13 out of 13 people found this review helpful.
Zune Player Gets No Respect
Date of Review: Feb 17, 2008
The Bottom Line: Recommended for anyone with large audio/video collections. This player may even convert a few iPod users. Sound quality and ease of use are excellent, plus an FM radio!
All of my music is ripped to the .wma format so an iPod wouldn't work for me. Being a self professed music nut, I find the .wma file format sounds better than .mp3 files at comparable bit rates. The .wma format seems to hold the bottom end better, and so I ripped all 5 gazillion of my CD's to my computer in .wma format. I've wanted a PMP (Personal Music Player) for a while, but I was not going to re-rip all of my music to .mp3 for the iPod; and so I waited for a decent PMP to come out that played my precious .wma files. When Microsoft announced the Zune, I was pretty excited, but I am always wary of buying a 1st generation product; and so I waited and waited eagerly for the release of the 2nd generation Zune. Figuring the iPod goes through a generation a year, the Zune would soon come out in a 2nd gen variety.
Sure enough, the 2nd gen was soon available and Microsoft appears to have made major improvements over the 1st generation product. My wait appears to have paid off. DISCLAIMER: I have never owned a PMP (personal music player) before, so I will not attempt to make comparisons to other products that I have no familiarity with, although I have used my buddies iPod on several occasions and where comparisons are relevant I'll do my best.
PACKAGING – I bought my Zune from target for $249 and was surprised how small the box was. The 80G Zune comes in a package about the size of a small box of baking soda. Inside was the Zune itself, a sync cable, a set of headphones, and a small booklet that I thought was the owner's manual but turned out to be just a series of warnings in several languages; no doubt necessitated by Microsoft's consumer protection lawyers. Although the booklet did include a very brief 'Quick Start Up Guide'. Also I was surprised to see that for $250 Microsoft felt they couldn't afford to include a basic AC charger! Not to worry, it is available for an extra $20…figures.
On to the Zune player itself….
OVERALL – The player itself is pretty sharp looking; currently it is only available in basic black, but I have no doubt Microsoft will spice up the color offerings eventually. I'm a basic black kinda guy so that's fine with me, (although I was one of the few people that thought the 'chocolate' color of the 1st generation players was pretty cool). The player features what seems like the largest screen of any PMP I have seen, with three buttons below. Overall the player is pretty good looking, and has a 'solid' feel. Now let's break down the player a bit…
CONTROLS – Below the large screen are three buttons, let's take a look at them from left to right. The small button to the left of the large center 'squircle' is your dedicated back button. You use this button to back out of an album, playlist, est. Like I said it's a 'back button' and that's what it does. The large center button is being called a 'squircle'. …Marketing – go figure. The button works in two ways; one, by physically pushing or clicking it along the edges, allows you to scroll through menus, playlists est., secondly, it also works as a touch pad. You can scroll up and down, side to side y sliding your finger along the pad. I found the response of the touch pad to work pretty well and a little quicker if you're looking to play a title that is currently being displayed. If you want to scroll to the end of a long list it's quicker to hold down the bottom edge of the 'squircle'. When you're playing a song, the squircle doubles as the volume control. Slide your finger up the pad to raise the volume; down to lower it; simple. When viewing pictures or video, the orientation of the squircle changes so when you're watching video with the Zune sideways, the volume control stays the same up/down motion.
The 'squircle' is Microsoft's answer to the click wheel. In my opinion I don't think one is better than the other, they're just different methods of doing the same thing. I've read a lot of reviews where people are praising one and trashing the other; iPod people saying the click wheel is better est. It's all for nothing as far as I'm concerned. The click wheel on my buddy's iPod works fine and the squircle on my Zune works fine. I personally like the Zune squircle better; but that's probably because It's my own , and I've been using it a lot more than the two times I borrowed my buddies iPod.
The button to the right of the squircle is your play/pause button; and that's exactly what it does. When you're on a title you want to play you press it to play, press it again to pause…pretty basic. This button also serves as your power on/off button. Press and hold for a second to turn the player on or off. That's pretty much it; three simple buttons do it all.
At the bottom of the player is your USB port, and on top of the player you have your audio line out for your headphones, and on the top left of the player is a small lock button, that prevents any of the three buttons from working. This way you can 'lock' your Zune so the kids don't fool around with it est., not a bad little feature.
