Microsoft Zune

pleasant Co.

The PS3 plays Divx but no sony DAP's to date do so...

LegacyUser

Thought you didn't float in those circles?

pleasant Co.

cheesedude wrote: »

Thought you didn't float in those circles?

I don't, a friend of mine has a PS3... and I tend to remember when they rave about something...

youcancallmeal

Anyone got any recommendations for a zune 80 case with a decent belt clip and isn't silicone. I got a cheap case similar to this but the belt clip was ridiculously flimsy and the silicon gets really irritating after a while. I really want to get this case but it comes to over €50 after delivery charges to Ireland are added :eek: I'll be desperate before I shell out €50 for a case!

Gran Hermano

I picked up a couple of silicone cases on Amazon US - I don't use
belt clips so they are of no interest to me.

The reason I'm suggesting Amazon US is you'll find several
sellers on the Amazon marketplace who sell all manner of Zune
accessories and more importantly most will ship to Ireland.
It might take a bit of trawling to find the seller and case you need
but you should get what you need.

LegacyUser

youcancallme>al wrote: »

Anyone got any recommendations for a zune 80 case with a decent belt clip and isn't silicone. I got a cheap case similar to this but the belt clip was ridiculously flimsy and the silicon gets really irritating after a while. I really want to get this case but it comes to over €50 after delivery charges to Ireland are added :eek: I'll be desperate before I shell out €50 for a case!

I have seen both those cases on ebay...i bought the first one from a different seller...in black, find it brilliant!

kaimera

Zune software 2.5 update available

http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/06/zune-2-5-update-brings-tv-downloads-zune-card-sharing/

pleasant Co.

Can any Zune owners here please comment on the addition of gapless playback in the latest update. Does it work?

youcancallmeal

Going to update it tonight when I get home.
On a side note does anyone know if there is any way to get the Zune card to work outside of the U.S.?

Soundman

Zune and DivX:

http://www.zunescene.com/zune-divx/

A reg hack for your computer that basically allows you to drag and drop avi files onto your Zune and forces the Zune itself to transcode to wmv. A little handier than transcoding them yourself perhaps...

pleasant Co.

Soundman wrote: »

Zune and DivX:

http://www.zunescene.com/zune-divx/

A reg hack for your computer that basically allows you to drag and drop avi files onto your Zune and forces the Zune itself to transcode to wmv. A little handier than transcoding them yourself perhaps...

That's not how the description reads. According to your link the reg hack only allows for the Zune software itself to transcode divx to WMV. The Zune will not playback or transcode divx for you.

Soundman

Sorry, yes. I meant to say drag and drop into the software and not the player itself. Which then allows the Zune to play them.

Gran Hermano

Soundman wrote: »

Zune and DivX:

http://www.zunescene.com/zune-divx/

A reg hack for your computer that basically allows you to drag and drop avi files onto your Zune and forces the Zune itself to transcode to wmv. A little handier than transcoding them yourself perhaps...

I'm pretty sure that is for the 1st generation Zunes and will not work with the current batch. I've yet to find an easier application than Cucosoft's
Zune converter (yes Super will do it for free but for ease I recommend
Cucosoft's application).

I'm just after updating both the firmware and Zune PC application and have
listened to several tracks to test the gapless playback and so far I'm impressed. I'll need to try some more tests with other music types before
I conclude it's all I hoped for.

Here's a quick list of the 2.5 firmware updates:
Changes in the software/firmware version 2.5 are as follows :-

• Video Marketplace
• Synch Zune Cards
• Search Friends By Real Name
• Instant Friends
• User Reviews for Album and Artists
• Reputation Badges
• Windows Live “Now Playing”
• Auto Playlists
• Video Browsing
• Gapless Playback
• Sync Groups
• Genre Browsing
• Improved Metadata Editing
• Zune Reminders
• Support for XNA
• More Seamless Social Integration

http://www.zunerama.com/zune-software-2-5-overview.php

Finally, here's a good blog site with plenty of tips/tricks for the Zune
which I just stumbled across today.

pleasant Co.

Can anyone link me to where I could DL zune marketplace as I'd like to give the software a go, I'm tired of reading all the conflicting opinions on the software.

EDIT: nm, got it off the Zune site by clicking a alternative link: http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=7313338 rather than the "sign up and download" link

Soundman

Is Zune Marketplace not the name of the online store and not the software?

pleasant Co.

Soundman wrote: »

Is Zune Marketplace not the name of the online store and not the software?

Probably, but as you can see I don't really care what it's called

Gran Hermano

Soundman wrote: »

Is Zune Marketplace not the name of the online store and not the software?

