Last month I wrote one of my classic vitriolic fueled rants about how much I despise iTunes. I never got around to posting the rant because I thought it was too over the top – even for me. So I really want to like the Zune, I’ve given it a go on several different occasions, I love the hardware but the Zune software has always left a lot to be desired. When the ZuneHD came out a few months ago I had renewed hopes of finally getting out from under the tyranny of Apple and iTunes. I mean the ZuneHD has been getting universal raves. So I couldn’t wait for the fine folks at Microsoft to send me a review unit. I finally gave up and purchased a 32-Gig ZuneHD from Amazon last week and I have to say – color me disappointed.
Hardware
First the good stuff – I Love, love, love the ZuneHD hardware. It’s very small and lightweight. The iPod Touch feels really heavy compared to the ZuneHD. It has an absolutely gorgeous 3.3-inch OLED screen with 480 x 272 resolution and 16:9 display. At first the screen seems smaller than the one on my iPhone/iPod Touch but when you examine it closer you realize the difference isn’t as big as you think because on the Zune it’s all screen. There are no borders or big “chin” on the device. When you watch a couple of short videos on it, it’s stunningly beautiful. The problem is, just like the iPod Touch; I wouldn’t want to view it for more than 5 or 10 minutes at a time. The much ballyhooed touch screen works really well; it’s smooth and doesn’t feel clunky and most importantly doesn’t have an accelerometer, which drives me batty on the iPod Touch.
Even though the screen is “large,” when looking at your music it seems busy. There’s almost too much eye candy. The album art is thumbnail sized in the corner with album information in big bold letters but it doesn’t fill the entire screen. When you click on it, the controls (Volume, skipping, etc.) are overlaid on it. Instead of displaying the album art, after a minute or so it displays some dumb wall paper, when you want to navigate the device you have to slide it up to “unlock,” it.
HD Radio
HD Radio is another of the ZuneHD’s selling points. It’s a nice addition if you are in a market that has HD Channels. In the DC area there are a ton of HD Radio stations, I bought my mother an HD Radio last year that cost me $200 and she loves it. So the fact that it’s included on the ZuneHD is not something to scoff at. The cool thing about HD Radio is each station has the ability to multicast so while I only found 3 HD Radio stations here in Jersey, they were broadcasting 3 different channels each so in effect I had 9 HD stations to listen to. The problem is I didn’t think HD Radio sounded any better than regular FM and it still had static breakups.
Zune Software
Here’s where I had issues. The Zune software is just as clunky as iTunes only it’s a heck of a lot prettier. When you fire it up, it looks beautiful, in terms of how it displays your album art, music information etc. But navigating around the Zune software is a pain because the navigation between what’s in your Collection and on the Zune Marketplace is the same.
Dealing with Podcasts is an absolute nightmare. I migrated my iTunes playlists over (Zune isn’t compatible with iTunes, so I had to spend a couple of hours to figure out how to do this) once I did, it made switching over to Zune pretty painless – or so I thought.
Zune found 40 Podcast episodes in my Podcast folder, which is all fine and dandy, the problem was instead of simply importing the podcasts from that directory it insisted on downloading them! I’m on a very slow and spotty connection in my Hotel, so it could take literally HOURS to download ONE podcast that alone 40. I kept going into the downloads items area and repeatedly cancelled all those downloads but the damn software refused to listen to me and kept trying to download them EVERY time I launched the Zune. I tried deleting all the podcast out of the folder, not monitor the folder, and unsubscribed to all the podcasts but no matter what I did it somehow still discovered all my podcasts and tried to download them. Not only that but it found Podcasts that I haven’t listened to and deleted months ago. I have a sneaking suspicion that it’s somehow pulling that information from my previous Zune account.
Zune Pass
One of the major selling points of the Zune is that for $14.95 a month you can access the Zune Marketplace subscription service. I used to love DLC and subscription based music, but I’m off the DLC kick and frankly considering the way Microsoft handled the shutdown of their PlaysForSure service I DON’T TRUST THEM. Beyond that Microsoft does the same sleazy that Rhapsody does – you can register on the site, but if for some reason you want to cancel, then you have to call them. I despise calling any customer service number especially ones where you can get your subscription online but then they make you jump through a million hoops to get out of it.
