Zune 30 GB Digital Media Player Brown

Better than an IPOD
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This product is EXCELLENT! I used to own an IPOD and had constant problems with it and the software but so far I have had no complaints about the Zune. It is a great buy!

Zune
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I purchased this when they first went on sale. It was a gift for my wife to use for her music lesson business. What a waste! For the first several days, my wife spent several hours with customer support. The support people were helpful, but most of the fixes have not worked long term. My wife and I are somewhat tech savvy, but this equipment did not and has not performed as expected.It has not worked correctly most of the past couple of years. As a result, my wife rarely is able to use it in her lessons. It has recorded music pieces over each other, but does not replace the previously recorded material. So it mixes the two pieces together. If you search for a piece, generally you will not find the piece unless you remember adjacent music from the original recording that you downloaded. Perhaps some of the problem is with the service the Zune uses to download the music, but this was one expensive TOY. We have not gone over to the Apple side simply because I remember too many times that the Apple equipment is not backward compatible and seemed designed solely to make you buy the next “upgrade” that in reality is a new system that will not use any of the previous products.

Zune 30 GB Media Player
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Christmas 2007 I purchased a Zune 30 GB Media Player, one for my wife and one for myself. We have enjoyed our Zune 30 GB Media Players over the year. We have loaded our CD library and enjoy our oldies on the commute to work. The radio is very handy and I have even shared songs via the social. We have even loaded video and watched it on the ZUNE. The only drawback I see is there aren’t many, if any, clock docking stations to wake up to MP# music as there are with the iPod. Great product and Amazon again has the best price.

Quality Product
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The 30 GB Zune is a all around good product. Audio sounds good, video is clear. It is a little pricy, but is worth it in the long run.

Zune
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
the product delivers what i expected it to. very nice, i dont mind the color it took awhile though. it was the cheapest (and i am a cheap person). so i cant complain. amazon thanks

Its nice but it has software issues
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
im not talking about the software being glitchy it just isnt very good, my software does not recognize the fact that i do want that music on my zune just not on my computer, because of this it is incredibly frustrating because it deletes the music off of your zune, so you have to go dig through your cd’s to find the cd and rip it again just so you can put it on your zune, it has good music and video quality, and other than the pain it can be to get the software updated, it works well and i like it

Good Item
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
The 30gb zune was a good buy for the money. Good memory, and I am well impressed by the video quality, but I had to buy other accessories such as an AC charger, and more than likely will purchase a case of some sort to protect it, before i scratch the screen too much more. That being said it is a good product for the price.

Bought used—Big Mistake!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
This was a nightmare from the word go. It arrived scratched, gouged and loaded with stupid content which could not be deleted. The seller only agreed to refund my money after I filed a claim under the A-Z Guaruntee–then lied and said I had not returned the ear buds to stick me for an additional twenty bucks. Steer clear at all costs.

red zune
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
i love my zune !

it works fine, i wish i had gotten the 120 gig so i could have more room for more music and more movies

Good Product
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
This is a good product. Although it did freeze up once I was able to reboot it using the charger. It did not come with a wall charger and the computer charger did not reboot it so I had to order one. Since that one incident this product has performed admirably.

great value
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
great value for a mp3 player… easy for goung thru its menues.

Great capacity 30 GB not bad… but CD ROM has to be installed in your pc to have it worked……..

Zune Review
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I like the Zune. One because its not an Ipod, which I hate. Two because I can put more than just music on it. I can set my own wallpaper in the background and its easy to go from menu to menu. It is a little more user friendly than the Ipod because it’s not touch sensitive. Also it has a nice sized screen. My only concern is that it doesn’s have an off button or switch so you really don’t know if its off. Nor does the battery last as long if you are listening at a high volume. Its worth what I paid for it so I’m happy with my purchase.

zune 30 gb
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
i really love the zune. it works beautifully. the video and audio capabilities are great. it has plenty of space for everything. my only complaint is the zune software is not very useful. i had to re rip a good majority of my music because the software wouldn’t recognize it on my computer. even talking to tech support wasn’t useful, tho they did try to help. otherwise the zune is a wonderful device.

Better value, Better durability
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought the 30 GB Zune to replace my 8 GB Sansa, which I had bought to replace a 1 GB iPod nano. I love the Zune, the screen is bright and full colored and I can actually read the font! I’m clumsy so I’ve already managed to drop it on the pavement but it didn’t even get a scratch, as opposed to the Sansa which got a crack in the screen three days after I bought it. It’s also a much better price than an iPod.

The software is simplistic, and I can see where some people who like to edit their music would hate that, but all I want to do is listen to music and the Zune takes care of that admirably.

LUV MY ZUNE
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I am older (61 yrs) and wanted an mp3 that I take on my walks with me. The screen is big and it was very easy for me to download my cds unto the Zune and very easy for me to select an album to play on my walks. I also have downloaded pictures of my grand kids so when I go out with my friends I can show them. That was also very easy to do. I also like the fact that you can re-charge the battery by plugging into an electrial outlet or car outlet (like a cell phone).

Zune Rocks
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The Zune is an awesome machine…nice large screen, built in FM Radio and the ease to load songs onto is amazing. I really enjoy everything about my Zune.

I use this everyday!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I love my Zune. I use it everyday. I have a USB in my car and can carry hundreds of cds with me as they are all on my Zune! I am never without my music. Took me a ittle bit to figure everything out (as the instructions it came with were horrible.) But I have to say, it was fairly easy to figure out. I purchased a Zune for Dummies guide to assist me with additonal advanced features. I have the travel pack with the wall charger which is great for trips and vacations. I strongly suggest plugging it into the computer with the USB at least every so often to get the updates (to prevent any problems.) I take this on the plane with me. The screen is great. The quality of the music is great. Buy the upgraded ear buds! The ones that come with it are not very good. It was so much cheaper than the equivalent Ipod. It was a better buy. I have the Sync feature in my car and it is just awesome to be able to just say “Play Artist Whoever” and it plays! I have had my Zune over a year. The memory size is great!

is good… is good.
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Good things about the zune:

-Accepts lots of file format.

-Doesn’t have the annoying touch wheel like Ipod.

-Clear easy to use interface

-Has a normal FM radio (awesome obvious feature)

-Good Wifi

-Clean clear large screen

-Nice weight and size. (Not for everyone, but I like the weight). Feels more robust than ipod.

-awesome connectivity with Xbox and Windows network

-you know that a large percentage of your money isn’t going to tediously trendy commercials and marketing.

Bad things about Zune:

-Software is slow. (PC, not device firmware)

-Screen is relatively easy to break (Get a case and you’ll be fine). Mine broke, but i bought a replacement for $40. Took me about an hour to swap and it’s good as new.

-Not as many accessories as ipod, but getting better.

No brainer.

Get a Zune.

Want an MP3? Go for it
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
My first MP3 and I’m very satisfied. Easy to use, long battery life (shut off the wireless and keep the backlight to a minimum) and good quality. Portable, yet not small enough to “forget” in a pocket and launder.

Good amount of storage – I have several operas and Broadway shows (yeah, I’m a dork) and I still have plenty of room for my other “one-offs” tunes as well as several movies for when I travel. 8 GB wouldn’t have been enough for me and 80 was overkill – this is perfect.

I read the reviews both good and bad; have to say I’ve had zero problems with this. Sooooo easy. Just wish it came in orange. I got the white because it was cheaper, it looks nicer than the pictures.

Stupid of me to believe microsoft had a knack at portable music players
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Zune 30 GB Digital Media Player (White)

PROS : Big screen, Zune Pass/Software is easy to use, Double-shot looks spiffy

CONS : Wi-Fi is weak, screen is sensitive, buttons sound loud and cheap, HUGE!

This was actually one of the coolest music players I’ve owned. It had a huge screen and I liked the chunky-ness of it. That was true, for about a week. After a week, I realized it wouldn’t even fit in my jean pocket. It scratched my cell phone like mad whenever I attempted to fit them both in. The wi-fi didn’t even connect to my un-protected home network, and the screen was scratched within a week so it looked old.

With the chunky design, you would think it lasts forever. It didn’t, it lasted about 3 weeks. It was in my pocket, and the screen was cracked in the bottom right. I looked up on the zune website, and the warranty was expired and it would cost $150 to get it repaired! I decided to forget about it, and after about 3 weeks, my zune was totally unusable.

Luckily, I bought it from a seller so it was discounted, even though it was new. But, I would not recommmend this to anybody unless they want an music player for their car/home sound system or something. It isn’t portable at all. And the screen was extremely delicate. If your going to spent $312 dollars to buy something new on amazon, buy a 80GB iPod classic, which are extremely hardy I hear. Anything but this piece of crap. Now I know why people still didn’t buy them when they were $100.

not impressed
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
i wanted to be impressed with this product. so far, it’s been more annoying to me than anything. it is simple to use, but at the same time it’s complicated. it feels like the zune is supposed to think for me, but it’s so slow that i’d much rather think for myself. i have to wait for the zune to figure out that i’ve downloaded new music. i have to continually hit sync and sometimes it only recognizes some of the new music. i’d love it to sync automatically, which i think is what it’s supposed to do, or have the choice to drag and drop files. and what’s up with the zune points for music purchase? i still have to buy the points, why i can’t i just buy the music for the dollar amount? i feel like i’m at a carnival with this thing. i think it’s rather idiotic. once the music is downloaded to my zune, everything is fine. i wish i could choose what music i wanted to shuffle vs. the all or nothing option. i just wanted an mp3 player with enough memory for all my tunes and an easy way to make playlists. i should have done more research. next time i’ll go with some off brand that does what it’s supposed to do without trying to be cool.

The best MP3 player out there
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Regardless of the commercial success that the Apple Ipod has had, I can’t find anything negative to say about the Microsoft Zune. I personally own this particular model and just love it. I wanted to get the black one because frankly brown is not all that appealing, but who cares really? I love this thing, and on top of that, I got an awesome deal on it too because it had been discontinued at retail stores. I saved $150 on this bad boy and laughed all the way home at all the poor parents who are forced to buy the IPOD for their little unappreciative brats and who paid a ridiculous amount for what I think is an inferior product. The only positive thing I find about the IPOD is the navigation controls. They are a little easier to use than this particular Zune.

What really made me fall in love with my Zune is the FM radio that’s built in. I didn’t even know it had an FM tuner in it until a few days later after playing around with it. Wow, what a pleasant surprise. Not that I’ll be listening to the radio much, but it’s a comfort knowing it’s there just in case, and it’s especially cool that the Zune tells you the name of the station you’re listening to and the artist.

Seriously, what more can you ask for? BUY THE ZUNE!!!

Excellent deal
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I could not believe amazon was offering this 30GB unit, brown, for less than $100. I listen to music, not stare at the unit, so I do not care if it is brown, red of light pink. It has everything I expected, great sound, fast sync with my pc, easy use and IMPRESSIVE BATTERY LIFE. I just miss a wall charger but, at this price I do not deserve to complain. As I said, the battery lasts so long if you just play music that I do not even need the wall charger, I charge it with my pc whenever necessary.

Best deal possible

simply the best
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
i love this thing period if you have a mac get an ipod if you have a pc get a zune

Zune 30 GB Digital Media Player (Black)
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
LOVE IT!!! Its not an IPOD (thank god) but its getting better with each passing firmware update…. I bought mine back in 2007 and have gone thru multiple firmware updates and my unit works like the first time I turned it on…. The Zune Social is also another aspect of the device that I like, it allows users to come together and discuss the device and other things of interest…. Overall 10 out of 10, I have not had any issues so far….

Zune 30gig
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
The device works as promised. I had some concerns about it being refurbished

but have had absolutely no problems.

Yes, it’s better than iPod
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I mainly got a Zune because I didn’t want to pay for an iPod. Why? Personally, I can’t stand iTunes. I am no giant fan of Apple either. Nor am I a fan of that senor wheel. Zune remedies all of this. Some things it doesn’t do that great though…

Pros: The Zune software feels exactly like Windows Media Player 11, all of the controls on the device are buttons, the large display helps for movie watching. The price is right too, since last I checked 8G iPods are running the same price as a 30G Zune. Finally, the wireless connectivity of the Zune works out great. The Social network is definitely an interesting feature that everyone with a Zune should at least try. It can also play podcasts.

Cons: I didn’t do it because I didn’t feel I would need it, but since the price drop I would suggest the extra $50 for the extra 50G. It really is a great deal.The battery life is about 15-20 hours at half volume, not great but good. Also, from time to time the software can be a tad buggy when adding new songs.

I recommend this product for every music listener. Cheaper than an iPod video, and all the same features.

Good
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
This item is quite a pain in the…. however I have learn how to use and it works quite well Thanks

I love my zune
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I don’t have much to say but it is just awesome, and I love it.

I can’t think of any other that I would have enjoyed.

Zune
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
In regards to this review I have one word, “Don’t buy it!!!” Ok, maybe a few added but it’s a strong sentiment that I have regarding the Zune vs. iPod dilemma. I had to be different and now paying the consequence. The Zune Marketplace is sub-par. There are no full length films to purchase. Several positives include being able to listen to radio, a larger screen, and songs are cheaper to download. Still not worth it in the long run.

