Zune Specs
Size and Weight
-
4.4 in. x 2.4 in. x 0.6 in. (h x w x d)
-
Weight: 5.6 ounces
Battery[2]
-
Music, up to 14 hours (wireless off), up to 13 hours (wireless on); pictures, up to 4 hours; video, up to 4 hours
-
Charge Time: 3 hours; 2 hours to 90%
Display
-
Size: 3.0 inches
-
Orientation: Vertical and Horizontal
-
Resolution: 320 x 240 pixels
Audio
-
Windows Media® Audio Standard (.wma): Up to 320 Kbps, CBR and VBR, up to 48-kHz sample rate
-
MP3 (.mp3): Up to 320 Kbps, CBR and VBR, up to 48-kHz sample rate
-
AAC (.mp4, .m4a, .m4b, .mov): Up to 320 Kbps, Low Complexity (LC), up to 48-kHz sample rate
Pictures
-
JPEG (.jpg): All resolutions (desktop software will automatically convert to 640×480 at sync time)
Video
-
Windows Media Video (.wmv): Main Profile, CBR or VBR, up to 1.5 Mbps peak video bitrate, 320 x 240 pixels, 30 frames per sec., with Windows Media Audio up to 192 Kbps, 44.1 kHz, stereo audio; Simple Profile, CBR, up to 736 Kbps video bitrate, 320 x 240 pixels, 30 frames per sec., with Windows Media Audio up to 192 Kbps, 44.1 kHz, stereo audio.
Wireless
-
Connectivity: 802.11 b/g
-
Range: Up to 30 feet
Language
-
English
Table of Contents:
12 Comments
Nice review man!
It’s good to see that the Zune is pretty much like iPod. Actually, I didn’t expect it to be different. I won’t be getting one. For now, I’ll stick with my mylo.
Keep up the good work!
GJunY
Not, bad, not bad.
Doesn’t look too great either; the whole wi-fi thing is a catch 22; It would be a nice feature- if there were zune owners around… since they are nowhere to be found, Its not really a selling point. What were your thoughs on the video? It seems you’ve left out any mention of that feature.
Keep up the good work.
R-o-D,
Performance wise, I felt the video playback was average, 320×240 resolution at 30 FPS video playback is pretty standard now these days. The video feature could have been more useful if they actually had video content available for purchase in the Zune Marketplace.
Nice review IronCook. You have a great way of explaining things to people. Some fantastic pictures too. This is my favourite gadget site, keep up the good work m8 :)
I just wanted to warn other Zune owners about my experience. I recently made contact with another Zune owner, I sort of made the mistake of becoming over excited. I could feel my mouth beginning to foam as I approached the Zune owner. I blurted out, “I can’t believe I found you, finally someone else that has a Zune, let’s share songs!” I spoke like a race car, he walked away from me at that point.
Lesson
When approaching another Zune owner try to act natural, or you will scare them away. Good luck Zune owners! May you find other Zune owners and perhaps breed to save this endangered species. Thank you!
How is video playback compared to say a Sony mylo?
And would a zune work with Mac osX? Would it work using drag and drop?
David,
I found the Sony mylo and Microsoft Zune video playback to be about the same.
The Zune will act as a USB drive when connected to a Mac, so yes, drag and drop files (music) should work just fine. If you are planning to purchase a lot of music from the Zune Marketplace on the Mac, this won’t be possible, currently the software is only Windows compatible 8(.
No, no, I have planty of music as is. But my oldschool ipod is bust and I actually am curious as to see how the zune is.
Not to mention having video at all times would be nice too.
I have a mylo. Bought it after reading your review and its great but it only has a 2 gig card and I want to carry more tunes and video on me.
Actually Iron Cook, its scary because after reading the mylo review I bought it. After reading the K800 review I went out and purchased one. Now I want a zune.
Stop making such great reviews and such great products! Your making spend some major cash!!
(just kidding, don’t stop making such awesome reviews)
David,
It’s actually pretty funny that you mention that, as a reviewer I feel that it is my job to help people find the right products that match their needs/wants. I also feel great responsibility to my readers. I worry sometimes that I ‘m not critical enough on some product reviews and perhaps a reader ends up with a product they are unhappy with, in that sense I have failed.
I’m very glad to hear you are enjoying my reviews (thus far) hopefully in the future as well. Thank you for your genuine compliment.
I should have the next review posted by next weekend, the current gadget is a real hand full, you’ll see why when it gets posted.
I can’t wait. I hope it won’t burn a too big of a hole in my pocket either. lol.
As I read your review on this Zune and other reviews as well, I’ve read a few times that using the Zune program to upload onto the zune automatically changes and configures pictures and video for use on it, will i have a problem with this on my mac? will i have to manually change everything to work well?
Thanks for all the help again.
David,
Oh my, that is definitely a good point, that totally slipped my mind. I don’t think pictures will be that much of an issue, but videos could be. Most likely you will need to manually transcode videos to a Zune friendly format; WMV, MP4 or H.264. I did manage to find a Mac program designed to do just this, but it cost money, so I’d rather focus on free solutions.
I found a few programs that may do the job. The tough part will be finding the correct video settings which can get complicated depending on how the software is setup.
Handbrake
http://handbrake.m0k.org/
ffmpegx
http://www.ffmpegx.com/
For more support on how to encode videos, I’d recommend joining this forum and asking around, they seem to know a great deal about this topic.
Zune Scene
“File Conversion and Upload” Thread
http://www.zunescene.com/forums/index.php?board=38.0
I’m not sure if using the Zune with Mac OSX is worth the hassle. Video playback wise, the only difference between the Zune and iPod is half an inch larger display, the resolution is actually the same on both (320×240) so the video is only being stretched on the Zune display. At least with the iPod you will have no problems getting videos on it. It’s just something I’d like for you to consider.
Thanks for your help and opinions. Yeah, i think I’m going to opt for an ipod instead, less work. :-D
Incoming Links
Leave a Reply