I had an Rhapsody account that I really did like a lot but rarely used, I could never cancel the subscription because the few times I tried I was on hold for 45 minutes and I gave up. Earlier this year I signed up to test out the Zune Marketplace and when I called to cancel I was put on hold for almost an hour. More and more internet companies are doing this to discourage people from cancelling their stupid subscription services and I don’t like it. Zune Marketplace gets an automatic F for pulling this garbage. I really love the idea and concept of subscription music, but I don’t like the hoops these companies make you jump through to cancel the service.
Sync
Just forget it, I used to complain about my iPod touch taking up to 4 hours to Sync my 27 Gig music library, the Zune took almost, literally 2 DAYS. 2 FREAKING DAYS! I started the sync process at 5pm in the afternoon, I went to bed at 11:30, it had only gotten 23 percent done, so I left it running all night, I got up at 7am, it had only finished 53 percent, when I got back from work at 5pm it had finally finished. This is utterly ridiculous. For 3 weeks I had only used 1.2 Gigs, I started thinking, hey, “a 5 gig cap isn’t so bad after all.” I checked my data usage the next night and discovered I used 4 Gigs of data in ONE NIGHT! I racked my brain to figure out what the heck was going on, I mean my computer was turned off for three days.
After yelling at Verizon for three hours, I realized what happened. During its two day Sync marathon, the Zune was repeatedly trying to download those damn Podcasts AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN until it finally worked, because I did notice all of them there even though I had already emptied the folders, un-followed those directories, used the little slider thing that lets you tell it how many episodes to keep, unsubscribed to the podcasts, but it JUST WON’T STOP! I’m scared to even launch the Zune software now because it’s going to keep trying to download new episodes no matter what I do.
Conclusion
The ZuneHD is a great piece of hardware that is still shackled to software that isn’t ready for primetime. Unfortunately iPods and Zunes are so tied to their respective software that the devices are “unusable” without it. If you are one of the few people who haven’t invested in the Apple music ecosystem, then you should give the Zune line a serious look. But be warned the Zune software and Zune Marketplace are just janky dark alleys that you shouldn’t walk down.
Correction
To clarify my comment about the accelerometer, obviously the Zune has one, but since people don’t know how to read between the lines, let me be clear again, yes it has one it’s just not as obnoxious as the one on the iPod Touch and only works with the web browser – which I would never use on a ZuneHD because I almost never have access to WiFi. As far as the Zune Marketplace goes, my negative experience with it happened in May/June, so if MS changed it with their last Zune update which happened around the launch of the ZuneHD then that’s great news. I didn’t waste my time testing this theory because I’ve repeatedly said, I despise calling customer service. To cancel the ZunePass I had to call 4 times and spend an hour on the phone. You are crazy if you think I’m going to go through that again. To all you whining about me not mentioning every little thing the ZuneHD is capable of, let me repeat – I don’t about The Social, I don’t care about WiFi, I don’t care that you can get custom Zunes. I cared about if it was functional, compatibility, navigation, the HD Radio, syncing, Zune Marketplace and that’s what I based my review on. I will also say the Browsing experience on the ZuneHD is excellent, but again since I’m never in a place where I can get decent WiFi the browser is pointless – for me. I will sign up for the Marketplace today and will do a separate review based solely on the Marketplace – hey Glee is coming out tomorrow so it could be worth a test.
Grades
- ZuneHD Hardware – A
- Zune Software – F
- Zune Marketplace – F
Overall Grade – D
EM Review by
Michelle Alexandria
Originally posted 11.01.09
Zune HD does have an accelerometer.
Yes, the Zune has an accelerometer it just didn't appear to work automatically or willy nilly like the one on my iPhone or iPod Touch or when I reviewed the Kindle DX.
Try using the web browser.
I'm sorry but your review couldn't be any more wrong. There is a clear distinction between music in your collection and music in the marketplace, and they are clearly labeled on the software. Also, there is an accelerometer on the ZuneHD. I guess you missed that. And the reason you had problems with the Podcasts is because you didn't know what you were doing. Maybe if you took the time to look at what you were doing you wouldn't have had that issue. I've NEVER had that issue with my Zune and I've had a Zune from each generation. From someone who is even complaining about iTunes (one of the easiest to use software out there) I don't trust your opinion.
