I always loved the industrial design of the ZuneHD, it's just a shame that even at the end, it was hard to find them for a decent price. They were never that much cheaper than an iPod Touch, and were lacking in features compared to them. I can't even remember if the ZuneHD had a browser on it.
It did have a browser, but it was junk.
I didn't care about the price, and it could technically do less. I still consider the same idea nowadays: I want a smartphone, minus the phone, to serve as a music player. I was considering the Lumia 520 recently for that very purpose, because I've basically worn out my Zune HD. I've had it since launch, it got used heavy while in college. Actually, scratch that. It did get used heavily in college, but I had an HDD Zune for the majority of college. The Zune HD was released at the beginning of my senior year. Yeesh, I feel like I've had this thing for longer than 4 years. hmm. Either way, between heavy college use (walking around, waiting, buses, etc), driving (I ALWAYS listen to music off of it while driving, unless playing with my phone's musical abilities), or just passing time at night when out of town. It's been developing some serious skips, blank tracks, pops, etc... in a way that tells me at least a few blocks of flash memory are failing.
Got a lot of use out of it, that's for sure.
I've been waiting for Microsoft, or at least a partner like Nokia or Samsung, or realize they can release a Windows Phone 8 device that simply doesn't have any cell modems, and call it a smart media player. Can't believe it's such a dead market - Microsoft could capitalize, at least a little, considering the Xbox Music service would still work for it. That's half of what truly kept me on the Zune platform for three devices (original ugly brown 30gb, then the 120gb (or was it 80?...), and then the HD), as the Zune Music Pass really was/is awesome. Technically still have it, since the desktop software and 10 credits still work every month - but so far, Microsoft definitely has room to improve/further develop the Xbox Music service/software. It looks nice on the Moto X and works real well, but it's really lacking. And it seems to truly get the best out of the whole Xbox Music multi-device relationship, I really have to abandon the desktop software and sort of tweak/tune/re-do my library on the Xbox Music software. Either the folder structure isn't working for the new app, or there is some incompatibility between Zune and Xbox Music DRM'd downloads.
Oh, and of course, there is zero "song credit" use in the new app. To keep getting 10 MP3 downloads every month, I will have to keep the desktop app. Ugh, forgot about those.
I'll get something working to smooth up my media syncing, because I think I can make some minor sacrifices and use only the Moto X for music instead of worrying about two devices. Plus, I can get auto play/start in my car with bluetooth - don't have to worry about plugging in aux cable or anything (power if on a long drive, though - I'll be getting a dock for that purpose).
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