This is what I love about blogging- someone asks a question, you answer, and then you get helped in return.  In response to my Tips for Windows Movie Maker 2 answering Adam's question about Tips and Tricks for Windows Movie Maker 2, Craig points us to a phenomenal site, www.windowsmoviemakers.net. Complete with well-traffic'd forums and a robust how-to section, this is a great example of the community in action.

Kartoo is a visual search engine that is definitely starting to turn heads.  The visual map cleanly uses Flash to visually represent rankings and relative weighting of sites based on search keywords.  Just type in “Sean Alexander”, “Chris Pirillo”, or “Robert Scoble”.  You'll see what I mean.  What it lacks in speed, it makes up for in context.

[Update] And along those same lines for Music, check out www.musicplasma.com which is a great example of WM Player extensibility.

Adam asks,

“Im just about to have my first go at Windows Movie Maker.. Any tips?”

No problem. My first tip is to start with the relatively unknown treasure-trove of articles, tips and tricks at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/moviemaker/.  There are how-to articles, free downloads with add-ons, pointers to 3rd party transitions and effects, and articles at three levels: Beginner, Intermediate and Expert.

Here are a few of my personal tips:

• Use transitions sparingly... outside the basic wipe or fade. 
• Use one of the roll-by video effects for credits, and bring in your favorite Photo Story (just drag and drop the .wmv into Movie Maker, or for more basic transitions, bring photos into MM2). These make for fun and easy eye-candy as the credits are rolling.
• Create two images in paint (or your favorite photo program, I use Digital Image Suite 9 and Photo Shop for more advanced stuff).  Make one 720x480 all-white, another all black.  Use these for dramatic (and timed) fades to black or white in your project.
• Check out www.sounddogs.com for more sound effects, and one of the world's largest online music libraries.  From loops to just about any type or mood, they have it.  I use their stuff all the time for public demos.
• Play with the video effects.  Sepia + Older Film Grain = a neat effect.
• Visit the Movie Maker Newsgroup on MS.com.  PapaJohn is one of our great MVPs who also runs an in-depth site on MM2 and knows a lot more than I do.

We're always looking for good home videos to showcase on Microsoft.com.  If you have one (with rights-approved music), and are interested in the fame and fortune that comes with this (okay who are we kidding?), please let me know here or in email.

I hope that helps.  If others post tips and tricks here, I'll be sure to aggregate them. We're also working on a project to make how-to's across our digital media features more discoverable.  As always, let us know what you'd like to see.

JeffJohn calls me a “WindowsMedia pundit... and all around nice guy!”  Thanks Jeff.  Good to see you over at Loudeye and keep in touch. 

Interestingly enough, Loudeye is launching Branded Digital Music Stores and Services such as 100 channels of pre-programmed radio. AT&T Wireless will be among the first to deliver a music store experience to mMode capable phones including the Motorola MPx200 Smartphone. Loudeye is definitely one to watch.

I've been Scobleized again. Jake Ludington comments,

“And to throw another opinion on players into the mix - take a look at the Rio Karma. The device button placement is better than the Dell DJ, it natively acts as a mass storage device for non-music data, and the auto-playlist building features are outstanding. Book marking for audio books is a nice feature too - something Rio pioneered several devices ago.“

A fair point Jake.  Personally I just don't like the red thumbstick on the Rio and the thickness of it.  The Rio has a number of redeeming qualities including the Ethernet connection on the dock.  That's the beauty of the choice- you can pick your device, I can pick mine. At least we have options.

By the way, Jake has a pretty good roundup of the major devices out on the market here.

Steve tipped me off to a new Windows Media Player Library Plug-in for TiVo Desktop Software which enables you to view your media library in the same style as the Player, read Windows Media Player playlists (.wpl files) and stream back MP3's from your PC.  Sorry, the TiVo still doesn't support WMA.  This is something TiVo customers should ask for- there's nothing stopping TiVo from adding support for WMA and/or WMV playback to their platform.

I agree with Furrygoat that an MCE box makes this much easier however for TiVo Series 2 owners with the Home Media Option, at least you have more choices for your hardware. 

