Comments on: ActiveSync/WMDC and Zune Sync: Birds of a Sync Feather

By: todd

todd — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:48:38 +0000

Andy: Thanks for the clarification. I have not tried the 2nd generation Zunes and did not know that.

By: Andy

Andy — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:00:32 +0000

It’s really worth pointing out that the newer Zune devices (the Zune 4/8/80, but not the original Zune 30) have hardware support for MP4, AAC, and H264 codecs, which are very prevalent for video podcast content. This means lots of podcasts that need to be converted prior to sync on the old Zune 30 that you were using do NOT need to be converted if you have one of the newer devices. So the experience there should be more on-par with sending those podcasts to an iPod.

By: todd

todd — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 16:11:51 +0000

Art: That is how podcast feeds work. You download them (audio, video, or any other binary attachment) from the source to your local store. What you are talking about is streaming media (audio or video) and is a whole different animal. People who download podcasts do so in order not to be dependent on having any connectivity that lets them, for example, listen to a podcast while driving to work. It is simple enough to simply let podcast feeds provide their content while getting ready for dinner or breakfast and then syncing a device immediately afterward. Your scenario may work for you but does not work unless you have connectivity and are willing to put up with unwanted stalls and other data errors due to a less than perfect or slow broadband connection.

By: Art Kavanagh

Art Kavanagh — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 08:55:49 +0000

Todd,

For a while, I was subscribing to a number of video podcasts (e.g. Cranky Geeks) in iTunes, and syncing them with my iPod touch. While you’re right to say that the syncing process is relatively fast, there are two disadvantages:

1. You have to wait for the podcast to download onto your computer before you can sync. That isn’t so fast.

2. The podcast takes up a chunk of the Touch’s limited flash memory while you’re getting around to watching it. There’s also a redundant copy on your computer.

So, I’ve found it preferable to bookmark the feed for the podcast on the Touch itself. That way, you don’t have to wait for the whole thing to download before you start to watch and you don’t have to think about deleting podcasts that you’re never going to watch (again).

Not all podcasts have a feed that links to an iPod compatible video file, but most of the ones that I’m interested in seem to.