Zune 80 GB Digital Media Player Black

The innovation never stops
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
When I received this item as a gift, I was excited. Over the next year, with multiple updates and cool stuff being added all the time, the Zune rocks. Wireless purchasing with no computer required, games, buy-from-FM, and 30 second song clips… so cool!

Hits the mark on almost all fronts.
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I have had my Zune 80 since Christmas, 2007. Overall, I have been quite happy with it. I always tend to spend much time analyzing features before deciding on electronics, and have no regrets so far.

First the good:

Sound quality is very good. I rip all my CD’s with Windows Media Audio Variable bit-rate (240 – 355 Kbps), and there is only a negligible difference to loss-less, and according to sound snobs, WMA is quite a bit better than MP3 overall. I recently had the opportunity to compare sound quality side by side with an 80 gig Ipod. There was absolutely no comparison! To be fair, the person with the Ipod did not know the bit-rate I was listening to (other than 128 Kbs or better), but that is more of a full vs shallow sound than the actual pure sound quality. It definitely reinforced the feeling that I made the right choice in buying a Zune!

This is subjective, but I feel it is the best looking MP3 player out there. Much better looking than the first generation. Nice size, weight, center of gravity, and has a well constructed “feel”.

Glass screen gives much more scratch resistance than plastic.

Big screen, and good picture.

Included ear-buds sound very good.

FM radio.

Touch pad navigation is great – from selecting songs to fast forward, etc.

Software download, and setup went flawlessly.

Operation of the Zune is intuitive. This is my first MP3 player, and I never even had to look at the instructions, even though I’m not a techie.

Works great with XP Home with SP2, and all the updates. I wonder if many of the people having trouble don’t have the latest updates.

Works great with Windows Media Player 11.

It’s nice to be different from the pack.

I guess I have been lucky with the software – no problems other than the occasional double listed song. Just plug it in, open the Zune program, and it syncs to the latest songs you have added to your computer.

Eighty gig. hard drive – big enough to allow you to avoid resorting to the poor sound quality of 128 Kbps.

So far 50 gigs worth of music installed, and even so there is very little lag time between song selections, or any commands.

Pewter finish looks much richer than chrome, and doesn’t show fingerprints.

For protection, I bought an aftermarket clear silicone case. It has minimal effect on control functionality (mainly touch pad feel), but I’m thinking a hard case might be more useful. I would recommend a screen shield even though it is glass.

Naturally, there are some things that could be improved upon:

It has no EQ! The first one had it. I naturally assumed the 2nd generation would have it, and figured at least it would be no problem to add it if it did not come with one. I have entry level audiophile Etymotic ER6i ear-buds as I do a lot of dead-heading so noise attenuation is of great importance. The ER6i’s need a bit of bass boost to produce the sound I prefer. Not allowable with the Zune. The included ear-buds sound very good, but have poor external noise attenuation. Now I have to choose between damaging my hearing, or not having the sound I prefer with the ER6i’s. What a step backwards!! It is my understanding that it would be fairly difficult to add an EQ, and there are no plans of adding it anytime soon. Too bad! I recently looked at a review of the top ten MP3 players, and every one of them had an EQ except for the Zune! Take a poll, and I would bet nine out of ten would say it is a major influence in a purchase decision. I would trade the wireless function in a second for an EQ! This is pretty much their only big error in the Zune 80 design.

It does not have a line out, so you must use the headphone (lower level)jack if you are going to play it on your home or bedroom system – which limits the output.

One more feature that caused me a bit of difficulty was the syncing feature that deletes music from the Zune if you delete it from your computer (unless you select “forget this device”). Glad I discovered that one early on. Ended up having to add a 160 gig internal hard drive to my older Dell.

I still would prefer to have a printed operations manual in my hands!

The aftermarket is quite slow to produce Zune accessories. Hopefully, the second generation will promote the Zune enough to change this.

Battery life leaves a bit to be desired. When they test battery life, I believe they turn it on, and let it play for hours without picking, and choosing songs. I tend to skip around, and it must be that each time the screen is turned on, it uses quite a bit more power. I set the screen display at 15 seconds, but still ended up buying an (aftermarket non-Micro$oft) AC charger for layovers.

Overall, I feel it is a better value than the Ipod (especially after the side by side listening comparison), and am quite happy with my first MP3 player. I’m only giving it four out of five stars because it doesn’t have an EQ – otherwise it would definitely be five.

Update. I have now had it over a year, and have about 63 gigs of music on it. Transferred all of it from the Zune to my new computer in a few hours…very fast transfer rate! Still works great!

July, 2009 update. Still gives me flawless performance! I’m not dead-heading anymore, so the EQ is less relevant. Lightning fast transfer of songs from my Zune to yet another computer – about one song per second (most 350Kbps)! Hasn’t locked up, or even coughed once! I couldn’t be happier with it other than being aware that I am gradually coming up on 80 gigs.

Zune
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I think the zune is best media player and best the ipod by 3 to 1. I know that the Iphone came out and everyone wants one but they cost money around $599.oo with no deal with deal $299.00 from at&t. Zune 3 is on the way out in 2009. The zune makes its easy to buy songs not $0.99 you pay $14.99 monthy or $44.99 every 3 months and with that you get all the music and podcast you want. The videos cost around $1.50, but if you are Driving who needs videos. I got the 30gb model and planning to by the zune 3. Zune 80 GB Digital Media Player Black (2nd Generation)

Finally off of iTunes
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Ok, my purpose to getting a Zune was to get off the iTunes train. On Windows iTunes is a beast — at least for me it was. The Zune software is much better, although I would much have preferred that Microsoft just use Windows Media Player… Or give me the choice to do so. Integration is a good thing, and sometimes they just don’t get it.

The software syncs perfectly, and it grabs videos from my Media Center, as well. The Zune’s screen is just AWESOME. The interface is so much better than my old Video iPod 30GB. Syncing is so much easier, too… No need to eject your Zune, you just unplug it. Get off the iTunes train and join the Zune Revolution!

OH! I almost forgot, the wireless features are just awesome. I love being able to sync wirelessly and also share my music with my wife and friends.

Great product
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
A lot of people said they had trouble with the syncing, with everything automatically syncing up. These people are stupid as one of the first options you are presented with is to untick the box that says sync everything, instead it is very simple just to select what you want on the player and then let it just sync those items.

The user interface is great, the touchpad is so easy to use. The big screen shows videos very clearly.

The one issue i have had is with the software, an error occured so the player just erased everything, although time consuming, once i plugged the player back in it put all the items i had wanted synced straight back on there.

On another note i live in Sydney, where the Zune is not available so i had to import it. Microsoft won’t let you download the zune program so you will have to do some searching to get it from another site, not hard to do, just a word of warning

Highly recommended

Awesome… except…
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Absolutely awesome device… ONLY STUPID THING is that when you randomize your playlist it literally RANDOMIZES your playlist… so instead of just playing it in a random order you have to search through all your songs in random order which is ridiculous… it should keep them alphabetical and play them randomly… just another Microsoft “derrrr” moment. Lets get a patch for that rich people!!!

100% satisfied
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
By far the best player on the market. Not one single complaint about my 80 GB Zune. It blows everything else out of the water.

Great Product, few drawbacks
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I bought this for my husband for his birthday. He likes it, it is more updated than the one I got last year. It has a touch-sensitive button option, which makes scrolling easier. This version is slimmer and has a slightly bigger screen-which is a color screen. The biggest drawback is the specific Zune program used to add songs. It was complicated to figure out how to use the one program for two Zunes. We had to rename the “composer” with our names so we could seperate my songs from his. Once we got over the big initial hurdle, it hasn’t been too bad. And the 80GB will last a while.

Disappointed by Microsoft Strictness
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Tried to install. Doesn’t work on a Mac OSX. At all.

Then tried on an old Windows XP, but the software wanted a lot of updates, which some did not take well. Software still wouldn’t install.

Without Microsoft’s specific software, no music could be listened to.

Overall, this is rather restrictive. Seems the Zune is just an accessory to your Windows Vista.

Great Product
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’ve owned my 80GB Zune for over 6 months now and I love it. I owned an old Yepp (now my youngest sons player) and my 10-year-old has an off-brand player. The Zune surpasses these.

Pros:

- easy to use

- great sound

- decent picture

- overall size

- amount of space

Cons:

- I have had no problems with my Zune.

I choose the Zune because I didn’t want to be limited to only using a specific music service. I had no problem ripping my CD’s. The software recognized the artist and song immediately. The only thing I did have to do was tag music I had recorded because it didn’t have tags. I have added most of my DVD collection and other videos with no problem. And I love the Zune market place.

The ease of use issue was recently brougt home to me. My husband, who can’t even turn on my laptop, picked up my Zune and started using it. Now he wants one of his own.

In general, if you are lookig for an MP3 player with alot of space for a decent price go with the Zune.

RIPOFF
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
The seller “sellonsellon” is a SCAM artist. I ordered and paid for the product on September 1st and as of October 2nd have not received it. Numerous emails to the seller have gone unanswered. I have asked Amazon to refund my money.

Better than An Ipod
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Loved it, Huge Color screen, full support for any Music format. (you will have to convert any videos to wmp though) Excelent choice for a portable hard drive too. AND YOU DON”T NEED ITunes!!!! Greatest part of it.

5 stars BUY IT.

80GB Zune is great
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I have had 2 ipods in the last year. My first was a 2GB and the 2nd was a 4GB and I realized it still wasn’t enough room for my music, podcasts, and a few audiobooks. I kept having to remove music in order to load the other stuff. The battery on the 2GB is shot and I now have to always leave it connected to power in order to use it. I use the 4GB for walking.

So, I took the big leap and ordered a refurbished Zune. There were no earbuds with the refurbished unit nor CD for software. I called Microsoft Zune help and they unbelievably sent me the earplugs within 10 days at no charge! That impressed me!

I found that downloading the software from the Zune website was a little tricky and took a while but it worked fine. I still haven’t figured out the best way to turn the unit off. It seems like it is the same way as the Ipod where you depress the bottom of the round clicker until it shuts down but seems sticky. I have to admit, it is also sticky on the ipods.

When I downloaded the software, it automatically imported the songs that I had ripped from my CD’s into iTunes into the Zune which was great! However, it does not import those songs that I had purchased through iTunes. When I talked to the help person at Zune, she gave me a link that over rides this so I can also bring that music in but I haven’t tried that yet.

I love the fact that it has a FM radio option AND that you can very easily select a song that is playing that wirelessly syncs up with your computer and loads the song into your cart. I have really not used the wireless option yet as I just leave the USB cord in the back of the computer and connect to the ZUNE when recharging so I don’t really have a need at this point for wireless.

I do think it is a little easier to use as it has it’s own BACK button. The videos from podcasts play very well on the larger screen. I can even dock the Zune to my Altec using the adapter they provide and hear the exercise podcast and watch it while doing my exercises. Seems easier than connecting to the TV set.

All in all, I love it and will not be returning to ipods. I am getting much more bang for my buck and am not tied to the proprietary stuff from Apple where I don’t really own the music I buy.

Great so far
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’m new at using an MP3 player, but getting it set up and going was easy. The sound is good, and learning all the uses seems intuitive. I liked the size and capacity for the price compared to an iPod. With 80 gigabytes of space, I probably will never fill it up, but I won’t feel limited or have to make choices of what not to put in it. There are no technical problems; however, it’s not a 24/7 or even a 12/7 or 4/5 gadget. Even us old grandpa types can navigate stuff 12 to 25-year olds can–old dogs, new tricks aren’t that much of a problem. I may not know how to program a TIVO (don’t have one), or figure out all the glitches in my laptop, but the ZUNE only has 3 buttons, so how much does one have to know to enjoy it?

Love my Zune
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought this for my boyfriend for his birthday! He loves it and uses it everyday!

Performance + Screen Size = Good Buy
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I wavered between the IPod 80g and this Zune. After going to a retail store to check them out (which I reccomend) I decided on the Zune.

Pros:

1. The screen is much larger.

2. The unit is better looking.

3. The pad is more versatile and fresh compared to the thumb-pad on the Ipod.

4. Performance has been stellar and I have trouble filling it up.

Cons:

1. Not as many accessories.

2. Not as much available on the Podcast and video download within the software (yet).

3. Some people don’t like the pad’s touchiness in terms of trying to go down and getting sent left instead.

4. Having to put up with IPod owners.

Love this player
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought this after my Creative Zen Vision M was stolen. I’ve had it about 4 months now and I can’t say enough good things about it. It was easy to set up, easy to transfer music to and has great sound and video quality. Syncing up music downloads and videos is also very easy. The capacity is great. I have tons of music and lots of episodes of “House” on it. I had to stop playing the episodes of House in the car though — the sound is so good we keep looking for the source of the sirens that are often in background of the show!

Price is TOO high!!!!!!!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
What is up with the prices of the MP3 players! You’ve got to be kidding me, right?!!!! Over $200 for these things that are no bigger than a credit card! Come on people! What are you thinking? Granted the Zune can hold up to 80 GB but YOU have to put 80 GB worth of data on it. Maybe if it came with 80 GB worth of info on it already, it might be worth $200!!! Stop and think people….if we stop paying this much for stuff, the prices would go down to more reasonable prices.

Zuner or later
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Sooner or later there had to be something as good or better than an Ipod. This Zune is there. I think it’s alot better that the Ipod with the proprietary thing and it’s great with Window Media player for ripping songs. The 80 gigs go a long way toward giving you plenty of music to listen to as well as your photos , videos, or Pod (zune) casts. Anyway I love it and you will too!

If you buy a Zune, I promise you will be Disappointed.
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I had wanted a mp3 player for a while before buying my Zune. It seemed like everyone I knew had an iPod and I was kinda hoping to do something different, plus I really didn’t care for itunes either. So,I bought a Zune. I have never gone jogging with my zune ( or without it for that matter), I dont use the Zune in the car (the FM transmitter Zune makes, which used to cost like 70 dollars is also a piece of junk, all I get is a lot of static), and in fact I don’t hardly use it at all except around the house. I have never dropped it, never exposed it to water, its been in a Zune case the entire time I have had it. Somehow, I’m still looking at a useless piece of metal, plastic, and screen today.

About 2 months after purchasing my Zune the software on the zune went haywire,and I had to send it in to the company. The warranty did cover my repair, and about 2 months later I got a Zune back. Not the same Zune I sent in, but a refurbished one. I am certain that it was a refurbished Zune because it had an earlier serial number than the one I sent in, there was a small indentation in the metal close to where the earphones plug in (as if the previous owner had dropped it), and because the touchpad never worked quite right either. I was a bit disappointed, but at least I had it back and it worked. I kept it, and used it occasionally. I cannot stress enough the fact that this Zune has NEVER been dropped, never even been used anywhere other than my house or at friends houses, and there’s literally not a single scratch or dent anywhere on it (aside from the one it came with). I ran through the full battery about 15 times, always charged it back up all the way, and running the battery back down all the way. One day I take it and plug it into the computer to charge it up and… Nothing happens. All it does is show me a dead battery symbol when I try to start it. When I plug it in to any charging source it shows the dead battery with a charge symbol in it as if it were beginning to charge up, but will not start up and will not connect with Zune software.

So…Lets get some technical support. All of the attempts at re-booting and re-calibrating the battery that tech support online suggested did not change anything. I find the phone number for tech support and get the usual automated crap for about 15 minutes until I can finally speak the word “Agent” into my cell phone. I’m quickly connected to someone who works at an outsourced Microsoft customer service place, and I am told that for 159 dollars I can send my already refurbished Zune in to be worked on and returned to me. Which, coincidentally, I believe is the going rate for a new 80 Gig Zune anyways. When I politely push the issue that I have already spent nearly 400 dollars on Zune products between the device, FM transmitter, (which if you recall I don’t use anyways because it works horribly) and the Official leather Zune case (which is actually kind of nice), I am turned over to the gentlemans supervisor. The Supervisor then explains to me that electronic products like these just sometimes stop working, and there’s no way to know when they might stop working, and seemed to suggest that maybe I just happened to get a bad Device. I was offered one last chance to buy another one, or to upgrade to the 120 Gig Zune. I let her know that I intended to bash the Zune every chance I got, and she let me know that Microsoft appreciated my feedback.

So, here I am 360 some dollars in the hole, and nothing to show for it. I hardly got to use the thing, and the majority of the time I did it worked poorly. Please do not waste money on the Zune. Right now I am using my girlfriends old 8 gig off-brand Gigaware MP3 player, and it seems to be working fine some 3 years down the road. And she takes it to the gym, runs with it etc. If you buy a Zune, I promise you that you will be disappointed.

Can MS be arrested for false advertising?
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Gawd, what a POS!

The first one was DOA.Took it back-the volume controls(?) made static noise on the new one-The next one worked for 2 weeks then just died-MS you have billions how can you create such cheap cr*p? Are they assembled by chimps in China?

I was annoyed by my iPods ergonomics, but that is heaven compared to this junk

Also kind of embarrassing when people one after another remark “You have a WHAT?-Whats a Zoon?-Never heard of ‘em”

Best mp3 player available, a true iPod killer. Software falls short though.
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
First off, the Zune is a great, great mp3 player. Big screen that resists scratching, great physical interface/menu system, the touch pad is so much better than the ipod thumb wheel, fm radio, wireless sync, the ability to share songs/videos/pictures with other zune owners. The player itself leaves very little to desire, it’s got pretty much everything. I know it sounds weird, but trust me when I say even the shuffle on the Zune is better than on the iPod. However, I will be as picky as I can so people know what gets noticed when you’ve had one of these for a while:

-Battery life could be a bit longer

-No AM radio

-The menu slows down when there are a lot of album covers displaying, wish it had a bit more RAM so it could stay speedy

-Doesn’t support enough video formats/codecs (both the player & software)

One other thing: Since it has pretty strong wireless capabilities, I think Microsoft should be making proprietary wireless headphones for it to really push it over the top.

So yes, the hardware is fantastic, if a few minor issues get addressed, I’ll never want for a different player. Once a good case finally came out for it (agent 18 dragonshield, highly recommended!), I was really on cloud nine.

The software however, loses to iTunes – Big Time. Some of its biggest pitfalls for me: Albums that have multiple discs show up as “track 1 (disc 1), track 1 (disc 2), track 2 (disc 1), track 2 (disc 2)…and so on”, you have to actually name the second disc as the second disc and have them show up as separate albums. Very annoying. Very little in the way of options for editing your library. I’ve basically had to continue working with iTunes to manage my music library, then start the Zune program and hope it picks up all the changes I’ve made. A couple positive notes: handles pictures very nicely. Its system of maintaining your collection through monitering folders is very nice, it doesn’t try to take over and consolidate everything into a single file, so you’re free to manage things the way you want.

Conclusion: Zune has the best hardware, Apple has the best software. This is excuseable, considering iTunes has been around for 7+ years and is on version 7.6 (as of this review) and the Zune software has only been around for about 2 years and the current version of the software is brand new, built from the ground up and released less than half a year ago (again, as of this review). However, Microsoft needs to get their butt in gear and workout their software issues if they intend to start gaining ground and really taking it to the iPod.

Very Good Player – Excellent Software
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Disclaimer – This is my first MP3 player, but I have seen other ones as well.

The player is very nice – no problems with playback at all. It doesn’t even have gaps in between songs. The Menu is very readable, and I like actually being able to see the cover art, unlike some of the non-ipod touch/phones, when I’m listening to music. The case is sturdy, no problems scratching at all. The cover has gotten dirty easy, but I think that would happen with any type of MP3 player I would use.

The strength of the Zune is in the software. By far, the ZunePass is a killer app. Renting music (and getting to keep some free forever each month) lets me expand my music tastes and learn about bands without having to pay for each track. The “social” portion of the software has a god-awful name, but it is neat in functionality: it keeps track of what i play, similar songs, mixviews, and links me with other people who share my music tastes. Best of all, Microsoft actually makes this software work with ALL of the older Zunes.

The downside of this is, yes, you have to run Windows. There is a complex workaround for Mac owners (basically running Windows in Parallels), but I would advise against that. The other downside is Microsoft’s awful, awful, terrible marketing campaign involving the Zune. that being said, give it a whirl. Download the software at Zune.net for free and try it out before buying the player. I think the Zune pass currently has a two week free trial. See if it’s the right player for you. I’m glad I did!

Great product and I recommend it to everyone.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Bright and clear pictures. Headphone included with the product works great. I was able to get all my music collection on my player with ease. Be warned however, the software may take a little getting used to.

True audiophile quality
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The functions on the Zune80 work just fine. What is important, is how it sounds! Very flat frequency response, bass that extends down further than other players, and the highs are accurate and clear. You shouldn’t use an equalizer when you have this much quality by default! Playing WMA lossless, the sound quality is almost unbelievable. I run mine from it’s dock to my hi-end tube headphone amplifier and it is a great source! You will not find this level of sound quality coming out of an iPod, not even close!

Support
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
Microsoft and apple are battling for the top MP3 player spot. Right now, apple is on top with the video support. Many places have video downloads, but Ipods and Zunes cannot play these files. With Itunes, you can download a lot of videos that microsoft doesn’t have the licence to yet. Hopefully, the keyword is yet. Zunes are on top with the product, lagging in only the video section. Come on zune!

Solid player with just a few too many quirks. Nothing groundbreaking.
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RKZOJFIAQ7319 I have to first say that I got a great deal on this player and did not include this in my final rating. For $138+tax new it was too good to pass up.

I give a quick rundown of the player.

I like many aspects but too many things I hate for this to score any higher.

Piece of junk!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
80G Zune

I am very disappointed in the quality of my Zune. After only having it for a month, it froze up on me for a week. In the 4 months that I have owned it, it has froezen 4 times and I hope to return it because I’ve had enough. I subscribed to the Zune network where I can download music onto it. I didn’t know that every month the zune must be synced with the Zune network in order to play the music, if you don’t keep the $15 a month subscription, the license does not allow you to play the music. So if you do purchase this, be prepared to pay $15 a month for the rest of the time that you own it, which can be very expensive. I feel like I sold myself to the devil. The headphones are good quality, but the keypad is too sensitive and hard to control(seems to have a mind of its own sometimes). The battery life is very short!!! I do not recommend this product, or the life-long contract with Microsoft!

Almost Excellent
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
This product would get 5 stars except, after having bought the product for the 80gb hard drive for video content, I found that I can’t play the Zune 80gb through a PAL TV set. Considering that the Zune 30gb model can do this, it seems that this is a step down in technicality.

I would have thought new versions meant advancement not detractions. Hopefully this can be addressed in firmware updates

Also, does Microsoft want to be any greedier?! how could an AC adaptor not be provided?

Other than these 2 issues the product is great. Good sound, very clean displays and a fairly good screen for video.

Not Recommended for Audiophile Freaks
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Honestly, I’m a little disappointed because it does not produce the full rich sound. I am using a high profile headphone, Seinheisser HD280, and also tested with various headphones, and can still could tell the difference. It does produce a clean sound which is a plus because I can hook it up to my amp and mess around with the equalizer to enhance the sound. Other than the sound production, it kicks [...]. The radio is pretty cool, being able to see the stations and songs being played. Overall, this is a good MP3 player if you want to carry alot of files. But if your the type who loves listening to music with your headphones, this one falls a little short. My advice if your concern with the sound quality, take your favorite pair of headphones and test them out. At the back of my head, i want to return it, but i dont because of its strong overall features.

Zune 80GB
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
To be honest…..when I purchased this I didn’t know what to expect, but i’m glad that i did. I love the look and the ease I was able to use the functions but two things, I felt as though they should have had a feature whereby u can lock the folders internally and it needed an equalizer (even though the sound is not too bad). Overall I think it’s better than the Ipod…….P.S. Microsoft should take a look at the software to allow a faster sync!!!!!!!

Zune 80 GB
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
My grandsons christmas present was a big smash. He loves his Zune and said he was a little bored trying to fill it up completely since he has only used 28% of the space. He says it holds and holds and holds.

would definitely order from this seller again.

If Only It Worked…
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Piece of crap. I’ve had my 80G Zune for almost a year. The best thing I can say about it is after it died (TWICE!), microsoft was pretty quick about sending another piece of crap to replace it. The most current issue I am having is that it will not sync any media from my computer. Pretty much making this thing useless. Not even close to being worth what I paid. It might make a good ice scraper, not sure.

Old 30 gig better than the new…
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I have had a 30 gig unit for a while and love it!. bought the new 80 gig expexting better features and of course the extra hd space as a huge bonus! But the biggest gripe about the new ones is that there is NO EQ adjustment, so your music sound quality is limitd. So I instantly noticed this whe I stated to listen to music, and then did a side by side comparison with the old and new models ….with the same songs and the old ear buds (becasue the new buds suck butt) and I am convinced that the old 30 gig wins the “sound off”! ….and the screen resolution on the new 80 g model is not as good either. so I returned the new one. If you want better sound, stick with the old style 30 unit.

No complaints
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
It’s been almost a year and the 80GB zune has run fine for me the entire time. Interface is simple enough, software is a little bulky, but easy to get used to. Overall a good experience.

Zune 80
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I use it mostly for podcasts, latest firmware update needed for best results.

The headphone update is a wee bit weak, need efficient headphones to overcome background noise.

A stylish looking unit, excellant display.

love it
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Love it—-so easy to use. I got a ZKick to dock it on and it has fantastic sound. The Zune goes where I go.

Need improve
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Firmware need to be improved. No sleep, no equalizer, no volume level. It is important delete items derectly from the player

Great Player and All the Music You Can Eat
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
The Zune is great player – terrific sound, a lovely screen and excellent build quality – I’m rough on my electronics, and the Zune has probably lasted longer for me than any other audio player to date.

I find the navigation on this device dead-simple. Microsoft’s Twist interface is brilliant, and it allows you to find and manage your music very quickly – a useful quality in a player with 80GB of storage.

I’m also a big fan of the Zune Marketplace’s Zune pass – essentially, all the music you can download for $15/month. That’s fantastic for a number of reasons. For less than the price of 2 CDs, you can get all the music you want, whenever you want it. I love pop music, but I find it disposable. While I’m enjoying Madonna’s newest album this month, I doubt I’ll want to hear it half a year from now. The Zune pass let’s me play everything I want to play without investing in it.

I’m also a big podcast fan, and the Zune’s podcast catcher is second only to iTunes.

I do have a few problems with the Zune. It’s a Microsoft device, but it doesn’t play along with a number of Microsoft’s own services. For example, you have to use the Zune software to synch and manage your device, even if you prefer and already have playlists in Microsoft’s Windows Media Player.

Likewise, Microsoft has a Plays for Sure initiative that guarantees that download services will be compatible with your music player – but not with their own Zune! As a result, you can’t use the Zune with Napster’s or Rhapsody’s subscription services, which are arguably superior to the Zune Marketplace.

Another thing the Zune isn’t compatible with is the Mac OS, although iTunes works on both Windows and Mac. As a long-time Window’s user, I didn’t really mind that, until my second Vista machine in ten months irrevocably crashed. That was enough to make me switch to Mac, which means I can no longer use my Zune. That’s tragic. I may get around to installing Windows on my Mac, but it’s still a bummer that I’d have to do that for the Zune.

The problem for the Zune is that once Apple has a subscription music deal, it’s going to be hard to recommend one over an iPod. But till then, there’s a lot to like about the Zune. I understand why companies like to lock their devices down (and the iPod is certainly restrictive, too) but Microsoft needs to open up the Zune to other subscription services and to the Mac if they want to be competitive.

Excellent Player, works flawlessy.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The 2nd Generation Zune 80GB is an absolutely fantastic media player. The screen is bright and vibrant, though slightly low-res, and very resistant to scratching. It would be nice if it played more file types, but there are many excellent and free video converters on the internet. The sound quality is excellent, and the premium headphones are a great finishing touch.

The interface is also great, especially on the player. Navigating menus with the Zune pad is an absolute breeze. The computer-side tools are very simple, but fail to give as many options or editing abilities as competing software like iTunes. The Zune software does rip into a standard file format though, so if you rip CD’s your library will be easily accessible in the future or if you have something like a PS3 on your network.

All in all I love the new Zune, it is so sleek and light it feels better and looks better than the newer iPods. The interface is fantastic, though the software takes some getting used to. It has a standout screen for those who don’t want the bulk of a PMP, but prefer something larger than 2.5 inch video playback.

Very Happy Customer!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
this a great product! easy to use, looks great, easy to carry! only one complaint that i have is that i wish it came with written instructions and a toll free number to call as not all people have the time to go online all the time for instructions to use. but overall very satisfied with my zune. thanks

Zune Dominate iPod Anyday
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought my Zune in December after one of my many MP3 players had broken down. From Creative Zen, to iRiver, to iPod, the Zune put them all in the dust. Some things that i liked was the glass screen (no scratches yet), the radio (don’t always use, but it’s really nice), and the larger screen (Wow! What a difference!) With an iPod, I have gone through many stuggles. From battery life problems to a mystery internal crack in the screen, I finally realized that the iPod sucks the big one compared to the Zune.

I also think that the software is a thousand times easier. When I used iTunes, my library would sometimes magically disappear. Thankfully, I had all my music on an external hard drive, but I still had to manually add my music to the library. This meant that I had to click and play every single song until everyone was added. Most of the time, this took days. even weeks. With the Zune software, it found all of my music without a problem, no time required.

I totally recommend the Zune. It is the best MP3 I have ever had! Although, if you don’t like this player, screw iPod and get an iRiver. An iRiver +Napster is a great way to discover and listen to a bunch of music.

Excellent device
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The Zune 80 is an excellent device in so many ways. The design is breathtaking, the screen is big and attractive, the whole device has a the perfect size, the unscratchable back is just amazing, and it all just builds up together to provide an amazing experience. The device is extremely responsive, the central button (the ’squircle’ as they call it) is very smooth and amazing to handle, just touching lightly and scrolling upwards or downwards scrolls through the lists, etc. The software inside is also excellent, the interface is very friendly, and the menu is two-dimensional, meaning you can move from artist view to playlist view to song view to album view easily, you can select an atrist and browse albums in a very clever way, etc. The Now Playing screen is very attarctive and using the side-scrolling, you can move between songs while in the Now Playing screen. Different touches result in different responses from the device; it behaves just as you want it to, for example, when in the now Playing screen, a very hard and big sidescroll needs to be made to move to the next song, while scrolling up or down very lightly instantly changes the volume; a quick scroll in the music list scrolls at a higher speed, displaying the first letters of the song/artist as you scroll and touching a quickly scrolling list results in having it stop.

