A View of the Zune 30
February 18, 2008
The Zune 30 has been pretty much shunned by much of the technology community and for what it’s worth, it’s easy to understand why it’s such an inferior product to Apple’s popular iPod.Maybe it’s the thick, brick-like exterior. Or the dissatisfying Zune software. Or maybe the fact that it’s just an iPod.
Whatever the reason it may be, the fact of the matter is, the Zune 30 is not a perfect product.
However, there are some advantages the Zune has over it’s Apple competitor. The plastic, not glass, screen is bigger, 3.0 inches over the iPod’s 2.5 inch screen. And here comes an unnecessary cliché line: bigger is not always better.
While the Zune sports a bigger screen, it doesn’t have excellent video quality one might come to expect. There just isn’t enough pixels for such a screen, utilizing only a 320 x 240 resolution, and causing pixels to be more noticeable while viewing videos. There also aren’t enough colors displayed; low quality shades of black are stick out, especially at close viewing distances. Videos, while being easier to see, just look worse compared to the beautiful Creative Zen or the Clix2, or even the iPod Classic.
Pictures look great however, it’s just the videos that irk me.
I’d have to commend Microsoft for the interface however, as it is just beautiful. The current firmware for the Zune, 2.3.0, is a much more streamlined, pleasing looking compared to the default pre-2.0 firmware. On the main menu, you got large text for easy viewing, which looks better than it sounds, I know.
If it weren’t for the full screen album art, I wouldn’t even want to keep the Zune. Being a person that likes to tag all their songs properly and neatly, I’m very pleased with the Zune music interface. I can sort by genre, song, album, etc. and it’s all very easy to just pick up and learn.
The radio feature is a handy feature, and FM radio reception is excellent, at least with what I’m using, but I’m not finding myself using it very much. Probably someone who enjoys the radio more than I do will appreciate this more.
The worst thing about the Zune, and any other MTP device, is the software it’s tied to. I don’t mind having to use one program to sync my music, videos, and pictures, but at least make the software functional. Luckily, Microsoft has patched things up over the months, and my library has finally looks the way I want it to without the Windows Media Player/Zune software screwing it up.
Finally, the Zune supports podcasts after upgrading the firmware. While the Zune subscribes to podcasts, it’s still a little buggy at times, showing that the software isn’t perfect, nor is it very functional.
So, that’s it. If it weren’t for the sub-par video quality, beautiful interface/full screen album art, and the firmware updates, I would’ve tossed out my Zune a long time ago and joined the majority of the iPod users.
Well, I’m getting a Zune 80 tomorrow, which is probably more of the same, except in a slimmer body that you wouldn’t be afraid to take it out in the subway.
