I picked up a 16GB Zune HD at Best Buy a few days ago and cannot stop playing with it. I may have to return it for a 32 GB. If you are in the market for a PMP you owe it to yourself to at least consider the Zune HD. Why did I give it 5 stars, and why might you? Amazing Zune software for desktop, HD radio, beautiful screen, responsive firmware, fun UI, great sound, "music discovery," and social. This turned out to be longer than I expected so I put the main reasons you might not like it and the summary here at the top. You can scroll down if you want more info on my feelings.
Summary
*Download the Zune software and play with it. If you like it then Zune might be what you want. If you hate it, then Zune is not for you.
*If you like listening to the radio, then you might want to get this.
*Things look great on this screen.
*If you want a device that is fun and easy to use, then you'll love it.
*Things sound great on this.
*If you like listening to new and different music, then you might want to get this.
*If you like to share music and know what your friends like to listen to, then you might want to get this (and tell your fiends to get it).
Reasons you may not like the Zune HD.
*The internet browser is very basic and lacks many features. It is functional, but don't think you'll be spending a whole lot of time on it.
*Few apps. This will never get the 70,000+ apps Apple has. However, how many of those apps are actively used by even 1% of people? Hopefully, few apps will mean better quality apps. Don't get me wrong there are many great apps on iTunes but there are tons of bad ones too. Microsoft plans to just work on getting the good ones by working with `partners' in developing apps instead of letting any third party develop apps that are less than useful. It is up to you to decide if that is good or bad.
*You have a Mac. There is no Zune software for the Mac so you'd have to run windows on it to make use of it. I hope Microsoft makes a Mac version.
*You want drag & drop mass storage. You must sync your Zune HD through the Zune software. You can't open it up through windows explorer.
*You want a small computer tablet. Get a smart phone (iPhone, Palm Pre, Blackberry storm, HTC Touch Pro 2, HTC Hero, myTouch 3g would do).
*You hate additional options. The 16GB only comes in black but you can get all sorts of engraved designs on it. The 32GB comes in Platnium, Yellow/Green, Blue, Red, and eventually Pink, Purple, Magenta, and Atomic (Red with some crazy design).
*You need more space than 32GB.
*You want (crappy) speakers on the device. You should really look into getting a dock no matter what device you get if you plan to have people listen to songs this way. Even passing around the default ear buds are a better experience.
*Ads on the free game apps. There is a Kia ad (one is a picture another one is a 15 sec? quasi-commercial) that plays when you launch the free games. They only appear on the launch of the game i.e. while loading. You never see them once the game is up.
*You are an Apple fanboi. You'll never be happy with M$ (as you put it) and Apple is the center of the universe.
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Zune 4.0 Software
If you have a PC, then do yourself a favor and download the Zune software. It cost nothing and you'll get a sense of what the Zune HD has to offer in the way of look and feel. To be honest, when I first used the Zune software (3.0) I thought this is something Apple should have designed. If only Microsoft had this kind of design flair in its other products then the PC actor in the PC vs. Mac ads would be Johnny Depp or Brad Pitt. If you don't like it then you know the Zune is not for you.
HD Radio
I have effectively doubled the number of radio stations I can listen to. They come in great. There is no static with the HD channels. They either come in or they don't. If you live in Wala Wala, Washington, then you probably aren't getting much in the way of HD channels so this is of limited use. If, however, you live in pretty much any metropolitan area, then you'll have plenty more to listen to.
The OLED Screen
LCD vs. OLED? Who cares? The acronym doesn't matter. All that does matter is that everything on this screen looks gorgeous. There is some glare in direct sunlight and you aren't going to be able to read the screen if you angle the screen perfectly so that the light source is directly over the screen, i.e. put the thing up to a light blub. Otherwise, turn the screen brightness up to `High' when out in the sun and you should be fine. I cannot stress enough how amazing this screen looks. I sat up (really just laid down) in bed until 2am watching the pilot episode of "Psych" and it was simply beautiful.