Zune marketplace is indeed the online store part which is accessible
by signing in via the Zune Software with your Windows Live ID.
You'll need a Windows Live ID with US address and credit card to use.
The Zune Software is like a better version of the latest Windows Media
Player which also manages podcasts and sycning as well as limited video
conversion. These parts all work without having to sign in with a US
Windows Live account.

Dman001

Has anyone moved from an iPod to a Zune? I would like to know what they think of it compared to an iPod.

Gran Hermano

Dman001 wrote: »

Has anyone moved from an iPod to a Zune? I would like to know what they think of it compared to an iPod.

http://www.zunescene.com/comparison/

http://www.mobilitysite.com/boards/mobility-site-news/221826-zune-80-vs-ipod-classic-80-video-comparison.html

http://reviews.cnet.com/zune-vs-ipod/

Godot666

The ZUNE is with out doubt the greatest piece of crap ever brought out. it is locked down beyond believe, it has a wonderful set of features that you cant use, in true Microsoft fashion, like wi-fi that is only available to transfer songs between Zune's, and then the song can only be played 3 times before it deletes its self. another attempt by Microsoft trying to rule the world. I got it in the sates last year as a gift so i am stuck with it.

do yourselves a favour, get an Iriver or an Ipod and stay away from this thing, the reason it is not being sold in Europe is Microsoft fears being brought to the European court's again for aggressive tactics in its products, at least till it pays off the one billion dollars fine from their last appearance.

so to sum up, the Zune is a pile.

pleasant Co.

Godot666 wrote: »

The ZUNE is with out doubt the greatest piece of crap ever brought out. it is locked down beyond believe, it has a wonderful set of features that you cant use, in true Microsoft fashion, like wi-fi that is only available to transfer songs between Zune's, and then the song can only be played 3 times before it deletes its self. another attempt by Microsoft trying to rule the world. I got it in the sates last year as a gift so i am stuck with it.

do yourselves a favour, get an Iriver or an Ipod and stay away from this thing, the reason it is not being sold in Europe is Microsoft fears being brought to the European court's again for aggressive tactics in its products, at least till it pays off the one billion dollars fine from their last appearance.

so to sum up, the Zune is a pile.

Hahahahahaha

what an awfully non-factual, biased post... god almighty I truly hope nobody takes you seriously.

thebman

I wouldn't recommend the Zune or the iPod since you have to use crap software to transfer songs to them.

Look into Archo's players IMO. I have one and think they are great.

Can connect in Pc Hard drive mode or be used with Windows Media player and has an insane number of features that you can use and a decent sized screen for watching video's on.

Godot666

Mactard wrote: »

Hahahahahaha

what an awfully non-factual, biased post... god almighty I truly hope nobody takes you seriously.

Lets break it down to make it simpler for you to understand:

Fact: the zunes wifi capabilities is locked down to transferring songs.
Fact: the songs transferred delete after 3 plays.
Fact: the zune is over aggressive in playing copyright music.
Fact: the zune is restricted and severely limited in the file formats it will handle.
Fact: Microsoft have locked the player to perform the way it wants it to perform not the way it should perform with such capabilities.
Fact: Microsfot have been fined one billion dollars by the EU for aggressive market tactics.

I really don't know how to make the post any simpler for you to understand.

Gran Hermano

Godot666 wrote: »

The ZUNE is with out doubt the greatest piece of crap ever brought out. it is locked down beyond believe, it has a wonderful set of features that you cant use, in true Microsoft fashion, like wi-fi that is only available to transfer songs between Zune's, and then the song can only be played 3 times before it deletes its self. another attempt by Microsoft trying to rule the world. I got it in the sates last year as a gift so i am stuck with it.

do yourselves a favour, get an Iriver or an Ipod and stay away from this thing, the reason it is not being sold in Europe is Microsoft fears being brought to the European court's again for aggressive tactics in its products, at least till it pays off the one billion dollars fine from their last appearance.

so to sum up, the Zune is a pile.

Steve Job is that you?

Admittedly the first gen Zune was not the best but MS have really listened
to feedback and not only offered a vastly improved offering with the
current generation. Microsoft also offered firmware updates allowing
1st generation Zune owners similar benefits to 2nd generation -
something I haven't seen many manufacturers do.

Fact: the zunes wifi capabilities is locked down to transferring songs.
Fact? Are you ignoring the ability to sync the Zune with your library using
wifi? I can plug my Zune 80 into the AV dock under my tv and not only
will it charge and integrate with my AV amp and TV but it will also
update the media library via my home wifi with my PC upstairs.
(automatically adding any new podcasts/albums/videos and deleting
any old/played podcasts).

Fact: the songs transferred delete after 3 plays.
Only true for songs that another user transfers to your Zune
from their Zune via wifi - no other player even allows you to transfer
media from one DAP to another via wifi.

Fact: the zune is over aggressive in playing copyright music.
I'd say Apple is more aggressive with their DRM and itunes system.

