Zune is the premium digital experience that gives you access to the latest in entertainment and technology, allowing you to enjoy, connect, and discover content in a whole new way--the way you like it. Browse, stream, buy, and play all you want, including music, HD video, podcasts, games, and much more. Gain the freedom to enjoy your entertainment. Zune brings your content up front, so you're always in control.  Instant entertainment that you control. Click to enlarge. |  Browse, stream, buy, and play all you want, including music, HD video, podcasts, games, and much more. Click to enlarge. |  With a 3.3-inch size and vivid 16:9 display, truer and brighter entertainment is at your fingertips. Click to enlarge. |  Weighs just 2.6 ounces and is only 8.9 mm thick. Click to enlarge. | Instant Entertainment that You Control - HD Radio Technology: More Stations, better sound, no fees
- HD-compatible Video: High-quality video on the go or on your HDTV
- Internet Browsing: News, email, traffic? It's all in your pocket.
- OLED Touchscreen: Wide view with a special touch
- Games: More games, more fun
Zune HD Portable perfection
The new Zune HD wireless media player takes you closer and connects you to a whole new world of entertainment. With a built-in HD Radio receiver, HD-compatible video, multi-touch navigation, OLED screen, and games, Zune HD delivers the next level in music and video experiences. - Zune HD 16 GB: holds up to 5 hours of high-definition video; 24 hours of standard definition video; 4,000 songs; or 25,000 pictures. Available in black.
HD Radio Technology
- The new Zune HD gives you access to many local HD Radio stations with crystal-clear digital sound at no extra cost. Receive additional channels from your local stations and get more of the content you love, including sports, news, and music, in various genres and formats.
- Like something you hear on HD Radio? Song tagging technology allows you to buy the song if you are connected to a Wi-Fi network or to tag it for later purchase.
- Click here for more information about HD Radio.
HD-compatible Video
- Watch HD movies, TV shows, and more on your HDTV directly from your Zune HD. Just connect via the Zune HD & AV Dock to your HDTV (both sold separately) to watch 720p HD video. The Zune HD also will play your videos on the go in its sharp, brilliant OLED screen. Videos on the player are downscaled to fit the screen at 480 x 272--not HD resolution.
Quickplay
- Get instant access to your stuff with shortcuts to favorites, recently downloaded or played music, videos, and more. Quickplay cuts through the clutter and brings up front the content that you care about most.
Games
- Loaded with multi-touch and accelerometer, the Zune HD player makes portable gaming even more exciting. Download from Zune's catalog of free games and popular titles--play them all to the sound of your favorite music.
OLED Touchscreen
- Get instant access to your content with multi-touch navigation. With a 3.3-inch size and vivid 16:9 display (480 x 272 resolution), truer and brighter entertainment is at your fingertips.
Wireless
- Zune HD allows you to buy, stream, and update your music--and download free games--wirelessly via a Wi-Fi connection. Feeling entangled? Wirelessly sync your Zune HD to your home PC via your home network. You also can stream millions of songs over Wi-Fi directly to your Zune HD and turn it into a portable digital jukebox.
Internet Browsing
- Surf the web anytime, anywhere you have a Wi-Fi connection. Enjoy your favorite websites with a well-featured web browser, including tap-to-zoom technology, built-in accelerometer, and touchscreen QWERTY keyboard.
Zune Marketplace
- Download free Zune software to access Zune Marketplace from your PC. Download or stream new music, rent the latest movies, buy TV shows, and watch free trailers and previews--plus thousands of audio and video podcasts. You also can download from our catalog of free games including classic and other popular titles.
Expand Your Entertainment with Xbox 360
- Zune features movies, TV shows, and more in both high and standard definition. Browse and watch from thousands of titles for rent, or purchase available instantly through Microsoft's Smooth Streaming technology. Buy videos once and watch on multiple screens: on your Xbox 360, Zune player, and PC. See www.xbox.com/live for system requirements. The convenience of on-demand, only on Xbox 360.
