Zune: First Impressions
Well, this is the first in what will probably be a series of articles as I get into using the new Zune 4 GB Digital Media Player Black (2nd Generation).
The package arrived in fine shape and the unpacking was as dramatic as any product I’ve seen. The box was well-packaged and contained the player, headphones and USB plug.
I went to the Zune Site and installed the software (a fairly large 32MB file which downloaded VERY fast). The first time I ran it, it did hang up and I was forced to reboot, but I have had no problems since. Everything is very simple to use on both the player and PC software. My first concern was Podcasts and that was very easy to set up.
But, I did have a small issue with trying to stop it from downloading EVERY episode, which, of course, meant all of the ones I’d heard before. Fortunately, a right click on the file produces both the “Cancel Download” and “Mark as Played” options and clicking those fixed this. My next biggest concern was setting up wireless syncing, and here I will need to do more work. The setup was simple enough in the Zune software. The first connection failed, but a trip to my router’s dashboard to add the Zune to my list of allowed network devices was very simple - the Zune even provides it’s MAC address in case you need it. So far I’ve been able to connect to my network and get a message saying that sync has completed, but I have NOT seen the new files appear on the player.
I will continue to play around with this and will post more on it soon. In the meantime, I have seen that Toys ‘r’ Us has listed the Zune 30GB for $79.99 on Black Friday and my wife wants an MP3 player…and the 2nd gen software in available for upgrade to first gen machines…and I hope she doesn’t read this…
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