FYI:  if there are any readers in the Bay Area, the Union City Best Buy is already selling them today (monday)!  I plan to snatch one up after twork!

Anon postings should probably be locked... which should be self evident if you can still see the fine example of what a shallow gene pool and internet access will do to your site above my post.

I synced up my zune with my library and it removed the pre-installed songs

1) How can this be avoided in the future

2) How can I get the pre-installed stuff without having to repurchase the items

Uhh...hello...can someone at Microsoft remove the idiotic "message" at the beginning of this string of messages?  

ye seriously cesar i thought you were moderating all this. block that guy who posted that at the top of the page. also see my question on zune in the other page of comments

Cesar Menendez,

Remove ALL of the above comments if you take your blog seriously!!!!

C'mon guys, he is obviously going to delete all that. He can't be on this thing 24/7. I'm sure that when he updates, he will delete.

agreed bryant, zune is currently on the final countdown, how can you guys expect him to be looming over his blog when they are so close to release.

You may want to filter the comments here a bit....

<You may want to filter the comments here a bit....>

Yeah, I guess. I'm ready to try a Zune, but the posts above are embarressing. Moderator please.

sorry about that guys. I thought I could leave anonymous comments on. I love the open feedback. but when dudes come on and be lame, it's lame. I've deleted the silly comments

Is it true that the Zune does not come with a synch cable?  I'm picking mine up tomorrow, but the guy at Gamestop where I preordered says it does not come with a cable that it is sold separately for $20.

I've bought every kind of mp3 player imaginable and everyone of them comes with a cable to connect it to a pc.  I'm going to be very disappointed if this is true.

Just got my zune. the device is fantastic. only one question does this work with vista RC2. I have windows xp and all but i use vista alot especial with my 360 ( vista media center kicks ass). So does anyone know how to make zune work on vista at the moment.

thanks

how the hell are people getting it already or is it just the people who went to that store?

wat color should i get

brown

I like the brown that's the one I'm getting

how is everyone getting there zunes?

Apparently, a lot Best Buys are selling them already.  My Gamestop got them in today, but they are street dated for tomorrow so they couldn't sell them.

Yeah same here. I preorded a black Zune from Gamestop and can't get it until tomorrow. Oh well....

Badgun

"Is it true that the Zune does not come with a synch cable?  I'm picking mine up tomorrow, but the guy at Gamestop where I preordered says it does not come with a cable that it is sold separately for $20."

not true, you get a sync cable. the clerk was just uninformed or was told to push acessories and he/she decided to use this line.

Andre,

       Thanks for clearing that up for me.  They weren't trying to push accessories, the guy showed me what they got in their shipping box.  They got 3 Zunes, 3 Synch cables, and 3 carry cases.

The clerk and I both deducted that since they were selling a synch cable, that apparantly it did not ship with one.  Now that you tell me it does, it makes it even odder that they would be selling one separately.  After all, if you got a Zune, then you got a synch cable so why would you need to buy one?

getting an error when I try to sign into the marketplace. I'ma  sad panda.

Badgun

"...Now that you tell me it does, it makes it even odder that they would be selling one separately.  After all, if you got a Zune, then you got a synch cable so why would you need to buy one?"

i would get one for charging purposes only. if i am away from home (a lot) i would need a cable to attach to an USB charger.

Ok, this really bites, I can't run ZUne on Vista!  That's the only OS I use know.  Why would MS LOCK OUT the enthusiasts!!! They are the ones that are going after the zune first and they are probably running vista.... like any enthusiast should.... this is REALLY BAD FORM MICROSOFT!

Here's some fun.

You get a 14day trial to Zune Pass in the box, I set it up and I go download some DRMed music (Zune Pass is supposed to let you listen to /sync music without purchasing individual songs) and it takes considerable wrestling to get the songs to play, it takes even more wrestling to get it to sync... wait, I can't sync.

it tells me that I have 2 syncs left on teh song (on a player that can play licensed songs) Heaven help you if your own player doesn't work with the ZUNE pass option. But litterally, everytime I try to sync a downloaded song from the Zune marketplace with my Zune Pass subscription it crashes the software.

I'm going to go through the 30 minute freaking install again just to make sure but for god's sake, Microsoft is a SOFTWARE company first and you're SOFTWARE is jacked. I was a huge Zune fanboi and looking forward to today for months. Right now I'm disgruntled and listening to my Ipod while i try to get this little brick to do what I want it to.

