GlassAdam
10-01-2010, 08:47 PM
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g306/glassadam/zune-hd.jpg
I hemmed and hawed for some time about buying a Zune HD, but finally decided to pull the trigger and am very happy I did. I have no love for Apple products so that was never an option, and Sony's X-series touchscreen Walkman failed to impress me when it was released. Older Zunes were never on my radar, but the Zune HD caught my eye from the get-go and never let up. The only thing holding me back was the cost (it is pretty expensive) but two months ago I decided to splurge and haven't regretted it.
For a bit of background context, I should mention that I use the Zune HD daily, both in my Jeep and at work. By the way, I work a very physical job in a warehouse and was worried that the player wouldn't be able to stand up to all the action, but I've had no problems there-- no scratched or cracked screen (thank goodness), no other physical damage at all. This thing's stronger than I expected!
Anyway, the player itself is great. The OLED screen is crisp and colorful, just really pleasing to look at. The touch sensitivity is top-notch, and the user interface is fun to use, intuitive, stylish, and things that I expect to happen just happen (all the usual pinch-to-zoom and such is supported and works well). I suppose I would recommend watching a youtube video or a review video in order to get a basic handle on how the UI works, because it's not really like any other player, and certainly doesn't fit in with the practical-yet-bland "screen full of icons" approach popularized by Apple. As far as playing music goes, the sound is great for my needs (but I should note that I'm no audiophile), though I wish it could get louder. All in all, the player works fantastically, and I really couldn't be happier with it's performance.
If you're looking for apps you should probably look elsewhere. There are a few apps and a few games but it's pretty clear this isn't a big priority for Microsoft. I'm sure they'll step it up for the next Zune now that they're releasing Windows Phone 7 (which borrows very heavily from the Zune HD), but for now, on this model, the app store is pretty light in content. I didn't buy this for apps, though, I bought it to be a media player, and in that regard it's an absolute beast, so there you have it.
You can access the internet via wifi, and while this is a nice feature to have, it really isn't all that useful to me since I carry a smartphone with a much better web browser (Palm Pre).
I couldn't fairly review this player without also going into it's desktop syncing software. Simply put, it's phenomenal. It blows away iTunes as far as I'm concerned in many ways which I won't really get into here. I will say that it keeps up the theme of beauty and functionality present in the player itself. Microsoft has created an entire ecosystem with the Zune HD and the Zune software that just works really, really well. Oh yeah, there is a social aspect present too, where you can keep track of your Zune Friends, see what they've been listening to, and listen to it yourself.
Speaking of listening to music, you really ought to do yourself a favor and subscribe to the Zune Pass. For just 15 dollars a month you can download as much music as you want for up to, I think, 3 Zune devices. Make no mistake-- this is a subscription service. So if you quit paying the fee, you lose access to all that music you downloaded. Think of it like Netflix for your mp3 player, I guess. On the other hand, you get to choose 10 songs per month that you keep forever, DRM free, so in reality the subscription only costs five bucks. And the desktop software acts as another way to listen to all the millions of songs in Zune's library of music, sort of like the ultimate lovechild of iTunes, Pandora, and Grooveshark (but better-looking and easier to use than any of those programs). Oh, and they have movies on the Zune marketplace, too.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g306/glassadam/zunehdblog2.png
Pros:
The sleek, stylish and responsive user interface. I'm a sucker for pretty-yet-functional UIs.
Sound quality is great to my ears
It's a little thing, but I love how the music automatically pauses when I pull the auxiliary cord or headphone cord out of it.
The industrial design is tremendous. The player is lightweight, but feels great in hand. It looks stylish unlike many other mp3 players, including Apple's iPod (in my opinion, but this is of course very subjective).
Cons:
No physical volume button. This is an odd choice, and the single most inconvenient/annoying thing about the player. You can get past it, but you shouldn't have to.
No AM radio
internet browsing kinda sucks
lack of apps
software keyboard isn't too great
wish the max volume were a bit higher
plugging the Zune HD into my XBox 360 doesn't work as great as expected; it takes FOREVER for the 360 to see the songs and let me play 'em. It should take seconds, not 4-7 minutes! (this may be a 360 issue, though, I'm not sure)
Other (probably pretty cool) features that I don't use so haven't factored into my review:
HD radio
720p HD video output
All in all I love this mp3 player. This isn't some glowing review on Day 1 after purchase based on only a few hours of use... I've put in a LOT of time with this thing and I still love it. Do yourself a favor and don't dismiss this player just because you haven't heard of it or just because it's Microsoft. It really is fantastic. Get one now. Do it.
