The New Zune
"Just a few days ago I was wondering whatever happened to the Zune. Now I'm seeing commercials for the new improved Zune. Is it worth another look as an iPod alternative?"
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The New Zune vs. iPod Classic
I had the same reaction about the Zune. It launched with much fanfare as the iPod killer about a year ago, but seemed to fade quickly. Microsoft says about a million Zunes were sold in the first eight months, but people must be afraid to show them in public, because I've never glimpsed one in the wild. Anyway, the new Zune seems to have some nifty features, so let's take a look at the latest model, and see how it compares to the iPod Classic.
The new Zune 80GB model (dubbed the Zune 80) has a four-way pressure sensitive touchpad for easier navigation, comes in black or white, has a slightly larger 3.2-inch screen (the original Zune was 3 inches), and is a bit smaller than the original Zune (which has been renamed the Zune 30). The Zune 80 and it's direct competitor, Apple's iPod Classic 80GB, both retail for $249. (For completeness, I'll mention that the new Zune also comes in 4GB and 8GB models, but I'm going to focus on the Zune 80 here.)
Everyone seems to love the new Zune's real glass screen, an upgrade from the easily scratchable face of the original Zune. Image quality and contrast are much improved as well, and hooray, support for MPEG4 video was added. The old Zunes only played Microsoft's proprietary WMV format videos. Battery life is improved in the new models, from about 13 hours of audio to 22. Just be sure to keep the wireless feature turned off when you're not using it, or battery life will drop significantly.
Oh, and syncing up with a PC is easier with the wireless feature. The Zune 80 can connect to your home wireless network and update the content on your Zune. Zune will automatically import unprotected WMV, MPG4 and H.264 files into your video library. The wireless Zune-to-Zune sharing feature lets users songs, albums, playlists, pictures and even audio podcasts. The downside is that you can only listen three times to a song that was "squirted" to your Zune.
As for aesthetics, you won't see much difference in the old and new Zunes when they're turned off. The new model is slightly smaller and lighter, but turn them on and you'll see that the Zune 80 sports a spiffy new graphical interface that has received praise from critics for both looks and ease of use. You can navigate easily through your music, picture and video collections. Playlist creation is more intuitive, users can browse a library of podcasts, and there are over 60 original, new funky backgrounds to choose for your device. You can even customize a Zune to fit your personality with a free engraving and shipping for a limited time. Zune Originals are works of art by 18 international artists that can be engraved onto the back of the player, with up to four lines of text.
Other Zune Factoids...
- The Zune has a built-in FM tuner, and comes with high quality headphones.
- You can plug a Zune into your Xbox 360 and listen while you play, or customize the soundtrack in your favorite games.
- When you download music or videos, you can pay 99 cents per song, or opt for a Pass subscription with unlimited use for $14.99 a month, which can be shared between up to 3 PCs and three different Zunes.
- And interestingly, Microsoft does allow folks to upgrade Zune 30 devices with the new firmware. This makes the Zune 30 look and act just like the Zune 80, but of course the storage capacity does not change.
- Zune Social, the online Zune community, is a site to catch up with other Zune users and share your faves with them.
- The Zune 4GB and 8GB models also feature the new "squircle" touchpad, are available in black red, green, and pink, and have a 1.8-inch screen. The MSRPs are $149.00 and $199.00, respectively.
There are also plenty of new accessories to go with your Zune. Choose from leather cases, earbuds, cables, docks, a car package for travel, and a recently released A/V kit with a wireless remote, a charging dock, an A/V output cable to connect to your TV, and a smaller AC adapter.
Zune 80 Versus iPod Classic
Okay, enough about the new Zune. Let's see how it compares to the 80GB iPod Classic. Both are excellent portable media players, so check out the table below to see a summary of the key differences.
| Zune 80 | iPod Classic | |
| PRICE | $249 | $249 |
| CAPACITY | 80 GB | 80 GB |
| SCREEN | 3.2 inch LCD, Glass | 2.5 inch LCD, Plastic |
| SIZE | 2.4 x 4.3 x 0.5 inches 4.5 ounces |
2.4 x 4.1 x 0.4 inches 4.9 ounces |
| INTERFACES | Wireless, High Speed USB | High Speed USB |
| AUDIO FORMATS | AAC, MP3, WMA | AAC, Protected AAC, AIFF, MP3, WAV |
| VIDEO FORMATS | WMV, MPEG4 | MPEG4 |
| BATTERY LIFE | 25 hours 4 hours video |
30 hours audio 5 hours video |
| FREE ENGRAVING? | YES | YES |
| WIRELESS? | YES | NO |
| FM TUNER? | YES | NO |
| INTERFACE | Spiffy squircle | Snazzy wheel |
| DOWNLOADS | 99 cents per song, or $15/month unlimited | 99 cents per song |
| COMPATIBILITY | Windows XP, Vista | Windows XP, Vista, Mac OS X |
So... Should You Buy a Zune Or an Ipod?
