Microsoft's Zune - Initial Impressions
Posted: May 7, 03:10 PMThis weekend I bought myself a Microsoft Zune. It was the first big purchase that I have treated myself too since my old laptop died last October. I don’t really like to count my new laptop as a new purchase since I mostly use it for work and it was more like I needed to buy one instead of wanting to buy one. It was a pretty tough decision for me to choose between the Zune and other offerings out there. Everyone I know, and their grandmothers (seriously), seems to own some form of an iPod.
While the iPods are very solid music devices, I needed something that was a lot more than that as I watch a lot of video. The screen size alone was the main reason why I steered completely away from the iPod. The screen on the Zune can only be described as beautiful, very bright and takes up a large portion of the front of the device. While the Zune is a little thicker than I would prefer, it is surprisingly lighter than I expected, though it is still a pretty hefty.
Once you get the device up and running, you will find some pretty cool freebies. I wasn’t too thrilled with the free music and videos, but I did enjoy all of the images that were included, especially the Drum and Bass record shots. Kudos to Microsoft and the rest of the Zune team for including something besides the boring waterfall and flower images that come standard on our Windows Mobile 5 devices!
Sound quality has been awesome so far and I was amused by the included headset. I never saw it mentioned anywhere before, and to be honest I did not read a ton of Zune reviews, but the little magnets that help the earbuds on the headset stick together was a pretty awesome freebie. I don’t think a lot of people realize this, but it is the little features that make a device worth having.
The Zune software is the most disappointing portion of the whole package. I just don’t it. Why build a completely different application, which is based off of Windows Media Player 11, to sync files with the Zune when all Windows XP and Vista machines have Windows Media Player 11 readily available as a free update (or included in the initial install in Vista’s case.) The part that upsets me the most is the Zune software is horrifically crippled compared to WMP11! It is almost laughable how Microsoft can get such tiny details correct, such as magnetic earbuds, and completely miss the mark on other things like actually getting media on your device.
What I would have loved to see was the ability to transfer my Divx/Xvid media files to my device without installing a registry hack, which from what I can tell does not work in Vista. Also the lack of video and audio podcast subscription support is kind of sad as well. How else am I supposed to easily watch DL.TV, commandN and GeekBrief.TV or listen to my new favorite podcasts, TWiT and net@nite?
All in all, the Zune is a really solid device. I expect Microsoft to update the software so that it sucks a little bit less in the future. If they do not do this, I have no idea how they would expect to compete with the Apple iPod.
I will try to get a more detailed review out the door in the coming weeks. In the meantime, enjoy these not so great quality images I took with my Samsung Blackjack earlier today!