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Anyone get one? Used it yet?
It looks pretty slick, I'd love to hear what it's like if anyone bought one.

That is assuming yours does anything:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/15/zune-hd-unboxing-and-hands-on/

As a commenter points out below, these devices are being sold to end users in the same condition our unit is in -- namely, without any real functioning software. It's a pretty unusual move for a company like Microsoft to put devices into the hands of consumers with no functionality at all

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What the hell microsoft? No software loaded on them?

Espy said:

Anyone get one? Used it yet?
It looks pretty slick, I'd love to hear what it's like if anyone bought one.

That is assuming yours does anything:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/15/zune-hd-unboxing-and-hands-on/

As a commenter points out below, these devices are being sold to end users in the same condition our unit is in -- namely, without any real functioning software. It's a pretty unusual move for a company like Microsoft to put devices into the hands of consumers with no functionality at all

Click to expand...

What the hell microsoft? No software loaded on them?

Click to expand...

that seems to be the way with these things nowadays, especially when you have to register them with a certain software in order to fully use them(zunestore with the zune, itunes with the ipod). i remember i couldn't do shit with my ipod touch until i got it all set up with itunes on my pc.
in regards to the new zune i am very tempted to get one. the only thing i'd like more is if it could play flac and if it had a larger storage option. make one of these a little fatter with an hdd and more codec support and i'd be all over it.

I bought an iPhone last Friday, and my 80gb iPod still works great. Zune HD certainly looks to be a much better product than its older brother, but it just doesn't fit my needs.

Want one, but just got the iphone last spring. I'm trying to make it do what I want (ie, replace my zune 30 and windows mobile phone) but, as odd as it is to say it, iPhone sucks as a music/podcast player.

You'd think Apple would have improved it since the Zune originally came out, but podcasts in particular are painful to deal with on the iPhone compared to the zune.

-Adam

I totally disagree about the iPod/iPhone not being a great music player! Its been a dream for me and the newest software makes it 10x better!
I listen to podcasts daily and it's been fantastic for them. How could they make it better? iTunes downloads it for me, I sync and then I listen.
What else?

ipod, or iphone? Keep in mind they have different interfaces.

At any rate, I HAVE to connect it to my computer in order to sync daily (zune does so wirelessly while it charges as I sleep), and so far I can't seem to resume podcasts from where I left off (ie, listen to 1/2 of the podcast, listen to some music, listen to another podcast, eventually get back around to the first one and I have to search around to find where I left off.) - this is horrible for long podcasts, lectures, etc.

It doesn't seem to play nice with podcasts that aren't in iTunes (ie, rss/xml feeds).

It may be I haven't given it enough time to learn how apple decided to implement these features, but when I've tried it it hasn't done what I expected it to do.

-Adam

Well I use an iPod touch and my wife uses an iPod. Both are great in our opinion, we both listen to music and podcasts.
As to the syncing, you get that one. Wireless syncing would be AWESOME.
You have an serious issue if it's not picking up where you left off with podcasts. It SHOULD do that. You up to date on your software? If it's all good you need to go to Apple and get that fixed. Thats a PROBLEM.
I've gotten a few podcasts from the web, I just download them and tag them in iTunes so I can't say it's a big issue for me. It's no surprise that it plays BEST with iTunes though.

I'd love to buy one, but MS doesn't want to sell them in Europe.

Enjoyin my Zen

Hey. Zen belongs to all of us!

I might be able to get an upgrade to one, because when I first bought mine, they told me that if a new one ever comes in, I can upgrade for free.

Seraphyn said:

I'd love to buy one, but MS doesn't want to sell them in Europe.

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currently

I have a 120gb Zune, and I'm trying to sell it to one of my friends/brothers so that I can pick up a Zune HD. I've had a bit of hands-on time already (one of the pros about my work!) and they are ridiculously sexy.

They look FANTASTIC. I'd really like to play with one. Give me a nice music subscription service and BAM. Great music player.
My biggest worry about it would be the screen though. The OLED screens are notorious for being impossible to see outside of low light settings.

Espy said:

Give me a nice music subscription service and BAM. Great music player.

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ZunePass is actually fantastic. I never thought I'd pay for music again, but I've been faithfully shelling out my $15 for at least six months now. It's much easier than downloading torrents of questionable quality, having my anti-virus software bitch at me, and then having to go find album art.

Yeah, thats a pretty dang good deal.