While not quite as funny as the original Terry Tate videos and certainly more crass, the new Reebok spot mixes it up well.

I remember a few years back when Allegiance was in development, I sent an email off to one of the lead PMs asking for a RAID query so I could enter some bugs on the project.  On a Saturday morning, he sent me the query in just a few minutes.  That impressed me. I spent some good time playing the game, developed in large part by Microsoft Research.  Now they've released the source code.  Thanks to Technovangelist for this one.

Ryan asks, “Can you please share your process for converting tapes to WMV?”  Sure thing.  In my case, it was with the Hauppauge WinTV board that came pre-installed in my Gateway Media Center box.  Mileage may vary depending upon the capture card you have.  If you don't have a card- go get a Hauppauge TV tuner board or a 1394 capture solution and skip the USB devices.  They just don't have enough bandwidth so they pre-compress the video and then send it over = bad quality IMO.

Once you have your card, use Windows Movie Maker 2 to encode. (Note: You can get WMM2 from Windows Update if you haven't updated- XP only.) Turn off the “create clips” option if you're not going to be immediately editing your video.  When outputting, choose “High Quality WMV” - this is a VBR (Variable Bit Rate) setting that will allocate more bits to high action sequences.  I've used this for our home videos and they look stellar.

If you're capturing from Mini-DV, you're in luck. 1394/Firewire is the way to go here today, and you'll get the best quality for archival since the video is stored digitally on the tape.

This is all good for archival but if you're going to be editing down a specific piece of video or have gobs of HD space, consider DV-AVI as an intermediary step. DV-AVI retains the highest quality but again uses a massive amount of HDD space.  I edit all my home videos in DV-AVI when creating DVDs or home highlights reels I convert then to WMV. 

Hope that helps Ryan (and others)

Today, we had a minor reorg.  In it, I was made manager of the marketing team responsible for Windows Media Player, Windows Movie Maker, Microsoft Plus! products, and more. As Group Product Manager in the Windows Digital Media Division, I wake up every day excited to work with smart, passionate, driven people. These are people who truly believe that what we are creating is for the betterment of others, desire the success of partners, and have an insatiable drive to make it better than it is today. My main goal as a manager is to help them succeed in their careers, keep that passion going, and deliver breakthrough ideas and programs. Time to ping John Porcaro for some pointers I think. (John where have you been?)

I hope to continue this blog as a conduit of that ideology- a sharing of passions, and a desire to hear feedback from others on how we (as a team) can and will do better.

Hot on the heels of Kris the Dancing Elf, there's are two new Plus! Dancers on the way... sure to surprise and delight multiple generations.  No, this won't be Kris' little buddy Seamus, the Leprachaun on a bender.  Think bigger... cooler.  One for LE, another exclusively for Plus! owners... I can't say more but it's distracting me at work.  Later this month. 

Oh yes, and Plus! Digital Media Edition is now available for download in 17 countries including the EU for SRP of $19.95 US.  The first consumer MS product available for purchase and full download spanning the globe. (Sorry, MSDN doesn't count)

Yes, you too can buy silence- that's right, complete silence captured for listening... for only $0.99. Three complete tracks. There is also the version with explicit lyrics, or the Parental Advisory version of... silence. 

I just wonder how much “Peace of Mind” costs these days...

Just in case you missed it, new Pocket PC 2003 and Smartphone 2003 output profiles for Windows Movie Maker 2 are now available in this season's Windows Movie Maker 2 Winter Fun Pack 2003.

There are also some cool new winter-themed transitions and a new snowstorm effect.

Anon points me to a cool utility from Maxtor that can adjust the speed of Maxtor HDD head seeks, further reducing the (already low level) noise created by my Gatewaly FMC-901X Media Center PC.  Thanks Anon!

Forget saving up for your own Stormtrooper body armor.  Next Haloween, be the first on your block to sport your own Mjolnir armor just like Master Chief.  Apparently the guys at Nightmare Armor are building physical, wearable, replicas of the hit game's lead character's body armor.  Next up: rechargable personal shields.

Read the Bungie article

This reminds me I never got my Red vs. Blue Season 1 DVD

Thanks to Duncan for the link.

