Converted

Wait... people actually buy and use the Zune???

Belzebutt

iPod Touch = Poor man's iPhone

To me, when I was looking just for a music player I liked the Samsung P2. It's very small and sexy and yet has a pretty big screen for its size. That's the iPod Touch alternative for those who don't need all their music at once and don't care for the wireless surfing. Also it doesn't require the dreadful iTunes.


Plus, you don't have to join "The Social", whatever the hell that is.

Converted

Dreadful iTunes? It's by far one of the easiest, most complete and convenient music services/interfaces ever created...

I love how people think it's cool to jump on the "hate itunes/ipod" bandwagon...

Belzebutt

Oh geez, so just because iTunes randomly decides whether or not to sync my contacts I'm on a bandwagon? Or the fact that it randomly decides to pick up the album art for some albums that have a "cover.jpg" picutre in the folder, and sometimes it doesn't? And then you have to go through a whole bunch of menus to assign custom cover art, when in Media Player you just drag and drop a picture and that's IT? Or how you select an album but it shows you actually only hightlighting a song, Or how it's trying to act like a Mac application when it's running on Windows?

That's only the stuff I can think of in 10 seconds.

Converted

Well, I suppose using iTunes on just my Mac's, it may be different... I don't have any issues at all, never have.

I only upload CD's I have, or buy music on iTunes... so I don't ever have to deal with finding cover art, it always does everything automatically for me.

stangg172004

the zune software does that too. the problem people were having was from upgrading the firmware and software, meta data got messed up but they eventually released a fix for it. I see zero advantages itunes has over any other main stream program. its just a matter of taste...

#1 STUNNA

iTunes has a few advantages on Zune like slightly more detailed and easier to use metadata editing and it has more videos and movies on the iTunes. But when you add in the fact that only 7 million videos where downloaded from the iTunes store last year then it's obvious no ones cares about video.

Also you don't HAVE to join the social, you have to sign up yourself it's not automatic. With that said I have joined I've been playing around with it. stangg172004 and quinto if you guys have joined the social I'd like to get your social names so I can add you and then you'll be able to listen to what I have been listening to recently plus my favorite artists and songs all on your Zune and vis versa.

Here's mine

http://social.zune.net/member/Dan+the+Danger

stangg172004

ill have to sign up for it, i ordered the 80 a few days ago so ill wait till then to set up my account. i agree that the zune software (2.0) sucked at editing but this new release addresses all of these issues. I still dont see any real advantages to itunes. Especially with the 2.5 version of the zune software...

so about the social thing, is that all that it give you? a buddy list of sorts?

#1 STUNNA

well you can see what you're friends favorite artists, tracks and recent songs are and you can take what those songs with you on your Zune. If you have the Zune Pass it'll take the whole track with you. So it's a good way to discover new music. If you search for a band say "the killers" you'll see a listeners tab, if you click on that it'll show you the people that listen to the killers the most and you add them as friends you can sync their music on your Zune. So it's a good way to find new music. It's kindof like the if you like the killers than you'll love "band X" or "song X". You can also write reviews of bands and whatnot. It's kindof like a myspace for music. Or like that website where you type in a band you like and then the website suggests music for you that's similar to that band.

This video goes into detail about the new social features.
<iframe src="http://on10.net/blogs/tina/22275/player/" frameborder="0" height="325" scrolling="no" width="320"></iframe><br /><a href="http://on10.net/blogs/tina/Zune-Spring-Update-25-The-Video/">Zune Spring Update 2.5 - The Video</a><br />

Scottman111

What major advantages would I have over buying an 80gig instead of a 30gig?

The price difference is killing me...just wondering if it's worth it for the 80 right now.

Converted

I have a 30 gig... an ASSSSS load of music... and it's like 15% full... lol

Eggplant-EX

I just picked up IPOD Touch 32gb and so far, I love it. Have downloaded all my CDs as well as some TV shows & podcast. I am headed to China and it will be neat to have something to keep me busy.

In my case, I cheacked Costco and the 32gb was $389 + tax (total of about $423). I picked mine off Ebay for $350 shipped. Yeah, I know alot of people have issues with Ebay, but I bought off a seller that sells Electronic and had a boatload of postive feedback.

cM3go

I only use Zune software to stream music to my Xb0x 360

#1 STUNNA

Damn you got the $500 iTouch for $150 OFF! How the F did you pull that off! That's one hell of a deal, are you sure you didn't get the 16gb?

