Xegyn's Cyberspace

With the release of the Zune HD today, I decided I would write a review of the 120 GB Zune I own and have been using since last December. The 120 GB Zunes came out around the same time as the 120 GB iPods (which I also considered getting) and I could not be happier with the capacity. With 6,889 tunes, 3 seasons of How I Met Your Mother, a season of Family Guy, 6,953 photos, and subscriptions to 5 podcasts and the Billboards channel I am not even using half its capacity. Specifically, I am using 53.49 GB and have 66.33 GB free. It will be a while until I run low on space. I have just installed the new Zune 4.0 software and updated my device firmware to 3.2. Both were released today. The following is by no means an in-depth review of the Zune; it is a list of key features about the Zune that I think are fantastic and areas that could use some improvement. I’ll start with the good features.

• The subscription based system. The monthly subscription service is great for people who want to find new music and re-discover oldies. Similar to Rhapsody and the new Napster, a monthly subscription fee ($14.99 for Zune) allows you to stream and download almost any song on their network which can be played on up to 3 computers and up to 3 Zune devices. The songs have DRM and expire after a while so they can be thought of as a music rental. When traveling or going on a road-trip, it is a great way to stock up on a lot of music. It is also great for sampling albums before purchasing them and an easy way to (legally) amass songs for a party. Microsoft also allows you to keep 10 songs (around a $10 value) a month. With the subscription, a feature called “Channels” also becomes available allowing you to subscribe to playlists compiled by Zune DJs. For example, I am subscribed to a Billboard channel that always has the current top 20 Billboard hits. The songs are automatically updated on your PC when the Zune software is running and can be synced to the Zune device if you choose to do so.
• Syncing and Podcasts. I have my Zune set up so that anytime I connect my device to my PC (which also charges the device), it automatically opens the Zune software. When the software opens, it downloads all the latest audio and video podcasts I am subscribed to and syncs them with my device. At this time, it can also be set up to sync new pictures, music, and videos that are in monitored directories. The software provides options on how to manage each podcast. For example, you can have the software always have the 3 newest episodes of a podcast and automatically delete older ones. The software can even save and sync where you left off in your podcast so that whether it is your PC or Zune you resume listening to or watching your podcast, it will take you to where you left off.
• Sorting by album artist. As a music enthusiast, this is a very important feature for me. When I was deciding between the iPod and Zune, I had read that the iPod did not support the album artist mp3 tag even though iTunes did. On the contrary, I had read that the Zune software and device had support for this tag. The significance of the album artist tag is that albums that have tracks by different artists (such as soundtracks and compilations) do not get divided up under each artist and instead can be categorized under one album artist while still retaining the artist data in the artist tag.
• Firmware Updates. Microsoft provides free firmware updates for Zune devices when a new generation of devices are released. Although an older generation Zune may have hardware limitations, the software can be upgraded to be similar to the current generation Zune. I have not noticed much of a change with the new 3.2 firmware that was released today and am hoping another firmware update will be released soon.

And now, the not-so-good features.

• Unicode support. This is one of my biggest annoyances. The Zune software supports unicode characters, so why doesn’t the device? My Japanese text comes up as blocks. A firmware update could easily take care of this.
• Re-downloading purchased tracks. When a track is purchased from the Zune marketplace, the encoding could be in wma or mp3 (I believe they are slowly trying shift all tracks towards DRM-free mp3 files). Files encoded in wma with DRM can be re-downloaded in the case you accidentally delete them. However, DRM-free mp3s cannot be re-downloaded. One of my annoyances is a glitch in the Zune marketplace related to this. A few months ago, I had accidentally deleted a DRM-free mp3 track. After I realized my mistake, I decided to re-purchase the track (since I could not re-download the track for free). The software gave me an error telling me that it was not possible to download the track because I had already done so. However, the software also prevents me from purchasing the track again because I have already purchased it once. I called customer support to see if they could straighten things out and although they acknowledged the glitch, there was nothing they could do to correct it. As of the new Zune 4.0 software, this glitch still exists and gives me the error, “You’ve exhausted the number of times you can restore this item.” The only alternative for me to purchase this track now is to buy it from another retailer such as iTunes or Amazon.
• (Lack of) Autoscroll. When a track is playing, the title does not autoscroll and longer track titles get chopped.
• (Lack of) Dedicated Volume Control. I’m not sure why a lot of music devices nowadays lack volume control, but when a track changes while you are navigating menus or playing a game, it is nice to be able to change the volume without going back to the track view.
• Availability. As of now, the Zune is still unavailable outside of North America.
• Compatibility. As of now, the Zune software only installs on Windows and has no Mac OS X support.

Overall, I think the Zune is a wonderful device despite some its flaws. With the release of the Zune HD, hopefully we will see some great new features, software updates, and firmware upgrades in the coming months.