I always seem to be one step behind the eight ball when it comes to electronics. The day after I bought Nintendo 64, they released Nintendo 65. The HD DVD player I bought was supplanted by Blu-Ray just a month after I got it. And not long after I bought my 30GB Zune audio player, an 80GB version hit the market.
Not that I'm complaining about the 30 gig Zune mind you, the thing has served me long and well, and is in fact still going strong. It's a tank, and has survived over 1000 miles of jogging and vigorous walking, drops, constant use, and more. My Beloved Barbara is about to inherit it. Fact is however, that I have enjoyed it so much that I've pretty much filled its capacity.
And so, I decided to buy an 80GB Zune. But this time, I would not be left in the digital dust so to speak, so before making my purchase I did something I'm really glad I did: I Googled "new Zune". And lo and behold, there was a report that the FCC had received a new 120GB model Zune for testing. So, I bided my time until it was released, then pounced upon Wal-Mart to buy one as soon as it was released. And after playing with it for about a week, I'm ready to regale you with my thoughts on the latest model.
First, though, a little background might be helpful. When Microsoft first introduced the Zune, they described it as an "ipod killer". Clearly, that hasn't happened, and the Zune has not been able to garner more than a small percentage of the digital audio player market, which remains dominated by Apple. Still, the release of the 120GB Zune is a clear indication that Microsoft would still love to eat Steve Jobs' lunch, and the Zune does have a dedicated core of enthusiasts (myself included).
Initial Impressions The 120GB Zune is noticeably thinner than my old one, but is the same size as the 80GB model. Upon examining it, I was a bit unnerved to see that it's not encased in the plastic vault that served to protect my old Zune so well. Still, the casing seems rugged enough and should hold up well to average use.
Do You Need to Upgrade From Another Zune? You've probably seen my high rating of the new Zune, so this next statement is likely going to seem strange to you. But all of the upgrades on the latest model are firmware based, so if you already have a Zune and its serving you well, you probably don't need to buy this one. Then too, if 80GB is plenty and enough storage space for you, you can still buy one of those Zunes at a clearance price and save $50 or $75.
Indeed, I updated my 30GB model and it pretty much does everything my 120GB Zune does. It might be prudent to note here as well that the firmware seems to have a bug in it. After updating my Zunes, they both have an annoying tendency to "stick" on songs, that is, the track progress meter moves forward but you get no sound. Hitting the back button on the control or pausing seems to fix this; hopefully Microsoft will have a patch soon.
Included Accessories As with most MP3 players you shell out a few hundred bucks for, they don't give you much, and in fact you now get less than ever. Gone are the carrying pouch and software CD earlier models included. USB connection cable and basic headphones are all that come in the box with the 120GB Zune. Software is now downloaded.
Setting it Up Setup is easy, more so for me because I already had the Zune software installed and am accustomed to the formats. If you haven't used a Zune before, the software will automatically scan your computer for supported formats and guide you through the installation on your device. The Zune software allows for quick and easy file transfer and organization, too.
FM Radio When I first bought a Zune, one of the appealing factors to me was the FM tuner, which the ipod did not have at the time. You may wonder why anyone would need a radio when you can have 7500 songs at your fingertips, but really it's good to be able to catch the news and talk radio and such. And the Zune delivers crystal-clear reception as well.
Now, this feature is better than ever. Ever heard a song on the radio that you just have to have, but promptly forgot the name? That problem is now a thing of the past with Zune. Radio stations that transmit in RBDS (Radio Broadcast Data System) format will display the name and artist of the song, and you can add a song you like to a shopping cart for later purchase from the Zune store. FM station presets are now included, as well. Would it be expecting too much to ask for HD FM? Sadly, it's not included here.
Larger Display The Zune's display is another nice bonus. It's larger and, to me, brighter than that of the ipod, though about the same here as that of previous Zune models. It clearly displays album art and videos, and the widescreen format for videos is a nice touch. You can customize your display background, too, with any compatible image file you load on the device.