Not so Easy to Use
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Downloading isn’t as easy as the IPOD but for the price I suppose the hassle is worth it

Best MP3 Player (IMO)
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’ve had my Zune for almost 2 years with almost no problems (excluding the whole Dec. 31st thing lol). The only problem I have with Zune really has nothing to do with the device it self but rather with the software…

Buy An iPod!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
It’s Microsoft so it has lots of issues, and after owning apple products I will never go back. This product doesn’t even compare to an iPod. Once it froze up for a week and wouldn’t do anything, and the battery seems to die very fast.

microsoft zune
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
had some issues with shipping. but once i got the product the product works great, easy to use.

The Zune Is The Only One
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I have had my zune for a year and I have to say; I Am Impressed. I work in an extremely dusty enviroment and the zune is the best. I have done the 80gb hard drive swap and can store all my fave clips, movies, and library of music. I never got used to the squircle of the zune 80 and have always loved the 30s build, feel, and user interface. Nothing compares with a zune with the 3.0 firmware. Nothing. Absolutely the BEST hard drive based personel media player out there.

You can’t go wrong with this
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
There is nothing bad that you can say about this product. It was way more than I expected. Audio and video are both excellent.

zune
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I really liked this item. its great for when I run & has a radio & not to mention lots of space for all my music & photos

awesome!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
i actually got the brown 80gb zune for 89.95 on here about 8 months ago. it works fine and i have not seen anything cheaper then this so far. great buy and good delivery

Disappointing…buyer beware
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I thought I’d try Zune because I didn’t feeling wasting money on Ipod…Maybe this line of technology isn’t where it needs to be yet…The Zune, and it’s associated software has potential, but doesn’t live up to expectations. The Zune software/marketplace will drive you crazy with its consistency. Your ability to download and burn music is entirely dependent on the whims of the software at that particular moment…I’m terribly disappointed. Another crappy product care of the corporate Nazis at Microsoft.

Great player, terrible battery
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I haven’t explored all the functions yet, but so far the Zune has worked out nicely as an alternative to the iPod. The one downfall that I have definitely noticed is the lack of battery life. I don’t use it all day, but it seems as though the battery doesn’t last that long.

Overall, it’s a nice player. Still need to check out all the other cool features. (video player, wireless connection, Zune-to-Zune sharing, etc.)

Nuts About This Thing!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
We use this item daily. It is great, and we cannot say enough good stuff about it! You will not regret this purchase.

zune 30
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
my zune arrived just as shown on the page. purchase was so easy and i received it 4 days before the scheduled date.

zune player
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Service was good and it was exactly what we wanted and we got it fast too.

DONT GET THE ZUNE PASS. UNLIMITED MUSIC THAT THEY CLAIM IS A JOKE
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
IF YOU HAVE A ZUNE, DO NOT GET THE ZUNE PASS. ITS A BUNCH OF BALONY AND A HUGE JOKE. I MADE THE MISTAKE OF PURCHASING THE PASS AND WHEN I TRIED TO DOWNLOAD ANY SONG THAT I WANTED, ZUNE REQUIRED THAT YOU “BUY” THAT SONG. THE “UNLIMITED DOWNLOADING” THAT THEY CLAIM IS A BIG JOKE BECAUSE YOU WON’T FIND ANY MUSIC THAT YOU LIKE AT ALL. IF YOU DO, YOU’LL HAVE TO URCHASE THE SONG. WHEN I CALLED ZUNE SUPPORT TO FIND OUT WHY THIS IS HAPPENING, HE TRIED TO TELL ME THAT THERE ARE SONGS ON THERE THAT I CAN DOWNLOAD THROUGH MY ZUNE PASS; HOWEVER, WHEN HE WAS TRYING TO FIND AN EXAMPLE SONG TO DOWNLOAD, HE SPENT OVER 10 MINUTES ON THE PHONE WITH ME AND HE WAS NOT ABLE TO FIND NOT ONE SONG THAT WAS DOWNLOADABLE TRHOUGH THE ZUNE PASS. HE SAID THAT I HAD TO PURCHASE “MIRCOSOFT POINTS” IN ADDITION TO MY ZUNE PASS IN ORDER TO PURCHASE THESE SONGS. MIGHT AS WELL GO TO THE STORE AND BUY THE CDS MYSELF. THIS ZUNE PASS IS A HUGE JOKE. IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE ME, TRY BROWSING THROUGH THEIR MUSIC COLLECTION YOURSELF AND GOOD LUCK IN FINDING ANY SONG THAT YOU LIKE ON THEIR COLLECTION.

Not worth the trouble.
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
After my Creative Zen Vision:M stopped working I was debating on whether to get a Zune or an iPod. The Best Buy salesperson recommended the Zune because of its wireless feature that would allow you to share music with other Zune users. I bought the Zune and found out right away that I had made the wrong choice. I have now had the Zune for nearly a year, so I have had time to discover its numerous disadvantages. Here is a list of the issues I have with both the Zune player the the included Zune software:

—You have to do EVERYTHING through the software. You can’t do anything on the device itself such as create a playlist or even delete a song. The only thing you can do on the device itself is create a “quick list” playlist of which you can only have one at a time.

—The Zune software is exclusive; you cannot use any other media player such as iTunes, Winamp, or even Windows Media Player to organize and sync music to the Zune.

—The Zune is only compatible with the Zune Marketplace music service. It is not compatible with the iTunes store, Napster, or any other DRM-using or PlaysForSure-using music service. The only service that I have found that works is Amazon MP3 which sells DRM-free music.

—The software is not user-friendly by any means. Organizing your music is very difficult, and the fact that the software does not support any kind of drag-and-drop function makes it worse.

—The Zune player, unlike the iPod and Zen Vision:M, cannot function as a removable drive. It doesn’t even show up in the “My Computer” window, which is why you have to use the Zune software to access it.

—The Zune player only supports MP3 and WMA music formats and MP4 and WMV video formats. It does not support other common formats such as AVI or MOV. To make matters worse the software does not come with any kind of conversion tool that would enable you to convert these other formats to one compatible with the Zune.

—The wireless feature is practically useless. It will only let you sync music with other Zune users, and I have only met one other person with a Zune, so that feature has been useless. In addition, when you share a song it will delete after you play it three times.

—The battery life is very short-lived (most likely due to the larger LCD screen).

Even though the Zune does have a couple nice features, like an FM radio larger screen which is nice for viewing videos, I would still HIGHLY recommend that you stay away from the Zune. I would instead recommend the Creative Zen Vision:M for several reasons:

—It works with numerous media players and music services

—It has a built-in FM radio and voice recorder

—It can function as a removable drive or can be partitioned as an external hard drive

—The included software can convert numerous formats so that they are compatible with the Vision:M

–On the player itself you can create playlists, delete songs from your library, etc.

Just as advertised
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I got my Zune quickly, just as presented by the seller. New, with software and sealed in the original box. Thanks, I lost my previous Zune, so I’m happy to be back in the music.

Zune > Ipod
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Before purchasing this player, I owned a 5.5gen 30gb iPod. Now I used these mp3 players for playing music in my car and in my house. In terms of in-car music, the iPod was hard to navigate while driving – in particular, scrolling through songs was not precise and I constantly had to scroll back slowly to get the right song (while not paying attention to the road! dangerous!). In-house music, the iPod was fine, no real problems.

When I got the Zune, all of this changed. Let me first dispense the good and bad.

Pros:

– Bigger display (better looking album art).

– Easier navigation (artists to albums to playlists.. all very easy and smooth)

– Access to radio (not really needed for me while in the car, but otherwise)

– Photo and video playback is widescreen.

– No over-sensitive touch wheel, all buttons.

– Customization (background)

– Zune Social (allows you to publish what music you listen to and how often)

– Zune software is fun and easy to use (does not leech memory like iTunes)

– Recently added support for Smart Playlists (all songs within this year, etc.)

– Sync your music over your home wireless!

Cons:

– Large!

– Back button sometimes slow (when viewing more details about a song)

– Rating songs can only be like, dislike, or neither

– Method to change id3 tags in program is frustrating

– No access to hard-drive for storage

– 3 days or 3 plays is stupid

– Zune marketplace is DRMed

– Connection to the TV is bad quality (visually)

– Xbox 360 connection is also ugly, but works

Now I absolutely love my Zune, especially in the car. Navigating songs has never been easier, the look of my music when it is being played is very nice (covers, etc), and the Zune social is fun to be a part of!

All of the points I made in the Cons section are not enough to drop this review from a 5 to a 4, maybe a 4.5. So I’m rounding up!

A good product
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I got mine for Christmas, and I was very happy with it. The 27 or so GB capacity is more than I need. The sound quality is good, but the battery life could have been slightly better (especially after viewing long videos on it). I don’t really understand the need for the Zune software- Microsoft made this part way more complicated than it needs to be. The interface of the Zune itself is easy to understand. The reception quality isn’t great, but I don’t listen to the radio much. Overall, quite a good product.

Better than the iPod
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I have to say that I was a little hesitant at the thought of buying an MP3 player that wasn’t an iPod. Now that I have experienced Zune, I will never go back! You can upload music, videos and pictures from mulitple computers. You can access the Zune Marketplace with the WiFi. And The screen is so much bigger than the iPod Video! You can really see your pictures and videos.

The only down fall to owning a Zune instead would be that most of the accesories out there are made to work with or fit an iPod.

I LOVE MY ZUNE!!!

no returns
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
i purhased this zune and the on off button broke. they would not let me return it. i’m not buying from them again.

As time went on, it improved…
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I have to say, I got the Zune in 2006…. I was also excited to get it…I received it as a Christmas gift from my Boyfriend…evidently it gave me alot of problems…. freezing to not charging to blacking out and many others…. also the zune marketplace was very confusing on how to update your zune and add songs…..

By late 2007.. IT IMPROVED SOO MUCH!!!.. my zune hardly freezes…. my videos upload.. my songs upload nicely..when i plug my zune in, it charges and it updates nicely. ANOTHER thing is that about every2 weeks, you have to attach your zune and update from the marketplace. Microsoft is doing a good job updating every so often. The marketplace looks nicer and it is easier to breeze through and upload onto your zune. I have the plan in which you pay $15 dollars a month for unlimited upload of songs, excluding videos that is. It is truly worth it. I have about only 2,000 and i have soo much space left. Im sure Microsoft will keep updating the Zune software still. GET IT!!!!! Black is preferable too !!!!!!

Zune 30 GB
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Zune was in expected shape, we had trouble getting our computer to accept it, but the customer service walked us through it. Would purchase this item again and would buy from this store again. Shipping was very on time and the customer service was very helpful and prompt.

Too expensive for what you get…
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
The only reason I give it 4 stars is because the pictures seem “smokey” and the sound is okay (and I mean “okay,” especially for something that is SO expensive). It’s also heavy and bulky. I got one as a gift and ended up selling it.

Save your money
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
This might be a good product if it had any instructions. I have never had an mp3 and needed a guide to help me along. You can’t do anything (like delete a song) without hooking up to the software. The disc that came with it did not work and I had to download form the internet. I bought a “Zune for Dummies” book & it wasn’t even the same software.

I’m sending it back. It’s not worth the headache.

I’d give it zero stars if i could.

Very good but kind of big
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I bought this player for my daughter who broke her 30 gig ipod. This Zune player has it all and works great. It has a nice program to run on the computer that lets you ad all your videos and songs and automatically does it for you. The only problem I had with it was that it is twice as thick as the ipod video. I guess it is up to you and if it really makes a difference. If you are going to jog or do exercises, I would rather have the ipod. Other than the size, I recommend it for the price and quality.

Love it!!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I absolutely love my Zune. I’ve had it for a year and a half now. The Zune marketplace is the best. I pay 15 dollars a month for unlimited downloads. I use it everday. Yea this review sounds like a commercial but it’s really nice. IPOD KILLER!!

GREAT PRODUCT
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is my second Zune 30 gb. I bought 1 for a good friend and both of us like this product. The Zune can hold a lot of music/pictures and videos. I definitely recommend the Zune 30.

Zune 30 GB MP3
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I absolutely love this thing!

More space than I think I’ll ever need.

However,MS could have made the software more friendly in the Movie area. Maybe with an update.

If you’re thinking about a MP3 player – I recommend, so long as you are not a ipod lover – this is different. Not better, not worse – different.

Filled the bill
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I purchased this product for my son and was very pleasantly surprised. It looks brand new, I was expecting it to look used but it did not have a scratch on it. I received it sooner than I thought I would. Great product and service.

Zune gift
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Great product, price and service. Product was delivered in time it was promised. Product was a gift and was delivered without disclosing contents. Thank you

Zune 30GB pros and cons
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I like the fact that the Zune has a 30GB capacity, large enough that I’m not going to max it out immediately, and the many things you can do with it–listen to music, radio, podcasts; watch podcasts, videos, photo displays. I’m not interested in the “social” functions. Generally, I give the Zune high marks and think the marketplace offerings are reasonably good for such a new product. The software is intuitive and easy to use. The main downside for me is that the unit is a bit bullky and doesn’t fit as snuggly into a “sleeve” so it’s in the way when I’m working out. Also, there can be a little bit of distortion when I’m moving around, probably because those pesky disk heads aren’t quite as stable as they should be. Still, for the price, it’s a very good deal.

Excellent price; Great device.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Fantastic device. I think that it may be the last generation, because it doesn’t look exactly like the in the newest ads, but VERY similar- and just like the picture on Amazon. It Holds my entire CD collection, a bunch of photos, videos (I take courses, so I load them right on there and take them with me in the car and to work, etc…). It holds up fine to jogging and an occasional drop on the floor. It is wireless. It has a tuner. The headphones have nice sound. The picture is crisp and colorful and the screen is huge. I really enjoy it. Brookstone delivered it within a few days. And the price was excellent!

