I use the subscription service, through which I download boatloads of music. I'm hooked on this because I don't hesitate to download anything, and if I get tired of any music I just delete it. I've also downloaded a lot of older stuff that didn't seem worth purchasing, so if I just want to hear an old Jefferson Airplane song again, I grab it. I expect the Zune Marketplace selections will only grow from here on out, as MSFT looks dedicated to making Zune a success.

I have the first generation Zune and it worked great with no problems. I recently downloaded the new software and some songs and albums are mixed in the wrong bands and albums. When you look at the song properties, it's saying the song is located in the correct folder so I don't know where the mix-up happened. Anybody experienced this? I am hesitant to sync using the new software. Please help! I'm not accepting answers saying "get an ipod!"

It is a Microsoft product. It just isn't on my radar. I am considering the products in Creative line. A lot of people don't like Creative either, but they've been relatively good to me. What I'm not going to do is get another iPod.

I just ordered the old 30 GB Zune from Amazon for 89.99. There is a wait on delivery, but I couldn't pass up this deal. I am a huge techie, but this will be my first high capacity portable media player. Needless to say I am very excited and the fact that the new software works with the old Zunes cinched the deal for me. For JPP here are two links I came across this morning dealing with that problem:

http://forums.zune.net/2203/ShowPost.aspx
http://forums.zune.net/762/ShowPost.aspx

Rob,

Nice review. I do have to disagree when you say that having the FM receiver makes sense. Isn't one of the reasons people get an MP3 player is so they don't have to listen to radio and tehrefore can listen to their favorite song(s) when they want, not just when they show up in the rotation for a station?

jpp

dont sync

I hope you set a restore point
if you did go back using safe mode. .
system restore is in the advanced section of safe mode.

Did you have problems with the old software doing the same thing.

When i used restore everything came back normal.

I will not let my 30 Zune sync by itself. I add to it as i go. Make sure that the meta data you get when you rip is accurate, if not edit it before you drag to zune.

owendylan,

How is having the choice of having a radio a bad thing? There are lots of times when I'm in the mood to listen to the news or NPR. 95% of the time I like listening to my music library or podcasts, but the great thing about a high capacity player with a radio is that I can listen to _anything_ I want whenever I want. My iPod's clunky, annoying wired FM remote that I got for a present is the most kludgy, irritating thing I've ever owned. Having it built in, whether I need it or not, would have been the way to go.

My favourite to date is the iRiver Clix, which has an FM Tuner and Recorder. That's great because I listen to music, podcasts and talk radio (NPR in US, BBC Radio 4 in UK etc).

I'd prefer something less of a kludge than Windows Media Player to load it. I can do it by direct file transfer, but that's not too useful when I am synching VBR or lossless files. I don't know of any players that handle files with bitrates > 320kps.

iPods are completely off my radar due to the firmware disablement of WMA play-back.

I don't own an iPod and never wanted one. I recently got interested in purchasing the new Zune 2.0, but after the column and this blog...I think I'll wait and see.

I have the same problems as jpp. wrong albums covers with songs. Do you mean to "restore". The computer software? How does that help your data on Zune?

Unfortunately, my "perfect" MP3 player doesn't exist. I'd like a hard-drive based, minimum 60 GB audio-focused player (don't need a color screen, won't watch video on it) that supports Ogg Vorbis and has an FM radio. Those all got chased out of the market a couple of years ago (I didn't want to spend that much on a player, so I missed 'em). I don't like either Microsoft or Apple due to their DRM standards, but I'll probably end up getting an iPod because so many cars these days have iPod interfaces. 'Course, I'll have to re-rip my music to Apple's standard if I do that...

PS: I don't buy ANY DRM media. The only electronic media I buy are books from Baen's Webscriptions, which are sold without DRM and support many different formats (Adobe, Microsoft Reader, Mobipocket Reader, HTML, MS Word Doc). I refuse to buy something that I might not be able to play in the future because a company goes out of business or because I've listened to it on three computers and that's the media's limit.

I just bought my first MP3 player, the black Zune 40. I'm quite fond of it although the software isn't very pleasant.

Why FM? My gym has 4 TVs that broadcast on FM bands.