Have you ever been on a flight only to have the person in front of you jam your kneecaps into your hamstrings?  My wife just pointed me to “Knee Defender”.  These nifty little gadgets claim to lock the seat in front of you from being reclined beyond a distance of your choosing.

Personally I won't use them because we're all in that plane together and I reserve the right to recline my seat as well (unless I'm stuck in the dreaded first-exit row on some flights that doesn't recline).  We should just all band together against the airlines for the right to a deep-vein thrombosis free lifestyle.

It appears the Microsoft Education group has come up with some interesting posters to educate kids about viruses, hackers, and worms. I remember the days when the biggest news about a worm involved Johnny eating two during recess for $2.

I know some family members who I should be sending this poster to as well... you know who you are.

Perhaps we should do a contest for the best anti-virus public-service announcement (PSA) created with Windows Movie Maker 2.

Chris Pirillo recently blogged that he has been named as a Microsoft MVP in Digital Media.  For those not familiar with the program, there is normally no formal application process, but rather it's designed to recognize those who demonstrate expertise, a passion for helping others, and the conviction to stand up for others and say what they do and do not like about our products and technologies. The MVP program has been around for over a decade in one fashion or another across Microsoft. We spend a fair amount of time in newsgroups, the blogosphere, message boards, etc.  Chris' utter passion for technology and ability to break down abstract concepts for every person is what drew us to him. That and his ability to tell it like it is- especially the pain points that will help us to make our products better. Congratulations Chris- keep up the feedback.

Want to provide feedback?  There are plenty of ways- blog about it, hit the newsgroups, comment on MS blog sites or popular online communities, or use more formalized feedback mechanisms.  Get involved with your local user groups. There's a big community out there with a discussion medium for everyone. It's not just you either- the developers, the architects of the products you talk about are often engaged in the same discussions. We may not always be able to respond directly, but we're listening.  I can attest that for the technologies I work on, your feedback gets into the hands of the developers. You may not always agree with design decisions or features but we're always looking to improve. 

The boys have some strongly-worded comments about why they're making the move in their latest newsletter.  I love Car Talk when I get a chance to listen- now I'll be doing so more often and on-demand :)  I wonder if Click and Clack are aware of how many car-stereos now support Windows Media as well?  I'd love to burn a CD w/ their show and listen to it at drive-time. It's also a pretty good example of the lesser-known Windows Media Audio 9 Voice codec- great audio at only 16kbps. I just wish they'd offer a stereo, higher bitrate version as well :).

Listen Here  

My birthday came a little bit early this year- Nickie gave me a Gateway FMC-901X Media Center Edition PC for my 30th b/d coming up in March.  I have to say I'm pretty impressed with the box- I cracked it open and it's rather elegant in design inside and very quiet. FYI- if you're in the area, forget the Redmond Gateway store- 3 weeks of attempting to buy one in stock yielded no results though a quick call to Lynnwood and I had the box on hold and in my hands 30 minutes later.

I've spent the last weekend converting old videotapes of Nickie's college theater productions of Chicago, Hair, Pippin and others into WMV via MovieMaker.   The system ran flawlessly and while I don't imagine these are movies we'll watch regularly, hard drives are getting cheaper and this is a preservation attempt so that we can show our son one day.  Next up is a stack of Mini-DV tapes.

Here are a few more thoughts on the box in short-order:

• Very quiet thanks to a throttled fan
• Very fast- 3Ghz HyperThreaded box
• It plays WMV HD clips  from HDD or DVD like a dream
• The Hauppauge WinTV board works great for both FM and Terrestrial.  I have it plugged in to my HDTV box (Samsung SIR-TS160 and swear I'm getting a better digital signal than my Ultimate TV via DirecTV- no surprise for locals)
• Hard drive is NOISY.  Looks like a Maxtor inside.  That might need to go at some point when the upgrade bug hits.
• Fast startup/standby.  It could be faster but it works well.
• No IR blaster!  IR is completely integrated- as it should be.
• The desktop was CLEAN. This shocked me- an OEM with a clean desktop install w/ only the recycle bin was like a breath of fresh air. Removing the crapware in the Start menu was painless compared to some other systems I've seen.
• The LCD is great.  Even listening to Napster 2.0 via the MCE big screen UI, I get track name and status on the front.
• I never have to set a blinking 12:00 clock. Thank you Internet Time Servers and Windows XP
• The Gyration mouse and keyboard may be bit jolting at first, but keep working at it- you'll be zooming across the screen with the mouse in no-time.

