[Kuyt]

Coming from a 4th Gen 40GB which was my daily beater, reliability and no BS is a must. I've exchanged this POS so much that I forget whether it's my fourth or fifth, and my receipt has expired, so no more exchanges for me (ggggrrr). A recurring thing I get is annoying static/hiss with the stock earbuds (which are far, far overrated), and weird noises every time I select functions (especially with pressing play, rewinding, fast forwarding, modes). What's worse is the lag and hard drive clicks / vibrations, freaking irritating as hell. HD noise okay, but there's so much lag.

Where do I start (all from the same Target, probably a bad batch):

First Zune: Hard Drive noises, very noticeable hiss in the background (okay, just a bad one right?)
2nd: More hiss, laggy, would randomly restart
3rd: Would randomly and crash CONSTANTLY
My current one, 4th/5th, is the laggiest and noisiest I've had yet. There's so much hard drive clicking (I hear things when I scroll) and lag I haven't used it in months.

I have the worst freaking luck with hardware, no joke. Do any owners here have these problems? Oh well, should've gotten a classic like my brother. Do you think any luck would come out of it calling the Zune support line? Wish they had an e-mail address. Thanks Microsoft for a $250 paperweight. Quite sad because I thought this would lead me on my way to entering the world of audiophilia and was looking to pair it up with a cmoy amp. I'm pretty sure the one's I got at Target were first revisions or something, as the wallpaper was gray and not blue, relative to it's latest pictures, which probably contributes to my problems.

If I RMA, will they try and fix it or send me a new one? I'm not exactly sure of their policy, all I know is that there was one user who was given the $250 back from Microsoft since they couldn't fix his problem of constant crashing.

EDIT: So I call the Zune support line, and it's an automated bot. Are you freaking kidding me, even Apple doesn't have that. Wow, just wow. And no e-mail option either. I'm screwing speechless. And the Z80 soundstage sucks ass.

 

[tstarn06]

So far, only two Zunes, and the first one went back because the screen cracked pretty easily (Amazon really did me a favor as a good customer, letting me swap the Zune80 for a new one even though it was out of warranty with them (past 30 days). You have had that many and still within the return policy at Target? Weird. So no, no problems, but I use mine pretty lightly and hardly ever outside the house (only for long train/plane rides).

 

[3X0]

In light of the hunches that your Zune is an earlier revision, have you checked for any available firmware updates?

 

[Pecker]

when you get a replacement the one year warranty starts all over again...

Should still be able to change the player. That's UK law any way.

I have had my zune around 8 month and it has never crashed, never laggy to a point of annoyance.

Have you installed the latest firmware whenever receiving the replacement zunes?

I have nothing but respect for the zune. So I assume you have have been unlucky and got the only 4/5 bad zunes out there

 

[Kuyt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pecker /img/forum/go_quote.gif when you get a replacement the one year warranty starts all over again... Should still be able to change the player. That's UK law any way. I have had my zune around 8 month and it has never crashed, never laggy to a point of annoyance. Have you installed the latest firmware whenever receiving the replacement zunes? I have nothing but respect for the zune. So I assume you have have been unlucky and got the only 4/5 bad zunes out there

So you guys don't have ANY of those problems, and not even the annoying static / hiss of the stock earbuds? Weird.

Of course I've always installed the latest firmware, it's impossible not to. With that said, I think mine is probably the from the first shipment of Zunes since it had the most outdated firmware, I believe.

 

[Pecker]

I have never used the stock buds. I went straight to using the UM2.

However the UM2 are more sensitive than the stock buds I believe, so really hiss should be more of a problem with them. Although in my case the hiss is very very light when no music is playing. And I mean nearly not even audioable.

 

[Kuyt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pecker /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have never used the stock buds. I went straight to using the UM2. However the UM2 are more sensitive than the stock buds I believe, so really hiss should be more of a problem with them. Although in my case the hiss is very very light when no music is playing. And I mean nearly not even audioable.

With other headphones there's no or little hiss, but with the stock it's hell.

 

[Ricardo Dawkins]

8 months. going strong. it is an Zune Original, though.

Kuyt, sorry for your troubles but I dont understand why your previous Zune crashed ?

Can you explain how it crashed ?

 

[Kuyt]

Thanks Ricardo. You don't get any static from premiums or HD clicks? Glad to hear yours is working fine.

Basically, when playing music, it's freeze and then restart, or sometimes just crash and not restart at all.

 

[tds101]

You defiantly need to send it to MS - they'll replace it themselves. They hate it when people aren't happy w/their Zunes.

 

[Ricardo Dawkins]

where and how did you use your equipment ?

 

[Kuyt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ricardo Dawkins /img/forum/go_quote.gif where and how did you use your equipment ?

I'm a neat freak so I use all my hardware extremely carefully and lightly; didn't do anything to it.

 

[Pecker]

You must just have very very bad luck then!

 

[tds101]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pecker /img/forum/go_quote.gif You must just have very very bad luck then!

Like stated it just may be a bad batch from the store of purchase. They keep giving new 1's as a replacement from that batch. Contact MS and I can almost GUARANTEE they'll send you a NEW replacement. SCREW Target!!!

 

[MrHoopla]

I do experience the hiss and harddrive clicks that you speak of. I have somewhat grown used to it though so it doesn't bother me as much now.

And while we are discussing the Zune 80 which of these three headphones would sound best with the Zune. Grado SR-60, Sennheiser HD-555, or Audio Technica ATH-AD700. Sorry to ask in this thread but not many people responded to the thread I made in the headphones forum.