So, what do you guys think about the lastest from Zune?

The Zune 4, 8, and 80 have been out like a week now. Zune 80s are pretty much sold out everywhere though. I'll share my little pro/con list(in comparison to the old Zune stuff).

Pro:
-Wireless Syncing is a plus
-DRM-Free 320kbps Mp3 is awesome
-New desktop software is pretty and easy to use
-Podcast support
-Zune 30s were updated with the new firmware
-Zune Social

Con:
-The colors kind of suck except the Microsoft employee exclusive yellow
-Desktop software doesn't support batch editing of ID3 tag info anymore
-Supply issues
-No OS X Support (Obvious)
-Price isn't anything amazing

Playing catch-up is so hard sometimes, even if you are M$, one the world's wealthiest companies. Guess M$ has to buy a cool nifty design team now.

Their still slow and laggy like their older brothers...
They dont work on a mac...

Ill pass thank you

I think they're pretty nice. I like the idea of being able to have a nice, big wide screen without having to muck it up with my fingerprints and wipe it off all the time. MS made a huge leap with these new models. When you think of basic function and compare with the Classic; same basic functions, same price, bigger screen=pretty good.

There's definitely a lot few good things about them. The bigger screen over the classic is a definite plus. I still think iPod has a better interface the new zunes is much better than the first.

Considering the fact that you can get a Zune 1 30gb for like 80 bucks now, that is actually what I would choose. But between the 250 ipod and the new zune, it is a lot closer than it was before, but ipod by a slight margin.

P.S. This is all disregarding the fact that zune doesnt run with OS X.

They have improved it a lot over the old Zune. If there was no iPod I would probably get a Zune. I said that to a friend after messing with the first Zune by the way. I like it and the new one is even nicer, but I still prefer the iPod and not just because of lack of OSX support. Still the Zune is now my 2nd favorite on the market.

Zune is a year behind... if they have this years design last year then they will be on par with iPod, but with this year's iPod, Zune is following Apple's footstep.

I have not use one yet but I have read the following:

-The UI is a step backwards compared to the old Zune.

-The software used on the PC side to load/manage the Zune is light years behind iTunes.

Eventually MS and the others are going to realize that the secret to the iPods success is really iTunes and it's simplicity. Until then, there are some really great players out there that go nowhere.

baggss said:

I have not use one yet but I have read the following:

-The UI is a step backwards compared to the old Zune.

-The software used on the PC side to load/manage the Zune is light years behind iTunes.

Eventually MS and the others are going to realize that the secret to the iPods success is really iTunes and it' simplicity. Until then, there are some really great layers out there that go nowhere.

Click to expand...

That's a good point. iTunes really is what makes the iPod head and shoulders above all the rest.

baggss said:

I have not use one yet but I have read the following:

-The UI is a step backwards compared to the old Zune.

-The software used on the PC side to load/manage the Zune is light years behind iTunes.

Eventually MS and the others are going to realize that the secret to the iPods success is really iTunes and it' simplicity. Until then, there are some really great layers out there that go nowhere.

Click to expand...

That's wierd. I hear the UI is much better.

Thundermoon1994 said:

That's a good point. iTunes really is what makes the iPod head and shoulders above all the rest.

Click to expand...

iTunes, the touch wheel, the iPod interface.

dtravis7 said:

iTunes, the touch wheel, the iPod interface.

Click to expand...

iTunes - with a doubt makes a huge difference

click wheel and interface - used to be unbelievably important, but now less as people are starting to catch up

I like the fact that you can put your own background to the zune. Makes it look nice and colourful. I know that album art floats by in the new iPod, but it's still white background...

Shannonb said:

That's wierd. I hear the UI is much better.

Click to expand...

I say overall it is about equal, some good features are missing but some really nice things were added.

I bought a white Zune when they first came out, mainly for the size of the screen to watch videos. I have updated it with the new firmware which is great and everything works for me. I use itunes daily on my macbook pro and only use the zune software running in parallels for syncing, the music library is my itunes library so I don't have to maintain 2!

Obviously this would all be simpler if the Zune software runs on a mac, but really using itunes works really well.

MacHeadCase said:

Playing catch-up is so hard sometimes, even if you are M$, one the world's wealthiest companies. Guess M$ has to buy a cool nifty design team now.

Click to expand...

haha yh they are not very good at the game yet. Have had PLENTY of practice tho !

Bluegrass said:

only use the zune software running in parallels for syncing, the music library is my itunes library so I don't have to maintain 2!

Click to expand...

How does that work? Can parallels read your OS X partition to get the music?

I just point the Zune software to my itunes library as its source of music and it updates directly. iTunes is set to rip CD's as high quality MP3s, and when I fire up the Zune software in Parallels it updates its library and syncs my Zune!

baggss said:

Eventually MS and the others are going to realize that the secret to the iPods success is really iTunes and it' simplicity.

Click to expand...

I think the new way Apple has made for loading music onto the iPhone and iTouch is a step backwards. They've basically made it less user friendly. I don't make playlists, so I liked it when I could just drag and drop music from my library by the song or entire album. Now in order to put music on I have make a playlist? What if I just want one particular song or songs? (which is often the case for me.) It's a real PITA to have to deal with playlists if you don't use them.

Shannonb said:

That's wierd. I hear the UI is much better.

Click to expand...

I was doing some reading on one of the many Zune forums. Apparently there is a new version of this software out there and well, people are wanting the old version over the new.

Itunes makes it so simple to add music to my iPod. I can either add everything I have in iTunes (I do this on my 160GB) or I can add checked items only (for my iPhone). Making playlists is even easier, just make a plalist and drag and drop individual songs are albums right into it. I even have a 1020 song playlist made up of nothing but individual songs. It really couldn't be easier!

Itunes just gets better with every new version.