Scottman111

Yeah, I'm not worried about filling up a 30gig. I might have 10gigs of music now. I'm just wondering about the other features.

#1 STUNNA

Besides the storage. It's smaller, got a bigger screen, and the Zune pad which is better than what ever the Zune 30 has. If you're not going to use more than 30gb than you might want to stick with the Zune 30 since you can pick one up for about $110. I'm really happy with my Zune 80 though especially after this update and my new Zune Pass.

Currently I'm only using 41Gb on my Zune with 21Gb of that being music consisting of 3643 songs. I also got 700+ pictures, 43 videos and a few podcasts.

Scottman111

^ What bitrate do you have your music? And is there any type of security feature? I'd be afraid of losing the thing with all my pics on it and stuff.


I've been reading around a lot on both. I'll probably buy the 30gig for my brother and I'll go with the 80. I'm going to start doing a lot more with movies in the future.

#1 STUNNA

NO security feture. The vast majority of my music is at 224kbps mp3, the music I download with my Zune pass is 192 WMA, and then I have an assortment of other bitrates but most is 224 mp3.

There is a program that I was trying out for my iPod, I can't seem to remember the name but basically it worked like you put this program on your iPod and if it got stolen you go to this website report it as stolen and the next time your iPod was connected to a computer it would phone home it's position with IP address and from there you could find out where it was I guess. But IDK it it'll work on the Zune cause it doesn't currently support disk mode where it's used as and external drive. Actually that's one off the features they need to add.

I think this is the service I'm talking about
http://www.inspice.com/aprod-code/doc/isp.htm

Anachostic

Zune 2.5 with pre-Beta game support, yea! If iPod is for people who want it "to just work", Zune is for power users. The next few months are going to be a digital orgy of XNA applications for the Zune - some great, some good, some terrible - that are going to really help it stand out. Me, I'm waiting for multiplayer Scorch (yeah, multiplayer Zune games via WiFi).

#1 STUNNA

So it's been reported that the Zune ONLY has a 4% market share after 2 years on the market and it's therefore a failure. for example this is the picture that Gizmodo made


Then I saw this and it cleared it all up. The bias of the Apple loving bloggers that is

Oh and the Zune is only available in the US and these stats are worldwide.

Whiskers

All the Brit gadget magazines love the Zune and constantly complain that we can't get it here....They keep saying it will come, but never has.

#1 STUNNA

It's coming to Canada next month and they say it'll come to Europe when then next version of the Zune launches which I guess is fall 2009!

stangg172004

they're comparing two products sales records when one is sold globally and one is sold only in one country? and then ragging on the zune? real credible...

#1 STUNNA

actually sorry that's my bad those numbers were US only! Mi malo! But it was the tone of the article, they laugh at the Zune having 4% market share in 2 years and they rave over Apple's 3% market share after 24 years in the market!

stangg172004

have you guys noticed the rediculous battery life on the 80s? i left mine playing yesterday for nearly six hours and the battery wasnt even half way dead....

Scottman111

Saw this the other day...some car audio stuff for the Zune

http://www.logjamelectronics.com/soundhonzn4.html

#1 STUNNA

Yeah that was posted earlier in this thread but it doesn't work with my car so thanks for bringing that up to me again

Actually I got my Zune plugged into the Analog Aux port on my USA SPEC iPod car adapter and it works good I just can't change tracks on the steering wheel. So I'll probably keep it this way.

Hey stang how are you likin the 80 compared to the 30? Did you sign up for teh social yet?

Scott did you get a Zune yet, maybe stang will sell you his old 30?

stangg172004

since i had updated my 30, the difference is minimal. I do enjoy having my whole collection on one unit. The touch pad took some getting used to since i was used to either clicking or rotating (ipod). Happy i got the engravings on the back, people always ask about them

#1 STUNNA

which engraving did you get?

#1 STUNNA

My Zune died on me today! out of nowhere. It's completely dead, it's like there isn't a battery in it. The screen won't come on, my pc won't recognize it, it does nothing, it's completely bricked. I used at about 4am and then when I went to work around 11am I plugged it back in and it didn't work. I called MS and I'm still in warranty so they're shipping out a box to me and I'll ship it back with the Zune (for free and not $30 like the iPod) and it'll be about 3 weeks before they ship it back I guess.

