Zune 80 GB Digital Media Player (Black)
by Zune
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List Price: Our Price: $135.00 You Save: $114.00 (46%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Network Media Player See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Zune 80 GB Digital Media Player (Black)
Customer Review: A great Ipod alternative
Summary: 5 Stars
I was looking for a MP3 player to have all my music to carry in car and home and really wanted something different than the IPod, this was the best option I could find.
I love to have it with the Zune dock (with RC) because now it acts as my jukebox connected to my home theater. The software is responsive, with an incredible user interface with an acceptable footprint in my system resources. Now I use it as my primary Mp3 and video player.
I like to download the various podcasts and watch them on my TV (thanks to the dock) or waiting in the carwash.
The earphones are great, they keeped me from getting new ones and spend 50 more bucks.
There are more good things about the Zune, but to make the review short, let me tell you the only issues I have/had:
1.- I cannot sync videos directly: when trying, the software freezes. The error is due to the transcoder. I need to convert the videos to Zune supported formats using a third party software and then I can sync without problems. I hope this to be fixed in the next firmware.
2.- You can't tag with the Zune software. I had a mess with my 3000 mp3's. the same artist appears 3 to 5 times due to misspelling, One albums appears even 10 times and each "album" had 1 song only, etc... i had to use a third party app (MP3Tag) to batch update the tags, and that's how I reorganized everything. The developers MUST include a tag editor powerful enough to manage thousands of audio files.
3.- I have not have success tagging videos, not even with third parties, and believe me, I have tons of them waiting to be categorized.
4.- Too many times you have to press a button to play a song in the device.
5.- I dislike the credit system the Zune marketplace uses.
Don't take me wrong, I love my Zune and I'm waiting to see more features and accessories for it.
Customer Review: Perfect for iPod haters!
Summary: 5 Stars
Our family just doesn't do Apple. So that knocked a huge market share out of the running when we started looking for DAPs a few years ago. I muddled through with 2 different Creative models, but when the second one broke within a year (of course after the warranty expired) and Creative wanted $200 plus shipping to repair it, I threw in the towel on Creative. That was in March 2007. I've been wanting to try the Zune ever since, and when I heard an 80Gb was coming out I decided to wait for that one since my music collection is getting pretty sizeable.
I see other reviewers are raving about the touch pad button (whatever it's called). I like this too, but it's really no different from the Creative models of a few years ago. Slide finger to scroll or change volume, press to select something. The other two buttons, back and pause/play, are nice and discreet.
The included earphones are dubbed "Premium" by Microsoft but they're really not. The sound is fairly good if you're sitting perfectly still (and I mean perfectly; you'll have to be careful breathing if you want to avoid the excessive microphonics from the cord). I still recommend upgrading to the Sony MDREX90-LP or the Ultimate Ears Super.fi 5 Pro if you have the dosh.
But the Zune itself - ah, beautiful! Slim, with a nice heft to it, just a nice all-around design. The software on the actual device is simple and intuitive. The Zune software for your host PC is also much better than some of the other ones. I made a mistake and put 550 songs on the wrong playlist - it was a matter of select, drag and drop to the correct playlist to fix that. On WMP or the Creative software I'd have to delete them all, then go back and manually add them to the new playlist.
I highly recommend this model which we got at Wal-Mart since everyone else was out of stock.
Customer Review: In one word WOW!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I totally disagree with the reviewer below who says this unit is flimsy and cheaply built. I find this player to be very solid and feature rich. The ZUNE 80 player has trumped my expectations in about every aspect. The interface is terific and the library is very intuitively linked together. The player really takes advantage of the album art and integrates it to create a really stylish GUI. The sqircle controller at the bottom is very responsive and intuitive for browsing. Before I bought the player I heard a rumor that when the player was locked the touch pad stayed active, however this is not the case. Everything just seems really well done and you can tell Microsoft put a lot of effort into this product. The sync software took me a few minutes to get oriented with, but I have had absolutely no problems with it and had my device syncing my media in about 5 minutes. The wireless sync was also very easy to set up and is a nice touch as are the premium headphones that come with this model. Not only do the headphones sound good, but they have braided cloth cords that don't get all tangled up as easy. All in all I was very very impressed by the ZUNE 80 and decided to go with it instead of the iPod for the following reasons:
-Much bigger screen than comparable iPod
-Premium headphones compared to the stock white iPod ones
-Nice matte finish that isn't a magnet for fingerprints
-Built in FM tuner which is an extra accessory you have to buy for the iPod
-Wireless syncing
-Zune accessories are universal across the models
-Microsoft has been good about upgrading old model's firmware (The first generation players were allowed all the second generation features for free!!)
-I personally also like the interface better
So basically much more value for the money than the iPod in my opinion.
Customer Review: Happy happy happy.
Summary: 5 Stars
I was incredibly happy when I bought my Zune the day after it was released. The front is dominated by a huge 3.2" screen which gives you plenty of viewing real estate, much better than having it dominated by a huge scroll wheel which isn't very functional anyways (I'm not 90 years old and blind and I don't have huge sausage fingers). The touch pad is extremely functional and easy to use and the buttons are nice to have separated from the scroll pad. The only complaint I'd have about the touch pad is that the center button is very vague and sometimes can lead to a click up/down or left/right but it's not a big deal in the end.
Navigating the thing is easy and the sideways thing is a huge help rather than going forward and back, I have no complaints on the navigation but the rating system is somewhat lacking but not enough to make or break it.
Software is very simplified and may lack some functionality but I've found it provides everything necessary to fully enjoy the player without a ton of clutter and extra stuff that's completely unneeded and confusing like other unnamed software programs.
I had a Toshiba Gigabeat F40 before this one and couldn't stand the plus navigation thing, my fingers don't follow a straight verticle line, I had a hard time with that. It only did pictures too, this thing does videos and I've loaded all my favorite DVDs onto it. I can also record TV shows onto my computer and flawlessly put them onto my Zune, this is one of my favorite features.
What else can I say? This thing is the best player on the market and with the massive storage it comes with I haven't even reached half my storage with 152 videos, 2140 pictures and 1580 songs. The movies are excellent quality also, I don't mind watching them on a 3.2" screen at all!
Customer Review: Way to go Microsoft!
Summary: 5 Stars
I'll leave it to others to point out the many advantages of the Zune, and simply say that the fact that this product costs $350 on eBay says something about customer demand for it. I've been trying to get this player ever since it came out, and only succeeded today. (Our local Wal-Mart had two left.)
The bottom line is that there are only three or four significant disadvantages for the Zune compared to the iPod Classic:
1. Battery life - the battery life is the same for video (5 hrs.), but the iPod Classic has 30 hrs. of audio life compared to the Zune's 20.
2. Using it as an external hard drive - This is a reason why many people buy a hard disk player instead of a flash player. I can't understand why Microsoft couldn't allow this.
3. Notes - Notes on the iPod can be very useful. I'll miss this feature the most.
Besides fixing the above problems, my number one recommendation is that the photo sharing feature be expanded to include other devices, especially WiFi-equipped cameras. That way, you could wirelessly unload your camera pictures to your Zune when your camera is full - not to mention being able to start sharing the pictures with other Zune owners immediately.
But the number of ways the Zune bests the Classic should make Apple hang its head. Windows Media Center TV show syncing, wireless syncing, a screen twice as large, beautiful graphical interface, customization (the norm for Microsoft products), magnetic earbuds, updated software...
Finally, would everyone stop comparing the iPod touch to the 80GB Zune? A product that costs $50 more while giving you only one-tenth the storage space is not a comparable product.