Controls The controls are fairly simple, though not identical to the more familiar ipod clickwheel. A central wheel is flanked by a back arrow to the left and a pause/play arrow to the right. The controls are fairly intuitive, and it didn't take me long to learn them. The "wheel" doesn't really turn, but a button in the center acts as a select function when depressed. Pushing the wheel up or down will increase or decrease volume while a track is playing. A quick push left or right will take you forward or backward through your song list, while holding the button down left or right will rewind of fast forward through your track or video.
A neat little feature for the control wheel is that when you flip the Zune sideways for videos, giving you a widescreen view, the control wheel changes orientation so that all of your functions are still in the same direction (i.e., you still press up/down for volume instead of left/right).
As with the 80GB model, the 120GB Zune also offers a touchpad feature that allows you to slide your finger along the control in lieu of actually depressing this. I like the fact that you can turn this feature off in the settings section, as it seems easier to me to depress the button. Annoyingly, however, the pad remains semi-sensitive to touch even when turned off, since brushing the control will illuminate the display. This is a problem when I'm jogging, since I occasionally bump the control, and backlighting is the biggest drain on your battery there is. Still, I do engage the touch feature when playing games for fear of wearing out the control by constantly clicking it.
Did He Say Games? The Zune now includes games. When you upgrade your firmware (and yes, you have to do this with new model), you'll get two free:
Hexic and
Texas Hold em. Both are fun and make the device even more invaluable on those long shopping trips with the spouse. To be sure, they're also quite basic, but look for more games (for sale) at the Zune store in the future.
In late November of 2008 Microsoft released version 3.1 of its Zune software, and this provided three new free games for Zune owners:
Sudoku, Checkers, and
Space Battle. The latter is easily the best Zune game yet, a shoot 'em up scrolling alien attack game with nifty graphics and action.
Navigation Navigation is very intuitive. The main screen menu allows you access to the following:
Music
Videos
Pictures
Radio
Marketplace
Games
Community
Settings
Selecting one will show you what you have in any of these categories. Once you're in the music section, you can organize by song title, artist, genre, playlist, or album. Holding the wheel down or up will scroll through these. If you have a lot of tracks, holding the wheel for a few seconds will begin a quicker scroll, displaying the letter of the alphabet that you're currently located in for easier search. When you choose a track, artist, or album you can play one song or all the songs by that artists or on that playlist or album. You can even send a track directly to another Zune user from this menu.
Community allows you to connect with other Zune users, see who is online nearby, and see any songs other users have sent you. Under the
Settings header you can deactivate the online feature if you're not interested in file sharing, decide on wallpaper you like, and determine how much disk space remains. For some reason I can't fathom, Microsoft has done away with the equalizer option. Admittedly, that function was limited at best, and the player does sound wonderful as is. But it's never nice to see a functionality taken away.
Wireless Zune to Zune Connectivity One of the more interesting features of the Zune is the prospect of a wireless "community" of Zune users. Basically, this allows you to share music with other Zune users, and also allows you to receive tracks that they send to you. This seems a pretty keen idea, even if the range is fairly limited and you only have a day or so and/or three plays to listen to shared music. Then, it's assumed, you'll want to buy it.
There's just one problem: I can never seem to find any other Zune users in range of my player. I've tried at my apartment complex; no Zunes here. I've tried at the office tower where I work; no Zunes there. I've tried it out jogging along the well-traveled Chattahoochee River and out on the Silver Comet Trail. You guessed it. No Zunes in range. And I've been Desperately Seeking Zunes for over a year now.
The one time I actually did pick up another user was while riding the train. But for some reasons our Zunes failed to connect despite a few tries. Still, the wi-fi feature has its uses, not the least of which is the ability to wirelessly sync and add songs to your device from your PC.
What's more, the latest firmware also allows you to connect to the Zune marketplace to buy or sync songs from any wi-fi hotspot. You'll have to set your user name and password up through the Zune software first, but once you do this is a keen feature indeed. The device has limited range, but with a good signal I've been able to pick up every network I've tried and to easily connect. Connection can be made, too, to both secure and unsecured networks. A clever scrolling alphabet display allows you to enter passwords and even search for song titles once you're connected to the Marketplace.