The fact that the Podcast thing wasn't intuitive does not mean I didn't know what i was doing. Like I said I tried everything from not monitoring my podcast folder, to clicking in the downloads and manually canceling each and every podcast, to unsubscribing from them to setting it to only show the most recent Podcast. If you are telling me that doing any one of those things means "I don't know what I was doing," then that says something about the software.
Yep this review is flawed. Cancelling your Zune Pass is effortless and can be done from the Zune web site that the software directs you to. So let's be frank here – did you even try to cancel your account?
Also, as mentioned before, the Zune desktop specifically lets you list what is your own music and what is Zune subscription content. And versus the iPod and iTunes, the Zune desktop software clearly communicates what music is present on the Zune and what has not been synced. iTunes makes you go back and forth between sections to find out what has been synced. Painful.
"Dumb" wallpaper? It's not wallpaper, it's an animation and it's actually quite interesting to watch and very slick.
No offense intended, but this review is absolutely subpar and lacking any depth. You don't touch upon codec support, video playback, themes, customizable Zunes available from Microsoft, the built in web browser, wireless, the fact that squirting is no longer part of the Zune, the included ear bud quality, the sharpness of the display, the fact that the Zune web site now allows for music playback once you get a Zune pass and sign in, the social aspects that Zune powers, the Zune music playback count, mixview, any of the accessories such as the cradle that allows for 720p video playback, the Zune marketplace video and music offferings, TV UI… need I go on?
What do you want? A book about the Zune? But your points are valid, when I review things I only check out the features that I personally care about – I don't care about Wi-Fi because I generally hate Wi-Fi, so no I didn't check out the web browsing experience. I don't care about the "Social" and yes I had a Zune Pass earlier this year for a few months, I wasn't able to check it out again because I couldn't get the free 14 day trial and NO you cannot unsubscribe on the web. Once you are past the 14 day trial period you have to call to cancel. I just went through this in July, unless it's changed, that's just a fact. You can customize your Zune? Big deal. You are correct I could have added the technical details about file support but in this day in age most people purchasing a Zune will know that it supports all the standard formats, did I really need to say that? Or again do you just want me to regurgitate a press release and the feature list? Thanks for your comments though, I love people who can argue their points without name calling.
Hate Wifi? Man, that has empowered mobility in the office for quite a while now, but hate it? Sounds like you're not a techie at all. Are you sure is the right field for you to write about?
I'll take a picture of the UI for cancellation if you'd like to see how to cancel a Zune Pass. I just did it to test it out and voila, magicke arcane!
Customization of the Zune is actually a big deal and companies make a lot of money customizing things such as cars (aftermarket auto mobile industry, for example).
Codec support absolutely DOES matter. Did you know that you can play music purchased on the iTunes store on your Zune? That's right! And what about video codec support? Getting any video on your Zune that isn't from the Zune Marketplace is a nightmare and typically requires puchasing third party software and spending lots of time re-encoding. What a hassle. And what? No video subscription offering? And the Zune Marketplace has very little studio support and offerings versus what Apple and iTunes has to offer. These are all valid points that any potential purchaser would likely be interested in.
You can make any excuse you want for an incomplete review, sure, but at the end of the day, it's still an incomplete review.
Yes, I loathe Public WiFi because it's been proven to be completely UNRELIABLE or worse Overpriced and Unreliable. If you can get to a place where Wi-Fi is reliable like in my Home where I have a Fios Fiber Optic Connection then WiFi is awesome. But it's been my experience that anywhere other than my house not only doesn't it usually work well – like currently in my Hotel where I have to use it for the next month, or just whenever I'm traveling I pay $15 – $20 a day for a connection that's slow, times out, and usually doesn't work. It has never worked when I traveled to conventions like CES, E3, etc. I've NEVER had a good experience with WiFi (outside of my house).
That is an entirely different argument: free public Wifi vs private WiFi.
The WiFi on the Zune is important as it allows for three important things: 1. web browsing via the included IE6 derived embedded browser 2. syncing content wirelessly from your PC to your Zune and 3. downloading content via the Zune Pass directly from Microsoft's servers in the sky to the Zune which means you don't actually need a PC to download content directly to the device.
