magnusmx's Full Review: Microsoft Zune HD Platinum (32 GB) MP3 Player
First things first. I'm sure a lot of you were hoping for a competitor to the Apple iTouch/iPhone, and were wondering about important things such as applications and games. This is a Portable Media Player, not a portable computer. If applications and games are the main reason why you want one of these, forget the Zune HD and get yourself an iPhone or iTouch. Or at least wait till the killer app or game is out before considering the Zune HD. If not, read on.
Buying the unit and what to expect: I've had the Zune HD since launching day, September 15th, 2009. It was tough to find the 32 GB in stock at local retailers. Luckily I caught a shipment that just came in, and the store didn't have them prominently displayed. $289.99 + tax, and $89.99 for the HD Dock and I was out the door. (It is now just over 2 weeks into the official launch and most of the local retailers still do not have stock of the 32GB Zune HDs nor the 16 GB ones.)
Since I heard that there wasn't much you could do with the Zune till the firmware was updated, I waited till I got home to plug it in to charge up and sync. It should be noted like most lithium ion powered devices, you should always make sure you do a full charge of your unit before running it off battery power.
Total http://www.zune.net/en-us/products/software/download/, installation, and firmware upgrade for both the Zune and the Zune HD Dock took about 30 minutes on my fast notebook and cable high-speed broadband. Expect up to an hour on slower computers and basic DSL.
First impressions: The Zune HD is beautiful. Gone are the ugly brick-like edges, now replaced with high tech aluminum edges, slim smart body with laser etched zune logo and serial numbers. The slimmer, beveled edge design feels really solid and comfortable to hold in the hand than its predecessor and the iPhone. It would not look out of place in a futuristic movie. The new OLED screen is absolutely stunning. Nothing that I've seen outside of Sony's OLED displays match it on portable media devices. The contrast, color are absolutely superb. This is a good thing because the Zune's surface is mostly the screen, and nearly all the controls are controlled using a touchscreen interface. It should be noted that the screen resolution is 480x272 pixels, so is not HD resolution.
For you Apple iPhone and iTouch users (like myself), it will take some using to navigate the unit effectively. Not that the UI (user interface) is bad, its just different - more on this later.
There exists a power button, a home button, and a side function button. However, unlike the iPhone, the side function button does not control volume directly, it opens up an interface that you use to control playback and volume. Frankly not being able to control the unit without accessing the screen is inconvenient and will hopefully be fixed in a newer Zune HD like they did with the iTouch 1st gen to 2nd gen.
Luckily, the navigation and interface of the Zune HD touch-screen is simply gorgeous and responsive. It makes excellent use of the beautiful screen. In fact it makes Apple's interface seem rudimentary and boring in comparison. (Microsoft should make I'm a Zune, and I'm an iPod touch commercials to show off its UI).
Features: The Zune HD is first and foremost a personal media player (PMP), evidenced by the priority of the main screen menu interface below using over-sized fonts: musicvideospicturesradiomarketplacesocialpodcastsinternetappssettings Then there is a side menu easily accessed with a tap on the left 1/3 of the screen showing: PlayingPinsHistoryNew
Let's start with he music portion. You simply can't get the full potential of the Zune HD without the required Zune software. In fact, you can't use the unit at all without the Zune software installed on your PC. Apple Mac users, sorry to say, but the Zune is not Mac OS compatible at this time. Not a smart move Microsoft. Mac users will have to bootcamp and run Windows in order to connect with the Zune HD. I don't want to go too deep into the Zune 4.0 software on your PC other than to say that I give it two thumbs up. Its really hip, easy to use, and really encourages you to explore music, albums, movies, media in a much 'prettier' interface than any other software out there. Music lovers rejoice! If you have a Zune HD, you will want the Zune Pass. For $14.99 per month you get access to millions of tracks you can download and play on your Zune PC and Zune HD etc - an all you can eat type of plan. Plus you get to keep 10 of the downloads as if you purchased the license outright per month. A 14 day trial is currently included for free. It should be noted that Zune music offered at the marketplace is a very high quality WMA 128 bit. Additionally, with the latest Xbox 360 updates you can access all the Zune Pass music and videos through your Xbox - neat!