Accessories (Sold Separately) Zune HD AV Dock
This all-in-one package enables Zune HD players to charge, sync, and play supported 720p HD videos on HDTVs. Send music to your home audio systems and control it all via a wireless remote. Zune Premium Car Pack
Charge and play music, podcasts, and HD Radio stations from your Zune HD while you drive. The FM transmitter/car charger auto-seeks the best available frequency on your car stereo. A USB port located on the transmitter/car charger allows you to charge a second Zune player simultaneously. Zune Sync Cable
Charge your Zune player and sync with your collection on your PC. Zune Charge Pack
The Zune AC Adapter fast-charges your Zune player up to 70% within an hour. Folding blades make it easy to travel with. Use the included USB cable to sync with a PC. Zune Power Pack
Connect your AV cable to your docked Zune HD to play music, HD Radio broadcasts, and audio podcasts through your home audio system. The HDMI cable connects your docked Zune HD to HDTVs to view movies and videos. Also includes Zune AC Adapter; Zune HD player and Zune HD AV Dock sold separately. Zune Sync Dock
Connect to your PC and sync your collection while you charge your Zune in style. Control from a distance with the included wireless remote, which gives you full access to your Zune player from anywhere in the room. |
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 Excellent device |
| Review Date: March 15, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Jacob Badaszewski, Saratoga CO, NY |
Let me put something out there before I write this review. I have NOT owned an iPod touch before, just a nano back in 2006. However, I traded with my friend for one day. I gave up my Zune HD, he gave up his iPod touch. We returned the items the next day.
Let's start with apps. There are only about 120 apps available right now. 15 on the marketplace and about 105 on third party websites. Microsoft has released a SDK for the Zune HD but has not put a third party app section in the marketplace. Apps take about 5 seconds to load up and there are sometimes advertisements. Compared to the instant load time of apps on the iPod touch, it isn't so good. 3/5
Next let's go to sound quality. Compared to the iPod touch, the Zune HD has superior sound quality. It sounds more clear and the bass really comes out. The EQ seems to work better than previous generation Zunes too. 5/5
Next up, video and picture quality. The video and picture quality on the Zune is light years ahead of the iPod touch. The OLED screen of the Zune HD really jumps out at you. The colors are brighter and more realistic, not to mention the OLED has true blacks instead of dark greys that the LCD of the iPod touch has. 5/5
NEXT - Processing speed, accelerometer, load times
The processor on the Zune HD is pretty good. The load times are worse than the iPod touch, but this is because of the way the firmware is coded, NOT because of the guts under the hood. The accelerometer is much faster on the Zune HD than the iPod touch. Turn your Zune sideways and the picture rotates immediately, unlike the ipod touch which takes a couple of seconds to rotate. 4/5
NEXT UP, internet browsers. The Zune started out with a very slow and pretty bad internet browser. After the 4.3 firmware update, the browser was updated. It's much faster, but still doesn't compete with the speed of Safari on the iPod touch. The iPod touch has tabbed browsing and an overall better internet browser. 3/5
Next, let's get to design.
The Zune has a very nice brushed-aluminum surface on the back, which means no fingerprints and no scratches. It is square in shape and very thin. It fits well in your hand and looks great too. There are 4 screws on the back which degrade its looks a little bit, but those screws allow you to replace broken parts inside, something the iPod touch does not let you do. Its OLED screen lets you see from 175 degrees of a viewing angle, unlike the iPod touch which fades as you move to the side of the screen.
The iPod touch has, in my opinion, a worse design, but it has some better looks to it than the Zune HD. First of all, it has a nice and shiny back and a black front. Nice and simple. The front looks better with a home button that fits the shape of your thumb. Its physical volume controls are a nice "touch" too. Zune gets a 5/5 for design.
Finally, let's get to the computer software. In my honest opinion, the Zune software is vastly superior to iTunes. It is much less of a memory hog, has easy navigation, a colorful interface, an easy way to transfer content to your device, etc. If you would like to see this for yourself, download the Zune software and iTunes and compare them. There is only one problem. The Zune software is Windows only, while iTunes is Windows and Mac OS X.
Overall, your choice should come down to what you are looking for. If you want a device that runs like a pocket computer, get the iPod touch. If you want a superior media device, get the Zune HD. |
Stunning device, ruined by awful Zune software and no mass storage mode
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| Review Date: March 14, 2010 |
| Reviewer: D. Crain, NJ United States |
We purchased 2 of these for the holiday season when they first came out. After looking at the Zune HD in a retail location, I was fairly amazed at the how beautiful the hardware was and how sleek and simple the user interface performed. As I have no religious affiliation with Apple or any other consumer electronics manufacturer, the Zune HD seemed like a terrific value at its price point compared to the (uhum) competition. I like Apple just fine, but their prices are no longer in my personal zone of reality, especially for commodity hardware that just about any one can make. Please don't troll my reviews and slam me for having an open mind as far as consumer electronics goes. It is not interesting. Caveat: I am a engineer in the computer industry, and have been for 25 years....