The computer software is really good, but I believe this is where the product needs to be improved. If you have your music list in one place, it’ll be very easy to manage, but otherwise it’ll be hard to manage everything.

In comparison to the iPod, I definitely see this as an iPod killer. When compared to the iPod classic, the zune is so much better, offering the same hard disk size yet a much better interface and more features. There’s Radio, there’s music sharing (’squirting’ as its called), etc. The button in the zune is much more responsive and useful than the iPod’s scroll wheel; it provides two dimensional scrolling rather than a simple one dimensional scrolling, and its much more smooth and responsive. The UI is also better organized and more attractive overall.

The Zune 80 is good and can also be compared to the iPod Touch. The iPod touch is more than just a music device so in that way the Zune might be seen to be behind, HOWEVER, when it comes to the music capabilities as well as responsiveness, the Zune is amazingly better in my own opinion. No matter how much I tried to act smooth with the iPod touch, my fingers always seem big and bulky and mistakes in moving around and pressing the right things always occur. The Zune’s touch-sensitive button is as smooth in many ways, yet its easy to use and making such mistakes isn’t an option.

Overall, highly recommended.

Sexier than the Ipod Classic, but desktop software is bad
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
In this space (large capacity, hard drive MP3 players), you basically now have two options: The iPod Classic or the Zune 80.

It was a pretty easy decision for me:

- Style: The Zune, in my estimation, looks better. The glass window is attractive, most of the face is the display, and it has very little clutter. The iPod has a “worn bar of soap” look–too much silver area, the click wheel dominates the face of it (not the screen) . . it’s all just too familiar. I think the iPod design peaked with the first Nano, and has gone downhill since. The Zune 80 looks more like the “iPod Touch” than ANY of the other Ipods.

- Features: wireless synch, FM radio, plug and play with my XBOX 360–all not standard with the iPod

- Sound: I didn’t evaluate the sound of each. It sounds OK, for an MP3 player. About like the Creative Zen I had before.

- Larger Screen–it takes up most the face of the unit. It looks fabulous.

I guess that’s about it. The software is atrocious. I’d rather use Windows Media Player.

Don’t buy unless you can’t wait.
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
IPOD or Zune…IPOD or Zune…. If you want a hard drive model, that is all you are left with. Due to Creative’s exit out of the market with their Zen models, you are left with two products where you are chosing the lesser of two evils.

I wanted a hard drive model to hold my extensive library.

I read the reviews for the Ipod. The new classic 80gb seems to be losing loyal users and I have heard personally from friends about the IPODs shotty manufacturing-with players stopping from working after a year or so for no apparent reason.

Zune, I bought this model about 4 months ago.

Pros: nice good-sized screen, metal case, good battery life. I only use it for playing mp3’s. No video, no pictures, no podcasts.

Cons: name of song playing is MUCH too small. Impossible to read title of song playing during a bright day. Searching for anything (song, artist, playlist, genre, etc) is frustrating. My old Creative would index the alphabet if you pressed the right arrow button. Then you could skip to the letter you wanted. The Zune makes you go through EVERY ARTIST/SONG/GENRE before you can get to (for example) Maroon 5. And how often do you think you can you hit the item you are searching for on the first try…you can’t. So you go up and down three + times before you get what you want…or you end up wrapping yourself around a tree if driving.

LACK of buttons. Sure a circle is great…but wouldn’t it be nice to have shortcut buttons. Go direct to PLAYLISTS or SETTINGS or EQUALIZER-oh, that is right…doesn’t have one.

You spend more time cursing at the screen rather than enjoying the pretty picture because all you do is spend time TRYING to get somewhere. Up, down, push, left, right, push, back, back, back, give up.

Lack of supported speakers, adapters, etc.

BIG CON: SOFTWARE!!! Thanks loads, microsoft, for updating WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER through 11 incarnations and making SURE TO PLAY for mp3 devices then making YOUR DAMN PRODUCT UNABLE TO SYNC WITH IT!!! What was I doing by making playlists, ranking my songs, making subgenre’s, and adding moods only to have you make the Zune INCOMPATABLE with Media Player! Do you like a song. Well the zune software gives you heart or don’t heart or blank. Gee, thanks. What about 2 star or 4 stars? And what becomes of 3 Stars??? Have Autoplaylists in media player? Tough luck. Want to make autoplaylists through the zune software? Don’t bother. The filters are severly lacking (see above under heart and don’t heart).

Zune’s also do not display asian characters…if you care.

Please wait for a Creative model or, if you must, a better Zune or Apple model. Apple is obviously riding the wave of popularity and not putting money into creating a good product. Microsoft is out-to-lunch.

How can you not give the Zune 5 Stars?!?!?!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I swear, how can people this 3 stars or below it completely kills and blows ipod’s out of the freakin’ water and I have already had this for like 7 months, and nothing so far has happened to it. Though there was this point when I had it, when I updated it with Zune 3.0 and every time the battery was like half-way the Zune would freeze, then I started to question whether it was the Zune. Turns out it was the update that was messing with my Zune because i updated it with Zune 3.1 and it stopped doing that. The whole point is that this thing is better than an 80 GB ipod because my cousin got his like 2 months before me and his messed up like 2 months ago (you do the math) so, basically if you ask me this is a much better buy then that peice o’ poop.

Great MP3 player
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The Zune itself feels sturdy and looks nice. The headset has nice noise reduction so you don’t have to turn up the volume to dangerous levels. The UI handles nicely. With 7500 songs in my collection it’s fairly easy to find a particular song, but I find using the “artist list” far more useful as my collection grows instead of “song list” that’s a bit of a chore to run through.

The software is annoying. Some (very few) songs are never transferred and album art is often wrong. It seems like it requires your music folders to be in an /artist/album format. I updated my tags and renamed some of my songs. The renaming was a bad idea so i formatted the Zune. The bad tags from before remained, however. I still have bad tags on a lot of songs.

The video is great and the screen size is a nice big plus. It handles podcasts like it should. It has bad audiobook support – no bookmarks .

I focused on the bad things in my review, but don’t be fooled; I love my Zune but there are a few problems with it that you should know about.

Does Not Support Audible.com Files
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Just a warning to the adults out there who do more than just listen to music – you will not be able to directly listen to your Audible books. Microsoft has chosen to not support Audible files with the Zune. Fortunately most other MP3 manufacturers, such as the I-Pod and Creative’s Zen do. Choose another brand if you enjoy listening to audio-books.

Great buy
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
We love the Zune. I have bought iPods before and none have lasted longer than 6 months with my teenager. This is our second Zune, both are still working after a year. Now I actually have one for myself. The price I paid for the 80G was only 50 dollars more than I spent for a 4G. iPod.

Good while it lasts
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
While no I-Pod killer, the Zune is decent MP3 and video player. The GUI for the player is intuitive and easy to get around. However, the durability of this product leaves something to be desired. When I first got it, I had to send it in two times within the first year of the warranty. The last one I got worked for about another year before not playing audio anymore. I like it, but I’m definitely not getting another one.

Pros:

-Intuitive GUI for the MP3 player

-Comes with a very good pair of headphones

-Wireless sync function works great

-if you have the skills, you can develop your own games for it

-Syncing software is pretty good

-Very good battery life

Cons:

-Unreliable hardware & firmware, will die within a year or so (after warranty is up, how convenient)

Your stint with a Zune may not last long, but it’s good while it lasts.

Leaving this review up until 10,000 amazon raters/people say it helped them NOT to buy a Zune
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I had a review on this product (80G Zune) that was filled with descriptions about how much dissapointment I ended up experiencing in service, support, warranty coverage, cost of repair. Not to mention the sheer expenses required to get the Zune repaired and placed back under a warranty.

The review didn’t seem to ‘help’ anyone, so I am changing it to this:

If you buy this product from this manufacturer, you need to buy the the 2 year warranty and avoid ‘required’ firmware updates after that warranty expires…

If you get a repair from this outfit and have to pay for the repair, be sure to get that product warrantied for 2 years as well….

or

You should try to spend far less on something else with ample space.

After all, these devices all work the same. The same podcasts are available to all mp4/mp3 players, so is the music.

Best Mp3 player so far.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Buying this makes me feel sad for anyone who purchased an ipod thinking they were a superior product.

AMAZINGLY GREAT !!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
It’s an amazing device that keeps you organized in the music, videos, games, pictures, and any other documental information you want to input it.

The best gift !!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought the Zune 80 GB as a graduation present and my children and I just love them. They look great, they are so easy to use, downloading music is totaly easy. Everybody with basic computer skills can use it. The screen is wonderful. I was kind’a sceptic about watching movies and videoclips on a screen like that but it looks brilliant and you can see all details. If you are looking for a MP3 player with lots of space and cool features ( like the social , where you can send songs and pictures to each other!) thats the thing to buy.

Great Player
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Update: DO NOT use the lock switch as a glorified OFF switch like with an iPod. Apparently the lock switch has issues when the Zune is not in use. You can use it with no problem to keep from switching songs, adjusting volume, etc. while listening to the Zune, but if you use it when the Zune isn’t playing and is charging, it can crash it. Instead of the lock switch, click and hold the BACK button and the DOWN click on the wheel at the same time until the Zune turns off. It won’t turn back on until you press and hold the play button, so this will preserve your Zune battery charge during extended periods of non-use. Using the lock switch to keep the Zune turned off is a BAD iPod habit.

Original: After my 2nd generation (15gb) iPod died after 4 years of use, I found myself in need of a new player. Having success with my prior player, as well as all the power cords, etc., I first looked at the new iPods.

That’s when I realized that none of my cords will work with the new iPods and I’d have to buy everything all over again. So, I compared costs to the Zune.

For less than the 60gb iPod alone, I was able to buy the 80gb Zune, 2 docking stations (v1), 2 remote controls, 2 power blocks, 1 car charger, 2 A/V cords, and 4 sinc cords.

As all my music is from CDs (rather than bought via iTunes), converting to the Zune software was as easy as downloading the software. It automatically pulls everything from the My Music, My Videos and My Pictures folders on the computer.

While the playlists didn’t automatically add to the Zune software, the playlist titles and song names did, so it was just a matter of using the list of song names to re-create the playlists. Much easier than trying to re-create them from memory alone.

The software is easy to use and has a pleasant look and feel to it. Very easy to move around in, and syncing to the Zune was as simple as right clicking (I turned off the auto-sync, so I can pull only specific stuff into the Zune as desired).

The Zune itself is very stylish and easy to use. The sound is great. The buttons are easily worked. After having an iPod, it took a few minutes to get used to the scroll – I kept scrolling in a circular pattern. Once I got used to a “paper turning” movement with my thumb, I find it easier on my hand to scroll on the Zune.

While I didn’t think I cared, I rather like the “social” ability. It’s easy to send a song to a friend’s Zune, and fun to see Zunes come in and out of range. I’m almost positive my Zune was sending “crash” waves to a friend’s iPod today also.

Zune is definitely worth it
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I bought the Zune 80GB primarily for listening to MP3 while on the move. Also bought it secondarily for some of the well known features like bigger screen, A/V out capability, zune – zune and also wireless sync.

Zune is great in coming thru on the primarily functions MP3 playback is good. Its a great way to store family pictures and displaying them.

Getting the Zune device setup to your personal liking/taste is a major task. Some problems are primarily due to our personal preferences, but some are genuine software defects. Zune software has major problems installing on XP professional, XP home is simple and works well.

I probably spent over 6-8 days, spending 4-5 hours each day, getting my mid sized collection(6-7GB) organized and loaded and synced up. Sometimes redoing tasks due to learning curve and preferences and software defects.

People are well advised to get acquainted with the Zune software.

I am yet to find suitably priced and quality accessories for Zune device.

Though I was already aware of this, but it definitely a major issue.

Mostly retailers have tons of iPod accessories, but Zune is few and far between. Mostly you may want to invest in a good Case, quality FM transmitter and also some accessories for charging (USB charging gets tough pretty quickly). The earbuds may take a while to get used to begin with, but its not that bad. magnets help keep the two pieces together.

Zune may not be perfect but is definitely a great product.

Very large capacity MP3 player
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I have had the 80GB zune since late November and am overall happy with it. The amount of music and pictures that it can hold is incredible. I have my entire music collection (over 10,000 songs) and all of my family pictures on it.

The sync process is very easy. In spite of earlier reviews, I found the software to be completely compatible with Vista Home Premium.

The earbuds that came with the Zune are not very good, so I replaced with a pair of headphones that came with the Walkman that was replaced by the Zune.

The only drawbacks to the Zune are: Poor sound from the earbuds and no way to level the volume of music.

Overall I am happy with this purchase after nearly 6 months of use.

Buy an iPod
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I purchased the 80 GB Zune as a Christmas gift for my husband. We were unable to download the software necessary to use it, so after 30 days and many frustrating hours of trying to get it working, I returned it and purchased the 80 GB iPod Classic instead. We had music on it within 10 minutes of unpacking it from the box. Apparently our versions of Windows XP and Media Center are too old to download and run the Zune software.

Good MP3
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The zune is excellent at what it does. The menu system is easy to use. it plays back crystal clear music. and the zune pass is an excellent service.

Gave it a shot but returned for Nano
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Long story short. The Zune 80 GB (Red) is feature rich but after purchasing and using one for two days I returned it and purchased 16 GB Nano (4th Gen) instead.

This is only my second MP3 player purchase. I am replacing a 4 GB iPod Mini that is still working reasonably well (but no color screen). I rip my own CDs so actually do not care if I use Zune Music management Software or iTunes. I find them both unintuitive.

It is possible the touchpad on my Zune was defective or I was just not using it right but I could not get the “clicking” down right. I would scroll to Music or Video and then “click” in the center but half the time I would end up scrolling up or down instead. Within the Music section I had trouble getting the left to right scrolling working all the time as well (playlist, songs, etc). One time after I held it down for about 10 seconds, its started scrolling like crazy and I had to turn off the Zune.

The radio and scanning the channels did not seem that user friendly. One of the reasons I chose the Zune was to get a radio (although not to identify music to purchase as Microsoft intends).

Video was nice but really I don’t see much difference between 2″ and 3.2″ screens (same resolution). Guess video on the Touch would be more impressive than the Zune or Classic but after playing with some videos on the Zune and watching a James Bond flick my interest in thinking I’d watch lots of movies on the Zune dissipated a lot! Not because of the quality which was fine, just the screen size. I’ll still watch some videos on the Nano.

I did quite a bit of research prior to picking the 80 GB Zune and my 3 top picks were the Zune, iPod Classic and new Touch (I looked at Archos, Cowon, Creative, Sansa, Sony, etc.). The Touch is not really a competitor to the first two, but of course its very different and cool. I think of its as a PDA though and many of its features are things I just don’t care about/will probably end up with on my next cell phone anyway. My coworker just got a 8 GB Touch and is having trouble with the battery life (lots of posts on the support sites about this).

One of the reasons I chose the Zune 80 GB over the 120 GB was because the former comes with the “Premium” headphones, but I was not impressed. Bass was to low for me. Once I plugged in my foldable Sennheiser PX100 headphones, the bass picked right up though (or I probably would have returned the Zune just for that reason alone).

Anyway, I decided to get the 4th Generation Nano after thinking that I should stick to a Flash based unit this time around. I did hear the hard drive clicking a few times on the Zune which I never hear on my Mini. I run with my Mini but just on the treadmill where it sits in the cupholder. I only went with the 4th Gen Nano today because Apple put out a release to take care of the Cover Flow issue (because of the accelerometer). Otherwise I probably would have looked for a previous generation Nano.

Good Hardware, Terrible Software
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Whoever designed the zune software should switch professions. It took days to get my zune properly synced. However, once the music was transfered and organized, the player worked great.

Luv my Zune!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I have had my Zune 80GB for several months. I love it and recommend it. Got the Belkin armband.

Pros – lots of space; sound; light; podcasts; Free from iTunes; wireless transfers

Cons: – Radio only picks up big stations; still having problems import video; Digital Rights Management(DRM) songs won’t play; still lacks in accessories, must use Zune 2 accessories

I have a lot of CDs ripped to mp3 and by rights free from Amazon. However I have lost a bunch of DRM songs due to inability to transfer rights from MSN and Walmart. I love the Zune!

Zune 80 GB Digital Media Player Black (2nd Generation)
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is everything I wanted and more. It was easy to download songs on the the Zune as well as Video (software not included for video downloading). It is so handy to take everywhere I go. I am almost never without it now. The use of the menu is great too. You can either locate an ablum, song, artist, genre, or playlist. It alphabetizes them for you and makes it easier to know if you have duplicate songs on your Zune. I now have all of my music that I own download and it awesome to scoll through and look for a piece of music that you want to hear and push a button. Life is so much easier now.

Great mp3 player – Don’t be an i-sheep
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Simply, the Zune 80 gig is a great product and Amazon a great supplier. The first unit I received was damaged during shipping. I received the replacement in 3 days.

The Zune software is easy to use. Buy your mp3’s through Amazon – none of the tagging itunes uses to control what you’ve paid for. Put the files on your computer, if you break your mp3 player 10 times you can copy the file onto the new ones 10 times.

The large screen makes it easy to see album art and navigate. The 80 gig is big enough to hold all your favorite music, but not too big. You’ll use up the space fast if you rip at a high bit rate, so don’t buy a small player that you’ll regret buying later.

Excellent Product
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I just upgraded from a Nano Ipod. Yes it is an excellent choice atleast for me. You can’t beat the features for the price of $237 via Bestbuy or Amazon(no tax and free shipping).

Exceptionally Happy with Zune Device
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Zune 80GB (red)–purchased over iTouch and over Samsung YP-2P Widescreen, and very happy I did. For those who like FM radio, Zune is preferable to iPod. User interface is straightfoward (though learning how to turn unit off entirely to save battery life is important and not obvious). I’ve downloaded extensive music collection onto the unit, and more than a dozen full length movies from dvd. Spent some time on the internet to figure out best way to rip/decode dvds, shrink them, and then encode the files to a format that synced well with Zune device. After a week or so of experimenting, I found that well known and safe freeware programs could transcode movies in both full screen (320×240) and widescreen formats (320 x 180) compatible with Zune. Full length feature movies use about half a gig, so there’s room for quite an audio and video library on the Zune. This capacity for only slightly higher price made Zune preferable to Samsung unit above.

Unit is solidly built. I bought a hard (metal) case for protection and none too soon-wife dropped it first time she held it. No damage, period. I use it on a daily bike commute and when doing yardwork. So, far, excellent overall performance. I liked it so much, I decided to buy my younger daughter a 8GB (pink) Zune rather than an iPod nano because I was able to get twice the drive space for less than the price of the nano, and got the radio. (Older daughter has 30GB iPod Video so we’re familiar with both products.) Same software combination allows storing movies on 8GB unit (though the small screen makes me wonder whether watching movies on it makes sense–10 year old daughter says it is, but I couldn’t do it!). Anyway, 8GB unit has 3 Harry Potter films on it and music, and just barely half filled. Also, the sync feature between the 80GB and the 8GB unit worked flawlessly, though of limited use since synced items are playable only 3 times. Wireless syncing with library also functions well, but makes sense only for minor updates. Turning off wireless option helps to save battery, so it’s a trade off.

Only caveat at this point is that video encoding produces a file that is rendered a bit dark, too dark for viewing in a well lit room or outside during daylight. Does not really affect B&W video files (even film noire pics like Big Sleep for instance).

Strongly recommended.

Disappointing
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
The Zune is pretty easy to use and navigate through. The major disappointing thing i had was that the battery life was TERRIBLE! I would turn my Zune off and a few days later turn it back on and the device had low battery. I would have to charge the Zune extremely often. Before i purchased this, i checked the battery life comparisons with the Ipod however now that i have an ipod i can say that the Zunes battery life is awful and would die without even being used. The up side is that the Zune features are pretty good and easy to handle. I gave the zune 2 stars because of the battery life and every once in a while the Zune would freeze up, so i would have to wait to get home and recharge the device to reset it. Honestly i would not recommend the Zune, get an Ipod instead.

Zune 80 GB
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I purchased this item a few weeks ago. I happy with my Zune 80GB, no problems. I give it 4 stars.

Its great!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I recently bought one of these and I think it is great. I have owned no name brand mp3 players and ipods. I have come to hate anything apple because of ipods because of how picky their software is. The only thing I have found I don’t like about the zune is a couple stupid little things. One it doesn’t tell time. I said they were stupid. Second, which is a little more serious is it does not have an equalizer on it, or I just haven’t found it yet. Other than that I love the software: it is very user friendly. I would rate this 10 times better than an ipod. For instance ipod only takes .mov files. Unless you have money or alot of free time .mov files are few and far between. Zune will take most windows files. Ironically it does not take .mov’s. If you are looking for a good mp4 player I would definately recommend this one. Reasonably priced, user friendly, and just all around awesome.

Zune is a Winner!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’ve owned my Zune 80gb since January now with zero problems. Simply LOVE it! For those of you contemplating buying a Zune over an iPod, I strongly recommend going Zune. Need some reasons?

- The tactile touch control is lightyears ahead of iPod’s click wheel.

- Zune delivers great sound, and is also more concerned about preserving your hearing (Zunes are not as loud as iPods)

- Built-in FM radio works perfectly even in relatively unpopulated areas.

- Zune Pass service allows unlimited music downloads (DRM’d of course) for $15 a month

- The Zune Social website allows you to share your musical tastes with others.

The only thing that may cause some dissatisfaction is the Zune Software, which is required to sync content to the Zune. I’m not going to lie, the software could use some work. It can be a bit buggy & frustrating to use at first, but once you figure out it’s quirks, you’ll be smooth sailing.

Microsoft may have made mistakes in the past, but Zune is not one of them!

Took two,but was easy to do
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’m fairly new at online ordering. I used my economic stimulis money to purchase A Zune-80. The Zune works great,but that’s not what this review is about. When the Zune arrived,the battery would charge just fine,then drain down to nothing within one day,even without my using it.At this point I knew I was in for A hard time; returning something online.I went to Amazons & clicked on the return instructions.Whoever set up Amazons return policy gets my vote for office.In no time I had A new Zune on its way to me,the necessary paperwork to return the defective one & several e-mails keeping me informed of all progress.Had I purchased from A local store,I would’ve gotten A replacement,but,I would have to drive to town,fight traffic,use up $20 worth of diesel,on top of that, it was about $15 cheaper at Amazon.

Terrific so far…
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I just received my red Zune 80gb mp3 player, and I must say I’m pleasantly surprised. It has a great 3.5 inch screen and is aesthetically pleasing to the eyes as well. In a matter of less than an hour, I had downloaded the software from the Zune site, and had synced almost 1400 songs! I also bought the Zune dock to go along with it. It not only charges in the dock, there are plugs to hook it up to your stereo system or TV. The player stands straight up in the dock so you can see the album art and song info on that huge screen. Very nice indeed. The software is great and easy to use. The Zune software player is very cool. The “skin” of the player is completely made up of all of your album art. You can download pictures and use any one of them as a background if you choose. I can’t comment on the video feature, because I’m not interested in using that option. I mainly use mine for music. Battery life is something I haven’t had a chance to explore either, seeing as I’ve only had the player for a few hours. Definitely a 5 star “first impression” review. I’ll update if things go awry after some time goes by.

Zune
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Outstanding technology. I fully recommend it.

The only glitch with it is unit’s battery life. The charging time is high and the use time low considering the price. While it wouldn’t prevent me from buying another (I have purchased two – one for a gift and one for myself – at different times) I wish Microsoft would pay more attention to the battery.

Zunetastic Adventures!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
There are many advantages to owning a Zune. I got it as a birthday gift for my wife, who commutes back and forth to work. She loves it, but has yet to see the reason behind the high price, then again, she is not an informed consumer. We use a tape adapter for the car stereo. The screen is big and the glass display cover looks great for the vibrant colors from videos/pictures. Though, the equalizer has been removed from the 2nd gen, it still produces great sound and the ear bud headphones are deliver fantastic audio. The storage space is great for numerous videos and audio files.

The only disadvantage in owning this product is finding accessories, which fit and are well made.

Would recommend it to anyone in the market for a high capacity premium portable mini video/audio/picture player/storage/display.

Microsoft Zune 80 > Ipod Classic 80
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Pros: Everything about this Zune is good, worth every dollar of the $240. Plays music, videos, radio and your background can be anything! I would never get a IPOD CLASSIC over this Zune, End of story.

Cons: None really other then it being bulky but Im a 6′1 man so what do I need a skinny little ipod for?

Overall Opinion: Long as you have an authentic Windows XP or Vista, this is an easy buy. If you are looking to upgrade from either a Ipod Classic 80gb($250) or Ipod Touch 30gb($400) this to me is a upgrade. Im never using an Ipod again unless someone gives me a free Ipod Touch 80gb, Ha-Ha.

Love my Zune
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
had my zune for over a year now, love it, never had any problems with it, a hell of a lot better then an ipod in MY mind.

I love my Zune!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I really love my Zune. It has georgeous video and pictures, the music sounds great and the 80 is smaller than the 30 is. It cost a lot less ordering it from Zune. net than it is at Amazon. I wish they had more Zune speakers, like Bose, but that will come in time.

The Zune is easy to load with music, pics or video. I have not tried movies yet. It syncs well with my computer and I’ve had no problems. It is great to carry my pics around on.

Oh, and I guess I didn’t realize that it’s radio too! That is pretty cool as a bonus.

Couldn’t wait to get it!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Love this player, it is a lot of fun to use.

Highly recommended.

The only issue I have is adding audio books in a manner that allows use of the resume function. (Check forums online for hints and tips to do this.)

Average at best
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
Long time owner of the Creative Zen M 30Gb. I really want to like this Zune, and gave it every benefit of the doubt. Beside its big screen and 80Gb. Not much else impresses me. 1. Its sound is mediocre; I am being kind here. Have you ever listened to the sound from a Zen? 2. Can’t remove a song from Play List unless you attach it to a PC 3. It doesn’t remember the music track you listened to after turning if off. It’s a huge inconvenience when listening to books, and have to manually find the chapter again. No bookmark capability. Who were the geniuses that designed this thing? Going back to the Zen.

Needs improvements
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Things that are great: audio, size, price, ease of use of hardware, picture, good randomized playlist feature, music store online, excellent battery life.

Things that are not so great: Screen cracks easily without provocation, software a pain to use, wireless sync still problematic

Things that are awful: No .avi or divx/xvid playability. This can supposedly be worked around through a registry hack, but I haven’t gotten it to work. 80% of my videos are unwatchable on this.

Zune Rocks!!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I just buy this mp3 player as a replacement for my Toshiba mp3 player. I love it, I think my favorite feature on this little bad boy is the wireless sync, I mean is amazing that I don’t need to have the Zune plug in to my computer to sync my music library. The big display is a plus, I can watch my videos perfectly fine. I also bought the AV pack from amazon, so I can connect my Zune to the tv, the quality is not bad at all, I got some movies on it and it looks great and sounds great. I will recommend this mp3 player to all of us that don’t want to get into the world of iPod, this product works the same or even better than the iPod, software is easy to use, I don’t know what else can be said, I guess just buy it, you’ll love it

Zune a Great Rival for the iPod
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I’ve had my Zune for 6 months now, and I love it!!! This review is solely to compare some of the pros of the Zune 80 GB over the iPod Classic. Yes, I’ve used both.

1. The Touchpad vs. The Clickwheel. I love the touchpad. It is very responsive and just feels smooth when you use it. No more going in circles.

2. FM Radio. Not a big deal for some people, but if you can have it, then why not? Makes it great for the gym when you often need to tune into a radio station to hear the sound on the tv.

3. Bigger screen. If you’re going to watch a lot of video on your player, then get the Zune. The screen is much bigger and more durable than the iPod’s.

4. Software (this sold me). I LOVE the Zune software. Okay, what I really love is the fact that I no longer have to import my music. The Zune software constantly searches your computer and updates your library for you. I’m assuming I’m not the only one who’s ended up with duplicate songs or even simply sound files when they imported music to iTunes. If you want to try it out, you can download it at Zune.net

5. Wireless. Just sort of cool. It’s nice to not have to worry about plugging your Zune into the USB to sync, and if you purchase the AC Adapter then you’ll really never need the USB cord again! Also, sharing music with friends can be cool, but I haven’t used it that much.

The iPod does have better battery life, more accessories, much more content for purchase through iTunes than the Zune Marketplace, and is compatible both on PC and Mac (Zune is PC-only). However, I simply just like the Zune more. It’s better-looking with features that I feel are more useful. If you are deciding which to go with (and you don’t use a Mac), choose the Zune!

Zune Help Desk is weakest link.
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Let me start off with I enjoy music but am not a tech geek and my tech skills start and end with me being able to turn on a computer. I found adding music to the Zen to be pretty straight forward once the program was installed to my computer. Much more straight forward than my old Creative Zen. I ended up filling up all 80gb with no problems(and let me tell you that is alot of songs). I have figured out how to create a play list on my computer but unable to transfer it to the Zune and can not find out to do this. I have also heard that do to the sync process I can not delete the music off of my computer for fear of erasing from my zune not sure if this is true but now I have 80gb of music on my computer. Navagating on the Zune is really easy and the thumb wheel is not overly sensitive. I can find a song or an artist with ease unlike my creative zen that took several tries to pinpoint the song. The graphics are also far superior on the zen. I really like the Zen but the few times I have looked for help from Microsoft I am directed to forums and never seem to find what I am looking for.

Best High Capacity MP3 Player on the market
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Sleek design makes it much more attractive than the iPod Classic. Although the battery life is only rated at 30 hours, the Zune beats the iPod hands down.

The navigation on this is so much easier than the scroll wheel. Fidelity is way better than the iPod, audiophiles such as myself can tell the difference, whereas most users won’t.

Podcast support on this is amazing. Zune marketplace offers an all you can download subscription for just $14.99/month. Great deal, iTunes does not offer this.

The Zune does not freeze up like the iPod does. Boot time is under 2 seconds, the aluminum back and glass front are scratch resistant, but I still highly recommend getting a case for this.

The screen is absolutely gorgeous, easy on the eyes, and huge font. The resolution is average, 320×240, same as the iPod classic. You will notice the sharpness difference, but I still prefer the larger screen.

Wi-Fi enables wireless syncing and, the FM radio works flawlessly- displaying the station name and song information (if station supports it).

However, if you want le creme de la creme, get the iPod Touch. Double the price with less than half the storage. I chose the 80GB Zune because I needed the space for all my videos and music.

5/5 stars from me.

