Spending some quality time with my Microsoft Zune

So I just got back yesterday from an old school family road trip to New York with the in-laws, and had myself a whale of a time. Being confined to the back seat of the mini van would normally give my incredibly juvenile ADD an opportunity to rear its ugly head, but this time I used it as an opportunity to get better acquainted with my new 8gb Microsoft Zune.

I think most of the bloggers throughout Canada have received this offer from matchstick.ca, in connection with chatthreads.com, to test out this little machine for free. While the thought of using another so-called ipod killer may not seem all that thrilling to some, I had no choice but to jump at the chance. Why, you ask?

My main reason is the fact that the ipod and myself have not always been the best of friends. Don't get me wrong, I love the little guy, but my only current working ipod right now is the old fashioned 4gb mini. I've had others, going as high as the 30gb, but they all eventually broke. Whether it be battery problems or hard drive failures, the point is that I wanted my original iPods to outlive me and they didn't. I understand that they have improved greatly since the early days, but I have been unable to afford a newer one due to all the do-re-mi that I've spent on previous versions of the popular apple device. So when matchstick.ca offered me this little 8gb alternative, I couldn't say no.

When I received the package last week, a couple of things impressed me right away. First of all, it is a pretty slick little looker. I don't know all that much about previous models, but from what I understand, it was quite the eye sore. Not the case with this one. Mine came in a dashing black front with a cool silver back. It's also slim and quite sexy, and I knew that I would be happy to show it off to others. Secondly, besides the regular low quality ear buds, I was also sent a pair of premium Zune earphones. They've got a sturdy cord and they fit snugly into my ear like a pair of ear plugs. Feels good and the sound is better than average. Finally, from what I could tell, it seemed relatively easy to use. However, only time would tell.

Next came the time to load up the Zune software. I knew that my Zune was likely to be incompatible with iTunes, and lo and behold, I was right. That is instantly annoying since this obviously means that anything that I purchased from iTunes would not be allowed to play in Zuneland. That's a drag. However, it would be an inconvenience that I could live with, if the Zune software was up to par with iTunes. Sadly, it's not. On my old(er) PC, the Zune software is painfully slow. I'm talking molasses worthy. Now, I'm willing to acknowledge that this is likely due to the age of my computer, but the fact remains that iTunes runs with the speed of Gonzales, while Zune software takes FOREVER!!! That is my only major beef with the product right now. There are other minor quibbles, such as the fact that I miss the on-screen scroll of the track title, and it seems like you have to select an asinine number of options before you finally get to play your desired song, but like I said these are all minor complaints. And believe me, I have a comparable list of complaints when it comes to ipod usage as well. Overall though, when it comes to the Zune itself, so far I like it.

Some of these modern day devices are far too advanced for my simple caveman mind, but thankfully, that's not so with Zune. I found it to be very easy to use, and even though I've used the iPod scroll wheel for years now, I found the transition to a simple up and down motion to be effortless. To be honest, I was never as smitten with the scroll wheel as my peers seem to be. To me, the scroll wheel is sort of the Tokyo Police Club of the mp3 player world. In other words, overrated.

This is my first time owning a video playing mp3 device, so I was especially looking forward to using this feature on a road trip. The clarity of the video was remarkably clear. Of course, by the time I finished watching Be Kind And Rewind (which wasn't as bad as everyone was saying it was, btw) it had eaten up quite a bit of my battery life. However, I was sort of expecting that, and although an improvement on that would be nice, it wasn't entirely unreasonable. The screen is quite small, and that makes it difficult for me to watch more than an hour and a half of video anyways. I put some pictures in also, just to see how they looked, and they looked good. I don't really know what else to say about that.

The radio feature was one that I felt was a bit unnecessary, but that's mostly just because I think radio is ugly and I hate it. I did try it out though, and the reception was also pretty good.

The only feature that I have yet to try is the wireless option. Here's the deal: apparently this option allows you to share music with other Zune users in your general vicinity. That could be cool or it could be annoying. I could see it being handy if you're with someone that you know and he's all like, "hey, have you heard the new song by so and so?" and you're all like "no" and he's all like, "here, I'll send it to ya!" But it's when you're around people you don't know, then I could see it being an unnecessary distraction. Like I said, haven't used it yet so I'll have to save that review for a later post.

So those were my initial reactions to this new product from the Microsoft people. I'll tell you more about it as I use it more often, but this site is first and foremost about the music, and I've got a lot of stuff to share with you about some of the tunes that I've been listening to lately. Tomorrow is July 1st and, like I posted previously, I'm going to attempt a post a day for the month of July. Not sure if I'll be able to do it, but I'm gonna try. Blog to ya tomorrow.

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