Headphones Back to basics here. It's rare upon buying a digital audio player that it ever comes with a decent set, but many were surprised when the 80GB Zune came complete with a premium pair of phones. They've been omitted from the 120GB Zune, but to be fair that's likely to help keep the price at $249.99, which is what the 80GB model sold for.
While the included headphones aren't a total loss, you'll get better results from the
Philips HE-592s ,
SHE-9500s , or
Skullcandy Smokin' Buds or
INK'd sets. They're all reasonably priced, as well.
Battery Life My new Zune was about 75% charged right out of the box, and an hour connected to the PC brought it up to full strength. I've been able to get about 10 to 12 hours out of the Zune with average audio use. Your backlight settings will affect this, and watching videos or playing games will drastically reduce your battery life to half or less that time.
Sound None of the features would really matter if the Zune didn't sound great, but it does. Even with the equalizer omitted, I get full rich sound with decent bass and treble response. Certainly, track s will vary based on the quality they are recorded at, but the most popular setting, 128 K, sounds great.
Zune Store The Zune store offers hundreds of thousands of tracks for sale, or if you prefer you can opt for an "all you can eat" option for $14.99 a month with the
Zune Pass. The latter allows you to fill your player with all the music you want. The catch, of course, is that the tracks will only play as long as you keep your subscription active, although Zune recently modified it's subscription service so that you can keep permanently ten tracks for each month you remain a member.
That really gives Zune a leg up on the competition. Although other subscriptions (Rhapsody coming to mind most immediately) offer unlimited play subcriptions, none are directly tailored to a player sow ell as the Zune service is to the Zune player. No such plan is available through itunes, a major advantage for the Zune. And if you buy ten or so tracks a month, the Zune pass effectively costs you five bucks-a real no-brainer.
If you prefer to buy your tracks, or want to buy them above and beyond the ten alloted with Zune Pass, the Zune store operates on a "point" system. You can't buy songs or videos for say, $.99. Instead, instead you buy Zune "points" for 1.25 cents each, at a minimum of 400 for $5. Most songs will then cost you 79 points each. That works out to about 98.75 cents per track. Recently, though, DRM-free tracks have started popping up at 99 points each.
The latest version of the Zune store will allow those with subscriptions to play and download "Channels" similar to the radio stations you can set up on Pandora.com. In addition, the software "learns" from songs you play and buy and suggests new tracks to you accordingly.
Perhaps the best feature the Zune store offers is the ability to re-download tracks you've purchased, something not every online music service offers. So, if your hard drive crashes and your Zune gets stolen in the same day, you can at least retrieve all the songs you've paid for.
Video Zune was a bit late to the party with video, which is surprising since its display is better suited to watching shows than the ipod is. But you can now purchase an increasing number of music videos and TV shows for about $2 each at the Zune store.
Heroes, The Office, Saturday Night Live, The A-Team, and
Battlestar Galactica are just some of the programs you can buy.
Supported Formats One of my pet peeves with the Zune is that, although it plays protected WMA files bought from Zune and any unprotected WMAs, it
won't play "Plays For Sure" WMAs bought from other online stores. You have to either re-buy them or burn them on a CD and then rip them again, a real pain.
The good news is that, format wars not withstanding, you now have more options. The Zune has always played DRM-free MP3s, and you can buy these today from both Rhapsody and Amazon, giving you more music choices with the Zune than ever. But you can now also play hi-end WMA Lossless files, too. For video, WMV and MPEG-4 are supported, tough not Apple's .MOV format.
Some audio book formats are now supported, too.
Aftermarket Accessories Though the Zune has sold only a fraction of the number of units the ipod has, it has still sold enough to draw interest from manufacturers of digital audio player accessories. Microsoft actually offers many itself, mostly for connection and charging. But carrying cases and other extras abound, including an impressive sounding
Zune Dock audio system from Kicker.
Overall The latest features and high storage capacity of the Zune 120GB model make it a serious challenge to the ipod. Although it does not match the top ipod's storage capacity of 160GB, it does offer a bigger screen and a number of unique features, all at a lower price. I am perhaps biased, but I find the Zune to be better than ever, and anyone in the market for a new digital audio player should think twice before buying that ipod and definitely give the new Zune a look, first.