The customer support guy first told me that I may not get the same color Zune back but it will be the same capacity! I said excuse me? homo say what!? I said that's like dropping your car off at the repair shop and the mechanic says I can't guarantee the car you get back will be the same color but it will be the same model? I told him that I had a Zune original and I wanted it back with the same color and design on it. Then he put me on hold and came back and said that I'll get the same one back same color and design if they end up replacing it. I think he was new but I'm gonna keep me eyes peeled for any trickery. I know they did this with some guys 360 he had art all over it and signatures and they promised him when have gave it to them to fix the RRoD that he'd get the same one back but he didn't.

Anyways hows the Zunes working for everyone else?

The question for me is now that I have an iPhone will it replace my Zune. I don't think it will cause I got about 50gb of stuff on my Zune but we'll see. I'll have just the iPhone and no Zune for at least the next month so lets see how I do with out my Zune.

Sarlacc

Yes...Zunes are certainly more bullet proof than ipods huh. All things electronics have the ability to fail.

And $30 to mail in the ipod is BS...if it happens to be over 6 months, supposedly they require that, but so far only tennisjon got nailed with an attempt to collect...and he went to an apple store and it was all taken care of for him at no cost.

Can you just walk into your local zune store and do that? didnt think so.

Whiskers

Time to change the thread title...

#1 STUNNA

That would make Sarlacc happy.

I never said the Zune was more bulletproof than the iPod. It's usually the other way around, there's so much hype about Apple products that the myth that they last longer than PCs gets spread around and that isn't true either.

And is that a Yes of happiness? Like, "YES! your Zune broke, fuck you burn in hell!"

You got me on the Zune store, if they had one I probably would've taken it there, oh well. No biggie the box will be here in a couple days so that's all the time the store would've saved me. They don't fix iPods at the store do they? I thought they shipped them out to a repair center.

Sarlacc

Actually, I have found this very much to be true.

Whiskers

I don't think I ever replaced a PC (Mac or otherwise) or an Ipod (or any other music player) because it broke.....Ok, maybe in the early days of personal computing,but 99% of the time I replaced something because I wanted to replace it with a newer,faster, bigger, etc. model....

#1 STUNNA

New models of the Zune have been leaked. There's a 120gB and 16gB coming probably by November at the latest.




I'm hoping the price range for these models is $250 for the 120gb and $150 for the 16gb, I'd also love to see the 80gb drop to $200!! These would be very competitive prices. So Scottman there maybe a price drop on the way!!!


It appears the new models will have a glossy surface, I kinda like it! I liked the glossy surface of the iPod 5G over the flat surface of the iPod classic I replaced it with but it's not a big deal. Also those are different headphones than the premium ones that came with the 80Gb, I hope they aren't getting rid of those cause they were great, WAY better than the ones that come with the iPod.

In other news my friend in Chicago called me and told me she got a Zune. When she was in town we went to BB to get her a new iPod but when she was there she saw the Zune and saw it was $20 cheaper, had a radio and fit into the sleeve designed for her old iPod nano, she really liked that. I'm going to show her how to get all her music that's trapped on her iPod onto her boyfriends PC and onto her Zune. She's coming back in town in a month so hopefully I'll have my Zune back by then and then we can fiddle with the wireless features.

I was lazy and didn't send my Zune back right away so it'll take longer than usual but it better be back by the end of Sept! My iPhone is doing a decent job of replacing the Zune but I still miss it and all my music. The Zune needs to get that remote control capability that the iPhone has it's pretty neat.

gdubb

My better half got me a 8g zune today.

Anything that I need to know to make things easier or interesting?

#1 STUNNA

^Not much, it just works! If you purchased any music from the iTunes store and want to get them on your Zune you'll need to burn them to an audio cd in iTunes and then reimport that cd using the Zune or iTunes software and then it'll be added to your Zune device.

If you want you can get a Zune Pass which is subscription based service think of it as music rental. For $15 a month it allows you to download almost any song you want from the millions they have in the store. I like it cause i can get hundreds even thousands of songs that I wouldn't pay a dollar for but in the end they only cost me a penny each and if loose them after cancelling the service, oh well. I can still purchase the song if I choose to keep it. Join the social by clicking social at the top of the Zune software and you can find people that listen to similar music as you and if you get the Zune Pass you can take their favorite songs with you on your Zune.

All of this is discussed in this thread, there alot of good info about the Zune in here.

Welcome to the Social.

gdubb

Thanks D

#1 STUNNA

No Prob, if you have any questions feel free to ask.