I got my Zune.  Someone please tell me that you can turn auto synch off.  I can't stand not being in total control of what goes on my player/

When is the Zune Software going to be compatible with Vista. I'm running Vista RC1 and plan to until the official release comes out. Kind of frustrating.

Anyone got their 14 day trial code to the Marketplace to work?  It keeps telling me that the content is not available.

I just got my Zune and noticed that it doesn't have that cool 'tornado' effect when clicking around the menus. Is there a way to change that or was it taken out?

The device itself works great. The zune software is a different story. It crashes constatntly. When i try to download more than two or three songs at at time i get a "not responding" message. Please fix this!!! I really wanted this whole thing to work. I was in my local Target early in the morning to get my hands on the player. Hosnestly speaking I am a little frustrated.

For the life of me I cannot get the Zune software to see the videos I have on my pc.  I manually pointed to the folder and all the files are .avi, but it keeps saying no media found.

Does anyone know if there is a support website or message board for the Zune?

What about support for Vista? I'm using RC2 (build 5744) and I can't install the Zunesetup program. I tried running with XP SP2 compatibility and "run as administrator". The setup goes to about 40% then quits!?!

HELPPPP!!!!

How do I sort my videos as Music Videos or Movies? I can't seem to find it...

Maybe it would be a good idea to start a Q&A thread and link it to the top of the main page?

Arg! Been on with support for over an hour now. Can't play any explicit content and they can't figure out why.

Congrats on the release Cesar!

Picked up the brown this morning. I think I was the first to buy it at our local Best Buy.  Woo! ;)

I like the feel of the Zune, very cool.  I was a little worried about it's largeness and will probably have days where I wish it were smaller, especially in the Summer when I have fewer pockets.  However it feels really nice to hold and work with though I have spent most of my time with it rebooting my PC.

of course... can't download anything from Marketplace and can't sync.  Heh

I'm pulling for MS but I see a PC Guy/Apple Guy analog for the Zune/Ipod in our future! Haha =)

My zune did not come preloaded with any content, as promised my MS press releases.  I called customer support and they said it should not come preloaded with any content at all.  What's that all about?

j2h - let me check on that and get back to you. kiphere. keep the comments PG - feel free to repost.

Just to update, I wasn't satisfied with customer support because I knew they were wrong (even double-checked on zune.net) So I called again and got another person.

The second person I spoke with was much more knowledgeable and nice, even though couldn't resolve the issue.  Suggested I exchange at best buy.  Just for the pre-loaded content I'm not going to do that, but it would have been nice to have the music videos so I could check out videos on the zune, or pictures to change the background.

I'm banging my head on this one. I can't get the album art to show up on my Zune but it's showing up in the Zune Software. Anybody have some ideas. I called tech support but the poor guy barely knew what I was talking about and his troublshooting database wasn't helping him much.

I'm really impressed with the Zune so far. I thought the layout of the box was very interesting and a breath of fresh air from generic electronics'. The radio function is really interesting; I love being able to see what type of music the station is playing, and sometimes even the song they're playing. The unit is bigger than I thought it would be, but I like the big screen. The preloaded content is also keeping me distracted from the Zune's biggest flaw: incompatibility with Windows Vista RC1. I have no way to back up my files besides the Zune so I can't use my computer's XP restore disc, and the Zune will not show up as a USB Mass Storage Device under Windows Explorer. So far I haven't heard of a workaround or solution to this problem, so for now I'm up s-it's creek without a paddle and my $250. Here's to hoping Microsoft releases a patch! It's otherwise a really great unit though.

I was disapointed in the lack of vista support as well.  I am assuming because the audio/video stack was reworked in vista is the source of the compatibility issues.  You might, MIGHT be able to work around that by using virtual pc 2007 beta. Does anyone know about the zune pass and 360 media center extender support? Sorry, but I am waiting on that question before taking a plunge.

I heard a rumor that the installer will run in compatability mode under Vista... not sure if it's true.

Why would they make the Zune Vista compatible if Vista hasn't even been released the general population.

4 uninstalls and 5 reinstalls later, I did get my software to sync and recognize my zune.  Now, it's telling me that I don't have enough sync rights for the songs.  What gives?