ASSESORIES – The Zune also comes with a 6' USB cable to sync your Zune to your computer, and surprisingly good sounding earphones…
EARPHONES – The Zune comes with a set of 'in your ear' phones and a few different sets of inserts that can be interchanged so you can get the best fit. I had planned on getting a 'good set' of earphones, but after using these, I was really surprised by how good they sound right out of the box. I think these phones will be all I need. I wouldn't use them to master the next U2 album, but for the average listener, these phones are more than capable. They have built in magnets, so when you are not using them the two earphones, 'snap' together to make storage easier. Again, another nice touch. For people that run/jog, you will probably want to get a set of 'sport' earphones; the ones that wrap around your ears. As these may not be secure enough for jogging/working out est. I give these earphones two thumbs up for sound and quality.
SOFTWARE – I've heard a lot of people grumble about the fact that Microsoft makes you use their Zune Marketplace software, to which I say; 'Big deal; with the iPod you're locked into iTunes, so what's the difference?' Granted drag and drop would be a nice feature but I didn't find the Zune software difficult or time consuming to figure out. The software does not come with the Zune; you must have an internet connection to log on and download from the Zune website. The software downloaded quickly and was simple to install. The Zune software is fairly easy to figure out; basically the software monitors the folders that you designate for music, video, podcasts, and pictures. When it detects new items added to the folders it automatically adds them to your 'Zune Collection' in the Zune software. From there you sync up what you want on to your Zune player.
At home I use windows media player on my computer, so all of my music is already stored on my PC in my 'My Music' folder. The Zune software takes this folder and pretty much mirrors it. When you plug the Zune into the computer through the supplied USB cable, your PC automatically starts up the Zune software. You have the option of syncing everything in the folder or just the songs you choose.
The same goes for your pictures and video, you can choose what you want to carry around on your Zune or you can have Zune sync the entire folder. The Podcast folder works a little differently; you can subscribe to podcasts and tell the Zune how many episodes you'd like to carry. The Zune will automatically delete episodes after you've listened to them and look for new episodes to download for you. There's a lot to do with the software, but it's all fairly straight forward, and I don't have the time to write about every feature or control. If you sit down and play around with it for a half hour or so, you'll have it mastered.
ZUNE HOMESCREEN – Now let's take a quick look at the different areas on the Zune 'Home screen'. When you turn on your Zune it will start up what I call the home screen. The home screen gives you your list of file types; i.e.: music, videos, radio, podcasts est. The first thing you'll notice is that your home screen list is in large easy to read type. The last few items don't fit on the bottom of the screen you need to scroll down to them. I assume Microsoft thought it was more important to quickly and easily read the listed items, than it was to fit them on the screen, and I'd have to agree with them.
MUSIC – Music is your first item on the list, duh! That is the main reason for buying the player; right? Click on the Music list brings you to your….music list. Music is sorted by Artist, Song, Album, Genre, and Playlists. Switching between the categories is very simple, making whatever you are looking for easy to find. I currently have about 4,500 songs on my Zune, and I can find whatever I'm looking for quickly and easily. The Zune will play .wma files up to a 320kbs bit rate. It will play the newer .wma pro format, as well as .aac and .mp3 files up to a 320kbs bit rate. 320kbs is much higher than any files I've seen anyone use. Most downloaded music is in the 128kbs – 160kbs range. I rip most of my own stuff in .wma format because I think it sounds better than .mp3 at comparable bit rates, and I rip at around 200kbs – 225kbs. All my files play fine.
VIDEO – Next on the list is video. Video's on the Zune play sideways, i.e.: you flip the player horizontally to watch videos in a wide screen format. Video play back is surprisingly good, color and picture sharpness were very good for such a small screen. Although this is where the Zune shines; at 3.2 inches this is the big screen of the .mp3 players. The Zune will play back .WMV, .MP4, and H.264 video
codec's. It can handle 720x480 at up to 30 frames per second. There are many sources for video online and at Zune market place, or if you have your own video files there are plenty of programs available to convert them from DVD to .MP4 or .WMV. You can watch music videos, homemade videos, TV shows and even movies on your player.
