While the cost is minimal, the protection that is offered is, well, priceless. In addition they also offer a lifetime warranty.

I have been using the invisibleSHIELD to protect my current iPhone display for a long time now, and have used them in the past on various iPod’s as well. They are pretty simple to apply, and with just a little time, they can be applied nicely, and without any bubbles.

By far this is my favorite way to protect the displays on my devices.

So the time has come once again for another purchase, well actually two. July 11 is coming near and I want to have the invisibleSHIELD ready for the morning I get my phone so I can apply it as soon as it comes out of the box. The full coverage shield for the iPhone 3G is $24.95 with a front only for $14.95 and a bad only for $18.95. I can understand why you would want to protect the front only, but the back only sounds a little strange to me. It is nice though to at least have the option.

But perhaps, best of all if you pre-order the invisibleSHIELD for the iPhone 3G then you will save 20%.

I have also recently purchased a Zune 80 and although the screen is pretty scratch resistant, I figure I may as well get some extra protection. Just in case. For the Zune 80 the front only screen is $11.95 and the full coverage option is $24.95.

Total price for me, $21.52 with a savings of $5.38. Well worth not having to worry about scratches.

I did go with the free shipping though, so I will have to keep my fingers crossed and hope it arrives in time. But it looks like I waited a little to late. I could have paid extra for quicker shipping, but I am feeling cheap.

I have recently purchased a Microsoft Zune and since then have really enjoyed using it. It has also taught me something very important, something that should have been obvious, yet is never bothered me before.

DRM is bad and possibly even evil.

I currently have (and use) an iPhone and iPod Shuffle on a regular basis, and I have used and purchased music from iTunes since it first launched, I was also always more than happy and content using it and did not care about the included DRM, because I am a Mac user, and it was never an issue. I had been an Mac user before iTunes and its likely that I will continue to be a Mac user long into the future. Of course I also never thought I would buy (and enjoy a Zune) so switching back to a PC at some time is a possibility.

However, moving back to the DRM, it never seemed to matter or bother me because I had always just assumed that I would never use a portable player besides an iPod.

But now I have the Zune and the Zune Card, which I have downloaded quite a bit of music for and use my Zune Card daily when listening to music while I work and also use the Zune in my car. However I still want to purchase some music because my wife still uses her iPod and I still use an iPod Shuffle to run with and I still also use my iPhone as a media/music player.

This means DRM or the lack of DRM is now very important to me. I do not want to be able to share it with everyone, but just so I can actually use it, (in a manner that I consider fair-use) on both my Apple product and my Zune.

Enter the Amazon MP3 store…

I first used Amazon MP3 yesterday, they have a nice download tool for the Mac as well as Windows and Linux. It enables one-click album purchases and even adds them to iTunes automatically, assuming you are on a Mac or Windows machine. Which solves my issue, I still can use these tracks with iTunes and my Apple products and now I can also drag the MP3’s to a CD or portable drive and move them over to my PC for use with my Zune.

The DRM-free tracks are fairly priced and they come in MP3 format at 256kbps. I already had an Amazon account for book purchases which means that the MP3 purchases are tied to the same account. So the initial download was quick and easy. The downloads are also fast.

Its safe to say that at this time my future music purchases will be via the Amazon MP3 store, its also safe to say that I will also continue to use (and enjoy) my Zune as well as iPod Shuffle and iPhone. If you have not already I would highly suggest giving the Amazon MP3 store a try.

[Amazon MP3 Store]

After some initial aggravation and then some quality hands on time, I have my long overdue first thoughts on the Zune.

I guess, being it is “The Social” I should share my Zune web address, just in case you wanted to see what I have been listeing to.

http://social.zune.net/member/areyouageek

Now, moving on, I was able to get my Windows DRM issues resolved and transferred my Zune setup from the temporary setup on my Mini-Note to the desktop computer where I plan to use it on a regular basis.

The fix was not hard, and quite honestly I am more aggravated at tech support for not being able to resolve it or at least point me in a better direction, because after some online research this seems to be a fairly common issue, both with the Zune Marketplace as well as some other Windows DRM based music services.