Also, the Zune software says that I have an album on my Zune already when I try to sync it.  Only problem is that the album ISNT on my Zune.  How in the world do I get it to sync if the software thinks its already on there.  In the sync listing for status it says already on the device.  Bummer.

Any chances of an update fixing the myriad of problems myself and others are getting?  Whatever happened to being detailed?  I thought this was supposed to work BETTER than plays for sure.... not worse?

1. Everything works fine.

2. To the people that are saying their Zune didnt come preloaded. You may have deleted it when you sync'd up the first time.

3. The zune sync's fast as hell with my unprotected mp3. Files from the Marketplace take a too long *shrugs* I have too many albums to complain.

4. I did not own a Ipod or havent used one to know if it better.

5. The Zune software kinda SUCKS. It gave me to many problems its 2006. USB sync'n should have been fixed in 04.

THE END..

Got my black Zune yesterday. Works super. I used the 14-day Free Zune Pass and now I have 3000+ Elvis songs in my Library for 14 days (told it to download all the Elvis)!!!! Make sure you tell the Zune Software to remember your login information if you download so much from Zune Marketplace (I had timeouts before I figured that out). I do have a major sync to my Zune Device now that I have so much in my library!!!! The Zune Device is not as heavy as I expected and it's a really comfortable to hold. Nice job Zune team!!!!

I was very afraid of the software after reading Engadget's post but here's my experience.

Got mine yesterday, installed the software late last night (early this morning?).  It grabbed some updates, made me reboot before connecting the Zune.  One connected it made a firmware update which I noticed change some of the menu's around and added in a menu or two.  The software loaded okay, detected the Zune okay and all menu's worked just fine.  Put in my two week subscription key and clicked on the Marketplace.  Took about 10 minutes or so to download the entire Marketplace.  Needed to finish before I could browse much anything.  Once done I grabbed a few albums and clicked download.  Took me a few minutes to find where the status of the current downloads were.  Was slow at first (much slower than Yahoo music) but once the songs were downloaded it sync'd automatically and very quickly.  Seemed like it was under four seconds per song.  

Plugged it into my auxillary jack in my car this morning on the way to work and it worked fine.  The interface is very cool and useful.  I was very surprised I didn't run into any issues after reading the Engadget article and a few other horror stories.  Hopefully the majority of users had my experience and not like the ones above here.

The device itself is light, good texture, great screen, button navigation works very well, and the interface is very slick.  Only complaint is I wish the Zune was a little bit thinner, but for a 1st gen product I'll accept it.

Theres still some stuff about zune software Microsoft should be working on, and about the firmware too.

Another thing is that since the screen is 3 in. big...KINDA stretch the video quality. And when zooming in, it can be done only once..I expected to be able to zoom in more than that =\

Other than that, its great! =]

I personally like the Zune marketplace. It looks nice and the written reviews are quite good.

Got my Zune last night. No problems, both software and hardware are great. My only complaint is that it tried to sync my entire library when I hooked it up. With 40gb of media files on my PC I'd really rather it ask you if it should do this the first time you plug it in. I had to erase the Zune and then set it to manual sync.

I got my Zune and its great! i didnt have any problems with it and no problems with installing the Zune software or syncing. so far so good.

but, there is a glitch in the Zune software where when i click the download button on any song, the Zune software freezes up for about 5-10 seconds and then it works again. it absolutely does that every time i click on download.

another thing is on my Zune device (i got brown - awesome) where when i play a song the album art that covers almost the whole screen is pixelated and blurry and thats something that i dont like since you built a big screen for it.

hopefully you can fix that. thx.

You really shouldn't rely on beta software (ie Vista) to run an rtm application. Zune is for personal use and the rtm of Vista for home users won't be commercially available until January '07.

I haven't had a day off in a while (including weekends), so I'm taking tomorrow off. Don't worry, I've

The release version is available to MSDN subscribers, and a lot of us in the IT world need to run the latest. So it would be nice if you could connect your Zune to Vista.

As of now, the Zune does not support other languages in terms of song data.  This is THE deciding factor in whether or not I will keep my Zune / recommend it to anyone else.

Basically, what I'm asking is if there were be an update (soon, please) to bring support for other language to the Zune... namely Japanese and Korean.