Typical Microsoft
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I agree that the Zune has a good look about it, though a bit heavy and thick (as others have mentioned). I tried using the software that came with it, downloaded the upgrade of the software. Didn’t sync well at all or it did partially. As a well-seasoned Microsoft user (now Vista) I decided to use Windows Media Player (as it said on the MP panel). After being very excited about that initially … that didn’t work either. I went online only to see what experience others had. After reading several not-so-flattering blogs from others trying to find a way for this thing to work, I finally found a way to solve my problem. I went to the workshop and took out a hammer and applied it to the Zune. No more problem. It was in a funny way very therapeutic. I think we both felt better as both of us were out of our misery. I went and got an iPod Classic. Not a single problem with that. Stay clear of anything Microsoft. I’m now a convert to Apple.

Zune
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I love this product. It’s easy to travel with, and I enjoy watching videos, movies, listening to music and the radio.

I LOOOOOVE IT
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I could not be happier!

I was so excited when I ordered the ZUNE from Amazon. But being a true skeptic, I read a hundred reviews, blogs. message boards. I was a little concerned about the “bad” reviews I read. When I received the Zune, I realized by concerns were unfounded.

The software worked just fine! It took me a minute to get things running. -And I am not a high tech person

My 30gb Zune was already updated with the latest firmware.

I was able to transfer my LIMEWIRE songs with no problems at all.

I didn’t think I would need the radio (I don’t listen to it much) but it actually really comes in handy.

I’ve had NO PROBLEMS with it whatsoever. It serves it’s purpose well as

an mp3 player. I can’t wait until I use the podcast and video funtions!

I give ZUNE 30GB 2 thumbs and 2 big toes up!

Great Product
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is the best MP3 player around the song selection is the same as i-tunes the features are great and the look is sleek

Zune 30 GB
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
The actuall Zune is a very cool device. It is stable and has a number of options that someone like me with a basic understanding of MP3’s really enjoys. The downside of this device is it’s software. It is large, cumbersome and non user friendly. As of yet, no one has hacked any software that can make the zune compatable with other easier to use software like WMP. From what I have read there is a chip in the zune that blocks all other software access except it’s own zune software. So I give the zune a 3 out of 5.

Quick Review: Great MP3!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
This is an awesome MP3 player! Bought mine off of a friend (who claims he never used it) at class, for $80, a year and a half ago. This thing never quits on me!

Pros:

- Plays MP3, MP4, AAC, WMA, and more.

- 30 Gb capacity.

- 3 inch screen (beats the classic iPods).

- Plays Video and Audio.

- Easy layout.

- Wireless capability.

- Very durable (in my experience).

- Easy to modify/hack.

- Low cost!

Cons:

- Low battery life and longevity (after a year and a half my battery only last for about 5-6 hours on a full charge).

- The software can be a pain at first.

- Large physical size.

- Basically completely incompatible with mac’s

In my opinion, the pros heavily outweigh the cons. This was the best $80 I ever spent. As for the battery (which is the worst part about this MP3) you can replace it yourself for $15! Sure beats sending it in for $60… *cough* whats that apple?

Anyways, this is a great alternative to an iPod, and as mentioned before, an all-around great MP3, especially for the money.

Don’t waste your time and money on this!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I got a 30GB black Zune for Christmas. It worked fine for about 3 months. Then it started to cut out parts of songs, freeze up, restart in the middle of listening to a song, and my favorite…delete the songs. The song title would show up, but it would say Missing Data when you try to listen to it. It freezes up all the time.

I figured the problems were because I hadn’t updated the software. So, I went to my aunts house to use her high speed internet, and for 3 hours I tried updating the stupid thing. When I finally got it updated, I couldn’t figure out how to use the new software! It’s complicated for whatever reason. Then I noticed it had problems syncing. It wouldn’t sync all of my music. Well, I ended up having to do that manually instead of letting it do it on its own, because it would give up and restart in the middle of syncing. Well, when I finally get all my music back on the stupid thing, I come to realize, it has ALL the same problems it had before. If not worse!!

I hate the Zune!! Don’t waste your time and money on it!! Get an iPod!!!!!

Zune Great – Softwear – not so much
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Last summer I got a Zune for my birthday. Due to circumstances I won’t go into (it fell into the cat’s waterdish) I had to replace it, and I was happy to do it because I really like the Zune itself. However, the Microsoft software that supports it is difficult to use, and just when I’m getting the hang of the old softwear, they do an upgrade (mandatory), and I have to start all over again trying to figure out what they’ve changed and how the new software works.

Some of the problems I’ve run into is that it’s difficult to remove podcasts one’s already listened to, and if one want’s to download a podcast that isn’t part of the Zune marketplace, it’s not easy to do.

I obviously like the product, or I wouldn’t have bought a second one. I just hope that the next upgrade of the software will correct these problems.

1st Generation Zune – Not even close
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I’ve owned a 1st generation 30gb Zune since the first of 2008. I’ve applied all available software/firmware updates. It has more working against it than for it. But I use it everyday because I don’t want to risk losing my iPod Touch.

The main complaints are the horrible software; the USB 1.1 transfer speed (takes literally hours to load movies); the lack of any ability to organize videos in any way and songs only into basic groups; the way it doesn’t remember where you left off while listening to songs in a very long list; no way to delete files from collection but keep in player (deletes without asking when re-connecting); scrolling and more scrolling, clicking and more clicking (no shortcuts).

It’s not all bad: Good audio quality; video is passable but nowhere near the Touch; good size and comfort; good battery.

Like I said, this is my everyday player but if I didn’t have my iPod to fall back on, I’d be disappointed.

Zune
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The color may be an ugly brown, but it’s doing it’s job. My son loves it.

Awesome – but if you have problems with software, you’re screwed
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
So I have had my zune for a while now, and I really like it, even though I was never able to put videos on it, because they have to be a certain type. I have the software on my computer – and well I had to remove it when my computer was restored because of a virus. Afterwards, I had an updated Zune, but the software was old. Now I can’t put any new music on it because Microsoft’s “support” page won’t help me at all. I tried downloading updates for it but it always fails. It says I don’t have a license, when obviously I do, since I bought the product, have a username on zune.net, and the product is registered. Overall, just make sure you never update your Zune, or you never have to delete the software.

Zune – used
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I was skeptical about ordering a “used/returned” Zune. It is fine. Works like a dream. I love that it has the FM tuner where the iPods don’t come with them. We got the order right away without any trouble.

zune review with updates
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Ok this is a more updated review of the zune 30gig player. Now if you get the older model yes orginally it doesnt work with vista but there is an update so just get on the internet and download it at install and your good to go. Second the zune marketplace is always being improved. yes it may not be up to par with ipods but im sure at the rate they are going it will be. Now there are movies on the marketplace as well. I myself put my own movies on but to each his own. just look for zune movie conversion software and there you go. works great. i havent really had a problem with it myself. I would personally recommend the zune cause unlike the ipods they havent really had a problem with the things going down. you know where it says send it to apple to fix it. only bad thing i will say it does take me a while to put a movie on the zune but besides that i love it. its my baby.

Zune is great
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I run an windows and the Zune works perfectly. My wife has a ipod and had alot of trouble at first. She had to add registry files. My Zune on the other hand loaded perfectly. Now that Zune has video content on their site, it is even better. There is a seemless integration. You also get myspace style homepage in the Zune community. I recommend this over Ipod if you have windows OS. Plus the screen is way bigger.

Zune, what a disappointment
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I have used many ipods but wanted to be different and bought a zune.

What was I thinking? I hate this zune. I have spent hours trying to work the bugs out. It only worked good for about a month. Now it will not even sync up to ANY computer, yes I have bought a new cable. Please whatever you do just jump on the bandwagon and buy an IPOD. Im selling my zune on ebay and buyin one myself.

Love it
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
We LOVE the Zune. This was a great purchase. The only downside is there are not that many accessories for it yet. In time I am sure there will be though.

nice device, bad software
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I love the zune but the software it comes with is horrible. I love the device becaus of all the features it comes with. First of all it comes with an FM tuner. The Ipod doesnt come with that. Second of all the wireless syncing with other zunes is awesome. You can send songs and pictures to a friend. Thats something that the Ipod doesn’t have. Lastly you can set one of your pictures as the backround instead of the plain white the Ipod has. Also the screen was crystal clear(but that might be because it is brand new.)

Now the software it comes with isn’t so great. First of all you have to use this software. I wouldn’t mind if it was any good but it isnt. Second of all it’s slow. If you search for a perticular song it takes a long time it get there. Then when you play it it took a long time to play it. Third of all it is almost impossible to change the information on it. Say you are trying to rip a CD that was burned using Itunes and the information on the song doesn’t show up. you Can change the song title but that is it. Fourth of all it takes forever to sync a video, especially if it is a DVD that you ripped onto the computer. It takes several tries but when it finally works it takes a couple of hours to work. Lastly it doesnt work as a removable disk.

Anyway the device itself is awesome but the software is horrible.

positive review
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
My friend lent me his Zune 30gig and its a pretty good player. It’s actually much better than the iPod Classic if you want to watch movies, simply by virtue of the screen. It’s big, bright, and clear.

The interface is decent, but I keep acting like its an iPod (which is not surprising, I had a 20gig for 3+ years but it recently broke). The PC software is kind of spotty, it’s not very clear and the tri-paned interface does not feel as intuitive or clear as iTunes (which, to be fair, I have been using for more like 4 or 5 years).

If you have a lot of music and/or movies, I would definitely recommend the Zune 80gig over the iPod Classic. The iPod’s scroll wheel in big libraries is less workable than the Zune’s scrolling (no, really…) and the larger Zune screen is much better for video content. The Zune’s feature set obviously does not come close to the iPod Touch, though, so for smaller libraries that would probably be my recommendation.

I’m not really sure where Microsoft is planning to go with the Zune. They want to carve out something in a market dominated by iPod but shown no indication of attacking or matching it in its newest incarnation. The Zune is a great product compared to the old iPods but lacking versus the new one.

What is with the price tag? Is this a joke?
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Dear Amazon – is this a joke? You have the 120GB for $235 and the 30GB 1st Gen Zune for $399!!!

Sorry created a review for this so that other customers can see this.

Hope Amazon corrects this mistake!

Awesome
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’ve yet to take advantage of all that my Zune has to offer but after downloading 2450 songs I still have over half of my memory left to fill. The program is great to for looking up songs and the album images that appear

Zune Review
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I bought my Zune over a year ago and it’s an excellent media player. The best features about this I think are its’ durability. I’ve dropped my Zune multiple times and it has yet to break on me, where as the ipod breaks easier.

The zune also shares songs wirelessly, so if you’re near someone you can download their songs. The only downside is you only have a bout 3 chances to listen to the song or three days and you also have to be pretty close to someone with a zune.

The screen is bigger than that on the ipods’ so watching movies is really nice. I have about 6 full-length movies and over 3,000 songs on mine and it has only taken up 10 gig, so there’s an incredible amount of space in it.

–On the Negative Side…–

One complaint that I’ve heard a lot about is that people have trouble getting their music on the zune. It took me about 3 hours at first while I was dealing with Microsoft over the phone before my computer was able to see the zune and update the firmware. In some cases you have to disable your firewall to update it but sometimes you can find another computer that has no problem with it–I was unable to use my desktop but my laptop was able to update the firmware.

If you previously had an ipod and downloaded or purchased your music online through something like i-tunes or walmart you won’t be able to upload your music to your zune because it only takes UNLISCENSED music. If you upload from CD’s that’s fine or if you download music free from something like limewire that’s fine too. But if you’re looking for something that takes all types of songs I suggest that you look into the “Zen”.

One diapoointment that I had when I received my zune was that I couldn’t get movies on my computer on my zune. I had to buy a program to convert my movies from dvd to zune format. The program was about 40 dollars and it’s a Cucusoft DVD to Zune converter. It’s a good program and you can download it instantly from the internet. The movies are pretty high quality and it runs smoothly–It converts slightly faster than the length of the movie but not much.

Overall I find the zune to still be a great product, and I would recommend it to anyone who has the correct format of music to upload to the zune.

Buy Creative Not Zune
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
At Christmas time, I was able to buy two Zune’s at a great price. I have been using a Creative Vision M for years and love that player but, at the price, I thought a Zune would be a nice backup so I bought my son and myself each a Zune.

After spending hours trying to install the Zune software on my sons pc, I finally gave up. I was able to get the software to install on another pc but that install also took a long time. Check the internet, there are many people not able to install the Zune software. After installing the software, the best that I can say is that it does not work well. Getting songs to be added correctly requires editing all the MP3 tags. Adding videos is extremely slow and the process to convert a video so that is can be added to the player is time consuming. Adding songs and videos requires several additional software.

The Zune interface is not great either. I would like the ability to remove items on the menu that I will never use but that option is not available. Navigation is fair but playing media requires several clicks.

The best that I can say about the two Zunes that I have purchased is that at least I did not spend very much money.

