Zune

{NcsO}ReichstaG said:
No. The Zune was an mp3 player for someone else in my family. They like it so that;'s all that matters. I like it a lot and especially the screen. However, no UMS :(
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I read there was a registry hack to get it to act as a portable HD. Not the most elegant solution, but there is a way.
 
synergyo1 said:
I read there was a registry hack to get it to act as a portable HD. Not the most elegant solution, but there is a way.
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Yes, I already googled for various Zune hacks. I was really hoping someone hacked the firmware to make it real portable device. But the problem with the registry hack, is that it only works on THAT computer. On other computers, where I can't change reg settings very easily, it won't work right? :confused:
 
{NcsO}ReichstaG said:
Yes, I already googled for various Zune hacks. I was really hoping someone hacked the firmware to make it real portable device. But the problem with the registry hack, is that it only works on THAT computer. On other computers, where I can't change reg settings very easily, it won't work right? :confused:
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Gotcha ;)
 
Got my Zune and I'm loving every minute of it. I like it so much I'm selling my Ipod and accesories! Check the for sale threads.
 
Hey all, just giving my opinion here about the zune. I got the zune day 1, At first i got it I was all hyped up about it. Then started the software install. for the most part was painless but I did run into a glitch that has to do with zunepass/Live account. after some time over the phone with support we was able to fix the issue. At first I found it hard to understand the software and the zune as I was coming from ipod/itunes, but I stuck with it and now very happy with it,

as for some of the features that the Ipod has; Contacts, Calanders, Games, StopWatch. I never used them on my old ipod or I did not have so I did not see that as a big selling poit from me.

Things I like about the zune the screen is 3" at 320x240 I think it's nice. I am also really happy I have an FM tuner built in, at fist I did not think I would use it, but I do from time to time and a lot more then playing games on my ipod :p.

The zune has a good start IMO. and I would like to see them add, hard drive access, clock, better wifi tools, better support for higher bitrates. just to name a few.
 
At first I was totally ambivelent about the Zune. Then, after seeing them in a few stores, I started to dig them. The widescreen is just so damn sexy, and I like the stuff they covered the case in. However, there are just too many Zune negatives for me. Mainly:

-Doesn't work as a portable hard drive. The registry hack is not even a particularly clean hack, and it only works on that specific computer.
-Truly horrible software
-The faux-scroll wheel. If they had to do a d-pad, they could've not made it look like a circle.

And really, the only benefit for me over the iPod is the awesome screen. The wifi is clearly a waste, and if I wanted to listen to the radio, I wouldn't have an mp3 player. Had they cut that stuff out, it could've been cheaper & smaller. As much as I want to like it, I just can't.

Now, I imagine within a year or so, the mod scene could truly take advantage of the hardware (ala X-box). But right now the hacks are rudimentary at best, and Rockbox doesn't even have a handful of people to work on a Zune port. So by the time the Zune is really a [H]ard-on worthy device, the iPod will probably have a 4" video touchscreen, wifi, & laser beams.

Zune could've been a contender-nay, a _killer_, if Microsoft wasn't so busy fucking it up.
 
I know that this has been discussed else where but I'm just not sure the positives of the Zune as opposed to the Zen. I've had my Zen for a week now and I love it.
It has a built in tuner and I do listen to it from time to time.
It has awesome video play back.
I can use it as a portable hard drive and I do.
It has calender sync options.
You can buy A/V cables and play the movies on your player on your T.V. in their original format.
It also supports almost every type of media file that there is.
The main selling point however is the price. I got it brand new for 179.00 that is 50 less then you can get the Zune and IPOD.
So far the only negative that I have seen is the photo display but it seems that they all have that problem.
 
shmitty said:
The main selling point however is the price. I got it brand new for 179.00 that is 50 less then you can get the Zune and IPOD.
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Me too. Buy.com with Google checkout FtW.
I own a Zen Vision M + have used the Zune. The Zune's large screen area really makes the Zune superior to the Zen for video watching, even though the resolution is the same. Also, I absolutely hate the Zen's touchpad. For example, i want to scroll up, press on the touchpad, and it often interprets it as a CLICK so I go to that menu item, instead of scrolling. I have tried playing with low/medium/high sensitivity settings but still...it annoys me a lot. Simply, I found the Zune controls a lot better.
However, the Zune cannot be used as a portable storage device and does not have features like FM recording. However, I think overall, especially if you already have a USB flash drive, the Zune is probably better.
 
ok I have a zune now too yay me!! but how do I rip my dvd's onto it? seems like everything out there converts to ipod and rarely PSP and even rarelier Zune( only found two so far and neither works!)

been trying Cucusoft DVD to zune converter and it keeps saying DVD Init failure??