If not, it's a huge mistake.  And I find it odd that I can set my Radio to Japan, but I can't display the song or artist names of Japanese artist.  And as a Japanese major, romaji is not an option. lol

I have to agree with Lidocaine. The Zune will be a decent player once it supports multi languages (unicode support maybe?)

I feel REALLY bad every time I see tons of squares show up in the screen and I have no idea who they are... :p

Okay... I want to get a Zune... plan on getting one...

So I download Zune Marketplace... even sign up for a Zune Pass (sure all those Napster files are going to have to be re-downloaded... but that’s life...)

What do I find?

One of my most favorite bands... Creed... is impossible to download? So, I did a quick once over of your terms of service, and confirmed what your website says... all content on the Marketplace is available for download/rent as long as you maintain your subscription. So, I called tech support to ask what gives. Dave up there was very helpful, but still did not give an answer I wanted to hear. Some content is not licensed by Microsoft, so you can only download to OWN it he says. That’s cool. I understand some artists just will not budge on this stuff, but what really got me annoyed was that your site NEVER even IMPLIES this is going to happen. In fact, it is quite the opposite. You imply all music is available. Even your legal documentation says the opposite.

I really love the player... and still intend on getting one... but you REALLY need to fix this... because this is WAY too confusing. I was looking forward to this (being a user of Napster and what not) and ya let me down... even misled me.

Can I get an answer from you guys as to what the deal is EXACTLY, given Zune.Net fails to make mention of certain content in the marketplace being unavailable to ZunePass users?

Thanks!

- Creathir

My Zune seems to be coming apart at the seam.  Is that normal after a couple of days, mostly in its case, never taken outside, only taken off of the shelf to do syncing type stuff?  I noticed this morning that the bottom right corner seemed to have the slightest of space where I didn't think it did before.  Just now when pushing the back button I felt the whole case clicking.

What, no volume levelling?  Folks like me with large diverse music collections relay on volume levelling to keep sound levells within a decent range when playing mixes.

Now I know the purist are gonna cringe, but...  Volume compression is also an important feature (that Zune lacks).  Portable players are often used in high ambient noise environments and can benefit from bringing up those quiet passages.  

Windows Media Player offers both.  Zune should too.  I can't make the leap from an iPod until levelling is addressed.

I can't get the sign in to work. I want to check out the marketplace but I can't get in. Customer support said it's a problem on their end. Any idea when this will be fixed and is anyone having similar probs??

umm i was just wondering why it is that i cant gte itunes videos to play on zune  i wasnt told this when i bought the player

Angie- i'm having the same problem. whenever I try to sign in it takes me to the support page, and if I try to go back to MP it signs me out.

I bought the Zune for the Zune Pass subscription which I love.  Unfortunately, my Zune frequently skips at the beginning of DRM'd music from the Marketplace (seems to coincide with hard drive access).  I started a topic on the zunescene.com messageboard and, apparantly, I'm not the only one experiencing this issue.  Zune tech support suggested replacing the hardware, which I'm doing, but I'm not very optimistic considering that there are others with the same problem.  Has anyone else reported this and/or is it a known issue?

What version do you guys think zune firmware and software will go up to? Since I asked my friends about it and they think below v3

now its v1.1

Theres a lot of things zune need to work on...

@robo74: none of the windows versions of vpc support usb. :(

Has anyone figured out how to make smart playlists where the predicates are ORed?

As in genere is genere1 OR genere is genere 2?

As it stands they are anded, and since you cant have more than one genere, putting the two in the auto playlist results in no songs being listed.

Can anyone tell me why i can't see album art on my zune?  Anyone else get error code 87 when trying to sign into the marketplace?  I  have talked to support about both of these issues, and they tell me they don't have an answer for me right now check back in a few days.  I am getting really irritated with these problems not being solved.  I am beginning to wish I had never purchased it.  If they are not fixed in a few days I might just take it back.  I expected more than this from Microsoft.  

hey i was just wondering about the radio part...i can't get any of my local radio stations to work on it and it kinda sucks..any help?

Good luck getting help.  I have been trying to get help for my problems for a week now, and they can never tell me what is wrong only to call back later.  I hope you have better luck than I am having.

A couple of web sites are reporting the subscription playback skips (zunethoughts.com, for example).  As I'm typing, I'm listening to my Zune skip...  Help!