Thinking about buying the 80GB Zune, need help
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Hey all, I’ve read a lot of the reviews on the Zune and most are positive. However I have a few questions. First, I’ve owned the 40GB Creative Zen for 2 and 1/2 years and it’s worked great. Just recently the earphone connection is acting up and unless you hold the jack in tight, it only plays in one ear. All I really care about is the capacity for more music and that it sounds good, which is basically all the zen is for. Even though the Zune has no equalizer, I’ve read a lot of comments about it still sounding good.

So, I have some questions on the Zune.

Can you rewind and fast forward during a song?

Can I skip a song or start it over, similar to hitting the previous/next track button on a cd player?

How long does the battery usually last for only music?

I don’t want it to automatically sync up and pull music, I’d rather drag and drop. For example, I may not want a full album. Can I do drag and drop and turn off the auto syncing?

Most of my music is just stored in folders by album, how much formatting will I have to do once I pull it over to the Zune? Currently I have close to 5000 songs within 8 genres.

I’ve read it sounds good with the earbuds, but I’m not a big fan of earbuds and use regular headphones. Is the sound the same no matter the headphones? I don’t mean the cheapy cheaps from the dollar store either as I have good Sony headphones.

Zen has a nice find feature where you can scroll by letter, going directly to the “M’s”, without scrolling through every title to get to the “M’s”. This feature works for artist, album, and track. What kind of search does the Zune have?

I read one review about it skipping while jobbing or riding a bike. I do jog and if it skips, I don’t want it. Does it skip when bumped or shaken like when jogging or riding a bike?

Bottom line, I want something comparable to the Zen with a lot more storage. Again, all I care about is music although I may put photos on it and use the radio function. I’d rather not buy an Ipod. If I end up buying a Zune I will post my thoughts so to help others.

Thank YOU for your help!!

BC

Do you want the best MP3 Player? Then buy a Zune!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’ve owned 4 different Mp3 players and so far Zune is the best and simpler to use. I love the fact that you don’t have to convert music (like iPods) and that all your files are automatially transfered to your Zune. The quality and the clarity of the screen is amazing, your pictures/videos/movies will look like if you’re watching TV.

I’m very happy with this product and I’d ‘never’ go back to iPods or Sansa after having a Zune!

Great Device
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I absolutely love this device. It is packed full of features and has great performance. With the latest firmware update, they have added 2 games onto the device (more games can be added by using some MS Tools).

The touch sensitive control pad makes it easy to navigate your selection, even quick movements of your finger in an up or down motion will make your selection bar move quickly, almost like a roulette wheel.

Movies are breeze to get on. I converted a number of my home movies using DVD Catalyst, and the quality was amazing on the device.

The 4 star rating is because of the quirks it has:

My only complaints are that it forces you to use the Zune Software. I would have much rather used Windows Media Player to create playlists and sync, or have the ability to copy files directly to it like a removable USB Device (my wife’s Gigabeat S30 can do this function). The only thing I do like about the Zune Software, is that it makes tagging/grouping movies I’ve converted (I ripped my Band Of Brothers Collection, and it allowed to mark them all as being related, with episode numbers, titles, etc), as for music and playlist transfer…I still would rather have WMP

I also have noticed that the touch pad is extremly sensitive. At times, I have accidentally jumped songs, or messed with the volume not even realizing it.

An included AC Adapter would have been nice too, but the only thing included in the box is a USB cable. While it does charge quickly, this makes getting a quick recharge in an airport difficult without pulling out lots of equipment.

Battery life is ok…depending on what you are doing…for music, it’ll last you a while, but for movies, I was only able to watch 1 1/2 movies before it powered off.

Overall, even with it’s quirks, I would 100% recommend this device who is looking for a feature loaded mp3 player.

Far Better Than I Had Imagined!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I have had an iPod ever since they came onto the scene. But I only had the 30GB and I needed more space for my music collection and I did not want to go out and buy the 160GB iPod Classic and the iPod Touch 32GB is just to expensive for my tastes and does not offer any more storage. So I was set on getting the iPod 80GB but I had heard about the Zune 80GB by Microsoft so I thought I owed it to myself to check it out.

Both were evenly matched in terms of price, although if I had wanted to get a refurbished iPod 80GB I could have for $200 on the Apple website, that is a whole $40 cheaper than what Amazon is charging for the Zune. But alas I am writing a review for the Zune since I did end up choosing it. If one is in a similar situation. I would just say this. If you are someone who is buying an iPod just to be trendy, do not buy anything at all until you can think for yourself. But if you are looking for tons of addons maybe you should by the iPod. But the Zune is slowly creeping new addons all the time. Plus all the features the Zune 80 has compared to the iPod 80 is just a win hands down. I enjoy Microsoft being the underdogs, they give you a superior product.

Zune 80 GB
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Bought this because I absolutely HATE ITunes, I also own a Samsung 4GB YP-K3 which is streets ahead of the IPod Nano.

The Zune excels in every department, but you should bear in mind that a conversion program like Cucusoft or Tmpegenc is an advantage if you are going to put videos on your Zune.

The way the Zune organises your music is really slick, but again, as with an IPod, you need to make sure your MP3’s are properly labelled in their ‘file properties’ to make file organising on the zune slick.

If I had to critisize the Zune I would say that being used to the Samsung, I did miss the graphic equaliser and the ability to customise my personal audio preferences, you can’t do this on the Zune, but having said that, I haven’t found the need to yet, I guess it’s all down to loading high quality MP3’s in the first place.

Watching videos’ on the zune is real cool, it’s a beautiful screen, and watching TV or movies is real nice, but bear in mind that the screen is 640 x 480, so if your going to put a wide screen movie on it you should crop it, otherwise you will get a letterbox movie which is a bit on the small size. I’ve put a few Divx movies on mine and cropped them with Tmpegenc4 which is an option when converting to Mpeg4, and they are great to watch.

The reports I have read suggest the Zune is a genuine competitor to the Ipod. I think it beats it hands down and the only way Apple will take back the initiative is to make an 80GB Ipod touch, which no doubt will come soon.

Best I’ve seen so far!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I was always an I pod person. I had a first generation I pod and a the 5th generation video one so naturally when my mom bought the 80GB Zune I laughed at her. Well it ended up not working well for her audio books that she likes to listen to so she gave it to me. In truth I never really used my I pods. Over the few years I had them all of my music got deleted off of I tunes 3 times so I got sick of trying to rebuild my collection so I just started listening to the radio and cd’s. With my Zune even if the music gets deleted off of my computer it wont get deleted off of my device. That is such a help! Really the only thing I don’t like about it is that there are so few accessories created for it, everything out there is for I pods. Overall the sound quality is great, it holds a ton of music, I love the radio feature, and best of all my music wont get deleted! It’s a great alternative to I pods.

McLove’n my Zune
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Not a MicroSoft junkie, own a PS3 and Wii, no Xboxes, and would have to say the Zune is a must have in its price range. I went back and forth with the ipod classic and Zune and am positive I made the right decision going with the Zune. I like the fact that I can buy my music anywhere and not be restricted to one service. Also the glass screen, which is bigger, gives me some assurance that it won’t get scratch as easy as the classic would. Now that the software has been updated to where you can drag and drop files to your Zune gives the software much improvement some have been gripping about. The wheel scroll is a better feature on the Zune than the Ipod. Also, there will be downloadable games in the near future. I would definitely buy this over a classic and a itouch or iphone considering the price.

hardware good/software bad
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
This unit seems to be well made.

Good resolution, sound was good.

80G drive is worth the differential in price over the 1st generation.

Software need work along with a better battery.

Be careful with accessories due to there is no notification on the accessories whether it is 1st or second generation. The units are not the same size.

I prefer the Zune over the ipod.

It’s okay I guess
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
well… i was choosing between zune and itouch and at the end i chose zune because of the price plus i actually had an ipod until it died on me i guess i wanted to try something other than ipod or i mean apple products. as i have seen great reviews about zune (except their software) so i decided to go w/ zune.

I have to agree with everybody that the software that came w/ zune is VERY difficult to use… up to now I havent load a single picture because for some reason it wont show up in the software and it’s only a simple jpg file. So far I have no problem loading the songs and the movies in zune, but still the software is so unproductive and hard to use. period. I have to say ITUNE is 100% better and easier to work with.

Other than that…I think the music the video quality… i think it’s about the same as itouch. (my Aunt has an itouch) So…I guess I wish could have bought the itouch instead of the zune… but overall it’s not a bad product…just…after using it… I think I still ipod/itouch better.

Excellent gadget
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The Zune 80 has a beautiful design, great screen and sound quality. Definitely better that the iPod Classic. Also Zune Software had a great upgrade and fixed a lot of bugs. Recommended 100%. The only problem is to deal with iPod users who think there is nothing else in the world besides cheap white earphones.

Not too bad until screen died
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
At first the Zune behaved as a respectable player. The Zune software is pretty good and it was easy enough to subscribe to podcasts, etc. The battery life wasn’t that great even when just playing music.

The issue I had came when the Zune slipped out of my pocket while sitting in a lounge chair. It fell about 2 feet onto the tile while turned off. When I turned it on, the music was playing, backlight was on, but the LCD was not showing anything. I contacted Zune customer support and was told that any drops void the warranty and they couldn’t even help me find a service center. They told me to try Best Buy and find out who they use. Not a very good customer service experience.

My wife has an Ipod that seems indestructible compared to my Zune. So, beware: if you guy a Zune make sure to get some type of protective enclosure and not to expect much from Zune Customer Service.

Come join the squircle
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
It’s not quite as fancy as the iPod Touch but it’s got a much better price. For the same cost as the 80gb iPod Classic, it’s the indisputable winner. Do yourself a favor, as I did: try out the iPod Classic and the Zune.

The Zune has a screen that lies size-wise between the iPod Classic and Touch. Best of all- it’s a beautiful scratch-resistant glass screen. The video and images are stunning.

I thought the iPod had a cool interface with the touch-sensitive circle. Well, Zune has it beat with the “squircle” which is a four-way click pad and a touch-sensitive brush pad. It works better than you might expect. When scrolling long lists, you lightly brush the squircle pad up or down and the list scrolls at a speed commensurate to the speed at which you brush the pad. The scrolling even slows down after a few seconds kind of a like the wheels of fruit in a slot machine. It’s a cool effect hard to describe. Again, get a hold of a Zune and check it out. You’ll love it.

Sound quality is excellent. I’ve had many earphones and listened through the iPod phones. The Zune comes with high-quality buds that sound amazing; much better than the iPod buds. I’m a musician and what my friends call a music snob. So take it from one- these sound great.

Several folks have complained about the software. It does have some quirks but is actually quite functional and simple to use. I am sure that Microsoft will continue to fine tune it and it will get better and better. You will also uncover hidden features as you use it more. The screen saver mode, which isn’t obvious to find, is super cool and visually compelling. You’ve never seen your album art so neatly displayed.

And best of all, I have thousands of high-quality mp3’s on my Zune (320kbps) and still have plenty of room. Not one single song has DRM or Apple’s dreadful proprietary protection on it. I can upload and download my songs anywhere, anytime, with anyone. That’s the way it should be.

With my Zune, I bought the overpriced AV and car connection kits. While they cost way too much, they are essential add-ons. In fact, they should come with the Zune. But that whole greed thing gets in the way of companies’ priorities! Anyway, the kits allow me to listen to my Zune everywhere. And that’s pretty much all I do. I can now listen to my huge cd collection all the time. I put my Zune on shuffle mode and get to hear songs from my collection that I haven’t heard in years. I’m finally getting my money’s worth from all those cds I bought and listened to only once or twice.

My Zune has already been put through its paces. I have listened to it all day long for weeks, without giving it a break, and it has never experienced a single mishap. It has performed flawlessly and made me a very happy music lover.

The price of the iPod Touch is too much to spend on a freakin’ mp3 player with only 8 or even 16gb. And the Classic just doesn’t “touch” the Zune. If you’re licking your lips at your friend’s Touch or iPhone, the Zune won’t turn you on, but if you’ve been considering the Nano or Classic (or any other mp3 player), the Zune will impress you mightily. I’ve never been a Microsoft cheerleader and I’ve always been fond of Apple but I think the Zune really is the better mp3 player.

I have shown mine off to friends and two of them have gone out immediately and bought one. That says more than all the words I could say (or write)! It’s really that cool.

Wow! Great picture and software quality, great sound & volume quality
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’ve had 3 Creative MP3 players, and decided to try a Zune after my Creative Vision W firmware crashed after about 10 months of use. I went with the Zune because of the 80GB storage capacity (I teach dance & exercise classes and need my entire music collection at my fingertips). I was a bit wary of switching to a different brand of MP3 player, but Zune exceeded my expectations. I liked the software much better than Creative’s, because it allows for more customizing. I also have a collection of audio books and it’s easier to organize them on the Zune. I am very pleased with the picture quality. A couple of things to be aware of:

Comes with wonderful earbuds—a nice surprise. The other MP3’s I’ve owned came with earbuds that I never used, because they weren’t comfortable.

Zune player does not come with plug-in wall charger—a seperate purchase. I consider this a necessity and was surprised that it cost $29 at the local big-box store.

Zune player does not have a bookmarking feature (for people who listen to audio books a lot, this is nice to have.)

Zune player does not come with an installation CD. Purchaser must visit Zune’s website to download software for the player. This can be a headache if you’re having internet access problems. Once loaded, the software is easy to use, and it walks you through the setup procedure. Nice.

Zune player comes with a rudimentary instruction booklet. Since I’ve owned other MP3 players in the past, figuring out the Zune wasn’t a problem. But it would have been nice to have a more complete instruction booklet or instructions on an installation CD with the software.

If you are interested in transferring home movies to the Zune, be aware that this may require DVD ripper software, since the Zune only accepts a couple of different video file formats. These can be purchased seperately from various online vendors.

What more can I say
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I purchased this for my wife and I around crhistmas and have never used an item so much. This things offers so much versatility as far as entertainment that i can’t imagine being without one. The sound quality is better than the iPod’s, the controls are very simple even with the touch pad. It has a learning curve of maybe 2 minutes but shortly after you’ll feel like a pro. Watching videos on this awesome because i can access movies or TV shows while I sit in my car waiting for class to start. I have the car adapter to play music with and this 80 gig HD holds everything, I mean everything. My entire CD library is on here and it’s only about 13 gigs. Movies will beging to eat up space but that all depends on the way you scale the movie size before putting it onto the Zune. Overall, price is great and should probably cost more for what this thing can do. Did i mention it also has the ability to output video and music on the television or an audio source with the right cables.

Pure Garbage. Google ZUNE Album Art for proof
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
First one i kept hanging and finally froze. Received a replacement XMAS eve day and during syncing I had to keep reconnecting due to Zune stopped responding. Finally after I loaded my 214 albums on it the album art never displayed.

Did a search on the net to find many users having the same problem. Some blamed the upgrade, others claimed it was a DRM (digital rights issue)which sounded nuts to me being the MP3 albums loaded, just no album art.

Called the help sevice, what a disaster, the idiot didn’t have a clue and its use of the English language was pathetic.

The idiot kept saying it was something I was doing wrong and I kept telling this fool all my album art appeared on my first zune. All I did was tell the software which was already populated due to my first zune was to sync to my new zune.

I can’t deal with these idiots any longer, I now want my money back. Can’t stand Apple but it looks like I don’t have any choice as I need large storage to back up my extensive collection.

I give it four stars…However…,
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I was so excited to get this in the mail. I ripped open the package excitedly, and there it was. My 80 gig zune. I immediatly downloaded the zune software, happy with the time that my music transfered from Windows Media Player to my Zune library, with all it’s cover art/album info.

…But. Let’s face it. Most do not use the Zune software for buying. Maybe the Ipod users do, but we like free music, right? Right. Well. The Zune software is not Bearshare friendly (I hate Limewire and Ares with a passion).

I downloaded the music from Bearshare, surprised at how quickly it synced with Windows Media Player, open up my zune software and what do you know- An error message. Since Bearshare has copyrighted material, Zune wasn’t so pleased with this. It wasn’t apart of the “zune library”.

And does Zune work with Bearshare? Most definitly not. Doesn’t have the right firmware. *sigh*

The sad part is- I love the device. I give it 4 1/2 stars. Excellent. The display is gorgeously large and shiny, the menus are superb, Zunepad user friendly, but…

What’s the use if I can’t get my free (100% legal) Bearshare music onto it? Nothing. I will definitly update this post if I find a solution, but so far I have not. I’ve tried getting my Zune to work with WMP- No such luck. I’ve tried changing the file…Aha. That’s just about impossible. It seems as though my wonderful music journey has ended with Zune, and I am destined with Limewire for my life, since this gadget is so expensive, and I’m no way returning it since it took so long to save up.

A couple other compatibility issues-

Windows Media Player:

What. This is a microsoft program…Why won’t it work with my MICROSOFT zune?

Last FM:

This is newer to me in the music world, but……..Yeah. The zune software is not compatible with it.

Windows Live Messenger:

This is the most outrageous of all to me. Your ZUNE software isn’t compatible with WINDOWS LIVE? My songs do not show up on my Personal Message, half the fun of listening to music for me.

Oh, how I can’t wait for the new Windows OS which should tie everything together. Because lord knows we all need it.

an excellent alternative to iPod
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
It’s small, more visually pleasing than the first generation Zune, and the device software is very simple to navigate.

My main complaints are three things:

- the small list of compatible audio and video formats

- the desktop sync software has a LOT of room for improvement

- unless you know where to search for the software tweaks, you won’t be able to drag and drop songs/videos to the Zune

Great MP3 Player
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
The Zune’s 80GB is enough storage for tons of music or videos. The device’s interface is great and the touch sensitive pad makes scrolling through albums a simple task. The screen can display movies in a wide format making 16:9 aspect videos look crisp and large. The Zune software is only compatible with PCs (as of now) and is decent. I recommend this product to anyone looking for a high capacity MP3 player

Are u serious?!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
How is this possibly $549… is that a typo or somthing? Two weeks ago it was less than $280 brand new.

Battery life or defective product?
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I initially purchased the 80gb Zune through Amazon.com as a *new* product about 6 weeks ago, and at the time it offered the lowest price out there at $199 w/no tax or shipping. After about 2 weeks of waiting, I received this supposedly new product, only to find the top of the item where the lock switch is located was totally scratched up! I immediately mailed it back to Amazon for a full refund, as I did not want to wait another 2+ weeks for yet another possible “used”, “new” item.

At about that time I returned the Zune, Microsoft released the 120gb, thereby reducing the price on all their Zunes by about 25%. So, off to Wal-Mart I went, where I purchased the 80gb for $198, plus tax. I’ve now had the Zune for about 2 weeks, and I had the battery die after only using it about a total of 1 hour. Granted, it sat in my bag for about 10 days without the lock on it, so it’s possible that the battery just drained from nonusage. After charging it, (and it took a LONG time before the battery charge light would actually appear on the screen), I then downloaded some songs for a few hours and went to listen to it afterward. After about 20 minutes of listening, the Zune froze mid-song, shut off, and would not turn back on no matter what I did. There was no warning that the battery was running low. Zip. It wasn’t until I plugged it in to charge that I discovered the battery was low. I’m thinking that I got a defective Zune and will return it to Wal-Mart this morning and get a new one to re-load my 150 or so songs. I have to say, I purchased this Zune as a replacement to my Dell DJ (20gb), and I never had these problems with my Dell in the 4 years I owned it. Here’s hoping for a non-defective Zune when I exchange it today. Sheesh!

Simply Cool !!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is my First MP3 Player, so no comparisions…

Pros:- Big Screen, Touch Scroll , Custom Wallpapers, FM Radio, Premiuim headsets.

Cons:- Bit Bulky, Not many accessories available in the market.

Wish this was an I-Pod
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
April 25th I bought an 80gb zune. That day and since I’ve added a leather case, hard protective case, car pack, home media pack, and the book “how to do everything with your zune.” I can’t do everything. I can’t get rid of the horrible music videos microsoft dumped on it before I bought it. Videos freeze up. A player this expensive should come with a program to format DVDs to zune. I looked on line to get help from the zune site. They say to go to the forums. Couldn’t get in. It even said I hadn’t bought the points needed. Next time I tried to sign in my password wasn’t accepted. I asked for a new one. didn’t receive an e-mail. Happened again. Called Zune. The recording went through the (SO CALLED) legitimate problems they would help you with. They told me to go to their web site. Which sends me to forums, which won’t let me……etc. …….etc. around and around!!!!!

The bigger screen is nice. The accessories are great…but, not if you can’t get the thing working.

Wish we’d bought our MAC before I bought the zune….

I want to get an I-Pod. There are trade offs, (smaller screen) but, if I can actually use it and buy things on I tunes that I don’t have to reformat to use I will be thrilled.

Zune is microsofts answer to the I-Pod. It’s a whisper with nothing backing it up but a lot of hot air!!!!

“APPLE” anyone?

A Worthy Ipod Competitor
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought my Zune about a year ago so i figure it’s about time to review it. Overall i have been very happy with it. I still have not filled it to capacity, and i have a pretty vast music collection, + some videos. The screen is big and looks very sharp, great for videos. Navigation is simple. Microsoft is always upgrading the software and firmware, which is good. When the software first came out it was terrible, couldn’t even really edit anything, but now i like it and you can do much more with it. Some people complained of no equalizer. I don’t find it a problem. 95% of the time im using it in my car, which has an eq.

My complaints – Battery life is not quite as good as i would hope. I forget what was advertised, but its probably usually like 10 hours for me (just playing music) which is ok but not great. The zune pad is cool, but sometimes works TOO good. Like ill go to click on something and it’ll slide up or over. i almost kind of wish they kept the button like the original had, but it works fine. I’d like an option for something other than shuffle all. a shuffle all by artist or something like that would be cool. hopefully they’ll add something liek that with an update eventually. Also, doesn’t support a lot of my video files, only some of em. Despite these, i still love it and woudl not trade it for an ipod. definitely worth my $240

DON’T THROW AWAY YOUR MONEY
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Everything about Zune sucks – so please don’t waste your money! The device is flawed, the software sucks, and the social is a joke! Save yourself a lot of frustration and steer clear of Zune.

lots of space and good looking
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
its a quality mp3 player with awesome headphones. you’ll have more than enough space for thousands of songs a bunch of converted videos.there are only a few complaints. the touch button is easy to accidently push while in pocket. you can turn off the touch feature but that detracts from the players coolness and ease to use. also as a warning, do not take snowboarding or i guess any physical activity. if you pay this much make sure to be careful with it. Mine broke and i had to go to a psychiatric ward. jk its a sweet mp3 player buy it if you hate apple and dont want a creative.

i love the zune
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
easy to use great picture, great product. I love the zune. i used to have an ipod but i’m so happy with my zune i really enjoy using it. in the time i have had it i have had less problems then with my ipod. It is a great product

Great Buy!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Purchased for travel and gym. As with most gyms, if you want to watch their television setups, you have to have a radio. The zune (all models) have built-in fm tuners. The 3.2in screen is large enough for all my pictures and videos (movies) when traveling on 2-4hr flights. And of course 80gigs of space for all this…exceptional buy at $247. Highly recommended.

Excellent Sound and Picture Quality
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I purchased the 80 GB 2nd Generation Zune model, and use it mostly for listening to MP3’s while laying out on the deck or kicking back in the lazy boy after a long day at work. The sound is excellent, which must explain part of the reason Microsoft elected NOT to incorporate a graphic equalizer. (That’s right…no graphic equalizer to pump up the bass, but the sound is VERY clear w/o an equalizer.) Picture quality is also excellent on a screen measuring 1-7/8 inches x 2-1/2 inches. The glass screen makes it more scratch resistant, but I would suggest purchasing a leather case anyway because the screen is not scratch-proof. Viewing pictures is quick and easy and they look great. I have heard that the Zune is also excellent for loading and viewing movies…after updating the movie to 320 X 240 resolution, which shrinks the file size down from 4GB to under 1GB. But since copying movies is a violation of copy protection laws, I can only suggest copying home movies to your Zune. The software required to add files to your Zune can be downloaded from the Microsoft web site. The 80GB drive is 100% quiet, and cannot be heard at all. Nor is there any vibration when the Zune is running. Installing MP3’s from your computer is also quick and easy. The menus are easy to navigate through, and include Music, Videos, Pictures, Social, Radio, Podcasts, and Settings. Creating various folders for your MP3’s is simple (either by artist, year, type of music, etc.), and you can quickly add 2 or 3 (or more) folders to the ‘quick play’ folder and set to shuttle mode if, say, you want to listen to only Bruce Springsteen, the Eagles, and Journey while at the beach, on a plane, or just ‘zoning’ out. The supplies ear buds put out excellent sound (although just a little light on the bass), and are small and comfortable, even allowing you to ‘plug in’ while going to sleep. Battery life is not great but is acceptable. Approximately 20 hrs listening to music, and 3 hrs watch movies. My only complaint is recharging the batteries. You have to either use your computer (USB port), or purchase an accessory you can hook up your Zune to which consists of 4 AA batteries. That said, recharge time is quick, taking approximately 35 minutes to recharge from 1/3 to full capacity. The Zune itself measures 2-5/16 inches wide x 4-1/16 inches long x 1/2 inch thick. Radio reception is above average as I am able to pick up all local stations, and they sound awesome. Even the artist’s name appears on the screen while listening to music on local stations. And finally, the ability to view the associated Album Covers while listening to MP3’s is a plus. (The Zune software automatically looks for each song’s Album art.) I chose the Zune over the IPod because during research I read a number of reviews saying the IPod classic sound quality was only average at best. I wanted an 80+ GB model with a radio and larger than average screen size, and the Zune fulfilled all those qualifications perfectly.

Pretty good
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
By no means and ipod the killer, the Zune is still pretty good. The space and bigger screen for the price are the main reasons I bought one. Although personally, my zune screen has cracked a little, one of my friends has never had any problem with it. The zune software itself is terrible, but its the only thing you can use. The zune is great for playing videos, and can usually just use the same video settings as an ipod. Just download a decent video converter and you’ll be set. I’ve only gotten close to filling the 80 gigs of space on here once, so unless you are an audiophile with years worth of music, 80 gigs will be great.

Beats IPOD hands down!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Better, cheaper, more user friendly, more compatible, and you can share your music with others faster and more easily! What more could you ask for? Oh yeah, did I say cheaper than IPOD? None of the “hype” like Apple, but far better product.

Beautiful screen. But the magic ends there. Just AWFUL!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I’ve never owned an ipod so when it came time to buy a cool video/music player I was seduced by the big screen coupled with the large hard drive. (Apple offers one or the other, but not both in a single device). I spent a long, miserable day trying to make this thing work for me. By 10PM I had listed it on Ebay and ordered an ipod. Expensive lesson.

For starters the software and hardware synch is classic Microsoft. Clunky, counterintuitive, never quite does what you want it to. I’m a technical guy and when I found myself frustrated I started imagining how a regular consumer must feel. It’s that bad.

The worst part was the online store. The video selections are pathetically few. NO MOVIES!! I even tried downloading something from Amazon Unboxed, but the amazon software wouldn’t recognize the zune and I was never able to pull any content onto the device. So…what you have is a beautiful screen on a run-of-the-mill (at best) mp3 player.

My new ipod arrived yesterday. The screen is a little smaller (but the hard drive is actually bigger–120Gb). It was wonderfully simple to set up. The itunes store has an unbelievable array of content. I hated the idea of being a Apple lemming, but they got it right. And Microsoft got it the way Microsoft always does…complicated and disappointing.

Advantage Apple.

Ipod killer
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The best bang for your buck. Yeah the Ipod touch is cool but this bad boy is 80gb for only $250. My favorite thing about it is watching movies. I downloaded a program to convert my DVD’s so they will play on the Zune. This is awesome for when I am traveling on long bus rides. I have about 500 songs on there right now and have 6 full length movies on there as well and I still have 70gb left. If you are looking for a good program for converting DVD’s to play on the Zune, use Cucusoft Ultimate DVD Converter it works great.

So if you are looking for a great MP3 player that you will hold a lot of songs and video’s get the Zune 80gb. I would also recommend getting a protective shield on it so it doesn’t get scratched. I ordered one from Invisible Shield.com and it was $25 for a full body shield. The shield is guaranteed and if your Zune gets scrated with it on they will pay for a new Zune, pretty sweet deal.

Go out and by a Zune 80gb you won’t be disapointed.

Much Improvement Needed to match iPod
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I replaced my iPod back in January with the new 80g Zune in the hope that I would be getting a device that not only matched the performance and reliability of the iPod but was better. After all if Microsoft hoped to compete with the mighty Apple in the arena of MP3 players, they’d better have a product that was just as good or better. After seven months of using the Zune I can state unequivocally that Microsoft has a long, long way to go and many improvements in both hardware and software to make before they hope to match the convenience, reliability, flexibility and performance of the iPod device and iTunes software. My first complaint with Zune is with the limits of the Zune software which is woefully and pitifully inadequate when compared to iTunes. Where iTunes allows the user full and total control over all aspects of his/her music library such as sorting, categorizing and listing songs, albums, playlists in any way, shape or form the user desires, Zune’s software is severly limited and not as user-friendly as iTunes. A small example of this would be the fact that if you rip a particular artist’s song, let’s say “Suspicious Minds” by Elvis, off of a multi-artist compilation disc, you won’t be able to locate that song in your library by going to Elvis Presley because the Zune software lumps all songs from various artist compilations into the “Various Artists” category and you would have to go there and search for the album the song is on. Another huge example of a Zune software limitation is that, unlike iTunes, it does not have a “Smart Playlist” feature where you can have songs automatically go into a playlist based on criteria that you choose when you set up the playlist. You also can’t combine two tracks into one track on Zune like you can on iTunes. Those are just a sample of many areas that the Zune software is lacking compared to iTunes. I could list many more. Now let me move on to my criticisms of the Zune device itself. The hardware. Prior to buying the Zune, I had my old 30g iPod for three years and used it daily for hours on end with no problems other than having to reset it once in a blue moon. No such luck with the Zune. In the seven months I’ve been using the Zune it has crashed on me three times and I’ve had to reload all of the 10,000 songs in my library onto it three times. It takes about 3 hours to reload all of the content onto the device which isn’t that bad considering the size of my collection but it’s the instability and unreliability of the hardware that bothers me. I can now never tell when it’s going to crash on me. The first time it crashed was at the beginning of a very long plane flight which left me sitting and twiddling my thumbs for the several hour flight without my music. This never happened with my iPod.

