Customer Reviews:
 Enjoying it more than I was expecting November 14, 2007
20 out of 28 found this review helpful
I have been quietly waiting for Zune to support WMA lossless playback. Just when I had given up hope, out comes the Zune 2. I am using it with Vista, and haven't had any trouble yet adding the software or getting the Zune to run. Even the wireless sync worked without complaint. I am impressed that after playing it for about a day I haven't heard a skip even when it's churning through WMA lossless files that sustain 700-800 kBps. I suspect that with constant playback I will end up getting about 5-6 hours doing that, which is not bad.
 Good player but disappointing desktop software November 14, 2007
28 out of 37 found this review helpful
The Zune 80 may be an excellent player, but you are forced to use it with the Zune desktop software. Unfortunately, this software, while user friendly, is a huge disappointment.
In this review, I will be comparing the Zune desktop software to the Ipod desktop software (Itunes) which, as far as I'm concerned, is still far superior :
Downsides :
* First of all, on Zune contrary to Itunes, there's no real song rating system (i.e. 1 to 5 stars). Instead, there's a "like it or not" system. That's not very useful when you want to create smart playlists.
* Speaking of smart playlists, there's no way to create one on the Zune software. You have to manually put the songs you want in your playlist, which is a pain compare to what I'm used to with Itunes. On Itunes, you can create smart playlists based on music genre, years, song rating, duration of the songs, etc. You are out of luck if you want to do the same with the Zune.
* Also, with the Zune software, editing a song information - particularly adding an album cover - is an awkward process and editing multiple songs at the same time is simply impossible. The easiest way I've found to edit songs is to get into windows explorer and work from there.
* There's very few ways to filter your songs, albums and artists in Zune compare to Itunes. There's like 3 or 4 different filters in Zune, including alphabetically, compare to something like 30 on Itunes. (Edit : Ok, I just found like 15 hidden filters in Zune, so its not nearly as bad as I first thought)
* Finally, when you are playing a song on the "now playing" interface, you can't easily access the song information, let alone edit it.
Upsides :
* Nice layout, beautifully designed.
* User friendly
* Excellent sound quality.
* Can Sync with Windows Media Player
* Wireless Synching with the Zune player
* Wireless Synching with Xbox 360
For me, one word describes very well the whole Zune software experience: inconvenient. It's unfortunate because I really wanted to like it. The good news is that, contrary to the hardware, the software can be improved with upcoming patches.
Despite the flawed zune desktop software, I think the Zune player is still a very good choice. With good sound quality, premium earbuds, large display, nice interface and plenty of features you won't find on other players - like fm tuner and wireless abilities - the zune 80 is a great value and is hard to ignore.
Better than I thought it would be November 14, 2007
45 out of 54 found this review helpful
I have been an ipod owner for many years. I always had a good experience with them, but when it was time to get a new player none of their offerings really matched what I was looking for. Yes, the itouch is beautiful, but 16gb for that price ... not gonna do it.
When I saw the second generation Zune was coming out, I checked out the specifications and decided it was time to "switch".
What I like:
1. Solid engineering; it is heavier than an ipod and a little bit bigger, but I kind of like the weight of it. I even feel cool having it because it isn't the same mp3 player I see everyone else has -- that is pretty superficial though.
2. The touch wheel is actually a nice interface. This works great even though you do have to adjust to it a little. Navigating through menus is easy and they pretty much nailed it.
3. The menu system looks and works great ... makes some other devices appear "dumb". I hate to say it is hip, but yeah it is.
4. FM Radio ... granted I am a sirius user, but I was surprised how great this feature works. I am sure I will get a little use out of that. My gym has TVs that run sound on radio frequencies, and I was never able to listen to them with my ipod.
5. It has a nice sized screen. This was a good middle ground between the itouch and the ipod classic for me. When I thought about the features of the itouch that I would actually get the most out of it was the screen. This screen seems to have a good quality and you will see my negative comments of it below.
6. Good price for the features.
7. Good sound quality and a decent pair of included ear buds. I have owned a lot of ear buds including some higher end models like shure e2s. I think they supplied a pretty good pair. Beyond just the ear buds I think I can tell the difference compared to my ipod, but that might just be a new user euphoria experience.
8. Can customize the background -- adds that personal touch.
9. Wireless syncing.
What I don't like:
1. Video quality is not bad, but it could be better. If the resolution was higher I think this would be a 5 out of 5, but it really shouldn't be a deal breaker; it still looks pretty good.
2. The zune desktop software isn't shabby at all, but it does take a little getting used to. I have noticed a few things that are lacking or not working great. This is one of those areas where, hopefully, we won't suffer for long if releases are distrubuted periodically.
