December 22nd, 2007Review Of the Microsoft Zune
Category: Hard Drive Player 
Weight: 5.5 oz
Battery life: 14
Storage Capacity: 30 GB
Storage Type: Hard Drive
Audio formats: MP3, AAC, WMA (secure), WMA (subscription)
Previous this year, the idea of a Microsoft-branded MP3 player was foreign to most consumers. After all, what could the software giant do to the iPod dynasty that Windows Media hardware partners such as original, iRiver, and Samsung had been unable to do? Well, we all knew that after Microsoft’s September 14 announcement, the Zune would be a different kind of portable media player, one that integrates wireless technology intended for Zune-to-Zune sharing of files, and one that works within an iTunes-like closed Zune Marketplace ecosystem. The hard drive device, which comes in black, white, or the love-it/hate-it brown, have entered the real earth and resolve please most users, especially beginners, thanks to an outstanding UI, nice integration with Zune Marketplace software, and good playback performance. However, the Zune’s inaptness by some formats, including protected WMA-DRM9 and WMV files, will force some experienced users elsewhere. Despite these fundamental weaknesses, the Zune is a winner and its future, one that should comprise growth of its wireless features, is a bright one.
By now, we all know the basics of the Zune: it’s a 30GB MP3 player with a photo- and video-friendly 3-inch (4:3) screen, and it costs $249.99. It runs on a customized version of Portable Media Center software (Windows CE-based) and features the same natural twist-navigation like players such as the Toshiba Gigabeat S. But there are many difference both in mind plus body that differentiate the Zune from one other MP3 player, which I’ll share in a moment.
Quickly, about the box and its contents: the Zune packaging is minimal but has flare. You actually lift the Zune out of the box by pulling on its chocolate ribbon (nice touch), and the bundled earphones and rubbery USB cable live nowhere in the course of be seen until you understand the flaps adjacent to the Zune lift unlock. inside adding, you’ll get a suede case, a software CD, a shape of guides, and a sticker in the package. While we’d love to watch more–such as an AC adaptor– the preliminary Zune knowledge is well done.
Two Zunes partly unboxed. The packaging is sophisticated–you know a lot of contemplation went into its presentation. The box ship with the Zune, earbuds with foam pads (ugly but effective), a soft case, a rubbery proprietary USB cable (don’t lose it), software, a couple of quick guides, and of course, a Zune label.
Features:
Here’s where things get tricky, particularly if you’re a hard-core portable-media fan. The unit will play back MP3, secluded WMA (the Zune-kind only called WMA-DRM9.1), and unprotected AAC. No native perceptible, WAV, or WMA Lossless playback. If you have $200 worth of Wal-Mart tracks, you’re in trouble. (You’ll have to burn and rip, or find some way to convert). If you’re into payment services, the $14.95-per-month ZunePass is your only choice.
Video support is worse. There is no video content available for purchase on the Zune Marketplace at launch. (It will, however, feature more than two million tracks, both a la carte and subscription.) It supports WMV natively–Zune software will convert MPEG-4 and H264 files to WMV–but it does not support DRM video, so, no Amazon Unbox and no Vongo. The software determination not support DivX or XviD either, so you’ll have to find a third-party conversion method. Too bad the video support is weak, since the three-inch screen is nice (beats the iPod), and the player controls are precise. (Video does trait unlimited bookmarking.) The device can output to a TV full on with the Zune GUI, but videos play back only at the compressed-for-Zune size. Microsoft has some work to the front if it wants to transform this music-centric device into a competitive video device. Media Center support would have given the Zune a nice source for content. But again, it’s not a matter of the hardware–it’s because Microsoft seeks in the direction of simplify the experience, presumably for new buyers of portable players, and then expand features as the Zune community grows and evolves.
Photo support is limited to JPEGs, and the Zune software will not convert other file types as it would in Windows Media Player. We do love that you can wirelessly beam photos to other users with no limitations, though the feature is useless without other Zunesters in site. You can listen to music while viewing photograph and slide shows, but you hypocrisy assign a song to a specific slide show. Slides show transitions happen in increment from 3 to 15 seconds, with only one transition type, which is fade. While viewing a photo, you can zoom in with one step and navigate around the screen.
The FM-radio interface is minimal and simple to use. On-screen, you see a linear, dial-like line with the station on top of it in large numerals. There seems to be unlimited available presets, but no autoscan for them. Instead, the device can be put in autoscan mode, which simply goes to the next clean channel. We do like the fitted RDS (radio data system) feature that will display the station, the genre, and sometimes the song title on certain compatible channels.
Interface:
The GUI is attractive, intuitive, and customizable with your own photo. The main menu features music, videos, pictures, and radio, community, and settings options. As mentioned, the twist navigation makes it convenient to find albums, artists, genres, and playlists without returning to the main menu. Pressing either up or downward determination quickly scroll through lists, and as seen on the iPod and the Gigabit S before it, the first letter appears as an overlay (this does not work for photos). When scrolling from end to end photograph album titles, the thumbnails will vanish. From the “sophisticated interface” department, the appearance of menu items will dim the background image or content, and videos will continue to connect in recreation in the background when you call up its info screen.
The unit’s large screen makes it easy to view content–up to 10 songs per page (fewer items are shown for albums, which feature tiny thumbnails of album art. Photo thumbnails are small but numerous. The playback screens are album-art centric, with the art cover at least 70 percent of the screen and fully flush with the screen restrictions. A neat, nearby bright marker let you know where you are in the track (the identical blaze is used in the volume needle, which shows up in the upper-left corner when activated). This is consistent within the Zune software, too.
