ModestGeniusXL

Microsoft Zune is the DEVIL!

I could have actually done this post a few weeks ago.  Or at least started the process then.  Instead, I wanted to allow some time for the whole process to flesh out before I tried to fly too much off the handle.  With each passing day I realized that things were not going to end well.  Even though it's still ongoing, it's far enough progressed that I can safely speak on how shady Microsoft Zune truly is.

It all started while I was on my flight to DC.  The plane had just taken off and I had my Zune going to keep me occupied.  After playing a few cuts, it inexplicably stopped workng mid-song while I was listening.  I didn't think much of it since it's happened before.  It would normally be because I forgot to charge it fully so it had run out of juice.  That wasn't the case this time.  There was a message on the screen that said "Contact Zune Support".  I had never seen that one before.  Even doing a hard reset didn't cause it to go away.

I knew I wouldn't have much use for my Zune player once I got to DC so I still wasn't that hung up on it.  I waited until I returned home to get on the phone with Zune Support.  I was hoping they would give me some fix to do over the phone that would have it up and running again.  Nope.  It would have to be sent in for repair.  And this is where it started to get interesting...

The customer support guy promptly informed me that my warranty had run out.  It apparently expired one week prior.  So basically, their product conveniently decided to malfunction a week after the warranty expired.  Their product which relies heavily on their software to even function because songs can only be loaded onto it using their application.  I can't remove OR put songs on it without connecting to their network.  A brotha was livid.  I raised holy hell until the guy talked to a supervisor and agreed to fix it free of charge.

He provided the address of where I needed to send the player.  I half-listened.  I didn't see the need to record the address since it would be on the box they were sending me.  Then it occurred to me that they had no intention of sending a box.  They were counting on me providing my own shipping means to get it to them.  That was not happening.  I told them they need to send me the box to ship it in as I shouldn't have to bear that expense.  He promptly agreed to that too.  He didn't need the supervisor for that one. 

So the box comes days later and I send in my Zune.  I'm expecting the turnaround time to be fairly short.  Whenever I had to send the laptop in, it seemed like a matter of days before I got a message my lappy was on its way back.  Not so much here.  I was tracking my order on their website.  It took them over a week before they even received my Zune.  That was already shady.  I seriously doubt UPS took that long to deliver it.  I'm guessing it was a delay on Zune's end of updating their site. 

I finally get an e-mail July 9th saying it's been repaired and is on its way back to me.  They even provided a UPS shipping number so I could track the progress with them.  One problem:  when I checked said number I received a message that no such tracking number existed.  Either they gave me an incorrect shipping number or they just flat out didn't ship it.  So I call customer service back today.  Guess which one it was?  Yep...it hadn't even been shipped yet.  It was still sitting in their processing center waiting for UPS to pick it up.  Even though the email clearly said it was on its way.  When I ask the guy how long before I get it, his reply was it should take approximately 10 - 15 days.  That was the final straw.

I very coolly explained to the Zune people that the entire process, once it's all said and done, would have taken 30 days.  That is entirely unacceptable.  Furthermore, I informed them if that is their policy for timeframes than it was VERY poor customer service.  Turnaround time for an mp3 player should NOT take twice as long as laptop repair.  An apology wasn't enough.  I demanded to be compensated by getting credit for a free month of Zune Pass.  It was only fair since I could not use my Zune for an entire month.  Of course he had to escalate the call since he didn't have the authority to do that.

Naturally, the supervisor wouldn't appease my request either.  Even after I explained to her that this whole ordeal has soured me thoroughly on the Zune product.  Even after telling her that I will NEVER recommend their product to anyone.  Even after telling her that if they don't compensate me with the free month that I would not be renewing my membership and they would lost a customer.  None of that mattered.  They were good with all that.  So let it be known that Microsoft Zune is evil.  If you are looking for an mp3 player do NOT go that route.  They will make sure they use NO vaseline.

Loser of the Week...Almost

We are now just two short days away from Christmas.  To coincide with the Christmas spirit, I decided to do something that's more positive.  As a result, there will be no Loser of the Week this week.  Don't get me wrong, I had some good candidates lined up.  Okay, so I only had one lined up.  The publisher of the O.J. book would have been perfect.  Instead, I'm not going down that road.

In fact, I had been contemplating making a change in that philosophy altogether to kick off the new year.  The only problem is the new year isn't here quite yet.  That doesn't mean that the change itself cannot occur prematurely.  Therefore, as of last week, I have posted my last Loser of the Week. 