I hemmed and hawed for some time about buying a Zune HD, but finally decided to pull the trigger and am very happy I did. I have no love for Apple products so that was never an option, and Sony's X-series touchscreen Walkman failed to impress me when it was released. Older Zunes were never on my radar, but the Zune HD caught my eye from the get-go and never let up. The only thing holding me back was the cost (it is pretty expensive) but two months ago I decided to splurge and haven't regretted it.
For a bit of background context, I should mention that I use the Zune HD daily, both in my Jeep and at work. By the way, I work a very physical job in a warehouse and was worried that the player wouldn't be able to stand up to all the action, but I've had no problems there-- no scratched or cracked screen (thank goodness), no other physical damage at all. This thing's stronger than I expected!
Anyway, the player itself is great. The OLED screen is crisp and colorful, just really pleasing to look at. The touch sensitivity is top-notch, and the user interface is fun to use, intuitive, stylish, and things that I expect to happen just happen (all the usual pinch-to-zoom and such is supported and works well). I suppose I would recommend watching a youtube video or a review video in order to get a basic handle on how the UI works, because it's not really like any other player, and certainly doesn't fit in with the practical-yet-bland "screen full of icons" approach popularized by Apple. As far as playing music goes, the sound is great for my needs (but I should note that I'm no audiophile), though I wish it could get louder. All in all, the player works fantastically, and I really couldn't be happier with it's performance.
If you're looking for apps you should probably look elsewhere. There are a few apps and a few games but it's pretty clear this isn't a big priority for Microsoft. I'm sure they'll step it up for the next Zune now that they're releasing Windows Phone 7 (which borrows very heavily from the Zune HD), but for now, on this model, the app store is pretty light in content. I didn't buy this for apps, though, I bought it to be a media player, and in that regard it's an absolute beast, so there you have it.
You can access the internet via wifi, and while this is a nice feature to have, it really isn't all that useful to me since I carry a smartphone with a much better web browser (Palm Pre).
I couldn't fairly review this player without also going into it's desktop syncing software. Simply put, it's phenomenal. It blows away iTunes as far as I'm concerned in many ways which I won't really get into here. I will say that it keeps up the theme of beauty and functionality present in the player itself. Microsoft has created an entire ecosystem with the Zune HD and the Zune software that just works really, really well. Oh yeah, there is a social aspect present too, where you can keep track of your Zune Friends, see what they've been listening to, and listen to it yourself.
Speaking of listening to music, you really ought to do yourself a favor and subscribe to the Zune Pass. For just 15 dollars a month you can download as much music as you want for up to, I think, 3 Zune devices. Make no mistake-- this is a subscription service. So if you quit paying the fee, you lose access to all that music you downloaded. Think of it like Netflix for your mp3 player, I guess. On the other hand, you get to choose 10 songs per month that you keep forever, DRM free, so in reality the subscription only costs five bucks. And the desktop software acts as another way to listen to all the millions of songs in Zune's library of music, sort of like the ultimate lovechild of iTunes, Pandora, and Grooveshark (but better-looking and easier to use than any of those programs). Oh, and they have movies on the Zune marketplace, too.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g306/glassadam/zunehdblog2.png
Pros:
The sleek, stylish and responsive user interface. I'm a sucker for pretty-yet-functional UIs.
Sound quality is great to my ears
It's a little thing, but I love how the music automatically pauses when I pull the auxiliary cord or headphone cord out of it.
The industrial design is tremendous. The player is lightweight, but feels great in hand. It looks stylish unlike many other mp3 players, including Apple's iPod (in my opinion, but this is of course very subjective).
Cons:
No physical volume button. This is an odd choice, and the single most inconvenient/annoying thing about the player. You can get past it, but you shouldn't have to.
No AM radio
internet browsing kinda sucks
lack of apps
software keyboard isn't too great
wish the max volume were a bit higher
plugging the Zune HD into my XBox 360 doesn't work as great as expected; it takes FOREVER for the 360 to see the songs and let me play 'em. It should take seconds, not 4-7 minutes! (this may be a 360 issue, though, I'm not sure)
Other (probably pretty cool) features that I don't use so haven't factored into my review:
HD radio
720p HD video output
All in all I love this mp3 player. This isn't some glowing review on Day 1 after purchase based on only a few hours of use... I've put in a LOT of time with this thing and I still love it. Do yourself a favor and don't dismiss this player just because you haven't heard of it or just because it's Microsoft. It really is fantastic. Get one now. Do it.