I don't condone anyone ruining the results of a poll. I am ashamed that the Zune supporters did, but I don't want to hear a word from these iPod fanboys either.

It's no secret that someone created an autovote script to manipulate the WSJ’s “Which of these electronics are you most likely to buy as a gift?� Poll.

When I left my house Thanksgiving morning, the Zune had 241 vote to iPhone/iPods 63,415 votes. Pretty lopsided I must say. Well, someone went and ruined any credibility this poll had by creating an auto voter for the Zune. I won’t share the link since I think it’s embarrasing that someone has so little respect for this poll that they would ruin it by skewing the votes. Basicly this auto voter opens up in your browser and begins spamming votes for the Zune.

Now, 16 hours later, this poll has 169,554 votes. What is even worse is the fact that it would seem that someone also created something similar for the iPhone/iPod seeing that the numbers have jumped from 63,415 votes to 377,766 in the same time period.

The poll is now closed.  iPhone or iPod 62% [ 456121 votes ] and Zune media player 28% [ 206204 votes ] . That is 206,000 votes for Zune and ~390,000 votes for iPhone/iPod in less than 20 hours. Tell me that iPod folks didn't cheat as well.

I am ashamed of the fans from both camps.

I am in search of a way to bring my TV Shows to my Zune.

I have Direct TV and I have the Direct TV HD Tivo. This box has a ethernet cable on the back as well as some USB Connections. This is the box I have...

What I want to do is find a way to take my TV shows I record and get them on my PC so I can encode them to sync with my Zune.

I am off to go watch some College Football now, but I thought I would throw this out there and see if anyone has any ideas for me.

I love the Zune. I want to see Zune do well. I don't like Zune Marketing. So far all the Zune ads i've seen are so weird that they leave "me" wondering, "What the ---- are they trying to say?"... This one below is most likely the most strait forward ad yet.

Video: Zune TV Spot

Here's another article about the lack of availability of the Zune 80.

Not having Zune 80s on the shelves today, traditionally one of the busiest shopping days of the year, won't help Microsoft's battle against iPod.

"People are really frustrated trying to get one of these," says Albert Wang, 31, of Salt Lake City, who unsuccessfully tried to buy a Zune 80 in his local Best Buy.

I personally like this line...

Still, there are people who have been holding out for an iPod alternative who are willing to wait a bit longer, says Chris Leckness, who runs Gotzune.com, a Zune enthusiast site. "Many people are not buying into the idea you have to buy an iPod to be cool," he says.

Did I ever mention here that the pop culture aura surrounding the iPods is one of the reasons I dislike Apple? My daughter used to tell me that you have to have an iPod branded player to be cool at school.

Read Matt's Article at USAToday.com

The Orlando Sentinel ran a story this morning about Zunes at Toys "R" Us Black Friday Sale.In Seminole County hundreds of people lined up as early as 12:45 a.m. outside the Toys "R" Us store.

Update : Shoppers go zany for Zune and Retail hordes go loony over Zune

Many hoped to get their hands on a limited supply of Zune  MP3 players, but most walked away disappointed. The store had only seven of the popular music players.

Norbert Soto was one of the lucky ones. The U.S. Postal Service worker waited in line for more than three hours and got the last music player.

“I’ll lose sleep for my daughter,� Soto said. “I just prayed to God that I can get it.�

Soto had his hands on one of the precious few tickets for the Zune but gave it to a shopper he thought was in line in front of him. However, the person gave it back because he already had a ticket.

“I felt like my heart fell out of my chest when I gave it back," Soto said.

Sandy Dale, wasn’t so lucky.

She started waiting at 3:30 a.m. to buy a Zune but didn't make it to the electronics department before the last music player was gone. She said she was angry that the toy store didn’t say it had a limited supply.

The Zune normally sells for $199.99 and was on sale for $69.99 at Toys R Us.

-- Robert Perez

Before I ran out for the day to eat turkey with my family for Thanksgiving, I noticed over on cliczune that there was a poll out for Christmas shoppers to indicate what device they are more likely to buy as a present this year. I posted on it here.

When I made that post the Zune had 241 vote to iPhone/iPods 63,415 votes. Pretty lopsided I must say. Well, someone went and ruined any credibility this poll had by creating an auto voter for the Zune. I won't share the link since I think it's embarrasing that someone has so little respect for this poll that they would ruin it by skewing the votes. Basicly this auto voter opens up in your browser and begins spamming votes for the Zune.