Hitting the center select button during playback of any media will open a context-sensitive menu (PMC software requires hitting left or right). For music, you’ll get the option to adjust play mode, rate the song, show a song catalog or flag a cry (flagged songs and photos transfer to the Zune software in list form and will show up front and center). Strangely, you can’t access the numerous EQ settings from this menu.
Body design:
At 4.3×2.5×0.7 inches, the Zune may be a bit thicker (and blockier) than the 30GB iPod, but it feels right at home in the hand. inside my view, it’s a nice size and weight (5.6 ounces)–neither too thin to hold nor too big to pocket, though others in the office say it’s bulky and have even compared it to a prototype. I will say that a protective case such as Belkin’s clear case does make it too big for my tastes.
Does size matter? The 30GB Microsoft Zune (brown) next to an 80GB iPod 30GB, a 30GB Toshiba Gigabeat S, and a 30GB Creative Zen Vision:M.
The colors are subdued and the shell has a translucent matte finish, and more importantly, the body does not attract fingerprints (although the screen does). The double-shot effect of the secondary color (green on the chocolate account, bluish on the black, translucent on the white) certainly gives the player visual pizzazz. The built-in battery will last up to 14 hours for audio. Interestingly, the back says this in fine create: “ciao from Seattle.” The Zune, which is manufactured by Toshiba but completely designed by Microsoft, is an original-looking actor with a style of its own.
It’s a durable device that will withstand scratches, bumps, and bruises, though the primary seam of the device looks as if it might burst open after a hard fall. The body is minimal with no buttons on the sides, only a hold key in addition to an earphone jack on top and a proprietary USB/accessories port on the bottom. The screen plus main controller are surrounded by a thin, metallic inlay, while the three control buttons are dead simple (the little devoted back and play/pause buttons are flush with the body).
The top: hold switch and earphone jack. The underneath: proprietary USB/accessories port. You can’t call the Zune border messy.
The back of the device features a circular dip and it mirrors the d-pad up front. This is supposed to give you a better feel for the d-pad in particular as it’s used by means of two hands in landscape mode. There is no kickstand as see on some PVPs, but you can always get an optional case with a built-in method for propping up the Zune.
The three-inch screen may not measure up to true portable video players such as the Archos 604, but it is definitely good enough to watch video, view photos, and navigate effectively. It has three brightness setting and though the display is somewhat wash out; it’s colorful and bright enough for outdoor use. appropriately, at what time the backlight turns off, you can stationary make out the screen on a nice bright day( such as album painting), so definitely remain the backlight to a minimum on this battery-hungry device.
Software and overall performance:
The Zune Marketplace software is a serious part of the Zune experience and Microsoft has mostly gotten the two to work very well with each other. Based on the Windows Media Player in design, the interface is dark, clean, and stable. It’s aesthetically pleasing and functional, with lots of album art represented and sparse text in the left-hand navigation pane. The left-hand pane features all of your content broken down into music, video, plus photos, plus at the top is an in-box view that displays all content shared, plus anything you’ve average. Here is an example of the usefulness of the in-box: a friend has shared a melody by means of you and it expires. The happy will show up in your inbox even after it’s expired so you can handily punch the search button in the direction of locate and purchase it (nice way to get more sales, Microsoft). Digging deeper, I noticed that there’s no easy way to separate out your purchased tracks from the din. Zune peops–please add a purchased tracks (or subscription) tracks playlist.
As reported earlier, battery life is rated for 14 hours of audio playback. With Wi-Fi turned on (and no sharing), battery life reduce to about 13 hours. This is not great, but so far the battery life hasn’t taken away from the skill. I tired a bit of time listening to music and sharing songs and photos and realized to the Wi-Fi isn’t going to thrash the battery into pulp. Each Zune in my possession averaged about 10 hours of music playbck time with about 50 to 60 files shared. Check back for CNET Labs official drain tests. There be a Zune discrepancy though–that is, you should turn off Wi-Fi to conserve your battery life, but then you wouldn’t be discovered by a fellow Zunester. So doing the sensible thing–having Wi-Fi off–is a potential barricade in getting “social.”
The Zune starts up quickly, particularly from its sleep mode. You may notice a pause here or there while you navigate, but it isn’t any more notable than other players. Sound quality is excellent–very similar to the Toshiba Gigabeat S with fair, punchy sound. The Zune gets pretty loud using the bundled earphones, plus they sufficiently powered my big Sony headphones. I did notice a quirk that Microsoft will want to address: you’ll hear a one second staticky sizzle when the Wi-Fi is activated. This definitely affects tune listening, though it’s a rare occurence. The preset EQs (seven in all) do a nice job on sound shaping but we’d favor toward have a custom EQ as well. Also, Microsoft should definitely put the EQ option on the playback menu screen; designed for now, you’ll encompass to navigate backward to the settings menu. From A/V playback to the quality of the screen, from navigating menus to transferring music from a PC, its recital is brilliant.
In general, the Zune is a well-designed portable media device with good playback performance, a snappy processor, and an excellent interface. Wi-Fi sharing worked well, but prospective owners should know its arrangement support, especially for videos, is limited. The Zune looks like a good fit for MP3 player novices, though we hope Microsoft addresses issues and will make the Zune usable as a hard drive; extend video clutch to take in DRM (which they probably will do when its own videotape store opens); and open up as well since about a true Wi-Fi system. The foundation looks good, though, and those not paying notice within version 1 of Zune can look onward to better versions 2, 3, and beyond.