A few minor nits:

• The Gateway updater program ships on the recovery CD, not on the box.  This is a nifty little app that scans your bios, drivers and determines any updates available specific to your hardware from Gateway.
• Getting the front analog inputs working was a pain- I ended up resorting to plugging audio into the audigy in the back and video into the RCA port in the front.
• I saw Nero Burning ROM, Sonic Primetime, and Intervideo WinDVD all installed at the same time on the factory install.  I've seen a few minor issues with programs battling it out for the DVD drive- quick solution was to “restore“ from disc which only installed Intervideo by default and left the others to manual install for testing down the road.
• I've heard some grumbling about Macrovision protection blocking playback of some DVDs via DVI.  I need to investigate more- hopefully the ATI board recognizes if you have a DVI + HDCP compatible TV and displays correctly.
• I'm going to have to enable RAID or develop a backup strategy w/ another drive because losing all my data is no longer just a nuisance - it risks the wrath of my wife and the harmony of our household.
• My head must be buzzing with RF because the system isn't picking up the Gyration further than 4 feet from the box anymore- this started happening a few days after installation.  Perhaps I need to change channels- there are at least 5 baby-monitors, 4 cordless phones and 3 WiFi networks all operating in the 2.4Ghz range w/in a 1 block radius of our house which I imagine has something to do with this.

I'm very happy with my new toy and so is our son who can't stop playing with the remote.  Thank god I have extra MCE remotes.

Now, if you're really lazy, a new online questionnaire from AOL/Time offers the ability to answer a few questions and find out who your best match is for president based on personal beliefs. Actually I think this tool is pretty nifty- there were a few issues/policies I wasn't aware of and it piqued my curiousity to go back and learn more. 

Want to listen to Sting, Sheryl Crow, Ludacris, Peter Gabriel, or my buddy, Andy Hunter in WMA 5.1 surround sound? Bookmark the new Windows Media Surround Sound Showcase page and check back often for more music ;)

Microsoft Research has a technology demonstration that turns 3D stereoscopic images into motion-rendered graphics you can view via a Windows Media Video file.

Bungie has posted a screenshot.  I'm definitely up to task :)

Disclaimer: The following comments are my own and in no way represent my employer. The following is based on personal opinion, provided “As Is“ with no warranties or rights.

It looks like Scoble and Dare among others have hit a chord with many in their discussion of the iPod, though I think they're shouting past each other to a certain extent. Just because Robert's touch points are different from Dare's does not mean he's being influenced by the “borg cube“. I have no interest in getting in the middle of their debate but a few facts should be clarified. Note that this is not an “Apple to Apple“ comparison (no pun intended) but rather offered as a few points of correction to some of the market share and device compatibility statements that have been made:

Apple Music Player Market Share
Source: IDC, Gartner Inc. as reported by Business Week 2/2/04

• 2002 Player Market Share - 24%
• 2003 Player Market Share - 25%
• Music Services: 1
• Compatible Portable Music Players: 2 (both iPods)
• Non-PMP's (Receivers, Car Players, Etc.): 0
• Lowest Cost Device: $249 (iPod Mini)

Windows Media Support in Portable Music Players

• Music Services: >20 including Napster, Best Buy, Wal-Mart, MusicNow and others
• Compatible Portable Music Players: 60
• Non-PMP's w/ format support: ~500
• Number of songs available: >500,000

• Avg Flash/Microdrive Based Players $50-$199 for 4GB
  HDD Players $224-$400

• Lowest cost device: $60 (Rio S10)

"So, what device do you use?  What device should I buy?"

