Zune Reviews

I’ve owned 5 different kinds of iPods, as well as the original Zune, and I must say, that this product is by far the best of the group. I spent the day trying to return my iPod Classic (80GB) so that I could get my hands on one of these—and I had to look just about everywhere in town to find one.
Is this better than the iPod Classic? Undoubtedly. I can make a fair comparison, as I have been toying with the Classic for the last two weeks. I’ve had iPod Nanos (first and third generations), 3 iPod Videos (5G), and an iPod Classic (80GB). The iPod is a fine product line, but I had too many bad experiences with the 5G video to want to keep them. I heard that the Z80 came out so I went and bought that one instead.
I’m going to spend most of my time here discussing how the Zune 80 compares to its predecessor, the Zune 30, as well as the iPod line–as it has set the standard for mp3 players for the last few years.

Screen- The glass screen looks much better than the original Zune’s plastic one. The 320X240 resolution looks great. It looks far better than the Classic’s screen. You can turn it sideways to take full advantage of it while watching videos. The iPod Classic’s screen can only be viewed from one direction, and it has for the most part remained the same since the fifth generation. The video quality is great. Although this is technically the same resolution as the ipod Classic, nano, and Zune 4 and 8, it still manages to look great because of its size and clarity. You will notice that the quality on the smaller Zune appears sharper, but that’s only because there are more pixels per square inch on them, due to the smaller size. Still looks awesome. This screen is slightly larger than the 1G Zune, but overall it is still smaller in both thinness and height. The glass screen is far more durable than the plastic one, and after a few months of testing it now I can say that it does not scratch easily, if at all.
Build- This thing is built to last. It feels a lot denser and sturdier than the last year’s model. The first generation Zune couldn’t win a beauty contest by a long shot–but I think this one’s a winner. Aluminum back reminds me of the iPod line, although it’s much better because it is brushed metal. (Meaning you don’t have to keep it in a glass case, and bring out gloves when you want to handle it, like you did with the iPods). The paint, believe it or not, is actually very difficult to scratch. I’ve put it in my pocket with my keys, and the screen nor the paint scratches. I wouldn’t want purposefully subject it to such tests, but it happened, and it’s still in pristine condition. I scratched the back of my iPod Classic the first day I got it because of the glossy metal back. Scratching the back of your iPod is inevitable. I really don’t see a need for a case.
Zunepad- The iPod’s scroll wheel was a nice piece of work when it first came out. The Zunepad is better. Bold statement? Maybe. But I can now navigate via touch controls in four different directions as opposed to two with the iPod. And it is very easy to do so. I was skeptical at first, but Microsoft nailed it. You can choose if you want to flick your fingers across the “squirqle” to play your music, or you can just press the buttons to navigate. Nothing against Apple, but the scrollwheel on the Classic wasn’t nearly as sensitive as the 5th generation iPod video’s. Aren’t you supposed to make progress when you release new hardware? I had problems with my Classic’s scrollwheel’s sensitivity. I can definitely see myself navigating menus much faster using the Zunepad

I kept eying the Zune, and went back and forth about 5 times before buying it. The things about it that appealed to me were: the form factor, the capacity, the interface, the build quality, the battery life. The things about it that prevented me from buying it right away were: the fact that it’s made by Microsoft, the fact that it’s completely non-customizable, the poor reviews of the Zune v1.0 software, the fact that it can’t act as a USB host, and mostly because you can’t access the Zune device without using the Zune software — and it’s locked down pretty tight.

I have the Zune now for a few days and my first impressions are as follows:

The Zune device is well-made. I really like the size and shape — it’s almost perfect. The screen is awesome. The interface is surprisingly good and is fast. I like the touch pad (squircle). The sound quality is very good. The wireless capability is actually pretty cool. I can sync my Zune over my 802.11g WLAN at home (supports WEP, WPA, WPA2, TKIP, AES) without connecting it to my PC. I wish it had equalization controls like the original Zune, and more tweaking options like my old iRiver.

The Zune software is better than I was expecting. It does have some strangeness to it, but it works fairly well. For me, it’s main shortcoming is that I can’t customize how it presents my music collection. You have limited sorting options as to how the contents are displayed. It’s not a show-stopper, but it’s worth mentioning. I haven’t played with the online aspects of sharing yet via the ’social’, but I will get to it in time. In order to participate in this stuff you will need a Windows Live account, although you are NOT obligated to share your Zune collection if you don’t want to.

So far, I am impressed with this little device, and I don’t think that I made a mistake buy buying one. It looks like it will last a long time, and I can only hope that future firmware and software updates will address some of my gripes. Overall, a very impressive second effort by Microsoft. I think they got it right this time.

It’s impossible to not compare the Zune to the iPod so I’m not even going to try, but let’s get one thing out of the way right quick: Anyone who calls the Zune an iPod killer needs to have their head examined. Let’s not forget that there are many people who have invested hundreds or thousands of dollars into iTunes music, so they’re pretty much iPod customers for life(as Zune customers will be if they choose to use the Zune marketplace, but more on that later). And in case you haven’t noticed, the iPod is a pretty darn good device. The Zune doesn’t really offer anything that should have iPod+iTunes users jumping ship, but it does offer a compelling option for those looking to purchase a product like this for the first time or iPod users who have chosen to continue to buy CDs instead of digital albums.

The first thing you’ll notice after purchasing the Zune is that if they ever gave away some type of award for product packaging, the Zune would probably win it. The brown portion of the Zune box slips off to reveal a compartmentalized box inside that includes the Zune, the docking cable, stock earbuds, the Zune software, the token cheap felt case, and the documentation.

