why is zune so bad?

daguuy · Post by **daguuy** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 11:08 pm

Just get a Zen. They're better than Zunes in every way, and much more bang for your buck than an equivalent ipod.

Sir Games-A-Lot · Post by **Sir Games-A-Lot** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 7:27 am

The Zune seems to follow the typical Microsoft release pattern IE; "Making us all beta testers". The Zune can be a good DAP, but only if Microsoft will get off it's butt and finally release a real firmware update that adds a few more basic features to it.

And to those who say that you can't transfer iTunes tracks to the player, just burn them to cheap cd-r's and rip those to mp3 or AAC, problem solved.

$125 is a good deal though, so if you feal like getting one go for it. (you can always eBay it later).

Post by **Black Six** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 7:57 am

Motoman wrote:So much for ease of use and good features out of the box. And people wonder why the Zune didnt catch on......Oh and yes, it IS ugly.

BTW, I'd like to state that I'm not an Ipod enthusiast or MP3 player enthusiast for that matter, I favor the good ole CD player. Its just something about having your music be tangible with the awesome album covers and booklets included, that caters to my whims.

I agree with your comment about ease of use. Yeah it's cool if you can hack additional functionality onto it, but you shouldn't have to do that to kind the kind of use you expect out of it.

I also agree on CDs man! While I don't use a CD player, I still usually buy CDs and rip them, as I like to A) be able to do whatever I want with no DRM to worry about, and B) have a hardcopy that looks nice.

teraflop122 · Post by **teraflop122** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 8:23 am

My iPod lives next to the TV, feeding it episodes of Futurama and Family Guy- I put 60 gigs to good use. The fact that it happens to play music too is a plus

I'm not sure whether the Zune can or cannot do this, but I'd avoid it if it can't.

How is this a positive? Hard drives have moving parts and are much more prone to shock failure and failure over time as the parts wear out. I don't know who told you a hard drive was better, but they were lying.

In terms of heavy reading and writing, hard drives last far longer than flash media. I think this is what everyone's talking about. They also happen to have a lower cost per MB.

dman762000 · Post by **dman762000** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:28 pm

Anyone who says that the Zune is a lot bigger than the stinkin ipood is an uninformed moron, here is the stats for those of you who have never held a Zune and still want to bash

1. the zune is only 1/8 inch thicker than an ipood video and all other dimensions are the same

2. sound quality has been proven to be better than the ipood

3. stores more videos- the 30gig ipood video can hold only 40 movies while the zune=100

4. the resolution of the screen comes out the same as the ipood video but since the zune is widescreen there is no distortion to the movies

5. the case is not white. a lot of people say it is ugly but here is the trick the casing is scratch proof and the ipood scratches if you look at it

6. the control is round big deal it is like a d-pad big deal, my thumb does not get sore by holding the down position to scroll through 2000 songs as with the ipood you have to roll your thumb around that stupid monster wheel so many times you get carpel tunnel syndrome

7.fm radio, get tired of listening to mp3's listen to radio, or get weather reports

8. customizable backgrounds, nuff said, ipood can't do that

9. better album art, nuff said

10. yes you can beam songs and pictures and such and if you know what you are doing then they are yours forever lets see an ipood do that

11. more durable, the ipood breaks if you lay it down on the table too hard, I have dropped my zune from a standing position many many times and it still works like a charm

there that should put some of you uneducated fools to rest cause the ipood can't compete to the zune when put up feature to feature

Rekarp · Post by **Rekarp** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 2:06 pm

pff who needs solid state electronics?!

Tubes ftw

btw not my image

Post by **bicostp** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 2:09 pm

1. Who says the video iPods aren't oversized? I like the Nano's size; it's small enough that you don't think twice about grabbing it but not so small that you'll accidentally swallow it. (Mine's 1.75 x 3.5 x .25 inches including a hard plastic case.) And if you want to talk size, the Zune weighs nearly 6 ounces while the iPod 30 gig is less than 5. (By comparison my Nano weighs 1.5.)

2. I've never listened to one (all the store models have the headphone ports blocked), so no basis for comparison. I'm sure most of the difference is in the equalizer, and if Microsoft licensed SRS WOW technology like they do for Media Player.

3. Video compression... And does the Zune have TV out?

4. <s>I'm pretty sure</s> <a href="http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/portable-med ... p">They're both the same aspect ratio</a>.

5. So what if it isn't white? iPods aren't all white either.

6. The Nano's scroll wheel is only 1.25" in diameter, and it only takes about 5 revolutions to go through the 200 or so songs I have loaded. The analog sticks on my Dual Shock II go in bigger circles than that. I'm not sure how big the full size iPod's wheel is, but it's not gigantic.

7. If you have the 2000 songs you mentioned loaded, you'll have to listen for quite a while before you start hitting repeats. Besides, without proper antennas those embedded radios don't pick up more distant stations. (I used to have a Sansa m250, its radio sucked, just like everything else about it.)

8. Ooh customizable backgrounds! We really need that on a 3" screen we hardly look at.

9. JPEGs are JPEGs, nuff said.

10. "If you know what you're doing" meaning hacks and workarounds?

11. My friend has had the same iPod for several years with no problems. (I don't know what generation it is but it's an old style one with a color screen, and not a Photo.) My Nano's been just fine since February. I'm sure both have taken some punishment but we're not in the habit of juggling $200+ pieces of electronic equipment.

