I hate iPod, buying a Zune, or.... [ZUNE OWNERS?]

[waggy]

Originally posted by: hungfarover

Originally posted by: waggy
so if the zune and such (none-ipod) device will not work with itunes where do you guys get mp3's? just burn them off the cd's?

my sil has 3 cd's. don't think that is a good thing for her to get then..hmm.

With the Zune software I was able to synch 99.5% of my personal library that's roughly 10% stuff I personally own and have ripped, and 90% stuff I've aquired over the years via Torrent, Napster, Soulseek, etc etc. I know I'm a mean old pirate. Fine. (the .5% error'd out with some weird licensing error???)

Going this route is nasty in terms of organization. The tags on the individual songs are messy and I'm going to need to spend probably an entire day cleaning them up and re-synching everything.

There is a Zune store similar to iTunes I've heard, but I'm not headed there until I clean up my tags.

I was hopeing for legal options then torrents, napster (that is still up? heh) etc.

was looking for a itunes ripoff she can use. something easy and legal.

guess i will tell her to replace the nano (2 gig? pfft).

 

[bcterps]

Ah, now I remember why I was hesitant about the Zen Vision W, the size. I consider the Zune to be at the upper limits of what I would consider "pocketable", and the Zen Vision W is considerably larger than the Zune. For reference, it's basically the exact same size as my Nintendo DS, which is ok for a game player, but not a portable mp3/video player imo.

 

[wheresmybacon]

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: hungfarover

Originally posted by: waggy
so if the zune and such (none-ipod) device will not work with itunes where do you guys get mp3's? just burn them off the cd's?

my sil has 3 cd's. don't think that is a good thing for her to get then..hmm.

With the Zune software I was able to synch 99.5% of my personal library that's roughly 10% stuff I personally own and have ripped, and 90% stuff I've aquired over the years via Torrent, Napster, Soulseek, etc etc. I know I'm a mean old pirate. Fine. (the .5% error'd out with some weird licensing error???)

Going this route is nasty in terms of organization. The tags on the individual songs are messy and I'm going to need to spend probably an entire day cleaning them up and re-synching everything.

There is a Zune store similar to iTunes I've heard, but I'm not headed there until I clean up my tags.

I was hopeing for legal options then torrents, napster (that is still up? heh) etc.

was looking for a itunes ripoff she can use. something easy and legal.

guess i will tell her to replace the nano (2 gig? pfft).

The Zune store is certainly legal, but I don't know much about it since I haven't logged in to it yet. I read something about a monthly fee to "lease" songs...if you don't pay the fee they expire and you can't listen to them? I didn't like the sound of that. I hope there's another option or I misunderstood...

I'm going to check it out in a week or so and will report back.

 

[0roo0roo]

i guess the question is why you hate ipod? after all it was microsoft that bent over on day one and gave universal music(riaa) music a payment on each purchase of zune then universal turned around and tried to get the same thing off apple... anti consumer bs.

 

[PinmasterJay]

I love my Zen Vision:M so that gets my vote

 

[TitanDiddly]

I'm looking at the Zen Vision M or W right now. I really like the W's big screen, but I'd be worried about battery life with a screen that big- and it may be overkill for everyday audio use too.
The M is really likeable, though it has a piddly little screen. It's also cheaper than the zune by about $30. So while the W's big screen would be nice for long plane trips, I spend more time just listening. I will be making a 34 hour journey to Australia next summer, but I won't base my decision totally on that. I'd still like to have decent video playback though, and the Zune may offer a nice happy medium.

How does DRM and software compare between the Creative and Zune? I've heard that Zune's software is no good, but is creative any better?

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: TitanDiddly
I'm looking at the Zen Vision M or W right now. I really like the W's big screen, but I'd be worried about battery life with a screen that big- and it may be overkill for everyday audio use too.
The M is really likeable, though it has a piddly little screen. It's also cheaper than the zune by about $30. So while the W's big screen would be nice for long plane trips, I spend more time just listening. I will be making a 34 hour journey to Australia next summer, but I won't base my decision totally on that. I'd still like to have decent video playback though, and the Zune may offer a nice happy medium.

How does DRM and software compare between the Creative and Zune? I've heard that Zune's software is no good, but is creative any better?

The W is very much geared for video, while the M is more of an audio player. the Vision:M's screen is the same size as an iPod's (smaller than a Zune's), but looks much better (color saturation, contrast, all that jazz). I've watched videos before on the Vision:M, and it's decent enough to watch a half-hour show or something. I probably wouldn't be comfortable watching a full-length movie on it, though. The Zune's screen does seem to be a great size for watching videos, but I've never actually done so.

I had more to post, but then I realized I would probably be saying a bunch of garbage, so I'll stop there.

