| Music and entertainment, your way. That's what the Zune 4 GB Digital Media Player is designed to deliver. The Zune easily connects you with your music, videos, and pictures wherever and whenever you want, and unlike the iPod, it even has a built-in FM tuner so you can keep up with local news and sports. Your Zune gives you the power to wirelessly share full-length tracks, playlists, pictures and podcasts with your other Zune-wielding friends, and it is available in four bold colors. And when you receive songs that you just can't get out of your head, you can easily tag the songs and buy them the next time you sync up. Whether you're listening to music, radio, or rocking out to the latest music videos on the bright, roomy screen, the Zune allows you to tailor your entertainment, right in the palm of your hand. Watch a demo on Zune. 
The Zune easily connects you with your music, videos, and pictures wherever and whenever you want, and it is available in four bold colors. | 
Share full-length tracks of your favorite songs, albums, playlists, pictures, and even audio podcasts with other Zune users. (Red Zune shown here with Dock Pack v2 with remote, sold separately.) | 
Store up to 1,000 songs, 25,000 pictures, or 12 hours of video. | 
Get all your favorite music at the Zune Marketplace. | Simple, Innovative Controls
The Zune is a breeze to use with new, intuitive touch controls. Don't subject yourself to cumbersome, slow scrolling. The innovative new Zune pad makes browsing your music, video and picture collections fun and effortless. You'll fly through your favorites and get to just what you're looking for in no time flat. This powerhouse device stores up to 1,000 songs, 25,000 pictures, or 12 hours of video. (Please note that music estimates are based on 128 kbps WMA files, with length of 4 minutes each; pictures transferred to Zune will be optimized for Zune screen size; and video estimates are based on 500 kbps WMV files with 128 kbps WMA audio tracks.) That's a lot of entertainment, and you'll appreciate it even more with the Zune's awesome screen. The super-slim, ultra-portable Zune sports a durable, 1.8-inch color screen that provides uncompromising portable video viewing. This Zune also comes equipped with headphones and three pairs of foam headphones covers. Your favorite music, videos, and pictures have never looked and sounded better. FM Radio
The Zune also features a built-in FM radio tuner so that you can listen to local FM stations or tune-in programming while you're at the gym. Advanced tuning capabilities allow you to see the name of the song that's currently playing on select frequencies. Wireless Sync
We're all exhausted by the cables and wires that tangle up our lives. Luckily, the Zune is one device that doesn't require another cord. You can easily connect to your home wireless network and sync your Zune with your PC collection of digital goodies. You can also sync using the dock, AC adapter, or speaker dock accessory (not included). The Zune Community and Marketplace
Zune is all about sharing and community. At the Zune Online Community, you'll discover, share, and leave your musical mark. Create a Zune card and Zune profile page to reflect your musical identity. From the Zune Online Community, you can invite friends, share song recommendations, post comments, and browse member pages to unearth new tunes and connect to others who share your musical tastes. When you're ready to purchase music and load your device with new tunes, turn to Zune Marketplace. With more than 3 million songs, DRM-free MP3s, music videos, audio/video podcasts, and more content added every day, you'll certainly get your fill. The store is always open and just a mouse click away. You can also choose between the download or subscription packages--buy individual songs and albums, or snag a Zune Pass subscription with all you can eat access to discover and explore the nooks and crannies of artists and genres. Zune-to-Zune Sharing
Once your Zune is loaded with good stuff, you'll be ready to embrace wireless Zune-to-Zune sharing. Share full-length tracks of your favorite songs, albums, playlists, pictures, and even audio podcasts. You can listen to the full track of any song you receive up to three times, and you can even pass along songs that are shared with you to other friends. If you find a song you really love, you can easily add it to your wishlist and buy it later when you sync to your PC. When it comes to syncing and importing your music, the Zune makes it easy. Zune software can automatically import your existing music, pictures, and videos from iTunes and Windows Media Player in a variety of formats, including your existing playlists and song ratings. Recorded TV or Movies to Go
The Zune will also automatically import TV shows or movies recorded using a PC running Windows Media Center in Windows Vista. Record all your favorites, sync to your Zune, and hit the road with your favorite TV shows right in your pocket. Your Games. Your Music. Your Way.