Needless to say, I’m planning on dumping the Zune and returning to the old reliable iPod. I’m shocked that Microsoft has ventured into this part of the market with such an inferior product and it has made me think twice about any Microsoft product I purchase in the future.

This is for You.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
For real this is a fantastic product that beats out the iPod series. If you have problems choosing, just remember this: Microsoft made the Zune with idea of sharing and socializing music as well as making it a versatile device. The Zune supports not only the Mpeg-3 audio format and great sounding Windows Media Audio format (which supports a greater frequency range for great sound than both the mp3 or Apple branded Mpeg-4 audio layer), but also supports Apples own formats for both audio and video formats. The new 80 gig supporting zero conversion now for Mpeg-4 videos as well. Not convinced? How about the crystal-clear 3.2 inch display and sturdy device case. The screen displays beautiful quality images and videos. The screen is also cover by glass screen which is made to prevent scratches. And now XNA has begun to make Zune games and allowed users to make their own games an distribute them for free. And finally a support team that is continually taking ideas from Zune users online and using them for future updates to improve the devices even more. What else could you ask for?

My only suggestion is to buy this device else where. The Amazon price is way to high. You can get the 80 gig for as low as $250. Shop now!

Its the Ipod eater : )
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Awesome! Beats the breaks off of any Ipod hands down. A great toy for any tech geek. Buy it now!

NO BASS! NO EQUALIZER! Audiophiles, beware!
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
This device has clear, crisp sound, but no bass whatsoever. Microsoft did not put in an equalizer feature, so you are dead in the water if you want thunder from your music, even with the highest of high-end headphones (I tried them all, and they all sound no better than the ones that come with it). Sorry, bass-lovers… This is not your MP3 player

New Zune Update 3.0 Available.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Imagine yourself sitting at your desktop or notebook and are in a hurry. You decide you want some music fast, so you must decide which mp3 is going to do that just for you. Your answer is the Zune 80gb.

The Zune is a great mp3 play. I’ve owned both like many users and my best one is this. The software is limited in music but its just starting off right now. That will change very soon. The software is also really easy to use. Its easier to use than itunes. Putting music into a zune is so easy that your done in a minute or less.

If you’re still not sure, go for the Zune, just buy it where you can find he best price.

Zune 80GB 2nd Gen
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This product is incredible. It has surpassed my expectations. I was a bit disappointed with the battery life on the original Zune, although I found the product, firmware, and software all to be very agreeable. The 2nd Generation has fixed all of the former problems as well as added a touch feature which allows you to scroll through your songs without tapping. A great thing about the 80GB in specific is that it comes with the premium headphones, a $50.00 value in store, for free. It is an excellent product.

80G Zune
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I had a 40G zune before I purchased this 80G. It works as well as the first MP3 player I purchased. I wouldn’t have expected anything different. The main reason I purchased this player was because I had filled my 40G with tunes. An upgraded was definetly necessary. I have tranfered all the tunes I had in my previous player plus 100 more. I like the convenence of having tunes during my commute to and from work. Nothing like cruising down the road with a helmet full of tunes. Life doesn’t get much sweeter than that!

iPod Killer
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
There are very few MP3 players that can truly be labeled as iPod Killers. Before this I had a Creative Zen player that, while good at the time, definitely did not rival iPods (I will not buy an iPod as I really don’t like iTunes; it re-encodes my music as AAC, essentially doubling the size of my collection). I have been nothing but astounded by the 2nd Gen. My brother has the 1st gen 30 gig, and while it is a good player, it doesn’t hold a candle to the 2nd gen. The touch pad truly exceeds the usefulness of the iPods wheel. The iPod Touch may be nicer, but the pricing difference more than makes up for that. I do miss the equalizer, but the quality headphones that come with the Zune make up for the lack of one. I have switched over to a pair of Sennheiser CX300-B, and the sound quality is top-notch. The Zune software also is excellent, as it is easy to configure, supports a multitude of file types, and is speedy.

Overall I highly recommend this product, as it is both visually, and aurally pleasing, with exceptional navigation options and easy to use software.

Get over it!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
First let me say, I have no problem with my Zune, I had an 30 Gb version and upgraded to 80 Gb I have song that wern’t bought from the marketplace and they all play. I have absolutely no problems with the software, the first version did suck because you had to resync completely if you wanted to add like one song. Also if you wanted to remove one song you had to go through a song and dance. With the upgrade you can access your Zune like a HDD, just click on device and search thru the songs until you find the one you want to cull, them BAM! its gone. As far as using it for storage of documents… WHO CARES! You bought an MP3 player not a portable HDD! If you want a back up of important docs spend 10 bucks and get a 256 stick and keep it around the house. I read a review that said the screen was small and blurry, this thing has one of the largest screen on the market! I admit that some of the other players have some cool features but the Zune is not as bad as people make it seem. As far as playback onto your PC, why would you get a portable MP3 player, sync it with your pc, then delete the songs off and just play it thru the player? You can just unplug the speakers and plug them into the headphone jack and there your go problem solved.

Technical Problems
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
While this Zune is great to use when it’s working, I have had to send it in for repairs at least 4-5 times in the last year. One time I sent it in, it took over a month to get it back. Another time, they immediately sent a replacement, but then the replacement failed within a week. I’ve had to purchase the extended warranty since I don’t trust it not to break again. Also, when you sync your music to your Zune, it can take a very long time, and in general the software is a pain to use. If I had to do it over again, I would purchase another MP3 player. But when it works, the screen is large, videos look great, and the scroll pad is nice to use.

Serious PROBLEMS MUST READ Do not Buy Zune
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I brought my Zune on 1/25/08 from Circuit City and had issues right away. You have to update the firmware and mine locked up. Took it back and got a new one, this one worked fine, life was good. Two months later I was playing it in my car and it stopped working, looked at the face plate and found a fine hair line crack on the screen. So I looked up on Google “Zune Cracked” and found 90,000 entries, I was shocked. Apparently there is a serious issue with their battery being to close to the screen. Lithium batteries expand and contract and MS did not allow enough tolerance (that’s what a lot of web sites are saying)

I called Microsoft and just like everyone is complaining they are saying this voids the warrantee. There is talk about a class action lawsuit people are trying to pull together.

DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT check google first and see.

I finally got an IPOD, a least they stand behind there product.

Nothing like the zune
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought the zune awhile ago (80GB) and i was shocked, before i buy the zune i heard some good reviews and some OK reviews, it’s amazing how a touch of your own hand makes all the difference.

this device IMO is almost all pro’s, it’s screen is as beautiful as it could ever be (big screen) i love this device so much although there is one down side as i see it, you can not use the device as an external hard drive, so you cannot put any type of files on the device to move them to another PC, otherwise i have no negative stuff to say about the device.

Bad, Very bad.
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I bought the Zune from Amazon this week (3/3/08). I will be returning it immediately. Windows Vista and the ZUNE drivers and software do not work well together. I went through all of the recommendations and the software still refuses to recognize the device. The driver says it installs successfully, but that is NOT true. The product leaves a very bad impression with me and I will never buy another.

Zune – What Should Have Been
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Dear Bill Gates,

I should never have been writing this review. Despite all the backlash about MS and Windows in the press, I’ve always regarded this as a predictable reaction to a very successful company. I’ve been a loyal customer – I’ve owned PC’s and used Windows for 20 years now. My career started as a Windows computer programmer, and I watched how PCs essentially changed the world. I’ve also watched Apple, and how they have competed and positioned themselves in relation to MS.

To me, Apple was, and mostly still is, a lot of hipster hype. Appealing to the streak of non-conformity for the sake of non-conformity in some people, they have found a niche as THE ALTERNATIVE. The thing is, for all that cool hype, the Apple has always been the more restrictive system. It is the PC that is open architecture, and adaptable to change. And so it was until the Ipod came along.

Here, the simplicity of Apple, while restrictive at a PC level, worked beautifully as an MP3 player. Standardization and reliability was all anyone could really ask for in this space, and the Ipod delivered. For a premium price, of course. Like everything else Apple sells.

When I heard about the Zune, I was excited. I saw this as the OPPORTUNITY for MS to once again demonstrate what was possible with technology, and take the MP3 market to the next level. I was ready to watch Apple slink into the MP3 background, forced to manufacture pricy “boutique” Ipods for their remaining market niche. It would have been sweet to see.

But that isnt what happened, at least not yet.

The Zune is an unmitigated disaster. And remember, this is coming from a dedicated MS fan.

Why? It offers nothing that I’m used to seeing from MS in terms of openness. Why not offer multiple resolution screens? Battery options? Things that USERS could do on their own, like how they buy graphics cards for their PC. No, we basically get Ipod lite, with some hardly/never used features replacing core functions. Wifi and Social networking instead of an EQ? Are you serious? Very short battery life, buggy firmware and software, poor sound levels when plugging into external sound systems like my car radio… its just disappointment after disappointment.

The PC software is a mess. It is buggy, with poor usability and lack of advanced features. Another UI standard, thats what we needed – not! It is so time-consuming and frustrating to get music on the darn player using this junk.

I am very sad to tell you that I find myself forced to cross over to the dark side and buy an ipod. I just dont want to fight with this stuff anymore – I’m worn out from it. I just want to listen to music and not solve system problems.

It didnt have to be this way. You should have done better. Maybe you ultimately will, but you will have to work to pull me back because I’ve been burned now and wont quickly forget. Shame on you for blowing it so badly, and taking a good chunk of change from me in the process.

Great Player, but What’s With the Price?
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
This is a great player and in some ways it’s better than the iPod. In fact, since iTunes sucks and Apple doesn’t care, I’ll probably never buy any player but the Zune in the future.

However, what I really don’t get is why Amazon only has the 80 gb Zune from some company charging $150 over the prevailing price for this item. These Marketplace companies are getting worse all the time. I think I’ll just start looking elsewhere for the best deals. Amazon’s getting real lame, real fast.

Great sound, but a few drawbacks
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Great sound. HUGE capacity. Easy to use. Only con I have found so far is…I have my pictures files on my Zune. I have selected (under settings) to choose which pictures to add/delete. I have deleted the ones I don’t want to take up space. EVERY TIME I recharge the battery or put on new music, it also downloads all the pictures I have laboriously deleted off my Zune. 100’s of them. VERY FRUSTRATING! Does any one have any suggestions? Thank you!

Love it.
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Much better than the 1st generation that I had. More hard disk space, look and feel are better, at pretty much the same price. However, there are two anodynes I need from Microsoft for my pain points.

1st pain point: Foreign language pack still not available. There is a hack out there, but I was hesitant to try because this hack requires admin priv of my machine and there is nothing that’d guarantee me that the language hack was the only hacking code packaged in the provided .exe. And also thanks to MS, after upgrading to Vista Premium, my Virtual PC stopped working so I cannot attempt this hack on my Virtual PC slice.

2nd pain point: Not being able to create custom favorite/play lists for my videos. And the video fast forward is not user friendly.

Thinking about a Zune? Think twice, or even three times…
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I purchased a Zune 80GB for my wife for Christmas 2007. Looked neat I said to myself, and most people had good things to say about them. I also liked the idea that I didn’t have to convert everything to a different music format (like the Ipod). About 7 months after we got it, it started locking up. After receiving some error messages, I visited Microsoft’s Zune website, and followed their instructions on how to reset the device. Nothging worked. Had to call Zune support, and they couldn’t help. They gave me an RA number, and I sent it in. A short while later, I received a replacement. What made me worry when I received the replacement, was an offer from Microsoft to purchase an extended warranty. I didn’t, figuring the first one I purchased was maybe just suffering from “growing pains.” The replacement worked okay until recently, when my wife told me the her Zune was acting “funny.” I didn’t really give it much though until today, when I tried to add some songs to her Zune. The third song I tried to sync took a lot longer than normal. After about 3 minutes, I got an error message from the Zune software on my computer that there was a problem with the sync, to try it again. Looking on the Zune, however, the music file was there, and everything seemed okay. When my wife got home from work, she went to work out, and told me that she was having problems getting her Zune to work. She kept getting an error message “The item is missing or can’t be played.” When she would hit the play button, the songs would quickly flash past on the screen, until it would land on the same song every time. Then it would refuse to play. I again visited Microsoft’s website, and first followed the instructions on the support page for the error message we were getting, trying to get it to work. None of the first 6 ideas worked, so I started the last method, “Restore the device and synch the content again.” When I tried to restore the software, the Zune hung up on the screen “Clearing Contents – Please wait.” When I called Zune customer service back, I was told, after “Paula” could not get the Zune to reset, that I could send the device back with a payment of $129, and they would fix it.

To have two devices go bad under similar circumstances in less than 15 months, and Microsoft’s refusal to assist in any way with the second defective unit, leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. I won’t be buying a Zune again, to say the least. It was funny though, when I got the replacement after the first one went bad, there was a letter in it saying that I could buy an extended warranty for a discount. I wonder if Microsoft knew something I didn’t?

Zune haters are just plain craaaaazy!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
My Zune 80 works perfectly. I’ve had it for weeks using it all day long and I have had no problems at all. Someone please tell me what everyone hates about the software?? It works as good if not better than itunes. It has its qwerks but what software doesn’t? All I know is, I love my Zune and I would recommend them to everyone. It’s funny, my itunes friends laughed at me at first, now they want one!!! That says it all people!! Oh and by the way ipod lovers…. I have a radio! HA!

Nice
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Works really well. The screen is a good size and the sound is nice and clear. The only annoying thing is that you have to plug it into your computer to charge it.

Atleast its not an ipod…
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
The good: Plays music, sounds great, looks great, not an iPod.

The bad: Zune software too simplified, no control over your music organization other than manually editing the tags. The touch pad is annoying; since it does not have a separate select button, you can end up skipping, rewinding or moving in menus instead of just selecting what you want.

Very Pleased
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
My friend recommended I get a Zune since he has been very satisfied with his own. I decided to get the 80GB 2nd generation one even though this is almost an excessive amount of space for me. If you don’t have 80 GB of music, what you can do is find programs that convert DVDs to Zune format and start putting TV shows and movies on it. The Zune software isn’t too bad, but I wasn’t able to download through Windows update or whichever method is default. Microsoft has alternative downloads though, so it all worked out okay. The software does crash on my computer every once and again, but it’s not really a big deal. I do kind of wish they had found a way to integrate with Windows Media Player, though. Overall, I doubt you’d regret this purchase. I don’t.

Great item
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
My husband loves this. He can store so much music on it. It is perfect for what we need.

I’ve had mine for a few months and am ready to give it away
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I bought it because I dropped my Zen W hard, really hard and broke it and the prices on Zens at that time had doubled. I wanted a player that was compatible with Napster because I love Napster, but there were none in the comparable price range with Zune. When I found out that Zune has it’s own subscription service which in theory was just like Napster, I bit.

But it’s so unintuitive, slow, regulated, allows me so little choice about how I sort my music, I just bought another Zen. Even though I’ll have to redo all my playlists for the second time in just a few months, it’s WELL worth it to be rid of the Zune. In the long run, it will save me time and frustration.

The sad truth about this product is that it is typical of the lazy, let’s put the least effort into that we can and they’ll buy it anyway mentality that Microsoft has had for years. When Word and Excel first came out, they were revolutionary, but aside from some minor cosmetic stuff, despite many expensive upgrades, they are essentially the same products.

This is why I beg you not to buy this product, please give Bill Gates et all a shock and let them know that America won’t eat their crappy moldy pie offerings.

My major problem with Zune is the software. You cannot create a smart list. You can create something they call an autoplaylist, but because Zune, unlike WMP, won’t let you change the genre or whatever on your rented music, the only filter by what they’ve tagged it as. There’s no extra field in the properties by which you can add your own criteria at all. This means you can sort by artist, year, genre, which if you have a huge collection is useless. I would have settled if they’d even given more than 3 stars to rate with because at least then I could have used the stars as my own code to sort by, but they didn’t.

Another huge problem is that on the scroll, you can’t jump from one letter of the artists name (or album name) so if you have a huge collection and you want to play something that starts with p, you will scroll and scroll and scroll and scroll and scroll, every time you want to get to it.

Windows Media Player, ironically, is the program of choice. It’s one of the few programs MS has out that is worth using. However, they apparently have some deal with someone that keeps them from using it with Zune. So what does MS do? Instead of seizing the opportunity to put their vast army of workers on creating something entirely new, or even just the same but better, they give you this crap fest software.

In conclusion, if you care about what you will pay for in the future, please don’t indulge them now by buying this thing. and keep your eyes open for all the great up and coming open sourceware word processors and spreadsheets. We don’t need MS kaka! let them earn any money we give them!

Great product!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’ve owned my Zune for a little over a month now and I’m in love with it! It’s sturdy, sleek, and has a large screen. The screen is also glass, which prevents it from getting scratched easily (a plus for me, since I’m so clumsy). Overall, I’m extremely satisfied!

Zune Review
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I got a Zune a few weeks ago and decided to hold off for a little while before writing a short review for it. Now that I have been using it pretty much every day, I feel like I am familiar enough to tell you guys what I think of it.

I ordered my Zune 80 from Amazon, so it took about a week to get here. That’s fine since it gave me plenty of time to get the rest of my music collection ripped to my pc using windows media player. It filled out all of the track information for all my cds and got album art no problem, so I was pretty much ready to go once I got the Zune in the mail.

The Zune comes is a really small box that is actually pretty cool. I normally don’t care about packaging at all, but the box is pretty sweet. Inside the box is a short quick start guide that will walk you though the few steps needed to get the Zune up and running. The first step actually requires you to visit the Zune website to download the software. I was surprised that they didn’t actually include the software on a disc with the player. I don’t imagine this being a problem for most people, but if for some reason you don’t have internet access you won’t be able to install the software and get the music on the Zune. I guess that’s one of the down sides to having a small box.

The Zune software itself is pretty well designed. It’s similar to media player in how it functions (such as the library and monitoring folders for new content), but the layout is completely different and can take some getting used to. But once you know your way around, it’s pretty easy to get things done. You get files onto your Zune by “Syncing” it to the media library on your computer. The Zune software watches whatever folders you tell it to; automatically importing new content (video, music, or photos) into your library whenever they are added to any of those folders. For example, it monitors the “My Music” folder on my pc, which is where I rip all of my CDs to. If I want to add a new CD to my Zune, I just rip the tracks to that folder. The Zune software notices they are new and adds it to my library. The next time I plug in my Zune, the tracks will get “Synced” over to the Zune so that it has the exact same content as my library does. Overall, it works pretty well, when it works that is.

I only have one problem with the Zune software, but it happens all the time and is a bit annoying. Whenever I first plug the Zune into my pc, the player software automatically launches (which is an option you can turn off, but I like that it does this). However, when I go to Sync my library to the Zune, it says it’s not connected. This is strange, since it obviously knows it was connected (it did launch the software after all). So I have to unplug the Zune and connect it again before it will notice it. It’s not a huge problem, but it is a bit annoying. But other then that one issue, the software works great.

The player itself feels pretty good. The hardware is really well designed and seems to be made to last. The screen is a really nice size and looks beautiful, and is protected by actual glass, not plastic. So hopefully the screen won’t scratch as easily as some other players that use plastic screens. The port to connect the cable to it is located at the bottom, while the headphone jack as well as a lock switch is located at the top of the player. As for buttons, there is one large touch pad as well as a back button and a play/pause button.

Once you get all your media on the player, actually using it is a breeze. It categorizes your content based on type, such as music, video, photos and podcasts. Within those categories, you can further sort the list by artist, album, genre, or song title. They work as you would expect. For example, selecting an artist then brings up all the albums for that artist. You can select to play all of them, or drill down more to get individual albums and the songs within those albums. The album art is displayed right along with the titles, making it easy to find what you are looking for just by glancing at the covers.

Moving around is pretty easy. The Zune has a touch pad, so you simply slide your finger up and down to move around the list, or left and right to change the sorting method. Selecting a song is as easy as clicking the center down. If you are not a fan of touch sensitive input devices, you can turn it off to make it function as a normal button, but I don’t know why you would want to do that.

The podcast section is probably the one that gets the most use from me. Using the Zune software on my PC, I signed up for a dozen or so podcasts such as Major Nelson’s podcast (audio) and the 1up show (video). Each time I load the Zune software, it automatically checks to see if there are new episodes of the podcasts and automatically begins to download them if it finds some. If my Zune is connected, it goes ahead and syncs them as well. This is great for me. I listen to a ton of podcasts, and not having to go to all the sites and download new episodes myself is a huge time saver. After I listen or watch a show, it marks it as done. Next time I sync, it automatically deletes the old shows for me, which keeps things from getting out of control (which they would given the amount of podcasts I follow).

Aside from the music, movies, and photos categories, the Zune also has ones for social, radio, and settings. From there you can check friends, messages and scan for nearby Zunes. The player has wireless built into it, allowing the Zunes to talk to each other and send music. The radio is pretty much what you would expect, and allows you to scan through and find local radio stations. I don’t really use this much, but it seems to work pretty good. The settings section allows you to control some basic stuff, such as if the touch pad is on, how long before the display turns off, and other stuff like that. You can also start a wireless synch from here if you don’t feel like plugging the Zune into your PC.

Microsoft is essentially trying to do to music what they did with games via Xbox Live. That is, making music a social experience that you can share with your friends. Sending music to each other wireless is a part of that, but I don’t even think it’s the most interesting aspect of what they have done. On Zune.net, every Zune user can create a profile and a friends list (the friends list is actually integrated with your Xbox Live friends list if you have one). Your profile keeps track of your most recently played music, as well as what music you play the most. It does this for all your friends as well, so you can easily check out what they are listening to. This makes finding new music extremely easy and fun to do. I have spent hours looking at my friends profiles, listening to samples of their favorite tracks (if available), and have discovered some pretty cool new artists in the process. Once you find something you like, buying it is just a few clicks away (assuming it’s available on the Zune Marketplace).

Overall, I really like what Microsoft did with the Zune. It’s a really solid player (both hardware and software), and the social aspect of it is really appealing to me. The Zune really is a good device, and I have absolutely no reservations recommending it to friends and family.

Dont Fight The Wave – Get an Ipod
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I have owned this product almost two years and the quality of the player is excellent. The accessories, such as ear pods are great. In fact, my wife asked me to buy an extra set of the ear pods for her because they were so much better than anything she had!

So the quality is good – what’s wrong with it? Software.

You can only use the Zune proprietary software with the Zune device. That software is inferior to ITunes and Media Player. In fact, I purchased the Zune over Ipod primarily because I assumed that anything Microsoft made should interface with Media Player, the tool I use to manage my 20,000 tunes. Wrong.

If I switched over from Media Player to Zune software (manually – there are no conversion tools)I would lose many of the data fields I rely on to build auto playlists. Even my personal ratings would be lost in part because Zune has a two-grade format (”like it” vs. “don’t like it”)compared to Media Player’s five stars.

One workaround with Media Player is to build your auto playlists there, save them as an .m3u file and import the .m3u files into Zune. You better like that playlist, though, because you will have to repeat the process anytime you want a refresh.

So what you have here is a high quality device with a workable, but remarkably basic, interface. Ipod (I have one of those also) matches quality but provides a greatly enhanced interface through ITunes. Plus, ITunes will import my library from WMP. That said, none are great at handling larger libraries – say, 8,000 tunes and up. However, Media Player is best at it and ITunes comes closer than Zune software.

Bottom line – don’t wait for Microsoft to catch up since they haven’t yet and likely won’t (they have had years to do so and have not). If you are a low volumr user and really want a Zune, you don’t need one this big – save a few bucks and go with lower capacity. However If you are a volume user/music nerd like me, go Apple and you will be happier.

One last note – Creative has much better functionality but comes with a whole new set of issues that affect reliability (I have two of those also). Stick with Apple.

Could have been really great
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
The main reason people are going to choose the Zune over anything else is the size of the hard drive and with the new 120gb model out its simply an enormous amount of storage but Microsoft have made a dogs dinner out of some of the features.

1. Software. Extremely annoying-doesn’t delete when it says it does, synching is a right pain with a silly folder method, drag and drop doesnt work all of the time.

2. Extras. Unless youre a computer geek then any videos you want to put on this have to be converted to WMV files or MP4 files and this involves buying a converter. It takes an absolute age to both convert and then synch these onto the Zune. It doesnt come with a case of any kind unlike the Iriver H10,see below.

3. Audio. Iriver owners will appreciate what I’m saying here. I had a H10 for years and the amount of presets it had including an equalizer AND SRS wow made the H10 a superb player accoustically. The Zune has absolutely nothing!!! I mean come on! Not even bog standard treble and bass like your old Sony 1990 walkman used to have.

4. Radio. Yes its great to have a radio but why not have presets?

Ok thats the negatives. The positives are that the screen is beautiful and clear and its easy to use and is a monster of a thing at 80gb and 120gb respectively.

I got mine as a present-if I had bought it I probably wouldnt have been amused-the lack of any equalizer on the sound really is incredible though.

I had higher expectations
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
This product has been compared countless times to the iPod Classic. Aside from the fact that the zune doesn’t get scratched that easily, I’d say just about everything else sucks. I’ve had this mp3 player for two and a half months, and it deleted its own software at least three times now. The thing didn’t come with any instructions, and in order to install the software on the darn thing, you have to download it from the internet. And if you don’t have internet at home, you can’t just download it at a friend’s house, transfer it onto a memory stick/card, and then install it on your computer. Your computer HAS to have internet in order for it to install. Also, once you buy this product, if you don’t have another friend who is an experienced “zuner” then you’re pretty much on your own if you have any problems with it. Microsoft may be a huge company, but they have like the worst customer support EVER. The zune website doesn’t even offer a number that you can call. It gives an e-mail address but who knows how long before they reply back, if they reply at all.

The reason I chose to buy this over the iPod was because it has a bigger screen, and I was going to put a lot of video on it (seriously, how many people actually own 80 gb of good music?) I also liked its ability to send and share music with other zunes. But I’ve had to reinstall the software like three times now, and each time I do that all the music, video, and pictures get deleted.

oh, and one last thing – the little switch for the hold button comes off really easily. It’s not very hard to stick it back on, but if it pops off and drops onto the floor, it could take a while to find it, especially if you have thick carpet.

iPod Who?
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I am a high school student. Owning an iPod is almost a rite of passage, but I’ve always been unique. Now I sense a change in the air; instead of sighs or laughter at Zunes (as they had a year ago

), people respond with interest and astonishment. Having a Zune is rebellious and its talents show its strength.

The first thing I noticed (obviously) is the screen. It’s much bigger than the iPod Classic’s; about the size of a Touch’s screen. The hard drive is 80GB. It’s like the Classic and the Touch had a baby!

The software on my PC is confusing, but I set it to guest so it won’t delete my files on the Zune itself. Zune now uses podcasts, and I have about 100 podcasts on my Zune. Very addictive.

The new Zune Squircle (or whatever Microsoft calls it) is really cool. At first, I would click left of right instead of dead center but I’ve adjusted.

My only complaint is the lack of a clock. I REALLY wish it had one. I have to look at my watch now.



Otherwise, Five Stars!!

Great product if you’re willing to figure out all the quirks
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I bought this product mainly because I loved the screen which is about twice as big as the ipod and better quality for movies. However figuring out the software that you have to install to use the zune is frustrating. First of all it took me over three hours to download the software and install it because the first 8 attempts wouldn’t install onto my computer. Then once i had finally gotten the software i added all of my music but then discovered that you can’t delete you’re music off of your computer without deleting it off of the zune as well. so unless you have a 80G computer memory space it’s pointless to have an 80G Zune. However I’ve sort of worked around this by not linking my zune to my computer and instead connecting as a guest. Anyways after that, my zune refused to download any videos even though they were the right format. So I had to contact the Zune company and they told me to reformat my zune which meant that i had to delete everything off of my zune including the media that came with the zune. Now its working ok and i do like it alot but be warned that you’ll hate it before you love it.

Zune 80 rocks
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Zune 80 works great and purchase was fast and easy. Tracking was right on and was delivered quickly.

well worth it
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The product got to me faster than expected and works great. I was a little worried when I got it, because the packaging looked a little bootleg, but I am completely satisfied with it. It works great and stores a lot. Definitely sign up for the marketplace, too. I definitely recommend this to anyone that wants a lot of storage in an MP3 player.

Bad Zune, Bad
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Everything went smoothly until I started syncing my library, and then it hung after only a few songs were loaded. I tried everything listed in the error log, and things only got worse. Customer support is what we’ve come to expect from Microsoft–which is to say–none at all. After messing around with it for 2 hours trying to get some music on it, I give up. I’m not a systems engineer and I shouldn’t have to be to get a stupid MP3 player to sync up with my music library. Microsoft should just stick to the other things they do badly.

Disappointed
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
The zune has some nice features but its lacking in the core components.

The screen is nice that it’s larger than the ipod but the battery life is poor. Compared to my 20gb Sony that takes a little over 3hrs. to charge and lasts a good 12 hours the Zune takes a little over 2hrs. to charge and lasts if i’m lucky about 6hrs and thats only playing mp3. If one one were to play lots of video they would see the zune would not last long at all. Very disappointing. There is no designated line out for home use like the sony has so its cranking up the headphones to get decent sound from your stereo. There is no tone controls,EQ,bass and treble so your stuck with flat sound. Which I happened to like a little bass boost for the headphones so i’m out of luck again. The touch control is a nice feature all you have to do is touch the pad and the backlight comes on. Wireless networking have not gotten there yet with the player but should be a nice feature. One other major disappointment is there is no support for XP64. I have to upgrade to vista 64 in order to get the player to work on my pc. How rude is that of microsoft not support its own products,even Apple will support XP64. All together this not such a great deal.

Zune es lo mejor!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
No hay mas que decir aparte que el Zune 80 es el mejor mp3 player! Comprate uno ahora!

The software ruins it
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
The device itself is pretty good but the Zune software is horrible. What did I expect from Microsoft?

great device
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
better than the iPod, for sure. now that i’m a zune pass subscriber, i won’t go back!

Zune Media Player
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I returned the item, not compatible with Vista. I would have kept it if it worked with my computer. Very nice.

Upgraded from 30
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Great update to the original. Changes are subtle but make the Zune experience better. Wireless sync is pretty awesome and so far its been working without a hitch.

Zune 80 Rocks
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I consider myself an average audiophile. I have always disliked the Ipods and the proprietary control they have over the universe. I also thought the navigation tools on the device were not as intuitive as I would have liked.

Much to my surprise and delight the Zune 80 not only delivers the music, in a clear and intuitive manner, it delivers the video in a screen size that is comfortably viewable and clear. Saving WMV video is simple with my Roxio Creator 10

I have built my Zune libraries on my computer and with my bedroom Altec, have automatic wireless updating. I also have no problem with drag and drop.