I want one of these fancy-pants music things, but I just can't justify getting one. I use Pandora at my computer(s) at work and home. I have a $20 mp3 player that I got off woot a few years back, and it works fine. I bought it b/c I didn't know how much I'd actually use one. I used it for a while, but I haven't touched it in 6 months.

Maybe, I'm just cheap.

drawn_inward said:

I want one of these fancy-pants music things, but I just can't justify getting one. I use Pandora at my computer(s) at work and home. I have a $20 mp3 player that I got off woot a few years back, and it works fine. I bought it b/c I didn't know how much I'd actually use one. I used it for a while, but I haven't touched it in 6 months.

Maybe, I'm just cheap.

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If I weren't commuting to work 30 minutes each way, I'd rarely be using mine either. Mowing, long car trips would be able it. Otherwise I'm almost always near a computer.

-Adam

stienman;255935][quote=drawn_inward said:

I want one of these fancy-pants music things, but I just can't justify getting one. I use Pandora at my computer(s) at work and home. I have a $20 mp3 player that I got off woot a few years back, and it works fine. I bought it b/c I didn't know how much I'd actually use one. I used it for a while, but I haven't touched it in 6 months.

Maybe, I'm just cheap.

Click to expand...

If I weren't commuting to work 30 minutes each way, I'd rarely be using mine either. Mowing, long car trips would be able it. Otherwise I'm almost always near a computer.

-Adam[/QUOTE]

C'mon. You're supposed to convince me that I NEED it. I want one, but that rational part of my brain keeps my wallet at bay.

I was my iPod regularly because I have a 30 minute walk to work, and I like to sit on restaurant patios for hours at a time eating, drinking, reading and listening to music.

iPAWD.

If I didn't have my Nano, 3hr round trips to the college would kill me. I would NEVER go to school.

Gusto said:

iPAWD.

If I didn't have my Nano, 3hr round trips to the college would kill me. I would NEVER go to school.

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Gah! That's a serious commute!! Why oh why do you do that? I would go crazy if I had to do that.

Poll idea!

drawn_inward said:

I want one of these fancy-pants music things, but I just can't justify getting one. I use Pandora at my computer(s) at work and home. I have a $20 mp3 player that I got off woot a few years back, and it works fine. I bought it b/c I didn't know how much I'd actually use one. I used it for a while, but I haven't touched it in 6 months.

Maybe, I'm just cheap.

Click to expand...

Buy what you need.
I need email and the web at work. With my touch I don't have to have my computer with me every second. It's much more convenient.
I watch movies, podcasts and tv shows on it on a regular basis. My old iRiver didn't do that, hence me really like the touch.

I just ordered a 64gb iPod Touch. I looked into the Zune HD before deciding which to get, of course, but it just doesn't particularly interest me. I much prefer the iPod Touch's ergomatic design to the more angular and industrial-looking Zune, and while the Zune's OS design is interesting and looks pretty funky, I find it a bit too 'busy'.

For me, the real clincher was the Zune HD's lack of an alternative to the App Store. With an iPhone or iPod Touch there's an app for practically anything you could think of, and many of them are free. There are also plenty of games to play, so many that Apple are now marketing the iPod Touch somewhat as a portable gaming platform. The Zune HD's niche seems to be as a portable media player for hooking up to a larger screen in several places, which wouldn't do me any good because I only have one HD-capable screen and it's already connected to my PC.

I do like the Zune HD's OLED screen, though. Those use far less battery than LCD screens. I also like the Zune HD's inclusion of Digital Radio. If the iPod Touch 64gb had those two features, and slightly better audio quality, I think it would be the perfect media device.

The OLED screen is... actually really bad. It's almost impossible to see outside of dark rooms and it's ridiculously over saturated so it's bad for tv/pictures, etc.
Honestly, the APP store alone is the reason to go iPod touch. I buy or download free apps every week, it's honestly an amazing thing. You are gonna love it Gill.

Thanks Espy, I'm looking forward to it. It should be arriving around the middle of next week.

I had heard that the OLED screen is a little too reflective because of its lack of a backlight and its default colour being black, but honestly I think the boost to battery life probably makes it worth it. Still, the App store remains the deciding factor.

Another thing is that the Zune HD isn't yet available in versions above 32gb, and I needed a bare minimum of 64gb in order to justify upgrading from my old 60gb iPod (despite its cracked screen).