Music on the Zune HD itself: Music on the Zune HD is simply beautiful, both sounding and visually eye candy. I'd equate the sound quality as good as or better than my iPods or anything else that I've tried from Apple. Personally I think its higher quality than the Apple counterparts, and almost as good as some of the older Sony MP3 units. I did my comparative listening on some Shure SE530 Sound Isolating Earphones as well as the included ear buds.
I do notice that the Zune HD does not get as loud as my iPod from the headphone output, but its definitely high enough for most of my listening. There is not a whole lot on the unit itself to equalize the music to your ears though.
Formats supported include MP3, WMA, WMA lossless, AAC, and audio book formats such as audible.
Off the main screen, and next to the music menu option you can just click the universal 'play' icon to get get started right away. During playback you are treated to album artwork, interesting flash animation type visuals showing the track playtime, album information while the screen-saver is running. Touch screen clicking on the album or artist instantly pulls up the relevant information either on your unit, or off the Wi-Fi.
Zune Marketplace where you can stream, purchase, or license more music. With an active Zune Pass, discovering new and old music based on what you are currently listening to is a real joy. No other experience like it on any other portable media player. The only thing missing that I could possibly want is lyrics.
Navigating music can be done by swiping your finger across. A single tap on the screen brings up the music navigation interface with a play, pause, volume, skip, and music fast forward or rewind. At the very bottom you have repeat options, shuffle, and tap a heart icon to indicate that you like the track, dislike the track or leave unrated in case you haven't made up your mind.
My major gripe is that everything from playback, volume adjustment, track skipping has to be done through the touch screen. You can't just leave the unit in your pocket and control these options, you actually have to take the unit out to see the screen and adjust. No doubt there will be a market for a remote of some sort for the Zune, I just wish it wasn't necessary so budget an extra $30-50 for this when it comes out.
Videos: Lets face it, we were promised some sort of HD. Zune HD has HD radio, and HD video output, but only if you have the $89.99 dock. The screen resolution itself is not even half HD (480x272), but the unit itself can down-sample HD 720p videos for playing on the unit's OLED screen or for playback through the HDMI output Zune dock.
Zune HD only inherently supports MP4, and WMV formats (groan). Prepare to convert all your DivX, MOV, AVI, DV formats for playback.
If you'd rather just rent a movie, Zune has that too. However, the annoying part is the licensing. When you download/rent the video/movie your rental only includes ONE device, whether it be for watching off your PC, Zune 1, Zune 2, Zune HD for the rental period. That means that you have to choose where you want to watch, you can't just say watch 30 minutes on your PC, and then take the rest to watch with you on your Zune HD while on the subway.
Videos are gorgeous if small on the screen. The widescreen format works great with the 16:9 format movies. I wish it had some sort of small audible output through a mini-speaker built in.
Pictures: Pictures look great on the OLED screen. You can zoom in and zoom out, switch orientation at a rotation of the screen due to its very responsive accelerometer. That's about it. There is no cool slideshow function, no burns style transitions, etc. Just a standard photo by photo application.
Radio: Zune has distinguished itself from a lot of other media players by being the first to offer HD radio. Its just an evolutionary upgrade to regular radio, and I see the major benefit in that there are sub-channels for different radio stations available if you live in one of the HD coverage areas. I don't see the sound as necessarily a major upgrade to some of the most popular radio stations by, say clear-channel.
I do like that the HD radio can provide meta-tags so you know what song is currently playing and can tag it for download or listening. You can save radio stations as favorites. Other than that it's simply just scan forward and scan back to find stations.
One bad thing is that the headphone socket serves as the antennae for the radio. Probably all of the pre-HD docks do not have antennae support like the Zune HD dock does, so if you want to use your Zune HD dock, and listen to HD radio with a station that is a bit hard to receive you will likely just hear static.
