Zune 120 GB Video MP3 Player (Black)
by Zune
Our Price: $449.99
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $179.99 (click here)
Category: Network Media Player
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Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: ZuneBrand: Zune
Edition: Electronics
Format: CD
Platform: Windows
Model: H3A-00001
Color: Black/Black
Publisher: Zune
Studio: Zune
Music Label: Zune
Product features:
- IMPORTANT: Allow your Zune to charge for 30 minutes then disconnect and reconnect the cable to turn on the player
- Listen to your favorite FM radio stations and click to tag the songs you like for later purchase when you sync your device with your PC
- Download millions of tracks, whole albums, or playlists with the Zune Pass subscription service; extend your subscription online or by purchasing a Zune Pass card
- Connect to your home wireless network and remotely sync your Zune device with your PC collection from your dock, AC adapter, or speaker dock accessory
- 120 GB capacity for up to 30,000 songs, 25,000 photos, or 375 hours of video
- 3.2-inch color LCD with 320 x 240 pixel display resolution
- Kicker ZK500 Zune Speaker Dock (Black)
- Ultimate Ears 700 Noise Isolating Earphones
- Zlive Speaker System and Docking Station for Zune (Black)
- Altec Lansing iM-237 Orbit Ultraportable Speaker for MP3 Players (Silver)
- Logitech Portable Speaker S125i with Built-in iPod Dock
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Zune 120 GB Video MP3 Player (Black)
Customer Review: A great alternative to an iPod Classic. 5 Stars!
Summary: 5 Stars
I've had the Zune 120gb since February of this year. I was debating on this and the iPod Classic 120gb back and forth and finally came to the conclusion of the Zune 120gb because I wanted to try something new and the features on the Zune beat the iPod Classic...
Upon first opening the box you have the:
1. Zune 120gb device.
2. Earphones.
3. Sync/Charge USB Cable
4. 14 day free trial of Zune Pass.
5. Manual and other documents.
This is from memory since I lost the box, so If I left out anything I'm sorry...
The software disc is "NOT" included with the Zune this is the reason why the box is so small. You need to download the Zune software off of the internet on [...]. When the software is installing it'll ask you to plug in your Zune to update it and handle the rest. Just leave the computer alone and let it do it's thing. The software once fully loaded is very stylish and smooth. Sending media to the Zune is a breeze. It takes some time to get used to it but it's pretty simple.
Zune Pass is a service in which you par $15 a month for unlimited music downloads. You can listen to the music over and over until that month is over or unless you continue to renew the subscription until you stop renewing it. After every month you can keep 10 of the songs you downloaded. I personally don't use this service since I'm an audiophile and I buy the actual CD's and rip them into WMA Lossless format to be sent to my Zune 120gb. When you purchase a song from the marketplace they are 320kbps in bitrate quality. Songs acquired from the Zune Pass subscription service are in 192kbps. WMA Lossless songs usually average 800kbps bitrate quality so yea you are losing quality when downloading from the marketplace. But most people don't buy expensive earphones like me and use the bundled earphones that comes with the device so they won't notice the difference.
Ok I will go into different categories and rate the Zune in it....
Navigation [ 5 out of 5 ]:
The touchpad squircle is a very nice addition to the newer Zune's. It gives you that touch screen feeling without the fingerprints all over your screen. Navigating through the menu on the Zune is very straight forward and easy. The Menu consists of:
Music
Videos
Pictures
Social
Radio
Marketplace
Games
Podcasts
Settings
Clicking on Music brings you to your music collection in which you can search for songs by songs, artists, genres, albums and playlists. Clicking on Videos will bring you to your video collection in which you can't specifically search for your videos. The videos are just listed there. Clicking on Pictures will bring you to your picture collection in which you can search by folder or by date in which the pictures were uploaded to the device. You can save a picture as the background wallpaper in the menu by clicking the picture and while viewing the picture click the middle button on the directional pad and select "Set As Background". Clicking on Social will bring you to an area where you can search for nearby Zune users in your vicinity who has their wireless activated. You can also look at your friends list or check you inbox for incoming invites to share a song or picture. To take full advanatage of Social you need to enable the WiFi chip on your Zune by going into Settings. This reduces battery life so use only when needed! Clicking on Radio brings you to the radio tuner in which you can select different stations. Clicking on Marketplace brings you to the Marketplace to download more songs but you need the WiFi chip to be enabled along with a wireless router with open access in your vicinity. Clicking on Games brings up a list of games you have installed on the device in which you can either launch or delete. Clicking on podcasts brings up a list of podcasts you have on the device. You can switch between Video or Audio podcasts. Clicking of Settings brings up a list of options you can change to suit your needs better.