The Zune software has worked flawlessly for me and to say I am enjoying this product would be an understatement.

I recommend the silicone cover for falling asleep to music as it sticks perfectly to wherever it is set down. For travel I have a protected Incipio pedestal cover for airplane movie viewing, etc.

Brand name (Ipod) is tough to overcome, and sometimes you might wish Bill Gates to not always come out on top, but this is a killer product.

I am not passionate, but would still like to see a clock, EQ and sleep timer…….hopefully they are on the software drawing board.

Get this product, you won’t be disappointed. And I am picky

And Podcasts………simple and great.

A great Ipod alternative
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I was looking for a MP3 player to have all my music to carry in car and home and really wanted something different than the IPod, this was the best option I could find.

I love to have it with the Zune dock (with RC) because now it acts as my jukebox connected to my home theater. The software is responsive, with an incredible user interface with an acceptable footprint in my system resources. Now I use it as my primary Mp3 and video player.

I like to download the various podcasts and watch them on my TV (thanks to the dock) or waiting in the carwash.

The earphones are great, they keeped me from getting new ones and spend 50 more bucks.

There are more good things about the Zune, but to make the review short, let me tell you the only issues I have/had:

1.- I cannot sync videos directly: when trying, the software freezes. The error is due to the transcoder. I need to convert the videos to Zune supported formats using a third party software and then I can sync without problems. I hope this to be fixed in the next firmware.

2.- You can’t tag with the Zune software. I had a mess with my 3000 mp3’s. the same artist appears 3 to 5 times due to misspelling, One albums appears even 10 times and each “album” had 1 song only, etc… i had to use a third party app (MP3Tag) to batch update the tags, and that’s how I reorganized everything. The developers MUST include a tag editor powerful enough to manage thousands of audio files.

3.- I have not have success tagging videos, not even with third parties, and believe me, I have tons of them waiting to be categorized.

4.- Too many times you have to press a button to play a song in the device.

5.- I dislike the credit system the Zune marketplace uses.

Don’t take me wrong, I love my Zune and I’m waiting to see more features and accessories for it.

fantastic hardware, horrid software
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Over 400 reviews already written here so I will try to keep my brief. I am a web developer so I am fairly good with computers, software and gadgets… just keep that in mind. Here is my take on the Zune:

PROS:

1. beautiful – very slim and sexy piece of equipment and the red is a nice touch.

2. good headphones – these are ear in semi noise-cancelling headphones. They do their job quite well. The sound is clear, deep base and they look very nice and modern.

3. georgous screen – the huge screen definitely sets this apart from the ipod. When you fly a lot then having this monitor is a huge benefit. Solid display at a good size

4. quality sound – the sound is very good in all accoustic ranges.

5. FM Radio – I still listen to it. Hello NPR!

CONS:

SOFTWARE – This is the puzzling point. Here we have a company that rewrote the book on usability with windows software, office software, internet software and so forth. Yet they give you an application that, although its intuitive in many ways, it acts at times like it has a mind of its own. Drag and drop is not a simple feature. At times you need second party software to prepare the mp3s to be recognized as belonging to the same album/folder/artist.

Let me reiterate, software is Very frustrating and it is the biggest stepping stone to getting this piece of equipment. I personally would recommend purchasing your Zune from a place that you can return it within a couple of weeks and giving the software a serious test drive. Try its audio syncing, podcast feature, video transfer and so forth. Even for someone like me who is comfortable with applications, I am stunned at how severly limited the application is.

Zune also isn’t recognized as an external drive. Forget about using it to carry data from place to place. Hello, its 2008! Worst of all, you can’t use windows explorer to drag and drop and manage stuff on your zune hd. This is perhaps my BIGGEST complain. You have to go through their semi-archaic software to manage your music and at times when it syncs, it will screw things up on your zunes HD; files will not belong to the correct artist, some will get deleted cause they no longer are on your PCs HD.

No Equalizer – To this day I havent found anything on how to adjust the sound…

BOTTOM LINE:

Purchase this if you wanna give it a try. Its good but only buy it from a place that you can test drive it and return it. Spend LOTS of time initially learning the software. This is going to be the big challenge. Try every aspect of the application and see if you can live with it… C+ product. God I could have sworn that Microsoft had something to do with making good software?.. If Apple had FM and a big screen on their IPOD, they would have easily won my dollar.

problems right away
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I will need to request a replacement. The ZUNE will not play the music, it reds “Hook up to a computer”. The ZUNE was a gift for my son who is in the military, he doesn’t have access to a computer.? Not sure why is it now saying this after working for about 2 weeks. It is not convienant for him as he is in training right now. What to do???

Very nice but not perfect
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I purchased the Black Zune 80 v2 several weeks ago and use it daily. It was easy to set up and sync my media. I did have an initial problem connecting wirelessly to my home network but found the correction to my home wireless router (access point). I needed to disable the Quality of Service feature.

The connection to the pc was easy but a standard USB cable would be nice instead of a Zune specific cable.

Video screen is very nice I downloaded a couple of movie trailers to the zune and watched them and they looked great.

Initially I was skepticle of the software mainly because I don’t like having my hands tied to one specific method to add to my device. I have grown used to it now and it is easy to use. I would still have liked to be able to use the default windows media player or just explorer as an option of managing my media. I have just started setting up a few of the free podcasts and find that I enjoy that more than I thought I would. Very cool feature to have some new content every day.

The Zune navigation was fairly intuitive and I can move around easily.

The sound is very nice with the premium ear buds but when I swapped them for other pairs I own I noticed a big difference in the sound. I think it would be nice to have a built in equalizer to tweak the sound with.

I did have one bad experiance when riding my harley I had it connected to the auxillary input and within a few miles it became useless, to much vibration I guess. When I eventually stopped it was locked up tight. Luckily a search found the reset sequence (Hold the back button while pressing the “up” possition on the D-pad).

Overall I like it very much it is easy to use and has more than enough storage for me. I think if you looking for nice device to store large amounts of media this is a very fine player, but don’t buy it if you need to use it when it is being bounced around alot.

Fantastic Zune
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I love it. Compared to some of the other MP3 players on the market it is fantastic for ease of use and downloading music and video.

Not compatible with Windows Media Player!!!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Got this 80 GB Zune for my birthday and was really excited because I really wanted one because I don’t feel like taking my enormous CD collection with me everywhere. I had already backed up thousands of CDs I own into Windows Media Player. Come to find out that the Zune is not recognized by Windows Media Player and that I have to go back and individually back up every thing I have again on the Zune software. I don’t have a decade available to do this again. The Zune support number I called confirmed that is not compatible with Windows Media Player.

What’s even more ridiculous is that the few CDs I backed up into iTunes were automatically synced into my Zune. Why is an Apple product compatible with a Microsoft product, but not compatible with another Microsoft product? I wish that I had just used iTunes originally for backing up my CDs. Needless to say, I returned the Zune the day after my birthday for a refund. Complete let-down.

Update 6/30/08

As I stated before, I called the Zune information number and spoke with someone who stated that Windows Media Player is NOT recognized by the Zune. I was told directly from Zune tech support that I CANNOT obtain files from Windows Media Player. I literally have thousands of CDs backed up on my computer and I could not get a single one off of Windows Media Player to be recognized. I am stating this again because of the comments left for this review. Please feel free to leave as many negative responses as you wish to this review, but I was completely dissatisfied with the product for the price and the tech support. I give the product a one star because of these reasons.

Great, but a few minor issues
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
First up is the installation of the software: I went to the website that it told me to and the download was right there. I started the download and waited, on dial-up, about 6 hours. Then when I went to install, it stalled at 99%. So after searching the website I found another, larger download of the file. After another long download, this one worked. I just don’t understand why this one wasn’t on the main download page. After this pain it’s almost all good from here on out.

The software: Great. You can choose which folders to retreive the files from, whether or not you want them to auto-sync, and you can then remove the ones you don’t want in the list. If you choose to manually sync your files you just drag and drop the files you want over to the zune icon. This process may not be the ideal drag and drop that some want, but it works well. For the videos you can classify them by media type(tv, movie, etc.), and by genre(this doesn’t have an effect yet). You can even group episodes of a tv series together. From what I’ve tried I haven’t had anything taken off of my Zune just because it was not on my computer.

The Zune: Awesome. The interface is great and the pad is very responsive, if a bit over-responsive at times. I love the fact that you can have your own background; it just makes it so much more personal. The sound is very good, and so is the picture. Sure, it’s not the highest resolution, but it still looks good and you really don’t notice unless you’re extremely picky. The radio doesn’t quite pick up all of the signals around, but it picks up a fair amount. AM signals would be nice, but I don’t listen to it enough to really fuss about it not being there.

Some problems: The pad stopped picking up any directional input, but after letting the battery drain and recharging, it all worked again. Some files weren’t showing up on my device even though it showed the space being taken up, but somehow it all worked itself out.

Overall, the device is amazing and the software works well. I would like to give it a five star, but the rather minor issues force me to knock some points off, and since I can only do full stars, that leaves me with a 4 star

Waiting for it to blow up next!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I have never owned an ipod, or mp3 player. I read some reviews and talked to a few people and decided on the Zune, by Microsoft. Boy was that ever a mistake!

I mainly decided on the Zune, because I did not want to be strapped to just using itunes. I also wanted something with massive storage space and the 80 gig Zune filled the need for me. My Zune worked great for two weeks and then all heck broke loose.

It stopped syncing my music from my hard drive and from the Zune website. Massive synce problems, I mean massive. Then it crashed on me twice, dumping my extensive collection of music both times. I could never get my entire collection back onto my Zune. I couldn’t even get 1 song at a time to load.

The trouble shoot web pages did nothing for me and after reading the tech. support news forums I was amazed at the amount of problems that people were reporting. Especially right after buying their Zune. Can you say “class action law suit on the horizon?”

I called tech support and I don’t think the guy even knew what a Zune was. It sounded like he was asking me questions from a set of que cards. No help at all from those bozos. He finally told me that I had to send it in for repair. I was like “Dude, I just got this thing 2 weeks ago. It shouldn’t need any repair.” I told him that if he thought it needed repairing, that I should just be given a new one. No dice, and no help from the Zunnies.

My last attempt at syncing music from the Zune site resulted in a total melt-down of my Zune. I got another synce error, so I disconnected the Zune from my PC. Right after I did this, the screen went blank. Finally after some button pushing, a messege came on the screen telling me that I had to re-load the firm ware. This was the third crash mind you. Automatically knowing what to do after a crash now, I went and tried to re-install the firmware. Only this time it wouldn’t load. After 3 or 4 unsuccessful attempts at trying to re-load the firm ware I finally gave up and now I’m stuck with a $240.00 black brick that doesn’t do anything.

Whatever you do, don’t buy a Zune. Get anything but one of these. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go get my money back and buy myself an ipod. The only thing else that could happen with my Zune, is that it could blow up in my face. I’ve got it secured in a cooler with dry ice. Zune = BAD!

Love it!!!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Item as promissed. Fast e-mail & shipping. Well Packed. Honest seller. Will recommend. A+ Thanks!

Buy something else!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I purchased an 80Gig Zune in September 2008. I paid 239.00 here at Amazon, so I don’t know where they are getting the 500.00 price tag. Anyway, I owned it for two months, and was generally happy with it. The interface software is difficult to work with. You would think Microsft, the makers of Office, could come up with something more friendly than their Zuneware.

The hard drive froze up and failed completely after 2 months. It takes about 6 weeks to get it to the factory, get it fixed, and returned. This is lost warranty time.

I replaced it with a 120Gig Zune. The hard drive on this one failed within four hours of turning it on. I sent it back.

I’m done with Zune. Microsoft cannot make a reliable product or decent software for it.

Cool hardware device, wretched software.
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I’ve had the Zune 80 for a couple months now and my opinion of it is good, but with caveats: unless you have a new dual core processor computer with 3 or more GB of RAM, the Zune software will use 100% of your computer’s CPU and, run extremely slow and hang up any other application already open.

It’s the worst bloatware I think I’ve ever come across.

The only thing that’s prevented me from returning the Zune was unofficial hack software created by a Zune user, available after a Google search, that allows one to sync a Zune with Windows Media Player.

Microsoft should pay and thank that guy, whoever he is, because I’m sure that unofficial work-around has prevented many a return of the Zune.

The good points: it has fantastic sound quality, a beautiful glass screen, and is also built like a tank. The navigation is also great using the zunepad. I also bought the Zune dock, the new version, and it sounds great through my stereo system.

I do wish it had better book-marking, supported .aa (Audible books) files and expanded its video codec support. I mean, seriously, the free Xvid codec support was too hard? Come on Microsoft, it would have cost you nothing. Also, no .avi support? The Zune is a really, really good music player, but I find myself using my older Zen Vision M a lot more for videos, especially the great 16:9 output option to my HDTV, something the newer Zune doesn’t have over a four year old player. The Zune outputs video from component in 4:3 format. Good grief! What year is this, 2000?

I do have to say that whenever I have occasion to have to use the Zune software, even the 2.5 version update, I have a small inkling to what it likely feels like to be waterboarded. Now that I can use WMP 11, things are good.

Awesome Media Player
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
couldn’t be happier with the red zune 80 after i washed my poor zune 4 in the laundry. the software interface is only going to get better since today (hopefully) the zune software 3.0 update comes out, adding to the functionality of the zune hardware itself.

Finally a relief I don’t have to buy iPod
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Zune 80 GB Digital Media Player Black (2nd Generation)

The iPod folks are still getting ripped by Apple. Get one of these with wireless and FM capability. The controls are better than iPod classic as well.

GREAT MP3 BUT HAS BATTERY ISSUES
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
This Is a great MP3 Player. Easy navigation to be sure and fast response time. The only drawback is the poor battery life. Plan on spending more money for wall charger (it SUCKS) and a car charger or you will be without music in no time when you go out.

great
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
owned the first gen and was happy with it , decided to upgrade and love the new zune only drawback is slower downloading videos than first zune, would recomend to anyone interested in buying one

video quality good; setup/format frustrating w/ glitches
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I got this media player primarily because I wanted to play videos. The video quality is great, but there are a number of glitches and formatting stuff that I find frustrating:

1. For mp3s – The songs are not listed all at once, but are organized (whether you want it or not) into random folders. This makes it frustrating to play music. I wish the Zune software would allow it so that we could arrange the songs however we wanted, and not have to deal with pictures of the album covers showing up on screen. Like I said, I bought my Zune mainly for the video capability, so this isn’t as big a deal for me — I already have another mp3 player.

2. The video names sometimes get messed up whenever I connect to the Zune syncing software. For example, I will upload a TV show with the correct name, but the next time I connect to the Zune software, the name will somehow get mixed up and be tagged with the name of another tv show. So I end up having two tv shows with the same name, which gets confusing. And then I have to go back into the software and rename it. This is the most frustrating thing about the Zune, and something that the company REALLY needs to fix whenever they upgrade the software!

Just some other random things…you cannot upload AVI files to the Zune, you have to first convert it to WMV. That’s a bit annoying, because most of my files are AVI. But I hear most video players are like this.

Also, just as a general note — it’s irritating how we cannot directly download video files into the Zune, but have to sync them from different folders. This takes too much space because the video files remain on our computers. And if you delete them from the folder, it goes away on your Zune. Once again, I hear that most video players are like this, though. But I hope that manufacturers develop a way to directly download the video files.

Once again, the video quality is great, but there are a lot of little things that I find frustrating about the Zune. I think a lot of video players supposedly have the same issues, though, so the Zune is still a good buy.

not worth one cent!!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I bought the 80GB Zune after much research in Feb. 2008. It was nice and worked well for about four months, that was when the “premium” earbuds shorted out. I was so careful not to abuse the wires, but to no avail. Then in March 2009, I updated the Zune per the software’s request when I connected it to my computer. That evening when I disconnected it, I attempted to listen to some tunes and when I turned my Zune on it loaded as usual and then proceeded to erase all 2,000 songs I had. Then it showed an error screen. I got online to troubleshoot it and found nothing helpful. So, I called the number that I found and a foreign speaking person told me that because my Zune was one month past its warranty and even though I did NOTHING to provoke this abnormal event there was nothing they would do. Well, of course without me paying for it to be fixed. I explained that it was working fine before I installed their “update” and something caused it to crash. It didn’t matter. I have never written a product review before, but I feel totally passionate about this. PLEASE DON’T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I DID!!! I implore you not to buy ANY Zune product. I know I won’t!

Don’t hesitate
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I am very happy with my Zune 80. Feature for feature, it is equal to or better than the iPod for a whole lot less money. I have 309 CDs loaded and it isn’t 1/4 full. I loaded them in WMV 128k and honestly find the quality every bit as good as 256 mp3, but with 80GB you can load them in lossless.

4 stars is only because MS took out the equalizer to make room for other features.

The 80 GB Zune is good!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I own a 80GB Zune and wanted to give one to my wife for her birthday. She has been having lots of fun with it, doing various things. It is great for her needs.

Perhaps the only thing it lacks are some games to play on it, but I don’t consider that a serious drawback.

I recommend the 80 GB Zune to anyone considering a MP3 player.

A solid, well-designed high capacity MP3 player
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I already own an iRiver HP120, which I love. But it’s over 5 years old, and it’s getting a little tired. I really like the form factor of my iRiver (held vertically, not too small, not too big), and most newer players don’t look like it at all. I wanted something that WASN’T touch screen based, as I use my MP3 player a lot in the car and I don’t want to have to look at it in order to use it. I bought my wife a Cowon iAudio6 about a year ago, and it’s really sweet. The new iAudio7 is flash based and holds 16 GB, but it’s actually a little too small in size for my taste. I like the new Sonys, but their capacity is too low (even the newer 16 GB 800 series models). I have an enormous music collection, and I listen to it a lot. I kept eying the Zune, and went back and forth about 5 times before buying it. The things about it that appealed to me were: the form factor, the capacity, the interface, the build quality, the battery life. The things about it that prevented me from buying it right away were: the fact that it’s made by Microsoft, the fact that it’s completely non-customizable, the poor reviews of the Zune v1.0 software, the fact that it can’t act as a USB host, and mostly because you can’t access the Zune device without using the Zune software — and it’s locked down pretty tight.

I have the Zune now for a few days and my first impressions are as follows:

The Zune device is well-made. I really like the size and shape — it’s almost perfect. The screen is awesome. The interface is surprisingly good and is fast. I like the touch pad (squircle). The sound quality is very good. The wireless capability is actually pretty cool. I can sync my Zune over my 802.11g WLAN at home (supports WEP, WPA, WPA2, TKIP, AES) without connecting it to my PC. I wish it had equalization controls like the original Zune, and more tweaking options like my old iRiver.

The Zune software is better than I was expecting. It does have some strangeness to it, but it works fairly well. For me, it’s main shortcoming is that I can’t customize how it presents my music collection. You have limited sorting options as to how the contents are displayed. It’s not a show-stopper, but it’s worth mentioning. I haven’t played with the online aspects of sharing yet via the ’social’, but I will get to it in time. In order to participate in this stuff you will need a Windows Live account, although you are NOT obligated to share your Zune collection if you don’t want to.

So far, I am impressed with this little device, and I don’t think that I made a mistake buy buying one. It looks like it will last a long time, and I can only hope that future firmware and software updates will address some of my gripes. Overall, a very impressive second effort by Microsoft. I think they got it right this time.

Birthday gift for daughter.
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Ordered this for my daughter, she had wanted an ipod. The Zune has a radio and alot of other features. So far we are really pleased. The radio sounds great. I got the 80gb with the premium ear phones, they sound great. I’ve struggled downloading the software onto my system, but I believe the trouble is me and my computer, not Zune. We’ve only had it a couple of days. So far can’t complain!

Zune Opinion – 6 months in
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’ve had my Zune for about 6 months now, and it has fast become a valuable and entertaining part of my tech. I was previously attracted to the alternative the Zune gave to the iPod, as the items were previously pretty similar.

However, now that the Zune 3.0 software has been released, it’s versatility has increased dramatically. Things such as the Channels, which provide you with a list of songs each week that conform to a theme of your choosing. The Pics section, which provides suggestions for you based on your current listening habits, is a great way to explore new music. I’m not using the buy from FM (a feature which tells you what song and arist you are listening to on the radio, and gives you the option to buy it) or the Zune Marketplace (which allows you to buy songs over a wifi connection and instantly download them), but I can see how they would be useful to others.

But the killer app that compliments all these features is the Zune Pass, which for a monthly fee allows you to download as many songs as you like. This makes finding and trying new music interesting, fun and legal.

I find it amazing how much this device has changed since I bought it, both on the Zune hardware side, and the software side. If they continue to expand this versatility I think I will be owning my Zune for a long time to come.

I’d heartily recommend the Zune to anyone wanting to expand their music collection and expose themselves to new artists and styles. If that’s you, then the Zune is your device.

Great Music Player….until it breaks!
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I received this MP3 player as a gift from my brother and mom last Christmas and was overly thrilled! I wasn’t expecting to get it, ya know? It was on my wish list but I thought it was an unrealistic request. I loved this thing! It was cool to have all my music on it, at least until near the end where I got close to maxing it out. This, along with the firmware 3.0 software, or maybe my wall outlet, or possibly cheap hardware started my problems. First off, it started by acting really sluggish. I thought, well Microsoft just released another Zune so maybe they also released an update to fix the slower 2.5 firmware. It solved it for a while. It then crashed more often. Recharged the player from the bottom up. Does it again. Now, I can’t get tracks to play or anything. Wow! Not even to this Christmas and its dead! Its dead!!! Unbelievable! My brother got a 120GB Zune two weeks ago and died the next day. He traded it in to Best Buy for an Ipod Touch. He’s happy and I’m broken hearted. Two things my experience has taught me. Don’t buy any hardware from microsoft and if you do, get a warranty 2 years or better not from Microsoft but from a local store where you can trade this piece of garbage for something worthwhile like an Ipod! Or….go back to Cd players is all I can say. Update!!! It is still alive as of November 2! but I do not know how long. I’m thinking oh no, now I can’t replace this thing. I will admit, it must have a brain inside it because like herbie, it has a mind of its own.

great product
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I resisted buying an MP3 for a long time. the 2nd generation zune is my first. what made sense for me was having the zuneaccess subscription. if i had to go through the time and effort of transferring my cds, why bother. but with zune access i can upload just about my entire cd collection from zune, and expand my horizons for $15/month. not only that, but i get to listen to reissued, remastered versions of my old cds from zune. the radio player is also very good. the sound is clear, no static, and it’s picked up all the stations i know. i hear it beats the ipod, but i’ve never really bought into ipod anyway. $1/song seems like too much. and boo to their customer service, software and hardware. my boyfriends two ipods lay nonfunctional on his desk. recommended!!!!!

Great mp3 player
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I going to make this review short and simple. This is a great mp3 player. I have both the 160gp ipod and this zune. I would pick the zune over the ipod any day. The zune has a bigger screen and a raido. And for people who say the zune software sucks. well they must be the most retarted people on the fase of the earth. The zune’s software is easy to use. Well if you want a great mp3 player then get the zune.

Superior
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
So far, I’ve only had one problem with my Zune. Out of the box, it took several tries to get the syncing right, but as soon as I did, everything was perfect. The sound quality out of the Premium Earphones is awesome, you don’t lose the deep sounds as is the case with most earbuds. There is one problem with the sound, however. The Zune team left out an equalizer in favor of a cheaper player, so if this is an important feature for you, watch out for the Zune. The screen is glass and looks great despite the relatively low resolution. Videos and pictures on the screen are crisp and clear. Games are supported and some are pretty fun. The podcast support is simple, and so is the wireless stuff. Wireless sync is a really cool feature, though I don’t use it much. I also was skeptical about the Zune Pad, as I don’t like touch pads, but it is a really responsive and cool tool. Overall, it is a great player, far better than any iPod. I love mine.

great player, only minor complaints
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
UPDATE – Nov. 8 2008: I had to return my Zune twice. Once because there was dust accumulating on the inside of the screen. Once because the menu just froze while navigating and, after turning off, it never turned on again. Both times I received a “replacement” Zune and had to re-sync everything again. Before you read the review below consider the above. It is a good player but I cannot recommend something that I had to return twice. I cannot figure out how to change the stars but I would stick for 4 stars when it work but 0 stars for reliability.

When you take the Zune out of the box, you feel the steel and see the shine of a glass screen, and you know its going to be good. The video looks outstanding and is very crisp and clear. The screen gets dirty easy but is also easy to wipe off. The menu system is very easy to navigate and there is no leaning curve at all. The center button has a nice gliding feature, which is great if you have a lot of files to scroll through. The software is easy to use and files sync rather fast. I cannot comment on the social or sharing features as I have not used them. I was very close to giving this player five stars and would recommend it to anyone but I have to knock off a star for the following complaints. There is no equalizer or no way to tweak your sound. The software removed a file from my player that I removed from my PC. I selected the option where I sync file manually but it appears that made no difference. The player and the software do not have advanced options like being able to just copy files over on the PC and not have to deal with this “syncing” stuff. The specs boast of “Up to 5 hours” battery life for video. I charged my battery until the battery indicator was green, then turned it off and locked the buttons. I got on a plane and watched roughly 2.75 hours of video and listened to roughly 20 minutes of music and the battery was dead. I had similar results flying out, although closer to 3.5 hours of video. Granted, not too shabby for such a small device but I have to point out that my battery life so far does not equal the specs. In summary, this is a great player, especially for video.

Great device – only 1 thing missing.
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
The Zune 80 gb is a great device.

Pros: Clear big screen. LOT’S of storage capacity – haven’t even used 10 gb yet. User friendly interface. Nice size for carrying in my purse.

Cons: No built-in speaker. No way to group video files into folders for easier management.

I bought this so I could show off my family photos and video clips to others. The only problem is that I had to buy a small portable speaker to plug in so I could show off my videos without the viewer(s) having to use headphones. Sure would be nice to have a built-in speaker for that.

My husband also bought the Zune, and has downloaded tons of music videos. His big complaint is not being able to group the videos for easier file management. He has to scroll thru 100+ videos to find the one he wants to watch.

The Zune interface is easy to use, but needs to give more flexibility in grouping files for storage on the device. One great thing is, if Microsoft adds this feature to their software, any Zune user can download the update on their existing device, making it more versitile for long term use.

Overall, if the Zune had a built-in speaker, I wouldn’t even look at other devices to replace this one.

Need CD
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Getting the zune was great but you did not send the cd that should have come with it.. Can u please send.

p.o. box 61

Ludinigtion, Mich 49431

Brilllhart

Beware, Zune auto deletes your files.
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I wanted to love my Zune. I hated that you supposedly had to have an ipod to have all the newest features in the portable music realm. The Zune was supposed to change all that.

Sadly, the software that you must use, infuriatingly “auto-syncs” with you computer to add new music, but it also deletes any music that you have removed from your computer. So unless you plan on keeping 80gb of music on you PC, then don’t but this. If you like having your software do things with out your permission, then go ahead. But when you’ve loaded 50 cds on your Zune and then decide to make room on you PC’s hard drive for more, don’t be surprised when you plug in you Zune that it immediately(without your permission) deletes it all.

There are a few “workarounds” (that are actually shunned by the people over at the Zune community suprisingly), but you shouldn’t have to fix a brand new device, right? If Microsoft planned on fixing this, I’d say get one and be happy, but it appears as if they are sticking to their broken guns here.

Final Note:

If you plan on getting a Zune, know that it will “auto-delete” any music you delete off your hard drive. Most people don’t know this until they get one, so I though I’d warn a few and save the heartache.

great player.. bad software!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I Love the player but I hate the software

I think I would rather have i-tunes for software

I just wish the player had alternative software…

it is too bad.. the player is fantastic

I guess you can’t win them all

my previous player was a gigabeat…

it was a good player with buggy software..

guess who made it.. Toshiba… who also make the Zune

Zune 80
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I love the Zune, mostly because it is not an Ipod. It is easier to use than the reviews, and I have 1300 songs on it and haven’t spent $ YET! Some wmp songs sync some don,t , I Can,t figure out the formula yet. Some new CDs go right to the Zune, some old CDs won,t who knows. It’s a lot simpler than what you read, and it’s not an ipod.

Excellent sound, kills Ipod.

Better than a Creative Zen, but Microsoft could have done better!
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I’m not an Apple follower, so I’m comparing my recent Zune purchase with my previous player, a 40-gig Creative Zen Touch.

THE BAD: Have had my Zune for about a month, and already have a sticking button. In addition, the first time I tried to use the lock button, it snapped off. Went right back on, but the physical quality of the player seems pretty poor. I’d heard that Zune worked with Windows Media Player – it doesn’t. What was Microsoft thinking?? The software isn’t particularly great but it is fairly simple. Doesn’t always work as intended, though – you can create an entire playlist and mysteriously lose it. You can’t just turn it on and have music play immediately, like the Zen. You have to select “music”, then a playlist (sometimes – other times it just goes to the “quick list” – haven’t figured out why yet, but wish I could get it to do that all the time), then pick a song or “shuffle all”. It takes a few seconds longer to find a particular song than the Zen, and the more music you put on it, the longer it takes. There is no real instruction manual – you go online to set it up and get any/all information. It also doesn’t come with a wall charger – only a USB cable for charging.

THE GOOD: For 80 gigs, it seems like a decent value, even with the aforementioned problems. The color screen is very clear. The lack of many buttons makes it easy to use without having to look at it. It weighs less than the Zen, with twice as many gigs. I haven’t used it for anything but music yet, but with 80 gigs there’s a ton of space for movies, pictures, etc. Can’t imagine trying to watch a movie on that little screen, but at least it’s an option. Also haven’t tried sending music to other Zune users in the area, although it does tell you when another Zune is near enough to send files. Unlike the Zen, I haven’t had any problems with the Zune locking up when I run or otherwise jiggle it around.

Overall, since I didn’t want an ipod, I’ll be perfectly content with the Zune once I get that sticking button fixed.

AWESOME~
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Good – An Amazing mp3 player in every way, shuffle song list at top of list so you don’t have to go through a bunch of menus, no time between songs, good picture and video quality, Very nice and durable

Bad (Only a Minor Problem)- Cannot be used as a storage device like many mp3 devices and you must have the software downloaded to your computer to insert/remove music, won’t pop up under ‘My Computer’.