The fix required me to…

Open a Windows folder and go to Tools > Folder Options. Once there I had to click on the View tab and check the circle for “Show hidden files and folders,” I also had to un-check the box just below that for “Hide protected operating system files.”

By doing this it allowed me to navigate to “C:\” then “Documents and Settings” then “All Users.” Once in All Users I was able to see my DRM folder, which simply had to be renamed to DRMbackup. After that I did a quick restart and everything was back and able to be downloaded and played, just like magic.

Of course I still feel that Windows DRM sucks, but remember I am a Mac guy.

So since I have begun to the Zune I can honestly say that I truly like it. Both as a player and also as a subscription service.

I have always had an interest in a subscription based service and used Napster for a while, but always felt that paying for the subscription was a waste of money and preferred buying and owning my music. However I just recently came to realization that I already pay for a subscription service and have no option of what I listen to. Its called satellite radio, I am, and have been a Sirius subscriber for years now and never minded paying for that, so what is the difference with the Marketplace? In my opinion — nothing, at least this way I get to listen to and choose a little more specifically what I listen to. First good, positive point for me.

Moving on I want to touch on the headphones, the ones that ship with the Zune 80 are “Premium” and honestly I have no idea what makes them premium, but can say that they are really nice. As compared to the Apple earbuds they are much more comfortable and in my personal opinion have a much better sound quality also. My only disappointment with them is that I cannot use them in my iPhone without a special adapter, but that is just an iPhone issue and nothing that is wrong with the headphones themselves. The magnet that holds to two earbuds together is also (albeit really useless) but still a neat little option. Second good, positive point for me.

Well I have rambled enough for now, more Zune thoughts on the player itself and Marketplace to follow shortly.

Its been almost three wasted hours now just attempting to be able to get my Zune setup. Its funny because I understand computers and this should not be so hard, I almost feel bad for those who are not quite as computer literate.

First off, it took me forever, at least a dozen attempts to get the Zune Marketplace software installed, for some reason it kept stopping. Finally got that all set, plugged in the Zune, updated the software to the current 2.5 and I thought I was ready to download music and sync. Oh how wrong I was.

With little time, I gave up last night and picked up this morning. I have spent way too much time and am considering a return. It comes down to an issue with DRM on my computer, which is funny because its a Windows XP Home machine with SP3 installed. I have used it for nothing other than some basic web surfing, in fact the only other program installed, other than what came with the computer, (its a Compaq) was Firefox.

In my attempt to download music, I was greeted with this error.

Naturally I went to the “web help” but was not given anything useful, in fact I was given nothing.

After this I called tech support, only to spend an hour on the phone with them attempting all the same crap that I already tried. I finally told him I had enough when he began asking me to uninstall and reinstall numerous items.

I just want to download and listen to music.

Well that is enough for today, I may try again tomorrow, but until then it looks pretty bad for the Zune.

As promised I have gone ahead with the purchase of the Zune, its here and at first glance it seems pretty nice. I still have to charge it up and get my account setup with the Marketplace. Sadly, I am kind of strapped for time today so some of that will have to wait till tomorrow before I get any further into my Zune experience.

In the meantime check out my unboxing set on Flickr.

Wow, shocking news coming from such as die hard Mac fan, and regular user since the OS 9 days but I have decided to grab a Zune of my own, just to see what it really is like. Now before you think I am crazy or have lost my mind, I want to make it clear that I am not swearing off the iPod or iPhone and will actually continue to use my Shuffle on my daily runs and my iPhone daily as well.

But the allure of the subscription based model has enticed me to give it a try, I did consider Napster or some of the others, but also have been Zune-curious for a while. I love music and cannot always listen to all the new stuff that I want, because buying tracks and CD’s on a regular basis gets really expensive. The idea of paying $14.95 a month now seems like a good deal, at least to me. I plan to use the Zune Marketplace to download and listen to music, and continue to use iTunes for my podcasts (which reside on my iPhone) and also for any music that I want to purchase. I have no plans to purchase anything additional from the Zune Marketplace.

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