Another awesome feature is the Zune's compatibility with the Xbox 360. Plug your Zune into your Xbox 360 to customize the soundtrack in supported games. You also can stream music, pictures, and videos from the Zune software on your PC to your Xbox 360 console using a wireless connection. Whether you're staying in or going out, travelling or working, the Zune can be right there with you, providing loads of entertainment direct from your pocket.
What's in the Box
Zune 4 GB Digital Media Player, headphones, sync cable, and three pairs of foam headphone covers. |
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 The One |
| Review Date: December 19, 2007 |
| Reviewer: catalyst, MN |
Before I start talking about the Zune I have to say that I've had several mp3 players in the past, from flash-based to HD-based. My newest one is this 8GB Zune. I got my Zune about a week ago, after getting rid of my 3G 8GB Nano, that I was not happy with. So this is why I'm more satisfied with the Zune vs. the Nano...
Hardware
-Shape is easier to hold and use than WS Nano
-LCD is glass, more durable and sharper than plastic on Nano
-Zune Touch Pad is more responsive and precise vs. click wheel
-Wireless sharing/syncing option
-Built-in FM Tuner
-Better sound quality even without EQ...I just hated how bad the Nano sounds even with Shure headphones
Software
-Very simple and easy
-Asthetically better than iTunes
User Interface
-No Coverflow but interface is more organized and intuitive
-Customizable background, not an option on Nano
-Easier to read
I have not tested the battery life but it's rated close to the Nano so I'll live with whatever it really is. One thing I haven't checked on but someone else wrote about was the Zune not being a UMS Device when plugged in. Hopefully that's something Microsoft can/will change so that you can store other files on it. Overall, I'm must more satisfied with this player than the Nano.
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Zune- bye, bye Zen and Windows Media too
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| Review Date: November 14, 2007 |
| Reviewer: R. L. Lewis, Tacoma, WA United States |
I have a couple of Zen MP3 players that have worked well for me for a couple of years now, but both have begun to have problems and I decided to take a chance on the new V2 Zune. It was a good decision. This is a great product. All that comes in the box is the Zune, a sync cord, earphones, and brief documentation. You need to go online and download the Zune software to a PC and then hook up the player before you can get it to do anything. This doesn't take too long and the Zune will provide you with some sample content to try out as part of this process. The Zune sounds great, with plenty of volume and a decent set of earphones. The click wheel is intuitive and masterable in just a few minutes use.
As nice as the Zune is, a pleasant surprise is the Zune software. This is really more than just a tool to sync your tunes with your Zune. It is an attractive, intuitive, easy to use full fledged media player as well. It can easily replace Windows Media Player and is better looking than any other offering out there- Apple included. |
This is a great device
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| Review Date: November 21, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Arnold Larson, Seattle, WA |
| This is my first mp3 player. I'd always thought I might like a small device that could be used while exercising, but I've hesitated to buy one because I wasn't sure how much I'd actually use it. The Zune feature that pushed me over the edge is the FM radio, which made the device too attractive not to try out. I'm extremely happy that I made the plunge and bought the Zune. I now take it everywhere and listen to music or the radio at work, on the bus, at the gym, everywhere. It has easily surpassed my bar of usefulness and utility. I'm not a big gadget person and I don't like the time and energy it takes to figure out how to use a new program or game, but the Zune user experience has been everything that I could have hoped for. The controls are simple and a pleasure to use. Right out of the box I was able to get it figured out and working. This is a great device. |
3rd Generation Zune 16GB rocks!
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| Review Date: September 17, 2008 |
| Reviewer: ken in the city, |
I just picked this up yesterday and I am very impressed. Move over Apple!
Pros:
- Great user interface. It's elegantly designed and very easy to navigate. I like the button touch volume control which allows me to change volume through a cover or through my pockets (something you can't do on the ipod). The player itself is beautiful too.
- Lightweight and easy to use device. The actual device is basically the same as the 4GB and 8GB 2nd generation models. LCD, weight, and hardware functionality is basically identical as far as I can tell. Of course, here you get 16GB of memory.
- Love the FM radio and new Zune 3.0 features. You can easily add songs you like while listening to the radio to your cart (on your device) and then download them either when you connect to your computer later or immediately through a wifi network. You also have the wifi marketplace which allows easy download of songs with Zunepass and I like now that there is a clock on the device.