Awsome
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Its Nice I love the space and that they update the software for free unlike the ipod and i like the games as well as the podcasts and the wireless syncing and the 3.2 inch screen. its awsome

80 gb zune
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
There isn’t anything that I DON’T like about this zune. Completely satisfied with my purchase

Great Device… Horrible software….!!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I love the device itself.. Great feel and performance.. The capacity is almost limitless. The problem is with the Zune software. It is really horrible.. I am very tech savvy and almost never have problems figuring out software, but the Zune software almost made me cry. I read all the reviews before making my purchase, and I knew the software was bad, but I never really imagined it would be as bad as it is!!

You may wonder why I gave it 4 stars. The answer is that the device is simply too great. Once you move beyond the software issues and load up the device with your music, you don’t really need to worry too much about the software. Microsoft will probably release a better software at some point in the future.

Can Delete
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I have owned this product for 6 months and have had no issues….I just wnted to point out that you can delete ong off the zune effectly by using the ’stupid’ rating system. When you rate a song with a broken heart on the zune, the next time you sync your zune the song will be removed.

TOTALLY AWESOME!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The Zune 80 is my first PMP (Personal Media Player) ever, and I must say that I think that it is AMAZING. All of my friends have mp3 players (mostly Ipods), but I never really liked them. I just thought that the screens were too small, and I really wanted something that would have great video playback. All of the Ipods (except for the Apple iPod touch 32 GB with Software Upgrade) have small screens in my opinion, especially the Apple iPod classic 80 GB Silver (6th Generation), with it’s huge amount of memory. I really didn’t warm up to the idea of watching a two hour movie on the Ipod Classic’s small 2.5 inch display. So I waited until I found something better than an Ipod. And I did.

A friend of mine bought the 1st gen Zune (Zune 30 GB Digital Media Player (Black)), and I loved the sceen size and the user interface, but I wanted more memory. Then the Zune 80 was released last November, and I fell in love.

Here’s why:

- The Zune 80’s GLASS (!!!) screen is 3.2 inches. That’s almost twice the size of the Ipod Classic’s!

- The Zune 80 has a nice, matte metal finished case back, instead of the Ipod’s freaking, scratch-prone chrome.

- The Zune 80 has a really cool, wi-fi sharing feature that allows you to send songs, photos, videos, and podcasts to other, nearby Zunesters.

- The Zune 80 can hold up to 20,000 songs, 25,000 photos, and 250 HOURS OF VIDEO!!!!

- The Zune 80 has the new Zune Pad, which is similar to the Ipod’s Cick Wheel, but alot easier to use (in my opinion, anyway).

- The Zune 80’s big sceen is glass instead of plastic, making it really scratch resistant.

- The Zune 80 is able to sync wirelessly with your PC.

- The Zune 80 can play videos, photos, and music through your XBox 360 using your home wi-fi network.

- The Zune 80 has an FM radio (unlike any of the ipods), that, with select channels, will display the call numbers, name of the channel, name of the artist, and the name of the song!

- The Zune 80 has an awesome user interface that is very attractive and easy to use and understand.

- The Zune 80’s design is elegant, sexy, and feels great in the hand.

- The Zune 80 comes with the Zune Premium Headphones v2, which are freaking AWESOME, with fantastic sound quality and great fit in your ears.

- The Zune 80 sells for the same price as the Ipod Classic ($149), so if you have saved up to buy an Ipod Classic, but decided you wanted the Zune 80 instead, then it’s no extra money out of you pocket!

So, I bought my Zune about a month ago from Amazon, and I haven’t had any problems with it. A few of my friends are even thinking about jumping off the Ipod bandwagon and buying one for themselves!

So, if you want a high-capacity mp3 player with amazing video playback and some out of the ordinary features, then go for the Zune 80. Get off the bandwagon!

Here are some accessories that I found that work well with the Zune 80:

- Insten – Retractable Audio Video Cable for Apple iPod Photo, iPod Video, iPod U2 Special Edition, Microsoft Zune by Eforcity

- Eforcity USB Travel Charger Adapter for Palm (PalmOne) m500, i705, Tungsten T, W, C, Zire, Zire 71, Treo 600, 650, HP iPAQ 3100, h5555, Jornada 500 series, Sony Clie NX70 /SL10 /N or S series Sony Clie 500 /600 /700 series, Toshiba e310 /e755 /Handsprin…

- iLive IBR2807DPBLK iPod Docking System/Boombox with Speakers, AM/FM Radio in Black This works well with the Zune 80 because it has an audio line-in jack, and the Zune 80 fits perfectly in the Ipod cradle, even though it will not charge it. The iLive comes in severral colors, too: pink, blue, green, white. You can also find them in almost any K-Mart store. To be able to use this with your Zune 80 you will also need: Scosche IU3.5RC 3.5mm Retractable Cable

- Monster Wireless Fm Transmitter

- Premium White Universal USB Car (Vehicle) Charger Adaptor [w/ LED power indicator] for Apple iPod Shuffle iPod/Zune and Microsoft Zune

- Zune Leather Case 80 GB

UPDATE:

Well, the Zune 3.0 update came out last month. And it is GREAT!!! The software is pretty much the same, but the new features added to both the new AND the Zunes are awesome!

- GAMES: Now even though the games that come with the 3.0 update (Texas hold ‘em and Hexic) aren’t that great, it IS promising, and Microsoft has said that they will release more. If they are free is another matter. Keep your fingers crossed!

- TAG SONGS ON FM: This is a really great feature. Unfortunatly, I can’t get it to work lol.

- AUDIOBOOKS: Very exciting!

- WI-FI MUSIC STORE: This is the best new feature! Really simple to use and REALLY fast. Only downside is the album art is low quality. I didn’t notice a difference in audio, thank God.

Shame On You Microsoft!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
the zune comes without an ac adapter to charge it, and witout a software cd to use it. i had to spend an extra $30 dollars for an ac adapter that hasn’t arrived yet. the zune’s battery is completely flat so i don’t know for sure if it works at all. even if it was i cant use it because there is no software cd. if you go to the zune site,and download the 41mb setup file[i have dial up so it took me 4 hours]. its only a setup file to download the whole software package from microsoft. that software package is A WHOPPING 188mbs! i cant download that with dialup! it would take me 26 hours if IE6 didnt crash every two minutes. what am i supposed to do now! its like i threw away $259 dollars. im taking this matter to consumer complaints and maybe my attorney. its not right! what about the ppl like me who only have dialup, how are we supposed to download 188mb’s

The Good far outweighs the Bad…
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I have had my Zune 80gb for 3 weeks now and still love it. It isn’t perfect, but no device is.

THE GOOD: (that I use)

–big screen with great resolution

–radio

–great sound

–the premium earphones are very nice quality

–lots of space

–easy navigation to different areas

–durable

–the podcasts available on the Zune site are awesome

–the A/V cord (sold separately) lets you watch videos and podcasts, show pictures on your TV screen (this is great because I’m a teacher and I can show slideshows of my kids on the classroom TV or show my kids podcasts from PBS’s NATURE, the Discovery Channel, etc)

THE BAD: (I’ve learned through trial and error)

–your computer must be newer–or have the XP version newer than 2005

–if the music and videos aren’t saved on your hard drive, the Zune will delete them during the next sync

–you must buy points to purchase songs, etc from the marketplace

–an AC adaptor must by bought separately (be sure to buy the correct one with the correct Zune, either version 1 or 2, depending on whether you have the 30gb or the 80gb, respectively)

Overall, I’m very pleased, and the few “bads” are things I have been able to adapt to. I needed a new laptop anyway, so I bought one and the Zune software has been very easy to use. I also bought and downloaded the Cucusoft conversion software, which makes your movies compatible to the Zune. I currently have 340 CDs worth of music, 30 movies, and several TV episodes on my Zune. I’ll never be bored again!

BTW, I highly recommend buying the “cable pack” which runs about $40 and the pack that comes only with the car adaptor and AC adaptor. I found that at Best Buy for $29. The big fancy packs with the docks seem overpriced for the quality you’re getting.

zunes much better than ipod
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
love my zune i had a 30gb got it stolen out off my car so i went out and got a 80gb love it a freind has ipod a zune is much better than the ipod and the car adapter is better than enything ipod sells its worth the money i take it every were i go cell phone and my zune dont leave home with out it

I received this product broken
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
This Zune never worked! I’m very desapointed with Microsoft and Amazon.

I’m still trying to receive my money back in cash instead of gift card!!!

By far the best media player on the market right now
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I have made many mistakes when it has came to MP3 players in the past. My first MP3 player was a samsung device that I picked up from Best Buy. I took it back, because I couldn’t get it to work. The second device that I recived was an ipod Mini. I really liked the device, but I was pressed for money at the time, and I sold it. The next thing I bought was an ipod nano, and I actually used that for two years until it died on me. I decided to then go with just purchasing a new MP3 player all together, and I decided to go with the Zune30. From the very beginning, I loved everything about my Zune30. I thought the “original software” was excellent, and I didn’t want any other device. The next thing that happened was, Microsoft updated their software, and I got so confused! I hated everything about the new software, and didn’t want anything to do with the zune. It sat on my desk collecting dust for months, until I sold it.

I then decided to go with an ipod classic. While I knew the Zune was a better device in general; I just couldn’t stand using the software, and I knew that I wouldn’t have much problem with the new ipod. I was completely wrong! The ipod classic was good for about the first 3 days from purchase, after that I had nothing but problems. The device froze up on me 3 times. The click wheel never responded on first touch, I had to rotatate my thumb around the click wheel about 5 times before the thing would even recognize it. Also the device was rediculous slow, and lagged alot! After only having the device for 10 days, I decided to send it back to Amazon and get a refund. Thank god for 30 day policies!

A few days pass, and I was just furious! I didn’t want another Zune, because the software was terrible. I lost faith in ipod’s in general. I was just not a happy camper. While I was on my computer, I tried to play with the Zune software one more time before I gave up. When I opened it, their was a prompt to update it again (2.5). I said, “Oh Great! Another update to make it worse than it already is.” After the update, I played around with it some more, and after a little organization, the software became one of the easiest things to use! I don’t know what Microsoft did, but a huge overhaul took place!

After getting used to the software, I decided to go out and purchase a Zune80, after getting my refund from my ipod. I am ever so happy that I did! This device is excellent, and blows all of it’s competition out of the water. The device itself is just a masterpiece. The looks, the feel, the overall design of the Zune80 is just phenominal.

The Pros:

+Zune Pad: What an excellent feature. So much better than the click wheel, and it responds every single time!

+Radio: Alot of people think this feature is not worth the purchase, but I actually listen to my radio alot! I don’t have one in my house so this will do just fine!

+Large Font: I think the large font on both the device, and in the software is a great feature for people with bad eyes like me.

+Screen: The screen is huge! 3.2 inches doesn’t sound like alot, but compared to the ipods 2.5 it’s pretty big! By far the biggest bang for your buck (screen wise)

+ Aluminum Back: I am so happy that the back of the zune is not polished! It doesn’t attract fingerprints and so far no major scratches spotted.

+ Pretty Much Scratch Resistent: This Zune seems like it can’t scratch easy. The materials that it is made out of pretty much seems durable, and very hard to cause any major damage.

+ Glass Screen: the screen itself looks so much better than the old plastic screen on the Zune30. Everything looks nice and crisp.

+ Premium Earbuds: The earbuds that they include with the Zune are amazing! The sound quality is excellent, and they are extremely comfotable and sit securly in your ears.

+ Wi-fi: Currently the wireless on the Zune is pretty limited. With only song transfering to other zunes, and wireless sync, there is a great chance that you won’t use it as much. I am pretty sure in the future Microsoft will have a better use for the wifi such as Web browsing. But Nevertheless it’s still a great feature to have regardless.

Cons:

-No Clock: Yes, it is that important. Personally I would like to know what time it is, as I am listening to my music. I like to walk outside alot, and I have to have my Cell phone with me to know what time it is. This feature is more useful than you think. A firmware upgrade could easily fix this problem.

-Can’t add seperate album art for singles: It’s not a huge deal, but most singles released from albums have seperate album art. With my ipod you could actually add album art to each song, which I really liked. It’s not a huge issue, but it would be nice to do this.

-No Equalizer: Some songs do sound louder than others. And it would be nice to have an equalizer on the device to fix that.

- Hold Switch: The hold switch on the top of the device is a bit flimsy, and it seems that it could break off easy. I use the hold alot because it saves the battery, and it keeps me from accidently changing the content I am listening to.

-Battery Life: The Zune’s battery life is not as good as many of it’s competitors. The plus side is that it charges pretty quickly though.

-Wifi Sync is extremely slow: While wifi sync is a very good idea, it goes extremely slow! I transferred one ablum (about 12 tracks) wirelessly, and it took about 7 minutes. I thought that was pretty bad, considering the fact the regular sync is so fast. It’s quite dissapointing actually.

While any device has it’s pros and cons I can totally say that the Zune is on it’s way to major success. No one can really take the MP3 market away from apple yet, being that the ipod has basically become the standard in alot of households. It is going to take some work ethic and major time to make the zune as successful as an ipod, but if microsoft continues in this direction they will have a huge stand in the MP3 market very soon. Great Device!

5/5 Stars

awesome
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
This is really an awesome and solid piece of technology. I really love it better than my iPod. But the software is a little confusing and not as user friendly as iTunes. Because of the software I give this one 4 stars. Also there arent as much in the way of third party extras out there, ie car adapters, skins, etc. There are a few but not many to choose from

Great sound, useable features
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I use third party earbuds with both the Zune and an iPod Touch, and even without the equalizer, the sound is so much better on the Zune. Even the songs that Zune software found from my iTunes collection sound better on my Zune! The only advantage I notice in the iPod is more resolution for pics/videos, however I use the device more for songs than video files. I find myself using my Zune more than my iPod Touch…even with the touchscreen, the iPod now just seems overpriced.

There are reviews that claim the Zune has abysmal battery life…it does if you do not shut it off completely (pressing the play/pause button puts the device in “sleep mode” using some power when not in use). Hold the back button and down on the touch pad for a few seconds to shut off all power and preserve battery life. Even after a cold start up, the Zune powers up faster than my iPod touch.

Great product!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I am not a newbie, however I am not an iPod user either. I’ve owned several different MP3 players, from a cheap 1GB generic player to a Creative Labs Zen Vision M (30GB). The Zen now belongs to my 11-year old and she loves it. This Zune is by far the best device I’ve had. Yes, it has its minor drawbacks – an EQ would’ve been nice, lack of compatibility with WMP11 (which I know for a fact was a political decision because of EU), however the pros far outweigh the odds, IMHO. The nice size screen, the intuitive interface, the zune pad with the touch buttons (that alone is worth the upgrade from Zen’s impossibly sensitive scroll pad!), the ability to see which songs are going to be played next in Shuffle mode. The list goes on and on. The home dock, the travel pack and the armband holder are just a nice plus to get at the same time. All come in very handy and are very well made.

I am not proclaiming that the Zune will magically make the iPod disappear… not do I think it should. I think there’s room for both. Zoom Market Place or iTunes? Who cares? If it serves the purpose of the device owner, then everyone should be happy with their choice and let the other consumers enjoy what they like.

Tough little machine
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
So I’m not going to go into the grueling details here because there are 312 other reviews and most of them probably did so already. Instead, I’ll give you the quick and easy version.

I had another MP3 player based on the older removable flash storage technology, and I thought it was time to upgrade. I wanted something with enough storage to hold movies and photos and music because I frequently take trans-Pacific flights for work and get super-bored.

I considered the iPod so I began talking to all my co-workers, but so many had problems with theirs including easily-scratched screens, drive failures after fairly minor mishaps, and not one person showed any fondness for iTunes.

So my wife got me the Zune 80 as a present. I’ve used it now for 4 month and here’s my take on it:

The GOOD: Big storage, gigantic screen, wifi for syncing and sending music to other users, the Zune-pad is awesome (works like a clickable mousepad), and the Zune marketplace is nice. It’s tough enough too… before I got an arm band, I went running on a treadmill and accidentally pulled the Zune off the shelf when I hit the earphone cord with my hand. It was in a leather case at the time but I thought, that’s it, I’ve destroyed it… but nope! It pauses when the earphone jack is pulled out, so I hit play and it went right on trucking. The Zune will soon have XNA-based games available for it. The glass screen is HUGE compared to the iPod classic, and the list goes on.

The BAD: Accessories are only starting to trickle out in any number. Unlike the iPod, which has been out for years now, the Zune 80 doesn’t have 30 docks, 45 arm bands and 172,000 other accessories. But it’s getting there. There’s no equalizer but the music is more high-fidelity than the iPod plays.

The UGLY: Like the Model T, you can get the Zune 80 in any color you want… as long as it’s black. Yes, there’s a red one from Valentine’s day, but they’re rare and that’s that. More colors soon? Maybe.

Bottom line: I’m really, really pleased with this device. Two coworkers have replaced their iPods with the Zune 80 (and I send them my music they’d never listen to, like Lamb of God and Megadeth LOL!). Thinking of getting the Zune 8 for my wife. It’s smaller and flash-based, but just as user-friendly.

Zune is pretty good.
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I like the sound quality of my Zune. It is easy to operate and get started using- that is after you spend an eternity charging it for the first time. It took me 4 1/2 hours to charge it and you can’t do a thing with it until it is finished. That is my only complaint with my Zune that its’ charge runs down very quickly-even when you are not using it-and it takes a long time to charge it from the USB port on your PC. However, for my first venture into the MP3 world, I will say it was relatively easy.

My best friend
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I absolutely love my zune. Once I figured out how to manage the various programs, I put everything I could on it. I carry it everywhere and proudly use it to show off my pictures. Best of all, are the playlists. I can listen to hours of my favorite music based on how I categorized them.

good stuff
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
bought the zune 80 way back in november… thing works great, use it mostly while driving with the $80 car adapter which works real well. the software is a bit of a pain for organizing the music, i don’t know why they didn’t use the windows media player setup for that. sound quality is good, the headphones are nice, videos work well. the other reviews are much better but i’ve had no problems with the zune80 itself.

Broken screen not covered under warranty
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
My son purchased an 80 GB Zune a little over 2 months ago. He treats the thing like it is a baby, but the screen cracked for no apparent reason.It was never dropped and never hit. Only the internal screen is cracked. There is no damage to the outer screen or to anything on the outside of the Zune. Microsoft adamently does not cover the screen for ANY reason. We even filed a complaint with the BBB with no good response from Microsoft.

Brilliant
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
ipods reign of terror is over.

Pros: This thing is the definition of user friendly and the way it remembers where you where looking at your lists last is incredibly convenient.

Cons: Some people say the Zune software is a hassle. I say, “Those who are resistant to change are destined to parish.”

Its different, but hey, change is good. Get over it.

Other thoughts:

I had D/L’d my operating system (XP) from a torrent and it worked fine for about a year. Then I got my Zune and it wouldn’t let me install the Zune software. I almost cried. It’s like Microsoft beat me once again. So I bought the software and upgraded to vista. Everything works great now and I don’t have to worry about Microsoft shutting me down for using a “shared” OS.

In conclusion, this is a BAMF device and I would suggest it for anyone.

Love and peace.

Great improvements.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is my 2nd Zune, pleased with both, but the 80 is smaller and much classier than the 30. I read the reviews before purchasing and found none of the problems I read about. I have to admit that I haven’t done much with video, and probably won’t.

A very good, high-capacity alternative to an iPod
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’ve had my Zune 80 since launch, and I’ve finally gotten around to actual reviewing it.

It’s a cheaper alternative that benefits from a lot of third-party support, probably due to Microsoft’s high-profile reputation in consumer electronics. The screen is very nice and very large, and mine came with no bad pixels or anything like that. For me, the Zune pad is a welcome alternative to the iPod scrolling pad. It also comes with a tuner and wireless Zune-to-Zune functions (though I haven’t made much use of them).

The negatives? Well, the software can be difficult to use, especially if you have to reformat your PC, though I’ve yet to run into a MP3 player that actual handles Album Art well. Fortunately, unlike the iPod, there are alternatives to the Zune Software.

All in all, it’s a great media player, very portable and with excellent capacity. The software leaves a lot to be desired, but it’s not the constant headache that a lot of people (myself included) have with iTunes–however, the actual Zune OS is a pleasure to use and very straightforward and cosmetically appealing. Definitely worth a buy, if you don’t want to pay a fortune for a similar iPod.

great device
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
this product has no cons it is a great device for only $250 or so and even if you have an ipod (and dont like the zune which you wont) the zune marektplace has a subcription service and you can find an online converter for protected music and put your zune music in itunes. i highly recommend getting this zune its great

No EQ! No Bass or Treble Controls! What were they thinking!?!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
The title of my review says it all. Microsoft insults anybody who has an ear by just removing all tone controls from its music player. Unbelievable. Somebody should get fired for making that brilliant decision. Basically you have to listen to all your music flat if you buy this piece of @#$!. You have no power to adjust the sound of anything. Not enough bass? Tough. Want to boost the high end? Nope…no can do. AVOID this unless you have absolutely no ability to discern between frequencies. This product actually made my own music collection dull to me.

awesome
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’ve owned 4 other mp3 players, and this mp3 player is the best out of them all. The controls are easy to use, the sound quality is really good, and the screen is amazing for viewing pictures&videos. It’s a good alternative if you don’t want an ipod, but its pretty much the same as an ipod classic besides a few small things. However, i’ve found that the wireless feature is basically useless. I keep mine off all the time. I’ve never run into anyone that has a Zune, so I’ve never used the wireless sharing feature. (I live basically in the middle of nowhere though, so this might be different if you live in a city or somewhere more populated.)

audio books & sources
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
My Zen died last week just as I was in the middle of an audio book! I use my mp3 player all day while I work (I work with my hands and books help keep me focused) and as a sleep aid, so I was in a bit of a hurry to get another one. My Zen was great and I would have just ordered another while the old one is being repaired, but it’s on back order, so I figured I’d give the Zune a try – especially since it has so much more memory. If you listen to books, as well as, music there are some significant differences. The Zune cannot download from Audible.com, or from the library, etc – hence, I have about 30 books that cannot be put into the Zune – frustrating. Also, you cannot delete on the device itself – which, with books is a good way of keeping your place or just removing a track on a cd you don’t like when it pops up.

The Zune has a better key pad – much better! and is lighter and smaller. It’s also easier to navigate.

but – the Zen had a clock, a sleep timer, more access, well – just a lot more options.

If I only listened to music – I might prefer the Zune, but I really do so much more with the device that I would have to say the Zen fit my life style way better.

If my Zen cannot be repaired I’m buying a new one as soon as they are off back order! And I’ll keep the Zune as a spare for Zen emergencies.

ps – if you’re wondering if my Zen died because of some defect – I had it for almost 2 years and dropped it about 100 times and used it for 8 hours a day 7 days a week – so, I really think I got more than my money’s worth.

Great equipment, less than stellar software
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Zune hardware is so superior to iPod classic. I’ve had an iPod for the last 4 years, but this thing is way better. Wireless syncing, great interface and much more. Unfortunately, Microsoft hasn’t done very well with the Zune software. If you don’t sync much, it’s the perfect product.

Waste of money and I only paid $199!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I bought a Zune for myself a year ago for my birthday. I was hoping it would be a product I could grow into over the next few years, but it in fact only looks nice and is really very poorly made and glitchy. I have had my Zune for less than a year and it has crashed several times. One crash required clearing the memory, reinstalling the software and then reloading 7GB of media to the player–one album at a time. Then it crashed again a month and a half later and has been completely unresponsive ever since. It is a worthless piece of…rotten chicken. I have had to call customer support several times, they are average at best. Once the length of you call exceeds their time limit/quota they get very rude and start cutting you off when you ask for clarification. I was told if I wanted my device repaired it would cost me $159 since my year warentee was up as of the end of May (supposedly 1 week before calling in, very convenient). The operator repeatedly asked me if I had my receipt and when I bought the device, when I told him I thought I had it and that I bought it around August not May, he told me I’d need to scan the receipt & email it to prove it, and fill out the repair request order on line. No, problem…except that I cannot get into the Repair Order Request on the website. I simply get directed into a never ending circle of being told to login and register (which I did MONTHS ago#, and once I login and try to register or go to the repair order request form, I am given the same screen telling me to login and register. After all the problems I have had #in less than a year of use!!!!#, I’m starting to think that Microsoft knows what a lame product the Zune is and that they are hoping to discourage me from sending it in under warentee #no way I’d pay $159 to fix this pile of doggie-doo). And I must confess I have had thoughts of crushing this POS in many little pieces with a hammer many times since May. Had I known about all the problems associated with Zunes, I never would have wasted my hard earned money on on such a poor product. DONT BUY A ZUNE!!!

zune 80gb 2nd gen
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
great product!!!! surpasses all ipods with its user friendly and cool design. not to mention its breakthrough features–such as sharing music wirelessly with any other zune. got it all. get it.

zune vs ipod
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
my first player was a 30GB ipod. i’ve had the zune 80GB for a couple months now,

key contrasts between the two, for me anyway…

1. screen size – check out the specs on websites and user forums (there are TONS out there). you’ll find that while the zune is larger, the resolution is the same as ipod. -but it’s still a bonus for me.

2. FM radio – not ipod. i’ve played around with it a bit on the zune…i’ve found decent reception on about 3 stations. -i don’t really need a radio…

3. easy-to-use interface – very basic, very user-friendly; menu options are minimal. to add, something i’m still getting used to is the zune is very “no frills” in comparison to the ipod. -i made full-use of the calendar, address book, games and alarm clock with the ipod. note the zune is strictly music…it is an mp3 player after all, right?

4. formats – while i haven’t had a chance to test them all out, the zune accepts wma, mp3, mp4, avi, and more. ipod is rather limited in this area.

5. software – i became familiar with itunes with ease, but i find zune’s to be a bit easier to navigate.

6. wireless syncing – NEAT i can sync my stuff with my laptop, but it’s slower…still a nice feature though. i have not yet been able to test out the music/ photo swapping, since i don’t know anyone with a zune…

overall, i’m happy with my purchase and would recommend this product.

A Fun Player With Some Baggage
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Early this year, I sold my Creative Zen Vision:M 60 GB player to my brother for some quick cash. After a few months, I was ready to jump back into the MP3 player market. I needed:

1. Anything but Ipod. Itunes won’t run on my PC for some reason and I’m not a big fan to begin with.

2. A Hard-Drive based player which had the capacity to hold my 40 GB+ collection.

3. Good Sound. I’m not a hardcore Audiophile, but I expect good sound quality to come from my player, effected only by the quality of my headphones.

So with those 3 criteria in hand, I began to search the market, and sadly the market is fairly slim for what I need. Creative looks like it’s getting out of the market, and other attractive options are older, hard to find and/or prohibitively expensive.

All of this brought me to the Zune 2nd Generation. A sleek, sexy 80 GB hard-drive based player for under 250 dollars? What’s the catch?

A couple of catches, as it turns out. To be as succinct as possible:

1. SYNC OR “FAIL”

The Zune syncs itself with a designated music folder on your PC hard drive. For Ipod veterans, this is nothing new. For a former Creative user, this was a bit tough to swallow. I was used to dragging and dropping files, and treating my MP3 player as an extra hard drive. With the Zune, I can’t get into the player’s hard drive and tinker around without going through my PC software first. I have over 40 GB of music on an 80 gb PC hard drive. Keeping the 800-pound gorilla of my collection on my hard drive eating up space wasn’t what I had signed up for in getting the Zune. I wanted to transfer the music onto the Zune and delete it off my PC. I tried this a few times, but got tired of connecting the Zune and having the software begin to arbitrarily delete albums from the player to sync it. Microsoft employees on the Zune.net forums say you can get around this by clicking the “forget this device” button in the Zune program, but I tried this a couple of times only to have it work for a couple of sessions, then start to yank albums off once again. It felt like a stopgap measure and not a true solution because the Zune was designed to sync with your hard drive. Period. I had to cave in and buy an external hard drive just to hold my music collection and appease the Zune software. No more random deletions! Yay?

2. “WE SUPPORT LOSSLESS!” UHH, NO, YOU DON’T…

If by “support”, you mean the Zune software can rip a CD to WMA lossless format, then yes you “support” it. But supporting a format doesn’t mean you convert a WMA Lossless file down to a dinky 192 kbps (or below, I’m not sure how low it goes) file before putting it onto the Zune player AND NOT TELLING THE USER WHAT YOU ARE DOING. I was thrilled to spend an evening and rip all of my Elvis Presley CDs to lossless format and put them on my Zune. It was several days later while listening to some of this music that I realized it just didn’t sound right. A little flat. Sure enough, checking the file size of the original Lossless file and comparing it with the file on the Zune…”significant shrinkage!”, as George Costanza would say. The best you are going to with the Zune compression-wise is WMA variable bit rate, or MP3 320 Kbps. Yep, it’s all “lossy”. Not the end of the world, but it felt a bit deceitful to go back and read FAQs with the Zune people saying “yes, we support WMA Lossless audio!” I also got a chuckle out of reviews here raving about how great the Lossless stuff sounds on their Zunes, but I digress…

3. NO EQ

Nothing clever about that title. I didn’t try the first generation Zune, but this one does not have an equalization option on the player. With my Creative Zen players, I always tinkered around and brought the bass up a bit and lowered the middle ranges to keep the sound from washing out. With the Zune, what you hear is what you get. It sounds ok, but there tends to be a sharpness in the middle to upper ranges of most songs that has nothing to do with my headphones. The bass is present, though a little on the weak side for my tastes. I’m not a guy who wants the bass blasting down my neighbor’s wall, but I like it nice and “in the pocket” as some musicians say. With a lot of my music, the bass is there, it just needs to be tweaked just a notch or two up, and the sharper high ranges (think a rock lead guitar) need to be softened up a notch or two. Again, nothing earth-shattering, but when you can’t really fix it, it can bug you.

That’s the bad stuff for me.

What’s good about the Zune? I love the wide screen and the sleek design of the thing. You wouldn’t think an 80 GB drive would be so compact. I had the small pleasure of showing my new red Zune to a friend who had just purchased an 80 GB Ipod classic and seeing a bit of envy in his face. He “liked the red” as he put it. The central touchpad feels good and it’s easy to zip through your CD collection. Sound quality is overall decent, even with the aforementioned caveats. I would just recommend ripping at the highest possible quality to avoid some of the more avoidable sound issues. Get a decent pair of headphones. The in-ear buds that come with the player are rock solid as freebies, but I only use in-ear stuff when I’m on the go, as I generally find them all to be somewhat lacking compared to the over-ear stuff.

