Microsoft Zune

pleasant Co.

Soundman wrote: »

Zune and DivX:

http://www.zunescene.com/zune-divx/

A reg hack for your computer that basically allows you to drag and drop avi files onto your Zune and forces the Zune itself to transcode to wmv. A little handier than transcoding them yourself perhaps...

That's not how the description reads. According to your link the reg hack only allows for the Zune software itself to transcode divx to WMV. The Zune will not playback or transcode divx for you.

Soundman

Sorry, yes. I meant to say drag and drop into the software and not the player itself. Which then allows the Zune to play them.

Gran Hermano

Soundman wrote: »

Zune and DivX:

http://www.zunescene.com/zune-divx/

A reg hack for your computer that basically allows you to drag and drop avi files onto your Zune and forces the Zune itself to transcode to wmv. A little handier than transcoding them yourself perhaps...

I'm pretty sure that is for the 1st generation Zunes and will not work with the current batch. I've yet to find an easier application than Cucosoft's
Zune converter (yes Super will do it for free but for ease I recommend
Cucosoft's application).

I'm just after updating both the firmware and Zune PC application and have
listened to several tracks to test the gapless playback and so far I'm impressed. I'll need to try some more tests with other music types before
I conclude it's all I hoped for.

Here's a quick list of the 2.5 firmware updates:
Changes in the software/firmware version 2.5 are as follows :-

• Video Marketplace
• Synch Zune Cards
• Search Friends By Real Name
• Instant Friends
• User Reviews for Album and Artists
• Reputation Badges
• Windows Live “Now Playing”
• Auto Playlists
• Video Browsing
• Gapless Playback
• Sync Groups
• Genre Browsing
• Improved Metadata Editing
• Zune Reminders
• Support for XNA
• More Seamless Social Integration

http://www.zunerama.com/zune-software-2-5-overview.php

Finally, here's a good blog site with plenty of tips/tricks for the Zune
which I just stumbled across today.

pleasant Co.

Can anyone link me to where I could DL zune marketplace as I'd like to give the software a go, I'm tired of reading all the conflicting opinions on the software.

EDIT: nm, got it off the Zune site by clicking a alternative link: http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=7313338 rather than the "sign up and download" link

Soundman

Is Zune Marketplace not the name of the online store and not the software?

pleasant Co.

Soundman wrote: »

Is Zune Marketplace not the name of the online store and not the software?

Probably, but as you can see I don't really care what it's called

Gran Hermano

Soundman wrote: »

Is Zune Marketplace not the name of the online store and not the software?

Zune marketplace is indeed the online store part which is accessible
by signing in via the Zune Software with your Windows Live ID.
You'll need a Windows Live ID with US address and credit card to use.
The Zune Software is like a better version of the latest Windows Media
Player which also manages podcasts and sycning as well as limited video
conversion. These parts all work without having to sign in with a US
Windows Live account.

Dman001

Has anyone moved from an iPod to a Zune? I would like to know what they think of it compared to an iPod.

Gran Hermano

Dman001 wrote: »

Has anyone moved from an iPod to a Zune? I would like to know what they think of it compared to an iPod.

http://www.zunescene.com/comparison/

http://www.mobilitysite.com/boards/mobility-site-news/221826-zune-80-vs-ipod-classic-80-video-comparison.html

http://reviews.cnet.com/zune-vs-ipod/

Godot666

The ZUNE is with out doubt the greatest piece of crap ever brought out. it is locked down beyond believe, it has a wonderful set of features that you cant use, in true Microsoft fashion, like wi-fi that is only available to transfer songs between Zune's, and then the song can only be played 3 times before it deletes its self. another attempt by Microsoft trying to rule the world. I got it in the sates last year as a gift so i am stuck with it.

do yourselves a favour, get an Iriver or an Ipod and stay away from this thing, the reason it is not being sold in Europe is Microsoft fears being brought to the European court's again for aggressive tactics in its products, at least till it pays off the one billion dollars fine from their last appearance.

so to sum up, the Zune is a pile.

pleasant Co.

Godot666 wrote: »

The ZUNE is with out doubt the greatest piece of crap ever brought out. it is locked down beyond believe, it has a wonderful set of features that you cant use, in true Microsoft fashion, like wi-fi that is only available to transfer songs between Zune's, and then the song can only be played 3 times before it deletes its self. another attempt by Microsoft trying to rule the world. I got it in the sates last year as a gift so i am stuck with it.

do yourselves a favour, get an Iriver or an Ipod and stay away from this thing, the reason it is not being sold in Europe is Microsoft fears being brought to the European court's again for aggressive tactics in its products, at least till it pays off the one billion dollars fine from their last appearance.

so to sum up, the Zune is a pile.

