Zune 120GB MP3 Player

I really wanted to like the Zune. As  a frustrated iPod user, I longed for something that didn’t crash on me or get stuck “on” until the battery died.

So with this enthusiasm, I ripped open the box for my Zune 120GB and attempted to immediately start playing with it.

Unfortunately, it took a little more finessing then powering up, turning on and “simply” uploading from my collection of nearly 10,000 songs from my external hard drive (and that’s just half of my entire collection!).

Hmmm, was this love affair not going to last?

Fortunately, I was able to easily set up a Zune account and get started uploading collections directly from the Zune store using my Zune Pass. This pass, by the way, allows you to download as many songs/CD’s as you like each month for $15. You can then test drive these out and choose 10 songs to keep. Forever. Pretty cool way to sample if you’re in doubt about a purchase.

Most of my media is on my Mac and not compatible with the Zune. I do, however, have much of my MP3 collection stored on an external hard drive. It took a couple of tries to get the Zune to recognize the hard drive but once connected it really only took a couple of hours to complete. The Zune pulls album covers, when possible, which is a nice feature that my older iPod doesn’t support.

OK, starting to REALLY like it at this point.

I’m SUPER excited about the fact that the Zune has a built in radio. Why wouldn’t it? (Apple, what could you possibly be thinking?) I love to have the option of listening to This American Life while I’m gardening OR one of my collections of travel music. No more schlepping a battery powered radio outside, I can just use the Zune.

Other cool features? You can subscribe to Channels. These are self-updating playlists. You simply subscribe to the genre(s) that you’re interested in and you’ll have weekly updates added to your Zune. I’ve got a couple of world music channels already picked out, but there are lots of options.

In addition, it has the ability to store and playback video, photos and podcasts, too.

The biggest downfall of the Zune is not the device itself. It’s the online Help and the user interface on the software (not on the Zune). I found the Help section woefully lacking though I did find answers to some questions just by Googling my issue and discovering blogs and forums that could help me out.

As for the software, maybe I’m too used to iTunes, but the hierarchy of information is not user-friendly. And, the buttons and scrolls are so tiny and thin that it’s hard to keep your mouse on them. Almost as if they don’t really want you to move around.

I’ll take some of the blame for my slow start with the Zune. Those crazy kids who can pick one up and know exactly what to do with it… well, I won’t go down that path. But I will say that if Microsoft wants to pick up more of the marketplace, they’ve gotta make the experience a whole lot smoother.

Available on Amazon

Travel Well!