Aug 10th, 10:04 pm

By:
Mike

Zune and Wi-Fi

By Sarawanan Ravindran (saran81kid91)

  It’s something that has been speculated as part of Zune since the beginning. It may be an edge over the iPod, but it also has its share of disadvantages.  We have not heard anything officially of the Wi-Fi capabilities though certain insiders have hinted at it.

 Microsoft hopes to win people over with this technology. The Wi-Fi connection would be used to download music on the go. It is also believed that you could share music with people around you and communicate with people.  Currently, MusicGremlin is the only service to provide a similar service through Wi-Fi.

 Apple has considered adding Wi-Fi to their players in the past, but have not implemented in due to certain issues. A major issue related with the service is that Wi-Fi connections are not available everywhere at this time. Battery life is another huge issue because Wi-Fi drains battery life.

 Apple chose not to add Wi-Fi primarily because their batteries were not powerful enough to last long enough with Wi-Fi working on it. On average Wi-Fi often reduces the battery life significantly. This will also be an issue Zune will likely face. However, Zune may offer a larger battery which would not compromise battery life for Wi-Fi.

 The Wi-Fi capability could provide many services to your Zune in the future. TV is a strong possibility through devices such as SlingBox or using similar technology to Sony’s LocationFree TV’s. VOIP is another feature that may become available in the future. There are a number of possibilities on Wi-Fi and Microsoft has an edge if they come out with it in the beginning.

 Wi-Fi may eventually become the standard, but there are obstacles that must be crossed in order to make it more efficient for customers.  We need to increase the speeds of Wi-Fi connections and we have to cover most areas with the Wi-Fi service.

 As you can see there are many advantages and disadvantages of bringing Wi-Fi onto the mainstream market. By what I have seen Microsoft will roll Wi-Fi out, but the question is how effective will it be.