I have a question about videos.  I've gotten a couple music videos and home videos to load onto my Zune.  But... how do I get them to use the cool categories that the preloaded content uses?  The "music videos" vs "movies".  Mine only show up under "all videos".  Is it possible?

When ever I sign in all it get is the support page. I see this is happening to others as well.

Help!

I was one of the few excited consumers who couldn't waut for this player to come out. I am now one of the many disappointed consumers who feel cheated.

I love the style of the machine and haven't had any problems with it. It is a good size and weight and the screen has a great picture. I have my daughters digital pics on and I love the slideshow feature. The radio also works well. That's where the nightmare began. I can't get into the marketplace. I was supposed to sign in during installation but I never had that option. I should be able to create an account now but that also isn't allowing me access. So forget about the marketplace. I have successfully synced about 15 cds when my d drive decides it can't recognize a cd in the player any longer. So I now am unable to use my d drive. It didn't find any of my album info either and I'm not sure it that's because I'm not able to sign in. There doesn't seem to be a connection.

Customer support is a joke. They tell me to do the same things my husband did already. He's a techie so I had him try to figure out what I was doing wrong. They make me uninstall the software again and then the dummy tells me to reinsert my install cd, as if I didn't just tell him my D drive is buggin now. His advice then was what my husband got when he first called. We were told to wait a few and try again. It's obvious no one  knows what is going on with this player. There are numerous bugs and problems that many people are experiencing and it's not the kind of service I've come to expect from Microsoft. I am very disappointed and will be returning my player.

Matt, i also have the problem with the error code 87 when try to log in into marketplace. hope anyone can help me

Dude im am also having problem with the error code 87 does any one in the world know how to fix this error i already tried calling them and they have no idea just call back later

HELP!

I have been having the same error when logging into marketplace. It keeps taking me to the support page. This has been ongoing for like 5 days now and microsoft hasnt done anything to address it. Each time I call support up they give me the run around. This last time I called them they said there system was down and that it will be several hours before they get it back up. This is alot of BS they are spreading around. I will give them another 24 hrs before I return this POS back to the store.

Same here with error code 87, but it is only happening on one of my systems.  It doesn't happen on my other system and I am able to log in and download using my Zunepass on the second system.  I am wondering if there is a DRM problem on my system I am getting the error on.  

Anyone have new news on a fix?

Im having issues, that seem to be related to me being on a firewalled connection. Or so says Microsoft.

Im on a University connection, and I cant log in. I know they block certain ports to prevent illegal downloading, so MS is likely right its because of the firewall on my connection that I have no control over. However, I keep getting the run around when I ask what ports need to be opened. My school cant open a port if it doesnt know what port needs to be opened.

Frankly if my school is blocking it, most schools are blocking it, which means MS is probably going to lose a lot of potential customers or they are going to have a lot of angry customers.

Oh yeah and tech support is reading from scripts/faqs, which are apparently severely lacking.

I fix de Error code 87 off Zune just delete de DRM files folow the link

http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?kbid=810422

Sorry here is the link

I tried the link from Filipe Rogue above and it worked.

Hey I have my Zune & I love it, but I had a question. Once my music is synced to my Zune do I have to keep the music files on my computer or can I delete them without them deleting off of my Zune? Because I dont want ALL the music just sitting on my PC if I listen to it on my Zune. Please & Thank u.

Is anyone having problems with the software not recognizing the zune being plugged in? I was on the phone w/ customer service last night for more than a hour before they took my e-mail and phone number and told me they'd get back to me later in the day on a solution. I haven't heard from them yet.

Is there some sort of download or fix anyone can point me towards? I've uninstalled/installed the software too many times to count. I've done everything on zune.net and still nothing. Right now, the Zune is looking like a giant bust.

Help!!! my software does not read the device

My DRM folder can't even be found, even when searching for it and enabling hidden folders to be seen. I tried locating it in the registry also, it says its in documents and settings/all users folder, but its not there. And with WMP 11 it won't let me backup my licensing mumbo jumbo. So that link didn't work for me. Any help? Obviously microsoft is no help.

hey sims, they left out one step in for that thing.

you gotta uncheck "hide protected operating system file" because the DRM file is an operating system file. then you can go to that website and upgrade ur security whatever. Microsoft forgot to put that step in....

cheers :-)

Anyone know how to reset the latest firmware (1.1) on the zune device?

I heard that firmware 1.0 can be reset, but can the 1.1 be reset?