Sound Quality [ 4 out of 5 ]:
The sound is very clean and crisp. It sounds better than a iPod Classic. The sound coming from the Zune 120gb is also suprisingly nuetral with no noticeable emphasis in any part of the frequency spectrum. It's a nice balanced sound. The soundstage is very open and clear. The radio has a clean reception of sound with no extreme hissing or static. The Zune's amp hisses when you are using sensitive earphones. I personally use the Shure SE530's which cost about $300 on Amazon. Wonderful earphones. I even did a review on it go check it out when you're done reading this! What I mean by the hissing is when there is no music playing or quiet passages of the music are going by you will hear a faint noise that sounds like a calming ocean sound. You won't hear hissing with the bundled earbuds because they are not sensitive. There is no type of sound enhancement or sound editing option the Zune 120gb. Those options eat up battery life and the Zune 120gb battery life isn't the best to begin with. The older Zune 30gb has simple EQ presets. The Zune 120gb as well as the Zune 80, 16, 8, and 4gb share the same DAC or digital to analog converter which was built from the ground up with Microsoft telling Wolfson what to add and what to leave out.
Screen Quality [ 4 out of 5 ]:
The screen is made out of glass so it is scratch proof since glass is pretty much harder than nearly everything in your house except if you own diamonds. The screen is a nice 3.2" screen which is .7" bigger than the iPod Classic's 2.5" screen. Also this Zune has a 18 bit 262,144 color screen at a screen resolution of 320x240 pixels. The iPod Classic has less colors per pixel but shares the same resolution so images will look sharper on the iPod's smaller screen but more washed out. When viewing videos on the Zune 120gb you will need to flip the device horizontally to watch it in landscape mode. The iPod Classic doesn't require this but I personally think it's a eye sore watching videos on a 2.5" screen. Since February I have yet to see a scratch on the screen of my Zune 120gb. They're scratches on the faceplate of the device though since that is made of plastic.
Aesthetics / Looks [ 5 out of 5 ]:
This is a very sleek and sexy device. This is a major improvement from the original Zune 30gb that was literally a brick with buttons and a screen. The Zune 120gb comes in a glossy shiny black or a glossy red if you order it from [...]. You can buy the zune originals and have custom artwork get engraved on the back of the Zune with any text message you would like. The buttons are placed very well on the device. The back button is on the left of the device. The squircle touchpad is in the middle of the device and it also is a 5 button direction pad. The play/pause button is on the right of the device. The hold switch is on the top left of the device. The headphone out is at the top right of the device and the USB input is at the bottom middle of the device.
Battery Life [ 3 out of 5 ]:
It's big improvement over the Zune 30gb. The battery for me lasts about 13 hours on audio alone. I personally use lossless files which eat the battery up much more quickly them lower quality audio files. If you are using regular audio files and don't fiddle with the device much when you're outside you should expect around a 18 hour batter life or more. The iPod Classic has a whopping 33 hour battery life but this is not the case in a real life scenario. You may just get about 24 hours or less out of the iPod Classic from a real life user with real life settings.
Compatibility / File Support [ 3 out of 5 ]:
The Zune 120gb cannot be used with no other software but the Zune software. So you cannot drag and drop files onto the device straight from "My Computer" or windows explorer. The USB connector on the device is proprietary so if you lose or damage the cable you will need to pay $20 to buy another cable since you can't use any USB cable you may have laying about in your house. With 120gb's of storage on the Zune it can't be used as a external hard drive to store documents or back ups. iPod Classic supports this feature. There is a way around this but I dont know too much about it, sorry.
The Audio formats the Zune 120gb supports:
Windows Media® Audio Standard[3] (WMA) (.wma): Up to 320 Kbps; constant bit rate (CBR) and variable bit rate (VBR) up to 48 kHz sample rate. WMA Pro 2-channel up to 384 Kbps; CBR and VBR up to 48 kHz.
WMA Lossless
Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) (.mp4, .m4a, .m4b, .mov): .m4a and .m4b files without FairPlay DRM up to 320 Kbps; CBR and VBR up to 48 kHz.