I haven't used the Zune store, but I bought a high quality DRM-free Pink Floyd album on Amazon for a low price and it works great on the Zune.

I also ripped a Jimmy Buffet (that I own) via iTunes to aac and it's great on the Zune.

Car Talk podcasts? Excellent when I'm exercising.

Now I'm experimenting with ripped DVDs. That's a mess but not the Zune's fault.

Finally, I transferred travel photos from a Monterey trip and they're nice.

Glitches, yes, but I'm a happy camper.

Thanks Malcolm for the tip. creating a restore point will not work because all it will do is bring back the old software but i wanted to download the new software. This forum helped matching up to the correct albums and songs. http://forums.zune.net/2203/ShowPost.aspx

Using XP, go to C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR COMPUTER NAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Zune

Find the CurrentDatabase_365.wmdb (that is the 1.0 data store) rename it to CurrentDatabase_365Old.wmdb

Find the ZuneStore.sdf (that is the 2.0 data store) rename it to ZuneStoreOld.sdf

Restart Zune Software, it will find all the media files in your monitored folders and add them to your collection based on the metadata in the files.

Except for this new software issue, I'm still a big fan of the Zune than ipod.

Malcolm Furgol, same here... got one too.

A Zune 30 for less than $90 with free shipping... holy cow.

One can not find a better deal nor a comparable PVP at that price point.

Get the Speck ToughSkin case and you are good to go for years... or until the Zune 80 is halved in price.

does this new Zune allow the playback of DRM-WMAs purchased years ago via any other on-line music store? From what I understand, the old Zune did not.

Also, have been using Creative for quite some time and I happen to love their products. Was looking to get a replacement for my (old) 512k Dell DJ Ditty. I use the DJ for my workouts and short trips. The smaller Zune looks OK. My issue is the music I have is a mix. Some are DRM/WMAs and some are not.

Any help?

The issue I'm having with the software is that they've removed some crucial features. Browsing by genre is probably the most important to me. I approach music by the type of music it is, not by the artists. They've also removed the ability to mass update tags, find album information online and play videos at their original resolution. I cannot fathom why the devs took out these features.

alex -- use the "list" view instead of "browse" and right click on the columns to choose the genre. i dont like it either how they removed the update info feature. i go to WMP to update music and will show up on Zune eventually.

alex -- use the "list" view instead of "browse" and right click on the columns to choose the genre. I don't like it either how they removed the update info feature. You can use WMP to search and update info, but Zune updates automatically.

I don't own an ipod and neither want one ! You definitely get a better deal for $250 by getting the Zune 80 than the ipod 80. But i am very dissapointed with the fact that the new zunes don't have any EQ options like the first generation. I don't own one right now, but planning to get one from the zune originals website. By the way, the "original" idea is pretty good. The software looks amazing but should have the option to search for album art manually like version 1.

Zune-iTunes Compatitability Question, Answered!
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
I have been getting a some flack lately from certain sources both within and outside of Redmond: they maintain that there is absolutely no reason why the Zune should not be able to auto-sync with iTunes on any platform! They say;
"open it up Steve, open it up!"

Let me just say it this way, whenever anyone says to me, "open it up Steve", I know what they plan to do next!
I am not falling for it!

They are absolutely correct that the Zune could very easily sync with any software, on any platform. So why doesn't it?
answer: Because I DON'T WANT IT TO!
Microsoft is the majority company! We control 92% of the desktops, let them come crawling to us!
Rolling over for minority companies and their "me too" software would set a bad precedent.

Well, I wanted to go on a different path. I wanted the Sirius Stiletto 2. But as far as I can tell, it only has 2GB storage with 2GB expansion via SD card. My MP3 collection is 20GB. I need more capacity.

I guess I will look at the Zune. I like the FM feature.

If the Stiletto had an FM tuner included, I would get it despite the lack of space. But why would they put in an FM tuner?

My complaint is that I have an occasional CD that the Zune software does not recognize - legitimate ones bought in a store or online.
The new version of the software has no provision for going online to search out the information. Sure, I can edit it myself, but why should I have to? I seriously doubt that the loss of this feature will stop illegal copying of CDs and it will tick off a lot of people.

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