My Zune
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I just got the zune less than 24hours ago. And i must say i like it. But this is my first mp3 player. I’m not into electronics like that. The only thing about this that i dont understand is how to control the volume

The screen will crack for overnight charging!!!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I bought a brown 30gb last Thanksgiving but didn’t get it until chistmas, i’ve completelly loved it the sound is great, its easy to work with etc, and after just 4 months of use i’ve turned it on and the inside screen was cracked!!! my first reactin was that maybe i hit it with something and didn’t notice, but there were no scatch on the outside shell then i started looking for replacement or warranty and it turns out that there’s a bunch of people with my same problem caused by the batery which is located right behind the screen and if overheated, get expanded and causes the crash of the internal screen, the worse part is that microsoft is refusing to accept its responsibility and giving the warranty since, as they’ve stated they haven’t established yet if its a manufacturing fault, however,my zune does get really hot, which shouldn’t happend and currently i’m living i france which leaves me no solution.

Replacement cost arround $40 plus shipment, but th question here ishow long will this screen last? and more important when will MS assume its responsibility in this matter? there are already a couple of lawsuits being put together due to this matter so if you want to risk your money go ahead… i only paid $80 for it the question is are you willing to risk $200

As i said befre is a wonderfull product…with a mayor fault.

Great…as long as it works
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Works great…as long as it works. Bought 2 exactly same. Both broke in just over 1 year. Better buy a warranty. Personally I will buy I-Pod next time.

Zune Works
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
In purchasing the Zune, I was able to move all of my music from my computer to the Zune. It was easy, and the Zune works well. I like the fact that I can also move music from my CD,s to the Zune with no problem. I have also moved some pictures from my computer to my Zune with ease.

Good Job
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Sent very quick and in good condition. Download movies to your Zune or Ipod at Miamifilms (dot)net

It was good…at first
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I got a 30gb Zune for Christmas 2007. The first few months were great…I still like that the screen is bigger than the comparable iPod and the sound and video are good. The only problem I had in the beginning was that is was difficult to find accessories for it (cases or speakers for example) in stores.

Towards the beginning and middle of 2008 my Zune would occasionally be unresponsive (ie wouldn’t turn on/off) until I either let it die or reset it.

Several months later it completely froze on me. I, again, tried the remedies as explained in the Zune forums/zune.net to no avail. After this, I sent them an e-mail for a repair request and then they promptly sent me a prepaid box to mail my Zune. About a week later I received a refurbished Zune.

This refurbished Zune did not last long (about a month). The hard drive crashed on it. This time I called and ended up speaking to the highest manager I could, at which point they said they could do nothing for me unless I bought a new warranty for $[...] (they don’t give you another warranty when the replace the broken one).

Obviously, I thought that was absurd. Why would I pay that much for an outdated product? I now have an iPod and am much happier with it.

As for Zune Marketplace (the software you have to download in order to put your music/buy music from), it is okay. It does take some getting used to (especially the MS points) but some would say that it has some advantages (Zune Pass for example). They still don’t have a huge selection of music/videos but it is still growing.

Love it!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I am so pleased wioth my purchase. I love this zune and I like all of teh features it has.

ZUNE 30GB
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Very great mp3. Has lots of memory and allows a great user friendly menu. This is a mp3 of high quality for a great price.

FANTASTIC DEAL
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
My husband was very pleased with the Zune loves it better than any of the ipods and thanks Amazon for the Fantastic deal on it.

Wow. I never thought I could hate a product this much…
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Okay, so I bought a Zune (one that was refurbished.) and thought, “Maybe the people who complain in the reviews aren’t very computer knowledgeable.” Ho,ho,ho was I wrong! And am I sorry I thought that!

Installing the software had some glitches (I needed a roll-up service pack for my Media Center? WTF?), was really slow ( I clocked it at 2hours 15minutes) and it took too long to start up. I waited 5 minutes until the screen popped up. NO JOKE!

What I really hated was the fact that you couldn’t choose the content loaded into your media player. There are just some songs that I just want to listen to on my computer and not on an MP3 player.

Now, I have some movies from the public archive website and they wouldn’t load into the player. WHY GOD, WHY? Well apparently, you have to convert the movie into some sort of weird format and then send it to the Zune folder. I also couldn’t put t.v. shows on my player, which was the main reason I bought that player! Again, I had to convert it and I just don’t have the time or the patience to do that. Also, I have taken some songs from my mom’s computer and put it on mine and downloaded the license and everything, but they said that I have to have had the original c.d. ripped to my computer. *SCREAMS*

So in conclusion, DO NOT for my sanity and yours, BUY THIS PLAYER! If you want a pain-free player, buy a Sansa E series. It goes into Windows Media Player and no weird software!

This player is junk and Microsoft should be ashamed!

Average.
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Its thick. Very thick. Its heavy. The screen and the controls scratch easily, and it only plays wmv’s.

i’ve had this for about a year now, and i have been bored of it since the beginning. it is a disgrace to Microsoft and a rip off to the ipod.

the pros:

its a tank. its virtually indestructible.

Trying to decide on a hard drive based MP3 player? Then look no further than the Zune.
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I immensely enjoy my Microsoft 30 GB Zune MP3 player. It is definitely much better than the iPod Nano that I used to have. Maybe it is because of the amount of songs I can fit on here, but it was cheaper than the current iPod nano’s, so this is worth it. I saw a lot of complaints about the software, and while I did have some trouble with it, I just restarted my PC and I was good to go. I haven’t encountered any problems since then. Navigating is easy for the player itself. My only complaints are:

The battery life which is way shorter than advertised

When I turn it back on after turning it off it starts all over again. I liked the nano in which I could turn it on and it would be in the middle of a song right where I stopped it, thus letting my shuffle continue going.

But I would say if you want a relatively cheap MP3 player with lots of space, get this.

Zune 30 GB Media Player
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This was a very impressive item that was relatively easy to load via computer and downloads in a snap. Out plays Ipods easy.

Outstanding
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
What a great product. I bought this for my 12 year old and he has loved it. It has so many capibities that I am constantly amazed. If you have a teenage I would highly recommend this product instead of just a regular MP3 or IPOD.

zune
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
great device, have had no problems with it. works well with my dell computer transfering the wma files over.

WORSE MP3 PLAYER EVER!!!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
THIS IS THE WOR5E MP3 PLAYER I HAVE EVER OWNED. RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX, SOFTWARE WILL NOT LOAD, NOTHING BUT ERRORS; COMPUTER WITH XP WILL NOT EVEN RECOGNIZE THE ZUNE AS PRESENT SO CANNOT UPLOAD MUSIC. THIS IS A MICROSOFT PRODUCT AND IT LITERALLY STINKS….MICROSOFT SHOULD DO THEIR HOMEWORK AND GET THEIR STUFF TOGETHER IF THEY WANT TO COMPETE IN THIS ARENA.

ANYONE WANT TO BUY MY ZUNE………CHEAP!!!

Ummm, less than I had expected
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
At first, I was only going to give it 1 star, but then I changed my mind and gave it 2 because it’s an okay player…just not the one for me.

Wow! Was I the only one who didn’t know that the Zune was as big as the old cellular-bag phone? Let me say that it was huge, clunky, big and everything I never wanted in an MP3 player.

I have a Zen MicroPhoto 4 GB that has lasted for more than 3 years. I was ready to step up my game and tried the new Zen – Error! – I bought 3 of them and all 3 broke, froze, wouldn’t turn back on…you name it. I quickly sent them all back.

I figured I’d try the ‘well-known’ Zune and for the same price of an 8 GB, I’d get 30GB. Well…I kept it for 2 days and then sent it back.

Pros: 30 GB! I’d never run out of space for downloads

Cool radio feature that shows the songs playing

Great background/wall paper

Touch screen like capabilities

I’m sure it had other cool features that I never got to

Cons: Huge!! I mean, big like it wouldn’t fit into any pockets

Can only buy music from Zune market place

Not compatible w/Windows Media Player 11

It was a mess

Once my return is cleared, I’m buying the Sony 8 GB and I’ll let you know.

Not bad for the price…
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Overall it been a solid MP3/Video player, bought it over the holidays when they had it on sale for 90 buck as a mp3 player upgrade for my 8 yr old. Two firmware update later it’s become a really good player. The Zune market place allow me to give her some choice but still have control of what she can an can’t get and video looks great. As a video player actually like viewing better than my ipod.

I love my Zune!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is my second Zune, my son gave our first one a “bath” so here we are purchasing a second one. Our first was a 2nd generation 8G and it worked great until submerged in water, no suprise there. This is a 1st generation 30G. We love it, it held all our music plus we have room for more. Its easy to add and remove music, create play lists, navigate through both the Zune handheld and computer programs. I can’t say anything negative about it. I think microsoft does a poor job marketing this product because I think it is superior to the IPOD and most people have never heard of Zune. I have helped family members program other mp3 players and the Zune is by far the best of them all.

Great Product
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought the Zune for a discounted price because I think the regular retail is way too high. I’ve had the Zune for a year and except for the New Years Eve glitch, the player has worked great for me. I bought a Altec Lansing docking system for the Zune as well as the Zune Car Pack so I have all the accessories I need to listen to it without the headphones. I also purchased the AC charger which seems to charge the unit faster than using the USB cord and laptop.

Buyer Beware
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
After the reading the reviews, both positive and negative, I went ahead and purchased the Zune 30. Big mistake! My initial load of music and pics went smoothly but it all went downhill from there. The device kept freezing or timing out each time I tried to add new music or pictures. I re-installed software, did both hard and soft resets and neither worked. After repeated attempts I am now only able to use 5Gb of the 30 Gb I paid for. I am unable to add anything. Support has been totally useless. They keep repeating the same instructions never mind the fact that you have repeatedly tried these same suggestions. Before purchasing, I suggest you check out the forums out there to get a feel of other owners’ experiences. Believe me, there is a reason that, for all its great features and good pricing, Microsoft has not been able to gain a larger share of the market. This device was a big disappointment!!

It won’t turn on
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
One week after I bought it, the 30Gb zune won’t turn on. I tried every mothod, it just doesnt response any thing. I found that many users have the same problem. It’s really not a good choice.

Zune Gone Bad
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
When I first received my Zune it didn’t boot up properly so i exchanged it. Then the when the replacement came it froze up on me in about two weeks and I had to get a refund for the item. I like the Zune it just didn’t work for me.

Note bad, but not great
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I use an MP3 player to listen to audio books, music, speeches, and soundtracks. I find it really frustrating that I cannot bookmark places where I was listening. I should be able to have several bookmarks where I can pickup where I left off with whatever I was listening to before I was interrupted. (I have a Ceative Zen that had that feature & was smaller but storage and battery life pushed me upto Zune.)

The Zune PC software is a hog and poorly organized. I should be able to rearrange the view of the material and the menus on the Zune itself. What you see on the PC doesn’t translate well to what you see on the Zune, so I constantly think I have good organization on the PC, only to find out while I am driving that I can’t find stuff I know is on the Zune.

Had I to do all over again, I would have gone with iPOD, which isn’t perfect either, but has better human factors engineering & designs.

Zune 30gb
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I bought the 30gb Zune for wifey, (anniversary present) so far all she’s done is load it up with every music CD we have (over 150). Outside of the Walkman CD player we’ve never messed with an MP3.

The software that came with the Zune automatically D/L’d it’s most current version while loading it onto the computer.

The Zune control panel is easy to navigate through, though I recommend avoiding WMP for music rips, we had a prob, (a few missing songs) when ripping through the Zune software the only time you’ll pass by a song is if the CD is dirty or scratched, and there’s junk to take care of that right!

We have a cassette adapter for the Walkman, (she paid like $5 for it a few years back) plug it into your car cassette player and the Walkman and listen to CDs, well it also works on the Zune, so you can avoid the expense of the “Zune Car Pack” for a while the sound through the adapter is pretty good.

I doubt she’ll take advantage of the Zune Marketplace or Social, but I think she intends on loading some movie shorts, clips and pics. She has a bunch of pics on it already for Backgrounds. There’s a bunch of Zune forums on the net that can help you with converting your movies to load on the Zune if you don’t want to purchase them from the Zune Marketplace.

We also bought the Travel pack, AC&DC adaptors, (car and house)

So far she’s pretty happy with it, she playing the thing all the time.

Cant use
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I just received this media player. When I tried to install the software to my computer, I found out that Zune does not support Windows XP Pro 64 bit systems (any xp 64 bit systems or window servers).

Seems Microsoft does support the Windows Vista 64 systems. Its somewhat funny that Microsoft products is not supported by their own operating systems.

Now I have to return the item which is a waste of time since I waited for deleivery, now have to re-ship the product and maybe get a refund with in the next 30 days, if I dont run into any problems with the seller.

The best portable player ever.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
At first i was a little bit dissapointed, but after get into the software, finding a video converter software, and downloading the latest upgrade (version 3 i guess), the Zune rocks. MP3, Video Files, FM tuner, Pictures. An with the latest version you’re able to connect to a wireless network and browse music previews. GAMES,Clock. Theres nothing more i can wish.

Zune 30gb Doesn’t Cut It
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I gave my wife the Zune 30gb mp3 player as a birthday gift. It was a bad choice right out of the box. The skimpy setup pamphlet actually says, “It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3″ to get started. Just insert the set up CD, follow the prompts. Well, the prompts never came and the unit wasn’t set up. We looked for more detailed instructions in Help, looked online, looked in the box to see if anything was missing and found nothing. There is no instruction manual in print or online that we could find. Very frustrating. Microsoft has to do better. I returned the Zune unused and will replace it with a Sony 8gb unit.

