When the Zune first came out I did a review on it, it was a pretty favorable review, with nothing really bad being said about it, and if your interested here is the link. But after a few weeks of owning it and screwing around with it, I started to notice a disturbing trend, it was shutting off on me for no apparent reason out of no where. I even has it shock me through the ear buds once while listening to podcasts at work, wasn’t to thrilled about that. So what I did was I wrote another post about that to see if anyone else noticed a trend like this and this was what I got. But that was the last Zune story that I have wrote and I had a lot of people ask me what has happened with my Zune, so I figured I would write an update on it.So I stuck with my Zune for a couple months because I really wanted it to work but all I was doing was delaying the inevitable, I ended up returning it. It was a several reasons and now I’m going to go into them. First 3*3, the 3 plays 3 days thing is retarded, it really is, if I own the rights to something, ie The XBL Radio Podcast, I should be able to share it as much as I want with the receiver getting to play it for as long or as many times as they want, for MS to put there own drm on my music is a bunch of crap. The fact that I couldn’t share videos was another thing, why does the Zune have Wi-Fi if we can only use it for certain features, the Wi-Fi capabilities was way to locked down. Another Wi-Fi thing that sucked was I couldn’t find anyone else with a Zune to share music with in the first place. Nobody I knew had a Zune except for some MS employees, that was it, everyone I new either had a iPod, Zen or a Sansa.

Another huge issue I had was podcasting, as a podcaster I need to have the ability to download podcasts quickly and easily like with iTunes, and that is so not happening with the Zune. I had to have 2 extra programs running for my podcasts, I used Juice for my audio podcasts, its a pretty good program which allows autotagging and a bunch of other features but it had issues with my video podcasts so then I had used the program called FeedYourZune for my video programs, you can also download audio podcasts with this one but I didn’t like the features on this one too much, plus this was a huge memory hog. So now I have to have 3 programs running at all times for my podcasts to be on my Zune, there was the slow and bulky zune program too. All this to do what iTunes has always done for me.

Now one of my favorite things about the Zune was the large screen, but what good is a large screen if its not being used? iTunes has movie and tv downloads but the Zune, not so much. If you want video on your Zune you have to go elsewhere to get it, not through Microsoft but either though things like video podcasts, direct downloads or by buying video converting programs to get videos on your Zune right. And even then its not always effective. I had many videos that would work on a iPod that the Zune program wouldn’t even put it on my Zune. And while we are talking about buying videos, lets talk about buying other things for the Zune. Lets talk about the Zune marketplace and what a disaster it is. First I friggin hate buying things with MS points, all that does is make you forget that you are wasting real money on downloads, and a perfect example of that is the marketplace for the Xbox 360. Microsoft had a perfectly good music store with there Urge store, they shouldn’t have abandoned that for the Zune, stupid move I thought.

So like I said at the beginning of this post, I returned my Zune. In fact I returned it and I picked up an iPod which I’m very happy with, ya the screen is not as big and it doesn’t have crippled down Wi-Fi, nor fm radio (so far the only thing i really miss), but it does have a brighter screen plus about 12 hour battery life, which is a lot more then the Zune. It had podcast functionality built in to the software and it also allows tv and movie downloading.

There you go, now you all know. And I will not be jumping on the Zune bandwagon again till MS fixes all the things wrong with it and really I won’t even now about it unless they also send me a demo unit because I’m also not spending money on another Zune again. I hope this will help future Zune buyers in swaying there decision as well because I do not want you guys to have to go though what I had to go though.

BTW, do you know that with every Zune sold Universal gets a royalty because they figure that you are stealing music? How crappy is that?

So if you look back in our stories, you will notice that I posted a favorable review of Microsofts new Zune. But lately I have some issues with it. I will start off with what needs fixing and continue into how I think my Zune is actually broke. I want to know if others are having similar issues with their Zune.

What Needs Fixing. How about the fast forwarding? It works just fine with regular songs and such, but when you are getting into podcasts and movies, it sucks because it does not get progressively faster like almost ever other mp3 player. So if you listen to a podcast and you need to get to the end of the show, it actually takes a while. A long while. And with my iPod I would be able to hear the audio at the same time so I can try to figure out where I was in the show without having to look at the screen. Thats not the case here too, I hear nothing while I’m fast forwarding.

Second, track tagging while your listening to the radio. When I’m listening to the radio and if there is a song I like, I should be able to tag that song so the Zune saves the artist and song title so I can later buy it in the marketplace.

Wireless downloads, we all know that.

And last of what I truly think needs improvement is saving the current location on a song. You know how with your iPod you can get half way through a podcast and maybe you need to turn it off or wanna listen to something else, when you go back to that track it will start right where you left off, for some reason it works for me in with the videos but not with audio which for me is a huge problem due to the simple fact I listen to a lot of podcasts. Another cool feature that they had is you could listen to a song through iTunes, connect your iPod and it would actually continue off where you left off and that feature again is not in the Zune.