Hahahahahaha

what an awfully non-factual, biased post... god almighty I truly hope nobody takes you seriously.

thebman

I wouldn't recommend the Zune or the iPod since you have to use crap software to transfer songs to them.

Look into Archo's players IMO. I have one and think they are great.

Can connect in Pc Hard drive mode or be used with Windows Media player and has an insane number of features that you can use and a decent sized screen for watching video's on.

Godot666

Mactard wrote: »

Hahahahahaha

what an awfully non-factual, biased post... god almighty I truly hope nobody takes you seriously.

Lets break it down to make it simpler for you to understand:

Fact: the zunes wifi capabilities is locked down to transferring songs.
Fact: the songs transferred delete after 3 plays.
Fact: the zune is over aggressive in playing copyright music.
Fact: the zune is restricted and severely limited in the file formats it will handle.
Fact: Microsoft have locked the player to perform the way it wants it to perform not the way it should perform with such capabilities.
Fact: Microsfot have been fined one billion dollars by the EU for aggressive market tactics.

I really don't know how to make the post any simpler for you to understand.

Gran Hermano

Godot666 wrote: »

The ZUNE is with out doubt the greatest piece of crap ever brought out. it is locked down beyond believe, it has a wonderful set of features that you cant use, in true Microsoft fashion, like wi-fi that is only available to transfer songs between Zune's, and then the song can only be played 3 times before it deletes its self. another attempt by Microsoft trying to rule the world. I got it in the sates last year as a gift so i am stuck with it.

do yourselves a favour, get an Iriver or an Ipod and stay away from this thing, the reason it is not being sold in Europe is Microsoft fears being brought to the European court's again for aggressive tactics in its products, at least till it pays off the one billion dollars fine from their last appearance.

so to sum up, the Zune is a pile.

Steve Job is that you?

Admittedly the first gen Zune was not the best but MS have really listened
to feedback and not only offered a vastly improved offering with the
current generation. Microsoft also offered firmware updates allowing
1st generation Zune owners similar benefits to 2nd generation -
something I haven't seen many manufacturers do.

Fact: the zunes wifi capabilities is locked down to transferring songs.
Fact? Are you ignoring the ability to sync the Zune with your library using
wifi? I can plug my Zune 80 into the AV dock under my tv and not only
will it charge and integrate with my AV amp and TV but it will also
update the media library via my home wifi with my PC upstairs.
(automatically adding any new podcasts/albums/videos and deleting
any old/played podcasts).

Fact: the songs transferred delete after 3 plays.
Only true for songs that another user transfers to your Zune
from their Zune via wifi - no other player even allows you to transfer
media from one DAP to another via wifi.

Fact: the zune is over aggressive in playing copyright music.
I'd say Apple is more aggressive with their DRM and itunes system.

Fact: the zune is restricted and severely limited in the file formats it
will handle.
Again, Apple are more restrictve. Yes I miss the compatability that a
Creative Zen M offers but the rest of the Zune's offerings but this is only
on the video side. For music playback I have had no file format issues.
Any half decent PC can easily convert video in batches into WMV
for the Zune.

• JPEG for images;
• WMV, MPEG-4 and H.264 for video;
• MP3, AAC (.m4a), Zune Marketplace (restricted and DRM free), WMA Pro (2-channel), WMA Standard, WMA lossless for audio.

Fact: Microsoft have locked the player to perform the way it wants it to perform not the way it should perform with such capabilities.
This can be said for most manufacturers.

Fact: Microsfot have been fined one billion dollars by the EU for aggressive market tactics.
Yawn - irrelevant in this debate.

youcancallmeal

Godot666 wrote: »

The ZUNE is with out doubt the greatest piece of crap ever brought out. it is locked down beyond believe, it has a wonderful set of features that you cant use, in true Microsoft fashion, like wi-fi that is only available to transfer songs between Zune's, and then the song can only be played 3 times before it deletes its self. another attempt by Microsoft trying to rule the world. I got it in the sates last year as a gift so i am stuck with it.

do yourselves a favour, get an Iriver or an Ipod and stay away from this thing, the reason it is not being sold in Europe is Microsoft fears being brought to the European court's again for aggressive tactics in its products, at least till it pays off the one billion dollars fine from their last appearance.

so to sum up, the Zune is a pile.

If that one particular feature really meant that much to you then you probably should of done the research to find out that the restrictions are easily bypassed.

pleasant Co.

Godot666 wrote: »

Lets break it down to make it simpler for you to understand:

Fact: the zunes wifi capabilities is locked down to transferring songs.
Fact: the songs transferred delete after 3 plays.
Fact: the zune is over aggressive in playing copyright music.
Fact: the zune is restricted and severely limited in the file formats it will handle.
Fact: Microsoft have locked the player to perform the way it wants it to perform not the way it should perform with such capabilities.
Fact: Microsfot have been fined one billion dollars by the EU for aggressive market tactics.

