ms zune

I am not an Apple fan. At all. But still, I've been carrying an iPod for over 6 years, and I really liked the little thing. Sadly, it wasn't the same iPod I'd been carrying, and after my third one broke I was simply too pissed to spend 300+EUR on yet another pod that wouldn't even last me 2 years. So I looked at the competition and found there was next to none. Except for the Zune that is, Microsoft's alternative. It looked decent enough so I just went ahead and bought me one.

zune hardware and software

the good

I've been playing with it for about two weeks now and I'm pretty happy with the piece of hardware. It's pretty big but that just means you get a bigger screen, which is pretty nice. It handles well, though there's none of that fancy touch and rotate stuff. Real gadget freaks will probably be disappointed about this. The interface is pretty simple and even though there's no real on/off button, the 2-second press is a lot easier than the earlier 5-second squeeze juggle on the iPod.

Most notable is the Zune styling, which is pretty fresh and hip. The use of fonts is remarkable and the twirly graphics are pretty cool. The Zune itself looks nice enough too. You could argue that it will look pretty outdated in 4 or 5 years time, but even the slick, minimal design of the older iPods is pretty ugly compared to modern standards. I like the risk Microsoft took there.

I haven't been playing around with the pictures and video options that much, as I don't see any good reason to put them on my Zune. I use it to listen to music walking to work and back, watching pictures or movies might be dangerous doing such a thing in a busy city. The radio is fine for those people who actually listen to the radio, but not really my cup of tea either. At least it's nice to see it's all there, and it's done well.

One final interesting aspect of the Zune is its wireless sharing abilities. Sadly, I'm probably one of the only people in my country owning a Zune, so chances are quite slim I'll be putting it to good use. But beaming songs to each other sounds like a pretty nice idea to me.

the bad

Sadly, buying just a Zune is not an option. The Zune comes with an experience, and it sure is a painful one. The only way to get songs onto the device is by installing the Zune software. No alternatives, whatsoever. Imagine how pissed I was when I found out I was about 2 years of MS updates behind to actually be able to install the software. Various other problems popped up (low disk space, partitioning error, crashing IEs, etc etc) but after about 3 days I actually had it installed. So much for quickly throwing on some songs and heading out.

To be honest, installation on my work PC (which was fully updated) was a breeze, at least I got lucky there. Anyway, that's not all, because the Zune software isn't really made to transfer song to the Zune. Apparently MicroSoft mimicked Apple too much and made a new iTunes. It's a regular media library management tool, forcefully pushing you to rearrange and clean your whole media library to the whims of your software creator. Actually getting around that isn't as simple as it seems, so syncing (because that's what it does, it syncs, it doesn't transfer) between your hard disk and Zune is a damn tricky business.

Another point where Microsoft completely fails is in their policy to lock the Zune, ignoring its portable hard disk capabilities. Out of the box, the Zune can't be used as a portable hard disk. You can do some registry tricks to unlock it, but you still can't add files to your Zune. Actually getting stuff on there requires you to forcefully quit the Zune software while it's syncing. It works, but it's pretty annoying to work like that. No idea why they had to go and make it so hard for people to put some files on the damn thing.

the conclusion

Depending on what you think is important, the Zune is either a perfect buy or a complete waste of time and money. The Zune itself is ace, having a nice battery life, great screen and comfortable controls. The Zune software on the other hand is the worst piece of junk Microsoft ever produced. It will take you some time bypassing the bullshit, but once you're there you can happily use your player without too much hassle.

It's a shame though that they finally produced a killer appliance, and decided to fuck it up again by putting up way too many (unnecessary) restraints. If the software doesn't bother you, buy a Zune. If it does, don't even think about trying.