I must say that I'm a little torn about this device.  It's both lovely and an object of my wrath.  Why oh why doesn't this thing allow me to delete that one song I don't want!?  I've already had to clear the entire zune, I will not do it again.  I presume that's an option that will be available with an upgrade in software. It seems a little buggy too.  I guess with the first version you take that risk but, I do hate the fact that it freezes often.  

 Really, those are my problems.  The zune has a great sound.  The screen is fantastic as far as I'm concerned.  I think this could easily give apple a run for it's money IF those behind it really listen to reason and quickly fix these and the other issues.

can you copy the music that you have downloaded fom the subscription 14 day trip, put it on another computer and when your tial is up and the music on your zune no longer works erase the zune and sync the copied files?

can zune have more than one language displayed on the screen? like korean, japanese, or chinese?

if there isn't, is there a way outside of zune that can?

I recently bought a zune a week or so after Christmas, am I am somewhat divided on the turnout of the product.  The player works well, I like the large screen, and it is a little big but not too large for enjoyment.  However, I have multiple issues with the zune's capabilities along with the software.  First off, why include wifi and then dumb it down by only allowing zune to zune communication?  This almost takes away the entire usefullness of the wifi, because incidently sharing music to others is only permitted trial-wise (as in temporary and only 3 uses).  That is very provincial, and in addition video cannot be sent (although that is somewhat understandable with the file size of video).  Secondly, there are no other apps or additions to use on the zune besides music, photo or video (such as calendar, contacts, notes, etc.), and you cannot delete or edit anything on the zune from the device itself.  These are things which could easily be added to the product.  Now, the software.  To start I do not even see a need for the software at all.  It is almost exactly the same as windows media player, except that it is not as powerful and the user interface is not quite as good.  It is basically a dumbed down "controlled" version of wmp, incorporated by microsoft to put a limit on what can be done with the zune.  What happened to "Plays for Sure"?  Aside from that, this zune software gives the user little to no control over the music device.  You cannot browse the device manually to see what it has, nor can manually edit or remove individual items or groups of items from it.  You must surrender your control to the automatic sync, or erase the entire device.  Where is the efficiency and simplicity in that?  User interface is key, and removing the easiness and powerful features which could have been done was a bad move by microsoft.

Also, video has to be in the form of wmv which is a hassle of conversion in itself.  But then, when you try to put it on the zune, it has to be converted once again to fit the bitrate requirements on the device.  This is ridiculously time consuming and unecessary.  I want to spend my time using the device, not screwing around and wrestlying with it to get it to fit my needs.  Lastly, with 30gb of hard drive space, don't you think using this as a hard drive device should be available?  But once again, it has been dumbed down, and the usb 2.0 standard removable drive features disabled.  

On a separate but still important note, what happened to customer support and assistance?  Am I true in stating that this is the only form of product feedback? (aside from phone support which is futile, troublesome, and time consuming)  Cesar, I truly respect your efforts, but seriously this is yet another poor move by Microsoft.  The consumers control the company, whether the company thinks so or not.  It is imperative to conform to the desires of the customer; this is just common logic along with any respectable business.  Nobody likes a company that's just going for profit, with no consideration whatsoever to how they are serving the consumer.

When I bought this device, I saw the potential in it and thought it would be a good buy.  But I believe I speak for many when I say that Microsoft has fallen far short of the bar in expectation and quality.  I was looking for something new, something innovative, and something different in this device.  I despise the controlled environment and lack of capability that apple has done with its ipod, and it greatly disappoints me that Microsoft has done this with the zune.  Basically, they have included many of the things that I had hoped Microsoft would never turn to.  That is why I like windows - for the freedom and power of the software.  Nobody wants something that is inadequate and unable to do things that should come standard and easily.  This is with all products.  I sincerely hope that Microsoft will rethink their design process with the zune and its software, and create a positive turn-around in a product the does have great potential if that potential is utilized.  Also, I am sorry for the length, but as you can see I had a lot to get out.  Thank you for taking my comments into consideration.

In conclusion, I figure I might as well revert to an ipod instead.  It is smaller, it can do near to everything a zune can do, and it even has a click wheel.  

The only difference is the zune has wifi, and better screen quality.  But with the extremely limited ability of the wifi feature - what's the point?  And with the trouble of getting videos on the zune - the better video outlook is less appealing.  