 

[TitanDiddly]

Ok. I'm pretty sure I'm going to go for the Zune- I like both of the Zen Visions, but the Zune seems to be a nice middle ground between the two. I'm going to sleep on it before I order, though.

 

[Pegun]

Bought a zen vision:M about 2 hours ago...

 

[thehstrybean]

I have a Zen Vision:M, and it's the best mp3 player I've ever used. Period.

 

[ultimatebob]

If you already have 22GB of music NOW, getting a 30GB player doesn't make a lot of sense. Once you get a portable MP3 player, you'll probably:

1) End up buying/downloading new music even faster because you'll want new stuff to listen to. I know that I did, anyway.
2) You'll want to start subscribing to Podcasts if you get bored with listening to music on long car trips and whatnot. Again, that's what I did. Maybe Zune users don't listen to Podcasts, though, since their crummy software doesn't support it yet.
3) You might want to use the device as a portable hard drive as well, and start storing your photos and other files on there as well. Yep, I did that too. Of course, the Zune can't do that either unless you hack it. Lame.

It sounds like you'll really want at least a 40 GB player to give yourself some breathing room, or perhaps a 60 GB player. That leaves out the Zune, anyway, because the biggest one out right now is the 30 GB model.

 

[DanFungus]

Originally posted by: TitanDiddly

Originally posted by: DanFungus
Look into the Zen Vision W if you're interested in video - 30GB/60GB, 4.3" 16:9 aspect ratio screen, removable battery, FM tuner, can drag and drop music/videos to the player through windows explorer. It's $285 at Amazon for the 30GB model

Hmm.. interesting. More money than I want to spend, but I'll have to give it some serious consideration. Do you know how the battery life is?

supposed to be ~13 hours for audio, 4.5 hours for video. If you have the $$, you can get an extra battery (since they're removable) and have more uptime.

 

[duragezic]

Zen Vision:M 60gb then.

I'd just go for the M 30gb personally, but depends if you'll want your entire collection on it or not. Unless video is the biggest priority (sounds like it isn't), I would go for the M over the W. Drag and drop files with explorer. Note your music/multimedia library will be a different partition than a Mass Storage Device partition. So you may want for example 25gb for the Zen and 5gb as a mass storage (like a flash) drive. Not a big deal though... just decide if you'll need the player as general storage at all or if it can be all dedicated to the Zen's files. Easier to transfer files to, cheaper, supports more video formats... go for the Zen.

 

[TitanDiddly]

Originally posted by: duragezic
Zen Vision:M 60gb then.

I'd just go for the M 30gb personally, but depends if you'll want your entire collection on it or not. Unless video is the biggest priority (sounds like it isn't), I would go for the M over the W. Drag and drop files with explorer. Note your music/multimedia library will be a different partition than a Mass Storage Device partition. So you may want for example 25gb for the Zen and 5gb as a mass storage (like a flash) drive. Not a big deal though... just decide if you'll need the player as general storage at all or if it can be all dedicated to the Zen's files. Easier to transfer files to, cheaper, supports more video formats... go for the Zen.

I don't see myself using it as mass file storage at all, I only have one computer and carry my 1GB USB drive with me all the time.
It would be good to know I had the option though.

The only thing that makes me wary about the zune is the software. Can any actual zune owners give insight?

 

[TitanDiddly]

Preparing to make the purchase tonight. Any last-minute insight?

 

[mzkhadir]

Originally posted by: TitanDiddly
Preparing to make the purchase tonight. Any last-minute insight?

30gb zune - 229 @amazon

 

[TitanDiddly]

Just ordered the Zune from Amazon. I chose standard shipping instead of free, I hope it arrives before the 8th(flight home).

 

[blazerazor]

Has anyone cracked/hacked the '3 listens' to shared music?

That destroy'ed the deal for a zune to me.
I just finally got a nano, and I really like it.
Itunes is forcing me to finally manage my mp3s, I used to use foobar2000 for all my music.
I know 2 ppl who have a zune, they seem to really like it.

 

[TitanDiddly]

Originally posted by: blazerazor
Has anyone cracked/hacked the '3 listens' to shared music?

That destroy'ed the deal for a zune to me.
I just finally got a nano, and I really like it.
Itunes is forcing me to finally manage my mp3s, I used to use foobar2000 for all my music.
I know 2 ppl who have a zune, they seem to really like it.

Yes, there is an easy crack for it. You pretty much just delete the record of it having been sent the first time and send it again.

 

[TitanDiddly]

Got the zune today. I am impressed so far.

As predicted, software isn't great. I do miss the drag-and-drop function.
Converting videos to play on it is a task.

Otherwise, it's a great all-around player.