I really don't know how to make the post any simpler for you to understand.

Ahhhh did I hurt your feelings?

Anyhoo

Fact#1:Really and truly I cannot say it any better than Gran Hermano did, so I'll just quote him:

Gran Hermano wrote: »

Fact: the zunes wifi capabilities is locked down to transferring songs.
Fact? Are you ignoring the ability to sync the Zune with your library using
wifi? I can plug my Zune 80 into the AV dock under my tv and not only
will it charge and integrate with my AV amp and TV but it will also
update the media library via my home wifi with my PC upstairs.
(automatically adding any new podcasts/albums/videos and deleting
any old/played podcasts).

Fact#2: Yes, you can only listen to a song you have received from another Zune user 3 times, this is because (I feel it needs to be explained to you) "sharing" music is illegal!, MS cannot very well allow you to be giving your songs to your friends, they would be sued to high heaven if they did that

Fact#3: Please elaborate on this "Fact" with some "factual" evidence. I can apply that rather broad statement to quite a few DAP manufacturers, including the two you mentioned (lets not forget the iriver and Microsoft worked together in creating the Clix)

Fact#4: I disagree, the Zune provides quite a nice feature set of formats imcuding Mp3, WMA Pro + regular WMA, WMA Lossless, AAC, WAV

Fact#5: Yes of course, it somehow surprises you that a manufacturer has made a product they manufacture work the way they want it to? Is this really an arguement?

Fact #6: This relates to the Zunes ability how exactly?

As for you clear and overwhelming arrogance... welll.. go suck a pineapple, lady.

Dman001

The Zune does everything an iPod does and more (with a bigger screen) so it seems like a good buy. What comes in the box? Any pouch?

Gran Hermano

Dman001 wrote: »

The Zune does everything an iPod does and more (with a bigger screen) so it seems like a good buy. What comes in the box? Any pouch?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmLfVdMBNoU

More info here

(I didn't get a pouch with mine).

ironictoaster

I got the 30gb Zune for Christmas which broke(for no apparent reason, never dropped it) after a few months of use.

I noticed that It froze a lot it was close to capacity.

Some artists would be invisible (like there would be something to select past artists beginning with the letter Z) It would be random artist...Sorry it's hard to explain.

Also the software is woeful seriously, If you think itunes is bad, think again.

I got the Zune as I wanted a change from Apple. After all of this I shall be back going to Apple.

and no, I'm not a fanboy

LegacyUser

Anyone know where I can get my new Zune 80 repaired? The screen does nto work properly...it just lights up but does not display the menus...it can play music but i can't see which songs i am selecting...i.e. not much use!

CantGetNoSleep

Thinking of buying an 80gb iPod classic or 80gb Zune, thoughts?

TinCool

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

Thinking of buying an 80gb iPod classic or 80gb Zune, thoughts?

Yeah, get a 32gb Ipod Touch, you want be dissapointed.

hshortt

cheesedude wrote: »

Anyone know where I can get my new Zune 80 repaired? The screen does nto work properly...it just lights up but does not display the menus...it can play music but i can't see which songs i am selecting...i.e. not much use!

Sure it's feckered? Try reflashing the firmware again and see if that helps. Just a thought.

Cheers

CantGetNoSleep

TinCool wrote: »

Yeah, get a 32gb Ipod Touch, you want be dissapointed.

Costs too much, dont want to spend a cent over 200 squid

Dman001

I'd buy a Zune 80 over an 80GB iPod because it supports more formats and it has a bigger screen and has WiFi for wireless syncing. You could wait till Sptember/October when Apple will probably announce a new iPod.

CantGetNoSleep

Need it now, think im going to go with eBay, anyone recommend a seller

http://cgi.ebay.ie/Microsoft-Zune-80gb-Red-2nd-Gen-Brand-New-Sealed_W0QQitemZ280242293746QQihZ018QQcategoryZ73839QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

GoGoGadgetGar

just go my 8GB zune from that ebay seller senap

ordered monday - arrive thursday no bother

I was abit freaked out when it wouldn't turn on but a bit of a charge and it was sorted.

CantGetNoSleep

Still waiting for my 80gb, over 2 weeks now, but it is coming from America

hshortt

I'm growing more and more fond of my Zune. The software is actually very good, easy to use with lots of features. The player is just excellent. There's a few little tweaks that can be applied such as getting the ability for your song plays to show up in your zune.net profile - like in my sig! I added the tweak just recently. And if you fancy a little gaming on your player then you can grab a handful of little games that can be installed.

It can only get better.

Cheers

youcancallmeal

hshortt wrote: »

I'm growing more and more fond of my Zune. The software is actually very good, easy to use with lots of features. The player is just excellent. There's a few little tweaks that can be applied such as getting the ability for your song plays to show up in your zune.net profile - like in my sig! I added the tweak just recently. And if you fancy a little gaming on your player then you can grab a handful of little games that can be installed.

