A REVIEWOn the Microsoft Zune
I'm going to take a break from rants, health updates and all the various other nonsense I put up on here and make my first serious review of a product and put it out on the interwebs.
I recently purchased a 120 gig Microsoft Zune from Newegg.com for the grand total of $259.02. The 80 gig is the same price for those that feel they don't need that much room. I always like having the option of keeping all my music with me at all times because I really only have things I listen to regularly in my library-with the exception of Christmas music.
The Ugly:
I'll start off first of all with the things I think are negative about the player. Please do not let this cause you to write the Zune off just yet.
First of all there is no clock on the thing at all. Which is not necessarily something I need but my IPOD and Creative Zen Vision M had one along with an alarm clock that was handy for those excursions I was not able to bring my cell phone along for. I know what you're thinking "just get a watch!" believe me I'm working on it.
The touch pad can be a little, well, touchy. It's a little over sensitive at the times you need it to be the least and under sensitive at the times you need it the most. I've owned my Zune a month now and have yet to master the sensitivity of it-but it's not impossible to handle it can just be cumbersome at times.
Battery life is lacking slightly. I wish I got a little more than 2 hours continuous playtime out of it, but then again this is a gripe I have with the current battery technology used in these devices. I'm no expert and certainly not smart enough to come up with a solution by any means-but this is something to keep in mind.
The Zune turns off in a funky way. You have to press and hold the play/pause button for 3 seconds to get it to turn off. This doesn't seem like it would be that big a deal right? Well if you don't press the button down with even pressure and firmly the back light will go off but the unit stays on. At the same time it may start playing again and then will not turn off at all. I've had my Zune sitting in my coat pocket, playing for no one only to bring it out of my coat pocket with a dead battery.
Charging is quick though. About an hour gets you a full battery when charging via USB cable from your computer.
No wall charger comes with the Zune, you have to order it separately. This is not a big deal for me however. I bought a wall charger for my Creative Zen and used it twice I think. Charging via USB cable from my laptop or desktop is just much more streamlined. I charge my phone the same way, I don't even know where my wall charger for my phone is.
The covers for the ear buds are a little cheap. I lost the first pair of three that came with my ZEN simply by sliding my ear buds in and out of a pocket. I super glued the second pair of three to them and every thing is fine now. Yes, that's right, super glued.
The coloration of the items is not the most asexual. I mean that in the least sexist way possible and simply from a review standpoint. If you're comfortable wearing hot pink ear bud covers (like I am) then this obviously is not a problem.
The artwork that comes along with the Zune by default on both the unit and the player are interesting and cool but not the most asexual thing either.
The Zune player requires all of your windows updates to be installed and your windows updates be continuous in order to install and run. This was a major problem for me when first starting out as I had disabled my windows updates due to consistent problems and system crashes after they happened. 6 hours worth the downloads and restarts and I was finally in business. My advice would be before you go to the store and buy a Zune do every single Windows update out there, and if you order if the net and have to wait for shipping do your windows updates then. It will save you a lot of time and headache with the install further down the road.
The Good.
First off it comes with everything you need to get started and it's all heavy duty stuff. The USB cable is thick and flexible and is plenty long enough, the covers for the contacts snap securely on to the USB cable and do not come off unless serious effort is put in to it.
The headphones sound amazing, even though they are ear buds. I've seriously never heard a pair of ear buds that sound this good no matter what the volume. Even blasting they barely clip or cause any other kind of problem.
The interface is extremely easy to use both on the unit and in the player. The navigation is simple and streamlined. Ipod users beware it does take a little adjustment at first-but I find it to be much less tiresome to use than an IPOD.
Syncing is done automatically or manually. I leave mine in automatically because the Zune player is constantly updating album art and info and when the Zune unit is plugged in these changes are reflected automatically on the player. Likewise anything you remove from your library and or the unit is kept up to date with zero effort from the user. Something I found to be a daunting task with both Itunes and Windows Media Player. Nothing was consistent in my library until I bought my Zune.
It's rugged and tough. Obviously any electronic that falls in to a toilet or flies from a fast moving vehicle probably doesn't stand a chance. I'm not willing to try either of those examples on my beloved Zune, but something tells me it would put up a good fight. The unit is very solid in your hands and just the right size, shape and thickness to hold easily.
The shuffle feature is amazing. I rarely have to skip through tracks in my play lists or artists-my Zune seriously seems to know what kind of mood I'm in and plays music specific to that. I have a friend who has had her Zune for quite a while now and she says the same thing.
If you are a current Itunes user and are worried about your music switching over, the Zune will read and PLAY your Itunes music without a problem. This has been tested extensively and there have been no problems.
So.....
Overall I give the Microsoft Zune a 9.5 of out 10. The small problems with it are just that: small. This is surely the new Ipod killer. Apple has nothing on Microsoft when it comes to MP3 players.
I hope this review was helpful. I also hope that I didn't offend any die hard Apple users. Personally I think Apple is a big waste of time and money but I can see why people are loyal to them as well.