Loving It!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’ve had my Zune for about 2 months now and I absolutely love it. My iPod owning friends are jelous and I love how pretty the entire experience of listening to stuff on the Zune is. I love album art so I love that its featured nicely on the Zune now playing screen, not just a tiny thumbnail like most mp3 players. The radio feature is great for those days when you can’t seem to find anything you want to listen to. I haven’t used the video feature much yet but from watching the preloaded ones it seems great too. My only complaint is that my hundred or so songs that I had downloaded with Yahoo Music won’t work on the Zune, but thats the fault of Yahoo more than the makers of the Zune (theres a reason Yahoo’s music store is gone now)

overall I HIGHLY recommend it!!!

Excellent
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
When there was a problem with the Brown Zune the seller promised to refund my money. I got a confirmation from Amazon that I would be refunded. Thanks, Charles

Zune is much better than trendy overated IPOD.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Ive had my zune for about 3 months and i love it. My friends that own Ipod’s want to get a zune. I definitly recommend it.

step aside, apple
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This product is one of Microsoft’s better creations. It has worked flawlessly since the day I got it. The audio is excellent, and the large screen does a decent job with pictures and videos.

The only issue is with the software. If you want to manually add info to tracks that you have already ripped/downloaded, good luck.

This product is a much better buy than the iPod. For a much lower cost, you get a larger screen, a better interface, an FM radio, and no weird iTunes DRM $%#@

30GB Zune
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I am thoroughly enjoying my 30 GB Zune. I didn’t previously own an iPod, though I know many who do. My experience is strictly with the Zune. My thought was to try something not everyone else had, stay with Microsoft and did much research and read many other reviews. So far, only just over 2 weeks, I am satisfied with my decision. I had no trouble with the software, no trouble selecting and downloading music I already had on Windows Media Player, I had no trouble adding and downloading pictures from My Pictures folders. The battery power has been great, thus far. I find it easy to operate and navigate. Since all has been what I was hoping for, I have since purchased the travel combo set, and a “Sound 2 Go” by boynq travel speaker with pouch – wish I would have gotten at the same time with the Zune, but I wanted to make sure it was what I wanted. The earbuds that came with it work well – no complaints, though at first I thought I got a bad one because only the left ear worked. I soon realized that I had not pushed the cord stem completely into the Zune. I love the size of the screen, I can actually see the pictures very well.

So, as you can see, I’m very pleased!

CS

Kinda bummy…..
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
This was my first mp3 and I really liked it at first until it started freezing on me. One time I charged it all morning and unplugged it several hours later. I tried to turn it on but it wouldn’t work. It has done this a lot! The battery life isn’t too bad but sometimes right after you charge it, it goes dead. Kinda wierd…But besides that, it’s very simple to use. It’s really bulky and heavy. I got it instead of the ipod because of the price. I wish I had just spent the extra money and gotten one. If you’re not sure on what to buy, I would suggest an ipod. They’re more reliable plus there are more accessories for an ipod.

Better than IPod, but still quirky…
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Overall I’m pretty satisfied with the Zune 30gb. I’ve always sworn I’d never buy an IPod because I despise Macintosh and more importantly I HATE using ITunes.

Pros:

- pretty user-friendly interface

- the Zune software outdoes ITunes ten fold. It’s very slick.

- has an FM radio that works really well.

- podcast functionality is just wonderful for me. It saves your spot automatically when you leave it.

Cons:

- Syncing can be quirky. I have to place the cord in just the right spot and hold it there to connect.

- It’s very sensitive to static. Sometimes when I get out of my car it will reset.

- You can’t create playlists on the fly. You have to create them in the Zune software and then sync them.

Again, I’m pretty satisified. It’s not perfect, but it is the alternative to an IPod.

Great hardware, so-so software
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I have had a zune 30 for about a year now, and the best things that I can say about it are that it is extremely durable, has a beautiful screen, and has a nice storage capacity for my needs. The player itself is perfect in my opinion, but the zune software is so-so. It tags some of my music with the wrong information and then uses 1 album cover for 100 different albums. Overall, I would purchase one again (next time, maybe i’ll get the zune 80!)

Works great
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Once you download the zune software its easy to use.Sounds great and love the bigger screen for movies i downloaded using cucusofts dvd to zune.Friends love the white zune because you dont see many in stores.My only issue is there were no instructions in the box.Dont need the radio but worked really good.

Zune is alright w/me
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Love the color, the radio, the pictures look great, so does the video, the software is a lil frustrating sometimes, but I like how it provides album/artist artwork for music on its own. Overall I’m very happy w/the zune.

Solid and Keeps on Going and Going and Goin
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I have the Zune for over a year. Its solid made unlike the delicate Ipods that are way to sensitve. Zune holds plety of songs and its easy to sync songs, pics,videos and it has great sound.

Its a good size especially for those who dont want to fiddle around with small tiny devices. Zune device is easy on the fingers the fingers when navitgating

I have no problem with the software. Zune updates the software with improvements regularly just a download away.

All in all it seems to be the better choice if your looking for good quality and cheaper then other brands that are over priced and have the same features

Also comes with a built in radio that is clear with no static

It is GARBAGE. Disgruntled Zune owners of the world, UNITE!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
This is, like, the third Zune that I’ve had.

NEVER AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!

The first zune I broke while lifting weights (fair enough).

The second zune got hung up and I was never able to use it. (It was only about six months old.) I eventually deleted all the material out of it and tried to re-sync it– but for some reason I was never able to put more than 2G into the MP3. That is: The total storage space was 30G and the software took about 2G worth of space, leaving me with 28G for songs. I’d put 26G (leaving 2G) in and then tried to erase it after I couldn’t stop the zune from hanging up. It SAID that the space was free inside the Zune, but I couldn’t put any more in that what I would have if I’d never erased it.

The third time around (yup– I’m a slooooooow learner), the zune had a hang up that all people found to happen on New Year’s Day. But when I followed Microsoft’s instructions on how to fix it, the Zune hung up in the EXACT SAME WAY that the second Zune did.

Never again!!!!

ZUNE 30 GB
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Items was an older version and not what we really wanted, didn’t find out until opened item.

Zune Power
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought this for my wife as a gift. She loves it and use it everyday!

Plus amazon free super saver shipping ROCKZ.

brown 30GB Zune
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
love this thing, came quickly and i was informed of it’s shipment. this thing is so much cooler than the ipod and works so much better. the software definitely helps cause it’ll update any new music on your comp. love this thing so much, dunno if i’ll ever fill it. movies are great too, very clear and the screen is so much better for them than the ipod, had one crap out on me, and the zune has ben so much more seamless. headphones aren’t that great, don’t really stick in my ear, but i have too many pairs of headphones anyway so that doesn’t matter.

love this thing

Zune is amazing,
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
i would chose it over Ipod everyday. only $15 per month for unlimited downloads is hard to beat. itunes is 99cents per song! thats crazy, the movies are awesome on it, the sound is even better. My friends and i can be in the same room and send pics and songs to each other. Lets see an ipod do that. and the price is amazing too.

Brand-New Zune.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Nothing to review but a great quality product. It came in all its original packaging unopenend, and no defects. Works great and I’ve been using it since I got it in the mail a while ago. Highly recommended.

Awesome!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is a great product! I’m glad I got the Zune player over the iPod because of the larger screen. My one friend who has a 30 GB iPod asked me how if I liked my Zune player because he was thinking of getting one too and I told him that I LOVED it!

Zune – No Thank You
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I purchased the Zune for my husband (a non techie) because of it’s FM radio feature in addition to the Music player. The radio reception was extremely poor, the Zune does NOT support Audio Books (a big disappointment!) and the software that came with it was buggy and NOT user friendly. I sent the Zune back and purchased an IPOD Video Classic. My non-techie husband installed I-Tunes by himself and was downloading podcasts within minutes (no need for the radio!).

Waste of Money-Don’t Buy-Doesn’t last 1.5 years
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
My husband and I purchased the Zune 30GB digital media player almost two years ago. His Zune crashed and died on him a few months ago and mine died yesterday. We experienced very strange technical difficulties 6 month into having this brand new Zune in our possession. I am so disappointed in this product being that we spent $300 each and now they both don’t work!!!! My husband purchased an extended warranty on his and Microsoft is doing little to nothing to replace these defective, poor imitation of an I Pod device. I am soooo disappointed in Microsoft!!! Microsoft should stand by the quality and integrity of their products. We are like the only ones left in our family that prefer PC products– although our family has been telling us for years that MACs are more technically superior and more reliable -now who has egg on their face? I have family members that have had I Pods for almost five years and they have never had problems with their MP3 player. We should’ve have gotten an I Pod instead. I would NOT buy this product because you would be throwing your money out the window!!!!

Zune Player
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I love my Zune. The Zune Pass is a terrific way to get tons of new music, and after installing an auxiliary line in my car, I can essentially listen to all my music the entire day. And I only got a 30GB but with over 1800 pictures and 2800 songs, I still have over 17GB free!

Zune 30Gig since summer ‘07
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
When I first bought my zune i had no idea what it was…really. I went into the store with intentions on buying an ipod that i could listen to while riding my motorcycle on the freeway. Well, i looked at them both and after looking at the zune’s features and hearing my boyfriend(oh yeah, I’m a gal lol)rant in my ear about playing games on the zune, I thought I’d give it a try. Well, the games weren’t even on the zune back then but they are now. so far I have 5 games. I have played them all but one of them but the one i haven’t played looks good. I’m actually addicted to hexic(even on my xbox 360)and checkers. I guess I’d be all over texas hold’em if I were more into it. At the time the zune and the ipod were both priced at $249 each. I just noticed that the zune thirty is priced higher now for the black one and even higher for the other colors(is that just on here?).

I’m happy that my zune updates to the features of the lastest zune;this beats having to buy a later version(like with phones and some other electronics…)of the same device at a different price. When I first bought the zune it came with the music,videos,pictures,and perhaps the settings tab(might have came with the radio too) but now they have those plus the social, audiobooks, and marketplace. audiobooks is good for books i need to read for school or just want to read…well want to learn about but don’t have time to read. The social lets you send music,and pictures to your friends on the social. I frequent zune.net myself. On there you can get a zune playlist widget so you and other people can see what you’re listening to, how many plays you have (in total,by artist, song, and album). you can also play this widget on blog,myspace,forums, etc. marketplace enables you to buy stuff without connecting it to your computer(wifi). you now can also snatch songs playing on the radio fm stations and buy them too. I use my pictures section for personal pictures as well as my personal portfolio. My zune software(I love this software) converts my video files for me that i donwload offline(for free) so they can go on my zune.

the menu is easy to navigate. The custom backgrounds are always cool too. You can make your own or simply use a picture.

I had an ipod before but it just malfuntcioned on me. i called in for support along with trying do my own support via their website but they told me that I would have to pay for support. :0( I believe there was a 90 day warrenty which I was out of…for the price, I expected to get a longer warrenty but apparently you had buy an extended one for a whole hell of a lot more. They also said i could take it to a near by apple store and have them repair it for a price that was only $20 less than buying a new one (I had a nano). The cool thing a bout the ipod is that it has a wireless remote which is great when you’re riding on the freeway(motorycyle) and you have it strapped to your arm or bike; just reach over and you’re good.

At the time they(zune) didn’t have a strap where you could attach it to your bike which you could use with velcro but now they do. That works just as well as havinga remote but the remote is still cool.

Also, my zune came with the premium headphones that were awesome. I since heard that they stopped including these headphones with the newer zunes. Mmmm… I’m not rocking my own I got from campus since I snapped by in a motorcyle accident some time later.

Great alternative to Apple
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
So this is by no means a new product, but 30gb is more than the vast majority of people need out of an mp3 player so it’s still a valid option and can be found at a good deal.

I received my Zune as a gift for Christmas the very first year it was available. It still works great after all of these years..even after being dropped on tile more than twice.

Zune software was stressful in the beginning but they’ve improved very much over the years to the point of there being no known problems.

Again, yeah this isn’t the new Zune and it’s pretty thick now days, but great deals can be found on this device, which can do almost everything that the new Zunes can.

I’d recommend the new Zunes first, but if you’re looking for a good deal on an mp3 player and don’t care how new it is, definitely go for this.

works great!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
works great, i’ve had no problems with it so far. technology is a little strange in the beginning, but you get used to it. the case is solid as a rock, i’ve droped it several times and as far as i can tell, there is no damage.

Microsoft ZUNE
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I gave this as a gift and the person love it. They love the memory, the quality of sound and videos. They also love the size of the screen.

Maria

Zune
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Have been fully satisified with the productZune 30 GB Digital Media Player (Black). Very easy to use and the quality is great.

Zune vs. other mp3/ipods
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
This is the worst possible music player I have ever used. I bought one for my niece for Christmas last year. It has been sent back to the company 5 times for repairs. It either locks up and will not shut down or you can’t reformat it. If you are lucky enough to get it reformatted, after listening for about 30 minutes it does the same thing. This last time it quit working, it locked up; the screen went completely black and it would not work at all. I didn’t even bother calling the company again. I will never buy one again.

1st-gen 30GB Zune–Good
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
The Microsoft Zune is no iPod-killer. However, I greatly prefer the Zune over the iPod. As some have previously stated, it is doubtful that many iPod/iTunes users will want to make the switch to Zune, if any. The iTunes experience is solid, and there is not much that the Zune software can improve on over iTunes. The iPod itself offers (for most users) no reasons to switch to Zune. All this being said, I highly recommend the Zune as an option for anyone new to mp3 devices.

