Comments on: Zune: A rant in 5 parts

CNET's Senior Editor Donald Bell describes five features that surprised him about the Microsoft Zune 4, 8, and 80.

[samhardin]

It's alright Donald. The in-house unsubscribe feature would be nice, but I can wait. I really appreciate the podcast organization in differentiating between video and audio podcasts and, like you said, the different settings you can apply to each subscription. While I might not mind archiving 15 audio podcasts, I definitely don't want to be stuck with the same number of 40 minute videos.

Also, the syncing method is much better in the Zune software. Isn't it true that iTunes requires songs to be included in playlists before they can be manually synced. It seems that Zune lets you do a more intuitive check mark for each song to manually sync specific content. Of course, syncing playlists remains an option. Maybe there's a way to do this in iTunes, but I'm not willing to spend anymore time looking for it. Microsoft here I come!

Thanks for the great review, Sam

[audiodonald]

Thanks for the comment Sam. To be fair, iTunes is a vastly superior music/video library organization tool when compared to the latest Zune software. The only thing the Zune software really has going for it over iTunes is that it is less cluttered and less intimidating to use. The only time iTunes pulled that ridiculous playlist-only sync requirement was with the iPhone. All the iPods allow content to be manually added and deleted from the player.

[thatasianguy]

How do the wireless syncs work? Can they only happen on computers that have the Zune software installed on them? Same thing with podcasts, do they all have to go through that home computer or can I download them on the go anywhere that has a wireless connection? haha, I'm living in the past on a free dial up connection because I'm too cheap to upgrade. The wireless music/media syncing anywhere would be nice. :D

[audiodonald]

For better or worse, the Zune will only work with its own Zune PC software. Windows' own Media Player doesn't recognize the Zune. So yeah, if you're going to take advantage of podcasts, and wireless sync, you're going to have to use a PC with the Zune software installed on it. The Zune's Wi-Fi does not communicate directly to the internet for any of its content--it only communicates to your computer or to other Zune users.

[masterz13]

I've owned my 99 dollar Zune 30 (Newegg all the way) for a few days now. Its simply amazing. 30GB of storage, great video quality, and a super large screen make the Zune the obvious player to get. It owns the Ipod so much. Its even got a ~400mhz cpu. Why would Microsoft implement such power in such a small device? My guess is gaming and productivity. I think there will be programs/apps for it, games for sure. Possibly...a web browser.

[trkwkr179]

Look,. I have a couple ipods, a cowon d2, and a sony nwz-618. I just got my hands on a zune and 99% of the features are amazing. But,............. I want an eq AND they need to increase the steps in the volume control to make it more fine tuned. I mean, all in all its actually a great player. I'm waiting on a brown zune 30 to play music ( its got the eq) and the 80 is for me to watch video at work while I am waiting on standby. And Donald,... we know your a huge fanboy of ipod and I give you credit for your honesty. I personally liked only ipod till I checked out the sony nwz-618 and my apple fandom was dead there after.

[sportsunit]

Nice article. But dude, where is your Zune Card or what is your zune tag... Are you part of the social or what??? lol. Seriously, I agree with a lot of your points. As a pretty loyal follower who is thrilled by what MS is doing with digital music, I have some ideas and questions about the direction the software is taken, which I outline below:

-the now playing aspect of the software needs to be redone with the "now playing" list having the same functionality as a playlist. The album art mosaic is nice, but cannot be the only way to view the now playing list. Currently, the quicklist functions as a playlist on the device and you have to go to the playlists sections of your device to find this. However, in the software, the now playing list is shockingly absent from the list of playlists when you click on the playlist icon. This needs to be consistent across the device and zune software.
-The restore download history for subscriptions continues to stall at 12%
-There is currently no way to skip songs with a broken heart on the device, which negates one of the only benefits of having such as simplified system.
Video organization for your colleciton is currently one big folder with all of your videos files dumped in it, which is not acceptable.
-There are at least 10 scenarios where sorting is not possible but should be in the software.
-We should be able to see genres in not only the list view, but in the browse view as well for our collections.
-Will there ever be any sort of library organization on the device, even just a save quicklist option?
-With 30,000+ songs in my library, I almost feel paralyzed not being able to create autoplaylists.
-Do you guys actually read the threads on the wishlists of the zune.net forums because there are some very important threads on there.
-Right-clicking a song to get to an artist's page in the marketplace or an album in the marketplace should be standard across different sections within the software.
-will there ever be a more focused venue for people like myself who have had zunes and zune passes from day one to express how development of the software should progress from here on (or does MS and the Zune Team want to go through this with every new relaase)?
-Swipe navigation and button pressing of the zune pad when the 80 GB is in the official leather case currently needs tweaking.
-There is no sync group functionality for videos, which would be really useful for transferring only certain TV shows. For example, a sync group could be made for a series or genre. So, if you wanted to make one for "heroes", it would transfer shows from this series whenever they are in the collection.
-There is currently no way to make a video playlist.

