Digital Trends

Microsoft Zune 8GB November 13th, 2007 | by Jason Tomczak

Setup and Use

Setting up the Zune is pretty simple. First, start with the actual hardware. After removing the Zune and the accessories from the packaging, connect the outlet adapter to the USB cable and plug the adapter into an outlet (surge protected, ideally). Then connect the sync/charging adapter into the bottom of the Zune. The Zune screen will light up in a moment to indicate that it's charging. Alternately, you can charge the Zune by plugging the USB/sync cable into a USB port on your computer.

Install the Zune software provided on the CD in the packaging. Installation time should be less than 3 minutes. Once you see the "installation complete" screen, click the "Launch" button to get started with configuring the Zune software on your computer. You can take one of two routes: 1) "go right to my collection" to manually add music, videos and photos from Windows Explorer, download songs, etc., or 2) "customize settings first" to select any special external hard drives where you might keep media files, select default types of media files to sync with the Zune, and set privacy options. The most common option is #1 - default settings.

Connect the Zune to your computer with the USB sync cable. Windows will recognize the player and may ask to install drivers. Follow the driver installation instructions, selecting automatic installation. After about 10 seconds, the drivers will be installed and the Zune will be recognized by the Zune software. You may then notice that the Zune firmware needs to be updated from 2.0 to 2.2 or later. Update the firmware by click the tiny "install" button on your computer screen. The download and installation of the 2.2 firmware takes roughly 1 minute. It'll take another 20-30 seconds for the Zune to reboot. (Notice the super tiny text on the Zune screen. Why did they make the fonts so ridiculously small?)

Once the Zune is updated and reboots, the Zune software will instruct you to name your Zune. It'll also give you an option for linking to a Zune Tag, which allows other Zune users with their wireless connections turned on to see your Zune Tag - an alternate Zune.net ID that others can recognize you by. It's like an Xbox Live gamertag. If you don't know what a gamer tag is, or if you don't care to participate in the Zune.net community, then skip the Zune Tag steps. You can always get involved with it later on by going into the Settings menu in the Zune software. Easy.

Zune Setup Screen

Adding Content

If you already have music, videos and photos on your computer, the chances are very good that your Zune software has already scanned your system and located content to sync with the Zune MP3 player. You can continue to add music to your collection by ripping CDs, copying pre-ripped MP3s from an old computer or MP3 player, or by downloading music from the Zune Marketplace (Microsoft's online music store). You may find that signing up for a Zune Marketplace account is a painfully aggravating process plagued by redirected or missing links, 'unexpected' errors, ad nauseam. Once you eventually log in with your Windows Live ID, you can set up your account with a credit card for individual song or full album purchases or with an all-inclusive account that grants you access to everything month by month for one fee.

One interesting feature with the new Zune is that when you first add an artist to the Zune's sync list, any subsequently purchased music by the same artist will automatically sync with the Zune.

In a content syncing test (via USB), it took roughly 2.5 minutes to sync 11 high-bit-rate songs, 181 photos and a 350MB video file. The video file took the lion's share of the sync time.

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