I'm going to start doing something different in 2007 in its place.  Sure, there will still be PLENTY of people, organizations and whatnot that I'm pretty certain will do some stupid things over the coming months.  They most likely will get noted on my site as I put in my two cents regarding their actions.  However, I'm going to be all about not rewarding stupidity for the coming year and instead, acknowledging positivity.

Starting on the first Saturday in 2007, I'll be rolling out my new category of Winner of the Week.  It will be just like it sounds: I will highlight something that took place that week that deserves recognition no matter how minute or grandiose.  Regardless of how much bad there is in the world, I'm confident I will always be able to find something good to spotlight.

It has been fun constantly reporting on a Loser of the Week.  Let's face it, there have been some real deserved doozies too:

• The "smartest guys in the room"
• The fake cancer lady
• OSU's biggest bust
• K-Fed
• LAPD

Just to mention a few.  As we approach a new year that means taking on new attitudes and doing away with the negativity of the Loser of the Week is one of them.  It has been real though.  We shall see how this new philosophy shakes out...

Loser of the Week

There may have been several things in history that many people may have fabricated for one reason or another.  Then again, there will always be conspiracy theorists who will contend that even the most factual things are false.  For instance, it's unbelievable to me that some people seriously still think that Neil Armstrong and his pals never landed on the moon.

All naysayers of historical fact pale in comparison to those that dispute the Holocaust.  That's one of the few things that still amaze me to this day.  How in the world can anyone in their sane, logical mind really believe that that horrific event never occurred?  With as many eyewitnesses in the survivors, photographed evidence and whatnot, you would have to be a complete idiot to think otherwise.  Or at the very least, a complete loser.

For that reason, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tops the  list this week.  He spoke at an international conference questioning the Holocaust referring to the killing of 6 million Jews in World War   II as a "myth".  Oh, and decided to throw in that Israel should be "wiped off the map".

While I'm ranting, what about this conference?  They seriously have a conference where this is actually debated?  Who's idea was this?  I would love to see some of the types of characters an event like this would attract.  Moreover, if Mahmoud is supposedly one of the more educated people there in attendance, I would be interested to hear some comments from the other morons in relation to him.

I love it how Mahmmy tries to defend his statements by saying that it's free speech and other countries should respect those beliefs.  This is coming from a man who's the president of a country that is the one of the worst violators of freedom of speech.  They shut down newspapers, jail journalists and block access to websites in efforts to stifle their constituents. 

Too bad someone so evil has to resemble one of my favorite comedians.  It's almost bitter irony when you think about it.  Anyone as ignorant as Mahmmy is a joke.

Loser of the Week

This one is more comical than anything else.  Nevertheless, her actions still warrant her making the cut.  I just wish I had a picture of this lady or at the very least, that they would have released her name. 

An American Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing this past Monday after a passenger lit a match to disguise the scent of her flatulence.  Apparently, several passengers reported smelling burning sulfur and got worried.

Now I've had my share of flatulence problems that sometimes unfortunately may occur in public.  It's occurred enough times to know little tricks that can help divert attention from yourself.  I've heard of the whole lighting a match thing but that's not one of them.  You look around like you don't know where it's coming from either.  You spray a quick burst of perfume/cologne to cover up the scent.  You act like you don't smell anything at all.

I'm sure this lady was fully aware of all the Homeland Security paranoia well enough to know that lighting a match would be an issue.  That should not have even been an option for her.  It's no wonder she wasn't allowed back on the plane.  She should consider herself fortunate that they didn't arrest her.  This goes without saying, but you know if that was a brotha or a sista, they would have pressed charges.

Speaking of Homeland Security, that's the other thing that comes to mind.  How was she even allowed on the plane with matches?  I thought that was a banned substance?  So people can't have more than an ounce of liquid in their carry-on yet matches are okay?  Our top flight security at work again folks.  For that reason that airport's security shares this week's award with Ms. Beans and Franks.

Loser of the Week

There were some pretty good applicants this week but I decided to stick with the one that had established himself early on.  Sometimes I just have to be stubborn that way.  I was tempted to go another direction with the news that I found out this weekend.  However, being that the individual is a college student and apparently has already had enough negative internet exposure, I'm going to grant her a pass.

The world of NFL football by it's very nature is a barbaric arena where it sometimes has the feel of no-holds barred.  These guys commonly leave everything on the field at the expense of permanent wear-and-tear on their bodies so even when they lose, they can feel as though the energy and effort they've spent was extremely strenuous.  Nevertheless, that's no excuse for some of their actions.

