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Microsoft Zune 80GB Media Player
Tagged Under : Microsoft, Music Gadgets, Zune
80GB Zune with its wireless syncing, good sound quality and a nice touch control is a good choice for the money. The old 30 GB Zune attempt by MS did not get the market in a frenzy exactly. Since then MS has produced couple of 2nd generation stuff that is almost there. The $250, 80 GB hardware that I tested would be respectable competitors to the iPod classic, particularly if you’d like wireless syncing and a built in radio. It is about the size of the 160 GB iPod classic, a bit thicker though than the 80GHz model.
The Zune produced clean sound on objective audio tests and my own listening tests. Clean sound, very little distortion, yet the digital volume control can give rise to a bit of annoyance at times. Sooner or later you reach a volume step which is too loud if you go a step higher and/ is too low when you go step lower.
As far as audio goes, Zune plays MP3, WMA, WMA lossless and PlaysForSure DRM based audio. Photo display and video playback uses the 320×240 pixels screen. On video from MPEG-4 particularly, H.264 coding is supported in addition to WMV. Video playback looked nice but compared to many others the low dpi is a disadvantage.
Touch Controls
Rounded touch sensitive controls that can be used as D pad style controller are now standard on the newer Zunes. Flicking repeatedly on the screen increases the scrolling speed, tapping it stops scrolling anytime. It is fun to navigate this way to navigate through long lists (that could be really long on a 80GB unit).One could scroll left & right too. For example, scrolling down for songs of an artist in a particular album, thumb flicks to the left or right will change the album by the same artist.
While that touch interface is the highlight of the user interactions, you can do the same through the hard buttons too. That actually allows some simple navigations such as when you want to change volume or fast forward a track without having to bring the device out of your pocket.
Premium ear buds that come with the Zune are definitely better that the stuff that comes with other such devices. While they get tossed out after testing of these devices, here’s one pair one would like to keep for a while.
Wish the touch control could be locked out. It could be quite annoying, for example while accidental up/down swipe would change the volume, side swipe can get you out of the current track being played.
Wireless Syncing
Users have been asking for the wireless sync feature soon as the wireless enabled Zune and the Sansa connect came out. Now you can actually have it with the latest Zune. Select the network with the PC that you want to sync with and enter the appropriate security code and you are all set to go. Select “settings, wireless” on your player and select “sync now”. The PC would report that it has found new hardware, find and install the driver. Meanwhile the Zune software will pop up and sync starts. The actual transfer is not spectacularly fast but then one could imagine a situation where the Zune sits on a dock and charges up overnight while the sync also is completed. There would be no need to baby-sit it through the operation.
There are some nice changes brought in by MS with the music sharing. Shared tracks could only be played three times in 3 days time from the time they were shared and you could not pass it on further. Now, they could be and the played total three time over any length of time.
Subscriptions and Software
Zune now supports podcasts and subscribing to them is easy. Several restrictions on social sharing have been eased. There’s even a Zune social, social network though could not be tested at the time of device testing.
Overall, then Zune 80 GB is a decent choice. Good pricing, good performance, premium headphones and FM radio that is a good package. If wireless sync is need for you then this is the one for you.
Tags: Microsoft Music Gadgets Zune
