person to know what your doing and understand it all. Its also gives you another look inside the Zune.

Study questions popularity of iPod video

[By The Hollywood Reporter, CNET, Reuters]
Nielsen Media Research has gathered its first data on the audience for Apple Computer's iPod, calling into question the popularity of its video offering.

Owners of Apple's ubiquitous portable media player spend far more time on it listening to music or audio podcasts than they do using it to watch TV or movies. That was among the findings in a preliminary study conducted by the audience-measurement service in October--about one year after a video window was introduced to iPod and its corresponding Internet platform, iTunes.

The iPod research conducted by Nielsen, which is owned by VNU Group, parent company of The Hollywood Reporter, is the first publicly available, independently published data on consumption habits for the device. Nielsen monitored a panel of 400 iPod users in the U.S. from October 1 to 27 as part of its new initiative, Anywhere Anytime Media Measurement, which aims to measure audiences on myriad emerging digital platforms.

Among the findings: Less than 1 percent of content items played by iPod users on either iTunes or the device itself were videos. Among video iPod users, that percentage barely improves, up to 2.2 percent.

Even measured by duration of consumption, where 30- or 60-minute TV shows might seem to have a built-in advantage over three-minute songs, video comprises just 2 percent of total time spent using iPods or iTunes among iPod owners. Video iPod users consume video 11 percent of the time.

The study also found that 15.8 percent of iPod users have played a video on either iPod or iTunes. About one-third of that group doesn't own a video iPod.

Nielsen's "Home Tech Report," a separate ongoing tracking of new technologies, estimates that about 13 percent of U.S. households own at least one iPod, amounting to about 15 million. Thirty percent of those are video-enabled iPods. By Apple's own count, nearly 70 million iPods have been sold to date.

"To a great extent, that number is driven almost entirely by people looking to play audio," said Paul Lindstrom, senior vice president of custom research at Nielsen. "The real question in many ways becomes, What is the next wave?"

Nielsen declined requests to provide additional data from the study, which is believed to have also tracked consumption of specific titles. But what few figures could be obtained from the study seem to suggest that despite iPod's upgrade to video capabilities in October 2005, the device is still mainly used for audio.

The data could raise some profound questions about assumptions made regarding consumer behavior; specifically, whether mobile devices can truly encourage a mass audience to adopt mobile video consumption after generations of generally homebound, large-screen viewing habits.

Nielsen's take on video consumption is highly subject to interpretation. Worst-case scenario: The panel is an early indication that TV and movies have limited appeal on iPods. Best-case scenario: While adoption of video may be proceeding more slowly than the hype suggests, there is tremendous upside ahead.

Apple, which declined comment, has been relatively tight-lipped about iPod usage with the exception of select statistics: The most current count pegs sales at 1.5 billion songs and 45 million videos (derived in part from 250 series from 40 networks). In its most recent earnings call, the Walt Disney Co. noted that about 500,000 movies have been sold in the two months since the company became the only major studio to strike a film-output deal.

Special Offer: Aplus Video Utilities 50% Off

Software maker Aplus has the Video Utilities Suite at APPCRAFT.org for $49.90 after instant savings of $49.90. The suite includes Video to iPod PSP 3GP + All Media to MP3 + Video Joiner + Video Converter.


I noticed this over at APPCRAFT.org and it is a good way to save many money on the great video software which includes tools for mobile players, cellphones and PC.

Microsoft's Zune player won't be big threat to iPod (China View)

The online newspaper China View reports about the new Zune Player in his today issue:

"Microsoft's new music player aims to steal the spotlight from Apple's iPod.

But is the Zune ready for prime time? Not yet. The new Zune digital-media player may be an all-Microsoft production, it feels like it came from two companies.

One is the smart, aggressive competitor that built the Xbox and Xbox 360 game consoles, carving out a franchise from scratch in a tough market. The other is the clumsy, lumbering giant that can't seem to avoid occasionally stepping on its own customers.

That combination won't help the Zune grab market share from Apple's iPod. Apple has dominated the market by emphasizing simplicity above all, and Microsoft aims to follow suit with the Zune, a wireless-enabled player that sells for 250 U.S. dollars.

But the Zune's relentlessly proprietary nature suggests Microsoft drew the wrong lessons from Apple: It matched the restrictiveness of the iTunes Store, not its utility.

The Zune player itself is the most appealing part of the package. About the size of a deck of cards, it comes in dark gray, brown or white and provides almost 30 gigabytes of hard-drive storage. It has an intuitiveness absent from most other iPod rivals.

Pick up the Zune, and its controls fall under your thumb: a back button, a circular four-way controller that resembles an iPod's click-wheel dial and a play/pause button. Once you realize that the central controller doesn't spin, its operation is pretty much self-evident: Press up or down to adjust volume; press left or right to skip to the previous or next song.

The Zune's bright, clear color screen, three inches across, allows more room to present its menus and makes building a playlist more obvious than on an iPod.

When you view photos or videos, the screen automatically switches orientation to a wide landscape mode. A built-in FM tuner offers an alternative to your music and can even display the program data many stations broadcast, such as song titles or call letters.

The rest of the Zune's design shows a similar elegance. Its headphones click together magnetically for tidier storage, while its grippy, rubber-like surface should resist scratching. The thing even looks clean, without the usual Windows logo or even the word "Microsoft."

The Zune, however, is a little thick and heavy, about six-tenths of an inch and just over six ounces with headphones. That added bulk comes from the Zune's major innovation, its wireless music sharing.

The Windows XP-only Zune software is almost functionally identical to the new Windows Media Player 11. Like that program, it can't subscribe to podcasts or print out CD labels, but otherwise it handles most digital-music chores smoothly.

The Zune Marketplace can't replace those other sources of Windows Media content, since it doesn't sell TV shows or movies. Its music library totals about 2 million songs, fewer than other popular Web music services, with most available for either rent or purchase. "

Movavi ConvertMovie

ConvertMovie is easy-to-use, powerful software that lets you convert video files to different formats in no time! Convert AVI, MPEG, MP4, DVD, VOB, MOV, WMV, ASF, RM formats, rip DVDs, save videos and DVDs onto iPod, join multiple video files, and extract the soundtracks from your movies.


Main features:

• Fast conversion for iPod, PSP, cellphone
• Full DVD ripping
• Integrated PSP uploader
• Video splicing
• Soundtrack extraction
• Fastest DVD to MPEG conversion
• Still frame capture
• Intuitive GUI
• All popular video formats supported:
  AVI, MPEG (DVD, VCD, SVCD), MPEG4, 3GPP, 3GPP2,
  WMV, RM, MP3, WAV, WMA, IFO, VOB, DAT, ASF

Microsoft Zune Player First Full Review by Gizmodo

Overall, this seems pretty promising. I can't find any mis-steps or anything where I have to ask "wait, this is dumb, why did you do this?" in both the player and the software. The Zune itself is very sexy, and feels nice to the touch—not too heavy. We can't wait to do another hands on as the launch date approaches. Oh, and I still can't decide which color is my favorite. – Jason Chen Full Zune Review

DVD to Zune Video Conversion

Softwaremaker Avex has been released DVD to Zune Converter with the built-in X!-Speed™ transcode technology at APPCRAFT.org. A one-click solution to convert DVD, MPEG, Tivo, WMV, AVI, DivX/Xvid, RM, MOV videos, etc to Zune video. Additional it supports conversion in batch mode and it's easy to use. The free trial does not require a credit card.