After a home loss last week against the New Orleans Saints, Vick left the field hearing boos throughout the stadium.  How did he respond?  By flipping off the fans, of course.  Keep in mind this was in front of HIS home crowd. 

First off, contrary to popular belief, the fans have every right to boo.  Even cheap tickets to an NFL game are going to run you around at least $50.  For that amount of money, they expect to see a good performance from the team they support.  One loss would be acceptable if there appeared to be a strong effort put forth by the losing team.  However, when it's the team's fourth straight loss after initially showing some promise, you're going to have some pretty ticked off fans.

Secondly, whether he likes it or not, Vick is a role model.  I always admired Barkley for making that commercial back in the day to the contrary but it's just not the case.  There are children watching these games that look up to athletes like Vick.  He has to know that.  No matter how upset he may be about the fans response to the loss, his reaction has got to be more tempered and definitely more professional.

To his credit, Vick's performance hasn't been entirely his fault.  You can't blame him that he's surrounded by receivers that can't catch balls that are put right in their hands and an offensive line that can't protect him long enough to make even more accurate passes.  Still, that doesn't mean that his gesture was justified.

The NFL responded by hitting Vick with a $10,000 fine.  With all the money he makes from his contract and endorsements, that's the equivalent of a $10 fine for average joes like you and me.  Hopefully, it's not the monetary punitive damages that will inspire him to respond differently in the future.  Actions speak louder than words and he will eventually learn that winning is the best remedy.

Loser of the Week

When it comes to morons that insist on breaking the law, there's dumb, there's stupid and then there's just flat out no-excuse-for-being-that retarded.  And when I say "retarded" I am in NO way referring to the evil name that some people give people with mental disabilities. In fact, even those people are smarter than this week's Loser.

Kengshill Schedier Pujols is a minor league pitcher with the Vero Beach Dodgers.  Well at least he was.  After this little incident, I couldn't find any listing of him anywhere on their roster online which means he's not with the team any longer.  More importantly, it was the only chance I had to get a photo of him to post to further publicly humiliate him.

Kenny-boy was pulled over by the police when they spotted him driving erratically.  For whatever reason, they searched his vehicle and found him with 130 bags of crack.  That's not even the bad part.  118 of those were stuffed in his underwear!

Now I don't profess to be an expert when it comes to eluding the police.  Fortunately, I haven't had any experience in that area and don't plan to.  However, common sense would seem to indicate if you know you're traveling with that much drugs, wouldn't it probably be a good idea to obey all the traffic laws?

I just keep wondering what inspired the police to even search his underwear?  I'm pretty sure he was driving with pants on.  One of the officers had to take the initiative to ask for a strip search to even find all that crack.  And just think, if they didn't pull them over when they did, just think of what other creative places he would have tried to stash the crack. 

In the words of the immortal Whitney Houston "crack is wack".  And it's probably not a good idea not to go joyriding with that much on you (or any at all for that matter) unless you don't enjoy the finer things in life...like your freedom.

 

Loser of the Week

Right up until today, I already had this one all written.  The clear choice was Oakland Raiders' Randy Moss.  I was going to talk about how he is being a spoiled brat.  He's admitted that because he's not happy where he is, that's why he's not playing well and he wants to be traded.  I was going to talk about how pitiful it is for a supposed team captain to be acting when he should be setting an example.  I was going to talk about how for the $7.5 million a year Oakland's paying him, he needs to suck it up.

Then I was getting my daily dose of CNN.com this morning and came across someone far worse.

Houston teenager David Henry Tuck can only be described as the devil incarnate.  At the very least, he's his son.  He was convicted Thursday of aggravated sexual assault on another teen.  Witnesses testified that he shouted racial slurs and "white power" while he sodomized a Hispanic teenager with the plastic pole of a patio umbrella.

Other facts of the story indicate the party where this occurred was heavily ladened with drugs.  Even if he had partaken in every different drug they had there, that would still be no excuse for his actions. 

At the trial, Damien's (for those of you who don't know, that's the son of Satan) attorney tried to argue that the court should show mercy because that's what Jesus would do.  Nice try, but what mercy did he show the victim?  I hate to be trite and use it out of context, but the Bible also says an eye for an eye.  I say for his punishment, this evil spawn should be subjected to the same kind of treatment. 