the only other way is to rip it to avi or somethinig then use the zune software to convert it to zune format......but it TAKES FOREVER !!! I dont have the fastest computer in the world but in the time it took me to rip 3 complete dvds to AVI.....zune's converter was at about 30% conversion on the FIRST movie. At that rate it would take about 8 hours PER MOVIE

There's gotta be another way....... help??
 
osalcido said:
ok I have a zune now too yay me!! but how do I rip my dvd's onto it? seems like everything out there converts to ipod and rarely PSP and even rarelier Zune( only found two so far and neither works!)

been trying Cucusoft DVD to zune converter and it keeps saying DVD Init failure??

the only other way is to rip it to avi or somethinig then use the zune software to convert it to zune format......but it TAKES FOREVER !!! I dont have the fastest computer in the world but in the time it took me to rip 3 complete dvds to AVI.....zune's converter was at about 30% conversion on the FIRST movie. At that rate it would take about 8 hours PER MOVIE

There's gotta be another way....... help??
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I don't have a zune, but I downloaded some of the DVD to Zune software to test it out, and this one worked pretty darn fast for me. http://www.dvdtozune.com/ Its just about as fast as Flask or TMPGEncoder takes me to encode .vob files to divx. For the Zune, I would encode to h.264. Its becoming the new favored standard, especially in the HD community. Nice file sizes.
 
yeah thats the cucusoft one that gives me DVD Init() failure when i try and run it


i just found PQ DVD to Zune converter and it works sweet and fast to rip the dvd..... but for some reason when i add the file to zune library it STILL has to convert???? god damnit!!
 
osalcido said:
yeah thats the cucusoft one that gives me DVD Init() failure when i try and run it


i just found PQ DVD to Zune converter and it works sweet and fast to rip the dvd..... but for some reason when i add the file to zune library it STILL has to convert???? god damnit!!
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use winavi and do any to wmv. I use the lan setting at 80%.
 
Had my Zune for about a week now. Love this thing. I gave my Fiance my 30gb ipod video because this is much better. I really like being able to use it on my friends computers as a guest. The wireless features are cool also. The screen is the best part IMO. People will disagree but I am glad the wheel is not a "scroll wheel" I didn't like that much on the ipod video. But I do like the look of the "wheel" on the zune. Battery life is a little shorter than my pod was but it has a bigger screen and better graphical interface so that might account for it.

Overall 8.5/10
 
{NcsO}ReichstaG said:
Cowon iAudio X5 ..the screen is too small and really low resolution. :(
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oohh but the sound the beautiful sound ;)

AND UMS support!!
 
I wsa always a fan of the scroll wheel on the iPod, obviously because you can go fast or slow on it.... but the surface got worn really bad... buttons just might be a better idea. Plus I can use a Toughskin!
 
I think it would be super cool if they used the zune wireless for an ad-hoc network where you could "view area" and see the people using the zune around you and text message them (if they are sexy). I also like the responsiveness of the zune menu much better than the apple ipod. Only thing is i think apple's screen is a bit sharper.

[edit]
Apparently the ipod is sharper cause it's the same res but smaller dot pitch. Also, I too was dissapointed it had FM but no AM. I have wanted a good integrated AM device for a while.
 
You can't really tell if one is sharper than the other. All it ends up looking like is smaller. Much like, as someone else said earlier, how a smaller TV would technically be sharper than the larger version.

As for the Zune, I have one coming for Christmas. I used to have an Iriver IHP-120 and I loved that player. It was rock solid for four years till the hard drive died, and I still swore by it compared to the current gen Ipods.

Unfortunately, I think the new Irivers are ass, and I almost found myself biting the bullet and enduring buying an Ipod..*shudder*. Can't stand Ipods.

Anyways, I keep having this argument with my friends (I guess I should wait until they aren't drunk so maybe they'll remember what I said the next time...) about why the Zune just has so much more potential. Firstly, it's moddable. Second, it already has the hardware for wi-fi built in, so that opens the door to many more options that only require a software update or hack. Say, connecting to your Zune via your computer and synching that way? So I could have my Zune plugged into my speakers or HT two floors down, realize that I have a song that I'd want to add, go upstairs to my comp and connect and add. It's Feasible and quite possible that that's something that MS will add on later. One thing I keep reading and hearing about is how they plan to continuously add more to the software of the Zune.

That's why I think the "dumbed down" wi-fi feature really isn't that much of a drawback. It puts in place the ability to do so much more with just software and firmware adjustments. So what if it doesn't have UMS right now? That's what I have a flash drive for, and I'm sure it's something that can be added on later. Whether or not I'll ever really use it is another question entirely.
 
