[dave-g]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimmyjames8 It kills me how all the main stream media gift guides (just in time for Xmas) are coming out with reccos for Zune, new Xbox or whatever the new platform this Xmas is and a whole bunch of other crap that the publisher/wrtier knows nothing about, they just get paid to put out the gift guide like it's a public service, when in fact it is advertising, plain and simple. Who falls for this crap and why are all my metro radio stations going country? Is it a vast right wing conspiracy or are the majority of people just that common?

as the official spokesman for the head-fi "team right-wing,"
I assure you, we deny all knowledge of this...

I mean we have no idea what you're talking about.

Buy Microsoft everything!

I mean happy holidays!

 

[Super King]

Okay, so this guy hasn't even used or seen a Zune, but I sure trust his thoughts on it

 

[pds6]

Super King says:
Quote:

[G]uy hasn't even used or seen a Zune

Cause it Stinks!

 

[GSTom1]

You should read Austin Vaughan's of DAPReview initial impressions of the Zune. Appearantly you have to jump though hoops to get this thing to connect with your PC.

- The Zune in a non-MTP compliant device which can cause a whole bunch of headaches.
- Need to have an MSN e-mail account or start a new one
- Need to give Microsoft your address and other personal information
- Syncing issues
- Trouble with album art

November 14th: Zune Day

 

[Solitary1]

I want one. I have this coffee table with uneven legs.....

Seriously, I'm a die hard Mac man. Been one since '85, a year after its inception. BUT, I make my living supporting Microsoft networks and computers (also Macintosh, but the percentage is ridiculously low compared to Windows). Not to start a flame war, but I love Microsoft Windows because the s**t constantly breaks. Let's call it job security. I'm really anxious to see how STABLE this mini-OS is gonna be. That nice screen should be able to show a really nice BSOD. Hope we can load Linux on it....

The iPod and its OS is NOT the end-all of portable music devices, but it works and it does still have a certain "WOW" factor that you don't see with other devices (not sure why, it's not that visually appealing).

 

[manhattanproj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik I'm curious about the Zune, for sure, but having read through the features and some reviews, I see nothing compelling about it. There's no advantage in size, price, storage, battery life, ergonomics, nothing. If the sharing proves popular, Apple will add it. If the FM radio proves popular, Apple will add it. You have to wonder what Microsoft is thinking. If they really wanted to compete with this hardware, drop the price to $150 or so. Otherwise, it has no real advantage over the iPod. It's too late to improve the hardware, they'd only be able to compete on price.

windows wasn't compelling when it came out. it has nothing that apple wasn't already offering. but look at what's happening today with windows. also look at xbox. with technology, it is hard to predict what it's going to be like in the future. can you ever imagine a dual core processor, or wireless technology, or a dap 5 or 10 years ago? you have to enter the market to understand the market and to improve on the offerings. if microsoft never entered the gui or gaming business, can you ever get a vista or the xbox 360? NO!

 

[kugino]

the reason some of these reviewers don't have an actual zune in their hands is b/c of microsoft's ridiculous restrictions for reviewers. the TWIT guys this past week went on and on about how the reviewer could not open the zune, try to look for parts used, take the battery out, etc. reviewers had to sign a non-disclosure statement just to review the thing...there was some "zune reviewer's kit" that ran down all the reviewer could/could not do...and they could NOT mention the reviewer's kit in the review!! but with its public release, there should be more reviews now where people actually have it in their hands.

i'll forgive some of the sync-ing and buggy problems since this is version 1.0 (or 0.1?)...but this isn't a third-party company trying to make it compatible with microsoft...it's microsoft trying to be compatible with itself. and they can't even do that correctly.

 

[shigzeo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Digitalbath3737 Actually this is not true. The custom EQ is only for iTunes and not carried over to the iPod. Only the preset eq can be used on the iPod.

You can change, save the preset and it will change and save the preset. Change it, save to same name and voila, your ipod now is magically customed eq!

 

[m_memmory]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kugino /img/forum/go_quote.gif i'll forgive some of the sync-ing and buggy problems since this is version 1.0 (or 0.1?)...but this isn't a third-party company trying to make it compatible with microsoft...it's microsoft trying to be compatible with itself. and they can't even do that correctly.

But it's not really microsoft trying to be compatible with itself - this is microsoft software attempting to be compatible with a toshiba hardware. however they should still have spent some time getting the hardware and software to work together before releasing the thing!

 

[pds6]

Digitalbath3737 says:
Quote:

Actually this is not true. The custom EQ is only for iTunes and not carried over to the iPod.

shigzeo says:
Quote:

Change it, save to same name and voila, your ipod now is magically customed eq!

I have never been a big fan of the iPod EQ. On iTunes, the EQ does seem to work as promised.

I would not doubt that the Zune, or any other player, has a better EQ than the iPod. I should note that I think the Zune has a "Mode EQ" (Jazz, Rock, Easy Listening) and not a Graphic Equalizer as in other players.

 

[Cornholio]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GSTom1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Appearantly you have to jump though hoops to get this thing to connect with your PC.

And it won't work with Vista at all

 

[Solitary1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by m_memmory /img/forum/go_quote.gif But it's not really microsoft trying to be compatible with itself - this is microsoft software attempting to be compatible with a toshiba hardware. however they should still have spent some time getting the hardware and software to work together before releasing the thing!

It wouldn't be Microsoft then. This holds true for ALL of their products (well, I don't know about the Xbox, never owned one).

 

[Digitalbath3737]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shigzeo /img/forum/go_quote.gif You can change, save the preset and it will change and save the preset. Change it, save to same name and voila, your ipod now is magically customed eq!

Thanks for the tip! Now I'll have to go do a little work on my eq

 

[m_memmory]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solitary1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif It wouldn't be Microsoft then. This holds true for ALL of their products (well, I don't know about the Xbox, never owned one).

That's true.

Much easier to rush a product to the market, get as much of a user base as possible to start with and then solve the mistakes. Plus actually solving the mistakes that were there in the first place makes others think your doing really good at support. (Strange... I would always prefer to buy something that just works directly out of the box)

 

[germanium]

I bought A Zune, yes I bought one, HMMMMM. Why did I buy one especially after reading bad reports?

The answer is in the sound quality which I found better than my Creative Zen Extra especially at the bass end of the spectrum. Namel it wasn't boomy & it was more extended. The rest was similar to the Zen Extra. Unfortunately it limits me to lower quality files but doesn't seem to suffer from it ultimately though. Still sound every bit as good as the Zen Extra In all other areas & even better in the bass. It is even easier to use than the Zen Extra in part because of the larger screen & in part due to the controls working more like expected.


Now for the bad, Ok the really bad bad as in horrible software. Yes it is functional but just barely. The software is very unstable & crashes very frequently (I'm speaking of the software for the PC to transfer media to the Zune not the Zune itself). The software is equivolent to early beta or late alfa at best. Not tested well enough for release. That is for sure.

It took me several hours to transfer 2000 songs most of which had to be down converted to a lower bit rate & the software crashed several times in the proccess forcing me to close it the completely & setup the tranfer agian at least from the point that it crashed to finnish the transfer.

I also had to reboot my computer a couple of time to get the software to work correctly again after it crashed as it would still not work correctly after closing & reopening the software. Fortunately it would work correctly for a while after rebooting though & was able to finnish what I started after a long arduous 9 hours of work. It also repoted the the zune was full when it wasn't.

If microsoft can fix these nagging problems then the Zune should actually do well as the sound is excellent for a bit rate reduced portable medium.