After much delay and stuff, I finally bought a Black Zune 80. Was it worth the money? Hell yes.
It took a bit to sync, but the Zune Media Player program is pretty nice. In comparison to Windows Media Player 11, this is a bit different. It doesn't give off that confined feeling (although WMP11 still has a nice layout). Also, instead of changing the tint of the borders (there really aren't any for Zune's Music Player, just really thin lines) you can change the background. Unfortunately, it's a limited selection of backgrounds (8 I think), but the ones they do have are all very nice. Syncing music onto the Zune is easy as dragging and dropping. The best part of the software? No bugs! Contradictory to what we would expect of Microsoft, the program hasn't crashed or given me any problems.
On to the music player itself! The sound is great. That's really all that needs to be said about it. There's no equalizer, and some people would complain about that, but I don't care. I wouldn't have used it anyway.
The Zune has HUGE screen, and to add to that, words for everything are big too. When you turn the Zune on you can see in big bold letters:
music videos pictures social radio podcasts and
settings. When I'm scrolling through my music, I can hold it at arms length and still read the text just fine. The pictures have good quality, the album covers are displayed very nicely, the back-light is bright, and videos have good quality (it's not an HDTV, but it works).
The touch-sensitive pad, known as the "Zune Pad" (or "Squicle" to some) is very responsive. You can scroll through songs by swiping your thumb up and down or you can hold it up or down like a D-pad. It takes a bit to get used to because just sliding your thumb across it switches to a new song. Otherwise, it's an improvement from the Zune 30's D-pad. Scrolling through songs is no problem, and finding things is very easily.
The backing of the Zune is a big difference from the ubiquitous iPod, and it's a good thing. Why you ask? Well for one, you can get it customized with text AND pictures. I didn't because I'm going on vacation soon, and I can't wait for it to come in the mail. The back is missing something that the iPod has...fingerprints and scratches. The back doesn't have that metallic finish that seems to get damaged SO easily.
The Zune 80 is the only Zune to come with a pair of Zune Premium Headphones (they're ear buds, but whatever). They cost $40 on their own. They are awesome. They actually have a fabric around them! That's something you don't see everyday. These earbuds have tiny magnets on the back of them so tangling the wires isn't a problem. They have four sets of "in-ear inserts" so they can fit in my ears better. This contributes to what I love the most about these ear buds: the noise-isolation. It's not noise-canceling like those $200 Bose headphones, but it's similar. It muffles out everything else, so I can only hear the music: almost everything else is a dull murmur. And get this, I'm using the lowest volume setting possible. My hearing may be sensitive or something, but these things are LOUD.
Now there are a few other things you can do with third party software. For example, there's a website that allows you to download YouTube videos and convert them to mp4 formating. What does that mean? You can watch YouTube videos on your Zune. I'm planning on putting the entire Red vs. Blue series on my Zune (I have 73 GB left on this baby, and I'm gonna use that space!).
Unfortunately , the Zune can't be used as an external hard drive out of the box (Microsoft! Get on that!), but there are a few third party programs that can fix that.
Overall, the Zune is a pretty sweet music/video player. If your're looking for a new mp3 player, I suggest you take a look at this one. Even if you have an iPod now, you can still make the switch if you want (Zune plays iTunes now).
xbox
