Your Zune Blog

Last Christmas I received a Zune 120 GB digital media player ; while I didn’t specifically ask for one, it was becoming evident that I was due for a new mp3 player. My previous mp3 player, the bulky 60 gb Creative Zen Xtra, had lasted me over 4 (!) years of nearly daily use and while it was still serviceable, was definitely showing signs of age. A weakening battery that had been changed twice before, frequent crashes, and a complete incompatiblity to my Vista-running laptop was lessening my love for the device. I had begun checking out new players for the past year, from Creative‘s updated Zen to Archo‘s media tablets to Apple‘s Ipods, but never really considered the Zune, as they only recently became available in Canada. So when I unpacked my present I was a little surprised, and honestly a little unsure that it would become my new permanent player.

Fast-forward 6 months later and my Zune has now taken the place of my old Creative player totally. There have been some hiccups along the way, there are annoying features of the Zune that I wish could be easily fixed, but overall it has become my daily source for music, podcasts and even the occasional movie or audiobook.

What do I like about it?
-The shiny, sleek black look of it for starters, it’s definitely one of the best looking players out there.
-The huge clear screen is one of the biggest and sharpest I’ve seen for a player its size, and while I’ve never been a big fan of watching movies on anything palm-sized, it’s probably the best player for pulling that off. Album art comes through beautiful and sharp as well.
-The 120gb hard drive; it’s still a fairly uncommon size for a media player but for those of us with large music collections it’s great to not have to pick and choose what music I want to put on the player on any given day. I had managed to fill up my 60gb Zen the previous year and had to delete music whenever I wanted to put something new on it. While I have no doubt I’ll fill up the Zune eventually (I’m currently at 80gb of music and 10gb of videos & podcasts)it’s not an issue at the moment.
-Access to a huge library of audio and video podcasts is a big plus as well. Technically I’m not supposed to have access to the Zune Marketplace in Canada, there are workarounds; also most podcasts can be downloaded with Itunes Canada and then transfered to the Zune with the Zune software.
-The option for turning the sync feature off is very handy. Most people with smaller drive players tend to use the sync feature with their computer; have a copy of the song on your player, same copy on your computer. When you delete the song off your computer, it’ll automatically delete it off the player. Now with a 120gb player many people (myself included) do not want to have to tie up their computer hard drive with such a massive amount of music and/or videos, which is why Microsoft opted for including a “sync manually” feature with the software; you do not have to have the music on both your player and the computer.
-The TV out feature, which enables you to play videos or music on your TV, I found this useful for watching a few news podcasts I didn’t have a chance to watch on the player itself; the quality of the video depends on the source material itself but I find it’s certainly fine for viewing even on a larger TV.

So what have been my gripes about my Zune?
-Probably the number one thing is lack of an equalizer; while the music sounds great most of the time, there are instances when I wish I could adjust the bass and treble settings, particularly to give older music a bit more of a “boost.”
-Not being able to create an on-the-fly playlist. The same option that enables you to sync manually also renders the playlist feature pretty much useless. The music needs to be on the computer in order to create a playlist.
-Similarly with the playlist problem, not being able to delete music off the player on-the-fly. While it appears to be standard on most players these days to use your computer to delete music off your player, it is something
-Lack of accessible accessories for the player. I went into a local Best Buy recently and found a whole wall dedicated to accessories for the Ipod, whereas the Zune had only a small section with a few measly skins and overpriced adaptors. I ended up buying what I needed on eBay.
-The wireless feature, while a great idea in theory, hasn’t worked out that great for me. Despite repeated attempts to allow it, my firewall constantly blocks access to the Zune wirelessly, and the times where it’s worked have ended up with pretty slow connection speeds. It’s really just easier & faster to connect it via USB.

There are other features I haven’t mentioned, mainly because I don’t use them. The “Social” feature is interesting, but not for me; I’ve played around with it sending music to my girlfriend’s 4gb Zune, but it’s really just a novelty to me. The games included are pretty basic to me as well; I suppose one might like the idea of playing checkers or Texas hold’em with another Zune owner via the wireless feature on a subway train or something, but again not really for me. Tagging radio songs for purchase later, again a good idea in theory but not really applicable unless you’re in the US and listening to a station that broadcasts that information for your Zune.

So far I’ve been very happy with the Zune 120gb, it took some adapting after being used to the accessible features I had on my Zen Xtra but overall it’s been a great player. It’s hard to say whether I would have gotten one of these had I not received it as a gift but I’m glad I did.

Zune 120 GB digital media player

2nd gen Micrsoft Zune review

Technorati Tags: 120gb, Digital, info, ipod, marketplace, media, Microsoft, MP3, player, review, Zune

Tags: 120gb, Digital, info, ipod, marketplace, media, Microsoft, MP3, player, review, Zune

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