[Navyblue]

On my Zune 120, I got about 9 hours (or less) play time with WMA lossless, lowest screen brightness with 5 sec time out, minimal waking. I shutdown the unit when not in use (by holding "back" + "down") to conserve battery life, as oppose to let it sleep by holding the "play/pause" button. You can say that I am pretty underwhelmed.

What do you guys get?

How long does iPod Classic 120 last with ALAC?

 

[Ricardo Dawkins]

Volume level ?
avg. Length of your music ?

9 hours with a full charge is too low.

 

[walkingman]

How old is the Zune?

 

[Navyblue]

Why does the lenght of the music matter? I'd say more than 80% of the songs last about 4-5 min, some classical track can last up to 10 min or so.

The Zune is about 1 month old, I typically charge about twice a week. I have fully discharge and charge for a few times.

 

[Ricardo Dawkins]

Quote:

Why does the lenght of the music matter?

the buffering algorithms that affects the runtime after a full charge.

Quote:

some classical track can last up to 10 min or so.

There is your issue right there. The device is using the hard drive instead of using its buffers for accesing this huge files in Lossless format.

10 min lossless audio can take above the buffer size that is 64MB and when this happens the Zune plays the songs directly from the hard drive instead of using the buffers. Even if these songs are a bit lower than the buffers size, the device will access the hard drive more constantly.

Some people related this issues to a bug on the Zune firmware.

 

[grape ape]

My ipod classic 120gb gets about 25 to 30 hours when playing alac i would guess. It's hard to say since listening a few hours here and a few hours there is hard to add up over a week. When I'm really busy in the studio and am listening about 6 to 10 hours a day, I only charge it every few days and the battery is never past the half way point.

 

[Navyblue]

Ricardo,

So it's a known and widespread issue?

But the 10 minutes track I have is very rare, I could probably count it with one hand. And the only one that I actually listen to regularly is from the Beethoven's 5th, which I listen to just once every morning. I don't listen to that album on other times of the day, and I don't think the track in question is larger than 64 MB (But I'l check when I get home).

Can that 10 minutes a day make that much difference? But it is a suspect since the gapless between that track and the track after it does not work, at least most of the time. I though It's a rippping issue, but EAC says there is no problem there after re ripping. Although this morning I don't seem to remember hearing the gap.

Grape Ape,

Thanks for the info.

 

[Ricardo Dawkins]

did you notice the constant hard drive spin up while you are playing lossless files ?

Check the issue here (well something like it. Someone posted in greater detail the issue and how he contacted Zune Team to work around this bug):
Zune 3.1 seems to have made my Zune 'lazier'? (Not pre-caching songs anymore) | Zune.net - Thread

Sorry, need to sleep. will try to find the post tomorrow.

 

[a_tumiwa]

my zune 30 about 9 hours too, similar to TS, volume about 15-17. file mp3 with 128 bitrate. Already use less than 4 months

 

[marleyfan]

My son's Zune 120 is getting about the same battery time. His files are all mp3's and he has screens set to low and listens at about 10 or so. My Zune 16 on the other hand is lastting about 20 hrs with wma lossless and volume at 20 (mostly listen through my amp or through aux in the car). Perhaps the flash just uses that much less battery.

 

[Navyblue]

The largest file I have is in my song library is:

Beethoven's Symphony No. 6 In F Major, Op. 68 "Pastoral" - II. Szene Am Bach: Andante Molto Moto
Duration: 11.34
File size: 52.3 MB
Format: WMA Lossless

That is still well under 64 MB. Since quite a few others here has similar play time, I guess we can establish that it's the norm? My library used to be in 320kbps MP3 and I don't remember the battery lasting much longer, if at all.

Anyone here has a Zune that last much longer?

 

[rotorrocket]

turn off the wireless function when not needed. You'll see a substantial jump in battery life.

 

[Navyblue]

9 hours is after that jump, if there was one.

 

[Ricardo Dawkins]

Quote:

My son's Zune 120 is getting about the same battery time. His files are all mp3's and he has screens set to low and listens at about 10 or so

what is the usage pattern of your son ? is it the same as yours ?

Quote:

Perhaps the flash just uses that much less battery.

of course. but is your son turning on the backlight while playing ? is him skipping tracks ?

 

[Navyblue]

Ricardo,

How long does your Zune 80 last? And what sort of bitrate do you use?