Fact: the zune is restricted and severely limited in the file formats it
will handle.
Again, Apple are more restrictve. Yes I miss the compatability that a
Creative Zen M offers but the rest of the Zune's offerings but this is only
on the video side. For music playback I have had no file format issues.
Any half decent PC can easily convert video in batches into WMV
for the Zune.

• JPEG for images;
• WMV, MPEG-4 and H.264 for video;
• MP3, AAC (.m4a), Zune Marketplace (restricted and DRM free), WMA Pro (2-channel), WMA Standard, WMA lossless for audio.

Fact: Microsoft have locked the player to perform the way it wants it to perform not the way it should perform with such capabilities.
This can be said for most manufacturers.

Fact: Microsfot have been fined one billion dollars by the EU for aggressive market tactics.
Yawn - irrelevant in this debate.

youcancallmeal

Godot666 wrote: »

The ZUNE is with out doubt the greatest piece of crap ever brought out. it is locked down beyond believe, it has a wonderful set of features that you cant use, in true Microsoft fashion, like wi-fi that is only available to transfer songs between Zune's, and then the song can only be played 3 times before it deletes its self. another attempt by Microsoft trying to rule the world. I got it in the sates last year as a gift so i am stuck with it.

do yourselves a favour, get an Iriver or an Ipod and stay away from this thing, the reason it is not being sold in Europe is Microsoft fears being brought to the European court's again for aggressive tactics in its products, at least till it pays off the one billion dollars fine from their last appearance.

so to sum up, the Zune is a pile.

If that one particular feature really meant that much to you then you probably should of done the research to find out that the restrictions are easily bypassed.

pleasant Co.

Godot666 wrote: »

Lets break it down to make it simpler for you to understand:

Fact: the zunes wifi capabilities is locked down to transferring songs.
Fact: the songs transferred delete after 3 plays.
Fact: the zune is over aggressive in playing copyright music.
Fact: the zune is restricted and severely limited in the file formats it will handle.
Fact: Microsoft have locked the player to perform the way it wants it to perform not the way it should perform with such capabilities.
Fact: Microsfot have been fined one billion dollars by the EU for aggressive market tactics.

I really don't know how to make the post any simpler for you to understand.

Ahhhh did I hurt your feelings?

Anyhoo

Fact#1:Really and truly I cannot say it any better than Gran Hermano did, so I'll just quote him:

Gran Hermano wrote: »

Fact: the zunes wifi capabilities is locked down to transferring songs.
Fact? Are you ignoring the ability to sync the Zune with your library using
wifi? I can plug my Zune 80 into the AV dock under my tv and not only
will it charge and integrate with my AV amp and TV but it will also
update the media library via my home wifi with my PC upstairs.
(automatically adding any new podcasts/albums/videos and deleting
any old/played podcasts).

Fact#2: Yes, you can only listen to a song you have received from another Zune user 3 times, this is because (I feel it needs to be explained to you) "sharing" music is illegal!, MS cannot very well allow you to be giving your songs to your friends, they would be sued to high heaven if they did that

Fact#3: Please elaborate on this "Fact" with some "factual" evidence. I can apply that rather broad statement to quite a few DAP manufacturers, including the two you mentioned (lets not forget the iriver and Microsoft worked together in creating the Clix)

Fact#4: I disagree, the Zune provides quite a nice feature set of formats imcuding Mp3, WMA Pro + regular WMA, WMA Lossless, AAC, WAV

Fact#5: Yes of course, it somehow surprises you that a manufacturer has made a product they manufacture work the way they want it to? Is this really an arguement?

Fact #6: This relates to the Zunes ability how exactly?

As for you clear and overwhelming arrogance... welll.. go suck a pineapple, lady.

Dman001

The Zune does everything an iPod does and more (with a bigger screen) so it seems like a good buy. What comes in the box? Any pouch?

Gran Hermano

Dman001 wrote: »

The Zune does everything an iPod does and more (with a bigger screen) so it seems like a good buy. What comes in the box? Any pouch?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmLfVdMBNoU

More info here

(I didn't get a pouch with mine).

ironictoaster

I got the 30gb Zune for Christmas which broke(for no apparent reason, never dropped it) after a few months of use.

I noticed that It froze a lot it was close to capacity.

Some artists would be invisible (like there would be something to select past artists beginning with the letter Z) It would be random artist...Sorry it's hard to explain.

Also the software is woeful seriously, If you think itunes is bad, think again.

I got the Zune as I wanted a change from Apple. After all of this I shall be back going to Apple.

and no, I'm not a fanboy

LegacyUser

Anyone know where I can get my new Zune 80 repaired? The screen does nto work properly...it just lights up but does not display the menus...it can play music but i can't see which songs i am selecting...i.e. not much use!