The software does an admirable job of automatically finding the Meta data (cover art) for most of my CDs, even some fairly obscure work. Out of 550 CDs, only a half dozen or so are without covers. It’s a simple pleasure to scroll through the entire library on my player and see all the covers there.

Battery life seems to be decent. I haven’t used the Zune for a ton of videos yet, but strictly as a music player, I get at least 6 hours of battery life. It holds a charge very well 2 months into owning it. The Zune doesn’t come with a power adapter so you have to charge it through the PC USB cable. That may or may not be a problem for some.

So overall, I have some significant quibbles with the player as a whole, but I do admit to being somewhat finicky about some things other people may write off as small potatoes. I’m an archivist, I want my body of music together on one machine, and I want it to sound good. With some trial and error, I have all but achieved that with the Zune. That’s a good thing. I think the Zune is still a work in progress, and it’s decent, but I’d like to see Microsoft not get away from the basic nut and bolt stuff that people want: Equalization, customization, sound quality. These things are important to music fans.

7/10 3.5 Stars

Zune 80 Gig
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
My wife bought me the 80gig Zune for Fathers Day. I had told her I wanted one after playing with the Zune software, which can be downloaded at Microsoft’s website for free, for a couple of months and after reading reviews on Amazon. The only other player I have owned up to this point was a 3rd Generation 30 gig Ipod. In my opinion, the Zune blows the Ipod out of the water.

I found the Zune software to be intuitive and simplistic. When the software was originally loaded and run the first time it synced with my Itunes collection, automatically bringing in all music not protected by DRM. It also had no problem recognizing my photo files and bringing them into the software as well. Since I own an Xbox 360, I was able to log onto the Zune Social and Marketplace right away using my 360 account. It also imported all of my Xbox Live friends into my Zune social homepage. Although none of them use the Zune software, I still thought that was a cool feature and really shows how Microsoft is trying to bridge the two products together. The Zune Social is Microsoft’s musical copy of MySpace. You can create you own “homepage” where you can tell about yourself and it displays the music you have been listening to to the Zune community. This is a unique way to network with others who listen to music with similar tastes as yourself and can help you in finding new artists. It clearly states that the Social is still in Beta testing and is not something you have to participate in to use the Zune or it’s PC software. The Zune Marketplace is probably the softwares biggest weakness. Microsoft insists on using their points system, which was originally created for the Xbox Live marketplace, instead of just using a saved credit card to purchase music as on Itunes and Amazon. This may have the potential of scaring off some customers. This doesn’t effect me too much, though, since I have been strictly using Amazon to buy all my MP3’s for the past several months. Hard to beat DRM free music at cheaper prices than Itunes or Zune Marketplace. If you are not doing this yet you need to be, NOW! There is absolutely no reason to buy DRM music. NONE!

As for the Zune device itself. When I first synced the Zune to the PC it did a firmware upgrade to the Zune and, once finished, then started moving all the music to the device. Flawless process! After about two hours the battery was fully charged and ready to go. The “squircle”, as some call it, is a little different than the Ipod, but works in a similar fashion that I found easy to use. When my wife first tried using it she found herself annoyed at first that it didn’t exactly “work like the Ipod” but she quickly got the hang of it. I enjoy the FM radio capability. I would have enjoyed an AM receiver even more since I listen to a lot of political talk radio and my local sports teams. Maybe in a future model they will add this function into the device. Later on, I added in photos of my daughter. The display looks fabulous. All of my pictures show beautifully on the screen as well as album covers. As other reviews point out, there is no equalizer. This troubled me at first, but after listening to the device for about an hour I could care less. The sound is superb and the earphones are, without question, a hundred times better than the Ipod’s. In comfort and sound, the Zune headphones are fantastic. The in-ear headphones do a good job of blocking out ambient noise and allowed me to keep the volume at reasonable levels while doing yard work for about three hours. My ipod would have left my ears ringing due to my having to turn the volume way up to overcome the hedge clipper noise. I am excited to see how this works on a plane ride, since I also always have to crank my ipod up to overcome the jet noise. I also really like the fact that the Zune does not use proprietary file types as Apple forces you to do. The device will accept just about anything you want to put on it, including TV you have recorded using Windows Media.

In conclusion, the Zune is a solid device and I am extremely happy with this wonderful gift. I have already showed it to several family and friends and have encouraged them to consider a Zune for themselves. Dump the ipod, get yourself a Zune!

Not Good to Run With
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I went through three of the 80-gig Zunes in a two-week period. Every time I tried to go running, the songs would start skipping and the screen would freeze. I couldn’t even turn it off! It works fine if you’re not moving it at all, but definitely do not use this for exercise!

Buy this if you like frustrating error codes
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I am a huge fan of xbox and I already had been using the zune software to route soungs from my pc to my 360 so when I lost my ipod I thought I would replace it with the new zune. This was a big mistake, I read some of the other reviews on this website about errors in the software but I didn’t believe that it could happen to me. Needless to say, after about (literally) five hours of trying to deal with various error codes (I have a decently new computer that runs on windows xp) I returned this back to best buy for the 80G ipod which runs perfectly without hassle. Also as a parting gift, my xbox no longer recognizes my computer even after I restored my computer to two days prior. I still don’t know what I am going to do about that. If I could have gotten it to work, I may have a different opinion but BE WARNED…it is not worth taking the chance that this will happen to you.

LOVE IT!!!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I was slightly skeptically about the Zune before I received it. I am ecstatic about this purchase now that I have it. I love the Zune software, & especially the social. It’s nice to have that kind of support from other users available. Would definitely recommend to anyone.

AMAZING
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I love my Zune it’s great, I have had it for 2 years and I only just started having problems with it. I am a bit rough with the hold button so it doesn’t work anymore.

Other than that it’s amazing. I could sit here and sing it’s praises all day, but I have things to do.

-K

nice product, very disappointing and frustraiting software
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
The player itself is very nice, rather large.

Well constructed.

Buttons are easy to use, and navigate through menu’s.

CONS; extremely poor and difficult to use software.

Unlike other players I’ve owned this unit does not have drag and drop, a major draw back. Not allowing easy loading of files and play list.

The software that you must download, (not included) will do things you don’t want it to do, and if you try to use hacks or work around’s there always seems to be another unwanted effect that crops up.

The unit does not with instructions, except to hook-up the unit to your PC and download the software.

With such a huge storage capacity it would be nice to be able to directly record from FM but you cannot do that either.

All and all a very disappointing experience for the $268 spent.

Pleasantly Surprised – excellent product
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I have been an ipod user for years and still appreciate ipod products. However, I did get a Zune 80GB and it is simply outstanding. The screen, battery time, durability, and scroll pad are just much better than I had expected. The device is sturdy and steady. I was just surprised by how much I like it. My friends and family, also ipod users, have also been very impressed. If you are on the fence, consider all options but you really should give Zune products a close look.

ZUNE KICKS A**!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Very user friendly. I have the 80gb and there is plenty of space for all of my music and videos. Movies look awesome on the giant screen. The premium headphones are amazing. All hail the iPod killer!

A bit better than the classic, Software fixed
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’ve been using the zune for a couple months now so I felt that I had really experienced it.

Pros:

Wi-fi syncs songs between zunes pretty fast

3.2 inch screen makes it worth while to sync videos to it

Touch navigator feels and works wonderfully

Easy interface on the device ( nice large font )

Sound processor is better than iPod’s. Only noticable when using good quality headphones

EXTREMELY DURABLE

First MP3 player I’ve had that shipped with headphones that were usable.

FM RADIO WITH SONGS!

Integration with 360.

Nuetral:

Battery life

CON:

Software had some bugs and may continue to have bugs for some people

Expansion of some things above:

Headphones: They are magnetized so they don’t tangle up in your pockets which is the main problem with in ear headphones in my opinion. They have quite good sound quality 40-ish dollar range. Definitely worth keeping unless you have headphones 65$+

Durability: This thing is amazing. I have dropped it and stepped on it in the gym. I have never bought a case and so far no scratches on the screen or on the body/back ( a nice refreshment from my old iPods which had to be in an ugly case at all times). I frequently have change in the same pocket as the zune and it has held up extremely well to my rigorous or some may say careless use.

Battery life: I’ve gone a week listening approximately 3.5 hours a day, which comes out to 24.5 hours in my own experience.I have a mix of 320kpbs and 192 kpbs audio. It also Wi-Fi is off unless I see someone with a zune. This may not be as much as a classic but there comes a point where you stop caring about 30 vs 40 or whatever it is. There simply is not as much benefit from 30-40 hours as there is from 5-15 hours. Some people might care but it is more than adequate for me and probably most other people.

Software: Honestly if my zune software hadn’t been fixed by the latest update I would have given it a 3. The software was horrible at syncing and would frequently sync the same songs over and over every time you connected it for syncing. However recently I noticed that there was no more duplicates on my zune and was pleasantly surprised. The software is easy to use and I love the ability to search without going up to the top right to type it in ( searches through your music only). If I want to see the zune market place’s songs when I search through the top right I get my own song results as well as results from the marketplace. The bugs may have been from having my CDs imported from various directories rather than in my music. You may want to try this and see if it helps. The marketplace is getting video soon as well I hear and zune is also getting games *estimated July from XNA – open source * With the software bugs fixed ( at least for me ) The marketplace has a 3 million songs which is plenty.

I am happy to give the zune a 5. It simply crushes the classic in features and is actually cheaper than the ipod classic since the headphones that come with it are worth 30-40 dollars. I would however advise against getting the flash zune or upgrading from a recent ipod video to a zune. If you’re in the market however be sure to check out the zune 80

Also it may appear that I am a fanboy or something but honestly this is the first microsoft product I am really satisfied with.

* 360 had a RROD and is currently on it’s last legs ( freezing ) *

* Vista was prematurely and was priced too high *

*Any time you make changes to your machine you need to call up microsoft*

Not as advertised!
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
This is an ode to fine print.

When I purchased my Zune, here was my impression. Great! A device that I can pay a mere 15 dollars a month for and get unlimited songs all the live long day. Once I am satisfied with my songs, presto! I finish my 15 dollar a month service, and if I feel the urge to get myself a new song, I purchase it.

WRONG-O.

Once I buy the damn mechanism and download the software, it warns me, once the subscription is cancelled all your music will be erased.

Basically, I sold my financial soul to microsoft. I will for all of eternity be purchasing a $15 per month subscription if I wish to keep my tunes. Somewhere, a Microsoft CEO is laughing.

To put the cherry on top, at my Thankgiving party I was ready to play music from my zune when I got the black screen of death.

Needless to say, I am one unhappy camper.

No Asian Language Support
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
No Asian language support, and I doubt there will be in future. Many mp3 players already support Asian languages back in 2000s. In 2008, almost every mp3 players on the market has Asian languages support. Unfortunately, Zune, one of few players which do not support Asian languages. So far, they do not have intention to add Asian languages support either. This leads me to believe that they are discriminating Asian users in US. This product deserves zero stars.

80GB Zune, 5+ in my opinion!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I have had my 80GB Zune for about 3 months now, and haven’t had any problems. The menus are easy to use, the software is easy to use, and nothing has broken or been erased. I prefer this over the iPod Nano I had… thankfully I spilled coffee on it and needed to replace. Geek that I am, I do wish it had AM radio as well as FM, but thank goodness for any radio at all on my “MP3 Player”. Now Zune offers a red as well as black, snazzy!

Zune 80 Quick and Dirty Review
Rating:4 out of 5 stars

Instead of reading through detailed reviews, i’ll give you the lowdown on the Zune 80.

Having owned Ipods before, i have to admit, the Ipods are fantastic, no question about it, but after playing with the Zune 80 for a couple of weeks, I have to say that the new generation of Zune’s is definitely better than the Ipod classic – here are my reasons:

1) Ease of Use – it’s easier to use than the Ipod. Can’t believe it? go try a zune menu – it just makes sense the way it works. No digging for items, it’s all there. Podcast Support – everything is there.

2) Built in RDS FM Radio – shows stations, etc. What more can you want, unlimited music to go, and great reception

3) Huge 3″ screen with optical glass cover – better than the Ipod.

4) Wireless syncing of music to your computer – no more cables!

5) Touch sensitive wheel like Ipod AND tactile (click) sensitive. Best of both worlds!

And it plays all your MP3s…forget the DRM crap – put your MP3s on it, and it all works fine.

The downsides? The software for the Zune (like Itunes) is not ready in my opinion. It’s slow, a little cumbersome, but if u’re patient, it works. It will definitely get better, it’s just a work in progress.

No internet browser like the Ipod Touch.

However, IF the Zune 80 had the internet connectivity (and it will in the next gen), then it would be the PERFECT player.

So if you’re looking for a near-perfect player, then the Zune 80 is 4/5, and the next Zune with internet will be perfect! Go get one and TRY it for yourself.

Does what it does
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The Zune is meant to play music and it does just that. The screen is great, navigation is simple and much better than the iPod classic by a long shot (for me at least).

One hesitation i had before buying this product is the lack of gapless playback support. After using it for over a month, i couldn’t care less about it. The gaps are maybe 1/5th of a second long and don’t bother me in the least.

It’s a solid product and if you decide to buy it you will love it.

Will not honor warranty
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Zune will not warranty the player if the screen is cracked no matter what. My screen was cracked because of a malfunction in the battery and Zune reps said we would have to pay $79.99 for a replacement. They had my player for two months and never mentioned it not being covered by warranty. Then they sent back the player I sent in. The player has never been dropped, so that is not the problem. The cracked screen is only a symptom. The player will not power on nor will it charge. Still Zune will not honor the warranty. I was told they test to see what makes the screen crack and that is why a cracked screen is not covered. Basically saying the player has to be mishandled for the screen to crack. Well, my Zune is here to prove them wrong. Now I am out $250 and I have to by a new mp3 player. I think I’ll buy an ipod.

DOA
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Product came in DOA, MS support replaced the unit with no problem, killed the buzz waiting for it to be repaired but now I’m happy.

Good, but could be better
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I’ve had my 80gb zune for a few months now. It is a very good mp3 player/ media device. There are a lot of great features on the zune like fm radio, wireless syncing, and a really good looking screen. Sound quality on zune is great, battery life is decent (when wifi turned off). My chief complaints about the zune would have to be the zune software and zune firmware. The zune software is horrible, doesn’t hold a candle to iTunes. The zune firmware isn’t really that user friendly (for lack of a better word), I still can’t figure out how to play only one song on repeat (if there is even that function) other then creating a playlist with one song. There are lot of things the zune could improve on, like little options/fuctions on the ipod we take forgranted. Overall, it is a really great device.

Probably should have stuck with the iPod
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I’ve had my Zune for about a month now. It looks great, I love the big screen, and I like the control system, or interface. I was very excited when I first got it, but I was ready to throw it through the window that night when I couldn’t figure out how to get the software to work. I had to download some patches or fixes or something before it would even be recognized by my computer. Very frustrating, and it doesn’t come with a disc just to load the software yourself.

I’ve also noticed that the software sometimes has glitches while ripping discs. It’s not a Zune hardware problem — in other words the zune isn’t skipping, but it improperly rips a song and transfers it to the zune with skips in it. Even if it’s only one song from a disc, you still have to go back and re-rip that disc to fix that tune that didn’t transfer right. Other than that, the sound quality is very good.

During playback the screen goes completely black after a few minutes. It’s sometimes nice to glance at the screen just to see what the title of a song may be or how much longer a song has to play, but you’d have to touch the interface to wake it up to see anything. I’m not talking about the bright backlight, but on an iPod you can still see the screen even after the backlight has gone off. Not so on the zune. Theoretically this should lead to longer battery life, but I don’t think it lasts any longer than my old iPod.

And that also brings me to my next qualm. The battery level indicator is not accurate. On the iPod, I saw the level indicator decrease at a constant rate and give me the red warning at the end, and I knew within an hour of when it give up. With the Zune, it still seems like I have half power according to the indicator, but the next thing I know the battery is dead.

My last complaint is that for this price it should come with a wall charger. That is a separate accessory so you have to charge it on your computer. On the plus side, the headphones, or earbuds, are really nice.

I tried the zune because I was sick of the short life spans of iPods. My family has gone through four now and none has lasted more than two years. Time will tell if the zune is more durable, but as long as both machines are performing at their peak, I like the iPod more.

Zune 80 owner’s quick comments
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
**UPDATE May 21: My BLACK Zune 80 Originals was snatched while overseas, so got a new Z-Originals in RED as soon as I got home. The good thing is that RED’s alignment for the laser-engraved artwork and inscription is now straight rather than tilted.

However, RED has a different quirk. Although turning it off is standard, ANY button pressed will turn it on. I’d mail it in to customer service as suggested on [...], but I just read reviews that technical support/repair has been horrible since December 07. Apparently there’s a class action lawsuit against Zune regarding this and/or their warranty claim. Until that’s resolved, I’ll just lock RED to avoid turning it on accidently. I still give it 4-stars.

**ORIGINAL COMMENT Mar 16: Many reviewers have already posted exhaustive good and bad comments of the Zune 80, so I will relate only MY specific experience.

I got mine from [...] with the tattoo artwork and message personalization on the back. The laser engraving is high-quality, but the alignment on mine is slightly off: close inspection reveals the 3-line inscription tilts just a bit upwards. I wrote my own inscription, so it’s cool knowing that no one else in the world has a device like mine.

BIGGEST GRIPE: The device does not act as a typical shared hard-drive. You cannot store files on it if they are not one of the accepted formats. Plus, I cannot just plug my Zune into any computer and expect to get music/vids/pics off of it. The software must be installed on the PC, AND I’m limited on how many PCs the software can recognize my device. I knew all this beforehand, but I still bought it for its other excellent qualities.

SOFTWARE: Easy to use, BUT… even with the latest updates, I had experienced some weird sync issues (skipped files, repeating files, etc). However, I seem to have resolved this by deleting duplicate MP3’s, renaming files, and resaving JPEGs. The only thing I haven’t solved is that some songs are shown with a wrongly associated album while playing.

SOUND/MUSIC/RADIO: Sound quality is fine, even without an equalizer. The premium phones came with a few extra earpieces for in-ear comfort, and I like how each earbud has a magnet so they can be stored together. I don’t like how playlists can ONLY be created on the software (wish it could be created on both the SW and the device, although songs can be added to a “QuickList” while on the device). Radio works great- it automatically seeks stations and is very clear.

SCREEN & MOVIES: Really pleased with the screen, although it’s a fingerprint magnet. Movies play well: some are more pixelated than others, but that’s due to the quality I chose when I converted them to MPEG-4 (dvdXsoft Zune Video Converter).

PHOTOS: Pictures look great, and I like being able to listen to music while viewing slideshows of the photos. Software note: selected photos were skipped over during the transfer. I resolved this by opening these JPEGs and simply resaving them.

OTHER: Haven’t tried wireless transfer to another Zune. Got the A/V pack and works really well, so I’ve been viewing photos and movies and listening to music from my TV. The global artwork available for download on the Zune website is phenomenal.

PACKAGING: The packaging Z-Originals 80 came in is, if at all possible, even NICER than the regular Zune 80. The typical brown box with pink/orange trim is replaced with white box, gold trim. Along with the expected transfer cable and headphones, Z-Originals also included a microfiber pouch. All of this was inside a large white box with gold lettering and shipped inside a FedEx box.

SUMMARY: 4-stars for being an overall great, sleek, and hardy device (no skipping even when dropped). It does, for the most part, what I want it to do.

Zune 80 frustrations
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
Although the interface is excellent, it continually locks up, freezes, restarts…. all in all, frustrating and in reality less useful than my old 512 Sandisk model. If you’re spending this kind of money, get an iPod!

Good while it lasted.
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I had my Zune 80 for about 3 weeks before it suddenly bricked on me. It froze, told me I had to restore my firmware, and then refused to be recognized by my computer. After an hour on the phone with tech support, they said the device was dead and I could send it in to receive a new one.

I didn’t want to wait, so I took it back to the retailer and exchanged it for an iPod since no Zunes were in stock.

I like everything about the Zune better than the iPod except the software. The Zune software is absolutely terrible compared to iTunes.

I’m sure not all devices were defective like mine, it was just frustrating for it to happen so soon. But for now, it looks like I’m an iPod guy.

Best Music Player Out There
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Let’s just cut to the chase. You want to know how the Zune 80GB fares against the iPod. Such as comparison is best summarized in this sentence: “Microsoft’s Zune beats the Apple iPod in almost every single way!”

I have run into quite a few people who took a look at the 1st generation Zunes in 2006 and never thought about it since. The old 30GB Zunes were not exactly the slickest devices on the market, but the NEW 2nd generation Zunes were built from scratch. So forget everything you heard about the old Zune.

The new 80GB Zune features a 320×240 glass screen which is much larger than the iPod Classic’s plastic screen. The menus and interface are gorgeous. The background image is customizeable. ‘Now Playing’ displays album art in fullscreen.

The zunepad (aka ’squircle’) is incredibly intuitive. Swiping your finger across the pad causes the menu to scroll in that direction. Swiping faster scrolls faster. The zunepad also acts as a 5-directional click-pad: up, down, left, right, and center-click. All of this is remarkably easy to use.

What makes the Zune most unique is the Wi-Fi capability. This allows you to detect other nearby Zunes and share songs. But the greatest use of the Zune’s Wi-Fi is wireless sync. The Zune can be sync’d manually whenever you are at home or automatically whenever you plug the Zune into a dock (This means that you can leave your Zune in your iHome and it will automatically update itself without ever plugging into your computer!).

Other advantages over the iPod include the built-in FM tuner and the somewhat scratch resistant front surface (matte finish and glass are a lot tougher than shiny plastic).

Microsoft makes really classy Italian leather cases for Zune found here: Zune Leather Case 80 GB.

I’ve been following press coverage of the Zune from the beginning and bought myself one a few months ago. So far I have no complaints. I hated my old video iPod and I found iTunes to be really inconvenient. Zune software has all the major features of iTunes, but with your choice of some very stylish skins and more options for sorting and viewing your music collection. Zune software also lets you categorize your videos, unlike iTunes. However, this software does not work on Mac yet.

I cannot recommend any other hard-drive music player on the market. If you do not need more than a few gigabytes you might want to look at smaller players (the new Creative Zen is a good choice that comes in 4gb – 32gb sizes. Take a look here: Creative Zen 16 GB Portable Media Player (Black)). But if you have a big collection or want to watch a lot of movies in a compact player the Zune is your best choice.

zune is garbage
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
i loved my zune when i first got it. it was great till not even 2 months later it just stopped working. nothing happened to it, didnt fall or anything. i picked it up to listen to it and in was making this weird clicking nosie like the hard drive was messed up then the contact customer support screen came up and thats all it will do now. im switching to ipod. don’t buy a zune there garbage.

Lil red Zune
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I thought I loved my 1st generation, 30 GB Zune until I got this one! From the display to the extra space I love everything about it. Its smaller size makes it easier to throw into my bag. The battery life seems to go on and on. My kids now want me to ugrade them to the 80 GB Zune.

very easy to deal with
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Got this for my wife’s birthday, I’ve been helping to load it up with stuff, I don’t mean a few things, I mean everything and more! This is one huge, powerful storage piece of equipment.

Having never owned a player this powerful before, I thought it was going to be a major learning experience but it has been quite easy. It’s software is simple to navigate, and the player does all the work, you just get to enjoy all(and I mean ALOT) the music and pictures, video and FM radio. We’re not interested in the sharing thing, and don’t care that the wifi is quite limited in it’s functionality, there is so much use to put this to that we don’t need more. It’s like having everything in your cd collection so easy to get to, we’ve heard more veriety in the last week than we’ve heard in the last ten years. I should say that one of the reasons that it’s so enjoyable is that we also got a home dock and a car setup, it would still be fun with just the machine but of course, not so versitile.

We’re both quite happy with it.

ZUNE 80 GB is great
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Zune 80 GB Digital Media Player, Red (2nd Generation)

The Zune 80gb is awesome. I’ve had the device for a month now and I love it. It’s well worth the price, although I paid less than the advertised price.

DOESN’T PLAY AVI!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, this is a great player. I’ve had a 512 IRiver, 40GB toshiba gigabeat, and 60GB creative zen. The 80GB Zune beats all of them by a long shot. The controls are very easy to use(just know that pressing the center of the pad is also a button) and the rapid scroll, w/ sound, and be fun at times. I’m really pissed at microsoft for not including AVI’s in the playable movie file types, and I really don’t like the required software. It seems amazing to me that microsoft can push WMP for all other non-ipod MP3 players(play-for-sure) and yet they don’t allow their own MP3 player to work with WMP. Look for hacks and mods if you get this, somebody cracked the 30GB zune and now they are working on the 80GB. Overall this is a great machine, and I’m crossing my fingers that with firmware releases it will only get better!

Nice Player but Horrible Software
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I purchased this as a gift for my wife. The player, itself, seems very well built. It is solid, compact, functional, has good sound, has a nice FM radio, and the screen is easily viewable. The software, however, is a royal pain! First, it took me an entire evening to download (yes download) the software from Microsoft. It took several attempts at downloading because part of the process involves the set-up wizard checking for updates and my computer couldn’t connect to Microsoft. Finally, after downloading, the software was installed on my computer but it wouldn’t sync with the Zune. I had to disconnect and reconnect the Zune several times before the software would pick it up. The computer knew the Zune connected. The Zune, itself, said it was connected. But, the software didn’t recognize that the Zune was connected! The Zune eventually synced with the software and you can not use the player before you successfully sync. I don’t know why Microsoft insists on using separate Zune software instead of letting you use the Windows media player like most other MP3 players can use. It is, after all, a Microsoft product. My wife loves the payer so far and I have to admit that I am jealous and now want one myself. My only complaint is the software. Microsoft really needs to improve the software and it would also be nice if they included it within the package for the Zune especially considering how much you are paying to purchase the thing. I’m giving this a 3 (would like to give it about 3 1/2 stars) because of the frustrating software which is required before you can even use the Zune. The player is great but I really hope that Microsoft improves the software. Follow-up: my wife is still enjoying the Zune and we have figured out most of the quirks. The software still leaves much to be desired. It also seems that you need to have your music stored on your computer in order to keep it on your Zune. This is a pain because I have other uses for the storage space on my computer.

Zune 80 GB MP3 Player
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
The player worked great for 2 days then completly locked up and will not function at all. Extremely disapointed with the working of this player. I bought it to replace a I River, looks like it was a bad decision.

If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. If it is…well…you get the idea
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I’ll be honest. I was extremely excited to get a Zune. The screen was huge, just as expected, the colors where vivid, and the headphones worked great. but right from the get go came the first roadblock.

You have to install Zune software to use it…at all. So you can only connect the Zune to ONE, repeat ONE computer to put music on it, and only with the Zune software, which, I might was well mention, takes it upon itself to rearrange your music its way (which at this point is unrearangable, though microsoft has said they will look into it). So I downloaded the software, and started to copy files over. Once they were on the Zune, I deleted the files….and they vanished from my Zune. Yeah, it deletes stuff that remove from your computer. REAL smooth. So the tunes need to stay on your PC…great.

So about 2 weeks after I got it, it up and died. Zune Support said that it was a hard drive crash, kind of a common problem (wow, they’re going to hate this review). So I sent it in for a fix/replacement. Except….the replacement came a month later, and I’d only been using it for about 5 minutes when it crashed…and crashed, and crashed. One complete wipe and reboot later, it worked….for about an hour, then it crashed…and crashed..and now I’m returning it.

Funny thing is, had it worked, I would have kept it. It has loads of great potential which Ipod really should emulate. Quartz Glass screen (never scratches), wi-fi music sharing, and a tough metal design are really great plusses, but it just wouldn’t work. I’m actually sad about it, its such a well designed machine, but in their CONTROL EVERYTHING ideal Microsoft won’t let anyone use it as it should be, and all the software they’re forcing you into is very badly handled.

So I give it two out of five stars. Its a great idea, just badly mismanaged and handled.

Zune 80 GB
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I have enjoyed using my Zune the software is quite easy to use, and the FM radio feature was useful while camping to get storm information.

Love
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I loved my Zune, all the way. I’ve never had an iPod, I’m sure they’re great but I’ve always wanted something with radio built in that could hold all of my songs. The only mp3 I’ve had before this was a Sony 256 MB Walkman. Ha! Only held 100 songs. I had my Zune for 2 months before I lost it (probably stolen) and it made me so mad. That thing was awesome!

LOVED the Features and Interface; HATED how it broke after 2 weeks
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I bought the MS Zune 80GB because I wanted an alternative to the unexciting iPod. I loved the look and feel of the Zune – from the sleek black casing to the edgy graphics and backgrounds. I loved everything about this product – except the fact that it broke right away.

I bought my Zune in June 2008. I loved the “squircle” and how easy it was to scroll through menus and lists of artists. I loved the larger screen and the way that videos played with the Zune turned sideways. I loved the nifty little headphones. I loved the packaging. I loved that this really seemed like an alternative to the iPod. (I am a Mac person, but I found the iPod to be boring.) I loved the price.

I loved everything about the Zune, until everything started to break. First, the battery would only hold a charge for 3-4 hours of music play time (with the wifi turned off). Then the unit started to hang when I moved through the menus. Then, to top it all off, the “squircle” stopped working. Without it, I could no longer scroll through lists or menus, reset the unit or make song selections. Internet research tells me that I am not the only with this problem, and there is no easy fix.

I loved the Zune so much I was willing to overlook the slow, clunky Zune computer interface. It took me a total of about 10 hours over 2 days to load up my 50 GB music library, and the software needed a lot of coaxing, restarting and troubleshooting. This was easily forgotten, once my 50GB of music were happily playing through my awesome little Zune headphones. But when the music stopped for good, I remembered how much I HATED the Zune software. It reminded me of Windows ME, the ill-fated OS that was absolute hell to use a few years back. Yes, it was THAT bad.

I hate to admit it, but my new iPod WORKS. It loaded my now 60 GB music library in 2 hours, and the iTunes software is a dream in comparison to the Zune. The iPod has not broken so far, and I honestly don’t think it will. And if it does, I will not worry because my AppleCare experience has been very positive.

If only MS could give us all the great features of the Zune without the wonky “squircle” problems and glitchy software, we would have a real winner. Maybe in a few years, I will give the Zune another go.

Just great
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Overall the zune is a great product and definitely deserves 5 stars, and In My Opinion this is much better then an iPod.

Zune Review
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
This product is not what was expected. I thought this would be more user friendly. Maybe I should have purchased an Apple IPod. The Zune website is not as comprehensive as Napster or Rhapsody.

