Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 476
 Zune Media Player almost ruins the goodness of the Zune June 18, 2010
Lucid (California)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'll spare you a lengthy review of the actual device. Suffice to say it is mostly good, however I, like some others, have had problems with the battery rapidly draining for no reason. Anyways, this review is mostly about the Zune Media Player that you download from their website.
Let me just say...incredibly frustrating. It nearly made me send my Zune back. I don't even know where to begin...
The first issue I had was this: I have a lot of CD's. Around 700. And when I get a new mp3/4 device, I have to rip them all and put them all on the new device. So it was with this one. So for the sake of my clicking finger, I changed the settings to start the rip as soon as the CD is detected. But what it ends up doing is, the media player will start the rip before the search ends for which cd you just put in. So it will, invariably, end up adding the first song on the album to your library under Unknown Artist and Unknown Album. It's so irritating to have to drag it and rename it every single time. So I just changed it back to having to manually start the rip.
The second big frustration for me was that sometimes the Zune Media Player will read which album you put in slightly wrong. For instance a few of the Bob Dylan albums I put in were tagged with (for instance) Bringing It All Back Home [Japanese Import]...when, no it's not an import, it's just the normal version. Or differentiating between just an album and an album. Meaning a remastered version will be tagged with [Remastered]. For some people this might be a good thing, but I found it annoying. I like the albums to show up on my device cleanly, with no unnecessary clutter.
I have also encountered problems where an album with two CD's, Pink Floyd's The Wall, for instance, or Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation, the media player won't let me combine them so that I can listen to them all continuously. It just doesn't make sense.
I don't know, at the beginning it seemed insurmountable. I've grown to just deal with it, as I mostly use my Zune device to listen to the music. But when I want to use the media player it's a bit of a hassle. All in all, it's worth it to get the Zune, but Microsoft needs to work on the media player. It LOOKS really nice, but uner the hood it's a mess.
 Zune's are cr@p!! Customer Service is non-existent. Run away... June 6, 2010
C. Chambers (Atlanta, GA USA)
I bought 5 for my whole family. 3 have died, all within a few months of the warranty expiring. Customer Support is in Asia and will only read from a script. They want $200 for a repair. Microsoft does not stand by their products. Next time I guess I suck it up and buy and IPOD.
Better to have loved and lost than love at all? May 30, 2010
B. Gresham
I got an Apple iPod for Xmas 2005 right before deployment (on ship, not in the desert) and I loved that thing. I had over 40GBs of music, and having my library portable was awesome. But the thing was super fragile and it was way too easy to get damaged, but it rode out till Xmas 2007 where it just wouldn't hold a charge anymore before it just died completely.
So I deploy again but this time I buy a Zune 120 after using a friend/co-worker's, and instantly fell in love. Even more space, a radio, better interface, Zune Pass, AND a lot more durable. I bought the Gears of War edition. The thing worked wonderfully up until about March of this year (very weird this device ALSO only lasted me two years). I bought a song through the Marketplace, same way i always did, and for whatever reason it wouldn't play on the Zune, but would play fine on the computer. I tried removing and adding several times and think I eventually bricked the Zune by accidentally removing it mid-synch. And unfortunately my Zune's 1year warranty was out.
Now this is my problem with the Zune: customer service. My first call to Zune went fine, the lady helped me troubleshoot for an hour before I decide to have it sent in for another one, paying around $195. I sent it off free of charge, but once Zune emailed me saying they got it they also said it would be a refurbished one they would send me. Unhappy with this, i called them, where they said I will not receive a new one but instead a "fixed" one, with limited warranty, indefinitely. Once I finally received the refurbished one weeks later, i plug it in...and it does the same exact thing it did before!
Again, I call Zune, for them to call me crazy, then after checking their records, find out they sent me my old broken one back by accident. This is now nearly a month after first call and I'm $195 in the hole. I decide to cut my loses and ask for a refund, then they fought with me to give me a refund. They eventually did, but what a waste of a month. And I am back to burning CDs and running/working out with no music.