PICTURES – You can carry around your family album on your Zune, and the Zune does a good job of rendering your photos. The Zune supports .jpg only, which is currently the most widely used digital format for pictures in the world. Pictures again display in the wide screen mode, so a little photo editing know how is handy to make sure your pictures fill up the entire screen. The Zune doesn't know to rotate 'tall' or vertical pictures. So if you have for example, a portrait of your beloved one that is 6x4 instead of 4x6 it will display sideways on the Zune, instead of filling the whole screen. A quick 90 degree rotate in Photoshop or any digital editing program will take care of the problem.
Also keep in mind, the Zune displays in 320x240 resolutions. So a 7mp picture in 2270x2700 is overkill, and just a waste of memory. Resizing the photo to 320x240 can turn a 7mp file to a 120kb file, thereby saving a ton of space on your Zune if you plan to carry a lot of pictures. There will be no loss of picture quality as far as viewing it on your Zune is concerned, because the Zune is just going to take your 2270x2700 picture and shrink it down to 320x240 anyway. Although, at 80GB the Zune has room to spare, so this may all be a waste of time unless you plan on packing your Zune to the brim with music and video.
SOCIAL – The Zune has a unique feature. If there are other Zune users nearby with their Wi-Fi turned on your Zune can detect them and what they are listening to. You can swap songs that are good for 3plays a piece. I believe unprotected files can be played indefinitely now. The wireless sync uses 802.11b/g for fast downloads.
RADIO – The Zune also has a built in FM radio, which is something lacking on the iPod. The radio worked pretty well, though there is a lot of computer equipment where I work and picking up stations in the building is difficult. You cannot record radio of the Zune, which would be nice feature. Overall the radio worked well, and allows for presets, or it will automatically lock in the strangest signals in your area.
PODCASTS – The Zune stores your Podcasts here separate from your music. If you subscribe to podcasts through Zune market place the device will keep your episodes updated by downloading new ones and deleting old ones you've already listened to. You can tell Zune how many episodes of any one series you want to carry around at a time. You can also down load podcasts from the internet and create a podcast folder for your Zune to monitor. Download podcasts to your new folder and Zune will sync them up to your device for you. I wasn't planning on using this feature much but after browsing through all that was available I'm hooked! I'm brushing up on my German, listening to lectures on history and I'm in the locker room with the Red Wings after every game…what's better than that? (Except maybe playing for the Red Wings on a line with Zetterberg and Datsyuk…no call from the team yet, but I'm waiting).
BATTERY – Zune claims up to 30 hours of music and 4 1/2 hours with video. In reality I'm never awake more than 20 hours a day. So I'll never know if the 30 hour claim is true, I have used it several times for what seemed like an entire day with no problems. The 4 and a half hour claim with video I'd have to say is fairly accurate. I did watch a movie that was roughly 2 hours long and the battery was about half drained afterwards. To sum it up, battery life is more than adequate. Unless you're going hiking for the weekend with no outlet in site, you should be fine. Even if you do go hiking for the weekend you should be fine on a full charge as long as you're not watching movies.
SUMMARY – I am very pleased with my Zune so far. I've had it almost three weeks now with no problems. Video and Picture display is excellent, most importantly music quality is excellent; and that's using the included headphones. Zune software works well and syncing up music and video is pretty straight forward. With only three buttons on the Zune, it takes about 8 minutes and 21 seconds to master the device. Lack of an AC adapter in the package seems a little odd, but hey why include one when you can charge an extra $20 for it; right?
As mentioned before sound quality and video play back are excellent, the only complaint I have with the Zune is the glaring lack of accesories. I bought mine at Target and they had no cases for the 80GB Zune. The iPod display was an entire wall with everything you can imagine. The Zune…nothing. Cases, docking stations, Zune compatible radios are easy to find online, but it would have been nice to walk out of the store with something to carry my Zune around in. Instead I had to order a carry case online and wait a week and a half for it to ship. I also got an Altec Lansing M604 which is a powered speaker unit you plug your Zune into for listening around the house, but again it was a bit of a hassle to find one.
Hopefully if the Zune becomes more popular more manufactures will hop on board with accessorize. I would recommend the Zune 80GB to anyone that wants to carry all of their music all the time, and still have room for the digital family picture album and some funny video clips converted from YouTube. Easy to navigate, great sound quality and the largest screen available on a PMP to date, adds up to a great bargain!