^--QFT. From the modders/hackers that are working on the Zune right now, they say it is very similar to the Pocket PC OS in terms of the structure. That to me means they already have a handle on what they are doing, and it opens up tons of possibilites. I am waiting for more hacks to come available before I buy though. :)

Black Zune + Toughskin = omg hawtness. :p
 
Many people can tell. Some think they can tell the diff from a .22 and .24 dot pitch lcd. the increased size of the screen over the ipod is definetly enough to be visable, although, i admit it still looks good. It's not scaling to a bigger display, it's pixels are bigger.

im not sure what the UMS craze is... p.s. DOES anyone know if there is a new generation scheduled soon? or did it just come out?
 
i believed just came out

Microsoft doesnt seem to release new versions periodically...yet
 
larkin said:
DOES anyone know if there is a new generation scheduled soon? or did it just come out?
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Just came out what...2 or 3 weeks ago?

But, there wouldn't really need to be a 2nd generation unless there were hardware problems or they wanted to revise the external layout. The Zune is firmware upgradable like the Windows Mobile Pocket PC's. If there are problems and glitches, the firmware just upgrades to fix it. Its kinda like flashing your bios. This is why its another good product. Easily modable and you can flash hacked firmware onto it whenever someone comes out with it.
 
That's pretty cool, however, ipods can have their firmware flashed also but they come out with revisions twice a year. But maybe MS doesn't have to.

Anyone know how to get your music collection off the ipod and on to your computer/or zune? I dont have it in itunes, only on my ipod.

posted by w1retap
Black Zune + Toughskin = omg hawtness.
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doesn't the toughskin cover the entire surface area of the zune? you couldn't tell what color u have with the case on.
 
larkin said:
doesn't the toughskin cover the entire surface area of the zune? you couldn't tell what color u have with the case on.
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I think it covers the whole thing, at least it looks like it. I'd only buy the black zune anyway. I don't like the other colors.
 
I got a Zune today :D

As for the colors, what some may not realize is that the colors have doubleshots. Meaning they are injected with color twice, so a White Zune has a blue doubleshot. Brown is, believe it or not, the most popular Zune color. White is also popular. I got black, and I'm happy with it, but I didn't know about the doubleshot thing when I asked for it. I was kinda apprehensive about getting white, because, well... if you saw my iPod you would understand.

I also got a toughskin, it's really nice, feels really durable. Although the player itself doesn't really feel that cheap so I guess it doesn't matter.

It would have been nice if it would have come with a Firewire cable. USB is terribly slow. However, I can wait for my Zune to sync the first time, knowing future syncing won't be so painfully slow.

I also didn't realize that the Zune came with it's own music player. I knew it had it's own software, but I thought that was just for loading stuff. I'm looking forward to exploring the software. I've liked the way iTunes is structured since I started using it, however it seems pretty bloated and annoying.
 
note235 said:
could you please elaborate on the doubleshot?
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It's just the standard colors the zune comes in, of which there are only 3 combinations. If you look at each of them you'll notice they aren't pure brown or black or white, they have other highlighted colors. It's nothing special, the designers just coined the phrase double-shot. i like the brown also.
 
larkin said:
It's just the standard colors the zune comes in, of which there are only 3 combinations. If you look at each of them you'll notice they aren't pure brown or black or white, they have other highlighted colors. It's nothing special, the designers just coined the phrase double-shot. i like the brown also.
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Larkin's got it right. The thing about the double-shot though, is it makes a brown Zune go from "That's the color my poop", to "Oh that looks really cool." It's nothing insanely amazing or really noticeable, just a nice touch.
 
Yes.. the doubleshot thing almost makes it look like frosted glass or something. At least, thats what it looks like to me. Its really unique.
 
My two friends just brought over their white zune and black zune they got for Christmas. (twin brothers)

This is how it went.

1) downloaded zune software from the zune website.
2) installed software, very easy install, zero issues along the way
3) logged into their zune account and plugged in the player
4) disconnected zune, applied the registry hack
5) drag'n'dropped like 20gb of mp3's and vids onto their players
6) done

It was very easy to use, and I did use the zune software to convert some of my xvids of family guy episodes to play on the player. It took about 5 mins per episode to re-encode them. It went a lot faster than I expected. The video quality was superb. Oh, and the audio quality on the zune is pretty incredible as well. They brought their 4g ipods over and I compared the same song on both the zune and ipod, and you could definetly tell the zune had much more defined and clearer audio. I was using a 192k ripped mp3 from a cd I had. I used the lame mp3 encoder via dBpowerAMP. Same headphones were also used. (they were the earbuds that came with the zune)

The only downside is, to charge it, you have to use the USB cable.. but that can be fixed by purchasing the seperate wall charger. Its not too expensive either. Other than that, I love the thing. I will defenetly get one down the road.
 
Got my black Zune today, and it's been interesting. I was suddenly reminded when I realized that the tunebase from Belkin wasn't out yet that I had first really wanted the Zune because it was rumored to be including an integrated FM trasmitter stock. What happened to that? It was more economically feasible for them to just hand out the accessory contracts to other people to do it for them and make a bigger profit (as if I really need an answer to that question)

Annnyways.


