Why I switched to the Zune
23. Nov, 2007 
9 Comments
I’ve owned my fair share of iPods in the past (4), and my household is all Mac (and yes, I do work for Microsoft). However, audio players (like phones) are fashion statements.
When I bought a new iPod, I’d gush over the new features of the device. That might have been video (as in my transition from 2nd generation to 5th generation), or size (from my 5th generation to 2nd generation Nano to the Shuffle). But the shininess of that feature wore off fairly quickly since I was, after all, listening to the same music on my new toy fashion statement.
What changed this time around was the Zune Pass. I’ve long felt that subscription services fit my needs better than pay per track. Each evening this week, I’ve spent some time discovering new songs and downloading them to my Zune. This gives me an incremental jolt of happiness every single day. And the $15 / month lets my family experience the music that they want (lots of kids music is available via the Zune Pass). Also, the Zune Pass account can be shared across 3 Zunes and 3 PCs.
The Zune client software is beautiful. It uses the same rendering technology that Windows Media Center uses to display its 10-foot UI (which means silky-smooth animated transitions that are very tastefully done). It’s lacking in a few areas (I’d really like recommendations built into the client instead of accessed via my browser), but so far I’ve been able to compensate via visits to allmusic.com.
The new flash-based Zune players are great. The Zune pad interface is better than the non-touch iPods (especially if you want to drop it in your pocket without locking the UI), and the form factor is near-ideal (I can run with one in my pocket without noticing it).
Overall I’m really happy to have made the switch. The lock-in of several hundred songs purchased via iTunes was never a factor since most if not all of those songs are available via the Zune Pass. I’m having fun rebuilding my music library from scratch – and this library is much smaller than my old iTunes library – it’s just metadata after all. I’m looking forward to the music industry making a transition to the world of subscriptions.
Congrats!!! Welcome to the Social!
John, glad you like the Zune. How do you use the Zune software? Are you dual booting Vista or XP on your Mac(s) or something?
@Shawn:
I run Vista most of the time on my MBP via a Bootcamp partition. This way I can run Vista natively if I want the perf, vs. running via VMWare Fusion when I want access to the Mac side of the house.
@Chris: I vastly prefer the new tag line: You make it you
I just browsed through the list of music Microsoft has on file and was surprised to see a lot of the underground music I enjoy so much like aceyalone, one be lo, blackalicious, etc…
This is almost enough of a reason for me to switch. Now I just need to test out the Zune Software.
@Josh:
The client software is pretty – but not particularly sophisticated. My biggest gripe is that music discovery isn’t integrated into the player. Oh well … I guess that’s the reason for the next release
I am a microsoft person with Mac at home. Quick question though, is there any games available to play in Zune? I am thinking of getting one as a gift for my wife.
@Nair:
Nope, no games for the Zune.
Recommendations are available inside the Zune software. If you’re at an artist’s page in the marketplace, you can click “related” in the upper right.
@Dan:
But what I want to know is what other *songs* other people like. Artist recommendations are too granular for my taste.