Marketplace: This is where you can download and browse new music. Works great and I love how this works so well with the Zune pass. I wish there was the option that be able to download on both the unit and also find that the software also downloads the music for PCs also enabled on your account.
With the $14.99 per month Zune Pass you can download all you want while subscribed, listen unlimited times on up to three devices or Zunes, and keep 10 songs permanently per month subscribed. This works so well its like an extension of your current music library - as long as you have a WiFi internet enabled connection.
Social: I don't have any friends that use Zunes. In fact I even gave a Zune to a friend, and he doesn't use it. I admit I've had a Zune before, but Apple won out in that category so I wasn't very social with my Zune as well. What's notable is that you can actually sync music off the Zune and share the music with your friends if you like. It is really much more 'social' music sharing friendly than Apple, and I definitely applaud that. I wish I could say the same about the video rentals.
Podcasts: Yet another reason why I love my portable media players is the great access to free content through podcasts. Zune supports it, and it works as it should showing you a similar interface as it does with the regular music playback. What I miss from this that I now have on my iPhone is the faster playback option so that I can get more content in while listening. Oh, and I also don't get the option to download more episodes of podcasts without connecting the Zune to my computer, whereas with the iPhone I can download more without having to sync with my desktop.
Internet: The internet browser is way better than all previous attempts by Microsoft to provide a mobile browser. It is second only to the iPhone / iTouch in overall browsing experience. Make no mistake though, Apple's mobile Safari browser on the iPhone / iTouch is superior in speed, rendering, support, etc. Websites that I normally would be able to get to on my iPhone I can't on the Zune HD, such as my own website mikemuonline.com powered by SquareSpace. However, when sites do fully open they are rendered as if one would see them on a full blown browser on your desktop - just slower, smaller. There is no support for cut and paste, flash, auto-fill, java, youtube, etc.
Apps: If you need a portable computer like the iPhone or iTouch, the Zune HD is not it. It's not even close. Microsoft has provided a few free apps, and currently that includes a basic calculator, chess, goo splat, hexic, shell game of the future, space battle 2, soduku, texas hold'em, and msn weather. The way the Zune is going and marketed, it doesn't look like its going to try and compete with the Apple Apps store.
I woud not count Microsoft Zune out just yet though. The Zune HD does have the incredibly fast Nvidia Tegra graphics processor which powers the beautiful UI and transitions. Just don't expect any killer game to come out soon - maybe next year.
Keyboard input: Zune does a good job with the keyboard. I can still type faster on my iPhone but that may just be a matter of getting used to the Zune HD keyboard and the smaller screen. Too bad there is no email function or even notepad application to use. I'm frankly surprised there is no MSN messenger function either. Anyway, the places where you need to enter stuff would be for web browsing, marketplace, and entering data in setup and for that it works beautifully.
Performance: Battery life is supposed to be better than its competition and without wireless on I'd say so far it appears to be true. Its supposed to feature up to 33 hours of audio and 8.5 hours of video. I have not run a marathon performance test on the unit. Overall navigating the unit is fast and zippy. Music and videos are usually quick to load. However, right after a sync the unit is super slow to respond for at least a minute or two making me think the unit is still processing data in the background probably to show off new downloads in its beautiful interface. Its mildly annoying because every time I want to take it off the dock to start listening immediately I have to wait it out - and then I get the issue with the HD dock not wanting to play my audio...
Stability: I've had the Zune crash and reboot about 5 times so far - every couple of days. I don't know the cause of it but it may be related to the wireless auto-syncing feature. I'll go ahead and forgive the Zune for these crashes because its a new device and that's sadly thats the norm these days.