I proceeded to purchase 2 of them for 2 of my teenage daughters (the other was perfectly happy with her Sansa). The Zune HDs looked so innocent and happy under the tree, and my children were both truly happy to receive the latest cool gadget as a gift. Of course, the fact that it wasn't an iPod made them even more intrigued, as they actually have something that is NOT the same as all the other kids. So far so good.
They unwrapped the boxes and removed the Zunes from their packaging. Whats not to love about the device and its fantastic design and interface. Nothing.... a truly wondrous gadget.
Now for the bad part of the review.....
So I like Microsoft just fine. Their stuff works well, just like most stuff from the major manufacturers out there, if you spend enough time with it, you can usually get as much out of it as the engineers put into it.
My kids use everything from Winamp to iTunes to Windows media player to listen to music from our huge music library (over 40,000 songs, thank you Amazon for no DRM). What I was not prepared for, and I should have known better, was that Microsoft in their infinite wisdom, would require YET ANOTHER piece of media software to make their beautiful new hardware work properly. Enter the Zune software for the PC.
Now then, Windows Media Player has been around forever, and it works fine (not my fave, but it does work fine). It is mature, well developed, and reliable. I had stupidly assumed that it would work fine with the Zune, but NOOOO. I felt my stomach starting to turn.
Well, I swallowed hard, and installed the Zune software on the my kids PCs. Another massive blob of software... a painful start down the path of Zuneland...
After installing the Zune software, I spent another several hours trying to get it to run, with lots of error messages, service settings, and other dumb and silly "security" configurations to make. We have successfully used Vista for several years (no, its not that bad once you tame it) and I foolishly assumed that it would just accept Zuneware: WRONG. In order to tame Vista, you need to shut off lots of "features" and "security" things that have zero value. Well, the Zuneware likes many of these things, so it took some time to arrange everything so Zuneware would run. Eventually, it ran and only crashed the system every few hours (FYI, we have had exceptional reliability from Vista, across over a dozen machines, both laptops and desktops, as well as home theater PCs), so the Zuneware introduced unreliability, which really turned my already turning stomach.
Now to try the first sync, or whatever was supposed to happen. It took another 4 hours to get the machine and the Zuneware to actually see the Zune HD. Copious reboots, uninstalls, reinstalls, USB port swapping, etc, etc, and finally, the stars aligned and the Zune was seen by the Zuneware. Success... at least I thought so.
Now I read the ramblings of a forthcoming Microsoft product manager from the Zune group about why they felt they needed yet more software for the Zune. Something to do with the "customer experience", yeah, whatever. Mine is terrible.
Now to try and use the tooty fruity Zuneware, was yet another adventure. For some reason, some genius at Microsoft decided that they would make the Zuneware work COMPLETELY differently from any other media software out there. Cudos for trying to be different, but the Zuneware is just plain BAAAAD, no make the AWFUL. It took nearly a day to load our music (stored on a windows home server), and then, trying to arrange it so you could move it onto the Zune, well that was another unnatural act.
Suffice it to say, I could spend another 1000 words describing the absolutely delightful (NOT) experience interacting with Zuneware, but I'll spare you, the innocent reader, from more of my diatribe. In short, the Zuneware is yet another insidious virus like software that weaves its way into your system and won't let go. It is incredibly painful to organize your media, and then even worse to move it back and forth to the Zune. Basically, it just sucks.
And to add insult to injury, our genius friends at Microsoft do not allow Mass Storage mode for the Zune, it doesn't appear as a flash memory device, like every other phone, MP3 player, USB device, etc on the PLANET (ie, you can't just load it with YOUR music, you MUST use the Zuneware)
What is the most tragic thing here, is that the Zune HD device itself, is absolutely BRILLIANT, but is ruined by the ludicrous Zuneware.
Finally, the biggest barometer.. my teenage daughters. Now these kids are pretty self sufficient with technology. But the $200 Zune HDs just sit there. They don't use them. Ever. The Zuneware is just so annoying, unnecessary, and horrible, that they just don't care anymore to engage in the wrestling match to try and get it to work with the Zune. For the record, its NOT the Zune device itself, but the Zuneware on the PC that my kids just HATE HATE HATE. They just won't bother with it any more.