Now let me tell you why I think my Zune is broke and why I will be returning it to where I bought it. And if you have this issue, let me know. I want to know if this is a my-Zune-only thing or if others are having this problem as well.

My Zune randomly turns off! I know what you’re thinking, “charge your damn battery”, but that is not it. It has been fully charged and it will just turn itself off while listening to music or the radio. And when it does that sometimes it resets itself for me. I’ll get the reset screen that has the Zune logo and the progress bar on the bottom. Sometimes I actually have to wait around 5 minutes or so in order to turn it back on. Now I do not know about you guys but this is extremely annoying. What compounds this is if I was listening to a podcast, I now have to go find my spot on the current episode using the crappy fast forwarding feature.

I have also had an issue that involved the random turn off, but my Zune decided to zap me in the ear, too! I was listening to Squad XP’s podcast at the time and I do not know if maybe the Zune thought I should not listen to it due to the rampant cussing or the talk of booze and women, but it decided to turn itself off and shock me in the ear all at the same time! This time, I also could not get my Zune to reboot for at least 10-15 minutes.

So I want to know if something is wrong with my Zune. Iis this just a random crappy Zune thing or if more people are having issues with their Zune similar to mine. Let me know.

If you’re still waiting on that episode of South Park to download from the marketplace (it took me 4 hours to get it completed) the ZUNE is offering a way for you to listen to XBL Radio while you wait.

FEED YOUR ZUNE is an easy way to incorporate RSS into your Zune. One of the features that made the iPod great was its ability to incorporate podcast RSS subscriptions.

On our last show, XBL Radio ver 31, Steve519 discussed all of the Zunes features. One feature not included was the ability to use RSS. So if RSS subscriptions made you not purchase the newest portable entertainment machine, now might be a time to reconsider…

A FEAST of gaming info-

• TECH NEWS: -AOL is once again changing the way it operates. -Cell Phones that track your every movement. -The ZUNE: features and functionality. -The Intercooler tries to chill the accusations. -100 dollar 360s.
• CONSOLE CRIMES: -W.O.W. gives more players the boot. -The PS3 and John Edwards.
• GAME NEWS: -HALO2 and the 360. -GEARS of WAR 2? Not yet but new content is on the way. -A new FPS with 4 player co-op. Just what we need.
• Useless tips.
• Our Gears of War GIVEAWAY CONTEST, win a copy of the collectors edition.
• Poll Feedback and more…

Game Reviews:

-Tiger Woods 07 TOG tees off once again with Tiger Woods 07. -F.E.A.R. Was your local gaming store out of Gears? I doubt that. -Gears of WAR The highly anticipated Cliffy B. project is finally out. Does it live up to all the hoopla.

Here is the direct download link,
Right Click here (and save as… for best download experience).

Talk about the show in our forums.

To subscribe to the podcast you can click on one of these…
~ ~ ~

I went out and bought a zune last Tuesday, so I want to give my review to all of you guys and hopefully this will help you decide if you want one or not based on what you need. I just wanna let you all know where I’m coming from, I have owned 3 different iPods, I have owned a Photo iPod, iPod Nano and a iPod Shuffle along with screwing around with a iPod Video, so I know what an mp3 player should be like because Apple has always done that well.

I bought a Zune mainly for the way its suppose to integrate into the Xbox 360, since after all I do publish a video game podcast. I’ll be up front with you, it’s probably the most compelling reason for me, that and the Wi-FI fuctions. Now what I’m going to do is first share my experience purchasing the Zune, then give my initial impressions of it and finally wrap it up with a good-bad-and-needs-improved summary. Ready? Here we go…

On Tuesday I picked this up at Target because they were having a deal where if you buy it you get a free $25 gift card which is a better deal then anywhere else I could find. I was a little disappointed in the opening day specials that were offered with the Zune. I figured MS would have done more promotions or specials, being that they are competing with Apple on one of the most corralled markets in all of the technology fields.

They had all three Zune colors that are currently available, brown, white and black. They had a “dummy” black model on display along with a working brown edition, no previews on the white one though. I wanted to see them both before I made my decision but they would not let me see the white models because they were boxed and Target didn’t wanna open the box for me. I picked the black model. To me the black looked a little better when watching the videos on the demo at that time, it blended better for me.

So I get home with it and unbox it. It was packed pretty well and not cluttered up at all. Simple and clean is always good, that’s one of the reasons the iPod is so successful. Now I read some reviews about the install crashing. So with that in mind, I get the install CD, put it in my computer and had no problems with crashing, not single one. But wow it is slow! Granted my computer is not top of the line but it is a good computer and has more then enough speed and memory. But still, the install took a good 20 minutes at least, counting the update as well that were available.