MP3 (.mp3): up to 320 Kbps; CBR and VBR up to 48 kHz.
The Video formats the Zune 120gb supports:
Windows Media Video (WMV) (.wmv): Main and Simple Profile, CBR or VBR, up to 3.0 Mbps peak video bit rate; 720 pixels x 480 pixels up to 30 frames per second (or 720 pixels x 576 pixels up to 25 frames per second). Zune software will transcode HD WMV files at device sync.
MPEG-4 (MP4/M4V) (.mp4) Part 2 video[4]: Simple Profile up to 2.5 Mbps peak video bit rate; 720 pixels x 480 pixels up to 30 frames per second (or 720 pixels x 576 pixels up to 25 frames per second). Zune software will transcode HD MPEG-4 files at device sync.
H.264 video[4]: Baseline profile up to 2.5 Mbps peak video bit rate; 720 pixels x 480 pixels up to 30 frames per second (or 720 pixels x 576 pixels up to 25 frames per second). Zune software will transcode HD H.264 files at device sync.
DVR-MS[5]: Zune software will transcode at device sync.
Miscellaneous information [ No rating ]:
Capacity:
120 gigabytes (GB)
Up to 30,000 songs, or 25,000 pictures, or 375 hours of video
Device Software Features:
Buy from FM
Zune Marketplace
Channels refresh from the Internet
Preloaded games
Compatibile with Audible and Overdrive audiobooks
Clock
Screen lock
Size and Weight:
Size: 61.1 mm x 108.2 mm x 12.9 mm (w x h x d)
Weight: 4.5 ounces (128 grams)
Battery:
Music, up to 30 hours (wireless off); video, up to 4 hours
Charge time: 3 hours; 2 hours to 90 percent
Screen:
Size: 3.2-inch color display
Type: Scratch-resistant glass
Orientation: Vertical (music) and horizontal (pictures and videos)
Resolution: 320 pixels x 240 pixels
18-bit color (262,144 colors)
Wireless:
Connectivity: 802.11b/g compatible
Range: Up to 30 feet
In range, see other Zune users, see their "now playing" status (when enabled on a given Zune), and send and receive songs and pictures.
Wireless Sync:
Yes
Connectivity: 802.11b/g compatible
Authentication modes: Open, WEP, WPA, and WPA2
Encryption modes: WEP 64- and 128-bit, TKIP, and AES
Video Output:
Yes (composite-video through headphone jack; composite- or component-video through the Zune Dock, sold separately)
FM Radio:
Built in with RDS/RBDS
Ports:
USB Connector port
Headphone jack / AV output
Languages:
English, French, Spanish
Value [ 5 out of 5 ]:
For $250 you get a great sounding all around player with a hefty storage of 120gb's. It's very durable and sleek looking. It's money well spent! I personally recommend this device over the iPod Classic.
Hope you enjoyed this review, also check out my Shure SE530 review.
Description of Zune 120 GB Video MP3 Player (Black)
Massive capacity in a deluxe device that delivers uncompromised audio and video quality, the Zune 120 GB can fit a huge collection and still have room for videos, podcasts, and more. This major player hooks up with innovative discovery features like Buy from FM and wireless sharing, so you never stop gobbling tunes. It holds up to 30,000 songs, 25,000 pictures, or 375 hours of video. Watch a demo on Zune.Massive capacity in a deluxe device that delivers uncompromised audio and video quality, the Zune 120 GB can fit a huge collection and still have room for videos, podcasts, and more. This major player hooks up with innovative discovery features like Buy from FM and wireless sharing, so you never stop gobbling tunes. It holds up to 30,000 songs, 25,000 pictures, or 375 hours of video. Watch a demo on Zune.