Damien ended up being sentenced to life in prison.  So basically, taxpayers will be spending yet more money on something that could have been resolved in a much shorter time span at a much more inexpensive cost.  The only thing that would be better would be if he has the same thing done to him on a constant basis while he's in prison.  Enjoy your stay, Loser. 

Loser of the Week

It seems like ages ago when the Rodney King video brought to light the true actions of "L.A.'s Finest".  Since then, the city supposedly went thru a period of change...and riots...to try to get some closure and get back to real justice.  A new police chief, a new mayor, even a new governor for the entire state.  So after all that bad publicity and all those changes, they learned their lesson, right?  We should be so lucky.

Years after one video put the spotlight on the LAPD, here comes another one.  It's difficult to tell who it is getting the beatdown, but you can still get the just of it...

With just 20 seconds of footage, the LAPD have just earned themselves this weeks Loser.

I'm sure some supporters of the police force might try to argue that the video could be taken out of context.  Maybe we don't know what happened before it that led to that point.  At any rate, whatever it was, it doesn't warrant this attack.  This person is clearly already subdued and in a position where they pose no threat whatsoever.  That doesn't matter to these public servants. 

One thing to keep in mind is just one incident that was fortunate enough to be caught on tape.  What about all the other instances of police brutality that they get away with because no one around has a camera?  Oh, I know...it just a gross exaggeration.  They really aren't like that or the "criminals" probably had it coming anyway.  Or how about they could actually do the real nature of their jobs by serving and protecting rather than harassing and assaulting.

Loser of the Week

It would have been SOOOO easy to give this week's honor to the infamous Axis.  Lord knows they deserve it.  However, after further review, I have decided they fall into the same category that Georgie does: that company does so much evil consistently that they would get it every week.  Therefore, just let it be known that every week I have this, it's already understood they are a co-recipient.

Instead, this week belongs to the dishonorable Rev. Ted Haggard.  And I use the term "reverend" very loosely in his case.  Apparently he had been using it loosely himself so it should come as no surprise.  As a matter of fact, he doesn't even deserve the honor of that title.  He's just regular "Mr.".

Teddy resigned Saturday as leader of the New Life Church after insurmountable accusations and charges had found that he was guilty of "sexually immoral conduct".  More specifically, he paid a male escort for sex and bought meth.

Naturally, he argued that he never had sex with the escort, he just paid for a massage.  Oh, and he just bought the meth, he never intended to use it so he just threw it out.  And if I'm not mistaken, he has some lovely swamp land in Florida and a nice bridge in San Francisco he'd like to sell.

With all of the recent news stories about all the filthy pedophile Catholic priests out there, this should come as no surprise that another "religious" figure was caught being a hypocrite.  In fact, if he was smart, he would have tried to deflect some of the attention off him and tried the "well at least he was legal" defense.  Regardless, Haggard's still a pitiful excuse for for a head of church and my God have mercy on his soul too.

Loser of the Week

By now, I'm sure everyone has seen that Michael J. Fox commercial that has created so much controversy.  He is endorsing a Missouri candidate who supports embryonic stem cell research and being one of the most prominent people suffering from Parkinson's, he's seen very visibly dealing with the effects of the disease.

The controversy pot got stirred when nobody's favorite pompous talk show host Rush Limbaugh accused Fox of hamming it up for the camera.  At first he said he either purposely didn't take his medicine or was acting because he is an actor.  He later backpedaled a bit to change his accusation to Fox was just playing victim for the Democrats to help their candidate.

Now I am in NO way a Rush supporter.  To quote one of my favorite  guilty pleasure movies "9 to 5", I think he's a sexist, egotistical, lying  hypocritical bigot.  However, even before I heard his idiotic comments, I had some doubts myself.  the only reason being that I had JUST seen Fox on an episode of "Boston Legal" and he looked just fine.  No shaking or anything.  I had no doubt he wasn't acting in the ad; I just thought maybe he wasn't taking his medication.

The more I thought about it, the more I knew I had to be wrong.  We all know those shows are taped weeks and sometimes months in advance.  Who's to say his condition hadn't deteriorated to the point of where it is now?  Then I came across the video for Fox's response on CBS where he responds to the criticisms and he makes perfectly good sense.

The most telling point of Fox's retort which I enjoyed watching was how he blew away Rush's last weak argument about being a patsy.  He indicated Parkinson's is a bipartisan issue and he'll support any candidate who supports stem cell research.  Personally, I'll believe MJF over Rush any day of the week.  Sue had it right on the money with her assessment of that druggie.  Leave Mike alone and worry about your own glass house, Rush.  You loser.