I understand that this could just be the first stage before upgrades are made to make some changes, but this is a pathetic start.  If the Microsoft wants the zune to compete with ipod, they're going to have to work for it.

James, I hear ya. Thanks for posting your thoughts. (btw I do manual synch on my device all the time)

I bought the zune because its like the ipod, same price and all (30G version) but with better features. Overall, I'm very happy with my zune. The menu is logically organized, the sound quality is just AWESOME, and video playback is good too.

My biggest concern is that it does not support unicode. Since most of my music library is composed of Jpop and Kpop, many characters appear as blocks, I hope that a future update will fix this soon. Also, the wireless is lacking in functionality.

Other than that, Zune definitely tops the iPod IMHO.  

A lot of the information here is very helpful.   But the griping is annoying.  Folks act as if the IPOD doesn't have issues and never has problems.

For some reason my Zune stop playing from the left ear phone,it use to play fine from both sides. i bought it in december of 2006.Is there a place i can take my Zune to get fix???

i know the Zunes have a warranty for 1 year would thake be covered??there is not a damage,scracht or misuse of my Zune would that be covered???if its covered what would be the next step to follow??

thanks.

I bought my wife a zune for the holidays and asked her to bring me the cds that she wanted me to load up for her. She's Japanese, so that means mostly Japanese rock and pops. I ripped the cds to the hard drive on WinXP sp2 english using either the Zune software 2.1.888.2 or Windows Media Player 11. I ripped most, but not all, the cds because neither WMP nor the Zune software could come up with song information for them.

Problem 1: WMP or the Zune software don't always successfully transfer the Japanese characters in the song file names to MP3 tag information, leaving ??? in many cases. (for some reason, the first 3 songs in an album seem to render kanji/kana well, after that, not.) In many cases I had to copy-paste the missing tags (song name, artist, etc) manually from the file names, a tedious process.

Problem 2: The Zune software remembers a misspelled artist's name, and when you edit it, the change refuses to stick, so now you're stuck with "two" artists and can't get the album under the incorrectly spelled name to appear under the correct one. Zune software stubbornly remembers the bad spelling, even after correcting all the tags in the original files. I also tried deleting just the information and both the information and files, and then adding them to the collection again, but no luck.

Problem 3: After all my hard work, I synced the songs to the Zune, but the Zune itself renders all Kana/Kanji as square blocks, which was quite a disappointment to me and my wife. Why this behavior when both WMP and the Zune software are mature enough to recognize kanji/kana?

==> Let's get 1) the tag-rendering problem fixed in the software and 2) Let's definitely have a firmware update that will allow kanji/kana to be correctly displayed on the Zune itself.

ok i try to restore my zune device

right

but it wouldnt go tho al the way so now it just stuck sayin on your pc open the zune software and restore the zune device

so can anyone help me please?

i hate zune ive had it for 1 year n still having problem wtffffffffffffffffffff

ipod here i come backk

Hey,

so my memory is limited but i download LOTS of music. i just got a zune and its not working the same as my other mp3 player. with my old one i would download the music, copy it to the mp3 player and then delete it off my computer. but now when i delete the music it takes it of my zune too!!! is there a way to keep the songs on the zune and still delete it off my computer?? please help meeeeeeeee

How in the world do I load DVDs onto my computer and then onto my 8GB Zune? I can't find information on how to load it anywhere!

ok does anyone have the problem of the old brand of zune playing too quiet because i have a 30 gb and only  a couple of the sonngs play loud

a way to get free movies on your zune is you copy the url of a movie say a youtube one like this http://youtube.com/watch?v=AqBfgNqbTBY then you go to mediaconverter.org and paste it in the right spot and you should be able to figure out the rest

My zune touch pad is pushed in, i can't use the directional buttons up or down or skip to new songs. I was wondering if it could be fixable by myself or do i have to ship it out to electronic store to get it fixed.

If you have an answer to my question please email me at ( neenah2000@hotmail.com )

I bought a Zune and it crashed my computer. Apparantly there are quite a few more stories such as mine. What is furthermore dissappointing is the Microsoft is  not doing anything about this and customer support is taking no responsibility. In fact I can almost directly quote his answer, "it happens from time to time". Other than the un-knowledgeable customer support people there is no other venue to get any sort of support! Very frustrated and disappointed!