And one other thing, "iPood"? We couldn't avoid childish namecalling? ;P

project_failure · Post by **project_failure** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 3:26 pm

Okay for starters I love my Zune.

I transfered all my music from itunes to my zune easily enough, in fact the music is still in the itunes folder. (don't know why anyone else is having problems.

the Fm works great.

My Zune sufferers great trauma every night (I never stop moving when i sleep.) I fall asleep listening to it every night (trance ftw) and every morning its on the floor and works fine.

Battery life seems better than on the ipod video but i can't be sure. you can upgrade the battery.

(a D-pad without "autofire", if you will, so you have to hit the up and down parts a whole lot of times to go through your songs to get the one you want.)

What are you talking about, it scrolls fine and the longer you hold it the faster it scrolls.

8. Ooh customizable backgrounds! We really need that on a 3" screen we hardly look at.

Still another feature as useless as it maybe.

JPEGs are JPEGs, nuff said.

The JPEGs look good.

Video compression... And does the Zune have TV out?

yes and it looks good.

Sound quality is excellent, btw.

Now if only the Zune would play avi's with out converting...

Rekarp · Post by **Rekarp** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 3:51 pm

to bad microsoft didn't call it the iZune. Would have out sold the ipod i betcha.

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 3:55 pm

project_failure wrote:I transfered all my music from itunes to my zune easily enough, in fact the music is still in the itunes folder. (don't know why anyone else is having problems.

Did you buy it off itunes?

Rekarp wrote:to bad microsoft didn't call it the iZune. Would have out sold the ipod i betcha.

Ya, and iVista, and the iBox 360 (though its winning without it).

project_failure · Post by **project_failure** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 4:22 pm

Did you buy it off itunes?

ok, now i understand. No I own the cds, but riped them with itunes to use when i had a crappy ipod.

joevennix · Post by **joevennix** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 6:41 pm

Comparison Photo. For the people saying the Zune is barely bigger than the iPod, you can't argue with that. Not only is it a great deal (relatively speaking) bigger than the largest model iPod, it just looks kind of clunkier. Other than that, I love the way it looks: its screen takes up most of the body, and it has the tiny joystick at the bottom.

As for the iPod wheel thing: yes, it could get annoying if you had to spin through 2000 songs (I wish they would bring the physical wheel back somehow, where you could spin it, let go, and it would keep spinning), but why would you do that? It's much easier to navigate by artist/album. Also, the Zune makes you press UP on the joystick everytime you want to move up. You can't hold it down, you have to keep pressing it. I really hope there is a setting that you can do so it will scroll up quickly, that feature can get verrry annoying.

I'm not an iPod fanboy or anything: I bought a used nano because, like most Apple things, it just works. I've never had to worry about it freezing, not playing songs, the battery dying after 15 minutes, or anything (of course, it is only 1.5 years old). Before the nano, I had an original 5gb firewire model, which lasted 3+ years before I dropped it hard and it died.

I'm not saying the Zune is bad. In fact, if you could get linux on the Zune, that would be sweet. Wifi hard drive, mobile file server, portable website? I'd definitely buy it over the iPod. It has the capability, but no one has exploited it yet. Not to mention, it has a better screen for true widescreen. That's a huge plus.

The only thing I hate is people who trash the iPod just because everyone has one. At least pick a negative aspect of it that you yourself have witnessed and point that out. Don't just flame iPod users just because you think they're 'following the crowd.' The iPod is a handy, tough piece of tech (from my experience), and you can't assume everyone buys them just because they're in style.

[/rant]

EDIT: Doesn't that look like the 60gb iPod in the picture? I thought the 30gb was slimmer...

Harshboy · Post by **Harshboy** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 6:52 pm

joevennix wrote:EDIT: Doesn't that look like the 60gb iPod in the picture? I thought the 30gb was slimmer...

That is the 60/80 GB model of the iPod Video

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 7:42 pm

joevennix wrote:The only thing I hate is people who trash the iPod just because everyone has one. At least pick a negative aspect of it that you yourself have witnessed and point that out. Don't just flame iPod users just because you think they're 'following the crowd.' The iPod is a handy, tough piece of tech (from my experience), and you can't assume everyone buys them just because they're in style. [/rant]

I happen to be one of those guilty of doing that, but I think I have a good reason. Most people that have one make it out to be this awesome piece of technology that has changed the world and can do anything. But its not that great. I can't argue with what you said, but there are better things to buy.
Take for example the PSP. Sure memory costs a lot for it, but most people don't need 30GB of memory. You can't watch all of those movies or listen to all that music on one battery charge. My 2GB memory stick can still outlast the battery when it has movies on it. And it has a bigger screen, its about the size of a whole ipod. And it can play games. And it can go online. And it has flaws, its biggest one being Sony.

So it bugs the crap out of me when someone pulls out their ipod (or anything else) likes its the ultimate-do-anything piece technology, unless it really is.

I'd take a Zune over an ipod (if it was free, I wouldn't buy either) because it has a bigger screen. The interface seems kinda retarded from what I've tried in store. For $125 its a good deal, but I personally wouldn't take it.

project_failure · Post by **project_failure** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 8:19 pm

Also, the Zune makes you press UP on the joystick everytime you want to move up. You can't hold it down, you have to keep pressing it.

Do you even read the thread? I (being the owner of a Zune and an Ipod) have said that you can hold it and it will scroll! You don't have to keep pushing it.