Now I have it installed on my computer and now its another 20 minutes while its searching for music, videos and pictures, this kinda bogs down the excitement. Alright! Finally done with that waiting. I plug in my Zune to my computer, it finds it just fine and its auto syncing up. Nice! But damn, its taking a long time again! And this is USB 2.0. Maybe it has something to do with the countless Gigs of music and videos I have on my computer ?-). The cool thing about syncing up the videos is that it automatically converts them over to the Zune format as long as it’s compatible with the Zune format. The conversion times are also very slow, but that must be the sacrafice for getting such small file sizes.

Lets start talking about using the Zune. It’s laid out nice and simple. You have a click wheel in the middle with a back button on the left and a play/pause button on the right. Now as for as the click wheel, I guess I am too used to the iPod because I kept trying to scroll with it and that just does not happen. It is not touch sensitive, a key design feature that will throw off experienced iPod users. Once you get used to the the fact that you can not scroll with the wheel, the whole navigation on the Zune will become very simple. Very very simple. Highly intuitive on MS’s part with the menus, I picked up on it in seconds.

Now for things that I have tried out. Music. Very simple, it lists all your music here, grouped by songs, genres, albums, artists, and playlists. You go to the song, artist, genre, etc. that you want, select it and select “play now” or just click the play button, that simple. It then shows your album art along with a time bar and it all looks great, better then the iPod. So since I now have it playing music, I could click the center of the wheel and get the options to rate the song, flag it, shuffle, repeat and the coolest innovative option, to send the song via Wi-Fi.

So next we have videos, they have they own type of grouping too, I can not recall it though and I can not see them because I deleted the videos that came prestocked on the Zune so I forgot the groups, sorry. But lets get into the videos, like I said before, the software automatically coverts the videos for your Zune when you sync it up as long as it compatible, which not everything is. WMV’s, MP4’s, and H.264’s work, everything else does not. Mov’s, Avi’s and everything else does not work right now, maybe later but right now they do not and this to me is a huge thing not to include. When you play the videos the layout changes a little, you have to rotate it sideways because the Zune goes to widescreen. The screen and picture resolution is awesome, the videos are crisp, bright and look great. If you click the center wheel here you get the description of the video, however it was tagged. You do not have an option to send videos like you did with music but word is that its coming so stay tuned.

Pictures now, just like the others same thing, they are grouped by folder or by date. The Zune rotates them automatically based on how it sees fit, and if you click the center wheel you have the option to send, shuffle, zoom, tag and apply as background, which I think is great, you get to have your own personalized background on the Zune which is a cool feature.

Moving on to the radio aspect of it now. As you have probably heard, the Zune comes with a integrated FM tuner. This is a cool extra kicker for me. I did not need it but I am glad that its there. You use the wheel to seek, and hold it down to set presets. The reception seems pretty good and it also includes RDS features which allows the radio stations to tag whats playing with song artist, titles, etc. I have heard rumors that you can flag songs you hear on the radio with the Zune for purchase later if you like it but as of right now its not a feature. I hope that this option will come our way because quite often while I’m listening to the radio and I hear a song that I like but do not have, this is give me the option to get it later.

We also have a community menu on the Zune that is suppose to show you everyone with a Zune around you, there Zunetag and what there doing, ie listen to music, watching a video along with what they are listening to or watching but I have no one around me to test it on so I am unable to try that mode out.

Now for the good, bad and needs some work.

Good: Video quality is awesome, the screen is really nice and big, navigation is simple, FM tuner is great and having Wi-Fi should be awesome once you take off the chasity belt on it and let it be free from restrictions.

Bad: Oh the crappy software, its so damn slow and bogs my computer down. Why do I have to install your crappy software anyways on that? You (MS) just released the new Windows Media player which I love so far, it also has a nice music store with the urge, so why can I not just use that? No podcast integration? Who the hell screwed that up? Fire them now, huge blunder. Where is the Xbox integration that we were told about? It better be coming soon.

Needs improved: Wi-Fi, don’t lock it down, let it be free, let the user use it however they want, ie download music, sending videos and sharing music without drm if they own the rights to it, none of the 3*3 deal. I should be able to share my podcast through Wi-Fi to everyone that wants it and they should not have to worry about listening to it in 3 days. Fast forwarding through songs, have it so when you hold down the fast forward button it speeds up, it takes way to long to fast forward though a podcast if I wanna get to the end. Allow tagging of songs that you hear on the radio. Allow more video support and provide video downloads through the Zune software.

Overall I am pretty happy that I bought one, it a pretty cool device. Now would I recommend you guys to buy one? That all depends on your situation, do you need a mp3 player? Do you already have one? And what features are you looking for? If you already have and iPod I say keep your iPod for right now. Right now you can not really do anything extra with the Zune compared to the iPod. If you do not have an mp3 player and want to get one I would really recommend the Zune, especially if your a 360 gamer because of the integration that will be coming our way.