 Every Zune device lets you listen to your favorite FM radio stations and tag songs for later purchase. |
 Download millions of tracks, whole albums, or playlists with the Zune Pass subscriptions service. |
 Remotely sync your Zune device with your PC collection. |
 The Zune Marketplace offers millions of songs, albums, TV shows, audio/video podcasts, and more. |
 A full family of accessories is compatible with all Zune devices. |
Buy from FM
Click to buy from the built-in FM radio. Every Zune device lets you listen to your favorite FM radio stations and click to tag the songs you like for later purchase when you sync your device with your PC.1
Zune Pass
With the Zune Pass subscription service, you'll get millions of tracks for the price of one CD. Download tracks, whole albums, or playlists. Explore new music or rediscover old favorites--then sync them to your Zune. Extend your subscription online or by purchasing a Zune Pass card. Or, if you like, purchase songs or albums individually.2
Wireless Sync
Remotely sync with your PC. Connect to your home wireless network and remotely sync your Zune device with your PC collection from your dock, AC adapter, or speaker dock accessory.3
Device to Cloud
Your Zune player can access thousands of wireless hotspots around the country. Automatically update your collection, browse Zune Marketplace, refresh your Channels, exchange favorites with friends, or buy songs you've tagged from your FM radio. Take advantage of a Zune Pass and access the music you love where you want, at no extra cost.
Wireless Sharing
Music is in the air with Zune wireless sharing. Send your favorite songs, albums, playlists, pictures, and even audio podcasts freely between any Zune devices. Listen to the full track of any song you receive up to three times and pass them along to other friends. If you want to buy a song, click to tag it and have your Zune find it later when you sync with your PC.4
Channels
Like your very own radio stations, Zune Channels are custom programming stations that deliver personalized playlists to your Zune from a variety of sources you select, such as music experts, celebrities, or top radio stations. Channels you subscribe to automatically update whenever you're connected--to your PC, home network, or even selected wireless hotspots. When you subscribe to Zune Pass, you get an unlimited Zune Channels experience.
Games
Zune players now come with a selection of fun free games. Choose music from your collection to create your own personal game soundtrack. Connect and compete wirelessly with other nearby Zune users.
Video/TV Shows
Choose from a growing selection of TV shows now available on the Zune Marketplace video store, and take your favorite episodes or whole seasons with you wherever you go. Use your Zune device to watch popular shows like The Office, South Park, Heroes, and 30 Rock from NBC; shows from Comedy Central; Adult Swim from the Cartoon Network; and countless other shows from other major networks.6 Also, if you're recording TV shows or movies with Windows Media Center in Windows Vista, you can import and sync them to your device. Load up your favorite videos, and hit the road.5
Zune Social
Discover, share, and connect with the Zune Social, a free online community that lets you share your musical tastes with friends and millions others. Customize your Zune Card and Zune profile page with your favorite music and pictures. Then connect and share Zune Cards, music, and messages with friends and other members of the community.
Zune Marketplace
Fulfill your entertainment desires at Zune Marketplace. Millions of songs, albums, TV shows, audio/video podcasts, and more are available--plus, your online store is always open and only a mouse click away. Download or subscription? It's up to you. Buy individual songs and albums, or an unlimited Zune Pass music subscription2.
Audiobooks
Let your Zune read to you while you can't. Listen to everything from your favorite novels to the latest bestseller. Now you can transfer your existing audiobook files from sites like Audible.com to your Zune device and enjoy them whenever you want.
Xbox 360 Compatibility
Ever wish you could play games to the sound of your favorite tunes? Now you can. Connect your Zune device to your Xbox 360 console and play your favorite songs while you game on Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE. You can share content from your Zune collection to an Xbox 360 console on a home network and play your media through the Xbox Dashboard.
Accessories
Traveling, working late, or working out? Whatever you're up to, your Zune will be right there with you. Make sure you have the best accessories to keep up with your lifestyle.
- Zune AC Adapter: Fast recharge wherever there's an outlet
- Zune Car Pack: Ride with Zune as it charges while playing in your car
- Zune Home AV Pack: Hook up your Zune to any home stereo and control it via remote
- Zune Premium Earphones: noise-isolating design that delivers superior sound quality and comfort
- Zune Cable Pack: Provides every cable you need to stay connected
- Zune Dock Pack: Nonstop your tunes while you charge your Zune
Legal Disclaimers:
1. Buy from FM feature available with stations broadcasting RDS and RT Plus data
2. Zune Pass is a monthly music subscription service; some songs are not available via Zune Pass. Available Zune Pass content may vary over time.
3. Wireless sync feature requires access to a home wireless network
4. Zune to Zune wireless sharing may not be available for all songs in your music collection and works only between Zune devices within wireless range of each other. Recipients may play full-length sample tracks up to three times.
5. Requires a PC running Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate and an integrated or external TV tuner.
6. Available content may vary over time.
What's in the Box?
Zune 120 GB Digital Media Player, earphones with three earpiece covers, Sync cable
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