As I said back in November, I have bought myself a Zune and explained a little about WHY I bought it. Now that I've been using it for a few months I thought it would be a good time to write a critique. Also, every time I speak to Rich Griffin he asks me what I think of it so this blog post might shut him up. :)
Its impossible to write about Zune without comparing it to the 30GB iPod and I won't retract from doing that here. Just be aware that I have never owned an iPod although my fiance does have an iPod Shuffle and hence I still have iTunes installed as well because my fiance uses it to sync. So here goes...
Zune and Vista
Nothing particularly good to report here. Prior to upgrading to Vista I made sure that I installed the latest copy of the software that included the Zune Update for Vista. After upgrading the software worked fine (so I guess the update worked) but when I plugged the Zune device in the operating system didn't recognise it. Seemingly the device drivers had got mashed and I tried in vain to find somewhere from which I could download the device drivers only. I tried to repair the installation but that didn't work so my only option was to completely uninstall and reinstall the software (including drivers).
Thankfully that worked and the good news was that I didn't lose any of my music library or the artwork. After installation all my library was available, just as it was before.
The only downside of reinstalling is that my Zune device was associated with the old installation and upon plugging it in I was told that I could attach it as a guest or associate it with this new installation. If you choose the latter all the content on the device gets removed. I chose to attach the device as a guest and so far this hasn't caused me any problems - I can still add music to it from the Zune software.
Zune Dimensions
Upon release there was a lot written about how the Zune was bigger than the like-for-like iPod (i.e. the 30GB iPod). Its true, it is bigger, but mainly because its got a bigger screen. The large screen size is the most sumptuous aspect of the Zune and I am more than happy putting up with a bigger box in my pocket in order to get the higher quality visuals. The hard-wearing case is also a big plus for me because, as my fiance will tell you, I'm rather clumsy.
Zune Aesthetics
I purchased the white Zune and I reckon it looks pretty cool. How different can boxes that are 3 to 5 inches high look from each other anyway? Having said that I've been itching to get one of the suede Zunes (brown to you and me) and today I bought one. I've given my old one to my fiance so I can now happily uninstall itunes.
Zune Controls
I recently got my hands on a friend's iPod and started playing around with it. I was shocked to find that the much-vaunted scroll wheel that I'd heard so much about was a sheer pain in the ass to use. Am I going to get flamed for saying that? Maybe but I'm standing by it. I wanted to scroll through the entire list of songs and to do that I had to stand there like a lemon moving my thumb round and round for what seemed like an eternity. And if I momentarily lose the rhythm it stops scrolling. Are you kidding me? Just let me hold a button down for for pity's sake. To say I was disappointed is an understatement.
Needless to say the Zune is a lot easier to navigate around. Up, down, left, right, back, play, select. Very simple, very intuitive. And I won't give myself repetitive strain injury while trying to use it.
Zune FM Tuner
I haven't used the FM Tuner. Not once. Hence, for me, its a pointless addition that I could really do without.
Zune Community sharing
I've only met one person so far apart from me that owns a Zune and he didn't exactly have similar music tastes (I'm more John Squire to his Jon Bon Jovi) so we weren't going to need the ability to wirelessly send songs between Zunes. Still,we tried it anyway and it definitely has that cool factor that I'm sure Microsoft long for. It worked effortlessly and quickly - all very good. I hinted at the inherent problem though - what's the point in being able to send and receive songs from/to other Zunes if you don't know anyone that has got one?
Zune Accessories
I got myself the car pack and the home AV kit. Actually I got two home AV kits but the first one didn't work so I sent it back - hence the second one. The car kit contains a device that does the same as the iTrip. Its a nice bit of kit and is very handy for the many long drives we have done around California this year - but it gets a bit temperamental in big cities that have loads of radio stations, particularly Los Angeles. We routinely switch it off as soon as we get anywhere near LA county.
Now that I've got a working home kit, carrying your own personal videos and photos around with you and easily showing them on your TV is way cool on my 50" DLP HDTV.
Zune Battery Life
Its never run out on me although to be fair I'm pretty good about keeping it charged up. Of course, that's dead easy when you're using the charging dock with the home AV kit.
Zune Photos
I love being able to carry my photo albums around with me. They look great on the (comparatively) large screen and the slideshow feature is cool as well if you're going round to the relatives and want to keep them quiet for 10 minutes. The organisation of them is your basic folder structure which is a little disappointing - I would have thought there would be more support for tagging.
Zune Storage Capacity
30GB just isn't enough I'm afraid. I've got tonnes of music that I want to put on here but there simply isn't space with the photos and videos that I've got as well. I'm hoping for a more cavernous version soon.
Zune Podcasts
There's no support at all for podcasting like (I think) iTunes has got. This isn't a problem for me at the moment but in a few months when I move back to London and start commuting again I'm really going to want that feature. Here's hoping...
Conclusion
Well...I like it so far. Apart from the size (which I'm happy to put up with to get the larger screen) I honestly don't see what the 30GB iPod has over it. Can anyone tell me? In fairness I'm not an iPod user so I don't know it that well.
-Jamie
P.S. Its taken me quite a while to write this and since I wrote the first half the aforementioned Rich Griffin has gone and bought one. I'll try and cajole him into posting his thoughts as well.