FiOS – not the fastest consumer broadband offering, but it's passable, I suppose. 😉
Fios 🙂 Yes, there's a world of difference between Public and Private WiFi. But why would I want to use the Zune on my Private WiFi connection, I would just connect it to my computer. WiFi on devices like the Zune implies "Public," out and about…..
WiFi scenarios other than home and public WiFi offerings include:
– McDonalds WiFi (sadly, people eat here) and other restaurants
– Coffee shops such as Peets, Starbucks, etc.
– WiFi connections from friends and family
– Free wireless from people who don't understand how to use encryption.
The ability to download music as you deem fit and on a whim, so long as you have WiFi access, is actually a pretty cool feature, though I've found compatibility with the Zune WiFi and WPA 1 using TKIP on Symbol/Motorola infrastructure devices. I haven't busted out Airopeak to figure out what's going on a packet level just yet.
I've asked that question before myself, but then I actually used it and realized that it works well. As I get ready in the morning, i grab my zune and quickly have it sync up w/ the computer and then put it in my pocket to finish up my morning routine. If I had to plug it in and then remember to go get it every day rushing out, i would probably forget it most days. I don't really care about the wifi when i'm out (i have a b-berry for that), but using it on my home network actually is a big deal. Think outside the box a little.
I see why you called it dumb wallpaper – you never had the device plugged in. Wow, you never even tried it in a cradle. I bet you wonder why Microsoft even called it a Zune "HD".
Let's call this specific iteration of this review version 0.1 alpha – not a feature complete review that needs to be held back from public consumption until it's more thorough.
Again, unless you want another section in the review were I complain about how dumb the Cradle Sync is, then no I wouldn't add anything about it. Especially when that would cost extra – this wasn't a loaner unit, it's a unit I purchased out of my own money because I sincerely wanted to dump my iPod and get away from iTunes. I covered the items that I found interesting. But if you'd like to write your own review feel free, I may even feature it on the site.
I already wrote a really bad review on my Facebook profile that probably isn't fit for mass consumption either. 😉
The cradle is actually pretty cool: you can playback HD content via either component cable and Toslink or HDMI. And it's actually very easy to navigate to the Zune's different offerings via the included remote control. This a product differentiator versus the iPod
Microsoft's cancellation process is not nearly as difficult as you suggest. There are two ways, and you can do it one from any computer.
(1) Through your Zune.net online account, under My Account >> Zune Pass
(2) In the Zune software, under My Account. It basically does the same as number (1).
Neither of these require you to call anyone, and are straight-forward and easy to do.
I'm beginning to wonder if you actually examined the process, or you simply speculated. Your comparison to Rhapsody is incredibly misleading; your poor experience with Rhapsody should not negatively affect your examination of the Zune software. You fail to mention the actual benefits of the Zune Pass (including unlimited streaming from the Zune.net site on any computer, with access to the entire music catalog), and instead make generalized statements from a superficial investigation.
Just poor reporting. – F
No, I went through the Cancellation process in June/July and I had to call. This may have changed since then, but I wasn't willing to go through the process again just for a mere test since I didn't qualify for the 14-day trial.
Just an FYI – the Zune HD was released on September 15th.
What's your point? The Zune has been around for several years and we did a promotion with Microsoft back in April giving a Zune away.
Yes, the cancellation process has changed. If you need a reference, visit Microsoft's support site. They break it down in 'non-techie' terms so maybe you can understand them.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927981
The Kindle has spoiled me, I now want every internet enabled device to have built it wireless. I don't care if it costs another $100 for this extra feature. I don't trust any device that's WiFi only.
"as you have WiFi access," this is the point of my argument against WiFi, I'm never in a place where there's any or decent public WiFi. I don't hang out in coffee shops or McDonalds or Bookstores, etc with the intent on working on my laptop or using their free WiFi services. I need WiFi when I'm traveling for business and that's where it always fails.
I am happy to report that it works just fine in those aforementioned locations, though I've never had the misfortune of testing the Zune HD in a McDonalds. You may or may not be happy to know that Microsoft and McDonalds teamed up quite some time ago to support using your Zune inside of McDonalds at various locations.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2330487,00.a…
You're stating how cancellation works on a device in your review that is incorrect. If others had not read this review and corrected you, your statements could misinform potential customers. This is an important thing to consider when you have people all over the planet (I'm taking a big leap here since I don't have Comscore or Quantcast data) reading your words and using them as some kind of guidance on future product acquisition.