It can only get better.

Cheers

Whats the tweak to get in your song plays to show up in your zune.net profile. I tried for ages to get it to work but it seems you had to be in the U.S. for it to work properly?

hshortt

Have a peep http://www.zuneboards.com/zune-news/zinternational-access-zune-marketplace-outside-the-us.html

mangangreg

Please check out my zune thread and leave a comment if you have a zune Here.

LegacyUser

Is there any new way discovered that allolws the Zune to work as a hard drive? I hate synching songs up and then having them all split into different folders just because all the tags are not set up properly...why can't I just put one folder from my desktop, directly onto the zune without having to synch it all up via the zune software!?!?!?

It will take me WEEKS to fix all the tags on my mp3's

hshortt

Get a hold of the software media monkey (http://www.mediamonkey.com/), with a little config it will re-tag all your tracks.

There-after you should be able to keep your tracks organised.

Cheers

BostonB

hshortt wrote: »

Get a hold of the software media monkey (http://www.mediamonkey.com/), with a little config it will re-tag all your tracks.

There-after you should be able to keep your tracks organised.

Cheers

I second Media Monkey. You can tag whole folders. You can tag files based where they are located and how they are named.

C:\Music\Blues\Clapton\Best Of Clapton\1 - Hullo.mp3

Once you have the album tag filled in, it can look it up on the web to get the track names and album art.

slickmcvic

is there anywhere in ieland sells these?.....i need a test go on one before buying it!!

pleasant Co.

slickmcvic wrote: »

is there anywhere in ieland sells these?.....i need a test go on one before buying it!!

Nope, it has not been released out side of north America yet. Maybe you live near someone here who owns one though...

slickmcvic

found a few decent reviews youtube...think'll order 1!!

hshortt

If you are near Bray you are welcome to a demo from mine.

zap27

Was looking at buying one of these on ebay myself but there was a note on the sellers site that you need windows vista premium in order to work the Zune second generation.

Anyone hear about this? I only have vista home basic myself

Gran Hermano

zap27 wrote: »

Was looking at buying one of these on ebay myself but there was a note on the sellers site that you need windows vista premium in order to work the Zune second generation.

Anyone hear about this? I only have vista home basic myself

That doesnt sound right, I've used mine on two laptops one with Windows XP SP3 and the other with Vista Premium.

I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work with Vista basic.

Have a read here for full list of OS support for the Zune software.

zap27

Thanks thats helpful-yeah it doesnt make much sense but thought i'd throw it out there. let the ordering commence!

CantGetNoSleep

Just a word of warning for anyone buying a Zune from ebay

Look at this thread
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055350365

Avoid any seller with the email address jalenhutt31@yahoo.com

Looks like he has just done a runner so he may try to start up again under a different ebay username

Can anyone recommend an ebay seller, have to reorder a Zune?

slickmcvic

.....I've ordered mine from this guy yesterday
http://myworld.ebay.com/bindis_world/
he's solda fair few of them and has great feedback!!

hshortt wrote: »

If you are near Bray you are welcome to a demo from mine.

i'm not too far from Bray...I'll pm ya me no. thanks!

kaimera

fyi, it doesnt come with screen protectors. Can get them on ebay for like 2e or summet.

CantGetNoSleep

Just wondering if anyone who ordered from the US on ebay was charged for customs?

kaimera

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

Just wondering if anyone who ordered from the US on ebay was charged for customs?

No probs with customs when I bought mine.

slickmcvic

zune landed today a week after ordering from the us.
the packaging was very wet
(probly after being manhandled by the customs!) but the device was top notch.
no customs charges as the "gift" box was ticked.

Got round the us software clause by goin straight to microsoft and dowloading the 2.5 software.

Took me about 10 minutes to figure out how to sync my music and now its 40 gig full.

still trying to figure out how to transfer my wmv files and find the drag and drop feature talked about here.

...so far so good anyways

CantGetNoSleep

slickmcvic wrote: »

zune landed today a week after ordering from the us.
the packaging was very wet
(probly after being manhandled by the customs!) but the device was top notch.
no customs charges as the "gift" box was ticked.

Got round the us software clause by goin straight to microsoft and dowloading the 2.5 software.

Took me about 10 minutes to figure out how to sync my music and now its 40 gig full.

still trying to figure out how to transfer my wmv files and find the drag and drop feature talked about here.

...so far so good anyways

Who did you order it from?

Soundman

CantGetNoSleep:
From post #145 (about 5 posts up the page from your post)...

slickmcvic wrote: »

.....I've ordered mine from this guy yesterday
http://myworld.ebay.com/bindis_world/
he's solda fair few of them and has great feedback!!