Zune 8 GB Digital Media Player (Red)
by Zune
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List Price: Our Price: $55.00 You Save: $144.00 (72%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Network Media Player See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Zune 8 GB Digital Media Player (Red)
Customer Review: Groovin to the Tunes
Summary: 4 Stars
I love my Zune. I got it a couple years ago when they were fresh off the market. The hardest thing about owning a Zune is the lack of accessories for it. Despite this, though, my Zune is holding up really well. It has survived the gambit of a University student. It's been shoved into a bookbag, my purse, my pocket. I've left it in my car accidentally in freezing weather and warm weather, not to mention dropped more than a couple times. It continues to play my songs flawlessly.
Even better than the Zune itself is the SOFTWARE. I'm not joking - it's awesome. The fact that you can download it means that I don't have to tote a CD to my dorm and back home. I can use it on any computer. The software makes it really easy to sync up with your Zune and then to transfer entire albums or single songs. Afterwards, it gives you a list of what was uploaded. I really love that it automatically checks the folders you specify for new music every time you start it up.
The social option, however, is better spent elsewhere. I can never find another Zune owner to sync up with (Though funnily enough one of my room mates owns one). Plus it drains the battery. Oh well, it was an awesome idea. Perhaps it is better executed in the later versions of this product.
I love the touch pad too, though it is really sensitive. The fact that I can click it, not just run my finger over it, is nice too. I don't have to sit there, trying to get it to work. However, when you have gloves on, it's hard to get the touchpad to work (I don't know anything about touchpads, though, so this might be common to all touchpads).
Customer Review: Broken after 8 months of light use!
Summary: 1 Stars
I'm terribly disappointed that after 8 months of very, very light use, this Zune 8GB model which I bought from Amazon in May of 2008 is very dysfunctional, and no warranty covers it.
I liked the basic operation of the unit, but seldom used it and had it for those times I needed a portable player. I'm sure I used it for less than 25 hours of playtime. The battery life was very poor, but I chalked that up to not using it very often. Now, despite charging it fully every night it starts to run out after only a couple of hours, whether or not it's in use. The big problem is the back button stopped working at all. This is especially frustrating because it makes it difficult to do most things, including (a) turn it fully off to conserve the meager battery life, (b) reset and restore all the software.
Apparently this only had a 7 month warranty, and while I looked into sending it into Microsoft to repair, that would cost $130! And it costs less than that for a new one. I'm not going to spend more than it costs to fix it, but of course I'm not going to buy another one either.
Given this frustration with a product that wasn't that cheap, I think I'm going to stick with the cheapest Sansa players I can find and consider them disposable before I spend another $150 on an Ipod or another brand.
The sound is nice, the style and function other than that discussed above is all good, but the more or less complete failure of a new product leaves me with only 1 star to give.
Customer Review: Zune 8 GB MP3 is fun mobile entertainment
Summary: 4 Stars
I like my Zune MP3 very much. My only complaints are:
Learning to use the Zune software. If you delete anything from your "collection" you are also deleting it from your hard drive! (unless your Zune is connected to your computer with the USB, in which case then you're deleting the files from your Zune device). I also went to the "marketplace" and tried to install the latest movie trailers & it filled up the device with 2 movie trailers & then I wound up calling tech support because I couldn't get it to work after deleting those files. I had to wipe and re-load the device even though it showed plenty of room left on the device.
Tech support is OK, but most of them have foreign accents & it's hard to understand everything they say.
The sponge covers on the ear buds constantly fall off. I'm very surprised I haven't lost the 1st set yet. Fortunately the device come with 3 pair. I'm always finding them on the floor..
I think it should come with a pouch to carry the device & ear set together. A pouch with magnetic closure would be awesome!
My good points are:
The sound is awesome.
The menu allows you to choose files by genre, album, artist, music style. And you can shuffle the music, repeat..
The operation of the device is pretty easy.
The display screen shows pictures & videos either horizontally or vertically to maximize the view.
I love the RED color I got. (8 GB)
Customer Review: Absolutely worthless product
Summary: 1 Stars
This is by far the most worthless product I have purchased. Microsoft really should have gotten their act together before they marketed this product. I am a very computer-savvy person but it took me almost 3 hours !!! to install the Zune software - every install would result in different errors and necessitate extensive Windows updates!! What MP3 product software requires such an extensive software update to be able to use something as basic as an MP3 player. Even after all this effort, the power-on button would respond very inconsistently and the MP3 player would randomly lock at the Zune logo. The button design of this MP3 is beyond pathetic. Try calling Microsoft Zune support - you get a 14-year-old kid in a 3rd-world country with a squeaky voice who has no logical skills to troubleshoot any problem but simply reiterates a pre-programmed script that Microsoft has told him to say for each catch phrase the consumer says. If Microsoft thinks they have anything even remotely close to a viable and simple-to-use MP3 player, they really need get their head out of their A* and relook at the other MP3 players on the market. IF anyone is considering this product, I would advise you look at other MP3 players which offer a simple yet elegant design and don't require almost a complete reinstall of your windows operating system.Customer Review: What a drag
Summary: 2 Stars
The form factor for this device is great. I like it as well if not better then any of the iPods I have had. Unfortunately like iPod iTunes, you are forced to use the proprietary Microsoft Zune software to put media on the device. This would be OK if the software was not kludgey and lacked settings that would be nice to have access to, such as the simple ability to refresh your media collection after pointing it to a new folder. It took me an exceedingly long time to rip several audio books, language CD's, and have the software correctly and consistently read the data that I had to manually enter. For example, a Spanish language CD that I ripped did have consistent file names, however the Zune software interpreted it as having multiple "unknown" album titles (therefore multiple albums to sync) and inconsistent song names (therefore lessons not in order).
I guess I am classified as an "old fart" now and missed the reason why I can't just "drag and drop" my songs onto my device using MS Explorer. The ancient MP3 players I used to have were able to do that.
So if you just want to plug in and play digital music you own or rip the CD's you buy this is a great device. If however you just want to put your obscure stuff on a device and listen to it the Zune is overkill.