Pros:

>Wireless functionality: wireless syncing, wireless transfer between Zune devices

>Large screen

>FM Radio

>Very simple interface on the device itself

>Very simple setup of options in the Zune software; simple navigation

>Solid construction/materials: does not feel cheap–very sturdy; does not scratch/smudge easily

>Premium-quality accessories

>Great sound quality

>Picture quality/playback of photos and videos is top quality

>Device is operated by button presses–no scroll wheel (pro for me, con for others)

Cons:

>Buttons require a bit of force to press

>Device is operated by button presses–no scroll wheel (pro for me, con for others)

>Music is purchased with ‘Microsoft Points,’ which you must purchase–an unnecessary step

>Zune device can not be used as external hard drive

>Videos from Zune Marketplace work flawlessly; videos from other sources can require a lot of work to convert and function

>Initial installation of Zune software can be a nightmare; look on the Zune website for ‘Zune Setup Package’ for an easier time

>Accessories are pricy; can be hard to find

>”Bulky”: much thicker than an iPod (I like this, but it is hard to make it disappear into one’s pocket)

Overall, I would not recommend the Zune to someone already familiar and happy with the iPod. However, I would recommend the Zune to someone who is unsure and new to high-end mp3 players. The Zune is solid, sturdy, durable, easy to use, and its numerous features work very well.

Zune is better than iPod at any size….
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Having purchased three other Zune devices prior (Two 80GB, One 120GB), I was already sold on this player over the iPod. I had been spreading the gospel regarding Zune to all my friends recently, when somebody I work with decided to join my media player church. Her budget wasn’t much and she didn’t have as big a need for space as I do, so I found her a brand new 30GB unit from an online supplier on Amazon.com. I have to say, after setting it up, I didn’t want to give it to her. The audio quality on the 30GB size is noticeably better than the sound for the 80 and 120GB versions, plus it comes with equalizer settings…something it’s two larger siblings do not. The case is a bit bulkier (Thicker and longer), but seems a bit more built for wear and tear than the newer Zunes. The function pad is different in that it is a two-section button (An inner buttion with an outer band around it), versus the multi-directional button on the 80 & 120 versions….But that actually makes it easier to get your finger’s baring without having to look down on it. So if you are like me and are constantly flipping through your catalogue of tunes while driving, it is a major plus for sightless navigation on your Zune media player. My only complaint is the battery life for the 30GB version. Regardless of the promotional material put out by Microsoft, you are lucky to have more than about an hour and a half of lifespan for any given charge. In my case, this isn’t that big an issue….I have a car charger and plug-ins for both my computer and for any wall socket. But if I was going on a plane flight or was listening to my 30GB player in a remote location, it would be easy to become frustrated with the minimal playing time before the battery goes dead.

Overall, I love the 30GB Zune….I love it so much, I bought one for myself after I finally handed over my friend’s purchase to her. Zune? If you’re listening, bring back the equalizer and apply it to the newer Zune versions!!!

I love my zune
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I love my zune!! it’s amazing. the screen is soo big and large and very clear. my friends said that I should of got an ipod but when I showed them the zune they were surprised. I highly recommend this product you will not go wrong. actually I’m thinking of getting the 80gb.

Great product!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This red Zune was actually a sort of coral color. It has a sort of pink tint, so if you don’t like pink, beware. That wasn’t a problem for me though. The Zune had been unopened, so it came with the necessary cords and cables, as well as a set of earphones.

Zune Review
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I am very pleased with the product and the prompt delivery of the service. The item was received on the exact date it was promised. The item was in excellent condition. To date I have no complaints.

Absolute Perfection – With Firmware Update To Version 2.5
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I was given the Zune 30GB as a gift about 2 months ago and I completely love it! The only thing I would change would be to gain the extra space by getting the 80GB version. Other than that, I have no complaints!!

With the Firmware update to 2.5, the Zune 30GB is an incredible Digital Music Player!!! The user interface is very intuitive and allows quick access to your music, video, picture and podcast collection! I’ve never owned an iPod but have played around with friends’ and I must say that the organization and user interface are very similar…however I do prefer the Zune over the iPod. It seems to be easier to control scrolling with the Zune interface.

I was initially very frustrated with the Zune Software. It was extremely sluggish and comsumed a large amount of CPU. Through blogs and my own research, I found that disabling the Graphics and Video Enhancement solved this problem immediately. To access this, open the Zune Software, select settings, then software, then display. You can then disable the Graphics and Video Enhancement. You must then shutdown the Zune software and reopen it… Problem solved. The Zune software is a joy to use…the album art and the browsing experience is a pleasure. Excellent job Microsoft!!!!!

I would definitely recommend the Zune! You won’t be disappointed.

DID I MENTION THAT I LOVE THE ZUNE SOFTWARE!!!!

Good luck on your purchase!!!

This thing is too cool
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I picked up a refurbished 30GB Zune for just over 100 bucks. Wow, what a deal. I plugged it into my PC running Windows Vista and the Zune software v2.3 and it instantly recognized it and started the setup process. The Zune software is easy to use (why it doesn’t work with Windows media player is beyond me — BUT, the Zune software is very good!). The Zune itself is very nice. I found the user interface very intuitive, the screen bright and beautiful, the sound quality is excellent. My co-workers are envious of my Zune I like the Radio Data Service with the integrated FM radio. Putting music/videos/photos on it is a snap.

Cons: proprietary USB connection (no biggie – just don’t lose the cable).

I am VERY happy with this beauty.

ZUNE 30 GB DIGITAL MEDIA PLAYER (WHITE)
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought this for my sixteen year old son. He says it blows the ipod away on ease of use and features. The large screen is excellent for watching videos. I highly recommend this product. My son has owned this product for over two months, and it has stood up to his throwing it around at home and in his car! This is a great buy!!

Don’t do it
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
Think again before you buy a Zune. Before you do, go look in any store and see how few accessories there are for it compared to Ipods and other players. If you want to plug it into a stereo or receiver, the only way to do it is with the universal MP3 jack. Very few manufactuers have cradles compatible with the Zune. Other than very few accessories and compatible products available, the player itself is all right.

The biggest problem is with the Zune software. The word “Zune” must be latin for “bug” because the software has a lot of them. You would think that with it being a Microsoft product, they could come up wiht a good support software or at least build on the (very good) Windows Media Player. It didn’t happen. They make you use the Zune software, which is designed to entice you to buy stuff from their very limited selection of music, but not much else. I have a good-sized collection of songs and I subscribe to several podcasts. The Zune software on my XP machine shuts down or encounters a problem and has to rebuild the database typically about every two weeks. When that happens, you have to go in and resubscribe to your podcasts and reset your sync options. Sometimes you have to go to the esoteric help and Windows Update sites to manually download and install patches. Sometimes you have to run the same patch more than once. Their latest issue is a problem with the “Windows.NET framework”, whatever that is.

I own two 30GB Zunes. I bought one for myself and one for my wife at about the same time. When I finally get fed up with them and throw them out of the car window, I will buy Sansas or Ipods. The Sansas will sync with Windows Media Player.

Songs disappearing from player
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Please, please, before puchasing a Zune think twice. Purchased Zune 4 months ago. Spent many hrs. downloading songs after figuring out confusing point system. 300.00 spent on music so far. Just days after purchasing docking station with speakers, found half of songs missing from player including many purchased within past week. Customer service is a joke. Little or no instruction given with purchased product. Out around 500 dollars. Buy an i-pod instead.

Great machine, HORRIBLE software
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
The Zune has almost everything you’d want in a media player. Other than the fact that it looks like it came out of the Soviet Union, the screen display is second to none, the sound is terrific, and the controls are very easy to use.

So that’s the good news. The bad news is that the Zune software that you need to use is seriously flawed, and has been since it came out. I’ve had my Zune for almost 3 years now and have had continual problems with it–and I’m not the only person. A look on the Zune message boards will tell you–the software rots. It isn’t compatible with Windows Media Player, which makes no sense since A.) WMP is an easy-to-use, interactive sync program and B.) Microsoft makes both the WMP and the Zune! If Microsoft would only give users the option to use WMP as well as the Zune software for syncing, making playlists, etc., this would be a truly great piece of machinery.

Additionally, Zune’s marketplace (where you buy songs, or rent them) songs come with such finicky proprietary restrictions that many times when I’m even just playing the songs on my computer while working, I need to be signed into Zune so that my usage rights work. Not a big deal, some have said (obviously they don’t play music on laptops in places where there is no free wireless connection). But no other music I’ve ever bought from places like Amazon or Walmart Online need to check for usage rights (thankfully!) every time I play the song. If that song is on your Zune, you need to plug in to your computer, start the Zune software, and let the software check for rights before it’ll play!

Also, I’ve downloaded songs from Zune and from Amazon that don’t even get synced to the Zune, even though I’ve specifically told the Zune software to sync them. The software tells me it can’t find the music to sync, EVEN THOUGH IT CAN PLAY IT WHEN I USE THE ZUNE PLAYER ON MY COMPUTER!

As someone on a board said about this software: The 30G Zune software doesn’t provide a clock on the Zune. What can you say about software for an MP3 player that can’t even get that right?

Great machine. If Microsoft can get over itself and make this optionally compatible with WMP, then the techie geeks can enjoy the Zune for all the jerry-rigging you have to do to get the software to work, and those of us who don’t want to spend days and weeks renaming our songs and checking for usage rights and locating songs on our hard drive will enjoy it to. Until then, unless you have enourmous patience and love to fiddle with software and file usage rights, steer clear of the Zune.

What problems?? This works great!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought my zune 30gb used for $75 and I had no idea how to use it. It is my first multimedia player and I’ve never owned anything before this. I had problems at first getting the zune device to be reconized by the software, so I looked for some help on the internet and a website said that the front USB ports on a computer are generally weaker than the ports that are located in the back on the motherboard itself. So i connected the zune to one of the USB ports on the back of the computer. Since then, no problems. It’s easy to sync songs, and it’s easy to edit mp3 tags so you can organize the music the way you want to. The video and audio tracks sound great! My mp3’s are all encoded at 192kbits-256kbits, so everything is high quality. I throw on my Bose Tri-port headphones and I’m set! Everything on it works great: 2,125 MP3’s (no wma, or acc), 8 videos, 10 pictures, 2 games. and I’ve only used 13.11GB, leaving me with another 14.68GB to fill it up with!

Former ipod user, now converted!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
After owning 3 different ipods, I decided to see what the Zune was all about. And now I am in love! The sound quality is fantastic (like ipod), but I really can’t get over the subscription service. Only $15 a month to listen to however many songs I like, and keep 10 songs permanently! Every album I’ve ever been remotely interested in is now at my fingertips…and in my car, and at work, and in bed. I haven’t taken my headphones off since I got this thing. Super Duper!

This is a great product
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
My previous Zune accidentally was broken when i dropped it on the floor. I then turned to Amazon to see if they had any good deals on Zunes and then I found a awesome deal. It works great and I have not had any problems with it.

Zune is mostly good, still deficient
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
The Zune is a wonderful media player, and is very easy to manipulate. The design is dynamic in its simplicity and easy to navigate. If there is a downside, it is scarcely to be found in the player itself. The Zune software, sadly, is decidedly sub-par. While frequent updates have improved the user-friendliness over the past year, it is still cumbersome and awkward. I, like many, am forced to do any editing or grouping on an alternate program and then load it into Zune. As far as the device is concerned, my only complaint is that playlists cannot be created on the go, only at the computer. The ‘currently playing’ list is a poor option because it is far too easy to push one button incorrectly, say pressing ‘play song’ instead of ‘add to now playing’, and the list you just compiled for your car ride home is erased.

Much better then ipod
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I feel that this is a very good product, the only issue I have found with it is that when Im around static electricity, the Zune tends to turn off. Im sure it just gets overloaded, but it still works when you turn it back on.

two broke within 6 months
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
My daughter got one for Christmas, and the touch pad quit responding after 5 months, we returned it after letting it sit around for a long time. The return service worked well and we got another one around the next Christmas. The screen on that one quick lighting up in June of the next year. We will go with a Creative or some other brand.

No problem with Zune
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I have no problem with my Zune. Must of the complains are coming from things that can be solved, but the user don’t know how to do It. If you turn off your Zune, and the next time you turn It on, and you want to continue playing the last playlist and the last song, you only have to use and push the “play” button 2 times. It begins where you left It.

I have a very good organization of my folders, I connect It to my TV (even though the quality of the video is not the best for TV), etc….

I am happy with my Zune….

ZUNE junk
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I’m so disappointed. I spent 200 on this and it is very difficult to use. The Zune store doesn’t work half the time I am looking for music or it takes forever to open the links in their store. I bought a CD on Amazon bcs it was faster for me to get it here than on Zune!

The device is also locked to a computer. If you have more than one computer, you are in for big problems. The zune attempts to link you up to your computer everytime and then if you are on a different computer, you cannot upload anything, even stuff you just bought like the CD on Amazon I got. The program then downloads only 1 or 2 of the songs you have on your Zune, even though you paid for them.

The equalizer settings are also minimal, so great music is always somewhere else.

Don’t waste your time getting one of these. I actually enjoyed my Zen before this, now I have a headache.

