Electronics : Zune 8 GB Digital Media Player (Black)

Rating: - Excellent
Great for road trips and passing the time The Zune does everything very well and I have no problem managing all the songs via the Zune Application.

I recommend this over and Ipoo in terms of reliability and less likely to be stolen.

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Rating: - Good but lacking
I was fortunate enough to win the 8gb Zune from Pepsi Stuff. I have owned it for about three months and enjoy the concept of an MP3 player. However, this one has some issues that would not have me buy another Zune (or replace it with this brand when/if mine fails).

The Zune software does not offer track leveling (setting a consistant volume for your music) unless you go through their marketplace (a way to purchase music). Therefore a third party software like media monkey or mp3gain must be used.

The Zune software assignment of album art is bad. It assumes that the customer has one folder for each album in their collection. If you don't (like one folder of singles) the program adds an album art file to the folder and assigns it to every song that doesn't have the album art embedded in the mp3 tag. If you digitized your cassettes and LPs (as I have) this creates album art being assigned incorrectly. Using a third party program like media monkey allowed me to correct this issue easily. However, why do I continually have to use third party software?

Songs must be added to your Zune through the Zune software. However, if you move your music files and fail to correct the location in you zune software BEFORE connecting your portable device, the program removes the songs from your Zune requiring you to reload the music.

I also discovered that the Zune software fails to import any MP3 files using a variable bit rate (vs constant bit rate). Therefore, in order to load any songs having a VBR you have to re-encode them to a constant bit rate.

The case I purchased for the Zune required modification to allow the connectors from different brand headphones to properly seat. In my case, in order to use my Bose headsets, I had to cut a larger opening in the case to make a good connection to the Zune when it was in the case. A bad design.

One positive note in winning this device, I discovered Amazon.com MP3 downloads. That is a great service (but the search engine could be improved).

Again, overall I enjoy having an MP3 player. However, I would not purchase this one for a gift or to replace mine when it breaks. Microsoft has enough problems with it's software and should probably stay out of the hardware market.

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Rating: - Menu more navigational then IPOD
I would definitly say yes, of course most of have owned multiple ipods in the past and i'm in that group as well. I just bought my gf an 8gb ipod nano and i was tempted to buy one as well, but i wanted to give the zune a try.

I'm glad i did, the best thing about this is the navigational menu on the zune, i thouht the ipod was easy..this is just simpler and cleaner and easier to use interface. There is clicking but not as much and hardly any scrolling involved navigation. The zune is lightweight, wireless which is pretty amazing and the screen looks so much better on this then the newest nano. Microsoft did an excellent job with this MP3 player.

Plus i love having the FM tuner, seems like a little deal but it sure is nice to have when you just want to listen to something different, sound is excellent on the device and the packaging it came in was quite a surprise. Very applesque like, and the best thing is that it's cheaper then the 8 gig nano.

Give this MP3 player a try and i'm sure you won't be dissapointed. It's and excellent alternative to the ipod.

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Rating: - why?
who in the world would buy the zune when you could buy an ipod??? Makes no sense

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Rating: - Very Happy - and a Built-In FM Tuner!
I'm very happy with my 8GB Zune. The fact that it has a built-in FM tuner gives it a big edge over the Nano, which requires an extra add-on piece of hardware for FM. The FM tuner is excellent and gives the station genre, song name, and artist name. My daughter has a 4GB Nano and she's jealous because I got my 8GB Zune for less money and it does more.