Project: The ZVUE.com Media Download Website

Ground Zero Consulting: HandHeld Entertainment started as a hardware company by producing the ZVUE line of digital media players that can handle music, video, and photos. They quickly realized they needed a corresponding website to allow their user base to download content for their new devices.

We were involved in the early stages, helping to define the user experience for the site, where the content would be located, and how it would be delivered to the user.

The Content Service: We researched options and recommended thePlatform, a media publishing system (MPS) that allows ZVUE to to manage, and publish thousands of video downloads to their users.

Working with thePlatform engineers, we developed a unique connection service using XML and SOAP that allows ZVUE to properly synchronize and manage users, licenses, downloads, releases, and more.

The Website: We created the website backend code in PHP connecting with a MySQL database, and we specified the server configurations and installed all the software on UNIX servers at the client's colocation facility in 365 Main located in San Francisco.

PC and Mac Install Application: The MP3 media player came with an application for the user to sync audio and video to the player, but no easy means to install the application and corresponding documentation. We created an install disk image with a easy-to-use graphical front-end that was distributed in the player's store packaging.