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The truth is often hard to stomach.
I do think that Microsoft’s exclusive store concept is utterly broken, and I’ve heard nothing but horror stories about the install process. They really dropped the ball by not allowing use of the existing Windows Media Player/URGE store and other Plays for Sure compliant stores.
That said, the Zune (Toshiba OEM’d) hardware and its interface is quite nice from my brief experience playing with one. Perhaps MSFT will rethink their store strategy, but for some reason I don’t think they will. They want to have their own iPod/iTunes one-two punch.
I received my pre-ordered Zune last week. My initial reaction was to maybe send it back after reading some of the negative press on the device. But I decided what decent gadgetrati would do so without the official road test. So here’s what I’ve found with my experience.
The device itself is quite good compared to my experience with my former iPod. The interface is amazingly aesthetic, rich, and very usable. I love the FM tuner that also picks up digital information cast by upgraded stations. Its great to see the station call letters, FM channel, Station genre, Song and artist information. The Zune’s navigation d-pad works great and I prefer it over the iPod click wheel. The simplicity in the buttons and navigation make it easy for even the most novice user. The only con that I have found with the player itself is maybe the album art that becomes fuzzy when enlarged. However, this cover art is being downloaded from sources like the CDDB at a specific size that wasn’t necessarily designed for display at larger sizes. So I don’t necessarily fault the player and its easy to overlook as no one really watches cover art throughout the song track.
The real problems that I discovered with the device were the accompanying Zune Marketplace software. The installation took over an hour and required a system restart. You also cannot select which drive to install the software and it automatically installs to the drive the O/S is installed. After installation, I connected my Zune and the software recognized the player and displayed the appropriate model (color). On initial connection, the player requires a firmware update to enable the Wifi capabilities. I had big problems with the firmware update, it would start and then the application would not respond. I had to restart the software 4 times and finally the firmware update ran properly and completely. Unfortunately, after the update the software no longer recognized my player as connected (even though the device displayed “Connected”). I had to restart again. To complete the firmware update, you much create a name for your Zune device. To access the marketplace. you must create a Zune ID and Live ID. I already had a Live ID, but all these registrations could be annoying to another less patient user. Now into the marketplace, you have to purchase songs/albums through the use of this archaic points system. And its difficult to easily calculate how much you are paying for a particular album. Microsoft needs to overhaul this system entirely and implement a local currency model. Search and downloading tracks was seamless and quite good. Previewing tracks takes about 10 seconds versus my experiences of about 3-4 seconds on iTunes. The marketplace has the content but has the opportunity for enhancements such as listing most popular tracks by artists, reviews, etc. Although there is a charts section built-in. Another major oversight is the lack of video. There are no video downloads in the marketplace. I have to believe that this is something Microsoft is quickly working to resolve and complete the necessary deals with content providers. Synchronization to the device was quick, easy and no issues occurred.
All-in-all, the Zune device is great and works very well. The majority of issues are part of the Zune Marketplace software. That is good thing as the software can be easily updated and modified as necessary to accommodate its initial shortcomings. Microsoft has the opportunity to leverage their strengthen in software to fix and enhance the application to make the Zune device a viable option in the marketplace.
at least the Chicago Sun Times could do a decent hit-piece on the clearly 5 year’s late piss poor M$ clone mp3 player.
I was worred M$ had a vested interest in the Crunchies here, there was so much shilling going on… ;)
maybe I should wait for M$ to come out with a PhoneZune, in 2012 instead of buying an iPhone in January ?
[pls don't mention windows mobile, everyone in the mobile industry knows its a slow running hack job]
thanks for finally linking to some honest reporting, Crunchgear. I’ll continue my RSS subscription.
>I was worred M$ had a vested interest in the Crunchies here, there was so much shilling going on… ;)
Dude, if they had a vested interest I wouldn’t be working in my basement in deepest Brooklyn. I’d be on the Gates ranch living in the pool house.
Remember Zune does not play ” video podcasts,” they play vidcasts. Apple is actually suing companies & websites who use & showcase the term “podcast”
Okay… I bought a Zune a week ago (before reading reviews) and was really excited. After i read about a million reviews, I thought the Zune was a piece a crap. (This is before I installed the software and used the Zune… it was still all packaged up) So I decided to give a try… I don’t think there is anything wrong with it at all! Everything loaded correctly.. you dont HAVE to buy songs… if you have songs already on your comp you can upload them into the ZUNE software system… videos are kickass… I havent had any problems whatsoever… it looks nice (I have the black one) and feels great. I think all these reviews arent very accurate. I like it so much i bought my dad one for xmas. no one should not buy a zune becuase of the reviews. A lot of people just are prejudice againts Microsoft… The ZUNE is awsome!!!!!
There was never any shilling going on.