In summation, it was awesome the time I had with my Zune...the memories we had together. I bought it gladly, despite my disgust for Microsoft. But now wonder if I should have taken that disgust more seriously and just bought another iPod. Its now 2010, 2 years later and the Zune is still 300 or so dollars and dont know if i feel like buying it again. Maybe its time for me to move on, and never trust Microsoft ever again.
For an actual review with less QQ, the device itself and software were amazing.
Battery: Since I never used WiFi and had very conservative power settings, the thing would last well over a week in the car, while at the gym, and random uses.
*****
Portability: wasnt anymore difficult than anything else. It was nice I could have it in my pants and not worry if a fart would break it though, so yes, its portable.
****
Sound: I dunno, when I used with my $150~ Bose headphones it sounded just as good as possible i believe. Remember, "Garbage-In-Garbage-Out". I rip CDs in highest quality.
****
Scroll time: man, I flew through menus with such ease of use, and its adjustable from lightning fast to blind grandma speed.
*****
Look: its beauty is its simplistic and durable design. iPod looks nicer...but then breaks if you breath too hard. So yea.
****
Easy to fix error messages: f&*$ing fail. The only error messages I got were right when it stopped working, in this order: "This song does not have the rights to be played"...Then why did I just buy it!? "You need to update Zune firmware" okay cool, I update it, but it would never finish or recognize it was updated. As are Windows errors, same as Zune's.
*
Limited to using provided software: hey, that was why I was on the fence, but I HATED iTunes anyhow. I was a WMP user and was happy enough with that, but the Zune media player is actually 5-Star with or without the Zune. If you dont buy the Zune, the media player is still amazing by itself.
*****
Phone tech support: see my QQ above. Talking more about it anymore will run up my blood pressure.
*
Portable drive: 120GB, 55GB of all my music, 30GB or so of my music and not so music, videos. So yea, its all the media from your computer, years of collection, in your palm.
*****
Lllldgfhjdklrt9345: I like toast too...
***
Everything else was pretty much rated a 4. I would say the device is a 4.5 / 5.0, and software a 4.8 / 5.0, but customer service is a f^&*ing failure worth 1.5 / 5.0. Its a God-made device, with amazing software...but may the Lord help you if something goes wrong. Because you will have to deal with a bunch of clowns to fix or not fix it, and spend 75% of the time not understanding them anyhow. Outsourcing customer service is pro.
 Overall a very good MP3 Player..But May 29, 2010
Deerfield Brent
Received mine as a gift from wife some 6 months ago. She's a dedicated Apple/Ipod person. I'm a PC guy so it seemed like the way to go. This makes a comparison of the two approaches very easy. My Zune 120 is well built, attractive, has plenty of storage space, and plays with a good sound thru good earphones or aux speakers. The interface is not as easy to use as her IPOD. There are practically no after market accessories available compared to IPOD. I find that control of the scrolling and selection features are difficult for my fingers at all times, and nearly impossible even as passenger in a moving car. A driver should always pre-select desired programing and never attempt to touch it while underway. The syc function has been fast and error free and automatic at all times. The computer software interface works OK and is more user friendly than the Zune unit. The current software version incredibly has no graphic equalizer or even sound setting options like "Jazz" or "Concert Hall". I think this is unforgivable in a unit of this cost. The bottom line is that this is a very nice product of obvious construction quality. The interface and lack of graphic equalizer push the vote to close to being a deal breaker the wrong way. I live in hope of a software update to fix these shortcomings.
 Very Nice May 24, 2010
Victor R. Bush (Burrillville, RI USA)
Holds everything I need. I don't like iPod so this was the item for me. The software that you get from [...] is very nice and user friendly. Hard to find zune capable accessories thou.
Showing reviews 6-10 of 476
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