Two first gen 30 gigs, one second gen 8 gig…3.0 firmware….looking for a 120gb
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Have two first gen 30 gig Zunes (one is mine that I have had since the Zune was first introduced, the other is my daughter’s that I got for her two years ago). Excellent players, and with current upgrades….are even that much better. Have never had a problem w/ either of the devices, and they get a complete workout. I use mine to exercise, at work, on the road, plus mounted to my helmet when I offroad/trail ride. Same w/ my daughter’s except hers is probably used harder (and she rides offroad/trails too….). Have always kept the software updated on both, and they are getting better with age thanks to the excellent evolution of the firmware!

My wife has a second gen 8gb, and is used just as hard, with the same excellent results.

Having just started to using the video capability of the device, it makes trips a lot more tolerable, as we can download cartoons and educational programs/dvds for our son which he would rather watch and use than watching the dvd player in our suv.

Anyone not sure about the Zune….I was in the same boat when Microsoft first released the 30gb Zune several years ago, and I haven’t regretted it since. So much so that I have bought two more, and am currently looking to purchase the new 120 gig version for myself.

Thanks Microsoft for the excellent product!

Amazon price too high
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Last December Amazon offered the 30GB Black Zune for $133.00 new and I bought one.

Now it is offered at the retail of $199.00. When you add the docking station, you’re over $240

I say the 30 GB unit is a great product, but look elsewhere for a deal, (e-bay, etc).

Awesome
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
If I have to choose between one evil corporation in Microsoft or apple for my mp3 player needs, I choose Microsoft. I mean the zune is just cooler than thed Ipod, and while apples I tunes store is the number one, it honestly is the only thing keeping the I pod alive other than the phone, I tunes is a useless program that is confusing as it is annoying. Zune’s operating Program is Way better and it’s mp3 player can connect with the ps3 and x-box 360 and allow you to import music and export video and such, So Buy a zune, it’s so worth it.

Still Love it
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Hold 30GB which is enough space for me. I have nearly 1,500 songs and 10 hours of movies and haven’t even broken 10GB yet. Although it’s bulky, that’s not a problem for me since it remains docked on my desk on in my car.

CONS: Wasn’t free and doesn’t brew coffee for me.

ZUNE FROZEN
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I bought this zune some time ago. It was working fine until Dec. 31 – Until now I would have given a 4 star – The fix that Microsoft put out didn’t work. now I have a $250 brick.

BE VERY CAREFUL about buying a 30 gig at this point – there is no guarantee it will ever work.

OMG Its rubbish
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I have use many mp3 players and omg this is the absolute pits.

1.The interface is awful (I actually had to create playlists and put music on my freinds one)

2.It doesn’t accept much music (In europe) without obtaining it illegally.

3.The bundled software is WOW Bad seriously.

4.Sound quality is below average

5.It is massive (I seriously couldn’t fit it in most of my trouser pockets)

I now use a 5G ipod 30GB. I never actually owned one of these but borrowed it from a freind for a few months for a test run and was greatly disappointed. He doesn’t know much about audio quality so he’s happy and besides what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. I am not an apple fanboy by any means because I am in the process of getting a cowon iAudio

which is supposed to be very good. I am just giving my view and am trying to advise anybody considering this product to avoid it at all costs.

Great Purchase
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I purchased the Zune as a birthday gift for my 16yr. old daughter. It came in a timely manner and she loves it. I would highly reccommend this product and the excellent service that I received.

Problem with Zune
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I have purchased Zune last year and now its dead, can not be charged. I tried everything but nothing is working. I have wasted $230.00 for peice of junk.

Zune 30gb customer review off Amazon.com
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
The product (Zune 30gb red) i purchased off Amazon.com was ok…I opened the package and installed the software which no longer works on my computer due to some unknown difficulty with the master cd. Another thing, it came with a USB cord to plug into the computer and when i tried to use it… the two buttons on the side of the USB cord which plug into the Zune itself fell off completely…so whenever i want to disconnect the two i have to find some pliers or something to push into the USB adapter which will enventually disconnect. Im very disappointed that the master cd and the USB cord were defective..I hate to have to go to my friends house and use his computer on his time just to load my Zune.

Thanks

Worth Every Penny
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This player is awesome . It was able to fit my entire library of music picture, and about 15 DVD’s and still has room . I did upgrade to a better set of ear buds though . It’s wireless link is easy to set up and the compatability with the XBOX 360 is a great fit for me . Highly recommend over IPOD .

Zune 30GB
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Have been using it for about 8 months now and I am very pleased with

this player. We have several other MP3 players in the family including

an Ipod and Zen and I find the Zune to be the best. Use it for music

and video and find the performance excellent. Only thing is I wish it

had built in Bluetooth but can live without it.

One year, 4 days and KAPUT!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
My wife bought me this Zune for Christmas 2007. I enjoyed the heck out of it for the entire year, then today, it froze up. It won’t let me reset it, nothing.

I attempted to contact Microsoft Support (HA!) and was told that my warranty expired 4 days ago. Now they want to charge me $129 to fix my $200 Zune.

So, we’ll be buying a new, different MP3 player and NOT another Zune. What kind of piece of crap breaks 4 days past the warranty expiration? MICROSOFT!! Thieves!

Zune vs Ipod
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
There are two things I love about the Zune: #1 is the size of the screen. #2 is the radio which are 2 things that the ipod does not have. Sometimes when you are playing the raido it even tells you what song is playing and the artist which is great.

The bad thing about this product is buying music online. It will not allow you to buy songs individually like itunes. You have to buy a $5 card and each song has different prices from 79 cents to 99 cents. So this means that after buying 4 songs you’ll have a balance of 69 cents or so and won’t have enought to buy a fifth song. Because the balance is so uneven, you’ll always have something left on the card that you won’t be able to use. Thats a rip-off. The other bad thing about the zune is that variety of music that you can buy online is not as extended as itunes. They have limited choices.

I bought the zune for my husband but I am getting me an ipod. itunes allows me to buy as many songs I want for only 99 cents each with no additional fees.

good stuff
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I was thinking about getting an Ipod since i have a macbook pro, but I think the zune was a better choice used or not. I know a person who has a zune now for 3 years with no problems, and I know a handful of people with Ipods who’s changed or had to fix them every other month. The zune has a lot of great features and the best one to me is the radio especially since i live in New York.

Another great product from MicroSoft
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’m not an iPod fan…. prefer Microsoft products. And this is a great product. Easy to use software – pictures & video is crystal clear; great sound.

zune is the best
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I love the Zune !!! although i did have problems installing the cd to my computer and had to try many times. Other than that the screen is nice and big for display and movies. also u can change the background to make it more personal. the sound is great and the program updates and puts music you just added to your library without you having to do it. very simple to use there is also a radio . the downsides no clock or games.

For over 2 years, the best mp3 player we’ve had
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
It’s not often you talk about using anything electronic for years these days, but I know we’ve had our 30gb zune for more than 2 years and I think we’ve had it for more than 3. It’s just been the best, longest lasting mp3 player we’ve ever owned.

The good:

-large 30gb of space

-bright, large screen

-easy to control

-dock and remote work well and have come down in price a lot (in the zune home a/v pack)

-plays video very well too

The bad

-hard to make playlists

-I have a lot of songs that are the only songs from the album. I hate how when I go to album listings that they all show up as albums. I wish that you could either change the albums of songs or have a misc album catagory when you only have a certain amount of songs by an artist.

-if your video isn’t already in a format the zune plays, it’s either a pain to figure out how to convert it or you need to buy software to convert it to your zune’s format.

Overall, I would suggest a zune to anyone. Works great, lasts long!

30 GB ZUNE
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Ithe Zune in late 2007 as a replacement for a 1 gb and aside from the thickness and weight, I’v been very happy with it. The software is easy to use, unlike some readers, I’m very happy with the headphones, and I especially like the built in FM tuner. Its harder to find accessories for the Zune products , but the Belkin clear acrylic case is really protective, the Altec Lansing IM 414 is a nice radio unit, but if you can find a M604 Altec Lansing speaker system, buy it. It has 65 watts per channel and comes with a remote. Overall, I am really glad I purchased the Zune over the Ipod.

30Gb Zune Fix FOR MORONS.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Hi. I’m a very happy, 30Gb Zune owner. A week or so ago, my Zune ceased functioning, much like every elses. Fortunately, I have basic intelligence, unlike the 4 previous reviewers. I went to http://www.zune.net/en-us/support/zune30.htm where I found out how to “unbrick” my Zune. Thanks Microsoft! Now I’ll go buy all these “broken” Zunes and turn them around for a profit!

Great product!!!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I LOVE, LOVE this zune. I have the option to customize the setting and I have so much space. Great prodcut and I would reccommend the zune to others.

Zune Review for Non-Techies
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I bought the Zune player mainly for one thing – to store and play music for our church. It does that well. It automatically transfers music from WMA to the Zune program so all of our files are instantly updated. I don’t do a lot of downloading music so I can’t say much about that. I am not a “techie”, I just want to have something of quality that will keep our music and play it back for us – and the Zune does that. Having the FM Radio is a plus (iPod doesn’t have that). For those of us who are “non-techies”, the Zune player is just as good (probably better) than anything else in the market today.

Loving It
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Ok, this is my first MP3 so I may be a little naive as to what features other players have, but I love, love my Zune. I got my 30g for Christmas and once I figured out how to download and sync the material, it has been great. The menus are very easy and user-friendly to navigate. The sound and picture is awesome. I love the big, crisp screen. When first powered, there is the vertical main menu: Music, Videos, Pictures, Social, Radio, Podcasts, Settings. Yes, it does have a built in radio tuner which works great. When you select a menu item, you then get the sub-menus which display horizontally at the top of the screen. This allows you to scroll through the sub-menus without leaving the main category. I love the organization of the music. You can search for songs by Artist, Album, Playlist, or Genre. The shuffle feature is also available during play of any category. The control wheel is simple and accurate. There is also a “go to artist” feature available during play of any song. You can also create your own playlists- which I love. The storage capacity is humongous. I have so far 345 songs, 10 videos, and 38 pictures and have only used less than 2G of space. Amazing! I don’t know how I am going to fill it up (or if I ever will). Another cool feature is you can play a slide show of your photos while listening to music.

I found the software very easy to load and use. I read some other reviewers had problems with this, but I did not and my PC uses Windows XP. Syncing music CD’s is really easy. Just put the disc in the drive, open your Zune program and click on the CD icon and you choose which tracks to add to your collection. You can also rip and burn CD’s. You can also point the program to the folders on your computer that you want it to look in for files. This search can be done automatically or manually. Every time you connect your Zune and open the program, it automatically searches for new material in your collection and syncs. That is great! You can also use more than one Zune on the program. You just give each Zune a name and then choose the name of the device you are using. Easy!

The only downside I have found is the Zune marketplace is terrible. The selection is not nearly as extensive as iTunes and buying tracks is a rip-off. You have to purchase Zune points in increments of $5 – basically you get 400 points for $5. Each track is at least around 79 or 89 points. So you always end up with something like 47 or 57 points that are worthless and so you have to buy more. Either way, you don’t get $5 worth of songs like you would anywhere else. After doing some searching, I did find a program that is compatible with Zune. It is a file-sharing based program called Ares which can be found at iZuneaccess dot com. You only pay a one-time fee (I think I paid $39) for the software and the program is yours for life and there is unlimited downloads. It is perfectly safe and I have had no problems. The selection is endless. You can download audio, video and image files (among others) I think there has only been a few files I could not find. So don’t use the Zune marketplace. Do some searching and find another program that works for you. They are out there. The Zune website was also helpful in finding out what types of files the Zune supports. All in all, I would highly recommend this gadget to anyone.

DOES NOT CHARGE
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
THIS PRODUCT HAS NOT WORKED CORRECTLY SINCE I BOUGHT IT; I have been getting the runaround with Microsoft repair for 3 months. I would save yourself a head ache and buy an IPOD.

I bought a 30 gig Zune 7 months ago and I love it!!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The Zune is 10x better than the Ipod!!! The batttery lasts forever!!I love the wireless music and video sharing. It’s very easy to use, the software works great and fast, and the screen is crystal clear. If your not very good with the computer, the software is a little complicated, but it doesn’t take long to get used to and is a lot beter than Itunes. I love the Zune card that you get when you sign up with Microsoft!!! I’ve played 5,000+ songs on it (the play counter on the card told me this) and it’s still working great!!!. Not a scratch on the screen. This is a great choice and I would strongly recommend it over an Ipod. The only thing is, it’s kinda fat. The 80 gig is half as fat (thinner than the 80 gig ipod) and the screen is bigger than the 30 gigs, so the 80 gig is a lot better, but the 30 gig is still a good choice!!!

Zunes are great
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I got my Zune for a ridiculously good deal from Cradleco. They don’t seem to have the deal anymore though. A little while before I bought the Zune I was borrowing someone else’s Ipod. I hate those things. The Itunes program was very confusing, especially when you’re trying to figure out how to put music on the dang ipod! I never did figure it all out. When I got this Zune, figuring out how to use it was cake. And the Zune program isn’t hideous like Itunes. The Zune’s huge LCD screen is very nice and crisp. The Zune will also display the album cover in the background to what ever artist’s song is playing. The radio is also a neat feature. You can either have your Zune charge through a wall outlet, or the computer via usb. And 30 gigs is plenty of space for your music. You probably won’t switch out songs very often. Get this Zune! Although it’s the first generation and doesn’t include the touch sensitive scroll pad and other small things, this model is still excellent. And it’s cheaper!