- The software PC interface is slick and intuitive. You can easily drag and drop songs to reorganize them and I the interface is far more slick than iTunes. There are helpful features to get album art or even missing tag information on music as well. MixView is a very cool feature that enables you to see related artists with a simple click of the mouse. There's also a user rating system for songs though the classification is binary - either like or don't like.
- Great sound fidelity, although there is again no equalizer
- Superfast download/sync speeds. Downloaded about 3,000 songs in minutes!
Cons:
- You need Zunepass to get the most out of the marketplace, and it's expensive at $15/ month. But for that, you can wirelessly (through wifi) preview songs and download them (and most songs/artists are available on Zunepass). And if you ever stop your subscription, you lose your music. If that's unappealing, you can always download and pay for songs individually.
- Online marketplace interface can be a little vexing and still a work in progress. The music is there, but not the easiest to get to it.
- Earbuds that come with the device are so so. To get full sound fidelity, probably will need to upgrade them.
- 1.8" screen is great for navigation and music, but only adequate for video. If you want primarily a video device, I'd get the 120GB 3rd generation video player. The screen is much bigger (3.2") though the overall device is bigger and heavier (4.5 ounces vs. 1.7 for the 16GB)
- 16GB model only available in black and like previous versions, scratches/smudges show up easily.
All in all, I am psyched they came up with a 16GB version without increasing the size. I primarily use this as a music player and couldn't be happier with my purchase! |
Cool as an iPod? No way. More loved? Yes!
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| Review Date: July 10, 2008 |
| Reviewer: K. Rule, Beaverton, OR USA |
We have 4 in our family (myself, my wife and 2 kids). Over the years we've had several iPods and recently we have a mix of Zunes and iPods.
IPods are great. My wife has an iPod Touch and we've had several previous iPods over the years. However, our Zunes get far more use than the iPods these days.
Here's why:
1) Subscription Service - Microsoft's all you can eat subscription service costs about $16/month. It supports up to three devices. That covers, me and my kids (my wife insists on using only her iPod). The kids and I get gobs a new music as it comes out.
2) Easier to use software - Surprisingly, the Zune software is easier to use than iTunes. Hard to believe, but my wife has no end of problems syncing her iPod and finding stuff she wants to download. My kids (11 and 7) don't have this problem with the Zune software.
3) It works with Tivo2Go. If you have a Series 2 or 3 Tivo connected to a home network you can download TV shows to the Zune. Yes, this is also true for the iPod, but it works very will with the Zune too. My kids have been watching old movies (The Adventures of Robin Hood w/Errol Flynn and Captains Courageous w/Spencer Tracy are their favorites from the TiVo - not to mention Mythbusters).
4) Microsoft has good customer service with the Zunes. I had a HD version die and they replaced it promptly after providing proof of purchase. The warranty is for 1 year I believe.
The big wins at our house is the subscription service. Lot's of great choices (including currently released albums) for 3 devices for about the price of one CD a month. That's hard to bet and makes us very happy.
This particular Zune model is especially nice. It's nice and small, but with the same interface as the large Zunes. Movies play very well on this device. The battery life seems quite a bit better than the HD Zune I have, especially when playing movies. Hopefully it will be a bit more robust than the HD media players. I had problems with both iPod and Zune HD units dying (or is it wearing out). I'm very happy to make the transition to solid state storage with this unit. 8G seems reasonably large for my needs - I don't really need to store my entire music collection on my media player. I currently have 4 full length movies, about 30 albums and several Zune recommended playlists with room to spare.
Granted it's not a iPod Touch, but to be frank, all my wife does is fiddle with her iPod Touch. She doesn't really use it to watch video's or listen to music. I think the iPod Touch is really targeted to folks with a short attention span -folks who'd rather be reading their email or browsing the web than enjoying good music or a classic movie.
This Zune might not be as cool as an iPod Touch (or an iPhone for that matter). But it's an excellent media player with a great subscription service. That makes the Zunes far more used in our house than our iPods.
So don't let your smug iPod owning friends tell you their iPods are better. Just smile and enjoy all of the new music you've downloaded legally for a pittance.