It may have worked this way on version 3.0 and previous iterations of the Zune desktop software, but the same is not true for version 4.0 of the Zune desktop software. In the future, I think it would make sense to test out all features thoroughly and verify your statements before publishing them.
so, enough posts have already been made to correct some of your incorrect statements, do you have any intention of correcting it in the article? I saw this page on my google news feed and I can only imagine those people who won't read the comments and think that your statements are true. it's unlikely they'd care enough to come after you, but, If Microsoft could prove that you caused them to loose even a single sale due to your false information you could be sued.__You really need to fix this and try not spreading FUD based on your experience when you obviously didn't do research.
Do you really think Microsoft would really care enough to spend company time and money on such a fruitless effort? Proving harm would be a costly endeavor on their part with minimal ROI since they'd have to pay for all legal costs without any real chance of compensation. Sure, they could do it "to make an example" of someone and to set a completely unfortunate precedent, but with Microsoft in the state they are in currently (losing market share and fighting an uphill in the portable music player market), you'd think they'd go out of their way to make friends, not enemies and correct Michelle where necessary rather than pursuing her legally.
If anything, it's unfortunate that Microsoft didn't supply a Zune HD for Michelle to review rather than having her to pay for her own device.
"At first the screen seems smaller than the one on my iPhone/iPod Touch but when you examine it closer you realize the difference isn’t as big as you think because on the Zune it’s all screen. There are no borders or big 'chin' on the device."
What the F are you talking about? I can clearly see in the product shots that there are black boarders all the way around the screen and a big "chin" at the bottom.
Too bad the punch line has an unfortunate spelling mistake. "Allies" are friends not streets! She should have spelt it "Alleys". It's really bad having a spelling mistake in the keyword of the punch line.
YOU SIR ARE AN A$$.
as the guys previously stated. YES the zhd HAS an accelerometer.
i filled up my 16gb zhd in under 5 hours. HOW IS THAT FREAKIN POSSIBLE?! 5gigs of music, 6 gigs of video etc.
WTF are you talkin bout taking 2 fracking days to get 27gigs..you are insane.
Dumb-ass has no clue what he is talking about…..more uneducated articles about a great product.
Two points to consider: 1. there is no reason to lob personal insults at a person because you disagree with their perspective and 2. the author is a girl. Luckily, no one is calling you a dumb ass for not taking the 2 seconds to look at the top of the page to see the author's name.
Not sure what your problem was. When I got my new zunehd, i converted all the content that was previously on my zune 30 to my hd in a few hours. content downloads much quicker with zune 4.0 and the sync seems much faster as well.
Now I see in your 'corrections' that some of your review is based on an experience back in may/june and is inaccurate. This is crap – rather than posting a 'correction' buried on the bottom, how about updating the actual article to reflect the FACTS as of today rather than doling out misinformation.
Also, you say that you don't care about the other stuff like the social, wifi, etc. Well, is this or is this not supposed to be a review of the device/service? If so, then it doesn't really matter if YOU care about those features – you should at least actually review them and provide an analysis of them. I don't care about the HD radio, but if I was to write a review, I would review that feature.
Basically, your review is crap.
The reviewer basically wrote a review for herself, not for the rest of the world to actually understand the capabilities and limitations of the device based upon her limited tastes, desires and expectations of the device. This review, due to the parameters of the review or limitations if you want to term it that way, would probably be better located on a personal blog versus a site that attempts to bill itself as a media network, especially if they want to be taken seriously.
Every review has a personal twist to it, but this review is so highly limited in it's scope due to the author's personal bias that it's unclear what audience and target demographic it is supposed to be appealing to other than the author herself.
this report is bunch of crap. its totally against microsoft. i have zune hd i never any issue its awesome.
Who gave this guy a job as a writer? This is probably one of the worst tech reviews I have seen in a loong time. Let me summarize this guy's review.
– the hardware is great
– the interface is ok
– I thought it was a good idea to sync 27 gigs of music at once, and it took a long time. (seriously? did you expect it to be quick?)
– I have a slow connection, tried to download multiple podcasts at once and it took a long time.
Seriously. I hope that this horrible horrible review cost this guy his job.