Screen: Beautiful OLED display. No dead pixels. Excellent contrast and beautiful colors. Puts most other handheld screens to shame. Visibility on it is great inside. Outside, not so good. Its not bad, just not as good as the iPhone. Not a big deal as most people will be enjoying videos in the shade or indoors anyway. Durability: I give it a 9/10. It passes the squeeze and creak test with flying colors. I'd say you'd have to try hard to really break it. Just judging by the surface materials and the fact that its aluminum backed, I'd feel fairly safe not having to get a case for the unit. Very scratch resistant where it counts. I hear there is a decent and cheap cover sold as a Zune accessory for it, but I don't see a problem just putting it in my pocket.
Accessories: Zune accessories can usually be found everywhere Zune HDs are sold. No there isn't nearly as many types of docks, or third party accessories for it yet but one thing can be said that Microsoft got right: the Zune cable interface has not changed since Zune 1.0 so you can use all your old accessories to some extent with the Zune HD. Big kudos there.
Included headphones: They are OK. No better or worse than the current ones you get when you buy a iPod variation. If you bought the Zune to really enjoy your music, you will probably want to upgrade or you already have a better pair. Personally I think they are a downgrade from what the original Zune used to come with, but not much better or worse than say what Apple gives you with its music players.
HD Dock: The HD dock is expensive @ $89.99.
It comes with the dock, some dock inserts so that various other Zunes can be used with it. A wireless infrared remote control. HDMI cable. A/V composite cable. Attached HD radio antennae to the dock. AC Adapter with USB power connector to power your dock.
Upon first plugging in your already firmware updated Zune, you will need to wait a while for it to upgrade the dock's firmware directly from your Zune HD. It only takes a few minutes.
I have several issues with the Zune HD usage with the dock.
1. At various random times the dock simply does not output the analog audio signal. I get nothing. Its not the cable connection because when I unplug the cable and plug it directly into the Zune HD the sound comes out perfectly. I notice this mostly after the Zune has performed its own wireless synching.
2. To use it as a sync dock you have to unplug it from the AC adapter, and plug the USB cable to your computer. But if you don't want to sync and just want to power the dock, you will have to cancel the sync every time or unplug the cable and plug it back into the AC Adapter. More hassle than I'd like to see.
3. I've found most of the functionality of the remote to not work with the Zune HD. I pretty much can only use it for volume, play, pause, and skip forward and backward. I have not figured out how to navigate the menu interface watching on TV or just from the unit itself.
4. The beautiful interface of the Zune HD is a slim version when viewed through the dock video output. Probably due to not having enough horse-power under the hood to power all the nice visuals.
5. SAVE yourself some money and get the Zune HD Synch dock. It has the same features, and HDMI output, minus the cables and you save $30-$40.00. The composite video/sound output jack is pretty industry standard output that you find from a lot of older Sony Camcorders and can easily be found for under $10.00 up to $60 if you want to overspend for monster version. Simply get yourself a $3.00 HDMI cable and be done with it - that is the main reason why you want the HD dock right? Overall:
Microsoft has a real winner here that will make some PC Apple iPod users green with envy. (Notice I said PC Apple iPod users because Zune software is currently not available on the MAC OS). Beautiful screen, great sound quality, and HD radio and HD video output along with a reasonably priced all you can download music plan really make it a great product. I however will be sticking to my iPhone / iTouch because I need my pocket computer applications and my music videos and one device does it all well enough for me.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 289 Recommended for: Music Lovers - High Capacity Storage for an Entire Album Collection
IMPORTANT PRODUCT INFORMATION: To get started using Zune HD, download the latest software to your PC from zune.net/setup and charge your Zune using th...More at Amazon
MICROSOFT ZUNE HD 32GB VIDEO MP3 PLAYER .MODEL:EHD-00002. SILVER. BRAND NEW, FACTORY SEALED. AUTHORIZED DEALER. 32 GB capacity for up to 8,000 songs, ...More at eBay
Enjoy storing and listening to your favorite tunes on this MP3 player that features a large 3.3" OLED display with scratch-resistant glass and 32GB* s...More at Best Buy ®
Experience the revolutionary design of Zune HD. With HD Radio wireless syncing and enough space for all of your digital media the 32GB Zune HD combi...More at Newegg.com
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.