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Superb alternative to the iPod
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| Review Date: December 28, 2007 |
| Reviewer: JP Gaubier, California, USA |
This second generation Zune is a lot of fun to use. In my opinion, the the touch-sensitive Zunepad is easier and more intuitive to use than the Ipod's scroll wheel. The Zunepad allows you to "swipe" to scroll, which makes it a breeze to manage long song lists. I also prefer the Zune's snazzy interface to the iPod's, which is getting a bit boring. The Zune software is also a pleasure to use, and makes it fun to explore new music (especially if you use ZunePass, the [...] monthly music subscription service).
On the downside, the Zune does not play nice with [...]: it's currently not possible to play Audible files on the Zune. A Zune-friendly alternative is audiobooks.com, which offers their titles in universally compatible mp3 files, but they do not seem to have as many titles as audible.com, so if you're an avid audiobook listener, this may be an issue for you.
The Zune 8GB is well-designed and feels solid in your hand. It's a very worthy alternative to the aging iPod line. |
Best player so far, with interesting new features
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| Review Date: December 8, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Pablo F. Fernicola, |
This is my fourth portable music player since the first one 5+ years ago, a Rio S30, and it is the best so far (size, weight, capacity, quality, and features).
In addition to music, I always need a radio at the gym, both to listent o NPR but also to listen to the TVs, and the Zune has the best reception so far (and a nice interface to select from favorite radio stations).
I love the podcast functionality (subscribe from within the application and it syncs new downloads automatically, and removes the old ones), as well as the ability to sync over my wireless network at home. I don't buy new songs every week, but new podcasts come out several times per week, and they get sync'ed to the Zune, without having to dock it. And not just audio podcasts, but video as well (the NASA weekly ones being my favorite).
The player is easy to control and the display is very nice. The earphones fit nicely and have a nice sound.
The PC software is simple and easy to use, very focused on the task of getting content to the player. It is also easy to buy additional songs through the software, and I get to use the same points I use to buy things on the X Box.
There are some interesting social aspects to the player and software, for example being able to share your favorites and songs recently played with your friends.
8 GB (in red) was the right size for me. The majority of the songs I like to listen to are now loaded in my Zune, with a nice variety of artists and genres. I also loaded a couple of my favorite photos, just to browse through them now and then.
Highly recommend it.
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Best MP3/MP4 player i've ever had!
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| Review Date: September 30, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Mubashar Aftab, Malaysia |
As a former iPOD nano user, I bought this player just to test it and see the difference between my ipod and the Zune. The winner stays with me, and the other goes to my sister. After testing the player out, Zune stays with me :)
Zune is more of your "music enjoyment device". If you dont need a calendar (which you can get in your mobile phones), games (which are better on PSP), PIM (which your organizer does best), or tend to forget your player cables often, then Zune is just for you. I got my hands on the Zune, the first thing that attracted me was the packaging! Not just a transparent cheap looking transparent plastic which many China players have imitated, but rather an elegant black box with a nice Zune logo embedded on it. I opened it and the player, earphones and USB cable are separated with smaller boxes. Very neat indeed! Above all, amusing but rather fashionable, Zune came with three pairs of earphone sponges with three different colors to suit your current style!
After charging the player, the Zune loaded and I just loved every second I discovered the new features in it. What it has and iPod doesnt have, is the Wireless sync which enables you to sync your player with your laptop without cables. Although syncing 8GB is slow and battery consuming, wireless syncing comes handy after you have added your favourite tunes for the first time! Another thing I love about Zune is the background changing feature. Trust me, I really dont like the root menu of iPOD. Even before I had my Zune. The idea of having the screen always splitted into two for iPOD just didnt attract me. Also, I love the quick playlist feature! I mean, I just uploaded all of my music from my hard disk to my Zune. BUT, not all of the songs are my favourites. Hence, as you are listening, shuffle all the songs, skip the ones you dont like, listen the one you like and add them to the quick playlist. You dont have to make a playlist from your computer anymore! I guess Zune's "Now Playing" screen is awesome! Why? Because the new iPOD nano has a similar interface for their Now Playing like that of Zune's! ;)
I know I'm sounding bias here. I'm not saying that iPOD is a flop. IN fact, iPOD ranks second among all other players (iRiver, Sony, Creative, etc) and that is why I have not used the term "loser" for iPOD at all :) Its just that Zune has won me over iPOD. And took the first place which once blonged to iPOD :)
Regards,
shahz |
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