Now, 16 hours later, this poll has 169,554 votes. What is even worse is the fact that it would seem that someone also created something similar for the iPhone/iPod seeing that the numbers have jumped from 63,415 votes to 377,766 in the same time period.

Update: Since I posted this last night, this article i've linked to has gotted dotted (slashdotted) and mashed (mashabled). I guess this article fits into the Jerry Springer category.

There are some things in this article that are true, but it's full of inaccuracies. So many that I am going to let you just head over to give them traffic for a job poorly done. Despite running a Zune centric site and having a bias towards Zune, I at least can point out the good in Apple products. Others seem to have a problem with that and end up making false statements...

Today’s Zunes claim to uniquely provide wireless sync, but they require being plugged in order to do this! That means Microsoft’s wireless sync has as many wires as Apple’s USB sync, it just 20 times slower. That’s not an advantage nor a feature. It’s a marketing lie.

Ok, one other that I want to quote since I definately use the radio a lot. ( )

Another poor decision was adding a radio. Users don’t pay $250 for a hard drive based music player to listen to the radio. Further, radio reception isn’t very good without an external antenna. The iPod solves both issues by offering a $30 external radio control that doubles as an antenna. Microsoft “bundled this in,� resulting in a radio with poor reception that everyone had to buy, which only complicated its design.

Has this guy ever seen or touched a Zune?

Why Microsoft’s Zune is Still Failing — RoughlyDrafted Magazine

Adam over at Zune Thoughts has written a really nice commentary about adding features to the Zune. The best feature he's like to see is NOT ADDING FEATURES. I agree 100%, I don't want to play games or schedule appointments on my Zune. I use my At&t Tilt for that.

Grahm Skee at AnythingButiPod has a great write-up on the problems faced with trying to be too many things at once. The iPod began as a great Portable Music Player (PMP) that was good at playing music and little else. As users demanded pictures and video, the iPod adapted to provide those features. The problem is, Apple hasn't really updated the way users interact with their music since the second or third generation. They became too afraid to disenfranchise users, and, in a decidedly un-Apple fashion, made their software and firmware bloated and devoid of any significant advances.

Most of the reviews I've read about the Gen2 Marketplace have pointed to its simple design as an advantage over iTunes. PC Magazine's Tim Gideon, in his review of the Zune80 praised the Marketplace and software as making iTunes "seem like a big, boring spreadsheet". Gideon gave the 80 PC Magazine's Editor's Choice Award.

Read the Entire Article

Here are the results so far in the WSJ's "Which of these electronics are you most likely to buy as a gift?" Poll.

Don't expect us asking for votes on our sites and blogs to get the Zune into 2nd or 3rd place on this Wall Street Journal Poll, let alone over take iPod/iPhone in the results. Why? Several reasons...

1. This is Uncle Walt's World, the Wall Street Journal. The most prolific reviewer of tech, Walt Mossberg, calls the WSJ Home. Walt is the biggest Apple homer out there though. Of course most of his readership has fallen into the iPod/iPhone cult with Walt.
2. Face it, the iPod and iPhone are really good devices. Despite our love for the Zune, you have to really step back and take the blinders off and realize that a) Apples been in the MP3 Player business for a long time. They are very solid devices. I love Zune. I want Zune to succeed. I own more than 8 Zunes now, but I also have more than 8 iPods too, including the iPhone. They are good products. Zune is good too, but has work to be done to get any marketshare from Apple.
3. It's cool to own an iPod. Ask my daughter. I was apple to pry her 4gb nano out of her possession only with the offer to pay for her Zune Pass if she takes the 4gb Pink Zune I got her.

Even though we won't make a dent, even if all Zune sites got every reader to vote, I still urge you to hop over and vote Zune anyway.

Source: ClicZune

So, I have 1000's of songs on my Zune 80 and guess what it does from 8am to 5pm... It's a radio. I have just come to the realization that all I am using the Zune for at work is as a radio. I have some pretty nice powered desktop speakers on my desk. I just jack in and tune in to Sports Talk! We are fortunate enough to have an FM sports radio station. All this music and functionality and I use it as a radio at work. Funny.

Previous to the Zune 80, I used a Sansa Connect at work to stream Yahoo Music Stations. I used the Zune 30 at home docked and a/v out jack to an older powered subwoofer 3 speaker desktop setup. I use my iPod 30g Video for cutting the grass. My iPhone sits there charging waiting for some accessory to review with it. The rest of my players sit in the graveyard waiting for a photo opportunity with a newer device.

How do you use your Zune?