If only…..
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Every aspect of this is great with one exception….the adaptability to use it in your car….

you either have to get a car kit or have auxiliary stereo inputs in your system….so far i’ve opted for the car kit which works pretty well if you stick around your local area….if you travel any distance away, though, the radio stations change and signal can wane quickly and/or become staticy….

the unit itself is wonderful, holding tons of songs, pictures, videos, whatever….

I’ve had an ipod and i like this better….i can’t give it a better recommendation than that……..

Don’t bother till they get it right or you’ll be sorry….
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Some of these reviewers are right – this is a good starting poing for Microsoft and Zune. However when you are paying over $200 for a music player plus even more for music downloads, you don’t want it just to be a good “start.” I want a device that is worth the money you pay for it.

Both the software and Zune are awesome – when they work…but that is only about 5% of the time. Like Vista, there are so many bugs and errors going on that you spend more time fixing problems and trying to get a hold of customer service people that you can actually understand than you do actually using the device. I am not exagerating when I tell you it is a weekly process for me just to keep the piece of junk working.

Don’t think that those with the 2nd generation have it any better – they are dealing with the same issues that I do with the 1st generation. Maybe by the time the 3rd generation rolls around it will be worth the money – not that I would spend any more money on anything Microsoft. My advice – go with the ipod I sure wish I had.

Great media player!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The Zune is really a wonderful product. As compared to the iPod, I love the bigger screen, user interface, and higher quality headphones. The Zune software is a dream compared to Apple’s poorly written Quicktime/iTunes. If you are on the fence about the brown color, don’t worry! It’s beautiful in real life. I am actually sad that they redesigned it for the 80 gig

Microsoft is awesome about updating this product! As soon as you plug it in, you can update it to the latest firmware which gives it almost all the same functionality of the newer 80 gig, including the cool new UI.

My only complaints are A) No way to use it as a plug and play hard drive. B) No way to connect it to an Apple computer.

Zune 30 GB
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is a very easy to use MP4 player. It holds a lot of music and Pics And videos. More that i can fill.

Zune
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This Microsoft Zune is a great mp3 player. It is lightweight and enjoyable. It does a lot of things such as show the videos, etc. I love the Zune.

Love It!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I love the zune…I found no downfalls with this zune except maybe the earphones are not exactly the best in the world but what earphones are wonderfull unless you pay the money for them…but as for players goes it is a great way to go…Although I dont have mine anymore because some idiot stole it out of my car and also the zune car kit i had gotten for it. Wasnt happy with the car kit anyways, if you are around a very populated area the radio waves are so jumpy that the sound isnt great and it can be touchy, so ill probably not get that again for my car because its not worth the money, but the zune itself is worth it and I will be buying another one

Solid
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I got mine for $99 dollars so it’s impossible not to be satisfied. But, I have to say the software is pretty good and video quality is excellent.

My Opinion on the Zune
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
So I’ve had the Zune for about a year now and I’ve liked it alot. It can stand up to my craziness on a bike(including my crashes witch have broken two ipods) and can withstand a drop and not have to be restarted unlike some other players. It also plays movies well and I enjoy watching them on it(though after I got my PSP it went second to that for movies). It plays all my music and I’ve never had a problem even with some of the DRMed music I had. The only problems I really have is the crappy software and the non-external hard-drive link-up, for it forces the software(though I will say the software has gotten alot better over the year). So atm the Zune would still be my top choice for player(though I dont think I would pay 200 for what I payed 100 for but i wouldnt pay 200 for a mp3 player anyway).

So quick summary of Pros and Cons

Pros = Can play most DRMed Music, Good size screen for movies, Picture Aulbum, and Durability

Cons = Can’t be hosted Externally, and the software still needs work(but it is getting better)

Other notes = I’ve never had a problem with connection to my computer even when I ran Vista and the program worked just fine then. Now that its popular it costs twice as much new as when I bought it, I’m glad I got mine when I did since I would hate spending 200$ on this.

Works well and is a good value
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
The Zune 30GB is a very good value. It is easy to use. It integrates with Windows Vista very well. Sharing photos and songs wirelessly is fun, although shared songs do expire after three plays. I only have two problems with it: 1) Battery life is too short. 2) If you delete a song or photo from your PC hard drive, the Zune software automatically deletes the file from your Zune player the next time you sync. And one more word to the wise: Having two Zunes on one PC is a challenge. The easiest way to manage this is to sync everything manually, and that’s time consuming. But over all, I recommend it, especially considering the low price.

Zune
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
It is a good product although learning to use it is cumbersome and the battery life isn’t good. Neither of these issues prevented me from buying a second unit for a gift but, I wish Microsoft would address these issues.

No support for Zune products
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
DON’T BUY ANY ZUNE/MICROSOFT PRODUCT!! I’m still looking at a blank Zune screen and a worthless device because Microsoft refuses to admit there is a problem with Zune as of 12/31/08. Don’t trust Microsoft, and don’t buy Zune unless you just want to throw your money away!! I’ve never been a Mac person, but now it’s time to change!

Zune video
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The Zune is so much easier to use than the iPod I gave away because I couldn’t figure it out. The difference for me was like night & day.

One of the best mp3 players
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought this zune from amazon last black friday for $80 with shipping included, and now I am still using my zune and it is still in perfect condition. This 30 Gb zune is very durable and can take a beating. If your are in the market for a strong, reliable, durable mp3 player don’t hesitate to buy this 30 Gb zune.

I love my Zune
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I ordered the brown 30gb zune while stationed in Iraq. It came through the military mail system without a hitch, I believe largly in part to the label on the shipping container that said “computer parts”. Very thoughtfull of the seller, if it had said MP3 player I would have never recieved it lol.

I loaded it up from my laptop with video clips, picture slide shows and thousands of songs, arranged playlist, the works. Used it everyday for hours, and even accidently closed it in an armored Hmmwv door resulting in a dent, not a crack. I destroyed the headphones it shipped with but no biggie.

The battery life is very good, 8-10 hours maybe off and on, charge time from my laptop usb port was super fast. No problems with the software or any user interface complexities. Now I’m home and lost the usb cord to it but ordered a new one and a bunch of other accesories, I use my zune daily at work while running around the site.

Zune 30gb
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Bought one last Christmas and I have loved it. I have had no problems with the player. I use it mostly for music and podcasts, but like the games and viewing movies when traveling. The FM workes great and was my news source during hurricane Ike. The Zune software is good for discovering new music and is not buggy like I-Tunes.

nice product
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
This is a great product for anybody who doesnt want to follow the mainstream and get an ipod yet still wants a nice mp3 player made by a trustworthy brand. It takes a little getting used to but donesnt take long. Another great feature is that microsoft has free universal updates so that all of the zunes are the same unlike ipods.

Nice product, terrible software.
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I purchased one of these in March of 2008 because I know someone who had one and recommended it. He warned me that the software was pretty terrible but the device was worth it.

Upon reading reviews for it, people seemed to have varying experiences with the device but the pretty much agreed that the software is terrible.

I’m here to say, I LOVE my zune but the software is astoundingly bad. My OS is Windows Media with the most recent service pack and it will not install. NO version of Zune software will install on it and that’s with 4 hours on the phone with customer service and pretty much anyone else I could call. Luckily the absolutely oldest version will install on my parents’ computer (Windows XP) and updates will download and work with it. The software annoyed me at first because it synced every piece of music on the entire computer onto the zune. It took a little while for me to figure out how to get the music I wanted organized into different folders and to tell the software where to look for it.

As for the device itself. I’ve never owned an ipod, the only other mp3 players I’ve had was a little sansa that my dog ate (RIP mp3 player) and another one that the brand doesn’t matter, it sucked. I was interested in how cheaply I could get 30 gig of space with the zune.

When there comes a day that my zune dies, I will probably look around some and if improvements in software have been made I will likely go with a newer zune. If not, then this will be the last zune I own.

Very Satisfied
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
We have 4 Creative MP3 players in our family. I was using my daughter’s first zen 1gb because the smaller one I bought for myself I couldn’t download any more music on- it was full. Then her hand-me-down wasn’t big enough. She has a Zen Vision M now and we are fairly satisfied with it. I decided that it was time for me to get a media/mp3 player- I travel a lot, want to watch movies and have a large music library, and be able to down-load teachings and seminars to listen to. I searched and searched. I wanted my own Zen Vision M or Zen Vision W but couldn’t get past the price for a 30G. Then I decided to check out Zune. I know a few teens who have them and love them. I discovered that this particular model was being upgraded to a sleeker design, so the original (the one I am writing about) had a close-out price. It was less than half of what a Vision W would have cost me.

Pros-

1. Downloads are soooooo easy!!!! Easier than the Creative products (which I still think are good).

2. Movie quality is superb and the software (have to buy it) was not outrageously expensive.

3. Movie downloads don’t take nearly as long as the Zen Vision M.

4. It is easy to navigate through the menus, which is good since the product manuals are not very helpful.

5. Battery time is substantial.

6. The software I purchased to download the movies has a built-in decrypter to take off the anti-piracy protection codes so that I can download the movies that I have purchased and own. Creative may have that now, but hasn’t in the past, so I couldn’t download my favorite movies that I personally own!

Cons-

1. has to be charged through your computer, THERE IS NO A/C CHARGER INCLUDED

2. It is a little heavy and thick, which may bother some but doesn’t bother me at all

3. Found it at Target on clearance for $132.99 (not online) and I paid $159.99 plus s/h – could’ve saved over $30.00 buying it at my local store

All around, I have had this thing for about a month and I am so very glad I bought it. It was a wise purchase. Now I can listen to my tunes in the car or anywhere as well as watch movies and listen to teachings.

Kinda pricey, scary bad software, not an iPod.
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Okay, the review title doesn’t do the Zune any justice, but after 1.5 years of ownership I must say that the Zune turned out to be a much better player than I had originally thought it would. My first impression when I opened the box was “Eh”. The player was roughly the size of a pack of Camels, only a tad thinner. The buttons were clunky and after owning a PSP the display was remarkably…underwhelming. I won’t even mention the crappy headphones that were supposed to be a “bonus” accessory… My ears hurt just looking at them. Then there is the original version of the Zune software. Wow, what a mess. Not intuitive by any means and the automatic settings grabbed every picture/video/sound file from my computer and commenced to cram all of it onto the player. The little hard drive was just churning away like a cellphone on vibrate. After hunting around the software settings however I managed to organize my computer files in a Zune friendly fashion.

So what have we so far? Unimpressive unit. No bonus goodies worth mentioning. Software that is both unsightly looking and difficult to setup… What the heck could there possibly be about the Zune to warrant four stars? Well, after a while, the Zune was something that was quickly forgotten about. Not forgotten as in “stuffed in a drawer never to be seen in the light again” but something better. Something that has become such a part of my everyday life that I don’t even think about it any more. It’s something that you keep with you like your wallet, keys or cellphone. You don’t THINK about your wallet, it’s just there, doing what wallets do. Keeping your credit cards, receipts and loose cash in one handy pouch. And that is exactly what the Zune has become in my everyday life: a music wallet. It is in my hand with my Cellphone. It goes with me in the car. It’s at the gym on the tread mill. It’s in my garage jacked into my little bookshelf stereo. It’s on my chest when I am laying out in my hammock. It’s plugged into my home stereo… It’s an everyday part of my life. And if you are only playing music (videos are another story), it keeps playing and playing and playing. I have had the Zune out in the garage in 100+ degree heat playing non-stop for 12-13 hours. It plays continuously for the 10 hour drive to my parents house in Florida. It is the energizer bunny of music players. The buttons are dirty and worn but they still work. And for those reasons I give the Zune four stars.

To be fair, two firmware and software updates (and a set of proper headphones) have corrected a lot of the issues of the initial release package giving the unit a nice breath of fresh air and a little more longevity.

So for those of you looking for a respectable alternative to “iPod madness”, I can honestly recommend the Microsoft Zune without reservation.

Great start
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Despite the knocks Microsoft sometimes takes, this is actually an excellent first generation product. And the beauty of it is that you get most of the benefits of their next generation product via software upgrades. I’ve had mine for close to 2 years now and its been nice to have the features continue to grow even as the product aged.

Although this older model isn’t as small or pocketable as the newer generations (or competing iPods) it’s still an ideal solution if you mostly plan on using it in the car, on an airplane, etc where pocketability is not as big a concern. The screen is large and great for watching movies for on long flights, etc. And the overall user interface (the visuals, navigating menus via the ‘twist’ navigation, etc) is far more polished and robust than even the tried-and-true iPod classic interface.

At this point, it makes as much sense to get the newer generation of this product. But this has definitely been a pleasant surprise as I had a lot of trepidation when first purchasing this product. It wasn’t seen as cool or as hip as an iPod. But day-to-day functionality is what mattered most to me and in that regard this thing excels.

Horrible
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I bought this for my daughter 4 years ago and she like it the first time but now she hates it now because of the battery. The battery rans out very fast. It gets down one for 30 seconds and when I delete her pictures, it deletes it by iself. Even we go somewhere far away it rans out. This is a horrible product!

Continual updates make this thing awesome!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
A ridiculous amount of props to Microsoft for continually updating these first generation Zunes. New firmware and software updates make this device better and better as time goes on. New features are being added constantly. New Zune 3.0 software is infinitely better than iTunes. I couldn’t be happier with my decision to get a Zune over an iPod.