A Free Microsoft Zune...Yep...

Several months ago, I signed up at club.live.com. Club Live is an on-line search club that has interesting brain games that offer tickets as points for winning games. I like the crossword puzzles, which give 25 tickets per win. 800 games later, I had accumulated 20,000 tickets. I was actually playing for an X-Box 360 which was 35,000 tickets, but they sold out. So, I cashed out for a Microsoft Zune. It arrived in the mail yesterday.

My son and I eagerly opened the box to see what was inside. The packaging is interesting, if not confusing. there is a box that slides into a box cover. When the inner box is removed, there is a storage compartment that opens from the top, where the disc and flimsy manuals are stored. The other side of the box opens to reveal the Zune in the middle, with a smaller compartment to either side of the Zune, one containing ear phones, the other a USB cable for transferring data and charging the Zune.

I removed the disc and placed it into the D: drive and waited for the software to load. I proceeded to read the instructions, only to find that you get two pamphlets...the first is a quick-start guide that basically walks you through set-up using drawings and simple instructions. The other pamphlet talks about the battery, protecting your ears and the one year warranty that comes with the Zune. There were no instructions for actually transferring music from your PC to the Zune. However, there WAS a telephone number for Customer Support, appropriately, 1-800-GET-ZUNE.

I read bruguru's article on the Zune, and he obviously understands about ripping CD's, and must understand how to transfer these files without looking. I guess I could have asked him, too! I have never used this type of equipment or software (please don't use the word dinosaur), so I resorted to calling customer service. They must get a lot of idiot's like me on the phone because the lady at customer service was extremely pleasant. I am so used to number trees and rude customer service reps, that I have to say she really surprised me. She patiently walked me through the (in hindsight, ridiculously easy) steps for moving the files into the Zune directories, and then Syncing the device, so that the directories load onto the Zune. She also took the time to register my Zune for warranty purposes. I should also note that the Zune software sort of explains how to upload songs to your Zune, but if you haven't done it before, or don't understand how to sync, will seem like Greek. I don't have a Palm Pilot or any other device, so this was a learning experience for me. AND, it wasn't that hard. Customer Service for Microsoft Zune scores large.

The capacity of this Zune (30 Gigabytes) is insane. This device claims it will hold 7,500 songs...I don't know if I could even find 7,500 songs I know to download. Even crazier than that, the newer Zunes have an 80 Gigabyte capacity...that's twice the memory of my PC hard-drive. If you download a lot of videos, I guess you could eat a lot of that space up. However, that is a LOT of space. We loaded about fifty songs on it, and over 200 photographs, and we haven't even reach a gigabyte yet.

The earphones that come with the Zune are decent for bud style earphones. The sound quality is good and they are comfortable. They are slightly larger than other bud-style earphones that I have used in the past. The earphones connect to the top of the unit, and there is a lock located on the top next to the earphone jack. The screen is large and the images are surprisingly clear. There were several football photos that we loaded on the device, which were taken from quite a distance away. I was surprised that the photos were as clear as they were on this device. The device also allows you to select a photograph to be a desktop background, which I imagine is common for these devices.

One thing I did not know prior to reading Bruguru's article is that WMA files that are purchased from on-line stores (like Wal-Mart) are not compatible with this unit. I was not aware of that, prior to reading his article. The box states that this unit plays MP3, WMA, WMV and JPG files. So this is a piece of information that may be useful. If you are a novice, like me, I think you may benefit from the experiences I have had. However, if you are an experienced media player user, I would recommend that you read Bruguru's article, written from a more experienced point of view: http://www.epinions.com/content_407573008004

There are plenty of places on the internet to go for information on the Zune. Prior to hanging up with Customer Service, my representative reminded me to visit the Official website at www.zune.net. Another website that I surfed earlier today was izuneaccess.com, where you can sign up to download music for the Zune. I would imagine if you are getting it from a Zune website, you won't run into the compatibility issues.

Final Notes...the Zune unit is thin, but not wafer-thin. It feels durable, but that means it's a little on the heavy side. It would certainly be lighter than those old walkman radios that many of us used to wear when we exercised. However, this unit is probably more for toting around in the car or to school. It might be a little much to wear while working out (unless you are on a stationary machine, and can place the unit on a stable surface). Another issue that I had was easily resolved. One of the earphones stopped working. I checked the wires, and found that there is a connection halfway down the wire...this connection had pulled slightly apart, causing a disruption in the sound to one earphone. That may be something to watch. The sound quality, storage capacity and display clarity are all superior, which gives me no pause in giving the microsoft Zune five out five stars. With the price coming down on these units, they are really a good deal.

UPDATE: I purchased a song from Buy.com this morning. I attempted to Sync it with my Zune. The syncing process went without a hitch, but the Zune indicated that the device was already in sync. I then found the song in the correct folder for syncing and attempted to open the song using the Zune software. I recieved an error message, which provided the following details:

C00D11E7
Summary
The Zune software can't play a protected song or video.
Cause
The protected song or video you're trying to play is not from Zune Marketplace.
Things to Try
To prevent the error from occurring again, remove the song from your collection in Zune software and from any playlists that include the song.

I guess I will have to figure out how to rip the song, now.