Onto the Zune itself. Even at 30 gigs it’s a bit longer and thicker than the 80 gig iPod. It is substantially heavier but not to a fault. Those looking to use an MP3 player for active use will probably want a flash player anyway. Where the Zune holds a big advantage over the iPod however is the rubbery-plastic finish. Whereas the iPod’s glossy finish is a magnet for fingerprints, the Zune’s rubbery plastic feel attracts virtually no fingerprints, and when it does they simply wipe off. The screen accumulates them quickly, and while a thin plastic film coating is included, it has some large text on it, so you might have to invest in a third-party screen protector. Bummer. The control pad has been often maligned for not being a scroll wheel, but I don’t understand why. Is moving your thumb around in circles really THAT intuitive?

Onto the Zune software. It’s a bit dissapointing that the Zune doesn’t simply intergrate seamlessly with Windows Media Player 11 like most MP3 players now do. Instead you’ll have to install the dedicated Zune software, which is essentially Windows Media Player 11 in some new clothing and with the Zune Marketplace built in. There have been many reports of hiccups installing the new software, so beware. It seems I was lucky. Once you do get the software going, syncing your music library to your player is a breeze, with a transfer speed of about two seconds per song.

As I said, the Zune software is essentially WMP11 with the Zune Marketplace included. The first time you enter the marketplace the software will ask you for your Windows Live ID. This is where one very cool perk comes into play if you are an XBox Live user. When you login with your ID, your Zune Marketplace account automatically links up with your XBox Live account, so you can share your Microsoft Points you already have across both services! Very very convienent.

Unfortunately, that may be the highlight of the Zune Marketplace. Graphically, it can’t hold a candle to iTunes and is pretty darn ugly. Users can’t review albums, and it as of yet doesn’t offer anything besides music(this is probably going to change very very soon). I don’t even use an iPod and I like browsing the iTunes store to see what’s new and read user reviews. I couldn’t imagine using the Zune Marketplace for anything except buying an album. But even that wouldn’t be advisable, since the music you purchase on the Zune marketplace will work ONLY on the Microsoft Zune and nothing else. So until it starts offering TV Shows and movies, the Zune Marketplace is a major dud.

This is where the real treat comes in, once you get your music onto the Zune and fire it up for the first time, many of your initial doubts will vanish. The screen is large, bright, and the background is fully customizable. The interface is a huge breath of fresh air after using the stale Artist>Album>Song system on iPods and Creative players for so many years. Instead, Artist, Album, and Song are listed horizontally at the top of the screen, and as you move the cursor over each option all of the items spill out down the substantial screen, with thumbnail album art included! When you do choose a song, the album art for that song dominates the screen, and the sound quality is excellent. You can easily adjust the volume by pressing up-and-down on the control pad, and scroll through the song by pushing left and right.

So music playback is a huge “hit”, but how about the video? The format support is pretty limited, and while the Zune software will convert just about anything, the playback format of converted videos is pretty poor. It was also a puzzling move for the Zune to have a 16×9 screen but only support 4:3 resolution. The stretching of the picture doesn’t really take that much away, but it seems a bit pointless. One handy feature is that the control pad will re-orient the controls for the Zune when you hold the player sideways.

One last thing, you might have noticed I haven’t even mentioned the much-hyped wi-fi feature. Why? Because it’s practically useless. Songs received via wi-fi transfer can only be played three times within a three day period, and songs by some artists(such as the Rolling Stones) won’t even transfer at all! The wi-fi capabilities of the Zune certainly offers exciting possibilities for future firmware updates, but they’re certainly not present now.

So that’s it. The Zune offers nothing that will have seasoned iPod+iTunes users jumping ship, and it certainly’ won’t kill the iPod, but the exceptional physical design, vastly superior user interface, and wi-fi possiblities in the future warrant a serious look by shoppers.

I’ve used several iPods (2nd-3rd gen), I’ve borrowed my friend’s iPod nanos, and I have used the first Zune (30GB). So I expected a lot from this little device.

Installation of the Zune software was a lot easier than I remembered it with the first generation Zune. Getting everything setup took around 3 minutes. Very easy!

Getting my music to the Zune took a little longer. The Zune marketplace did not allow me to easily copy Windows Mediaplayer playlists or copy/paste folders to specific playlists.

The sound is perfect… I have a set of Grado-60 headphones and Ultimate Ears fi-5 EBs. No complaints on the sound. The volume is plenty loud - I can hear everything nicely at 6 in a quiet room and 10-12 in a car doing 70mph.

The main reason I got the Zune 2nd gen was the podcasts. It is everything I dreamed of… CNN, The Economist, NPR - ALL automatically downloads to my Zune everyday and old podcasts are automatically removed. All I have to do is plug it in and it goes to work! I’ve got over 2GB of podcasts on my Zune right now.

The screen quality is seriously impressive. Even though it is super small my co-workers watched several of the movies that came with the Zune - they were really impressed (so am I). It is REALLY sharp for such a small screen.

Battery life - I always have this plugged into my computer whether at work or at home so I’ve never gone below the first “bar” of battery life.

Sorry, haven’t used the wireless feature - my family is getting a few Zune 8GBs so I will try and report back.

Definitely recommend this over the iPod. Why? I’ve had enough iPod vs Zune wars with my co-workers to last me years… I think Zune Marketplace is easier to use, I like the feel/look of the Zune better, and the ability to listen to the radio has always been a big plus for me (when I get tired of my music). Never understood why the iPod didn’t get FM… I really hate iTunes - though it does have tv shows. The iPod can also be used like a USB drive - something you can’t do with the Zune (WHY???).