I had the pleasure of winning a brand new 30 gigabyte, black, microsoft, zune at a new years party. I am perfectly happy with my ipod, so naturally I looked for a buyer.* I found a friend who was willing to buy it and while setting it up for her, I made a few observations, which I will now write.
*I already thought out the possibilities of the zune with a friend
Pros
- Big screen
This screen is big & beautiful. I was watching some of the preloaded videos and I loved the increase in size. The videos however, where udder crap and way too compressed.
- Sound
I don’t fully understand this one. (I had seen this mentioned somewhere previously so the idea isn’t completely mine; I only second it) The audio on the zune, simply put, sounds fuller.
- Radio
Yeah, I do find the idea of a radio in an mp3 player kind of ironic, but at times it can be nice.
- Packaging
The packaging is Beautiful, seriously. Microsoft did a great job on that.*
*I had an apple addict actually agree with me on this point
Cons
- Earbuds
This thing comes with the crappiest pair of earbuds - EVER. I don’t know what Microsoft was thinking.
- There are magnets in each bud, so they click together, but why?
- I put these in my ears, and one instantly fell out. They are really thick.*
- The silver metal on each bud is ugly
- It is literally difficult to plug the headphones into the zune. It is a really tight fit.**
- The Software
Microsoft chose to call their software zune too, which I find somewhat confusing, and I am a techie. The zune marketplace (which I read is screwed up) looked really scattered when I visited it. It also had absolutely no artists I would be interested in on it. The software is alot like what I hear Windows Media Player looks like.*** Its just Microsoft trying too hard to simplify things, and failing miserably.
- Free Music!!!
This covers two things.
- There was a card in the box that stated I had a 14 day pass to the zune marketplace. I was free to download all that I could. The fine print stated that after this 14 days all that music either was paid for on a monthly basis, or it was deleted. It’s just another way that DRM makes the zune suck.
- The free content that comes on the zune is freaking crap.**** I liked this, but that is one thing, out of 30 (I am guessing), and I am very open-minded about music. Since Microsoft is trying so hard to reach the trendy crowd, why not preload this thing with some new awesomeness? No self respecting teen (or whoever) has ever heard of kinski.
- Games
Currently their aren’t any games. Once again, this is something that isn’t completely necessary, but it is something alot of people want. There is no clickwheel, and that really kills the possibility for games in the future. Well, it doesn’t kill the possibility, but the controls would suck.
**yes Anand, thats what she said
***I use iTunes, nothing else
****I guess that Microsoft has a history of prepackaging crappy media.
Conclusion
I have said it before, why not again:In its current state, the zune cannot outsell the iPod. With a few changes I think that it will make compelling competition for apple.* I really suggest you suggest iPods for friends and family, but its really not worth fighting about. At the end of the day its a piece or metal/plastic/silicon.