In conclusion, if you've made it this far in my maniacal rantings, you probably have a decent idea of our experience with the glorious yet stillborn Zune HD. I am now selling our Zune HDs, and will seek out another device for my teenagers.
If Microsoft would enable regular mass storage mode, so we could use ANY media player software, then I'm sure the teenagers would have loved the Zune HDs, but as it stands now, the Zuneware ruined a perfectly good device. And to all, a good night |
Very good product if you know what you want
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| Review Date: March 12, 2010 |
| Reviewer: T. Smart, maryland |
I got mine for Christmas. Very happy so far. Battery life seems very long. Sound quality is excellent especially with upgraded headphones. I use JM Labs earbuds and also Sennheiser over-the-ear phones for premium listening.
The screen is fabulous and display is awesome. My wife has had a few Itouches and while i am agnostic about Apple vs. Microsoft, I do like the smaller size and having something the rest of the world does not. I do not care one way or the other for apps. It is a music player first and foremost and perhaps secondarily something to look at video and the Internet. Websites are relatively easy to access and using the favorites function helps. It is really too small to do anything more than simple checks of email/websites anyways, as are most of these types of devices.
Zunepass is a good idea. It exposes you to a lot of music and podcasts etc. Also works nicely with my home and work PCs. You get to take your music with you wherever and that is nice for a reasonable price.
I would like to see more accessories and probably can see the need for more apps. I do hope Microsoft keeps with it because the Zune HD is a well conceived product aimed at a consumer who wants a media player first and foremost and not a mini-laptop. |
Zune Service
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| Review Date: March 12, 2010 |
| Reviewer: MICHAEL E. ZEHR, Arizona |
My review is more of a complaint. I own a Zune 8GB right now and am considering upgrading to the 16GB HD Zune. My main complaint is the Zune Pass. I even called customer service and they have no answer, probably because he didn't understand my complaint. Here it is:
You log on to Zune and start downloading music, the service works great plus for the $15.99 a month you get 10 song credits so you can buy the songs you want. My complaint is they had Tim McGraw's Southern Voice listed to download and I downloaded it, I liked the song so much that I used one of my credits to buy it. When they did an update it reset my Zune and I lost that song. I went back onto Marketplace to re-download the song, it now says SONG NOT AVAILABLE and has one of those Pink Zero Slash icons on it. Why they can all of a sudden make the music that we pay for unavailable is beyond me. They also list groups like The Beatles, AC/DC, Wings, and Kid Rock to name a few, and they show the albums but guess what? They are all unavailable. I have been with Zune for over two years and Marketplace has listed The Beatles on their site but as unavailable. My complaint to them was why are you even listing The Beatles if we can't download or buy the songs? I would prefer they not even list the groups if they aren't going to let you download or buy the music. If you have any comments or suggestions on what I may be doing wrong I would love to hear from you, you can email me at rhezekim@gmail.com
As far as the Zune, the cost, and the player itself, I think it's awesome. |
New Technology, Advanced Features
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| Review Date: March 12, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Ian Bradley, Nebraska |
I admit at first seeing this out of the box, I wondered how something this size could measure up to other media players out there. Fortunately, everything about this player makes up for it. I don't know the size of the iphone or itouch; I honestly thought those were larger, so if larger appeals to you, maybe that and a present collection from itunes would back a purchase of something more expensive, which brings me to the cost-effectiveness of the Zune. Both Zune and Itunes enables you to purchase music and videos, etc. exclusively for the media players. There are strengths and weaknesses to both players, I'm sure, but ultimately what brought me to the Zune was the fact that I already had a good collection started through their free software, but moreso because more people are buying ipods and such, and this made me decide to buy something in support of a Microsoft project that should only get better. Also, I am looking to get a Creative Zen X-fi because it would enable me to watch my Amazon downloads. This Zune does not enable that, and my guess is that Amazon itself will come up with a media player of its own, in line with its kindle project. Possibly we could see a phone from both companies, if not already, I don't know.