This is the #1 question I get in email and comments on my blog. It's not a cop-out but you have to make the choice that is right for you. Microsoft doesn't make devices, but we make parts of the technology that when combined, equals the device, hence our desire not to talk about specific devices, but rather the experience. Personally, I like that there's more than one DVD player on the market- or more than one HDTV or AV Receiver manufacturer.  I equally like having the choice of picking which music services, device styles and manufacturers I use. I've made my choice based on personal preferences and yours may be different. Some may like the simplicity that others offer, others may feel constrained. That's fine. That's what choice means to me.  

I have a new iPod, a Dell Digital Jukebox, a Creative Nomad Zen NX, a Nomad MuVo 256MB, a Samsung Napster Player, a Rio Nitrus, and have used most of the others or at least had the opportunity to play with one. I'm fortunate given where I work, I have the opportunity because we want to understand what different types of customers want, from Music Services to devices- people have different lifestyles and preferences. On average, I've used each for approx 1-2 months. Based on multiple requests, here is my personal reasoning behind my main device choice:

Why I use a Dell Digital Jukebox as my main personal music player:

1. The battery lasts 14 hours (per charge).  A week in France on a single charge, 5 hour layover in Heathrow, 2 of 4 bars left on battery. I can't comment on whether the Dell lasts more than 18 months yet.
2. I can take more Music on the Go. I can store more music on the device (at least 30%-50% more than non-WMA devices @ 96kbps or 64kbps respectively).
3. I have a better choice of music. I can pick and choose what I put on my Dell DJ from over 20 different music services. I prefer the subscription model personally.  Maybe NetFlix just wore me down but it works for me, but not for everyone.  I like having the choice given lifestyles and personal budgets change. 
4. I don't lose my music if I lose my device. If my Dell DJ HD crashes or I lose it, I can still go back and re-download my music from most services like Napster 2.0. I have yet to see a way to do this with others yet I can't believe this hasn't been raised more.
5. I have a wider choice of software. I can use Windows Media Player, MusicMatch Jukebox, or the new Red Chair DudeBox Explorer software. Others are sure to follow. Personally I still don't understand why iTunes continues to keep two apps/processes running in memory all the time even when I'm not using it or have my iPod connected. It's a 1394/Firewire device- it should just know when I connect and go.

That's what choice looks like to me. What's your choice? 

At CES, we helped to preview the new Malata Diva, a combo DVD player, WMA/WMV9 player, and PVR recorder that writes directly into Windows Media Video 9 and will be sold under the Polaroid name later this year. Shown at the Windows Movie Maker 2 booth, this player answers questions from those of you who have been asking when you can start burning data CD's with DVD-quality WMV9 and play them in a DVD player.  It's also networked and there's mention of playback of your music, video, and downloadable movies.  I can't vouch for the final product as I'm not a reviewer but I did see solid WMV9 playback.

The scenario is this:  You want to create home movies with Windows Movie Maker 2 but don't want to pay $5 and spend hours converting video to burn a DVD disc (and that's if you have the DVD burner).  Soon, it will be cheaper to get a DVD player that plays back WMV9 natively. Just burn a CD-R with the movie and play it in your WMV9-compatible DVD player.  If family want copies- they can play the same discs in their PC until they get a DVD player that supports WMV9. I expect I'll be replacing family members' DVD players next Christmas so they can enjoy higher quality home movies and highlights- today DVD is just too time-consuming and expensive. Malata may be first out of the gate but others are on their way.

I'm back again. I just spent the last week at the MIDEM Music Conference in Cannes, France. It was a great time, met a lot of interesting people in the industry and realized that heads aren't in the sand like others might think.  We were showing how over 20 music services work with 60 portable music players in the market, offering the widest range of personal choice in digital music delivery available today. I'm still using Napster w/ my own money and loving the Media Center Edition UI.  They should do more to demo that- people were enamored with it at the show.

I took my Dell Digital Jukebox with me and it never needed recharging. With up to 16 hours of play and ~10,000 songs (at 64kbps WMA9), this is the device to beat.  I also had my 256MB Nomad MuVo which we were using in a pinch to transfer files and carries music conveniently in your front jeans pocket.  That's choice.

Now I just wish that one of the portable music player manufacturers would work a deal with CarToys or Circuit City etc. to install an adapter to existing cars so you can plug your new toy in- forget the cassette or radio adapters- they sound horrible.  It costs about $80 to get just a simple cable installed- I have to think the retailer would do gangbusters with a solution like this. 

