Update: Friday Nov 10th 7:30pm Just got back to denver and it's time to sit down and wrap up events of the LA Preview. To be honest I was expecting some lame corporate slideshow in some sterile business conference room, but the Zune team thankfully had better plans. We stayed in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel across the street from the Chinese and Kodak theaters. The preview itself was at the "Element" an exclusive club just off Hollywood Blvd.
Before entering the "Zune tent" (a bunch of sheets hung to form a little room) ZuneScene had a chance to go look at accessories laid out on tables. After a large group left the tent Zunescene and Zunerama entered with Scott Erickson and Matt J. (no attempt made to spell his last name, sorry Matt). Check out the videos on the right to get an idea of the pitch they made. It wasn't long before we had zunes in our hands and the 4 of us were swapping songs (not earwax). Meeting the Zune team was fun, they all seemed enthusiastic, Chris Stevenson seemed to have some kind of fire in his eyes when he talked about the Zune. It was great to hear that they had all visited Zunescene and knew about it. One guy said he printed it out and brought it to his job interview a couple months ago. It must have worked because he was working for the Zune team.
Update: Thursday Nov 9th 11:30pm Just got back from a killer Zune party at the "Element" just off Hollywood Blvd. We have plenty more videos to upload and stories to tell. Bitter Sweet was live, rocking the club, and Zunes were out on display for everyone to try.
Update: Thursday Nov 9th 5pm We just spent five hours with the Zune, Zune PC software, and all the 1st and 3rd party accessories. We even got to meet all the Zune marketing staff, and take lots of videos and pictures. So where to begin? The Zune made a big impression it was really the star of the show. We're going to be uploading some photos and videos ASAP so hang tight.
Update: Wednesday Nov 8th 11pm Met with the only other zune dedicated webmaster at the event: zunerama.com. We discussed the future of the Zune platform, and what type of information people might be seeking on Zune blogs. Another exciting thing is we both just got our first advertisments from a Design for Zune partner named Speck. Combine that with the trip to LA and we are starting to look like official zune news sites (whatever that is).
Update: Wednesday Nov 8th 8pm I found the notorious Cesar (From Zune Marketing) while wandering in the Hotel. He introduced me to 4 "Elite of the Elite" bloggers: Rachel, Jordan, Dodge, and the Gorillavsbear guy (cant remember his name). Cesar was working the bloggers with the Zune gospel and even whipped out a black Zune and showed some vids, then tucked it away. He's a bit possesive with that thing. He may need counseling when it goes on sale November 14th., after working so hard to secure the device from prying hands.
Cesar gave an analogy of how the Zune (generation 1) is like the XBOX (generation1). When XBOX shipped people weren't quite sure about the usefulness of the Ethernet port. A year later XBOX Live launched and it became more obvious. The Zune WiFi is is simlar, it basically holds the door of possibilities open.
One thing I noticed with the Zune (being left handed myself) is that when he rotated it counter clockwise the screen went into landscape mode. When he rotated it clockwise (for left handed people) the screen goes upside down. Just a detail, but I expect to get more of these small things worked out tomorrow. My initial impression of the Zune is that the screen is just huge compared to other devices I've seen. Say tuned, tomorrow will be a more informative hands on session.
Update: Wednesday 5pm Zunescene has arrived in Hollywood in preparation for the Zune preview event. We will finally get our hands on a Zune. Maybe they wont notice if the Black Zune goes missing.Here are some photos outside the hotel, stay tuned for the big event Nov 9th:
Zune 101 intro
Zune 1st Party Accessories
LA Preview Intro
3rd Party Accessories
Wi-Fi Sharing
Bitter Sweet
International Launch Discussion
Zune Marketplace
Reporter corners Matt
ZuneScene at the Zune Preview Event Entrance, in some back alley.
The lady on the right must be Zune security .
Zunescene at Virgin Megastore
Zunescene at Chinese Theatre
Zunescene gazing out the hotel window
Zunescene stepping on Tito Puente's star (who is Tito?)