As you can see, the two compare very favorably. The Zune has made some great strides in the newest model, but it still suffers from the stigma of last year's lukewarm reception and the memory of some of those Version 1.0 issues. If you're agnostic on the Windows/Mac issue, and you can't decide based on the features, then you have only one choice to make. Which big corporate behemoth do you want to hate more -- Apple or Microsoft?
If it's features you want, the Zune's larger screen will appeal to people who want to watch videos on the go, but the iPod's longer battery life may be more important to audiophiles. The Zune's FM tuner and wireless sync are very cool, but if you're a Mac user, your iPod is the only game in town. Do you own one of the new Zune 80GB players? Tell us about your experience with it...
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Check out other articles in this category:Posted by Bob Rankin on December 5, 2007 02:47 PM
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Most recent comments on "The New Zune"
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Shouldn't "iPod Classic 80MB" be named "iPod Classic 80GB"? EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes, sorry! Typo fixed now... |
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a simple error: you said "Apple's iPod Classic 80MB" and meant 80GB. |
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I have the Zune 30Gb and am VERY impressed with it. Easy to run and does a great job. The only PROBLEM is the software. It is about the worst I have ever seen. I had hoped I'd be able to plug the zune into my 'puter and treat it like just another external drive. Not so. The software sucks. VERY VERY BAD. EDITOR'S NOTE: I suggest you upgrade the software. There's a link in the article above. |
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I just bought a refurbed Zune 30Gb for $89 from woot.com's legendary one day sale. Notes: 1. I did upgrade the firmware to 2.2 but still the Zune "Marketplace" software does do some odd things to albums, playlists and such. It even puts a few pocasts into the "music" section, as an album. Compilation "albums" freaks the software out, instead of one compilation album, it breaks down into one album per song. I'd also like the option of having the Zune act as a drive. 2. The FM radio is nice. The RDS display / readout is a unique feature! 3. Do a search for the free Handbrake software to convert your DVD's to MP4's to play on the Zune. |
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Which big corporate behemoth do you want to hate more -- Apple or Microsoft? You can hate both but still love the iPOD. The Zune is Microsoft's too late comeback and you think the company that created Vista can get anything right? |
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This new Zune sounds like a definate improvement. I will probably buy it. It sounds like companies are trying to FINALLY bridge the gap between all the proprietary audio/video formats. I wish they could have bridged the gap a little more though... (ex: able to download any song (regardless of format/legalities) and play it on your "portable player of choice"). I just wish companies focused more on the actual products rather than on limiting their customers. Overall.... I wish I could wait longer to see the next generation mp3 (audio/video) players, but I can't. Thus, through all my research the Zune or the 160gb IPOD seem like the best buys. So I'm going with the Zune. |
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P.S. --> I wish the battery life was longer on the Zune. I've heard only 20 hours or so. Meanwhile, IPOD 160BG gets 40 hours!!! WOWZERS. |
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I love my Zune30. I upgraded the firmware and love the podcast feature. I just use the software on my PC to subscribe to my favorites, when I get home from work at night I turn on the PC, plug in my zune for charging and the program downloads the newest podcasts, removes the ones I've already listened to from the zune and uploads the new ones for listening to the next day. Wireless is kind of useless unless you have a quick picture to download. If you have a video or whole album you might as well just plug the zune in and charge it up and quickly download the content. |
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One more thing. If you delete files from one of your PC's "monitored" folders, it will delete the files from your Zune, also. As well if you change your monitored folders in any way, such as renaming or moving, the Zune s/w will also delete the files on the Zune. For Instance - I had 25 photos on my PC's Aug-Sep-Oct-2007 directory on my PC. I renamed the directory to Aug-Sep-Oct-Nov-2007 and it deleted the 22 photos on my Zune sent from the original Aug-Sep-Oct-2007 directory. |
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I've had my Zune 80 for seven months now, having switched from a 4G iPod, and I'm really happy with it. There were teething problems admittedly, with the Zune software behaving strangely with both my music and video libraries. On the music side, this was down to metatagging and now the software has been patched with a built-in metatag editor this isn't a problem any more. The video library wasn't as problematic, but my filenames still sometimes switch around and there are a couple of problem videos I can't get the software to detect (but wierdly, they're on the Zune itself). Podcast functionality was a major factor in my switch to Zune and Microsoft have implemented it really well. There's no directory like iTunes has, but you just need to enter the feed URL and it's plain sailing. Seven months in and with nearly all of the Zune's teething problems ironed out, I definitely wouldn't go back to iPod. Life with the Zune is just such a smooth, seamless experience. Where I was continually updating iTunes and adding music and video to the library manually, the Zune software does it all automatically. I just plug it into the PC when I get home and come the morning I pick it up and it's ready to rock again, all recharged and updated. The only real negative I have about the Zune is that the battery life isn't the best. It's not so bad as to be a major issue, like it is for my Treo, but if I'm going on a trip I need to make sure I've given it a good charge the night before. The software was shaky initially, but has gotten significantly better with each update (unlike iTunes, which updates every couple of weeks to no discernable effect) and I think Zune version 3.0 will stack up well against the iPod and should improve Microsoft's market share. |
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