Great MP3 player
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
It’s easy to use and I recommend it to anyone thinking about buying it. Although I wish there would be more options for the music as in “Play track once” or others. The screen smudges real easy too but those are just small problems, nothing too big. It comes with premuim headphones and getting songs on it are VERY simple. I’m very satisfied with it.

UNBIASED
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Let me just start by saying i’ve had a 30gb ipod and recently decided to get an 80 gb zune. Honestly i like both, and i think depending on how you use it is how you should decide which one you want.

The NUMBER 1 reason i love my zune is because for 15.00 a month i can download all of the music i want. Of course some of the stuff isn’t free but for me those particular songs are few and far between. The downfall of the songs you actually have to buy is that you also have to buy points and the points start out at $5.00 for 400 points and the song is 79 points. So you’re paying a little over a buck for a song. Which makes itunes cheaper. But i only have to buy songs every now and then so this doesn’t bother me. you can also purchase music from Amazon, and put on your zune. For those who use limewire and other software were your music is “free”, the zune works for that to, and as soon as you hook your zune up and sync it, the zune will take your music from all of your folders. It also does it with your pictures to.

Number 2- I love that the screen is SOO big, So when i watch my podcasts or videos i can actually see everything. I actually take this to the store when my husband goes shopping with me because he gets bored, and i just let him watch what he wants while i shop, he doesn’t get on my nerves, nor does he recgonize how long we’ve been in the store.

Number 3- I love that you can change the background to any picture you want.

Number 4- I like the radio, although i’ve never used it because i’m still trying to catch up on all the music i’ve been downloading.

DISLIKES- you can’t burn cds unless you actually bought the music-this doesn’t bother me because i don’t use cd players.

There aren’t a lot of docking stations for the zune. Only like 3 and there pricey, 80-260. They are coming out with a zune alarm clock in july though.

At first i didn’t like the zune, i thought it was way to big and bulky and i loved the ipod so much i couldn’t imagine anything being better.

There are alot of people saying, don’t get the zune, or don’t get the ipod. honestly it just depends on what you personally like. Yes, the ipod is nice, and EVERYONE knows about it, but lately when i take my zune to work people are always asking me what it is. And because my music is only 15.oo a month, i have downloaded music like the backstreet boys and NSYNC, just because i can, and it doesn’t cost anything extra.

Alot better than some would have you think.
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I was slightly scared when I went about purchasing the 2nd Generation 80GB Zune. So many negative reviews were left. But now that I’ve had the Zune for about a month, I have to say that I’m quite impressed with it. There was many complaints about the software automaticaly syncing, and syncing the same songs over and over until the harddrive was full. This is one of those issues that is a customer problem. Everything to adjust the syncing issues is in the options, there’s no excuse to give this a bad review out of your own ineptness. There is one problem with the Zune, but it’s not really a problem as long as you’re using a decent pair of headphones/stereo system. There’s no EQ at all. But this was something I knew, going in. It doesn’t change that the Zune has never frozen up on me, it doesn’t change that I can put my full collection of music on the Zune and I still have over 50GB that I can use for movies, podcasts, and photographs. And it doesn’t change the fact that the pictures I’ve put on there look FANTASTIC on that glass screen. Besides, the touch controls feel great, and I get no lag scrolling through my music. All in all, I recommend this product to anyone who wants a good, solid media player.

Huge improvement from 1st Gen.
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
1st let me say that I’ve never owned an mp3 player before buying my first Zune, a 1st Gen 30Gb Halo Edition. I have sampled other mp3 like ipods from friends and family, but at heart I’ve always been a die-hard Microsoft fan. I was really happy with the choice I made when going with Zune vs. Ipod. Of course, I’ve read and heard every complaint about both but I was really satisfied with the Zune. It is easy to naivgate, plays music just like its suppose to, and love the video and picture features. My only complaint was how big the 1st Gen Zunes were (30gb and 80gb respectively). To top it off, my 1st Gen Zune was misplaced and never seen again. When I upgraded to the 2nd Gen 80Gb, I was very impressed with the upgrades.

1. Navigation is easier with the touchpad and I’m told by others that its not as touchy as the ipods are.

2. However you want to look at it, its smaller than 1st gen. Props to Ms.

3. Cosmetically, huge improvement to outward appearance.

Not surprisingly, the wireless feature sucks the battery life like a 1st Gen, and the video quality is somewhat of an improvement but not that much(seriously though, If I wanted to want msnbc, I’ll watch it on tv). I’ve never had a problem changing music files to play on my Zune. Hope this helps.

Ehh Run?
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Ive had mine for a month, it was grreat at first, now it deleted all of my 3000 songs i had on it, it will only add 400 back and it says error every time i try to sync it. ive had a 8gb before and the play and back button would freeze all the time. it may be my luck, or maybe zunes just suck. i never had this many problems with my ipod although i had some on occation, non to this extent

It was fine, until it broke.
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I got a Zune 80gb about a month ago from Best Buy. It worked great though the software is miserable to use. The player itself had nice video play back, the screen is large and clear. Then it just crashed while I was listening to it. I referred to MS’s website, followed the directions to no avail. I called tech support. They suggested I send it to them for repair. I decided to just return it to Best Buy for a new one figuring I got a lemon. They replaced it with no problem. Yay- Best Buy! That one died in exactly the same manner two weeks later. I returned it for an iPod. The Geek Squad guy told me a lot of Zune’s were getting returned. Be warned.

I love it
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I’ve been using it non stop since I got it. 80GB is more space than I need so it will last me a long time. The battery life is pretty good – enough to get me through multi-stop international flights and then some. The headphones that come with it are the best I’ve ever had for an mp3 player and I really like that they are magnetic so if I only want to use one I can stick it to the other instead of having it just dangle around. I also like the radio feature, with option to select US, Europe, or Japan. I also like the Zune Social. It’s just a nice little feature to be able to post on social networking sites and my friends and family can see what I’m listening to and get recommendations from me.

The only things I don’t like are the lack of accessories. I everything I need but variety in docks would be nice. The biggest complaint I have, however, is the Zune Marketplace. The point system can be a pain. Having to constantly convert points to dollars in my head is annoying. It was done for compatibility with Live! but I wish they would at least give the option of paying with dollars instead of points. Plus, you have to buy points in increments, and a lot of times you’ll wind up with left over points you can’t do anything with – very annoying.

All in all, I very much like the product itself as an mp3 player. I already bought another for a birthday gift.

Awesome Media Player
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I imagine I will get a lot of un-helpful votes from the music stealers and cult of ipod fanatics (lol) but…

I bought my Zune a couple of months ago and have used it extensively during that time. I have watched lots of movies, hundreds of podcasts, I have about 10K photos on it and about 11K songs. We listen to it for 12 hours a night at work 6 days a week.

I have had no issues with the player at all. It sounds great. Videos are sharp and clear and nice to watch on the large screen. The in the ear phones sound terrific (albeit they suffer a bit from microphonics). The battery lasts all night at work for music and will easily last for a full length movie or two.

I also have the Zune Pass and I think that it is great and is going to be the wave fo the future (subsciption services will be anyway). Having access to millions of songs…LEGALLY…what a deal. I will be buying the wife and oldest son a Zune soon and the Pass will work on their players as well as my player and on 3 computers. What a deal!

My Wife Loves It!!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Bought the Zune for my wife for her birthday back in August. She burnned all of her CD’s and now keeps them on her Zune. She loves having her music all in one place.

My only complaint is that there should he a setting to turn the headphone jack into a line level out. This would significantly improve the clarity of playback when using the headphone jack to provide input to a hoime stereo system.

DONT GET THE ZUNE PASS. UNLIMITED MUSIC THAT THEY CLAIM IS A JOKE
Rating:3 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 THERE COLLECTION.

better than ipod
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I very much like my Zune. I have had it for about 60 days. I really don’t like ITunes so that is a big plus for the Zune. Very easy to use, did not even look at the booklit that came with the zune. One of the best things about my zune is the wi-fi dock. Makes life easy and don’t have to worry about hooking it upto the computer. No problems with it has worked great.

I love ZUNE!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I love my Zune. I cannot think of any cons. I suggest buying a low profile clear case for it though, like the one from agent18 because I have heard of people placing pressure on the screen and cracking it.

Great video, but useless without video playlists
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I loved the playback on the Zune and happily started adding video clips to it. Sadly, even though I updated from well-organized playlists, they were all just loaded onto the zune in random order.

I didn’t think it was a big deal. I went to put them in a playlist, only to find that you can’t create a playlist for video. Only for songs….

So I have a thousand videos on the zune, and they play great, but there is no way to organize them so that I can actually view what I want easily. Plus, there is no autoplay of the videos. You have to select each one and play it, go back, select the next, play it.

This really makes the Zune useless to me. When I searched the net for info, people were saying to only put what you want to watch on the zune, not libraries. So why get an 80 gig player if you’re gonna use it like an Ipod shuffle…

I love everything else about the player, but it’s useless if you want to watch video clips easily… Very disappointed.

Zune 80
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
A good quality product with lots of storage. A little buggy at first. The desktop software is the worst part.

Throw those boring iPods away…Zune is here
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Its so unfair that the apple lobby has put out so much bad feedback about this that I was hesitant to invest $250 on this. But after 3 months of pure music, I have to say that this product is one of the best I have ever owned. Zune software is a revelation. Integration to marketplace where you can buy music is awesome. I have not subscribed to the monthly pass and find songs a tad more expensive than amazon. I usually buy songs from amazon and then sync to my zune.

More than anything else, it has bee Microsoft track record on this which is impressive. They have not left even the Zune 1Gen owners out in the cold. All new firmware updates are for everyone, unlike the penny pinching Apple which charged 9.99 for the latest upgrade.

As far as sound quality goes, I can say with conviction that this sounds worlds apart from an IPOD. For a player without an Equalizer this was a revelation. I have compared the same songs on both an Ipod and Zune and Zune does better hands down. But you compare Zune with an Sony Walkman and Sony sounds better. But that is not to say Zune is average, Sound quality wise, Zune is well above being better. Only thing that works agains the Sony is the sizes ( 8g / 4g ) 16g is way more expensive at $249.

And believe when they say Zune 80 comes with premium ear phones. It beat out my Sennheisers in sound quality.

Would I buy a Second or a third Zune if I need it ? In a heartbeat.

No second guessing here.

zune 80gb
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Zune 80 GB Digital Media Player (Black)i was so disappointed this product. it has no equalizer. WMV conversion is very long unlike mp4 for ipod, it’s just ok. playlist is different, it’s really difficult to manage the software unlike itunes, it’s ver easy. poor sounds, poor features. i better like the ipod video.

Overall a solid player but could be more compatible
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I purchased my 2nd generation Zune a few weeks ago and the experience has been a roller coaster. When I’m running and doing nothing but listening to songs I’ve bought online and were properly tagged it performs flawlessly. But throw in a bunch of songs that weren’t properly tagged (that is to say, if your music collection isn’t 100 percent from sources that properly classify the meta data) it has become a nightmare. The Zune software does not do a good job of recognizing and inserting meta data based on the song name. There are other applications that do this for you, and after a few hours of searching and experimenting I came across a program called MusicBrainz Picard that did a pretty good job. After “Picarding” my music collection I had a much easier time actually finding the song I wanted to listen to. Before that I had an enormous amount of music that just fell under the “Unknown Artist” selection even though it showed the actual artist’s name! So the early loading of the zune was extremely frustrating to say the least. I highly recommend you use the above program if your collection has not been properly sorted and tagged.

Next thing I decided to do was load all my pictures on the unit. I have about 9 gigs of pictures and I store them on both my external hard drive and my local hard drive. So I directed the Zune software to automatically sync the pics on my local hard drive and started the load process. 24 hours later I was at around 47 percent complete and extremely puzzled. So after erasing and reloading my zune a few times with both the pictures and the music I was still getting the extremely slow load times. It turns out that the zune resamples and reformats the pictures for the zune, so it was doing that for every single picture I owned. There was also a conflict with the external hard drive because when I later turned it off and manually synced the picture folder the sync went much smoother. To this day I’m still not sure what the problem was.

After that I tried to load videos on the zune. Well I knew the zune was extremely selective about what it did and didn’t play but had no idea it would be so picky with it’s own wmv format. I tried several video conversion tools (cucusoft first and some others I can’t remember) and the zune simply did not like the outputted wmv format they produced. Finally I discovered Allok video converter and instead converted the files to mp4. When converting to the 4 to 3 aspect ratio the movie still doesn’t take up the whole screen and the top and bottom has the black letterbox type bars which is annoying on a small screen.

So I’ve finally sorted out all my issues with the media. I’m not happy that the zune doesn’t support various formats (xvid would have been really nice and it still does not support .aa files from audible.com) but I knew that when I bought the player so I can’t really hold that against the zune’s rating. The zune marketplace is absolutely atrocious. For some inexplicable reason they went with their own currency in the form of Microsoft points and you have to actually purchase these points instead of just spending cash each time you buy a song. I dont want to perform another conversion in my head to figure out how much different songs cost! I also dont want to spend gobs of money up front to spend the points over time. I do not use the marketplace at all and instead buy all my mp3’s from amazon.

Other quick notes: The accessories for the zune are plentiful and adequate. The earbuds are top notch for the player. I haven’t used the wireless feature so cannot comment on that. Out of the box the unit cannot be used as an external hard drive but some creative people have figured out work arounds for this.

That’s all I have to say. Overall I’m happy with the zune but the initial setup was a nightmare.

Man o man
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
HATE IT! The only thing it was good for was storing music. Other than that it was useless. It took me about 5 hours to download the software from the site. Then once connected I didn’t know that if I deleted the music off of the computer it will also delete the music I uploaded on the player (sync feature). Also since I have a huge collection it is hard to use this because I have to scroll to whatever song, album, or artist I wanted, and this would take a long time. Another big peeve was that the touch pad didn’t work correctly. I would click on a song to play and it would take me somewhere I didn’t want to be or I would try to change a song and it would display the menu where you can go to the artist or view song list. The good things about the player was its headphones (I loved them because the sound is really crisp), the radio being able to display the song title and artist (sometimes it didn’t work), and that it came in red.

Great Buy
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’m really happy with this product, I’ve had it a couple of days and already I love it. The touch pad is very responsive and sensitive. The screen is bright and clear. I’ve had no problems with the software or getting any of my music onto it. I love the fact that the touchpad can also be used as a normal button. It has a very sleek design, nice packaging and the headphones are amazing. Immediately after putting in the headphones, even without music on, outside noise diminishes. I would recommend this product to anyone who has a lot of music or videos and wants a nice looking mp3 player with awesome work-ability.

pretty sick
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
this is a really good mp3

but it doesnt tell how to delete or take songs off

it also has trouble downloading long songs

but other than that it ROCKS!!!

Hackproof + no lossless support = junk
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
An 80 gig unit without any form of lossless music support, even Microsoft’s own wma lossless?! Give me a break.

Happy Customer
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought the Zune for my daughter. She loves it. I got a great product at a great price.

Thank you!

Zune is my statement to anti conformity!!!!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I found that the Zune 80gb is perfect for me. It has a radio, yeah. I also am able to wirelessly sync it to my home network(totally cool). I purchased some accessories at a reasonable price here on Amazon and I dont have any complaints! I havent even used half of my memory yet and its filled with music photos and podcast. I recently purchased an HP digital camera so now Between my Palm 755p smartphone, My Zune, voice recorder and my camera and WD 160GB portable drive. I am a multi-media mogule ready for anything!

I like the look of the Zune and the share feature is cool although I havent used it yet. Then picture and sound are great! No complaints from me! I love it and plan on buying them for my entire family over christmas.

Love my Zune
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is my 2nd Zune. I have upgraded from a 30 g to an 80g. I must say after ALL the mp3 players I have had. I love the Zunes! They are well made and easy to use! Although they don’t come with an equalizer they do sound pretty good. Of course you need to upgrade your earphones as the earphones that come with it are not that great. However, there are always upgrades!

All I can say if you don’t want to be part of the IPOD pack… Buy a Zune! You won’t be dissapointed!

software nightmare
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Recently bought a Zune. Software looks slick but is a nightmare on PC’s. (Mac’s are better I think.) Just Google “importing a song on Zune” to see the frustration for yourself. I can’t figure out how to import one and I’m pretty computer literate. Stick with ipods. You’ve been warned.

Unbelievable !!!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I can not believe what I am about to say…. Microsoft got it right. This is the absolute best iPod knock off on the planet. I have owned every mp3 player out there. I have a drawer full of iPods and Zens etc…. I am a complete convert. Way to go Microsoft…..

bittersweet??
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
well… i got my zune in august and i freaked out, wasnt able to work around it or anything but after some time i got it and started loving my zune… loved the big and beautiful screen and the space and the interface…. much more than the ipods i had owned or the zen creative mp3 player… afterwards i had to update the software and wasn’t able to do it either, freaked out also and was very mad…. but then again i was able to work around it with several tricks… now……. my zune collapsed, i reset it, eliminated everything and all and now i cannot put it back in, a bunch of people have the same problem around the internet and good news for us, the ones that live outside the us or canada, no support for us so now… i’m stuck with a zune that doesnt work that if i want to fix i have to send to the us to fix… i’m considering something new… but i loved my zune, i don’t want to go back to ipod…. but i don’t want to lose $250 for a zune that’s going to last 8 months………

Zune is a Great Product
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Unbelievable capacity. I loaded all of my CD’s and photos and am still less than 50% full. Sounds great. Learn the trick of turning it totally off by pressing left button and bottom of disc at the same time for several seconds. I wish it had more documentation available. I couldn’t find much online. I also wish more accessories were made for it. Everything is Ipod. One interesting thing I noticed is that it will continually search online and add information on your albums. For example, I had some of the 60’s and 70’s collections from Time Life and others and when I initially ripped them to my PC and sync’ed to the Zune, it found the Album Cover on line but the artist was “Various Artists”. Somehow, it eventually found all of the artists names.

Spectacular product
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Let me just say that the Zune is a wonderful product for clumsy oafs. About a month ago I dropped my Zune 80 on the bathroom floor while it was booting up, and it locked up permanently. Nothing I did would get it to work again. I figured that was it, I was out 250 bucks. It was still under the manufacturer’s warranty, but that warranty specifically states that accidents are not covered, and dropping the device on the bathroom floor sure seemed like an accident to me. But, I finally decided to request a repair anyway, figuring I had nothing to lose. Within a few days I had a replacement Zune, completely free of charge. Boom, simple as that. Now THAT’S customer service. Somehow, I have a feeling that Apple wouldn’t be so likely to replace an iPod that was similarly damaged.

IPOD Watch Out
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I love my Zune better than my IPOD. It is lightweight and the touchpad is not difficult to handle. The sound quality of the earphones is good. I just like the device. The software takes some getting use but not too difficult. I like the fact that it has a radio. I am just surprise at the price, it is more than what other stores like Circuit City, Best Buy, Buy.com charge. I would definately would go to the other stores before paying this price.

Durable, High Quality, and Great Sound!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The Zune 80gb aka the Zune 2. I could gab for days about the features and specs, but the majority of die hard junkies have already doen their facts prior to its November release.

I got the Zune in November. The sound quality is top notch, so good that an Equalizer isn’t even included! The headphones make for a dynamic listening experience as they are modified directly in our ear headphones, as appose to the the standard junk ear bud headphones. If you don’t hear a sound difference you obviously don’t have them in right. The Zune supports high bit rates but no FLAC (Free Audio Loseless Codec). Which really isn’t a concern who’d want that much memory to be tossed away?

The Zune features not so much a revolutionary panel as the iPods click wheel, but a safe alternative. The squircle, this little addition enables touch sensitive option on the button below the screen or standard press.

The software is very subjective some adore the looks, and others mutilated by the mp3 file naming issues. Keep in mind many sources online and programs can fix this. The problem is Zune brings files back to their original state, meaning if you have a song that was originally not tagged properly, welcome it back.

I lost my Zune yesterday, being extremely paranoid over my loss I hunted it down, I’ve truly grown partial to it. I located it outside in the snow this after noon. It was covered in thick layers of ice and even after thawing processes finished it worked fully functional! The screen is an amazing screen at that, large holds great potential for videos and pictures and is nearly indestructible. Little feats like wi-fi aren’t so great but are welcomed. I Highly reccamend the Zune 80gb for the price, quality, options, art and music enthusiast, consistent stability in high use, and storage size.

Being a Apple iPod fan for numerous years, I decided not to convert I’m not biased i just want my music (don’t we all?), but to enable an broader opening. My iPod was dubbed unrepairable, so after losing 7,500 songs and going onto my third iPod i simply wanted something more durable. iPods are still great try out the Zune or iPod if you’d like a great MP3 player, just remember the choice is yours not just our reviews.

Good, but not perfect.
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
So, my dell Jukebox finally gave up after almost five years of excellent service.

This time I have decided to go with Microsoft’s Zune 80GB.

I have read some pretty good things about this player.

First, what I don’t like:

To be honest, I’m disappointed with sound quality.

I knew they gave up equalizer, but even my old dell with equalizer Off sounded much better. The sound is so flat, no depth at all. High tones don’t exist, bass sucks. I can’t believe there is no way to fix this. Even with expensive earphones you can’t compare Zune’s sound quality to five year old Dell. (?!)

Shame on you Microsoft. Why don’t you update firmware and give us a nice four band equalizer.

There is not much in the box.

Everything must be purchased extra, including protecting or caring case and travel charger.

Battery Indicator is very inaccurate-after calibration seems to work fine though-but why do I have to recalibrate a brand new unit?

Now, what I like about Zune 80GB.

Nice crisp screen, good quality video (if you need it), easy to operate pad and FM radio option (how about AM Radio in next Zune?), 80GB storage for nice price.

Would I recommend this player?

For $250-Yes, but if you expect high quality sound-you’ll be disappointed like me!

this stuff is awesome..^^
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
i just got this 2weeks ago.. amazing easy to control…with wireless

radio sounds Awesom too..good shape.light weght.. but..need Add..

video only surpport “wmv” mp4 “‘….. need “AVI” file really..!!

and i want to add korean language..surpport.

that’s why only 4star..

It’s great
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’ve been using this thing for running/working out quite a bit. It’s easy to use, the software is easy to figure out, and everything worked perfectly out of the box.

Premium device, not so premium headphones
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Ok so i bought this the other day, not wanting to buy an ipod (i hate apple ). It arrives… super. Here’s where the fun starts.

Device: The device itself is really really nice. Solid build (prefer the glass cover and metal case to the plastic crap on the 120) – and quite slim. The contrast and resolution of the screen are great, really nice crisp images with beautiful colour. The touchpad works great, and it is very easy to navigate anywhere through the interface.

Software: I don’t know what a lot of people have been complaining about. The software really isn’t that bad. Admittedly there was a slight hiccup between the zune software and WMP (ironically) where it made albums with “various artists” split up into seperate albums for each artists’ song. Took a little while to get it all back to normal but that was fine. The sync function is a little slow, but does the job and doesn’t hog resources too badly so you can let it run in the background.

I’m not a big fan of the fact that the unit doesn’t even support AVI files – i really hope that is rectified at some point because that is one of the most universal video file types out there.

Headphones: Ok so let’s get something straight. The headphones… well they aren’t CRAP but they certainly aren’t awesome – especially for someone who likes bass. I’m a pretty big music lover and i listen to everything – death metal, techno, jazz, rap, classical – all that stuff. So it’s all on there. But there is a distinct lack of bass being produced by these headphones. Honestly i was expecting much better quality (from the other reviews i’d read). So that’s been the one major downfall – i think i’ll have to buy a new set that handles some bass.

I usually don’t overly like in-ear headphones, but these fit quite nicely and do a superb job of blocking outside sound. That was a surprise.

Features: So down to the last bit. I literally only got this item today, so i’ve spent a large amount of time syncing all sorts of stuff onto it – so i haven’t had a massive amount of time to play with all the features. The games seem ok – decent time wasters. I’m in Australia so the social network thing doesn’t operate down here (hopefully that will change when the NZ place is built).

Summary:

Over all this is a very solid mp3 player. The lack of EQ does nothing to diminish sound quality, and all the implemented features on the interface work really well. Apart from the slight disappointment with the headphones, this is a really great product!

Hope this helps any potential buyers

1 BIG PROBLEM
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
My 1 big problem with the Zune is you must keep your media files on your computer in order for the files to remain on the Zune device. I wanted an mp3 player so that I could keep my music on an external device, so that I would not have to clog up my computer with all my music and videos. The Zune is useless to me for this reason. I don’t really see why anyone would want this product if it only stores your media if the media is already on your computer. Useless.

Very good, but not perfect
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Things I like:

*The size and shape of the device

*The large, beautiful screen

*The Sound quality

*The picture viewer

*The optional touch feature

*The interface and menus

*The really cool headphones that come with it-fits nearly any sized ear

*The USB that comes with it

Things I don’t like:

*The Zune program: the only way to sync, the program is slow; and it is not that user friendly. There are many bugs in synchronization too

*THE AWFUL SERVICE- it is nearly impossible to find a phone number, you have to go through website hell for help

*My battery is defective and trickles, it never lasts more than 5 hours when playing, and when turned off, it lasts about 8, which is weird. It needs to be replaced, but the terrible microsoft service is sending me the package to send it in and get fixed; 6-8 weeks. Sucks. I should have bought it new rather than used in “mint condition”. It was in mint condition save the defect battery

*another weird thing is some of the album art is displayed in extremely low, blurry quality, and it crops the album art from a square to a rectangle because of the screen shape.

If you like the ipod and itunes you probably better of with one of those because of the good service and everything. But this is a pretty cool gadget.

It’s just like the iPod
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Not going with the flow of the hype, I decided to purchase the Zune instead of the iPod. Sound quality is great, but use a Seinheisser earbuds for greater quality. But from browsing songs to the Zune software, and even on how you turn off the device, the Zune seems to copy these functionalities from the iPod. I am happy with the purchase though but I just don’t like the synching method it uses. The Creative Zen players are better.

ZUNE DA BOMB
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Microsoft… Bill… Zune…

Yesterday… Now… Forever…

Zune is a combination of pure genius and shear elegance…

Beats Ipod by a landslide
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
There are so many reasons i prefer this over ipod and you can probably find them below me from other people so i wont bother listing them again.

But i will say there is only one thing i dont like about this and i might have just not figured out how yet. When you are playing a song i dont think you can go back to a particular moment during the song or fast forward though a part. Other then that this has so many more features then ipod including my favorites, accepting almost all video file types, finding the album artwork if your files are missing it, wireless syncing through your computer router or zune to zune, customizable background.

3 major benefits over IPOD
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’m very happy with my Zune 80gig. Three main features clearly make it a better device than an IPOD for me. 1)The screen is awesome. I’ve put several of my all-time favorite movies on it. People are amazed on what a great video watching platform the big Zune is. Video PODCASTS are also great. 2) Zune Pass. We have 3 Zune owners in my family, all of us share one Zune Pass account. Unlimited music and comedy for $5/month each. 3) Radio. When I work out at the gym, and can dial in the video motitors while on the bike and watch the news.

Zune
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
This was a big disappointment. I did not get to use it at all and returned it. The software are atrocious, my computer did not recognized the Zune. I had to change computers just to make it do something, than it synched junk I did not need and could not get rid of it in the Zune. I felt like in the dark ages of DOS, nothing works full of problems and you have to read a ton of stuff to figure out how it works. I bought an iPod instead.

I think I’m in love!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I absolutely love the Zune. I ordered a ZuneOriginal from the official Zune website here: http://www.zuneoriginals.com. It was pricey, but totally worth every penny. I got the black, 80 GB, and after at least a month of using it, I still haven’t gotten bored of it. And I love the customized engraving. I used to have an ipod nano; and while the size was very nice, it didn’t keep me interested too long. It was too simple for me. If you like things simple, or you want something lightweight for working out or jogging, I highly suggest the ipod nano. The Zune is quite big in size so it might not be a good idea if you are using it for working out. Although, you could always get an arm belt for it. But if you are into more entertainment and interactivity, the Zune is the way to go. It has many great features – changing backgrounds, music, videos, radio, and the best thing of all – podcasts. There’s even ways to put games on there! The high-quality sound and large LCD screen makes things even more alluring. This is a highly suggested mp3 player.

The only thing you have to be careful about the Zune is its delicate exterior. It’s VERY easy to get scratches on it – especially the LCD screen. So if you are prone to keep your mp3 player in your pocket with some change and keys, I suggest you get a screen protector/silicon case protector to shield it from harm. I haven’t gotten any major scratches from experience yet, but I’ve gotten a few very light hints of scratches on the engraving I got on the back of my Zune. And the LCD screen is very very sensitive to fingerprints. Another downside is that it’s not a good idea to use your Zune while it is sunny outside, because you can barely see anything because of the LCD screen. So it might be a bit troublesome if you want to switch to another song but you are walking under some sun. But don’t let these things bring you away from buying the Zune, I still highly recommend it!

Great media player, terrible software
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
This is my first MP3 player not counting my old MP3 CD walkman and I love it. It’s sleek and shiny and sounds great. The interface is easy to navigate, but the center button can be touchy while pushing the center to select a song and it goes back or to a different album, but it’s a very minor issue.

The big problem with this device is the software and Microsoft’s limiting it’s compatibility by deactivating it as a drive. The only way to put files on it is by using the Zune Software which is awful. Wireless sync is a great feature since all of my USB ports are constantly in use. Many complain about the video file format limitations, but there is a ton of software out there where you can rip your own DVD’s to the proper resolution and format. Depending on the software used there could be some de-interlacing problems in playback but with such good video quality on the Zune I’d say it’s a good value all around.

Joggers, Runners, Active People Beware!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I’ll make this simple, if you are exercising in a way that involves a moderate amount of moving, this will break in 20-30minutes.

First off, I would have given this Zune a near perfect score, a 3 1/2 out of 4 if possible. But for our specific purposes it was useless! We used it with the official exercise arm band, made sure it was secure, and even attempted to minimize the arms movement. Walking, riding a bike to work on the pavement and weight lifting went fine. Light to moderate jogging or off road mountain biking was a completely different story. Consistently at about the 20 minute mark it began to skip like a disc man from the 90s. Next thing you know it would freeze and never again be usable. It would stay on that screen until the battery drained.

So if you are looking to exercise with an mp3 player, I’d stick with any flash based player. If you ever foresee working out with this, stay away.

(full disclosure: we went through 4 of these and not from the same store so we would ensure that it wasn’t simply a problem with a shipment.)