So in all, the event was great, you can see some pictures up on my MoBlog. The food was phenomenal, the weather cold, but the parties were hopping.

At CES, one of the big hits were the WMV HD demonstrations and sampler DVD being given away.  WMV HD is just Windows Media Video 9 Series optimized for High Definition playback with 5.1 to 7.1 surround sound WMA. This was also shown at Bill Gates' keynote, and the clips are now available for download.  Over a dozen IMAX films will be coming out in WMV-HD for your viewing pleasure on a 2.5Ghz+ machine.  Why IMAX?  The film is actually much larger than traditional motion picture film and captures more detail- a great demonstration of the technology of Windows Media delivering HD quality at a fraction the size of “traditional” HD broadcast and 6x the quality of DVD.  Just imagine how many HDTV channels could be broadcast over cable and satellite through the use of this technology, not to mention with the new HD consumer DV-cameras hitting the market.

Check out http://www.wmvhd.com for more samples
Interested in creating your own WMV HD clips?  Check out Ben Waggoner's Zero to HD in 60 Seconds How-To Article.

I'm off to CES tomorrow.  Had a big snowstorm here earlier today that slowed down everything, and it was really hard to VPN in when half of Microsoft is trying to do the same from home.  I went in for a few hours and snapped a few photos of 520 covered in snow which I'll have to share.

If you're at CES, swing by the Microsoft Plus! booth and say hello on Thursday.  We'll be showing some neat technology like Plus! Photo Story 2 authored content playing back on the latest Pocket PCs and Smartphones ;)

We're back from Christmas vacation on the East Coast.  One word for parents of young children flying coast-coast: Benadryl.  Our Dr. recommended it for our son Ryan to help him with the trip. He slept most of the way out to NJ and back on his schedule.  I don't condone drugging your kid in any way but Ryan had a cold and this helped him (and us) out quite a bit. Other parents with screaming kids were giving us the stink-eye because he was so quiet.

Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkah/Happy Kwanzaa everyone!

I must be about :30 too young to really appreciate Battlestar Galactica as an original series.  After watching last week's SciFi channel remake as a mini-series I have a few thoughts:

- Edward James Olmos was good, but looks funny without a mustache.  He was also a bit too brooding for my taste.

- Oh gee, it's the “father has a pissed off son” thing again.  Moving on...

- Stephen Spielberg's “Taken“ was a miniseries, Battlestar is a 4 hour TV movie

- The ending sucked. Let's just leave the whole thing hanging. Any more loose ends and this thing would have been rated NC-17. They should have warnings at the beginning of mini-series like this that state, “Warning: This 4 hour television event is:

a) a new series idea from SciFi that we weren't ready to commit to so you're our test audience.

b) the first of a long and drawn out set of movie-like “events” we'll release every few years like Babylon-5 was relegated to.

c) what we were able to patch together after we burned through 1/3 of our budget in that really cool scene with the new Cylons. Oops- budget's too high, cast a “hot chick“ as the evil one.  That hasn't been done in 6 mos.

Don't get me wrong.  It was enjoyable for some really well done FX but I barely lifted my head from my laptop during most of it. Bummer.

A friend recently sent me an email pointing to this blog, with a compilation of the worst album covers ever.  Good luck finding these on any online music store. Ever.

Here's a collection of How-To articles and project ideas such as how to make the most of Plus! Photo Story, throw a holiday party with Plus! Party Mode as the DJ and much more. 

In other news, MSN Entertainment just added movie trailers to Plus! Sync & Go so all you Pocket PC owners can download and play on the go! ;).  I swear this feature doesn't get it's due- you get to watch NBC's Today Show or NBC Nightly News on-demand on your Pocket PC, or listen to NPR news and many more.  All without a subscription fee other than the $20 it costs to buy Plus!

I just got one of the latest smartphones for testing- the HTC Voyager aka Orange SPV-E200.  It has 2003 OS, Bluetooth, and a built-in camera.  I'll write more once I've had a chance to take it through it's paces.