Anyway, it was the Zune 120gb or this 32gb HD, and I can say I'm more than happy with the touch edition even though it's a smaller capacity and size. To my knowledge this is a different technology than the older edition, and much more dynamic. "Dynamic" is how I wanted to describe the graphics available on this, especially through their apps, which proves what is possible for the downloadable HD content. I watched some of a movie filmed in Chicago since I lived there, it interested me, but the high definition is apparent. Back again to storage: I am more than happy with the capacity this offers because I just today synced my entire CD/Video/Photo library onto the zune32 with about 13gb to spare. I plan to subscribe to their marketplace and manage the library from there. The downside to downloading content though, I must say, is that there doesn't seem to be a way to make backup copies of things you can only download once. To make way for new music and movies, this must be possible in order to maintain purchases, so I don't know for sure if there is a way or not at this point. That would be a deciding factor when purchasing for most people. If anyone can clarify, please do. Video selection is not as immense as Amazon, so I think it's unfortunate that I can't sync my device to Amazon Unbox. I'll feel guilty enough after purchasing a Zen Xfi (in order to sync to Amazon) that I'll probably donate an equal amount of money to a local charity or homeless shelter.
Besides the Zen Xfi, you might also consider an Archos, in order to play Amazon videos. All of the music I downloaded from Amazon, however, will play on any media player you buy, and that's why Amazon is the best deal for music now. I was also considering a more economical choice in a previous edition of the Sony Walkman, the S-Series, and I decided to get one of those through Target so that my friend would have something. Those go for $100-$130 for 16 gb capacity at the same exact size as the ZuneHD32. The Sony plays Amazon videos; it actually syncs with Amazon Unbox, but I'd argue that project by Sony was a quantity over quality, meaning even though you can expect a quality product from Sony, that Walkman is very limited in functionality.
And here I am back to the Zune. New everything. It is simple to navigate, and quick. I don't think it's safe to operate any such devices on the road unless the music is managed before the drive. A lot of attention is required of these things because there are menus and submenus and special motions of the finger to play/pause/change volume/change tracks. I expect button versions of media players to be safer, but I don't know from experience besides from an ancient Archos 10. The Zune has much to offer through its marketplace. If you subscribe, you'll even have access away from home to almost any music you think of, with access to 10 songs you keep each month. (I don't know how that works, but I've tried their free trial: fun).
Had the ZuneHD been a larger size, I would guess navigating with one hand would be trickier. It seems that it's a good size to use just one hand with your thumb being operative, and I'll be the first to say I might try it on the road sometime (double lane divided highway). Anyway, it is a nice thing to have around the house, and it really motivates me to get away from the computer.
Other things to make note of that others might not have touched on, the headphones included are good quality. I found out today that my music from Zune transferred easily to the Sony Walkman. The sound on the Zune I'll confirm is excellent. The internet is simple. I'd say it works better than a Sony PSP, but nowhere near the size. Finding the perfect website to browse, I'll leave for someone else to find, because it doesn't seem to be any use to me. Also, the radio I really don't care for. Anyone who doesn't like radio is sure to get away from that menu. I do listen to NPR sometimes, but I couldn't get a signal today just to see how it was. I'm a good distance away from the big town, so I wasn't surprised.
My first thought on syncing everything from my computer was that it felt like having everything organized on a separate machine that is portable, if that gives you a better view of what this offers. Like for instance, you can't walk around casually with your laptop or computer to watch videos and listen to music while browsing photos, and we're used to sitting at a computer with our Mp3 selection. This device or any other like it, should enable you to walk around the house, get on the treadmill, lay in bed, do chores, walk outside...in other words, it'll diversify your day - all while listening to your favorite new or old music.
This ZuneHD offers much to the typical consumer. It's surprising how far advanced we've become technologically, and the ZuneHD is definitely a part of that.
As I said earlier, I'm happy with the purchase, I'm a little stuck in a stuck situation, and I'm glad to have something that helps with that. I tend to go through one hobby to the next, and that is my stuck situation. Honestly, I'm addicted to designing houses in the Sims 2. I think I need to be visiting friends more, going places more, anything to open up my understanding, and being in front of a computer much of the time takes away from that part of life. Honestly, computers should not replace that.
If you already have itunes music, some of it should play on the zune, but zune marketplace music and videos may or may not play on an itouch/iphone/ipod or other media players (again, not for sure on that). Sometimes is the case anyway, because I was actually able to sync the zune music to my friend's sony walkman.
I'd go with the Zune HD again, if it gets lost/stolen/broken. I'm totally impressed, and I'm sorry I couldn't touch on more of what this offers other than what you probably already know. Very slick navigating, etc. If you decide to purchase one of these Zunes, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. The sound, versatility, graphics, reliability, and other such things were given a great deal of consideration with the ZuneHD, and their software is attractive, free, and readily available. |
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