3. I wish the wireless syncing was faster and there were more options of when to do it. My network is setup in a way that causes a couple of trips between systems, so I probably am adding some latency. It is a cool feature to add one song, podcast or even an album, but I would like some more automation added.
I have only had it for 2 days now, but I am really glad I decided to get this compared to the ipod classic and the itouch. Both of those players have their good points, but the Zune seems to really fit with what I want and need.
Great player - it is a good buy - I am very happy with this purchase. I would give it 5 out of 5 stars if it only had a couple of slight improvements. As another reviewer said - 4.5 stars if it was possible.
 Dangerously Close to PERFECTION! November 14, 2007
235 out of 311 found this review helpful
Dangerously Close to PERFECTION!
Dangerously Close to PERFECTION! I always wanted to buy the original Zune but didn't bother due to the fact it was only 30GB and at that time I was already on my 80GB iPod. When I was on my 80GB I was already on the borderline of a shortage in GB so I was ecstatic when Apple released the 160GB. I have so much videos and that's what takes up all my memory space. After purchasing the 160GB I realized how disappointed I was. I hated the new cheap plastic cover they used; the screen didn't get any bigger, the user interface was spotty and slow (because it takes time to load album art), the scroll wheel was AWFUL and very unresponsive. In short, I was disappointed. The only plus was the memory space. Now the only way I would have enjoyed the iPod was if the 160GB was released in the body of the iPod touch. Instead Apple decided to only utilize 8GB or 16GB as some sort of test drive before the bigger drives get released. I called everywhere in Manhattan yesterday for the Zune & nobody had it. They either had it or their 6 dollar an hour minimum wage employee refused to check if the item was in stock when I called. Anyways I called Circuit City and or course the 18 year old kid that answered said they had tons of Zune's & that he unloaded it off the truck himself the night before the release date but at the same time he refused to put one on hold for me. I go out of my way to go to Brooklyn and of course when I got there they didn't have any. Lucky for me while I was at the store a customer was returning his Zune because he hated the user interface and he thought the device was too big so he exchanged it for an iPod Nano classic. Ok let's get to device. Overall I am very pleased with the device. Like I stated it's dangerously close to perfection, but not quite their yet. I love the design; its very sleek, sexy, futuristic, and very heroine sheik (Wish other colors were available). I've been using iPods for years so I am use to iTunes and the iPod structure menu. So it took a quick second to get use to the Zune interface. The scroll wheel is nicely designed and can be used in 2 ways. Like the original Zune you can hit to select or touch the scroll wheel to browse. The best of both worlds and you get to turn off the touch feature if you want as well. I like the menu setup and I like the fact that you can customize the backgrounds with what's included or with your own pictures unlike the iPod. The pictures look nice & crisp on the 3.2 inch LCD screen. The only thing that was a disappointment was that the album art when a song is being played isn't the clearest image. I guess in order to save memory space the resolution was toned down. I love the fact it has a radio. After having an iPod for so long I realized how many years it was that I didn't get to listen to the radio due to the fact one wasn't built in. Zune also has updated software so that was a nice change even though I didn't see anything wrong with their original design. Last compliant is I wish with all the technology we had that syncing songs would be at faster speeds. I clocked myself last night & it took 3 hours to port all my songs which was about 6500 songs & just a few movies & TV shows onto the Zune. Please note to all teckies out their lets build a better way of syncing songs so it doesn't operate at the speed of a crawling turtle. Bottom line is I am so pleased with my Zune. It really has done what the iPod hasn't been able to do and that's called EVOLVE. Having both devices I really prefer the Zune over the iPod. It's the best of the bunch and with some more advertising people will actually pay attention to this device. Bye Bye iPod Nation, Hello Zune Nation.
1 word SOUND!!! it blows the "Idontknowwhatmusicissupposetosoundlikepod" away November 14, 2007
27 out of 39 found this review helpful
I'm only giving this 4 stars because i can't believe the zune creators didn' put any kind of equalizer on this thing no equalizer at all huh. but i must say it sounds freaking awesome even without an eq. let me start off by saying i have used the new classic ipod and i can't believe for such a popular and expensive item they sound the way they do my musicjust did not sound the same on an ipod. well i bought this yesterday and OH MY GOD this thing sounds incredible i challenge anyone who has an ipod to go and buy one of these and listen to the sound and tell me your ipod can even compare. and if you don't like it just return it. but anyone who has been using an ipod for years don't know what there missing. this thing is awesome for sound alone but all the other new features are killer to. hopefully the eq will be addressed in a firmware update. go out and get one you will love it uhhhhh what music should sound like!
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