Firmware
You don't want to stop touching this thing. The touch screen is super responsive. If you've played with an iPhone or iPod Touch then you know exactly what to expect. However, the accelerometer (the tilting of the device from portrait to landscape) is even faster than the iPod Touch. I compared it (side-by-side) with my roommate's iPod Touch. The keyboard in the internet browser is really small, but amazingly accurate at least as much so as Apple's keyboards. I have yet to have it miss a letter. I actually don't like touch screen keyboards, but if more of them were this accurate I'd change my mind. Flipping through all the menus is quick and "just works".
The UI
I LOVE the UI (user interface) on this thing! Really, it just looks great and you want to press everything on the screen to see what it does next. I recommend keeping the screensaver on at all times. While playing music a dynamic screensaver based on the song, album, artists, and time all pass across the screen. If you can find a best buy that has a Zune HD on display, go play with it. You won't want to stop.
Music quality
In my opinion, the music quality is superior to the iPod Touch but cannot comment on any other brands of PMP. I actually had an Usher song playing, and one of his spoken words was so crisp that I actually turned around because I thought someone was behind me talking. I felt kind of dumb afterwards, but I was amazed at the richness of the sound. The ear buds that come with it aren't that great, but unfortunately, we have become conditioned to accept that all default ear buds are terrible.
Music discovery
Microsoft and a lot of reviewers like to use this term, but I think the average person doesn't really know what that means. First, there is the Zune Pass (which I do NOT have). The Zune Pass is an OPTIONAL program where you pay $14.99 a month to download and listen to pretty much every song on the Zune Marketplace. Every month you get to keep 10 songs DRM-free so you can do anything you want with them. This is different than Pandora, Last.fm, Spotify, etc. apps on for Apple products because you can download these songs and listen to them offline. So, while you are running, in the car, at the office, etc and do not have a Wi-Fi connection you can still listen to any of the songs you download with the Zune Pass. Again, this is completely OPTIONAL. You do NOT have to sign up for it. Like I said, I don't have Zune Pass. However, the Zune HD makes it very tempting. This is because whenever you click on an artist's name it brings up all the albums you have in your collection, but it also can search (while connected to Wi-Fi) to see all the other albums and singles that are known to the Zune Marketplace. You can click on those album and sample, purchase, and download any of those songs. If the song or album is not available on the marketplace it still displays the album info. Or you can tab over to "Bio" and read up on the artist. Or you can tab over to "Related" and it will show you a bunch of similar artists who you can also sample, purchase, download, and/or read about from the Marketplace. Or if you are listening to the radio, then you can tag a song and throw it into your cart. You can then sample, purchase, and download the song. Again, if you don't want to buy it or it is not available on the marketplace you can at least get the artist, song, and album info. Additionally, if you have the Zune Pass then you have access to "channels" which are constantly updating playlists that you can subscribe to that allow you to listen to music you more than likely would never hear. There is SmartDJ which I have no real experience with so I cannot comment on it other than to say it is another tool to get you to listen to music you probably would never listen to normally. Lastly, every week Zune Marketplace has free songs for you to download and listen to. Some are songs that you will listen to once. Some are songs that will be in heavy rotation. The point is that you get to listen to new music for free. Oh, and that pilot episode of Psych that I watched... I got it free from the marketplace, same with 30 Rock.
Social
Everyone with a Zune gets a Zune ID. If you have an Xbox Live account (silver or gold) then you already have a Zune ID. Any of your Xbox friends or just Zune friends will show up. This allows you to see what their top artists and songs are. You can send any of your songs to them through the Zune HD or Zune software on your desktop so they can sample the song. If he/she is just an Xbox friend and does not have a Zune then the song will be in his/her Xbox messages and they can sample it on their Xbox. You can also send the song to an email address if they don't have a Zune so they can sample it as well. There are also "guest" DJs that put up their playlists for you to sample, purchase, and download.
There are plenty of other things that I love about it and some quirks that can be somewhat annoying, but overall I am extremely happy about my purchase.Get more detail about
Zune HD 32 GB Video MP3 Player (Platinum).