Got the Zune, loved the look of it. Kinda of a blueish doubleshot to it. Lighter than my old I River, and it just feels better. Love the display, and setting everything up was a breeze.

However, the real trouble came when I tried to sync the damn thing. I installed, updated, added my MP3 folder to the folders list, updated the library, and then started syncing. When I realized that I only had about a gig of space left, I decided to weed out some of my collection. Read the instructions on how to remove the items from my Zune, and then also removed them from the Library. Synced again.

And was quite pissed to find that the same amount of space was left. I take a look at my Zune library and sure enough, all the files that I had delted were back, in both the player and the software library.

You'd think that if you have the option to "include files that were previously deleted by the library" DESELECTED that it would infact, do that. But instead, it reads my MP3 folder, finds what it doesn't have, and then re adds it.

I ended up saying screw it and no longer auto sync. I do it all manually. Sucks too because that would have been a great way to instant manage things. I think MS needs to tweak that interface just a little bit.

In any case, this player sounds better than my IRiver, the ear buds sounds better than the headphones I was using before *which I thought were amazing to begin with), and the player is a dream to work with. I love this player thus far.

I just want to shoot the software engineer behind the PC interface... and behind the use of USB instead of firewire. Maybe they'll release a better dock for it, I dunno.

In any case, the pros far outweigh the woes as far as I'm concerned thus far.
 
USB 2.0 is about as fast as Firewire for the most part and given that USB 2.0 ports are available on 100% of all PC's/laptops made in the last several years its a logical choice (like Apple) Making the Zune Firewire would have been a huge design mistake.

:rolleyes:
 
larkin said:
That's pretty cool, however, ipods can have their firmware flashed also but they come out with revisions twice a year. But maybe MS doesn't have to.

Anyone know how to get your music collection off the ipod and on to your computer/or zune? I dont have it in itunes, only on my ipod.


doesn't the toughskin cover the entire surface area of the zune? you couldn't tell what color u have with the case on.
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use ephpod to copy from your ipod to your hard drive, then load files/folders into Zune software to put on your Zune.

On a side note, I got my brown Zune for free. :D
I like it a lot so far. Turning of auto syncing would be nice, I ended up formatting my Zune (and losing the preloads because I forgot about them momentarily :() and just adding the music/videos I wanted to sync back to it. I use Encode360 to make the videos for it, it's free and doesn't need any other conversion. Tried a couple others but wasn't thrilled, one kept crashing (cucusoft maybe?), the other (imtoo) made videos sound like they were being broadcast from a tin can.

I bought a DLO Jamjacket for it for $10, I wish it had a screen cover though, I'll probably pick up one of those plastic film ones online for a couple bucks to protect it.
:D
 
TheGameguru said:
USB 2.0 is about as fast as Firewire for the most part and given that USB 2.0 ports are available on 100% of all PC's/laptops made in the last several years its a logical choice (like Apple) Making the Zune Firewire would have been a huge design mistake.

:rolleyes:
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Yes, I was too specific in my rant. I prefer devices that have dual connections. It's a dock, it can handle it. So an option for firewire and an option for USB 2.0 wouldn't be such a bad thing.

And from everything that I've ever heard or read, firewire was supposedly still the preferred method of fast transfer...
 
I still prefer firewire as well. Its less CPU intensive, and the sustained transfer rates are better overall. This is why you see it on all the professional video cameras and other high bandwith digital video recording devices for HD video. For USB 2.0, its hit and miss depending on your motherboard or USB card. Every USB 2.0 controller I've seen gets different rates of sustainted transfer speeds, but the firewire speeds are pretty consistent across the board no matter if you have a cheap old mobo, or a new one that is top of the line. I also prefer the 6-pin firewire cable and connector over a USB connection. It just feels more solid to me, and also supports firewire 800 speeds with simple revert to the SP1 firewire drivers. But, of course the industry is moving on and always changing. USB 2.0 seems to have a stronger foothold over Firewire.
 
I have the ipod video because it looks sexier lol iven tho I hate all mac products this one is just a winner!
 
I fiddled with a Zune briefly at BB the other day. There are definitely some things that would bother me for every day use.
The weird misleading D-pad-If it's a D-pad, it's a four way unit. Nothing infinite about it.
The buttons are a rather far throw compared to an iPods which are short and tight.
It's quite large, but in my opinion so is the Zen:M, especially considering that neither of them support a larger hard drive (correct?). My music collection alone is well over 30 gigs, so I'm sort of turned off by that.

The screen is surprisingly nice, though. The interface is smooth and definitely much more fluent than my iPod's. I don't have anything against the Zune, really, but if Microsoft took so much time to join the market I believe they should have looked over a few simple things.
 
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