Zune Install - Does It Live Up To The Hype » New Media Development by Greg Demetrick

Zune Install - Does It Live Up To The Hype

For weeks up until I got the Zune one of the things I kept reading was that registering the software and device was a pain. I am not sure if I am the exception to the rule or that I understand the process but it didn’t seem any more painful to me than registering an iPod or creating an iTunes account.

The software is not great out of the box but I will go into that more tomorrow. The install was very straight forward but the multiple reboots seemed unnecessary. I also don’t like that you can’t import your Podcasts from something like PodNova or use it with a 3rd party pod-catcher like Juice. But I will admit “The Social” does keep me interested. The down side is that so few people in this area have Zunes that it looks like my social interactions will be limited to online.

It took about 20 minutes to get the system running . However, syncing almost 4000 song from my existing collection took well over 4 hours and actually restarted after 2. Not good tho subsequent syncs are a lot faster because they are just content updates. After finally getting the songs on there I was actually able to “use” the device and see how it works.

Initial impressions, it’s nice but I can already see problems. The fact there is no scroll wheel is a HUGE problem. I can’t select exact points in a song to pump to. Only flick back and forth to predefined points. Also, I can tell the interface will be hard to navigate while I am driving. It kinda wants to lock you into traditional Albums or spend a lot of time creating the playlists you want.

Speaking of which, it looks like any song rating system is missing. Either that or it is not accessible from the Zune interface. Also, albums with similar names don’t seem to be grouping together making it harder to find songs I like.

First day is over and I have to say I am not overtly impressed. I like it and can see some cool things in it but it just hasn’t “wowed” me yet.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 at 4:35 pm and is filed under Music, Observations on Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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