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Microsoft Zune (30GB)

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CNET Asia Review

By James Kim, CNET.com
Nov 15, 2006

Excellent

8

out of 10

The good: Very good playback performance of audio, video, and photos; intuitive and colorful interface; FM radio with RDS; works well with Zune Marketplace software; integrated wireless song and photo sharing; many accessories available at launch.

The bad: Not backward compatible with WMA-DRM9; weak native video support (cannot play protected content); cannot be used as a hard drive (and no UMS support); proprietary USB; cannot use Wi-Fi to sync, stream, or purchase content; minimal bundled accessories; no podcast directory; maximum capacity is 30GB.

The bottom line: The Microsoft Zune with its intuitive interface and solid playback performance will please most users. But lukewarm format support and the cool but limited Wi-Fi capability will have advanced users seeking more. The Zune is a very good start, though.

Read full review of the Microsoft Zune (30GB) »

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from 5 users

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User Reviews

mipowell

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A pretty good first attempt

Nov 29, 2006

Rating: 9 out of 10 (Spectacular)
Pros: Large Screen, great finish, battery life
Cons: No charger shipped
Opinion:
For a first attempt, I think Microsoft is on the right track with Zune. Having been an diehard IPOD user from Gen 2 through to current, there are some immediate benefits:
1. Interface, nice and bright and inuitive. Bigger screen is certainly more pleasant to look at than IPOD video.
2. Sound is easily as good if not a little it better than IPOD although the ear buds shipped are not much chop.
3. Speed, this machine flips through 22GB of music with ease....none of those annoying mometary freezes that IPOD suffers from
4. Batter life at about 12 hours is good.

On the note so good,
1. Carry pouch is barely big enough to fit a Zune in

I am not going anti IPOD here, they are a good device, it is just that as a 1st gen product, I think Microsoft are really on to something with ZUNE. If I had my chance again to ... Read more

pilumodi1990

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Why copy IPod

Nov 23, 2006

Rating: 2 out of 10 (Terrible)
Pros: Large Screen
Cons: If you don't like IPod you would not like Zune
Opinion:
I bought it and returned it back with 15% restock cost but I'm GLADE. I replaced with Archo 604 WiFi with DVR station and I love it
Multiple use