[dangerousns]

Finally a good post on CNET.

[samhardin]

2nd comment to this post:

Bottom line: I want a big screen with high storage capacity for videos. The new Zune 80 is the ONLY player that fits this criteria. The iPod Touch, with its higher resolution and 1/5 inch larger screen, shoots itself in the foot by not having enough storage to take advantage of those high quality videos which in turn require even more space. If there was an 80GB Touch, I'd be willing to both purchase it (over a Zune 80) and pay more for it.

[JoeFree53]

I bit on a refurbished 30 GB first generation at Woot, but it only worked for 48 hours before conking out. After a 3 week wait (contact Zune support, agree it needs service, wait for the BOX, return the BOX, wait for service) I actually received a NEW 30GB unit for less than $100 - sweet!

This was the same day the new firmware was released, so my upgrade was without the problems reported elsewhere as there was no media on the unit.

My one gripe - asides from the lack of detailed control over tagging and playlists - is that the wireless sync feature only works on the 1st Gen 30GB units if I dumb my wireless router security down to simple WPA or WEP, it WILL NOT support WPA-2 encryption. Must be a hardware thing, I have seen this flaw on some older streaming media devices as well.

Too bad, I was actually looking forward to the wireless sync, but enhanced wireless security is more important.

Microsoft - is there any solution?

[randalllewis]

By the way, the Zune 80 TV output is component, not composite. That is a rather important distinction and yours is not the first review I've seen to not get it right.

[jimoliverjr]

The Zune 80 TV output is Composite. I got the Zune Home AV Pack v2
and yes the docking station has component output. However, the AV output cables that come with it plug into the docking station or the Zune 80 earphone jack and the output is composite. I have tried it and it works.

[canyouseethesunset]

Excellent review. I tried out a first generation Zune 30gb awhile ago and aside from the bulky casing and the marginally functional PC software, the player itself was impressive. Can't wait to give these new ones a try.

[dream4m5]

I downloaded the software before buying the Zune 80, just to see if I had any problems with it. It looks great but it does not recognize my recorded tv from media center(dvr-ms). Is this only supported in Vista and not XP? If so what the hell is the difference, they are both dvr-ms files?

[mr.reality]

Speaking of the nice Now Playing screen in the software, why can't you get to the now playing list in the device? I think this is a glaring omission. You can't add things to your now playing list, only to the 'quicklist' - LAME. Guess I'm just used to how nice my ZVM is.

[new2zune]

I just got a a 30G Zune, and loaded the software that came with it. I chose the Zune as the default player when downloading all types of music formats, however I'm unable to add my music mp3's list/playlists that is already in my Windows Media Player library. I did try to create a new playlist folder in Zune and drag the music files to the folder but it it not allow it. Any tips to help me move my old music files to Zune would be appreciated. Thanks.

Also if you have experience with the download sites z-downloads.com or izunaccess.com, I would also appreciate your opinion if this is the way to go for the downloading content on my Zune.

new2zune

[xxzzxxzz]

Microsoft added the "Unsubscribe" feature for podcasts with the recent firmware update (2.30). While listening to a podcast, press the center button to bring up a menu with the unsubscribe option.

[sva999]

Doesn't anybody care that Zune 80's software is garbage? Are you all so hung up on the glitzy package that you don't notice it's contents are junk? Who cares what it looks like? Does it work? - Just barely! It's a powerful little machine, but the interface is so defficient it's forced me to go back to my ugly, uncool 3 year old Zen, where I can sort, import, and control my music the way I like it. This is a very dissapointing product. It needs a whole new operating system and interface, but all I see in the forums are happy idiotss who treat it more like a fashion accessory than a music player.

[Kernrama]

iPod is crap, and Zune is crap. Don't mean to be rude, but neither Apple nor Microsoft seems all that enthusiastic about selling to me. iPod sounds like crap no matter what Eq preset I use, and by Microsoft having no EQ whatsoever, gaurantees they are not interested in making me a Zune owner. I have Samsung T10 and a P2, and both are galaxies beyond anything the domestic makers can produce. The sound is incredible, and the batteries last forever. No EQ ?, no sale. period. I think Apple and Micro should head over to South Korea so they can learn how to make mp3 players and batteries.