Microsoft Zune 80GB May 23rd, 2008 | by Mike Kobrin
Full Review - Marketplace and interface
Zune Marketplace Interface AV Quality
Although the Marketplace's has decent selection and editorial content, the Zune Points system ($5 for 400 points, 79 points = about 99 cents) will confound most people, at least at first. Talk about making things needlessly complicated.
Approximately one-third of the Marketplace's 3 million tracks are DRM-free, while the rest are protected with Zune DRM. Most songs are in WMA format and cost about 99 cents, though DRM-free MP3s like our fave John Coltrane tune, "Blue Train," are 220 points each, which translates to… umm… we'll get back to you when we figure out the math, but it's a lot for one song. The upside: you're getting an unlocked 320Kbps MP3, which is pretty hot.
The store recently added content from a few TV networks, but the selection is sad: So far, 38 shows with varying numbers of episodes available at 160 Zune points each, including an underwhelming three shows from lone non-cable network NBC. We're hoping this will grow, though the majors are quickly moving toward making content available for free.
The Marketplace also gives you access to a healthy collection of audio and video podcasts (yes, Microsoft actually calls them that). You can subscribe to them or download individually, and they're easy to browse.
The Microsoft Zune Marketplace
The Zune's controls and menus are simple enough for first time users to figure out within seconds. We love that you can disable the touch-pad's touch-sensitivity, and all of the menu text is large and easy to read. The horizontally aligned options for browsing media by genre, artist, song, and so on helped us zip around the device quickly. One thing that really turned us on: You can view compilation albums as individual artists or lumped together as "Various Artists" by changing a setting.
We tested the Zune's AV output using 320Kbps MP3 files from various musical genres, as well as TV shows and podcasts we got through the Marketplace. For the most part we used the included earbuds, but for deeper testing we used our high-end Shure SE530 headphones.
The Zune Premium Headphones are the best included earbuds we've heard except for Sony's EX series (included with Sony's excellent Noise Cancelling Walkman players), though they're easily trumped by most $80-and-up sets. They don't go very far into your ear canals, so they're comfortable but don't block very much noise.
Acoustic jazz tracks had decent balance between bass, mids, and highs, though we could hear more background hiss than with most other players including the current iPod crop. R&B and funk tracks from the likes of Stevie Wonder and James Brown sounded fine, but the bass lacked the impact it had with our 80GB 5th-gen iPod. The deep bass in electronica tunes from Aphex Twin and Bass Mekanik came through fine but lacked that huge subwoofer-in-the-trunk feel.
An episode of Chappelle's Show from the Marketplace was perfectly smooth with well-synced audio and good color on the 240 x 320 pixel screen. We did notice that the screen's pixels aren't as close together as those on the iPod Touch and iPhone, which was somewhat disappointing. Videos looked fine on our 40-inch Samsung HDTV via the Zune's TV output (headphone jack), with output resolution maxing out at 720 x 480 pixels.
Our overall impression is that Microsoft skimped a bit on the headphone output and audio decoder. The Zune has enough sheer power to drive any consumer-grade headphones, but the clarity and detail just aren't there. We're surprised that Microsoft removed the equalizer features of the first-gen Zune, and we await its return. We also heard some hard drive whine at the beginnings of tracks.
The built-in FM tuner is reasonably strong and has good interface. We had no trouble picking up WNYC (93.9) anywhere in New York City, and we could even pick up stations from other nearby cities like WBGO (88.3) in Newark with only a little static. It supports a seemingly unlimited number of presets (we got to 55 before giving up) as well as RBDS station and song info, though there's no autoscan feature for automatically populating your presets.
by Cathy Hasty on November 8, 2009:
“My daughter bought a ZUNE for Christmas and it stopped working after 6 months. Even though she bought it through ZUNE, without the reciept she cannot access the warranty. ” More...