Microsoft Zune, Worth it?

XD-3

XD-3

XD-3

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Hi all

I’m, in the market for a new mp3 player and I have been reading allot about the Microsoft Zune mp3/4 player. I can get hold of one delivered to the UK for £158.00 Inc

But I was wondering if there will be compatibility issues with the software in the UK? / Drawbacks to having one? Because of the fact it has not been released here...

The features do look good and the price is unbelievable, unfortunately I can’t say were from due to the rules as you all no :)

Any thoughts, would be great :)

Thanks guys.
XD-3
 
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I wouldn't get one. The major selling point is WiFi sharing with other Zunes. There are two problems with this. First there are very few other Zunes around so you're unlikely to find plentiful sharing partners. ;) Second the sharing is crippled by the 3-day/3-listen limit.
 
If you do get the zune, I sure hope its not the brown one.
When I ditch my ipod, i'll be looking to get
Sony NW-A808
sony_nw-a808.jpg


IMHO I think the zune just looks terrible.
zune.jpg
 
I will mainly be using it for myself, as non of my friends have mp3 players, but i really like my music. The sharing would be a bonus but not at present.

I think they look nice i have seen one in the flesh and there just as nice as any other tbh.

I'm just not sure weather ill get problems with it using it on UK vista, media player ect...

Thanks
XD-3
 
BillytheImpaler said:
I wouldn't get one. The major selling point is WiFi sharing with other Zunes.
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surely the major selling point for most players is capacity, sound quality and battery life. i haven't checked out the zune's capabilites but if it has good reviews in those areas, i'd have no hesitation getting one. :)
 
I've just bought one - arrived yesterday. Cost £149.98 delivered ;)

First impressions: Looks great, feels great, interface is beautiful. Slightly thick for a 30Gb player - iPod is thinner. Not too much of an issue. Also, 30Gb isn't a lot of space, really.

Screen is top notch - viewing the pre-loaded videos look good.

Downsides: Capacity, lack of Video format support (must be transcoded to WMV), having to use the 'Zune' Software (which is essentially the same as WMP11 - so why can't we use that?!), and:
GeezerButler said:
Also note that version 2 of the Zune is due pretty soon, as is a flash based version....see here:

http://www.zunescene.com/zune-2.0-details/
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If it's true, then There's a fair chance that Zune 1 will never get a release outside the US, and we'll get the higher capacity, thinner Zune 2 instead. Still, I was getting bored of waiting. I've been putting up with a 3G iPod for ages in the hope something better will be round the corner. At £150, it's a steal - I paid £300 for my 3G iPod (admittedly a long time ago!).

Oh - and the headphones suck too. But that's par for the course with MP3 players. I've got some new (black) Etymotic ER6i's in the post - had some with my iPod, and I like.
 
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Similar position myself.

Decided I wanted more than 30Gb so I have gone for a 80gb Ipod (6th Generation) for £182.00 + P&P.
 
It'll work fine in the UK, the only thing you won't be able to do is buy music online from the Zune store as that is limited to the US at the moment.
 
lemonkettaz said:
Only reason people probably dismiss it is because its microsoft and not apple...

oh no... shocking
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People dismiss it because it offers nothing new - the one thing the Zune had over other players was WiFi, and they screwed it up by crippling it. Not to mention the complete incompatibility with any DRM scheme Microsoft have used before.
 
james.miller said:
so what does the zune offer that other mp3 players dont?
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It doesn't have to - although I prefer the 'twist' interface to my iPod.

If it's as good as other players, then it shouldn't be dismissed. And I think it is.

If you stick with your view of 'if it doesn't offer anything better', then we'd just have the iPod and no competition. Not much incentive to improve on the original...
 
csmager said:
It doesn't have to - although I prefer the 'twist' interface to my iPod.

If it's as good as other players, then it shouldn't be dismissed. And I think it is.
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who said thats my view? i wanted to know what makes it worth buying over any other. Let's get this straight, this a product thats nearly 2 years behind the market and its one stand out feature has been crippled to the point of worthlessness.

Now look at the shortfalls, no ums, very poor drm as mentioned by Caged, battery life is average, strorage size is average. it does nothing that says 'buy me' and there are already other products on the market that are better and thats before it's even hit the uk market.

in short, its a huge non event.

If you stick with your view of 'if it doesn't offer anything better', then we'd just have the iPod and no competition. Not much incentive to improve on the original...
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how do you figure that? its competition that drives advances in the market. its the customer wanting more that gets us more. you've got that totally wrong, if were were complacent with what apple offer then there wouldnt be anything else on the market, but thats not the case is it?
 
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Have had one since Jan. Had a few issues early on getting it to sync with my PC but solved them after a few hours. Since then it has been plain sailing and all positive. Had an iRiver H340 before this and using the Zune is so refreshing. Battery life is fine, the screen is great, the interface is pretty much perfect imo and the size (physical and capacity) is not an issue for me.

Also think it is quite sexy and quite exclusive in Europe.
 
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