Oh wait, its a female reviewer. That sure explains a lot….
Now that's not even cool. A thorough review is not exclusive to gender.
Well the lack of clear practical thinking and emotion driven conclusions are typical of females.
Any one who is interested in a complete, professional review, check this out.
http://reviews.cnet.com/mp3-players/zune-hd-16gb-…
I'm sorry, did you say that CNET had a complete, professional review? While it may seem professional compared to this "prize," check out anythingbutipod.com for a complete, thorough review. The only thing left out is battery life, which has been documented.
I thought the Engadget and Gizmodo reviews were actually pretty decent, myself. I thought the CNet review was a bit light, but that is probably what their audience wants.
Hate to see such a bad and incorrect review on a great product.
once again we have here a few microsoft drones trying to do zoon damage control. The report was completely accurate! the writer has an issue with apple and thats just too bad however, every thinking human knows that the ipod touch is a superior device and itunes is the prefered software.
The zune hd is a device that was stillborn and obsolete long before it was even offered to misguided consumers such as you drones here. come out of your zoon wilderness. stop being zooned and bamboozled by microsoft and see the light! the light of the apple store;-)
see ya real zoon at the apple store!! LOL
BTW, what's a zune????
Sadly, you could not be more wrong and are clearly playing on your "jump to conclusions mat" since you lack the background any person here. For example, I am a former Apple employee but I still own a Zune because I can appreciate technology no matter who makes it. Judging by your statements, it seems clear that you lack perspective and only consume and purchase what is by a given brand. You are a marketer's dream: a fool with money who will do what they tell you to do. For example: Marketing company says "Buy Apple", you say okay and do so. Proof? You said: "every thinking human knows that the ipod touch is a superior device and itunes is the prefered software." The issue here is that both iTunes and Zune desktop software both have issues and trade offs just like the Zune and iPod of any kind, yet you've taken a qualitative leap here without any quantitative evidence to prove your point. Have you even played with the Zune HD? Have you tried out music discovery with a Zune Pass? Seriously, have you been taken a look from outside from your cave in the past month? There's a whole world out there that has nothing to do with Apple, iPods and computers that's a lot of fun and that is not controlled by Steve Jobs.
Drone! shouldnt you be trying to get that stupid zoon to do something??
get smart, get an ipod
That's right. Shut up and don't come back.
i know how you feel. all the time you've waisted trying your very best to believe in that cruel joke masquarding as a wanna be ipod…. you must believe me when i tell you that eventually, you will get over it.
The zoon is recognized as the PMP for "losers and weirdos"
i cant help but wonder, which one are you??? LOL
hahahahahaha!!
see ya real ZOON at the apple store!!!;-)
Yay! School's out. Did you do your homework yet?
So here's the issue, kiddo. You don't have any ability to refute any of the remarks I've posted. You clearly don't understand anything I've said, due to whatever reason (I'm going to guess lack of intelligence, experience, ability to think for oneself and the like) and instead post what at best could be called "differently abled" remarks. There's literally no data behind anything you say, which may work on the playground, but not in the real world.
Zune HD marketplace and software rocks. Maybe you should remove your "bias" lenses before reviewing.
One last remark on this review before I stop beating a dead horse.
Imagine you bought a car review magazine such as Car and Driver or Motortrend in the interest of figuring out which car you were going to purchase. In the article, the author explains how they drove the car and yet only reviews the glove compartment and how quickly the windows roll up and down. Would you consider the review of the car complete or lacking?
"the ZOON is the mp3 player of Losers and weirdos"
i believe that quote says it all.
maybe some day ZOON all you drones will see the light of the apple store!!LOL
see ya real ZOON at the apple store!!! drones!!! hahahahahahahha
Exactly, it's not even correct English which suggests so much more about your mental state.
drone!
You're clearly referring to the Apple people who are in fact zealots who know nothing and simply listen to whatever comes out of IL1.
No. i am referring to YOU.
you are a microsoft, zoon worshiping DRONE!
oh yes you are.
I bet you don't even know what IL1 is. Hahahahhahahahah. Oh look – you've fallen in a bucket of Apple fail.
2 days to sync? I put 20 gigs on mine and it took maybe 45 minutes tops. Something seriously wrong with your computer.